To Our Fans in Albuquerque

We got another package in the mail on Friday. It was from our friends Mitch, Jess, Emma and Kaitlyn in Albuquerque. Emily was excited to open the package and see all of the neat stuff for her brother. Emma was also really thoughtful, and added in a present for Emily; Emily really liked the cool purse, necklace and headbands.

Thank you Emma (and the rest of the fam) for sending a present to Emily and her soon-to-be baby brother.

Happy Halloween!

The entire month of October we've prepared Emily for Halloween.

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We decorated the house, and talked about all of the decorations.

She got a Trick-or-Treat pumpkin bag, and we practiced knocking on our door and giving her candy. We explained Trick-or-Treating many, many times throughout the month so that she would understand for the Big Day.

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And, over the course of the month, we've tried-on the different Halloween Costumes with the constant comment from her "I don't like it."

So, because she was so "I don't like it" with all the costumes, we had on standby: Elmo, Snow White, Monkey and a Rescue Swimmer costume...but...
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The big question this year was:
What is Emily going to be for Halloween?

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Her costume was going to be a surprise to us all.
What was her day-of choice for a Halloween Costume...???

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She ran at the sight of a dress for Snow White...she wouldn't even try that one on.

No Snow White.

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Was it Elmo...?

Nope...not Elmo.

Was it the Rescue Swimmer?
Nope...not a rescue swimmer.

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Was it a monkey?

Well...it didn't look like it at first.

