The last 15 months has been rewarding, warming, relaxing, rejuvenating and just what we needed. Thank you to everyone that has been in our life and helped us with our journey home to get grounded. We truly have been blessed with friends of a lifetime that we have met and its always great to be so close to our families. Looking back at this past year - all we can do is smile. We are thankful that with all we have been through that there is always a solid foundation at home. We are now turning the new pages of a new chapter in life that involves making dreams come true. They are no longer just visions on a board, they are in action and we are on the move. I personally am so proud of Grady and so excited to watch him make his dreams of many years come true. The next few years are stepping stones in his life filled with passion. For the first time he gets to be passionate about what he does - I am so excited for him and for us. Timing couldn’t have been better for little Bambino to come along and give me what I am passionate about (starting a family) - Grady is too on board with me on this and things to me couldn’t be more perfect. I am so excited for my little peach to come into our world. I have always dreamed of being a mom and have all kinds of plans that I am looking forward to.

The guys came over Friday morning and thanks to all of them and with a good attitude got my piano loaded (I thought they might kill me by the end!). Then they worked hard and got the truck loaded. This was a tremendous help and thank you all for helping! Following the move dad started a little party at the house and I think the guys all enjoyed Grady’s last night with them.

Graydon and Lance seem to be enjoying their trip across the country together (or at least the first day). Though they wish the truck had more power they seem to be giggling and enjoying each others company. Thank you Lance for going with him, I know for Grady this trip with you is one of the best ways to end a chapter for him (Not meaning ending your friendship just living next door) - I am sure you know but you mean the world to him.

I am enjoying my last few days with my parents and staying with them - I am going to miss them dearly. Its going to be a huge change in my life to not have my mommy by my side, especially being pregnant. Though I have lived in many places away from home I still don’t think I have gone more than a couple of months at a time without seeing her. Her phone might be filled with my phone calls for a while! Moms are so precious - there are no replacements for what they do for us.

The guys have a couple more days of driving and I have a couple of more days of work to wrap up and I have a plane ticket flying to Daytona Thursday morning. We should be unpacked and in the house by the end of the week. Our first doctors appointment is on Monday and Grady should start school Tuesday so we have a packed full week ahead of us (or should I say an unpacking week ).

Again to all our friends and family that are close by us here - we truly will miss you dearly and you will all be in our thoughts often. We hope to have visits from you as well as I am sure we will be visiting home as well before you know it! I do look forward to being so close to my brother (7 hours). Rachel is already talking about coming down with the puppies for her spring break in a couple of weeks. It will be fun to see our friends on the East Coast more often as well.

I never thought i would be so excited to be fat! I was a little worried when most everything I am reading says most women don’t start showing for a while longer, however I feel different, my clothes fit different and yup - a belly that is getting hard! I had to go online to know that other women are showing at only 11 weeks - I am not the only one! (Given my tummy was not the flattest when I found out but still - its exciting!) So once I read a million blogs I got excited and we decided to start taking those fun Prego Pictures! The ones where every few weeks I take more and show my belly as it grows - the ones that I know Grandmas will love seeing

So here is the first set taken at 11 weeks:

Our last little fling before we leave the area… What better than a trip to Vegas with our friends?
For days before I think it wasn’t just my tummy filled with excitement, but everyone’s. We were all looking forward to playing for the weekend. We got a suite just off the strip and the weather was going to be beautiful - what more is there to look forward to?

Friday night we got in early, checked into the room and headed to the Sopranos Last Supper dinner show where we had a blast. It was full of interaction, dancing and just craziness. The guys started drinking right away but Christine played sober woman with me - and believe me we didn’t need alcohol to have fun. After the show we hung out at one of my favorite places at the Mandalay bay. Steve ordered sushi (and me a avocado and cucumber roll) and we relaxed in some comfy chairs as the girls drank tea and the guys just kept on drink’n. The band was great and the crowd was entertaining and I think I could have just there forever. (pretty sad when relaxing in a chair was the most enjoyable to my crazy nights in Vegas! - Does that mean I am getting old??)

