College Girl

I started my FIRST college class this week and had to laugh when a fellow student revealed they felt "behind the power curve" about starting classes so late - he's a decade my junior.

In other news, JG signed for his deployment tasking in December.

Bad Dream

Last week JG and I went to the OB orientation on Fairchild where we got a list of DO's and DON'Ts. The weird ones that I don't remember from the first two times around were no herbal pills or tea and no deli lunch meat. Those two 'minor' things made me even more paranoid about the Vicodin I started to take just one day prior to being reunited with JG. Then I got even more worried when I realized I could have been pregnant before we even left Colorado Springs - at the height of my Vicodin use.

With all of that weighing on the back of my mind I had a dream last night that we went to my first OB appointment. I was telling the doctor about my concern and the nurse pulled out a model of a fetus in a test tube - the baby was missing its entire right arm and had a chunk missing out of its skull. "This is what you've done to your baby," she said. 

I hate bad dreams. 

Baby!

The negative pregnancy test before JG left for Japan made me cry. Why was the world against us? But March 30, with JG on the phone, First Response said positive and the blood test confirmed it. The week has been filled with calling family and friends - not wanting those closest to us finding out on Facebook. The projected due date is Dec. 23. Zachary, whose birthday is the 22nd, said "I don't want to share my birthday!" while laughing. Edward and Zachary say they want a brother. Quite honestly, it would be nice to buy pink for a change. Every baby shower I've attended to welcome a baby girl my gift is clothes for that very reason.

A little Buzzling on the way …

Jennifer’s pregnant.

Wow.

I honestly didn’t think it would be this much of a shock. After all, we’ve been trying for a while now. And really, the most surprising thing is that we were actually in the same time zone, let alone the same room, for long enough to actually GET pregnant. But hey, there it is …

The current batch of minions is doing really well with it too. Edward bought a book from Barnes and Noble to read to the baby. Zachary is excited about having a new baby brother to take care of. As long as it’s a baby brother. I may have scarred them about having baby sisters. I feel justified in this …

Nevertheless, Jennifer really wants a baby girl. So does her friend Martha, also known as her mother-in-law. Really though, we won’t even find out the gender til later this summer. For my money, that means there’s not a whole lot of preplanning we can do. For Jennifer’s money, however, and apparently, it seems to be all hers, we need to look at cribs, clothes, strollers, swings, walkers, car seats, diapers and diaper genies. What kind of wishes do diaper genies grant?

At the very least, at this premature stage, I’m willing to entertain names. Jennifer, on the other hand, finds my names entertaining. I don’t feel like she’s taking me seriously, as she keeps vetoing all my suggestions:

Boba Fett Buzanowski

Tax Deduction Buzanowski

James Tiberius Buzanowski

Megatron Buzanowski

Darth Bacon Buzanowski (since she also vetoed my wanting a bulldog)

Chun Li Buzanowski

Indiana Jones Buzanowski

Should she break the embryo and have a boy and girl twins, we WILL be naming them Luke and Leia. That sound you hear is me putting my foot down …

We expect her to be due around Dec. 23. Zachary’s birthday is the 22 and he’s decided he will NOT be sharing his birthday. I agree. Even if New Baby Buzz is born on the 25th, at least then they’ll share a birthday with Annie Lennox. Sweet Dreams, indeed …

But we’ve wanted to add to our family for a while now, so we’re both pretty excited about it. I can’t wait to celebrate. Of course, that will have to wait at least another week while I’m in Japan helping with tsunami and earthquake relief. Is it too soon to bring home a katana to hang over the crib?

Whether we have a boy or a girl, though, we’re just thrilled to have another little minion to add to the mix. Now to try and convince Jennifer that Mets Buzanowski is perfectly acceptable name …

Normal, Here I Come!

JG left for Japan today. A week ago I started a blog post that didn't quite finish that I'll share with you now (see below) then I'll fill you in on how JG's adventure came about.