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But, then she changed her mind, and Emily was a monkey this Halloween.

~~~

So, we took our little monkey out trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. It was about 7pm, and dark outside. Luckily we've had beautiful sunny weather the past week, and the clear skies stayed-put for Halloween Night - perfect for a night out! It was still dark outside, but there were a lot of kids out; I think we had about 40-50 come to our door.

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(I should probably mention that although we had clear skies it was still 35 degrees outside...and snow is forecasted for the remainder of the week. Yes, it was COLD!)

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Emily was a little shy to go to the door. She wouldn't say "Trick or Treat" to the people, but she had no trouble holding her bag out for the candy...and then she would say "Thank you" when the candy went in her bag. It was sweet.

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We visited about 6 houses in total. It was cold and I don't want her eating a lot of candy. So, we let her get a "feel" for Halloween and then we went home. Once home she was excited to dig into her 'pumpkin purse' and start eating the candy she got.

In the end, she had a really good time and next year will be a whole lot easier!

~

Nigh...Night!

First School Performance

Emily had her first "school performance" on Thursday. They had a Fall Festival where the parent's were invited to come and watch the kids sing and dance. It was kind of a cluster with a room FULL of toddlers and babies, but she participated...somewhat.

Happy Birthday Pumpkin

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we carved pumpkins. I wasn't sure how Emily was going to handle this...she's been carting around her little pumpkin this last week as if it were her new baby.

How would she handle it when we cut it open??

She did really well and had a smile on her face the entire time. She wasn't too keen on getting dirty, so it took her a while before she stuck her arm in the pumpkin to pull out the seeds with her fingers.

In the end, she had a great time carving her pumpkin.

The next little dilemma was lighting the pumpkins.

She thinks that the candles are "birthdays" and that she must blow out the candles once they are lit. (She sings Happy Birthday and everything; it's cute)

...

So, we will have carved pumpkins this year

...they just might not be lit. (lol)

The Boxes Keep Coming...

We opened more boxes last night. This set came to us from Grandma & Grandpa Crandall, Grandma & Grandpa Mendolia, Aunt Ann, Aunt Carol & Uncle Gary, Scott & Melanie, Diney, The Inces' and the Bennett's.

I think I'm still amazed that we're getting surprise shower gifts, and that we're actually having a baby. We only have 6-8 weeks to go, and up until now, I just haven't prepared anything for his arrival. But, after all this, I feel much more prepared! This shower has really made me excited to have another baby on the way! Thank you so much!

Here's some pics of some of the latest gifts. This time we had a little help from the Soon-To-Be Big Sister...

And here's a pic of Emily testing out her brother's crib:

3 Days of Boxes

Well, after the initial surprise that everyone sent a present for the new baby, we finally decided to open what we had received thus far. We had three-days of boxes, and got gifts from...Jamie & Melanie, Great Grandma & Grandpa Humphrey, Matt & Katie, Ted & Marie, Tom & Denise, Susie, Chrissy, Aunt Josie, Alicia & Allen, Shaun & Jenna, John & Cindy, and Aunt Karen.

(Our weather has been up-and-down the past week or so...so, if you've sent something, I'm sure its on it's way - we get socked in with fog at times and no planes land on the island; this includes the mail plane.)

I'm sad that we weren't home to be able to do this in person, but here are some pictures of the totally awesome gifts we've received for the new baby thus far:

We did receive more packages today and I'll post pics of those when we open them tomorrow.

Thanks again for everything!

We just can't thank you all enough!

Something like this means so much to both of us,

and it definitely helps us to be more prepared for the new baby's arrival!!

(Only 6-8 weeks to go! - personally, I think he'll be early...we'll see!)

Surprise at the Post Office

I got home early from work this afternoon. It was a little after 3 o'clock and I was looking forward to getting some chores done around the house before the rest of the family got home from work & school. I pulled into the driveway and walked out to the mailbox. It was actually a nice day today in Kodiak, which these days are unreliable and unpredictable. I opened the mailbox and to my surprise, there were 3 "parcel pick-up postcards" from the Postman. Now, I was thinking to myself "This is odd...what did I order?"



I order quite a bit online these days, and we usually have to go to the post office and pick-up any packages that we receive. I thought to myself I could have ordered, maybe, 1 package...maybe they gave me the post cards in triplicate by mistake...or maybe something was on back-order and it's finally here...or maybe my parent's sent me something again. You see, I just got a package from my dad a few days ago and they have been bugging me to let them know when it arrived. As you may have heard me mention...avocados here are a delicacy, and REAL guacamole just doesn't exist. So, my dad sent AN ENTIRE flat rate box FULL of avocados from his tree in the backyard. I made a huge bowl of guacamole and STILL have about 20 avocados left! Anyway, the Preggy-Lady (me) LOVES avocados, but I was thinking to myself Gosh, I hope this isn't more avocados; I won't know what to do with them all!

