Two Thousand Seven

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

A lot is coming in the new year, new state, new house, new job, and of course the new family member! Hope everyone had a festive end to 2006 and are excited about all of the possibilities of what can come in 2007. BEST WISHES!

A Lil Update

We're heading out for HIATUS tomorrow (2 week christmas break, just like back in high school) driving down to Atlanta to spend the week there, flying to Dallas to have a Wehmeyer family reunion, then back to Atlanta to play some more! We are both SO excited 1) for Geoff to finally have a break from class and studying 2) to get out of the little apartment and 3) to see family again!!

As for Squidget (a.k.a. le bebe (kasie), poppet (margurette), wee one (maren), butterbean (patty)) he/she is apparently a swimmer. I had a follow up appointment this morning to deal with my servere nausiousness and when we went to check the heartbeat the technician could hear it for a second then the baby would move, she track him/her down we'd listen for a second then the baby was off again. But the heart is strong and everything is healthy, YAY!
As for me, we hope that the upcoming 12 week mark will ease the "morning/evening/every other day sickness" but we've got drugs on hand just in case!

Hope everyone is getting into the holiday spirit..... Take care!

Introducing... The Wee One!

We treasure this first glimpse of you,

the amazing miracle of life is true.

So small, yet awesome in what you'll become,

grow strong and healthy our little one.

We are here, dreaming and waiting,

wishing, preparing and anticipating.

Each day a step closer to life anew,

each day a touch closer to holding you.

Today we got to see our little one for the first time, got to hear his/her heartbeat too... what an amazing moment! For those of you who didn't know... SURPRISE, WE'RE EXPECTING! We were waiting until this check-up to make sure everything was okay and now the cat is offically out of the bag.

Our little "squwidget" is expected on June 22, and we will all find out then if its a boy or a girl and what their name is (there are only so many surprises in life). So please keep the three of us in your prayers... and stay tuned for more fun news/pictures!

Bye Bye Bliss

It can suffice to say that we have had a busy week. Our orders - and where we thought we were headed after March and the completion of Geoff's Officer Basic Course - have changed 4 times.
While Geoff was away at BOLC2 in Georgia he had been talking to a guy who was interested in switching with us. For some unknown and uncomprehendable reason he actually wanted to go to Ft Bliss (El Paso) and switch us for his slot at Ft Hood (Austin, TX). The extra cool thing about his slot at Hood is that most of his unit would be moving to Ft Carson (Colorado Springs) ina year or so. Ft Hood is right by my grandmother and Ft Carson is supposedly one of the nicest bases in the country, so we were looking at a win-win.
As Geoff was heading up with Jeff to switch, another guy saw Geoff's patch and asked "Are you headed to Germanyt or Ft Bliss?" Turns out that guys was assigned to Geoff's same unit but heading to Germany and he wanted to stay in the states. So unbeknownst to me Geoff, Jeff and this other guy worked out a deal that would get everyone what they wanted...
Geoff came home that night and announced "we're headed to Germany"!
I got excited and started looking into all of the details about an OCONUS (outside the continental US) move. We had decided which car we would take, which computer would need adapters, which appliances we should sell and buy over there, and where our first tourist trip would be to. I was actually working on a medical report that they would need for us to leave the country and in the process of setting up a blood screen when Geoff called and said "no need in doing that now, nobody is going to Germany"
It turns out that the Army is pulling a lot of its forces from Germany and everyone who was headed there is being redirected to a base in the country. All 3 of the guys decided it would probably cause less problems if they went back to where they were originally assigned so that nobody would really get messed up. Okay, so now we're back to Bliss. --humpf--
Another call between Geoff and Jeff and they agreed that no matter what, they still wanted to trade... so the paper work is it, it got a tentative nod from the person at Ft Knox and now we are just waiting for the offical amended orders! Ft Hood/ Ft Carson HERE WE COME!

When the man wants pie...

Yesterday, when we were deciding what to make for dinner, Geoff had the freezer open and stated "I want a Buttermilk pie" My maternal instinct kicked in and said "silly boy, you can have pie for dinner", plus its not like there was a freshly made pie sitting on top of the stove.
I admit, I think I know Geoff fairly well and while I had no doubt that the man really could follow directions, I never thought that he would. Needless to say, by the time we had decided on a main course, the cookbook was open and Geoffs asking me "how much is a teaspoon?" I love this man! With the exception of not knowing how to "dust the top with flour" he earned his girl scout baking badge with flying colors. When the man wants pie, he really wants some pie!

((P.S. As i turn to get the camera he yells "if you take a pictures I'm going to dump this whole thing on your head" and I think the exact phrase captured was him saying "I'm serious"... luckily for me he wasn't))

You know you're in Kentucky when....

So, its a normal thursday day... Tiffany and I had overcome our bruised butts and vowed that we WOULD wake up early and go to the 9am spinning class. We WOULD withstand the pain and cycle till our legs fell off and we WOULD get in shape before the guys get back from Benning... Well, it was a nice theory!

Instead of a 8:30 call saying "You are going right, cuz if you're not going, I'm not going" I got a 7:30 call asking if I would go with her to the vet because her cat Tigger had gotten sick.
So we corner the cat, who had serious issues with the cat carrier and head out to Elizabethtown.

