30 Weeks

I know I have been terrible at documenting this whole pregnancy thing, but hey that's just me. So my mom has been asking for pictures to see how big I am getting, and because I love her I finally took one. I think the last picture was at 21 or so weeks and now (well tomorrow) I will hit 30! Boy have I been slacking. Holy cow that means only like 10 more weeks to go, where has the time gone? Lets be honest with the holidays around the corner that 10 weeks will be gone before we know it. I love this time of year
1) Thanksgiving, I love to eat!
2) Christmas, I love the lights and music
3) New Years, although I have never been one to look forward to the big new years eve thing, I am sure excited for 2014
4) BABY! well maybe my birthday first but that will remain TBD.

So I guess we should do the obligatory baby update
-Weight: no idea honestly I have not been keeping track what so ever I let the doctor tell me how I am doing. I think we are around 18lbs? gained
-Names: none decided
-Movement: this one is an active one folks, moving all the time. Yes that means doing my job is becoming harder by the week. Lets just say sitting and trying to drill when the little one is jabbing you in the ribs=really uncomfortable. But to me movement means he is healthy so it's all good.
-This weekend I finally broke down and bought some maternity clothes. Let me elaborate, I have been in maternity/sweat pants for a few weeks now, but I have managed with one pair of maternity jeans and just my normal tee shirts. But now I have finally realized that even my regular tee shirts are well not fitting so hot.
I will leave you all with what most of you opened this post for a picture...

It's A...

On Tuesday we had the "big" ultrasound! It was so exciting to see little baby V. The military does things a little differently (I assume since I personally wouldn't know) then the civilian side. When I got my ultrasound the hubby sat in the waiting room for almost an hour while did all the pictures. Then after the technician finally got all the pictures she wanted and showed them to the radiologist finally we both got to see the baby together. It was just so amazing. Baby is looking good so far, everything appeared normal so that was a huge relief. We also have one active little baby. The little one was moving and flipping for the whole hour. The tech was getting a little frustrated because she was having a hard time capturing what she needed. But the news everyone really cares about, drum roll please...........

If you know the Valeri family well you are probably not shocked in the least, I mean hubby is one of 5 boys. So tradition continues, we will add another little baby boy V to the family. We are beyond excited. Really we didn't care boy or girl, we really just want a healthy little baby. Being honest I think hubby wanted a boy, I mean what boy doesn't want a little boy? So now the name game begins and it is hard I have no boy names I am attached to, good thing I have a few months!

21 Weeks

I know I am terrible with updating...but whatever better late then never.
Here are the stats:
Week: 21 (22 will start Monday)
Sex: unknown
Weight gain: I don't know have been monitoring, some were around 13 lbs
Feeling: Good, just tired alllll the time. Otherwise good.
Cravings: mostly salty foods (chips, crackers...)
Aversions: none
Finally....here it is a photo update!

In other exciting news, we have the BIG ultrasound this coming week! I can't wait. Hopefully little baby V will cooperate and we will know the sex. So stay tuned.

15 weeks and Counting

Oh how the time flies. I can't believe that I am almost done with week 15. It has been up and down as far as I feel. Some days are good and some are hard. I don't feel really sick compared to what I hear from others so I guess I have it good. But let me tell you some days at work are tough, and all I want to do is go home and go to bed. Case in point I fell asleep at 6:30 last night, yes you read that right 6:30 PM...as in most normal people haven't even eaten dinner yet. Oh well, I just say my body was telling me I was tired so I was being good and listening to it...good excuse right? I don't have any pictures because well frankly I don't feel there is much to show. Mostly I just feel bloated and like I am getting out of shape around the middle...I know that it's normal but I just don't feel like I want to take a picture. I did have my monthly appointment yesterday, man there is something about hearing the heart beat that just makes it seem so much more real. And they said that next month they will do the "big" ultrasound and I won't lie I am a little bit (a lot) excited for that. Yes I want to know the sex, I hate surprises and like control so I will try and find out if the little one cooperates. So let the poll begin now team Pink or team Blue? I always thought team blue but the Chinese calendar says team pink...so just food for thought.

Announcement Time!

So I know it has been ages since I have updated on here...but its because there has been a lot changing around here. Lets see what has been happening
-Put in an offer on a house, had it accepted, then had an inspection and well long long story short we walked away from it.
-Art has been coaching a T-ball team and that just finished last weekend.
-Arts work had a dining in which he was in charged of doing a lot of the planning so he was really busy at work.
-Graduation from AEGD, well the ceremony anyway I still have another month of work then I will officially just be a dentist.
Ok, ok and the real reason I haven't been very active? Drum roll please...
I am Pregnant!!!! We are sooooo excited, and I am excited to finally share it with everyone. So far it hasn't been a picnic but it also could have been much worse (so I hear from others). I have been nauseous but never physically sick. Exhausted all the time, I am talking lunch time naps bed at 8pm. The down side of the military is having to start work at 7 am which means no sleeping in. I have been slacking horribly on my working out as well, maybe 1 time a week. I am hoping to pick that up here soon, but the lack of energy and nausea haven really been killing me. That is all for now, but do not worry I should be back more often now.

