As most of you have noticed from the markets post (which was suppose to be a private post - oops!), we made it to Italy. We got here on September 15 and have been going nonstop since. Searching for a house, getting to know the area, in-processing, situating Mr. Buttons and Baby A.... it's all been a busy time for us.
Before we came here, we went home on COT leave. We went from England to Louisiana to England to drive to Italy. Our trip home was absolutely amazing. I hope to get some pictures up soon. Baby A got to meet all of her family, finally. Mr. Buttons had to stay in the kennels in England because if we would have brought him back to the states, he would have had to do the 6 months quarantine all over again. We had agreed that we wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Once we made it back to England, we had to pick up Buttons and get his health certificate. We had to prepare the car for the drive to Italy. The drive was about 17 hours.. just under 1,000 miles. We did it in 3 days with Baby A and Buttons. Both of them were amazing during the trip. Even I survived.
During all of this, the power steering in my car went out. We had planned on buying a new car when we got to Italy but since it happened sooner than expected we ended up buying a car in England and driving it to Italy while my car got fixed. Mr. Man will be going back for my car. We bought a 2013 Audi A4, which is what we wanted.
Once we arrived in Italy, it has been the normal with any military move. In processing, briefings, getting to know the area, finding a housing solution, and ... all the other normal things that come with moving.
We still have not found a house, but are looking at 3 very good possibles. It completely fits our desires and looks like the kids will have their own rooms, I will have a craft room, the parents will have an office, and the kids will have a playroom. I am COMPLETELY stoked about that. Hopefully we will officially have a house by tomorrow to call our's. However, there is a long process here in Italy to actually moving in, so we could be in a hotel for another month or so. Hopefully it flies by or goes quicker than expected. We've been living out of suitcases and (6) hotels the last 2 months.
On the pregnancy, I am already 20 weeks. I seriously can not believe that. It's been going by so quickly. Sometimes I don't feel like I have time to enjoy it, but then others I'm anxious to meet our little monster. More on the pregnancy when I have time. Things are good, everything looks great. Just normal, everyday pregnancy fun!
Until next time...
And yes, I'm trying to get back on a routine of blogging because there is so much to write about!!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
PCS: Local Markets (Aviano)
The open air markets are held one day a week starting at around 0630 in the morning until about noon. They are usually located in the town square. Be aware that some markets are closed during national holidays.
Monday: Maniago, Azzano Decino, Vittorio Veneto and Lignano
Tuesday: Aviano, Casarsa, Udine, Codriopo and San Quirino
Wednesday: Pordenone, Budoia, San Daniele, Cordignano, Oderzo and Latisana
Thursday: Roveredo, Fontanafredda, Fiume Veneto, Sacile, and Portogruaro
Friday: Cordenons, Porcia, San Vito al Tagliamento, Montereale and Conegliano, Caneva
Saturday: Pordenone, Spilimbergo, Caorle and Treviso
Sunday: Meduno
Everyday: Trieste
Tuesday: Aviano, Casarsa, Udine, Codriopo and San Quirino
Wednesday: Pordenone, Budoia, San Daniele, Cordignano, Oderzo and Latisana
Thursday: Roveredo, Fontanafredda, Fiume Veneto, Sacile, and Portogruaro
Friday: Cordenons, Porcia, San Vito al Tagliamento, Montereale and Conegliano, Caneva
Saturday: Pordenone, Spilimbergo, Caorle and Treviso
Sunday: Meduno
Everyday: Trieste
Friday, July 27, 2012
12 Weeks Pregnant with C2
Today I am officially 12 weeks pregnant with Baby C2. To start from the beginning, we found out we were pregnant on June 5, 2012. At the time I was 5 weeks pregnant. I had to do the "New Parent briefing" again before I could get my first appointment date, so a week later I did that. Then two weeks after that "briefing" we had our first appointment with our first ultrasound. We took Baby A with us and at the time she had not mastered the word baby (Now, she definitely has!). She kept pointing to the screen saying, "Ba-ba, Ba-ba". It was beyond cute. Baby was measuring a tad smaller than we had expected, by 2 weeks just like with Baby A. They changed our due date from January 23 to February 7, 2013.
As far as symptoms, there is nothing really there other than some nausea here and there, exhaustion from chasing a toddler around all day, motion sickness when in a car, and a big ole round belly! Yesterday, I had a friend tell me I popped already. I can post a picture soon. I didn't have many symptoms with Baby A either. My biggest one was the smell of chicken, but this time it is not bothering me at all. I can tell that food tastes change from day to day, definitely. I always hated that. But other than that, it is pretty easy going and enjoyable (for now).
Baby A has been such a good sport. At first she started being really demanding and needy, which is SO unlike her. That is actually one of the reasons I decided to test. She got out of that after two weeks, and now she is so sweet about "new baby". She always wants to snuggle my belly. She gives it kisses. And she "tells secrets" with new baby all the time. She's a little sweetheart!