The next morning I woke everyone up early (I was starving!). I swear I didn’t mean to wake everyone but I guess I am not as sneaky as I think. I went down to the continental breakfast and must have looked like a retard trying to balance all the stuff I brought up to the room. This guy had one of his bags he filled and I thought that was a good idea… maybe next time. After we got dressed we headed to Henderson where we planned on eating $2 breakfast (yes I ate twice!) at the Boom Boom room but after turning onto Water Street and almost getting ran over by a leprechaun we realized it was the St Patty’s Day parade and we weren’t going to get in to eat. So we headed over and ate Mulligans (not quite $2 breakfast), we went shopping then our hunt for the mini pai gow table started! With no luck finding a table we headed back to the room and in our swimsuits. We enjoyed a nice afternoon in the sun reading my book, drinking (well not me) and meeting new people.

Later that evening we had dinner plans to eat at Hash House A Go Go - which has great food and the plates are huge! They have a lot of award wining meals and Christine ate a whole 1 pound burger! We were all very impressed with her. With stuffed tummys we made it over to the Luxor just in time to be a few minutes late for the Criss Angel Circus De Soleil show. Christine was so bummed I thought she was going to cry as we had close to front row tickets and Criss was entertaining in the audience and because we were late we had to wait outside the doors and just listen. We did get to go in before the actual show started and we realized that we should have been up 2 more rows and then Christine would have been able to touch him and I dont think she would have every washed her hands again (so maybe it was good we were where we were??).

Anyway we had a great weekend - we finally found a mini pai gow on our way out of town and played for a minute. It was a great last get-a-way before our big move cross country.

We are so confused as how far along I am (is this normal??). We have our first appointment scheduled for April 6th - the first week we get to Florida. We are going with a midwife for now and over the phone the nurse told me I am 10 weeks along; which is a week further along that i have been thinking. Which kind of makes more sense as one of the things i read in my 9th week is how tired i will be compared to others. And this week I have more energy than last week - last week I could have slept all the days away. So maybe that is more accurate??? Who knows!

Anyway… shock to me that i don’t get consultations with the doctors - I just have to flip a coin and decide and go with it. Kind of scary?? This is such a big deal to me who I am getting advice from and who is going to take care of me and my baby and no one offers a consultation so I can meet them before I decide who I want to go with. Apparently this is normal and everybody just flips a coin and goes with it! The lady that setup my appointment with me was really nice and has I had many concerns of just setting up the appointment she filled me in a little on having a doctor vs a midwife. I have been leaning towards a midwife and Grady more towards a doctor, but when she told me that they schedule more time in my appointments with a midwife and that they are more personable and will spend more time with me that made my decision. This is my first baby and I have so many questions, worries, etc., that i would be more frustrated walking into a Dr. appointment and walking out not feeling that warm fuzzy every things okay feeling that I might not get if the Dr. is rushed. The lady who setup my appointment has worked in this clinic for 14 years or something and says that she would choose our midwife over the others personally and that she is really personable and she has never heard a complaint about her and that she thinks I will be really happy with her. That eased my mind a little. The clinic has 3 midwifes and 5 physicians and depending on who is on call is who delivers so even though our appts are with a midwife I might have a Dr. that actually delivers.

Now all that is left is trying to figure out the finance of having a kid with no insurance! I think our first payment that is due when we go to the Dr. is $750! Yikes! I believe it will all work out and we have applied for medicaid to see if we qualify and there are some other alternative health plans that i have been looking into - so hopefully we wont have to do this with cash our of pocket and if we do I guess I get to trust that it will all come to us just as everything as fallen into place for our move.

Speaking of move… Grady has decided that after a 3 hour drive to SLC this weekend and me having to stop and pee almost every hour he doesn’t want me driving cross country with him! So dang it… I get to fly Grady is going to find a friend or his dad might go with him - which will be better anyway because there is no way that Grady would rest or be even the slightest okay with me driving a 26′ budget truck pulling a trailer with my car on it. So this way it gives him another driver so he doesn’t have to do it on his own. Depending on who is going with him they will leave the 28th or 29th of March and I will fly in sometime the following week.

We have rented a beach house! Its not right on the beach but a block away. here is a google map shot:

We are on a non-condo part of the beach so just a few steps away we get to enjoy a great beach area. We will be a little drive from the school but i think the atmosphere is worth it! The house is a 2 bed, 2 bath with a Florida room (i will use for my office). It has a nice fenced in yard for the dogs and a jacuzzi (that i dont get to use for a while!). Anyways we are really excited and found the perfect rental for us for the year. Just a few weeks left!