The last three weeks have been crazy. Oral Surgery rotation...well I survived, and we will leave it at that. Actually it turned out better then I had expected so that is that. Other than that Art and I have been really busy working on finding a new place to live next year. That will have to be a post of it's own at a later date though. I don't want to write that saga out quite yet, I really wanted to wait until it is all settled. Just been so hectic with everything going on here, between my work/art's work, house hunting, Art coaching T-ball, me swimming a couple times a week. That's pretty much our lives right now.

It's Not That Bad

This week was a great week for me in "blogland." Thanks to Kelly over at messydirtyhair and her mini messy project. My blog got a ton of exposure and my first comments ever! When I first started this it really was mainly for my parents to read (which I don't think they ever really did), but as I invested more in it I really wanted to start connecting with others. Now I feel I have started to break through and do that and I can't be more excited. This got me started thinking to, that I wanted to start putting together a weekly link up to hopefully connect the few readers I have together. I am not tech savvy so any advice on how to do this please feel free to shoot me a comment. So here was my thinking...
Have you ever noticed that people tend to stress about things that are coming up (a big test, presentation, meeting, etc.) and then after they realize it was no big deal? Sound familiar? I am a huge offender of this. So what I was thinking would be fun is to write on Sundays what is stressing me out about the week to come and then the following week follow up with how everything went as well as write my stresses for the next week. My hopes is that we (myself mostly) will realize that maybe we do stress too much over the little things. Now I know I won't ever stop stressing out about big events but I am hoping that maybe I can learn the little things that I stress over that really don't need to be. Who's in?
This weeks Stresser:
OS (oral surgery) rotation, I head back to OS for a 3 week rotation. For those of you non-dental readers that means a week of pulling teeth and starting IV's. Now the work is not was stresses me out it is the environment. The surgeons tend to be a little more for a lack of a better word uptight sometimes, but don't get me wrong their job is very stressful. They have a higher risk profession by nature so I understand, but for me I just hate working in that type of environment.
That is pretty much my huge stress out this week.
Last week:
Even though I didn't write last week I will quickly summarize what I was stressed about and how it turned out.
Presentations...I had to give 2 lectures to my residency mates this week, one was about 5 min and one was 30 min. I hate public speaking, always have. I have learned to deal with 5 min. presentations from this residency, as we do them all the time, but 30 min? Well it went great! I didn't think I did that well when I was up there, but the feed back from my directors was that I did really well. They thought I was knowledgeable, prepared, and well thought out. Case in point, I spent so much time worrying about this and for what? Nothing.
Thanks for those of you who made it through this entire lengthy post!

Good Advice

Yesterday some coworkers and I had a "mentoring" meeting with our commander...no we were not in trouble, this is just one of those military things we do. During this meeting he said somethings that I think are so often forgotten. First he told us to never confront people when we are angry because "You will give the best speech of your life that you will later regret." How true this is, how often have you been just livid with something that has happened and you just go off and either confront the situation or vent to someone then later look back and think wow I totally over reacted or said something totally out of line. I know I have done it.  Another really good piece of advice I think people forget is don't be so quick to make judgements/assumptions. Again I know I am guilty of this. Recent example is I found a high school friend of my has been battling lupus for sometime now, and I never knew. My friends and I were quick to judge her as "faking" being sick to get out doing hard swim practices with us. Little did we know that she had some underlying condition weather she knew it at the time or not I don't know, but that is irrelevant. I feel just terrible and wish I could go back and stand up for her and stop the mean things we said. I can't say I won't fall victim to the judgement trap because I am only human, but I will try my hardest to step back and try to remind myself that I don't always know the whole story.
What advice do you have?

Lets Get Messy!

Sooo what is the MINI project you ask?! well if you haven't guessed it yet its allllllll about the mini parts of fashion - the ACCESSORIES...which can also play a huge role in our everyday outfits. Just like clothes, accessories are also worn differently by each person depending on their style, shape, look etc.  So the MINI project will focus only on accessories....but I don't mean just jewelry - tights, hats, sunglasses, headbands, bows, scarfs, shoes, belts, gloves are alllll accessories as well.  Like before   
The Deal 1 Accessory 4 Girls 4 Different Styles 1 Major Blog Day

So a quick background for those of you that are new to my blog (which is 99.9% of you). I am a Dentist and work for the USAF. I love my job and helping our service members. I am married to another military dentist. I grew up in California and hope one day to make my way back there. Oh and I am obsessed with my orange cat Sniper. Now as for my fashion sense...well I don't really have one. I have to admit that I was very nervous signing up for this because I really don't know a thing about fashion or how to dress. I mean my daily outfit is usually my camis, hair pulled into a low bun, and minimal makeup...and accessories? Well forget those because I am not allowed much in that department. This is what I look like most days

(me on the right and my roommate  on the left, during Officer Training)

Kelly did an amazing job picking out something super cute and super fun. She sent us some pink tights from forever 21. These tights went from ballerina pink at the toes to hot pink near the waist. So here is what I did...