The animal hospital's waiting room was like all the other ones I'd seen, a carrier with two toy poodle pups in it, a big ole basset hound and us sitting there with Tigger. We notice that someone is having trouble opening the door so I got up to help... enter middle aged woman with long brown hair, dirty sweatshirt and...... THIS.....

She was just bringing in Mr. Big for his eye check up! A 7 week old colt sitting there with the dogs and cats. It was interesting that the dogs and cats didn't seem to be bothered... but we did hear Mr. Big whinny a time or two. You sure don't see that in Durham!

September 11th

September 11th, 2006 I, Laura Bartholomay Childs came dangerously close to wetting the bed. It was my first night/day at Ft Knox without Geoff and just as I was beginning to think I could handle it like a big girl I hear the one thing that sends you back to a 5 year old's fear...GUN SHOTS, from our living room. Thoughts of Geoff saying "I feel much safer leaving you on base for 6 weeks than in an apartment off post" kept replaying in my mind and before I knew it the shots were actually soothing. They kept going on and on as I drifted through the haze of confusion and before long I realized that September 11th on an army base was a pretty awesome and awe-inspiring thing. Whole companies were called to attention outside our door while the most honoring tribute of a 21 gun salute was given at the time when the first plane hit the Trade Center. YAY for life on base!

our new digits

I forgot to post our address:
PO Box 767
Ft Knox, KY 40121
(hint, hint...haha)

lessons we've learned....

Laura has to set aside time every week to "blog" because otherwise it gets pushed to the wayside... lets hope I can start keeping up!

I'd like to be able to say that in the weeks that I've missed that tons has been going on and now have pages and pages worth of updates, but I'm sorry to say that life just isn't quite that interesting.

Geoff and I made our first "real world" purchase and I am now the lucky girl puttering around post in the brand new Toyota Corolla! It was an exciting thing, mostly because the old clunky Taurus has gone to a better place and I actually have a dependable set of wheels to explore Louisville in. WAHOOO! That dependability is even more comforting now that Geoff is away from "home". He was a leadership development course in southern Georgia for the next 6 weeks and took the Camry so that he can back and forth to Atlanta on the weekends.

Back on base, the job hunt is still going... I knew that there were a lot of porn and pawn shops in the area, but I kindof thought there would be someother things too... places that would lead to employment, but alas we are still waiting. In the mean time I have discovered the two things that I need during Geoff's absense, a) scrapbook stores and b) a friend! I vowed that these 6 weeks would be productive and that the wedding scrapbook would atleast be started so the internet was searched and I found a handful of cute scrapbook and craftstores in the area (some that even have classes and get together nights) I'm really looking forward to having these around for Tiffany (see B above) and I to pass time in. Tiffany is the wife of Ray -going through everythign that Geoff is going though in Kentucky and this leadership course. Tiffany and I vowed to keep eachother company and more importantly... share the boredom!

Thank you all for the emails, letters and prayers, its great to be so lucky and loved!

Are ya 1? Are ya 2? Are ya 3....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEOFF!
just becasue some way across the Atlantic asked.... heres a re-cap of the day

Theme: Cars (best summer movie by far, we're talking laugh out loud funny)
Weather: kinda rainy, but still hot
Meals: Waffles after PT, Sandwiches for lunch, Salmon Stakes with rice and green beans for dinner, Funfetti cupcakes and Rainbow chip icing for the grand finale (just made you hungry didn't we)

but most importantly... one WHOLE day and not a single craddle robber joke! Thank heavens for the little miracles :o)

PICTURES GALORE!

Here they are, hot off the press.... NEW PICTURES
Rascal Flatts, our Apartment, Honeymoon and all

Happy viewings~
http://laurabartholomay.shutterfly.com/

so many changes...

So many changes in such a little time...
GREETINGS FROM FT. KNOX! We got to town two days ago and finally have time to visit the internet, things have been moving pretty quickly so I'll try to give a cliff notes version of the past few days

(I will come back and out of order do entries on Seattle, Rascal Flatts and our apartment)

We showed up Monday at noon for Geoff to inprocess but everyone was at lunch so we decided to figure out housing instead of wasting time. At the housing office we learned (contrary to what we'd been told over the phone) that they HAD to house all of the LTs coming through for "snowbirding". --To put it simply, Geoff's classes don't start untill the end of October so he's here doing busy work or "snowbirding" alond with 80 other people until then.-- So Winnie, our friendly housing officer, put in a search for a room open July 30-Oct. 28th and nothing was available. She called her supervisor in and boss lady said "oh, you can find something... try the 4778s" at which point Winnie's eyes got rull big and she shot us the "I'm hooking y'all up look". So she signed us in to our room, gave us the keys and sent us on our way. Where as most people are staying in a 10 story tower in a hotel room type space, Geoff and I have a full one bedroom apartment, full kitchen, furniture and the works. All of our neighbors out rank Geoff by 6-10 years, so we candefinatley say that good ole Winnie hooked us up. We are trying to figure out a way to stay here the whole time (until April) so I will keep you posted.

So the move-in is going like move-ins go... lots of trips to the Target and supermarket and back to Target again. Unpacking clothes, figuring out drawers and cabinets, battling with the air conditioner, you know, the usual!