Hey. I'm not here anymore. Come see me at my new cyber home HighlandAmy.net. Don't forget to update your bookmarks!

♥

Amy

This weekend there is an air show at the Naval Air Station near my house. While I was at the beach the other day I saw some jets flying in formation over the ocean -- and some antique planes too -- diving and swooping and doing tricks and such. Practicing, I assume. Yesterday was the first day of the air show and one of the Blue Angels (the fancy jet fliers) crashed. And died. I heard it. Very sad.

On a less depressing note: I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Nothing particularly interesting happened at said appointment, but I did get to hear the baby's little heartbeat again! That's always fun. She moves around a lot more - or maybe she's just bigger and I can feel her more of her movements. When I got home from the appointment there was a package waiting for me at my door. Inside was the new adapter I'd ordered for my laptop. I'm pleased to report that it works, and I am actually typing this very blog on the laptop! Huzzah! There is still something wrong with this computer and I can't upload photo files, but other than that it works well and I am pleased.

Whoa!  I guess I started writing this on Friday, and then totally forgot about it! 

--Flash Forward to Sunday-- 

Spent Saturday morning cleaning out the fridge.  Was actually amazed by all the crap in there since we've only lived here for  months... and Andy's only been in port maybe 5 weeks... I guess I buy a lot of food that I don't eat.  Like the 14 bottles of salad dressing which I'd opened and used ONE TIME EACH.  I guess I like variety.  They should make sample packs for people like me.  Like those little boxes of breakfast cereal - only with salad dressing.  So that I wouldn't have to dispose of 14 mostly full bottles and feel like a waster. 

Saturday afternoon I went to the beach.  I feel like I should be taking full advantage of this time I have alone.  I suspect that this will probably be the last time I will be able to go to the beach by myself and read books all day.  This suspicion is always confirmed once I reach the beach and see parents there with their small children who force the poor parents help with sandcastles, and go in the water with them, and bury them up to their necks - and then I see all the  extra stuff you have to bring to the beach when you go with kids, and  I see poor helpless parents trying to  get a tan or read a book and their evil offspring sneak up and dump sand on them or start crying and whining that they are bored or hot or tired and insist that they want to leave RIGHT NOW!  and I think to myself "Dear Lord - What have I gotten myself into?!"  Of course then, I just keep repeating to myself the lie that all prospective parents must tell themselves in order for our species to survive: That MY child will be different.  For the time being I think I can even convince myself that this is true.  She WILL be different. When she is a baby she will never cry for no discernible reason, when she is a child and I take her to the beach she will always play quietly by side while I read, when she is a teenager she will never tell me she hates me, crash my car or bring home dates who have more tattoos than her mother.  I think the longer I delude myself into think these things about my little wombmonster the easier things will be for everyone.

Today is Sunday and it's supposed to rain.  In stead of going to beach again, I've decided to spend the day at home getting the house ready for me to leave before tyeing up loose ends with doctors and utility companies and such on Monday.  Neither of which are as much fun as going to beach, but they've got to be done and I happen to know first hand, that the beach on a rainy day is not much fun.

In site news: Things are almost done with the set-up end (procuring the domain and the hosting) and I'm almost ready to work on setting the whole thing up - the fun part.  I'm very excited for the launch.  It should be easier to use (for both you and me) and better looking than this one too!

Yesterday I finished everything I had on my 'to do' list before 10:00 so instead of starting on my list of things to do the next day... I decided to go to the beach. A wise decision in my opinion.

The beach on a workday after labor day is a beautiful thing. A few folks who have the day off, maybe some moms and kids, retired folks - not too crowded. Plus yesterday the air was cooler than it had been and the water was warm from the air having previously been so hot. Perfect.

It was just me, some snacks, my beach chair, an umbrella and a book.

The waves were not as rough as they have recently been either, so in spite of there being no life guards on duty, I even got in the water.  I could tell the baby wanted to come out and play in the water too by the way she kept jumping around.  Next summer, baby.  Next summer.  For a while I watched some boys (well, I guess they were technically 'men' since they were old enough to have tattoos - but they looked young to me) playing in the water and diving under the waves like Andy does.  They reminded me of him -- only Andy doesn't have tattoos (I know - what kind of sailor IS he?!) and is much cuter.  I had such a nice time yesterday that I even considered going back this morning, but I have a doctors appointment this after noon and I think it's probably best if I attend sans beach grit... although it IS my last appointment here, so it's not like I'm ever going too see that OB again.

I'm thinking of moving. My site that is. Actually, I already have the ball rolling on that. I'm pretty sure the new address is going to be www.HighlandAmy.net - and the move will probably take place before October 1. Just to let you know. There will be more information on that as the move gets closer to completion. This site will probably still be up and running through April with a link to the new one - so no need for alarm, I just thought I'd warn you. Also: I'm really excited about the move. It's going to be great.