So, I continued doing my chores around the house until it was time to pick-up Emily from school. I figured that I would stop by the post office on my way to get her and do it all while I'm out. So, a little over an hour later, I pulled up to Safeway.

Now, I need to digress a little here...the post office for our area is located inside Safeway, which is just down the street. It's Safeway employees and they do all the regular mail-stuff you'd expect from your neighborhood post office. Yes, we do have a post office...it's not that rural here, but the Safeway post office location is close to our house, so they leave all of our packages there.



So, I pulled into the parking lot...parked the car...and went inside. I walked up to the counter and handed the girl my 3 post cards. I wasn't quite sure what to expect??? I didn't order anything. She left with my cards and came back about 30 seconds later and said "You better go grab a shopping cart and meet me at the back door." Seriously?!? You got to be kidding me! What the heck am I getting here???



So, I grab a grocery store shopping cart and walk to their back door where she invites me to come inside. Now, how many people get to say that they got to go behind-the-scenes at the post office?

I walk back into their storage room lined with boxes...with my Safeway cart. The girl is waiting for me near a wall of flat rate boxes and starts to put boxes in my cart. I'm imagining only 3 boxes...I only had 3 post cards. So, she loads 3 boxes in and I start to walk away...she stops me before I go anywhere and throws in 3 more boxes! 6 boxes! There must be some mistake!



Just then....I start to thinking...ok, something is going on here. I didn't know what was happening. There were packages in there from Grandma Humphrey, Matt in Hawaii, Lauri, my friend Chrissy, Cindy...ok guys, what is going on here?!?!?! There is something MAJOR FISHY about all of this!



So, how to get to the bottom of this..................MOM.



Who could be responsible for this...Who knows the answers...



I called mom.

Mom wasn't much help. She knew what was going on, I could tell, but didn't want to tell me. She said that I'd have to wait and talk to Lisa. To my surprise, Lisa has thrown me a "Surprise Baby Shower" via USPS. I just can't believe it! I am just shocked! Surprised! Amazed! And, I had NO IDEA this was coming! I never expected anything!

When Lisa was here a few months ago, her and I registered for baby boy stuff online. I figured we probably wouldn't get much in the way of presents (we're so far away) but at least we could tell people that "we're registered" if anyone should ask. So, her and I had a good time picking everything out. (Sadly, Chris was in Texas during this time and didn't get to participate much.)

And then, today, to find out that Lisa had orchestrated this whole thing...It warms my heart to have her as my sister. It means a lot to me that she rallied our friends and family back home to help us celebrate this new Baby Boy. Exciting events, such as this, make it difficult to be so far away; and makes us miss family more and more. Lisa has brought the family and the celebration to Kodiak - and I can't thank all of you enough for all your love and support.

We were thinking about opening the packages we've received thus far over the weekend, and any others as they come. I'll be sure to put up as many photos and video as I can so that you all "can be here with us."

Again, I can't thank all of you enough for the warm-fuzzies you're sending from home; it means the world to me! Thank you for all your love and support, and thank you for helping us welcome Baby #2 into the world. ...and, Lisa, you amaze me...I love you.

By the way, "Baby Boy" has a name...you'll have to hang in there to find out what it is.

Don't worry, we'll tell you his name real soon. :0)

Pumpkins

Emily's new favorite things are pumpkins!!

We were at the market the other night and she saw pumpkins out in a bin. Her and Chris went over and picked one out...she really hasn't let it go since. She tried to sleep with the pumpkin that night, but we wouldn't let her...and then, the next morning, she tried to take the pumpkin to school with her. I found a "pumpkin stress ball" in our box of Halloween decorations, and gave that to her...she hasn't put it down since! She still LOVES the real pumpkin...but, she can sleep with the small/soft pumpkin. And, yes, that one went to school today.

I can't wait to see her reaction when we carve the pumpkins!

Sick Again

Well, I hate to say it, but about every 6-weeks Emily gets sick. It's school...that place is like a petri dish of germs! So, if you haven't heard, the latest thing going around is "Fifth Disease."

Apparently it shows up in children as a regular cold, with a rash. But, in adults, it can be much more harmful. Now, most of us adults probably caught it as children and therefore built up immunities to it - but if we break out with Fifth Disease we can get diseases such as Polio, and it can cause major issues to unborn fetuses, so therefore pregnant women are suggested not to be exposed to the disease. This worries me a little, but...what can we do...Emily gets sick, we all get sick...it's just the cycle of things. It's not like we can sterilize the environment.

