Moving Update

Does anyone really believe that we will be back in the contiguous 48 states in less than 3 weeks!?!?

Well, we WILL! Our plane takes off from Hawaii on November 7th and we'll be in Little Rock on November 8th with a kid, one on the way, 2 dogs and a cat (along with plenty of suitcases and bags!). Sounds exhausting to me, but so worth it!

Living in paradise has been fun...but 3 years is definitely long enough for us. We are ready to be back with family and friends and a chance to get in the car and drive to more than a few places! Oh, and can you say EXPENSIVE!?!? :-)

Anyway, our household goods were picked up on Thursday and Friday. Thankfully, the rain held off for those two days to give our stuff a chance at NOT being moldy when we get it! (It rained all day on Wednesday and Saturday!)

We had some loaner furniture delivered on Friday afternoon, along with a washer and a non-working dryer so that we can stay in our current house...just with the bare minimum. The dryer will be fixed tomorrow! We are just glad we don't have to sleep on an air mattress for 3 weeks like we were expecting (and have done before)!

The pets, Abby in particular, were a little freaked out with suitcases being pulled out and stuff being packed up and all that. Toby has gotten over his trauma of being out in the wilderness for a month during our second Christmas here and is making a run for it every time the door is opened. Not sure if that's because of Koa or the move. All I know is that we'll have to be very careful the next couple of weeks so that we have him with us when we board that plane!

The few things we have kept back with us (pots, pans, dishes, linens, etc) will be picked up on 3 November....and we'll be out of housing on the 6th! I have made several To-Do lists....and have kept a calendar back so I can keep track of everything we have to do.

By the way...a big day is next Monday!!! Brian's Change of Command is on the 27th at 10am!!! This is a HUGE deal since he has been in command the whole time we have been here and he's ready for a little break! He has enjoyed his command, but he's looking forward to just having to worry about school and not 120-180 people!

So, what will be doing when we get to the "mainland?" Well, we'll stay at Brian's parents house for a couple of days, then head up to Fayetteville to get the keys to our rental house. We are VERY excited about this house since it is more than TWICE the size of our current house! We will have plenty of room if anyone wants to visit!

At some point, we'll make the drive to Missouri to visit family there....and then back to Little Rock for a little bit longer of a visit AND to go watch the Razorbacks play LSU the day after Thanksgiving.

I'm sure the stuff we have in storage in Virgina will be arriving at some point as well as our household goods, my car, and the unaccompanied stuff we sent back right before we left. I think sometime before Christmas, we will be moved in and settled into our new house and just waiting for Colten to make his arrival!

So, now that I have turned this post into a book, I'll just leave you with a cute picture of our two dogs that will most likely be mad at us when we finally get to Arkansas!

And his name shall be....

Brian and I are proud to announce that our second baby boy will be named....

Colten Tyler Steele

Austin has "approved" and we all really like the name. It was harder to come up with a name this time around....Austin's name had been picked out since we were dating. This time around we didn't even really discuss it until after the ultrasound! We went to Borders one night when we had some extra time before a dinner we were supposed to go to and both sat down with different name books and threw names back and forth between us.

Only a few names seemed to appeal to both of us and Colten and Tyler kept coming back around. We went back and forth on which should be the first name, then decided that we both liked Colten as the first name better.

As far as how I am feeling....I have been feeling great! I think I am doing MUCH better with my health this time around...and haven't gained as much weight as I did with Austin. I think I'm carrying it better as well! :-) I had been seeing a chiropractor as well, so I hadn't been having much back pain until recently when I haven't had the time to go.

Austin talks all the time about his little brother. He's excited about sharing a room (it was his idea and we are going to see how it goes when Colten sleeps through the night and is moved to his crib). He also says he's going to be a big helper when we have the baby. The other day we were talking about luggage and moving and Brian said something about it being nice that we won't have a whole carry on bag devoted to just diapers, etc this time around (since Austin's in underwear now!). Austin looked horrified and said, "We NEED to bring diapers....the baby will need diapers!!!" I had to explain that there will be plenty of diapers in the stores in Arkansas and that we can just buy some when we get there!

We are excited about meeting our new little guy....let's just hope he decides to come on time instead of being stubborn like his brother and be LATE! :-)

Another beach day!

Ok, one more beach post....at least for now! Before long, we will be back in the mainland for the winter and we'll all be wishing we could be looking at some sunny pictures like this!!! :-)

Austin had a fun day at the beach the day Amanda and Danielle went home, so I had to capture it all on the camera.

Sea Life Park

While Amanda and Danielle were here, they did quite a few touristy things including parasailing and swimming with dolphins...both of which I wasn't able to do as well since I'm pregnant!

They swam with the dolphins at Sea Life Park, so Austin and I got to have some fun as well. I didn't get many pictures, but here are some of what I did get.