FROM MARCH 9TH: So I've been home from my adventures in Colorado for 2.5 weeks now. The knee injury was a bad sprain so my time at home has mostly been spent visiting physical therapy, studying for promotion and cooking. Two weekends ago JG, the boys and I visited my grandmother, Ginger, and my Great Aunt Brenda at my Aunt Daphne's house. It was nice to take advantage of visiting East Coast family while they were house sitting.

This summer the boys will be flying to visit family in New England. They are so excited. Since leaving Virginia the boys are now enjoying a traditional school calendar instead of a year-round schedule. So, the grandparents want to take full advantage. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all the free time. 

Between now and summer vacation we have guests coming to visit us here. JG's mother is visiting us the first week of April. The boys will be on spring vacation and it's also the week of our second wedding anniversary - so JG and I are planning to have a two-night getaway to celebrate. Martha's birthday is also in the month of March so we'll be able to celebrate the occasion while she's here. JG's best man, Mike, is coming here the first week of July with the twins who are now 15. BBQ, fireworks, camping, hiking maybe some boating - it should be fun.

Zachary, Edward and I dropped JG off at the airport this morning on our way to make Zach's morning appointment at Sylvan Learning Center. Surprisingly I didn't cry. I knew it could be worse - so I was thankful of his destination. JG is in his deployment rotation, so if it wasn't Japan for an unknown amount of time it would surely be another six month tasking for the Middle East.

The big joke, since we're trying to have a baby, is that JG needs to wear some groin protection. The other joke is that JG will come home with superpowers. Neither are funny. I take getting pregnant very seriously - so if JG came back with superpowers from a mutation our third child would be even more of a handful.

I need to pick the boys up from their new karate school - they had a parents' night out that they were excited about attending. They wanted to only attend half of the event so they could stay up for a little bit once we're home. 'Super Mom' out. :)

Mile-High Writer's Club

So, we’re in the air. During take-off JG and I discussed the incident at ticketing. But, I left off at Macy’s 50% off luggage sale. We bought two new large suitcases with four wheels each. Black, of course. They barely fit in the Prius with all the other luggage. I checked three suitcases on my way down – plus I had the backpack. JG had checked two suitcases and carried on his laptop case.  As you can imagine it was a tight fit. We decided we’d repack the luggage at the rental drop off.

We were still about 10 miles or so from the airport when we stopped to get gas. I was bored and pulled out the instruction manual for the car. The futuristic control panel had a fancy display for the ‘hybrid system’ but it wouldn’t really explain where the bars needed to be to show that you were driving ‘eco-groovy.’ I was trying to figure out if we were going to burn too much gas in those last 10 miles and would need to fill up again. For a hybrid we had for four days I was shocked we went through an entire tank of gas.

I discovered we were only using the ‘hybrid’ features if the box above the meter read “ECO” – please note this word never came on between there and the airport. I found out the prius has an 11.9 gallon tank. A few miles into the drive back to the airport I got so annoyed “ECO” didn’t show up on the control panel – if it’s a hybrid how come it isn’t doing it’s eco groovy cheer? So, I thought that if the cruise control were activated it would do it automatically. Upon my insistence, JG tried using cruise control but it was broken.

JG was annoyed I was only interested in the car a few minutes before we turned it in.

So, we get to the rental car place, cleared the car and began the repacking process. It took longer than I thought it was. We ended up leaving two of the old suitcases next to the trash can. We timed it just right to catch the shuttle before it departed. I turned back with a bag in each hand to tell JG that my crutches were on the chair. He didn’t hear me. This comes after me telling him in the car that we could leave them , that if I needed then again they’d give me new ones. I guess JG didn’t hear me because at the airport he asked where they were.

So we get to the airport. There’s a line of ten people. There are at least three electronic check-in terminals open. No one is moving; they are oblivious. I swoop in at the one on the end. JG and the dude behind the counter give me a hard time for cutting. (We ended up getting in line … eyeroll.) The conversation JG and I just had on the plane ended with me saying “I’d rather be rude than stupid.”

His bottom line? “The people in line were waiting to be called. And you cut.”

