Ashworth Alcove

I didn't officially announce that we were expecting until I was about 14 weeks along. So, I thought it would be nice to share how this journey began and share some moments from the earlier weeks. Ben moved to Alabama in May, while I stayed behind in Texas to finish my last quarter of school. I traveled to Alabama to visit and attend his graduation from the Warrant Officer training program at the very beginning of August. Ben had a few weeks of leave, so we spent a few days together in the Fort Rucker area then began the journey back to Texas. I had to get back to school, so Ben accompanied me. We stopped in New Orleans on the way to Texas and spent the night in a chic vintage villa, then finally headed home. During the drive we continued a conversation about having children that had been ongoing for a few months. We both thought it would be wonderful to have our first child while we were in Alabama. I would be done with school, he would be an officer, and most importantly... We...

The past two weeks have flown by. I've been busy working on shower invitations, which involved sitting at the computer for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, sitting at the computer really does a number on my back these days so I've not made much time for blogging lately. Shame on me, I know. I've had pretty high spirits over the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, my body has not. I won't go into great whiny detail, but I am experiencing abdominal muscle separation. It occurs when the main abdominal muscles begin to pull apart. And it hurts. A lot. Other than that, I've been feeling pretty okay. Our tiny girl is growing, no doubt. I already feel as if I'm running out of room for her. You can actually feel her little body now. Just poke around until you find the hard spot! Sometimes, if you're patient, you can even see her moving. You can see her kick or even see a body part go gliding across my belly. I really enjoy it and know I will miss it when...

It rained a lot in southern Alabama over the past week. I actually enjoyed the rain, but after several days everything in the house began to feel damp. Before long our whole house smelled like dog. Our dogs were clean and didn't actually stink themselves, but nevertheless, the smell in the house was undeniable. Maybe it was my pregnancy nose, but I was determined to get rid of it. You can find some carpet fresheners in the cleaning supplies, but most of them are only available in powder form. We've tried that before and our vacuum cleaner didn't want to pick it all up. And it actually discolored the carpet a bit. So, I was looking for something in liquid form that I could spray. Other than Febreze, there really wasn't anything. I like Febreze okay, but when too much of it is sprayed it makes me sneeze a lot and irritates the animals as well. So, I began looking online for home remedy recipes. There was quite a lot of information out there about the subject. After rea...

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday where I had another ultrasound to check the status of the cyst that I talked about in the week 24 post. After several minutes of looking, the ultrasound tech couldn't find anything at all! To much relief, the cyst is completely gone. I had a feeling that everything was going to be okay, but it feels great to know. My doctor believes that technology is advancing quickly and we are able to see things like this now, whereas we couldn't see them before. She believes it's a part of normal brain development and that we just don't always know what to make of it just yet. So, we have a perfectly healthy little girl. Ben and I were in high spirits yesterday after the good report. We decided to go out on a little celebratory date. It came a thunder shower as we were leaving the house and then an impressive rainbow streaked across the sky. You could see the entire thing, from end to end. I realized that it had been a while since I ha...

This past Friday on February 1 was Family Day at the airfield. The families and friends of the pilots were invited to come see them fly and get a good look at the helicopters. It was a really special day because these guys have been working really hard. Right now half of their time is dedicated to flying and half is dedicated to studying. They fly with one partner and one very experienced instructor pilot. I've been able to help Ben study the material they are tested over and I have to say, I have gained so much respect for what these guys are doing. The numbers, gauges, operations, and protocol they have to know is seriously impressive. The helicopter the Army uses for training and that Ben is currently flying is called a TH-67. It is the Army's primary training helicopter and is used during initial entry rotary wing training. Before Ben came to Fort Rucker and became a Warrant Officer he was a crew chief on the Army's Apache helicopter. Therefore, I'm accustomed t...

This past couple of weeks have been... Interesting. I really haven't felt that well, but some of my ailments weren't pregnancy related at all. I've had some weird sinus/allergy stuff going on which has led to me waking up every morning with painfully dry nasal passages. Then completely congested twenty minutes later. And sometimes my nose is completely stopped up and running at the same time. That one is fun. Add that to what I surmise has been a stomach bug and that just about wraps up the last week. I don't mean to whine, but being pregnant and sick just doesn't seem fair! Around the second half of week 25 I suddenly and unexpectedly exchanged my usual back/side pain in for a different kind. The pain I've been experiencing for the past couple of months has been more on my side at my ribs. That pain felt like I was being stabbed with a knife. It was pretty relentless. A few weeks ago my doctor suggested a new bra and that really has seemed to help some, al...