As far as The Preggy-Lady is concerned...I was tested for the disease last week and we should hopefully have the test results back soon. But, hopefully I was one of those "lucky children" who caught it young and built immunities to it. In the meantime, it hasn't been confirmed that Emily has this Fifth Disease, but Emily's sick yet again!

Our Little Superstar

More exposure for Chris: http://www.uscgalaska.com/go/site/780/

Belly Bump

The 7-month doctor's appointment was today! We're well on our way to having Baby #2! No, no more ultrasounds, so we'll see the little-guy in December. But, here's a picture of the belly bump. He's definitely a bit bigger than I remember Emily being.

The 7-month appointment has been the "shot appointment." It wasn't fun, and I'm sure Chris is tired of me complaining, but I got 2 shots, gave 2 viles of blood, and needed to drink the sugar-syrup. (The sugary-syrup appointment is tomorrow...and I think they'll be drawing more blood again)

I got a flu shot and an RH Shot (I'm negative, Chris is positive...blood type) That shot went in my hip, so I had trouble walking for a few hours afterwards. Flu shot went in the arm, no worries there...Flu Season in Kodiak is far worse than Flu Season in CA...people actually die up here.

The blood was drawn for a precautionary measure. Emily's School had a Fifth Disease Outbreak last week and if pregnant women are exposed it can be extremely bad for the unborn fetus and the mother. So, if I've contracted it, we should have those results back by early next week. I'll let you know.

And next the sugary-syrup. I think the hardest part about that will be fasting. Luckily my appointment is in the morning, but it's hard not eating anything...they said a few crackers would be OK, so that should get me by. And then, I think, more blood after that. FUN! (j/k)

Potty Problems

*Looking for a Good Home*

Small, loyal dog with much love to give.

Only 3 years old and guaranteed to be your best friend.

Ya, we're having issues with Bryndall. I need some advise. Since we've been here in Alaska we've had some potty problems with Bryndall. She refuses to go outside and get her feet wet in order to go potty. This makes things very difficult because, here in Kodiak, we get something like 90 inches of rain a year. It rains practically every day here!

Everyday we go through this routine with Bryndall where she wants to go outside, and then she sees that it's raining and she lays on the floor in protest. She'll go for days without ever going potty.

That is...until we find a wet spot or a pile in the house. She'll hold out for as long as she can, until she just can't hold it anymore. We do everything we can to encourage her to go outside to go potty, but nothing is working.

Is it too late to kennel-train her? Would it be mean to have one dog in a kennel and one dog that is not? Chloe has no trouble pottying.

Is there another way to potty-train your dog? The nose-in-the-puddle and punishment-thing isn't working. She does it anyway.

Advise?

Good Morning Cranky

Each morning is the same...Chris gets up & gets Emily out of bed and ready for school. He's gotten pretty good at it, although he is always cranky in the mornings. "Sleeping Beauty" really needs his sleep, so 6am comes really early for him.

Emily is not the happiest of kids either. Well...she starts off really happy in the morning, but she wants to dilly-dally and play with all of the stuffed animals in her bed. Chris, of course, is on a mission to get her ready and off to school so he's not late for work. Its definitely a recipe for conflict every morning.

By the third of forth "No" or "Mommy!" and the sounds of a frustrated husband, I finally decide to go down and help him out. By this time Chris is usually pissed off and angry. Emily isn't much better for me; she's still very cranky, but I've just got a different way of dealing with her...and between the two of us it's a lot easier to get her moving along if we're both down there helping.

I know I sound lazy, like I should help from the beginning...but, Chris likes to do things all by himself so I try to only help when I am needed. Anyway, I know mornings are frustrating for just about any parent trying to raise a 2-year old...and, in all honesty, Emily is definitely not as bad as I was as a kid. But, how do you not allow these mornings to spoil the rest of your day?

Another "morning issue" is breakfast. You see, I feel Emily should have a piece of toast or granola bar in the morning, and Chris disagrees. Emily doesn't eat much dinner and she is usually hungry in the morning, but Chris feels like he doesn't have time to make sure she gets something to eat. An Eggo or granola bar only takes 10 seconds, but he doesn't want to battle with her about "I don't like it" - or - "I want it" ---so, as a result, she gets nothing.

Now, the kid isn't starving. She gets breakfast at school, usually around 9am. It's not a large breakfast, but it's usually enough. But, my concern is that...she didn't really eat dinner, she doesn't get breakfast at 7am when she gets up, and then what if she doesn't like what she gets at school...will she be hungry all day?