Last week I got the movie Music and Lyrics (starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore) from Netflix. Since Andy took his 360 with him, I was just going to do it the old fashioned way and use a DVD player. So... I began digging through boxes (yes, our stuff is still in boxes - and so it shall remain until... until Andy's out of the Navy I'm sure) and eventually came upon one, but not the cord to plug it into the TV. After several hours of searching for said cord I gave up and decided to watch the move on my laptop. Which would have worked-out well had the AC Adapter for my battery not been shot. That's right, I can't even turn the darn thing on. I've ordered another adapter from a seller on eBay (well, TWO now, but I won't get into that whole mess here) but it has yet to arrive, so that left me with only the option of using the desktop. I've watched DVDs on the desktop before... and I'm not retarded or anything (as far as I know) but for whatever reason I couldn't figure out how to get the darn thing to play a movie. So. I've been unable to watch it. Sad, I know.

For the past few days I have not been able to shave my legs due to the horrible sunburn they incurred over the holiday weekend. I've been kind of worried about the burn too, because it is particularly bad. As you can imagine, yesterday morning when I woke-up with brown spots all over my legs where they'd been burned, I was a bit upset. I had no idea what these spots could be, so naturally I assumed that they were a sing that my skin was going to fall off and I called my mother in a panic. I described the burn-spots to her and while she'd never experienced anything like that before, she did mention that pregnant women often experience weird skin changes and recommended that I keep the damaged skin protected from further sun exposure.

I didn't give much more thought to my poor leg skin until Jean called to see if I wanted to go out. Which I did. In preparation for leaving the house, I decided to slather my burned, spotted legs with some SPF 65 just in case they were at any point exposed to the rays of the sun. As I began to put the sun block on my legs, I noticed that the spots were... disappearing! And re-appearing on my hands... because they were LINT which had been snagged off my jammy pants by my Velcro-like leg hairs. Go ahead and laugh at me. It's okay. I laughed too.

Anyway, I went out shopping with Jean and bought some clothes for my baby because they were just. too. cute. and also because I know what colors to buy now. That was fun, but looking at the clothes now, it just makes me wish the baby was already here to poop and throw-up on them.

After that I went over to Jean's house for dinner. She made some delicious beef noodles. After dinner we decided to watch a movie. On her DVD player to which she has all the proper cords (fancy!) I picked Music and Lyrics. Which she owns.

Today Andy was not having a good day so I got a bunch of toys and candy together to mail to him. Toys and candy always make me feel better, so I hope they make him feel better too. Although I'm sure he'll already be feeling better by the time he gets the package in two months.

This weekend I had planned to go to Virginia and Jess's house and to the Renaissance Festival with VA, Jess and Lindsay's family, but Friday I was not feeling particularly well and I was afraid of the Labor Day Weekend Traffic.

Instead, I spent Friday looking for things to mail to Andy that are small enough to fit in the little space he has, but still cool. In my search I found lots of summer stuff that was on sale since the season is coming to a close. For myself, I got a beach umbrella for $4.00. Excited to test it out, I spent Saturday at the beach with Jean. The beach was a little more crowded than it had been, but still not as bad as I imagine the public beaches were. Next to us, there was a family with two small boys who begged their parents to bury them in the sand up to their necks. After several excruciating minutes of the pair whining, the parents finally acquiesced. Once under the sand, the boys seemed content until a flock of seagulls began checking them out -- and coming a little too close for comfort. The gulls were hovering and swooping over the boys' heads, I assume trying to figure out if the heads were something they could eat. At this point, the two became a bit apprehensive and started calling for their parents to help them. When the parents finally heard them and saw what was going on, they did what any good parents would do and grabbed the video camera to film the attack. I hope that some day I will be as loving and compassionate if my child is attacked by seagulls.

Anyway. When we first got to the beach I slathered myself in sunblock (as per the usual) and got under my umbrella to read my book. For most of the time we were there, I allowed my legs to dangle out from under the protective umbra of the umbrella -- which would have been fine had I not somehow forgotten to apply sunblock to them! So while the rest of me was appropriately protected and remained unscathed, my legs burnt to a painful crisp. And I mean PAINFUL. When I got home I was afraid to get in the shower, that's how much they hurt. Eventually though, I convinced myself that a few minutes of torture some pain was better than an entire evening covered in sand and beach residue.

I made it out of the shower alive, and even braved the beach again today (wearing full length pants of course). The beach was even more beautiful today than it was yesterday and we sat close enough to the water that the stronger gusts of wind even splashed us with the occasional sea spray. The wind also whipped the water into a somewhat dangerous condition and for most of the day the life guards weren't allowing folks into the water -- it also uprooted my umbrella which went flying and hit a little girl in the head, don't worry, she was fine. When they finally did decide to let people into the water, it was like a scene out of the movie Braveheart. At least a thousand kids all running toward the ocean and screaming! I chose to stay safely ashore with my chair and my book (like an old lady) and a small crab I'd befriended.

