the first two weeks

We flew out to Guam a few weeks ago and it was a long day of traveling. We left for the airport at 3:30 am, flew out to San Francsico at 7:30 am, then made a connecting flight that had us in Honolulu four and a half hours later. Unfortunately, we almost didn't make our connecting flight to Guam because the flight arrived later than it was supposed to. Then it was seven and a half hours from Honolulu to Guam. I don't know how it happened but we had the best flights ever with lovely people sitting around us, and two children who never cried, complained, or had meltdowns. I am so, so grateful for how easily our kids make traveling.

The not-so-amazing part came when we landed, cleared Customs, and stood looking around for our ride to the hotel.

And there was no one.

I couldn't believe that we had just flown half-way across the world and no one was there to pick us up. C made a couple of phone calls and an hour and a half after we landed, someone finally showed up.

We were put up in a villa owned by the hotel on the base and it had the most comfortable beds. Of course, the babies didn't sleep for the first week on the island because of the 18-hour time change, which made the bed's comfort level completely moot.

Our first day on island was spent lounging and walking the two miles up to to the store to get groceries. The next day we went up to the housing office to check in and see if there were any houses available. Amazingly enough, they gave us three house options and we spent the morning driving around, checking out our options. We decided on a house where we have a view of the harbor and can hear the surf.

It took a week for the housing office to get the house read for us, but it was still one of the fastest move-ins. Other families have waited up to three months to be offered a house. The other great news? The house we chose is brand new and we are the first family to live in it. It's amazing--has a great, wide-open floor plan, tiles throughout the entire house, granite counter tops, and double sinks in the master bath. I love it!

On the same day we were given keys to the house, we also received our household goods. And spent the day unpacking and the weekend getting organized. Out of the hundreds of boxes, only four items were damaged, which is pretty astounding. However one of those items was our 50" plasma tv. :( We've filed a claim and I can only hope we get reimbursed quickly enough to take advantage of holiday sales so we can get a shiny new t.v. that's even better than our old one.

Now we're just waiting on our car to arrive so we can start exploring the island and really start living our island lives! Fingers crossed it shows up soon since it's already been three week of carless-ness and two miles is a long way to walk in the heat and humidity to get groceries!

my, how time flies

I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted on this blog. In the intervening months I/we have:

-had a sweet baby girl
-finished my first year of grad school
-become homeless
-went on a six week road trip that took us through 20 states and covered more than 7,000 miles
-flew to Guam

We arrived on island on Wednesday night and are living in a temporary house. Today we checked in with the housing office and we were given three houses to choose from. One of the three is at the end of a cul de sac and has a great view of the bay, so we said yes to the house and should be able to move in next week.

On top of dealing with children who aren't adjusting to the time change well and trying to get stuff done without a car, I've been feeling sick as a dog. There was a week during our roadtrip that I forgot to take my birth control and I've been freaking out a bit (okay, more like freaking out A LOT) that I might be pregnant. I took a pregnancy test yesterday and it popped negative, but when I went back in the bathroom a few hours later, there were two little pink lines.

I was planning on going back to work in the next few months and finishing school and being done with sleepless nights so this is really throwing me for a loop. It doesn't help that C is really opposed to the idea of another child, so we're both now extremely stressed. I'm going to wait another week to take a second test and try not to freak out, more than I already am, about the possibility of having another baby.

In good news? Six months ago, Hulu wasn't working in Guam, but it's now up and running so I can still keep up with all of my shows! Hooray for small miracles!

Mother's Day comes early...

Well, to be honest, all holidays/special days come early because we are horrible at keeping gifts secret. C and I both get excited about what we've bought and give gifts to each other early.

So, a few days ago, I got these:

and then today, when C came home from work, he gave me these lovely items:



He's getting much better at picking out gifts (though I did give him some "hints" about my favorite brands) these days. I'm quite pleased with his choices. :)

fruit hates me

Is that even possible?

I was zesting an orange to make a marinade for steak last night and I grated my thumb knuckle as well as the orange peel.

This morning, I tried to make a smoothie but the strawberries I used were all freezer burned and made the smoothie horrendous.

At lunch time, I was cutting up apples with my apple slicer thing-y and the slicer sliced the tip off of my middle finger.

Oi.

I need to have a baby. I need this first year of grad school to be over. I need some East Coast time.

two surprises

1) Today we met with the OB surgeon who will be performing my c-section next month. She seems like a fabulous doctor and I've heard great things about her, so I'm feeling good about what's going to happen. However, while talking about risks and benefits, the discussion turned to whether or not I wanted a tubal ligation while she was down there. I immediately said no while C said yes.

Say what?!

We haven't talked about more children after LSW is born, but I figured we'd just keep the option open for the time being. But I guess C had been thinking that this was it for him. He is up to three children (since he has a son with his ex-wife), but we have never seriously talked about how many children we ultimately want.

Anyway, it made things in the doctor's office super uncomfortable and she delicately steered the conversation away to breastfeeding.

2) Baby Girl is sitting super low and with the contractions and lower back pressure I've been experiencing this last week, the OB actually recommended doing an exam to see if I was dilating. This definitely didn't happen with Baby P, he took his sweet time with turning himself around and locking into position. I turned her down because I don't want to get my hopes up. I mean, Baby P was almost two weeks late and my body never dilated, so I don't want to think that this girl may make an early appearance. If she does, what a wonderful surprise, but I don't want to be continually thinking and stressing about it. Especially since I'm still trying to finish all of the work for my two classes in the next few weeks so I don't end up having to take incompletes.

to be or not to be...

passive aggressive?

So today, my academic advisor sent out a link to an article written on CNN about librarians and the childish part of me really wants to post it to my crummy friend's FB wall, email it to her, and text it to make sure she sees that it's kind of a cool degree and one with a lot of potential.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/04/12/librarians.masters.of.universe/index.html

I have yet to see CNN (or anyone) write an article on famous box slingers. :)

do you have one?

One of those friends who manages to insult every decision or aspect of your life?

I sure do.

When I was teaching, she and her husband used to make fun of the fact that I was wasting my college degree and that they would always make so much more money that I ever would (at the time, he was a manager for a shipping company and she was a package handler at the same company).

Since then, she has become a team leader at a well-known retail store (does that mean she's a manager?) and he's now a general manager for the same store.

Today we were chatting and she asked me if I'm ever going to do anything with all of these degrees I'm getting. (I'm sorry, is two degrees too much for you?)

I replied that I plan on going back to work once I'm done with my degree, we've settled down in one place, and my babies are a little older.

Then she asks me what kind of job I'll even be able to get with such a lame degree. (thanks, I appreciate that. Especially coming from someone who hasn't managed to finish a freaking AA in the five years she's been working on it.)

I mentioned that there's a lot of opportunities right now in the consulting arena. Many companies are looking for ways to streamline their information structures and it would allow me to work flexible hours and keep things interesting.

She says, "Wow. That sounds. Exciting."

I had to bite my tongue. Want to know what she does at this well-known retail store? She's in charge of the people who unload the semi-trucks full of products. Wow. That sounds super exciting as well. And I sure as hell have never demeaned the fact that she slings boxes for a living, but I guess my choices are fair game.

Seriously, why do I still talk to this uber-wench?