Granted, they probably were, however, each attendant was working two terminals. It’s not like they were being pro-active in the middle of checking one person’s bags to make sure maximum efficiency was achieved by having the next customer get their boarding pass.

Besides, the next person in line was a gaggle of 10 young people traveling together. The amoeba was ruining it for everyone else.

JG got me a wheelchair. That was fun. I got rammed into the doorway of the elevator, a woman’s bag rammed into my bad leg as she entered the train, and I got felt up by security because JG insisted I ride the chair through security instead of walking the few steps through the scanner.

I’m sure another eventful something will happen before we make it through the front door. Tomorrow morning will be an early morning for us. Zachary has his first tutoring session at sylvan. Edward is getting a free evaluation.

Aunt Heather was nice enough to watch the boys while JG came to Colorado Springs for my graduation. He got in the day after I injured my knee. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. The graduation ceremony last night was a killer though, up down-up down-up down without being able to put my leg up. Both times I used the restroom I sat for a few minutes in the power room with my legs up in an ottoman.

JG looked handsome in his mess dress. The last time he wore it was for the wedding. Speaking of, we got a call yesterday from the best man. He and his kids are coming out in July to visit for a week. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with other people who like to camp and hike as much as I do. JG has already warned me we’ll be playing a 24-hour session of a Star Wars role playing game.

There -  I think we have it all covered now – the French toast, the Air Force Academy and the Crutches.  

French Toast, Academy and Crutches

"You can start with 'I didn't get sent down the escalator in the wheelchair, but I was real close,'" said JG after he asked what I was chucking about.

About 15 seconds prior I was laughing, "there are just so many ways I can start this blog entry."

This morning we ate breakfast and Gunter Toody's - we split a strawberry smoothie and the French toast and the 'Big Rascal' - ham, bacon, sausage, pancake, eggs and hash browns. Then we went to the Air Force Academy - JG has now seen each of the military service's Academies. He was shocked I had never seen a photo of the chapel. It looked like it was going to transform in an F-22 any second.

After a few minutes admiring the beauty of the stained glass and gorgeous mural inside the chapel, we walked to the ledge that was about 50 feet above, looking over the parade field. More than a dozen flights in formation were waiting for something to happen. JG was ready to head back to the car but curiosity got the better of me. "I want to see what happens." 

After the band played the Air Force Song (trivia: the Air Force does not own the Air Force Song, I think we should buy it) a loud horn sounded and all the cadets in flights wearing BDUs (the old-school cammies) and yellow ball caps charged a little hill in the middle of the parade grounds. Then, as they left the ground the other flights, wearing ABUs, were marched towards the band.

Still wearing a leg brace and taking pain meds and really pushing myself, JG had asked a security forces Airman to drive me to our vehicle a few hundred yards away. When JG got into the car he said he had a helped a man in an electric wheelchair up the hill because his batter way dying. This wasn't the first time JG would be pushing a wheelchair today.

We met his friend Tammy for lunch in Denver. We ate at a really good barbecue place. It was fun listening to JG and Tammy talk about the adjustment to being in a relationship with someone who has kids. Tammy is a former lieutenant in the Air Force who worked at the AF Academy after she was force shaped. After we described the excitement on the parade field she said they only "take the hill" five six times a year. (I'd still like to know more about it if anyone would like to leave a comment.)

So then, we went to the nearest Barnes and Noble that was part of an outdoor mall. After we parked in a parking garage we surfaced to a chocolate shop. I got dark chocolate-covered strawberries decorated with white chocolate stripes. JG got the English Toffee covered with dark chocolate and nuts. We spent the next two hours at the bookstore catching up on email from the last few days.

On the way to the airport we passed a gorgeous shopping area - JG wanted to stop and buy a new suitcase as two we had traveled with were on their last legs and there were still a bunch of miscellaneous loose items inside the rental. Lucky for us there was a 50% off luggage sale at Macy's. 

Oh ... we're boarding now for Spokane. I'll finish this later ...