Grains of Gratitude

Before I begin my grains post I just have a little vent. Someone stole our Sunday newspaper from our front yard! The nerve of some people. What would make someone think it was ok to just walk up to another person's yard and steal the paper that was obviously delivered there, when there are 2 vehicles, and the window blinds are open! I know it was stolen and not just a skipped delivery because I saw it out there this morning, in the plastic bag, when I opened the blinds in Kayla's window. When I went out to get it later on it was no where to be found. I subscribe to the Sunday paper specifically for the coupons, hello! Grrrr...

Ok now back to your regularly scheduled post...

Another week down! Wow if I continue to stay this busy the weeks just fly by and I hardly even notice Joe is gone. Ha! Believe me, I notice! We have been pretty busy so at least that helps pass the time.

1. I already mentioned I was happy to have no cavities at my dental appt (wish I could say we got good news at Kayla's ENT appt!) but I had a good OB appt on Thur - they are so uneventful though aren't they? Weight, BP, temp, pee in a cup, fetal HB, ok good to go! LOL Heart rate was in the "140s" - read into that what you will! I don't know if that is considered "high" or "low" but I will say that looking back on my pregnancy diary Kayla's heart rate fluctuated and she had some that were 139, 140s, 150s, 160s...so I don't think that is any indication of gender :)

2. I'm grateful preschool story time started back up at the base library. Kayla did really well sitting on the mat...usually she is up and down, over to the chairs, to my lap, this time she only stood up once - when she thought it was time for the craft :)

3. Thur night Kayla and I joined Jennifer and Katelyn at the Community Center for "Resident Appreciation Night" (the monthly event our privatized housing office does). There were meat, cheese, fruit and veggie trays, some freebies (pencils, potholders, mints), music, and door prize drawings. They called one of my ticket #s so Kayla and I went up to the stage to claim the prize (2 free movie tickets) and then Kayla helped herself to the stairs and went on stage. So I asked if Kayla could pull the next ticket and told Kayla, "maybe you'll pull Jennifer's #" and of course she did! She pulled one more ticket after that and it was my other ticket! So I won 4 free movie tickets - the good thing is they don't expire until the end of next year so I can wait until Joe gets back to go with him! Although when we'll find time to actually go to the movies with a new baby is another thing!

4. I mention our friends Jim and Jennifer a lot and how they are going to move at the end of the year. Jim volunteered for a 1-yr assignment to Korea so they could get orders out of here (and try to get closer to family.) Jennifer was going to move back home while Jim was gone. Well they went to a moving briefing and after that, and deciding it would just be too complicated to move her, decide which stuff to put in storage, etc...bottom line, she's staying here for the year Jim is gone! Purely selfish reasons, but I'm grateful she's not moving yet! She's ok with staying here too, so all is good!

5. At most of the base functions there is always a USAA rep and he always has a drawing for some AAFES gift cards. I always fill one out and never win. The last time he was here was at the 4th of July celebration. I joked to him about never winning one even though I fill one out all the time. Jennifer ended up talking to him for awhile too about never winning. He told her that he usually carries around a couple extra cards, but he had already given those away. He told her the next event he would be back on base for was the Holloman Entertainment And Travel (HEAT) Expo and he would personally give her a gift card; of course she mentioned one for me too and he said yes. So Friday we headed out to the HEAT and found him. At first I thought he was going to flake out on us because he kept saying he thought we had won the gift cards last time (noooooo). Then he took out the 2 gift cards for the drawing (said he would get the extra from his car) and gave us each a $50 AAFES gift card - whoo hoo! Plus he mentioned to me, since Joe is deployed, that I should call USAA and see what they can do with our car insurance policy to save some money. They adjusted it and we saved money on this policy! I hadn't even thought about that!

We picked up a bunch of other freebies from all the vendors at the HEAT Expo too - and Kayla enjoyed going around collecting all the pencils that were for free! Just look at what we got from the Ruidoso Convention Center alone! A tote bag filled with all these goodies and snacks!


6. I'm grateful Jim doesn't mind watching Kayla for me (he watched her last week when Jennifer and I went to the spouses' meeting/game night) and again this Fri for our monthly Bunco night. I reassured him now that Jennifer is staying here, Joe will be reciprocating and watching Katelyn so Jennifer can go to Bunco when Jim is gone :)

7. I'm grateful Kayla seems to enjoy our little excursions to Lowes for their kids' workshops. Here is what we made yesterday...

Concentrating hard


I did it!


See what I made? A tool picture frame!


8. Grateful Kayla and I were able to talk to Joe for a little while this morning. He's finally getting a day off tomorrow!

9. 18 weeks today! Not much different from the picture 2 weeks ago :)