I suppose I should start getting things organized around here in preparation for my departure, but to be perfectly honest - the beach is more fun

So. Sometime between the last time I posted and now I had my ultrasound (which Andy was able to come to - yey!).

If you've never had an OB ultrasound you should know that the ultrasound does not hurt. What hurts is that you are forced to drink lots and lots of water first and then not allowed to pee. Having a full bladder, on top of which your baby sits, and then having an ultrasound tech push lightly on your tummy with the transducer is not what one might call comfortable.

Anyway, the baby was asleep for most of the ultrasound which didn't surprise me at all since the baby is part bat or something and usually only awake and kicking when I am trying to sleep. Unfortunately, the Wee One apparently likes to sleep with it's legs neatly crossed which made the determination of the baby's sex somewhat difficult. The ultrasound tech (and the ultrasound student who was there observing) had me try laying on my right, then my left, then stretch, then stand on my head all to try and get a better angle or perhaps get the baby to uncross it's legs. When none of that worked they spent about 30 min shaking my tummy and were finally able to get a view from below the baby which suggested that the baby is a girl baby. Which is what I (and almost everyone else I know) thought she was to begin with.

Once the tech left and it was just the student looking around inside my tummy the baby decided it would be a good time to wake-up. We got to see her stretch, arch her back, stick her hand in her mouth and open her eyes! Which was really cool! She's much bigger than the last time I saw her on an ultrasound at 7 weeks -- also she looks more a person now and less like a lima bean or a clover.

I'm really glad Andy got to come with me. He was really glad too -- and he was also really glad the baby is a girl since that was the brand he'd been hoping for. We were both sort of relieved since we really hadn't come up with any boy names that we both liked.

The last night we spent together as a childless couple we went out to dinner and had a lovely time, and then came home and packed-up Andy's stuff and did several thousand loads of laundry. It was actually only like 3, but it certainly seemed like more. The next morning I dropped him off at his ship, but refused to go on board since I was wearing pajamas and on the verge of completely losing control of my emotions. Instead I walked him to end of the pier, told him I loved him and then we executed our secret handshake before he boarded his ship and I went back to the car... and cried. All the way home.

The first day he was gone was particularly excruciating. Whenever Andy leaves (even if it's for 3 days) I get pretty upset, but I think with this being a fairly long deployment, my emotions already running high thanks to the baby and the fact that he's not going to be back until several months after the baby's arrival probably made this time a little more difficult. I spent most of the first day he was gone in tears. Andy called me a few hours after they left to say 'I love you' which, of course, made me cry even MORE. Every now and again I would stop crying long enough to send Andy a silly e-mail, but most of the day was pretty rough.

The second day after he left, I woke up in a much better mood after having slept on his side of the bed. I was no longer feeling overwhelmed by Andy's absence -- still sad, but not overwhelmed -- and I took into consideration that he's only going to be gone for the same amount of time that I've been pregnant and that he's only been home about 5 weeks out of the past 5 months. So. I'm sure I can handle his not being here. Right? Right.

Friday Megan, Shane and Megan's friend Krystal came to visit and Jean took us all to the beach. The waves were kind of strong that day and Megan ended-up getting knocked over and got a cut on her back, so I only got in up to my knees. Shane was scared of the ocean, but that didn't surprise me... it seems like most little kids are scared of the ocean first. While we were there I took some pictures...


Megan, Krystal and Shane

Life Guard

Jean and Shane

In other beach news -- I wore a two piece. Baby belly and all. I had formerly been opposed to the idea, but since I didn't want to wear the see-through bathing-suit, I was left with no other option. Luckily I was able to find an old bathing suit that I can still fit into and didn't look too gross on me... er - us.


I attempted to photograph my exposed belly. It's kind of a weird picture, I know...

I have an ultrasound scheduled for sometime next week (for real this time) and it's on the day after we thought Andy was leaving (boo!). It was the only open appointment they had at the radiology lab, so I had been calling them to see if there had been any cancellations at an earlier time so Andy could come with me, but no dice. 'Disappointed' doesn't even begin to cover how I was feeling. Then, Friday Andy came home with some AWESOME news! They are actually leaving the day AFTER the appointment, not the day before -- AND -- the day of, he gets off work early enough that he can come with me! 'Elated' doesn't even begin to cover how I am feeling now!

Show us what's on your nightstand.
Submitted by Mike E.