Chris and I have this "discussion" every morning. Sometimes he wins and she doesn't get to eat...and, sometimes I win and she gets something small to eat on the road. What are your thoughts? Whose side would you be on? We'd love to hear.

Strapped

I know "money" is one of those topics that is considered Taboo...but, I feel a need to express how strapped I am feeling today. As you know, we have been in our new house for about a month now...so, all of the bills are coming in and BOY DO I FEEL IT HITTING THE WALLET!

The first month was fun...thinking of all the plans we had for the house and all the changes we wanted to make. We painted and got everything moved in. Chris spent 2 days re-graveling the driveway. We switched out light sockets and leaky faucets. We trimmed the plants and caulked windows. We finished painting the kitchen & dining room just last night and they both look fabulous! And then we just sat down this morning and started talking about "what project are we going to tackle next..."

Well, that was until we had to SLAM ON THE BRAKES!

So, on the first of the month we paid our very first mortgage. That was exciting! My first mortgage payment! (Seriously, I was actually excited.) I knew how much it was going to be...it was budgeted for...we could afford it...I was prepared. --- Then, the rest of the bills caught up with us. ---

Our water/sewer/garbage was $115.00 - WOW! I wasn't prepared for that. Luckily Chris replaced and/or fixed the massive amount of leaky faucets in the house, so hopefully next month it will be less.

I'm still waiting on the electricity bill...God only knows what that's going to be!!

But, the thing that's killing me the most is the DAMN FUEL BILL!!

Being that we're originally from California, we had NO IDEA what heating fuel was!! We've asked a lot of questions about heating fuel, and in all honesty it's been a HUGE DETERRENT as to Why? we didn't buy a house sooner.

Every house on our Alaskan Island has a fuel tank attached to it; some of them are above ground and some of them are below ground. We have a 500 gallon tank below ground. So, as a native Californian, you ask yourself: "What does that mean?" "How many gallons will I use?" "What will it cost me per month?" "What should I expect?" "How much is it per gallon?" "Who determines how much I use?" "Where do I get heating fuel?" "How does heating fuel work?" "Do I need heating fuel?" ...the list of questions goes on-and-on...

But, no matter the numerous questions, we just couldn't get anyone here to break-it-down Barney-Style for us to where we could 100% understand what they were trying to explain. Afterall, these people were Alaskan or had lived here for many years...it just comes natural to them - they didn't know how to answer our simple questions.

Well...live and learn...that's the best way to put it. It took me over a month to get it all figured out. We set up an account with Petro Marine Services who will plan to come to our house once-a-month a fill up our tank. (Much like your Sparkletts Water Man would fill your cooler back at home.)

We got it all set up and, the other day, the Fuel Delivery Guy came. It just so happened that we were home at the time the truck pulled up, so Chris went out to watch the guy fill our tank. The previous owners filled the tank 6 weeks earlier, so we weren't quite sure what to expect with this fill...afterall, we were fuel-virgins.

Chris came back in and said the guy filled our tank with 123 gallons. I was like...Cool, I have no idea what that means, but cool. So what does 123 gallons mean? Over a 6-week period and only 123 gallons...?? It didn't seem too bad. Yet, the weather had been kind of nice over those last 6 weeks. And, we haven't kept it too hot in the house; it's actually kind of cool in the house. So, what does 123 gallons mean?

I'll tell you what 123 gallons means...123 gallons means $356.00!!!

HOLY SHIT!

You see...they don't "bill you" until the driver gets back to the office with the amount of gallons he filled up. So, we had no way of knowing how much this was going to cost us. Fuel prices change daily so there is no "expected cost" to any of this - you're at the mercy of the economy. Remember this posting when you're filling up your gas tank at the pump and cursing at it because gas prices had jumped 20 cents this week...ya, you remember this posting! Think of me and my damn fuel bill and just how much that stupid 20 cents makes a difference over here!!! Curse at that! Imagine filling up a 500 gallon tank!

HOLY SHIT!

You know what the kicker is to all of this...we're not even into the winter season yet! It's not even cold outside...it's still sweatshirt weather. How much fuel will I need to warm this house when there is snow on the ground?

So, all bills combined...ya, we're going to be broke.

Oh well...we love the house and we're glad we made the leap into home-ownership.

** BREAKING NEWS **

** BREAKING NEWS **

This evening I was at the store when I glanced over to see the person next to me in line reading the Weekend Newspaper. I did a double-take...THERE WAS CHRIS ON THE FRONT PAGE!! Yep - Chris has officially made his newspaper debut as a US Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer!!

I was SO PROUD! I went back into the store and grabbed a newspaper, and then stood back in line for yet another ten minutes just so I could buy a paper to show him!

Here he is on the front page of our local Kodiak Daily Mirror with the camera crew for The Deadliest Catch, showing these men survival techniques in the event of a capsize.