Feeding the turtles...they eat lettuce, celery and broccoli that are sold by the cup for $3.

Danielle swimming on the dolphin's belly.

Amanda swimming on the dolphin's belly.

Paradise Cove

Amanda and Danielle wanted to do a luau, so we took them to Paradise Cove Luau. To Brian and I, it seems to be a good all-around luau with lots of activities before the meal and show. They have polynesian games, lei making, "tattoos", and canoe rides. Plus, a mini show when they bring out the kahlua pig and then the bigger show after people go through the buffet for dinner.

Austin got a tattoo this time around....

Austin and his shark...plus the tea leaf headpiece that was made for him.

Danielle on the left with Amanda...aren't they beautiful!!!

Austin about to throw a spear at the target.

A pretty picture I liked

Amanda, Danielle and Austin

Brian and Austin hanging out.

A pretty shot of the hula dancers...

North Shore ... part 2

For some reason, Austin always waits until the last minute to enjoy the water when we go to the beach. He plays in the sand or sits on his towel until 10 minutes before we climb into the car, then he seems to be drawn to the water...even if he's not dressed for it!

In this picture, he has been wading in the surf and then decided to lay down in it...

Then he decided that it wasn't enough to just sit down and lay in it...he needed to get REALLY wet and sandy!

He's happy now...

Then, he found out what happens when you get your jeans wet....they fall down unless you hold them up!
I'm sure our friend Jill would say to add another dollar to the therapy jar with this picture....but I think it's a great picture to show to future girlfriends!

Aunt Amanda and Danielle Visit Us!

Aunt Amanda and her friend, Danielle, flew to Hawaii to visit us...ok, and to take in the sights of Hawaii before we leave and they have no one to stay with! :-)

The day after they got in, we bought tickets to the things they wanted to do, went to a birthday party for Austin's friend and then headed up to North Shore for the sunset.

We had a blast at the beach and it was a gorgeous sunset!

Amanda and Danielle

Austin and his Daddy

Our Family

A bonus shot of my belly since everyone has been telling me I needed to post one. :-)

The sunset

Aloun Farms Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin patches in Hawaii are so different than the ones that I am used to! First of all, they are not open to the public until the last two weekends before Halloween. The rest of the month, they only allow school groups and other educational groups to visit and get a quick lesson about farming/vegetables. The good thing is that the playgroup that we sometimes go to visits every year, so we get to go earlier than the rest of the public.

The "tour" consists of a short talk about different vegetables and farming, a tractor driven hay ride, and walking out to the field and "picking" your own pumpkin. Not exactly high speed, but during the hay ride Austin said, "This is awesome, Mommy!"

So, here are the pictures!

All About Austin...

I recently found out about Gap.com's Casting Call online and decided to take some updated pictures of Austin. I dressed him in his blue shirt and new brown pants that Yaya just absolutely LOVED when she was here and took him outside to play. Now, it wasn't the greatest lighting...and I had him facing the sun at the beginning because it was behind the clouds when we walked out there, then the clouds moved (did you know they did that!?! LOL).

I did get a picture I thought would be good for the contest. Brian had a different opinion, but seeing as how I took them, and eventually entered him, I got the last say! Hahaha..sorry Bri!

Here are some of the pictures I took and thought everyone would like to see...

The picture below is the one I entered into the contest....

Koa

Koa is getting a post all his own!

He's about 4 months old now and is a whopping 30 pounds! It seems like we've had him forever now. He's only a month older than Abby was when we first got her....and this is the age when I came into Abby's world (after I was done with college and moved back to Fort Campbell to finally live with my husband!!!)

Koa's growing so fast that I'm not exactly sure how big he will be when we finally move back to the mainland. I'm predicting around 50 pounds or so! He will definitely be bigger than Abby is when he's full grown though...but hopefully not as fat! We have noticed that he has a different body type than she had when she was his age though, so he'll have the typical "weim body." He's all legs and looks goofy when he runs towards us!

Right now, he sticks around the yard and doesn't run off. He loves being around us, so when he's in the neighbors fence or in the house when we are outside, he whines and cries. He loves to find avacados in the neighbors yard and eats them whenever he can (they aren't good for him, but he still loves them). In fact, he's ALWAYS looking for food!!! Which is probably why he's growing so so fast!

Koa goes to his kennel on his own whenever we are leaving the house. We tell him to go to bed and walk towards the room and he goes right in. He also goes in there when he's had enough of Austin. :-) However, he LOVES to sleep with Abby instead of in his kennel. We recently (within the last couple of days) let him sleep with her all night and he's done great. He just wants to be close to her and we all sleep much better! Before, it was kind of like practice for when the baby comes...he'd wake up a couple of times whining to sleep with Abby. LOL

We are hoping he continues to be a good dog...and that the chewing phase that Abby went through passes him by without any damage! :-)

Here's a picture of him...I'll post more when I get them off my camera!