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The past few weeks

A lot has happened these past weeks since I lasted updated. We moved into a bigger house, Jeff had surgery, and I'm almost half way done with my pregnancy!

We were living in a crowded two bedroom apartment before. Our stuff barely fit and we were constantly on top of each other. It felt like we had no space, even if I wanted to just have a peaceful couple of minutes I wasn't able to unless I locked myself in the bathroom. We were on a waiting list for a three bedroom home since we are expecting again. The housing office told us we would be lucky if we had offers for a new house by December, but not to count on anything before the baby was born. This really bummed me out, I knew how much extra space in our bedroom we had for a bassinett, none. So when we got a call a few weeks ago from the housing office saying we had offers I was beyond excited. I was getting so tired of walking up 20 stairs just to get to the front door of our house. And with Brayden not being able to walk up the stairs by himself it was even more tiring. We were offered two top floor apartments on a different base about 20 minutes away from where Jeff worked and a townhome on the same base as we already live on. We choose the townhome. It was a shorter move, plus we now have a yard that Brayden is able to play in. So far he loves it!

Jeff had surgery on his jaw to fix an underbite. The surgery was about 4 hours long, but we had to wait for him to wake up so it was about 5 hours in the waiting room with a restless toddler. Not fun. The surgery went well, but he has been in a lot of pain since. They broke his jaw in three places and is on a liquid diet. He keeps telling me he wants chips and salsa or McDonald's. My response-do you really think that will taste good blended? I mean I'm happy to blend it up if he really wants it, but I think hamburger paste would be nasty! So far the extent of his none blended food has been mashed potatoes.

I'm 19 weeks and 3 days pregnant! Almost halfway done! We find out on the 22nd if it is a boy or girl. I'm leaning towards boy. I just have a gut feeling. We would love to have a baby girl and have one of each, but I don't think this bun is going to be a girl. Also, we are less than a month away from going back to the states for a visit! I am beyond excited! I cannot wait for some good food that we don't have here. Texas Roadhouse, Red Lobster, Jack in the Box, any real Mexican food (not Japanese Mexican) I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! I can't wait to see my family and spend some quality time with them! Plus some shopping for the new baby!!

Get ready, get set, TYPHOON!

Since we've got here I've heard we should create a typhoon kit ASAP, well....I didn't and now here we are on the eve of our first typhoon. Yesterday the grocery store was ridiculous! Everyone was there stocking up, it made me feel very unprepared! So I did my best yesterday and today to make our make do kit. We have some canned food, tons of water, flashlights and batteries, and in case the power goes out ice in a cooler. I'm really nervous considering this is the first typhoon I've ever been through (typhoon is the same as a hurricane only in the Pacific past the International Date Line). I can do tornados like pro living in the Midwest my entire life, typhoons on the other hand....I suppose we'll see how it goes. It is only supposed to be at category 1, so hopefully it won't be too bad. Wish us luck!

My honest opinion of Okinawa thus far

Honesty. I believe it is always the best policy. But to what degree? Would Jeff had been so excited to come here if everyone had been honest about it here? I don't think so. So this is my honest opinion of Okinawa thus far. It is not a place for a young growing family. All the activities we've come across, restaurants we ate and even the house we live in shows this to be true. It seems most of the 'family' activities are geared towards school age children not toddlers. Sure you can go to the beach as a family, but at what cost? It certainly isn't a relaxing trip to the beach. Some restaurants are not child friendly. No highchairs or booster seats is a perfect example of this. Our home....oh my I can go on and on about this. But in short a 16 month old who hasn't mastered steps yet has a hard time just getting to the front door. Not to mention I'm pregnant. It is such a hassel to do anything by myself while Jeff is at work. I can't go grocery shopping....walking up and down stairs in the heat while my 16 month old is inside by himself isn't a comforting thought. I just wish more people were upfront with us about what exactly we were getting into with being stationed in Oki. I think it would be a pretty nice place if your kids are 7 or 8 years old at the minimum. Or you are a single person. Or married with no kids. There seem to be tons of bars around.

2 months down 46 to go!

We have been living in Okinawa for 2 months now, it has been a hard adjustment, but we are doing our best. We moved into our home the beginning of June and just last week our household goods arrived. So we've been slowly digging our lives out of boxes and finding places for things. Which is more difficult than it seems. The house we were living in had adequate closet/storage space, here nada. We are finding that we may need to downsize more just to be able to fit everything in our home.

We also found out that we are expecting baby #2 March 4, 2011! It was a nice suprise, we had planned on having another baby while here, but I didn't expect it to happen right away, but I'm sure everything will work out for the best. That being said we are on a waiting list for a 3 bedroom home now. Which leaves me at a crossroads, I want to make this house feel like home, but I don't want to unpack everything if we are eventually going to move within the next 8 or so months.

We made it!

We arrived in Okinawa, Japan about a week ago. The flight was long, but Brayden was a champ. Until he needed to stretch his legs and Jeff had to walk with him up and down the aisles again and again. The first couple of days we got here it was raining. The rainy crappy weather made me miss my home. I was feeling really down the first couple of days we got here. But once the weather cleared up and we found our way around a little bit things are getting better. We have our licenses and bought a car. The only thing we are really missing is our own space, and we won't get a house until early June. And not only do we have to wait, but the house we are assigned to isn't the nicest of houses. Hopefully, things keep getting better and we find our way here in Okinawa.

Let the moving begin!

All household goods are packed. All clothes, toys, dishes, and shoes are packed. The move is on! We are now living in temporary living facilities aka living out of a suitcase. I'm not a fan of this. It is so hard to find anything without unpacking the whole dang suitcase! It doesn't make it any better that I have to do this 3 times, yes 3. Not only do I have to pack my suitcase and Brayden's, but I have to pack my other son's suitcase, oops I mean husband! :)