It's here!

Graduation week for Joseph! He is so excited to be done with TBS. This has been a long six months for him. The six months included limited sleep, trips to the rifle range in the snow, trips to the field in the 90 degree heat, and land navigation in the dark. It didn't sound fun, but he made it! I am so proud of him and all of his hard work.

After graduation, we are going to Bethesda for our last non-stress test and ultrasound there. Joseph hasn't been able to see Blake very often during this pregnancy because of TBS, so he is excited to actually be able to attend an appointment. At my appointment yesterday, he was looking great. He has hair now. The ultrasound showed it! He also had his little toes in his hands the entire time they were measuring my fluid levels. So far so good. Hopefully the doctors in Jacksonville will continue with our treatment plan.

Everything is going well with our house. So far we are on schedule to close on the 6th of July. I am so excited to get there. Only another week and we will be sitting in our living room. Hopefully things will continue to go as smoothly as possible with the closing and moving.

Almost Done

The past few weeks have been busy. Buying a house is hard work, especially when you are doing it from five hours away. Everything has been going smoothly, but it still involves a lot of work and time on the phone. With Joseph being gone all the time, I had to do it all. We finally found insurance for our new home, which means we are officially done with our part of the process! The rest of the work is done by the bank, my realtor, and the sellers. I am done!

I have also been really busy packing and trying to get our house in order. Because Joseph is so busy at work, this has also all been on my shoulders. My list of things that need to be done is getting smaller and smaller. We have two and a half more weeks until the big move, and I think we are going to be ready. My mom is coming to help me pack next week, which will be great. We found a fridge and dining room set for our house, which were both things we needed. All-in-all it is coming together.

Everything is going well with Blake. We have about 10 weeks until his due date (which has made this packing and house buying process a little more challenging). I have officially been removed from the high risk clinic at Bethesda. I am just a normal pregnant woman, or so they say. It is going to be stressful switching hospitals at the last minute, but I have only heard great things about Camp Lejeune's L&D. The past few weeks have been flying, since I have been so busy with moving. Hopefully the next ten weeks will also fly, and he will be here before we know it.

I leave you with a few pictures of our house. I can't wait to move into it!

Changes...

Life is all about change. Sometimes good changes, sometimes bad, and sometimes indifferent. As I type this, I am surrounded by boxes. Our time in Quantico is coming to an end for at least the next three to four years. We are moving to Jacksonville, NC at the beginning of July. As we pack our things and prepare for our next adventure in Jacksonville, I think of all the dreams and plans that we had when we moved here three years ago.

I was going to continue working as a paramedic, and I was so excited about working in a busy suburb of DC. Joseph was going to work at HMX-1 for four years then get out of the Marine Corps. We were going to save money, then start a family. We were going to do everything right. We had it all planned out. God laughed at our plans.

While we have been in this townhome, our lives have changed so much. We have gained and lost so much. We learned how to live together as a married couple. We learned that Bailey will never be allowed to roam the house while we are gone, no matter how old he gets. We learned that tacos will catch on fire in a toaster oven (it even says so on the box). We learned that shower doors are horribly hard to clean, and we never want them again. We learned that laundry in the basement is a pain. We learned about and toured the sights of DC.

We also learned that bad things happen to good people, and no matter how hard we hope and pray... we are not in control of this life. No matter how many promises we make, we just can't make the outcome what we want it to be. We went through pain that I never thought was possible to live through, and we experienced the joy of a possible sibling for our angels. I will always remember Quantico, and all of the changes that we experienced here.

So, as we move to Jacksonville... we have plans again. We hope to have Blake safely, and be able to watch him grow up. We hope that our marriage will stay as strong as it is now. We hope that life will be kind to us.