Starting from the upper left and proceeding clockwise we have...
1. A jewelry box
2. A photograph of Andy and me
3. My fetal heart monitor
4. My microwaveable hippie heating pad

I'm five and half months pregnant. For the past month I've had some trouble fitting into my regular pants, so I've just been wearing pants that are several sizes too big. For the most part this worked... they buttoned around my rapidly expanding midsection and such, so I really had no room to complain; although I'm not sure if the spherical shape of my belly is to blame or if it's another issue all together, but the too-big-pants were constantly slipping down. As a result, I've spent the better part of the past month with my butt, belly or both at least partially exposed.

At this point you may be wondering why it was that when I out grew my regular non-pregnant pants, I did not go buy some maternity pants like a sane person might. Well - the reason is two-fold; first of all, when I think of maternity clothes I almost always have visions of miserable looking women in tent-like pastel miu-mius - which is a look I don't think would work for me... and second, I am insane.

Anyway, Andy has been anxiously awaiting the release of a new video game which came out today so when we went to the mall, while he was knocking over little kids and fighting his way to the counter at EB Games to get the LAST COPY - on a lark I decided to go into another store and go ahead and try on some maternity pants and see if they worked any better for me.

When I first got pregnant a certain mommy friend of mine told me that "maternity pants are the most comfortable article of clothing in the world" (I am fairly certain that was how she worded it,) and while I didn't disbelieve her... until I was in the dressing room today, I had no way of knowing just how true that statement is.

For those of you who don't know, maternity jeans work like this: the top is stretchy yet snug sweat-pant material and the rest looks like normal jeans. You then wear your shirt un-tucked and it looks like you are wearing regular jeans! That's right! All the comfort of snug sweats without looking like a scuzz-ball who is out side of their home or the gym in sweats! And it doesn't end with jeans! They make maternity khakis and dress pants too! To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why EVERYONE doesn't wear maternity pants all the time! So anyway... I bought two pair. They stay-up and are wonderful.

As far as I'm concerned The Dave Matthews Band may very well be the best band ever to have walked the Earth. Sadly, for many years now every time I've tried to see them live something has come-up and I haven't been able to go.  Like I'd be out of town or just didn't want to pay the exorbitant TicketMaster fees. (Boo to you TicketMaster! You are right up there with Starbucks on my list of Evil Corporations. Eddie Vedder was right about you!) Many years ago my Mom got to see DMB -- for free and sans TicketMaster fees -- back when they were a little known band out of Virginia and I've been green with envy ever since. Anyway, for my birthday my Mom got me tickets to see DMB last night. And it was awesome.

Andy and I arrived at the amphitheater early because I wanted to get a good parking space and hang out for a bit before the bands went on. As we pulled into our awesome space, we took note of some unwashed college kids sitting in the bed of a pick-up smoking out of what appeared to a hookah. Yes, just like the caterpillar. Because of their devil-may-care attitudes, I can only assume what they were smoking was tobacco, but we didn't stick around to find out. Andy muttered something about 'dirty hippies' under his breath and we headed for the gates.

Once inside, we were immediately bombarded by people giving out free stuff. First there was the man who tried to give us condoms - I guess we looked kind of slutty; then there were the free yogurt smoothie guys - this sounds better than it was, the smoothies tasted like berries, yogurt and tin; we were given free tee-shirts for saying that we love Virginia; and offered a free orange Mountain Dew for playing Halo - You would think Andy would have jumped at this as Halo is his favorite game, Mountain Dew his favorite soda, and orange his favorite color... but he shied away since there were only girls playing and he didn't want to embarrass them with his 'skills'. Very gentlemanly.

Fast forward through several expensive concert beers for Andy and several expensive concert bottled waters for me and the openers went on. The lawn seemed to be filling-up fast, and the reserved seating seemed to be filling-up somewhat less fast. By the time Dave Matthews Band went on though, there was barely room move. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time, especially a man two rows back who kept shouting "THE DAVE MATTHEWS BAND! WOOOO! THE *expletive deleted* DAVE MATTHEWS BAND" through the entire show, which was very kind of him... you know in case anyone forgot who we were there to see.

About half way through we took a bathroom/expensive concert beer/water/hotdog break just in time to see some of the 'dirty hippies' from earlier being removed from the amphitheater by police. Maybe it wasn't tobacco after all...

Anyway... back to the concert -- the rest of the event was filled with much dancing and merriment (although less dancing by my baby than I'd expected, but that's okay) before we finally headed home at way-past-my-bed-time o'clock. Maybe I'm getting old or maybe was all the excitement of FINALLY seeing The Dave Matthews Band live or maybe it was because I'm pregnant, but by the time we got home I felt like I'd been run over by a truck. A big one. After consuming lots of Tums to combat the heartburn which I imagine was brought on by the expensive concert hotdog, I got into bed and meant to tell Andy how much fun I'd had and how glad I was that he was home and able to come with me -- but sleep took me first.

..So. That was my night.