Next post will be about breastfeeding Baby A. I've had a few comments about that, and I never updated so I will do that one next!
As far as symptoms, there is nothing really there other than some nausea here and there, exhaustion from chasing a toddler around all day, motion sickness when in a car, and a big ole round belly! Yesterday, I had a friend tell me I popped already. I can post a picture soon. I didn't have many symptoms with Baby A either. My biggest one was the smell of chicken, but this time it is not bothering me at all. I can tell that food tastes change from day to day, definitely. I always hated that. But other than that, it is pretty easy going and enjoyable (for now).
Baby A has been such a good sport. At first she started being really demanding and needy, which is SO unlike her. That is actually one of the reasons I decided to test. She got out of that after two weeks, and now she is so sweet about "new baby". She always wants to snuggle my belly. She gives it kisses. And she "tells secrets" with new baby all the time. She's a little sweetheart!
Next post will be about breastfeeding Baby A. I've had a few comments about that, and I never updated so I will do that one next!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Thank you!
Thank you for all the congratulations and well wishes during this time of our lives. We are super excited, and everything just seems to be falling into place. I have been looking for houses and areas to live in. I have even started looking at Italian schools for Baby A. They won't accept her until she is 3 years old, but I thought I could never start too early. I only want her to go part time until she starts Kindergarten because, after all, I will continue to be a stay at home wife and mommy during our time in Italy.
I have also already started planning new trips. We have nothing set in stone, but we have a list of adventures that we would love to get through during our stay in Italy. After all, we never know where we will be sent next.
Thinking about all the fun things we have already done here really excited me to do even more.
Not sure if any of your remember back last October when we went to Wales. I was 15-16 weeks pregnant with Baby A, and we climbed Snowdon. It took us 8 hours, but we had such a fun time. Even the pup did it with us. Well, I have decided I wanted to do it again with this baby. So as soon as we get to Italy, we are on a hunt for a mountain to climb. We hear there are several in the area. We still haven't been able to take Baby A on a nice long hike. We have taken her to some small ones, like the one in Germany. But nothing large and super duper awesome! Our plan is to do just that.
We also found the largest amusement park. They say it's like the "Italian Disney". Not sure what that means exactly, but we thought we could take A there before the new baby arrives as her last big adventure as an only child.
We have less than 2 weeks until our house gets picked up, so that is what we have been spending our weekends and evenings working on. It's such an exciting time in our lives!
What did you get from this post? It was a rambler. See what happens when you don't blog for so long and feel like you need to catch up. Then you have no idea where to start with catching up and you get all overwhelmed and frustrated. Well, I'm not frustrated but I am overwhelmed because there is so much I want to discuss! :)
Until next time...
I have also already started planning new trips. We have nothing set in stone, but we have a list of adventures that we would love to get through during our stay in Italy. After all, we never know where we will be sent next.
Thinking about all the fun things we have already done here really excited me to do even more.
Not sure if any of your remember back last October when we went to Wales. I was 15-16 weeks pregnant with Baby A, and we climbed Snowdon. It took us 8 hours, but we had such a fun time. Even the pup did it with us. Well, I have decided I wanted to do it again with this baby. So as soon as we get to Italy, we are on a hunt for a mountain to climb. We hear there are several in the area. We still haven't been able to take Baby A on a nice long hike. We have taken her to some small ones, like the one in Germany. But nothing large and super duper awesome! Our plan is to do just that.
We also found the largest amusement park. They say it's like the "Italian Disney". Not sure what that means exactly, but we thought we could take A there before the new baby arrives as her last big adventure as an only child.
We have less than 2 weeks until our house gets picked up, so that is what we have been spending our weekends and evenings working on. It's such an exciting time in our lives!
What did you get from this post? It was a rambler. See what happens when you don't blog for so long and feel like you need to catch up. Then you have no idea where to start with catching up and you get all overwhelmed and frustrated. Well, I'm not frustrated but I am overwhelmed because there is so much I want to discuss! :)
Until next time...
Monday, July 23, 2012
Busy And Announcement!
Life has obviously been super busy. I think it's time that I catch up on the everyday life adventures. Then I can (as I have time) go back and add the moments that I was hoping to do before these updates. This will be our last few months in a nutshell.
On April 5, 2012, Baby A turned 1 years old. Her party was fantastic, and my family was here to visit. They stayed for two weeks, and we went sightseeing and did all the fun stuff that we do while family is around. Once they left, life went back to normal.
Mr. Man works long hours with his new job. We had just gotten orders out of cycle (to Italy), so he was having to do the briefings and meetings and such to make it happen in such short notice.
Then came the time that we would find out if he made Tech or not. Just one week before finding out, we got some exciting news.
We ARE pregnant with Baby C2!! I know. I should have announced this forever ago, but I wanted to make it a memorable post that I would look back on, but it looks like life has other plans in store for us.
