Here comes Santa Claus!!

Season's Greetings Y'all!!

It's that time of year....around here all the crazy lawn decorations are up. We haven't decided whether we are going to decorate or not. If we put them up, then I will have to take them down by myself. So nothing can be higher than I can reach, as it's advised that pregnant women not climb ladders. I thought this was funny when I heard it, but in the past few days I have realised my balance is not the best. Standing on one foot makes me sway. So foot rubs on Charlie's belly take place when I have something to hold onto! hehehe

We have been busy lately, and quite a few things have been going on...where to start??

I have my greencard!! It's not green. I am apparently a resident of Alaska, which is nice for the no state taxes thing. I will have to go there someday! hehe I also have a social security number, so the next goal is getting my drivers license. Sounds like fun you think, but no...I have to do all the tests. I haven't figured out whether I come under the Georgia Law that makes me do 30 hours of drivers education or if it's just for underage drivers. Let's hope not me!! I have my 70 page drivers ed manual printed out ready for a read.

I am now 22 weeks pregnant, or 5.5 months or so. At our 20 week ultrasound we found out the sex, and we are having a little girl! It's very exciting. Chris is still trying to deal with the shock, he had himself convinced that we were having a boy. He has now taken to saying things like, "she will not like princess stuff", "she will not like ballet", "she will like sports" etc etc....and I keep telling him that we will have to wait and find out. He is already planning how he will handle her dating, and I try and reassure him that we will be in NZ by then. Not having to deal with American "dating" should be a little better! If better is the word...I know it's going to be a challenge...hehe.

We have started the changing of the closet into the nursery. Chris has run power and we have a dimmer on the light. The closet racks are moved and all that's left is a bit of touch up paint. It looks great. I am glad Chris knows how to do all that stuff, as I would have been completely lost!!

I really should tell you how I am typing today...the lentil and I are listening to Andrea Bocelli sing to us. It's about 25 (75) degrees, and I have windows and doors open. I'm wearing shorts and a tshirt. It feels like I should be in NZ...quite a nice feeling! hehehe Charlie and I went for a lovely walk in the sun this morning. I should be out gardening...maybe tomorrow!! I am trying to take advantage of my returned energy.

Thanksgiving has come and gone already. It's a holiday I don't understand. It's nice to say what you are thankful for, but really it seems like an eating, drinking and watching football kind of holiday. I enjoyed the eating, can't drink, and don't like football. Overall it was a good day. Chris and I went to Tenaya's house where she prepared a wonderful turkey (not something I am about to attempt any time soon). I made a fruit crumble, my first one. Luckily I had my handy Edmonds cookbook... hehehe.

My Edmonds is going to come in handy this weekend as well. Chris and I are heading back up to Tennessee for Kiwi Xmas with Chantel and Kurt. I am making a pavlova, and some afghans. Yum! We have a leg of lamb, some NZ wine (of which I am going to have a small glass...can't wait!!), and lots of other goodies. We have another kiwi couple coming into town as well. So should be a great time, I have been looking forward to it for a couple of months! hehe.

I am trying not to think about Chris leaving just after Christmas. My emotions tend to be very close to the surface at the moment, and this is going to be a hard one. I have my 6 month checkup the day after he leaves. I worry that he is going to miss so much of the belly growing and all the kicks. And I want the lentil to come out knowing his voice as well. He had better talk a lot in the month he comes back before the birth!!

I am finding the naming process a hard one. It made it a little easier to be able to cross half the names off the list (boy ones). There are a few we like and now finding the middle name combination that works is the next issue. Chris likes to think up funny, and obnoxious ones, which have to be rejected immediately. Right now we are telling anyone that asks that she will be named Frank (consider yourself warned...hehehe). This is the only way I would let Chris find out the sex, I was happy not knowing. It's one surprise we have left in this world, but Chris insisted and was very stubborn about it. He also claimed he could know and not tell anyone. For those that know him I know you are laughing really loud at this. I knew that if he found out someone would let me know by accident, or in a very annoying way, so I decided to let him find out....with a couple of conditions ; )

Last week Chris, Charlie and I packed up the car and took a trip up to Virginia. We decided to take a couple of days to get up there and see some sights. I had never been to North or South Carolina so we tried to squeeze a lot of it in. We drove to Savannah and then turned up the coast to Charleston. We made it there by lunch. Actually 10am. To manage this we left at about 4am. This is not my time of day. I am actually not just unpleasant, but very ugly at this time of day! Chris is so used to it with his job, and training or whatever. Good thing he was driving is all I can say. He is also used to skipping meals, and going long times without the bathroom. Poor guy had to deal with my constant eating and peeing the whole trip! hehe It's my revenge for those mornings.

Anyhoo, we left Charleston and headed up through Myrtle Beach. Winter is obviously not the season to hang out there. There are 3 sections, and between them about 6 golf courses, and 16 mini golf courses. We didn't stop on the beach there as they are not dog friendly. Onward to Wilmington where we stayed the night. This had to be the most disgusting and scarily dirty hotel room I have ever been in. I tried not to step on the floor, and wore clothes to bed. Even Charlie wasn't happy there. He boofed at the door all night. In the end we woke up at about 5 or 6am, showered and got the hell out of there!