My thought was a simple outfit for a night out. Something fun yet easy for even the most fashionably challenged to achieve. Basic black boots, jean skirt, plain t-shirt, and fun pink head band. Just enough color but not overwhelming. I opted to show just the hot pink portion of the tights for a real bright statement. Thanks for visiting and don't forget to...

Check out how the other Girls wore them!

Kelly

Amanda

Reveal Eve

Well tomorrow is the big day, it is the reveal of the Mini Messy Project. What is that you may ask? Well it is a blog link up my friend puts together once a month. You can find the details at her blog MessyDirtyHair. Stay tuned it will be an exciting day.

Just Keep Swimming

For those of you that don't know I basically spent 90% of my childhood summers at the swimming pool. Between practices, life guarding and coaching the pool and swimming was my life. Then when I left for college I feel out of touch with the sport. I just never got into swimming without a team behind me. It just wasn't the same swimming alone. Which if you think about it is really weird considering you don't really ever "swim with anyone." So there was a good 9 year period were I didn't really swim. Sure I hit the pool for an hour work out here and there, but nothing consistent. This past week I finally decided I really wanted to try and start again. I found out that Biloxi has a Masters swim team right off base here. So I just took the plunge, literally and figuratively I guess and signed up. I had my first 2 practices this past week. I was really scared and almost wanted to chicken out the first day because I had no idea what it would be like getting back into the pool, would I embarrass myself terribly? But in the end I am ecstatic that I did it. I forgot how much I loved being in the pool. It just has this solitude to it for me. No matter how many other people are around I just get lost in it all and block everything else out. It just makes me realize that in life sometimes you can't be afraid to put yourself out there for something you are passionate about.

Southern living

Life has been a bit busy. To start for those of you who follow which may be umm 1 person and they probably already know all this, anyway A. came home. Long story short his orders to deploy were canceled so he is back home safe with me:). Can't lie I was thrilled, although I know he was actually strangely kind of looking forward to it.So we have been busy just trying to spend a bunch of time together enjoying every minute we have, because they could call him up anytime now that he is trained to go.
Two weeks ago my brother came for a visit which was awesome. We found an ultra marathon about an hour forty five minutes north of here, crazy an ultra community in MS? So a couple months ago my brother and I signed up, myself for the 20K and him for the 50 mile. I trained not nearly as much as I did for my last 20 K so lets just say I was hurting the next few days. But back to the race. It was a nice trail, but really muddy. I mean ankle high mud is hard to run in. Also there were calf high creeks to wade through. Oh and did I mention that it was 30-40 degrees out? Yeah cold water=numb legs. It was quite the adventure, but I finished 5th for the women so I was pretty stoked. And my brother, well he did AMAZING finishing 1st in the 50 mile. Who would have known he was just cleared by his doctor only a month or so ago for full activity? It was a fun weekend.
One final note, we finally found out where we are going to be stationed (officially). Let me back track a little, when being assigned down here it was told that I would be kept here because A. was on orders for a couple years here, but with the military you learn to take everything with a grain of salt. But they made good with us and kept me here, so we will enjoy the mild weather and southern food for a couple more years.

All work and no play

Yup that is what my life has felt like these past few weeks. Well almost, I did get to spend MLK weekend in Fort Polk, LA with Art. He sadly didn't get off training Saturday or Monday, I thought one of the perks of being in the military is getting off government holidays right? Apparently when you are preparing for deployment that is not the case, they work you all the time. It was nice though to see him. Being at home alone all the time gets really old. Watch tv, cook/eat, run/workout...Really that is all that has happened in three weeks, wow I have a sad little life.

2012 Has Come and Gone

And what year this has been. There have been so many changes this past year I can't even believe it has all happened sometimes. It is kind of ironic that 2013 is starting me back where I was in 2012 though. But I am getting ahead of myself. 2012 brought new places, Art was in Chicago working at Great Lakes. It brought new friends, our friends the Secrests who I miss so dearly. Suzanne was probably the best friend that I have had in a very very long time. Then I [finally] graduated from dental school! Seems like a long road traveled but I made it, and it really wasn't all bad, there were a lot of great memories along the way. We moved down to Biloxi. Now talk about a change in life, but at least we were together again. No more long drives or early morning flights or lonely weekends apart. Well at least until I went to COT for 5 weeks. But hey that was what I signed up for right? I guess this is the military life. I never thought I would be working for the military but to be honest it has been a wonderful experience. Life was just rolling along, we were both working and exploring the South...but as it always seems to be with the military expect the unexpected. Art was cut orders to deploy to Afghanistan in February for 6 months, however he had about 3 months of training (not here in MS) so now 6 months turned to almost a 9 month deployment, with 2 weeks home for the holidays (thank god!). That brings me back to the irony of "a new year" it really isn't new, I was hoping this new year meant being together more, but haha nope we wont even see eachother for the next 7-8 months, sigh. So I guess here is to 2013 may you fly by, keep my husband safe and bring him home to me soon!