A week later we found out that Mr. Man missed Tech by just a few short points.
A week later I found out I passed my teacher's certificate test with flying colors! I was able to send my records to the Louisiana Department of Education.
In between then and now, it has been appointments after appointments. PCSing, well checkups for Baby A, allergy appointments for Baby A (allergic to egg), and so forth.
We are two weeks away from packing up our house. 3 weeks away from taking our leave in Louisiana before heading to Italy. And 50 days away from starting our journey to Italy.
This is where we are at the moment. Life continues to be busy and hectic, but it is just that time of year with PCSing and Summer time all in one.
Hopefully I can break some of this up into different posts. We also recently went to a really nice air show right outside of Cambridge. It was amazing. Baby A LOVED it! Lots of pictures from that.
Baby A also models now for some small town boutiques, and she has been featured in a magazine twice already. This is the route I chose over pageants because pageants (to me) have gotten a bit out of hand. I would love to show ya'll some of her photos when I get the chance.
I also have decided that I want to do more studying in photography. After taking her pictures and pictures for other people, I have found that it is a passion of mine. Along with fitness... so I plan on going back to school to get a personal trainer certificate after Baby #2 arrives, and take some mentorships for photographing when I get settled in Italy.
That's where we are at. I am happy to say that things are great! Everyone is excited and happy over our upcoming adventure.
Until next time...
On April 5, 2012, Baby A turned 1 years old. Her party was fantastic, and my family was here to visit. They stayed for two weeks, and we went sightseeing and did all the fun stuff that we do while family is around. Once they left, life went back to normal.
Mr. Man works long hours with his new job. We had just gotten orders out of cycle (to Italy), so he was having to do the briefings and meetings and such to make it happen in such short notice.
Then came the time that we would find out if he made Tech or not. Just one week before finding out, we got some exciting news.
We ARE pregnant with Baby C2!! I know. I should have announced this forever ago, but I wanted to make it a memorable post that I would look back on, but it looks like life has other plans in store for us.
A week later we found out that Mr. Man missed Tech by just a few short points.
A week later I found out I passed my teacher's certificate test with flying colors! I was able to send my records to the Louisiana Department of Education.
In between then and now, it has been appointments after appointments. PCSing, well checkups for Baby A, allergy appointments for Baby A (allergic to egg), and so forth.
We are two weeks away from packing up our house. 3 weeks away from taking our leave in Louisiana before heading to Italy. And 50 days away from starting our journey to Italy.
This is where we are at the moment. Life continues to be busy and hectic, but it is just that time of year with PCSing and Summer time all in one.
Hopefully I can break some of this up into different posts. We also recently went to a really nice air show right outside of Cambridge. It was amazing. Baby A LOVED it! Lots of pictures from that.
Baby A also models now for some small town boutiques, and she has been featured in a magazine twice already. This is the route I chose over pageants because pageants (to me) have gotten a bit out of hand. I would love to show ya'll some of her photos when I get the chance.
I also have decided that I want to do more studying in photography. After taking her pictures and pictures for other people, I have found that it is a passion of mine. Along with fitness... so I plan on going back to school to get a personal trainer certificate after Baby #2 arrives, and take some mentorships for photographing when I get settled in Italy.
That's where we are at. I am happy to say that things are great! Everyone is excited and happy over our upcoming adventure.
Until next time...
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
12 Month = 1 Year
Baby A is almost 15 months old. I don't want anyone to get confused by the updates. I wanted to show her birthday party pictures and her one year pictures since I did some of the planning process through my blog.
When Arianna turned 12 months, we through her a small birthday party since we had family in. The theme was "Pink Poodle in Paris" because we originally planned on taking her to DisneyLand Paris and Belgium for her first taste of chocolate. However, once we found out we were moving to Italy, we decided to not take that trip and save it for when she was a bit older since we would be spending another 4 years overseas.
Here are a few pictures from the party.
As you can see, we ended up keeping it simple. It was rainy that day, so we only got to enjoy the bouncy castle for about 30 minutes. We had a few friends show up and my family. It turned out to be a nice day.
I will do the 1 year pictures next!
Happy 4th of July! (This is a scheduled post.)
When Arianna turned 12 months, we through her a small birthday party since we had family in. The theme was "Pink Poodle in Paris" because we originally planned on taking her to DisneyLand Paris and Belgium for her first taste of chocolate. However, once we found out we were moving to Italy, we decided to not take that trip and save it for when she was a bit older since we would be spending another 4 years overseas.
Here are a few pictures from the party.
As you can see, we ended up keeping it simple. It was rainy that day, so we only got to enjoy the bouncy castle for about 30 minutes. We had a few friends show up and my family. It turned out to be a nice day.
I will do the 1 year pictures next!
Happy 4th of July! (This is a scheduled post.)
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