We moved!

Hello to all,

I finally have a moment to try to catch you up on all the happenings. We have moved in officially (furniture and everything) to Monterey, CA. It was not a smooth move. We had the movers pack up our stuff on 12/4, we left for Kansas City on the 5th and stayed a few days with my parents. Kaidyn and I flew out to Monterey ahead of Max because we had originally been told that to get a house I would have to be physically present to sign the lease. (We found out later that we could get a prelease for up to 30 days!) Then we thought by getting out here early we could get our furniture early....we were horribly wrong. We weren't able to get our furniture until the 21st. Once we got our furniture, we unpacked vigilantly so we could try to have somewhat of a Christmas for Kaidyn.

We were supposed to get our furniture early so we could unpack, visit Aunt Mary and Uncle Al for a few days and then visit with Max's brother in Nevada. I managed to develop a horrible cough around move time and managed to bruise a rib or tear a muscle with a coughing fit. Being pregnant I couldn't get anything to really help the pain or ease the cough, so an ultrasound and bed rest was pretty much it. The ultrasound confirmed that I wasn't having gallbladder problems and bed rest on an air mattress.....I don't even have a nice comment about that.

While my Dad was out here we managed to view the area and visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium before he had to fly back to Kansas City.

(This is Bapa trying to convince Kaidyn that the water isn't that terrifying....this was right after a wave made Bapa fall down and get wet.)

(These are a few pictures from the Aquarium.)

(Kaidyn putting the star on the tree. Kaidyn enjoying the first pile of presents on Christmas morning.)

Grandma Judy and Papa Mike are here for a week and we get to enjoy more of Monterey with them. Not to mention they brought TONS of gifts for Kaidyn and absolutely spoiled her!

(The second pile of Christmas presents)

I will try to update the blog with more pictures after their visit, but until then....Have a Happy New Year!

It's Going to be a Boy!!!

We found out this week that we are going to have a baby boy. We are still going around and around with his poor name; we are not sure about the spelling or middle name order. So as far as today is concerned, his name might be: Kilian Austin Max. Austin and Max are family names and Kilian is Irish/Gaelic.

The morning sickness is at least lessening. I've finally started to gain a little weight! Maybe I won't get yelled at during the next appointment. :) After the ultrasound on Kilian I am not as concerned with my slow weight gain anymore. His growth puts him a week older than he actually is!!! I'm at 19 weeks right now, so the ultrasound says he is the size of a 20 week old. Max laughed and told me I was going to have a 9lb baby! I didn't find that funny, since Kaidyn was 8 lbs!!! There just isn't enough room!!!

Kaidyn is getting ready for Halloween, she points out pumpkins wherever we go. We got two pumpkins a week ago, but after gutting and carving them it was just too warm for them to last. Since it is now in the low 60s we will try again next weekend. The local zoo is having a thing on Halloween for children, so we will do our trick or treating there. Kaidyn is really excited about wearing her Skunk costume. I'm just glad the weather got colder....I made it out of fleece so it was going to be way too hot for any weather over 65 degrees!!! I'm still used to weather in Missouri I guess.

In two weeks I get to fly out to Monterey, CA to check out the area we will be moving too. We are going to try to get military housing since we will only be there for about 18 months....long enough for Max to get his degree and then have the Navy send us to his next station. It's short, however it'll be great for him to be home that whole time. :)

Other than that, not much else to update everyone about. Have a Happy Halloween!

Great News!!!!

We received the greatest news today.

The first part of our news is that I had a doctor's appointment today for a pregnancy test. It is now official...I am 5 weeks pregnant and will expect our new addition to be born on March 15th, 2009!

The second part of our news is that Max got accepted to Naval Post Graduate School. :) He starts in January 2009, so we will be leaving Virginia in December 2008. He will be getting a Master's of Applied Science in Human Systems Integration,.

We are both obviously excited about finally getting pregnant again and finally getting the news about Monterey. Max gets his official orders in August. Once they arrive, we will be taking a trip to Monterey to look at houses and other places to live.

The timing works out pretty well. We wanted to have another kid as close to the beginning of Max's shore duty as possible, so he could do all the things he missed with Kaidyn. Plus, I'll only be about 6 months pregnant when we move, so I'll only have to stop every second rest area instead of every exit.

Kaidyn's 2nd Birthday

Kaidyn had a great little birthday yesterday. Max was able to get off early since she also had her 2 year check-up. Before her doctor's appointment we were able to open all of her presents. Grandpa Toe got her a tiara, sash, earrings and a wand for her birthday....she wore them most of the day. The earrings didn't stay on long since she is so active.

Didn't realize this present was a book....almost halted progess completely. Kaidyn absolutely LOVES books.

Got a tricycle and helmet/pads. (Tricycle comes with cool push handle that attaches to back....it'll be great for our evening walks)

Doctor said she is very healthy and doing really well for her age. Her asthma seems to have cleared up or it is brought on by seasonal allergies that aren't bothering her right now. Let's hope it's just gone for good!

Later that evening we had fresh blueberry pancakes for dinner, because that is her favorite meal...that we know of. We also had ice cream cake ...which seemed a little bit over the top after the pancakes. Max and I thought our stomachs were going to explode from all the sugar!

After washing the blueberry stains and ice cream stickiness off she got to video chat with both sets of grandparents...and stay up way past her bedtime.

Our friend Melissa and her daughter AnnaBeth are coming from Arkansas for a few days, so we are going to have another party for Kaidyn. I will hopefully have more pictures to share next week.

We still haven't heard any news from Max's detailer about Post Graduate School, so we are still waiting.....

New to blogging....

5/4/08:

Great weather here in Virginia. We have gone to the beach on the Naval Base on a regular basis. Kaidyn absolutely has no fear when it comes to the ocean....we are looking into swimming lessons as we speak.

This picture is from the first time we went, when the water was still a little cold....frigid.

Today when we went the water was cold to Max and me, however she just charged right into it.

We also rescued a dog from the local SPCA, because we are huge, huge suckers for puppy eyes. We had every intention of going to look....no, not really...says Max. As soon as we laid eyes on Maggie, our hearts melted and she became part of our family. She is beyond gentle with Kaidyn, loves to give her big dog smooches.

This is when Kaidyn decided that Maggie needed help eating. She'd place food on the floor in front of her or Maggie would lick it out of her hand.

Maggie is a Border Collie mix that is about 1 1/2 years old. We are taking her to obedience class because evidently her previous owners didn't train her much. She knows how to sit. Fortunately her demeanor is calm, so she is easy to lead on walks around our apartment community.

Alissa is still working on one of her many photography projects. The current unit is about studio portraiture and I'm not really feeling a pull in this area. I don't really like the posing and forced lighting that is involved. I like more natural environments. Next unit is on photojournalism....this excites me.

Max is still waiting to hear from his detailer about getting into Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, CA. For the record: Max doesn't trust blogs, so we are dragging him kicking and screaming into the present.

We decided that this may be an easier way to update people with what's going on in our lives...and we know.....it's all about Kaidyn, anyway. :) I will try to put all of our family's email addresses on the site, as we are restricting access. If I miss anyone, please email me: alissa.long@yahoo.com and I will change it pronto.