This was last Monday, and Chris had planned something special, so I was very excited. We were heading out to the coastal islands of North Carolina, Cape Hatteras. To do this we had to catch a ferry with the car from Cedar Island, after driving through a marine base, Camp Lejune. Ooops, didn't realise that one...luckily the guard let us on. We got a kick out of all the signs on the road "TANK XING" hehe. The ferry across to Okracoke took a little over 2 hours. We missed the 10am one by 4 minutes, so we had 3 hours to wait. There was a lovely beach there, where we took Charlie for a big walk. This was his first time at the beach. He is used to lakes, so the waves scared him. He also drank the water a few times. He loved chasing the birds though, managed to roll in poo, and bounced the whole time. It was a very chilly, windy morning. When we were driving there it had rained, but as we waited it cleared up into a lovely, if windy, day.

While we were hosing Charlie down in the campground their faucet broke and Chris got sprayed down as well. We hadn't noticed down at the beach, but there were a lot of mosquitoes there. Luckily my boyscout had remembered everything and we had bugspray wipes. We tried to eat at the local restaurant, but were informed that they were not open for lunch...or in winter! hehehe So we ate some lunch in the car and waited.

After the first ferry we drove up Okracoke Island, past all the enormous holiday houses, to catch the next ferry. This one was only 40 minutes and took us onto Hatteras. As we were crossing the sun started going down and it was really lovely. It had been a while since I had seen a sunset over the water. As we finished going up Hatteras with the sun going down it got windier. We decided to have a quick stop for pictures and Charlie's last run on the beach. Unfortunately the waves were so big he wouldn't go near them. Terrifying! hehe

As it got dark we arrived in Virginia and made it to Fran's house by 8 or 9pm (can't remember, still have sieve brain). Holy crap was it cold!! The whole time we were there is was chilly, and I had packed layers. But I am talking hat weather here, which is quite a change from the shorts weather of Georgia ; )

It was really lovely to catch up with most of the family up there (a few notable exceptions, Christine and Don, Patty and Ellen). We even got to eat the famous Howie's Chicken...yum! Chris and I visited Fran at work, wandered around Kmart, went to the mall, the naval base, the supermarket a few times. It was all very low key. We spent some time catching up with Fran and Grandma. We got a few Xmas presents taken care of, and I got some maternity gear. I am now the proud owner of a new bunch of bras. I will not tell you what size, but let's just say they are enormous. Parachute sized. I am hoping my belly starts growing soon, so I don't look like a porn star!! I also got a pair of jeans and some pants, and a top. Add this to the two tops and dress (for Xmas, can't wait to wear it) I got here and I almost have a maternity wardrobe.

I had been wearing my regular pants with a rubberband around the button. And I must say that the lack of zips and big bands of my new pants are much comfier. Chris was very patient, which must be a first for him when shopping! hehe I have noticed that as my belly grows my tops all seem shorter. I have considered moving into the trailer park next door to make this acceptable.

The trip home was quicker, in one day. Chris drove the first half and I drove the second. I had made sammies so we didn't need to stop much and made it home in a little over 10 and half hours. When we left it was 26 degrees (below 0) and the windscreen was frozen. As we drove back we watched the temperature climb, until it was 30 degrees warmer when we got back.

I got a haircut about a month ago, and it was not a good one. Either my hair is wavier at the moment, or he missed big bits of hair. I have a layer of waves on top, and some dead straight bits underneath. I am considering how I am going to fix this....a bowl cut perhaps??

I find that now the lentil likes to sit on my bladder she wakes me up at all times of night. And being woken this way does not make me good at walking. I do an odd kind of shuffle. I also wake up whenever I roll onto my back. It took me so long to train myself to not sleep on my tummy, and now I am not allowed on my back! Honestly. I have been using a giant body pillow to get more comfortable, but I will roll over in the middle of the night and find Chris curled around it....very amusing!

I have also found that pregnancy dreams are very vivid. Just this morning I looked in the mirror and was surprised that I hadn't plucked my eyebrows, apparently I dreamed about that last night. I dream a lot about New Zealand and people I miss, and of course Chris. I should write more of them down, and have a giggle at them.

When we got back we realised that our big trees all around us had lost nearly all of their leaves. And they were on our lawn. So Chris has since mowed them up and mulched them, in preparation for me getting the garden winter ready. Now we have the best yard on the street (for once!). hehe

The day before we left on our trip to Virginia Chris and I attended Lilliana's birthday party. She is now 3. She was a princess and we got her a little tent to hang out in. I put a couple of pictures in, she's such a cutie.

Ok, that should cover it for now...I will put up pictures of Xmas after the fact...everyone have a wonderful holiday season. Love and hugs for you all xxxxx