Things Starting To Fall Into Place...LET'S HOPE!

Well, it is looking like some things are starting to take shape with our future. I have two more flights left, but I have my landing within 45 days of my A-10 class start date, so I technically don't need to complete any more flights. We think we might have a house in Tucson. We have a mover scheduled to fly in and move us. We have a name picked out for our baby. And we finally went to Luckenbach, TX, so now you could say we are finally ready to move to Arizona.

I flew five times this past week and finished up my simulators, so I am very close to completing these additional events. They are trying to finish me up and have me help out in scheduling for the rest of my time here. Whatever, I am just ready to get out of here.

We have been looking at houses in Tucson and we submitted an application on one. It is a little scary because it is sight unseen, but we really don't want to be living out of a hotel room for a month with a pregnant lady, a guy with an attention deficit disorder, a hyper 91 pound puppy, a crotchety old dog, a fat cat that continually "meows" for food, and a cat that urinates on everything it sees. We did have a friend take a look from the street on the property and we have seen pictures, but it is still going to be a surprise. It is a smaller house with tile floors, but it does have a backyard...although the term "yard" in Tucson means "small rocks." We only found a few houses that had grass. We decided to get a cheap house off base to help us financially, since we are still making mortgage payments on our house in Idaho.

We are planning on leaving the 6th of November and my dad has offered to fly in from CA and help us move to Arizona. Candi wasn't thrilled with my plan of having her drive the U-Haul truck, pulling a trailer, while being ready to have a baby at the first big pothole on the road. I tried to convince her that I would be following in my pickup real close for moral support, but that wasn't enough! So my dad will be driving the U-Haul and trailer (towing Candi's car) and I will be driving my pickup with the map to each hospital along the way...just in case I don't miss that pothole and Candi decides to have the baby in the middle of the cactus, roadrunners, and Javelinas.

We finally came to an agreement on a name for the baby. It came down to an arm wrestling contest and I had to make it a best out of five, but I finally won! Truth be told, after Candi's first two wins and me crying uncontrollably, I think she let me win the next three times. The name I picked is... I can't give it away that easy, but let's say we will call him "JJ" for short.

Finally, we took a nice little Sunday afternoon drive after church today. We had been wanting to go to Fredricksburg and Luckenbach...and now we can say we have been to both. Fredricksburg is an old German town that still looks old. It had a lot of old churches which were pretty cool and a lot of shops to go through. Then there was Luckenbach. I thought because there were multiple songs about it, that it would be something special. Not so much, it is really only a bar, bandstand, dance hall, and general store...but, they were still cool. It appears to be the coolest spot if you own a Harley, since there were more bikers and areas for bike parking than anything. It actually was pretty cool, but a lot less than what I expected...although, I saw some pretty awesome looking bikes like the last picture, which is my dream bike.

Candi continues to be in good health and grow. I however, continue to lose my health with each answer to her questions. Questions such as, "Does this dress make me look big" and the beatings I am getting due to my impending answers are really taking their toll on me. Normally, you would never say anything makes a lady look big, but when they are hugely pregnant, you start to think they have come to terms with the fact that they aren't the same size they once were...NOT SO! You walk the line between not being close to believable and big lie, like "I still don't think you are showing" and "you probably shouldn't wear that since it says maternity and you don't even look pregnant." No, I am joking, but Candi is starting to feel like she is very pregnant. She is doing great and managing just fine, but she is learning her new limitations in regards to getting winded on walks and not being able to sit very long...so don't tell her she is going to have to sit in a vehicle when we move to Arizona. Candi is now 34 weeks into this and doing very well. I had heard a lot of horror stories of the mood swings, cravings, etc., but Candi has been great through all of this and I couldn't be more proud of her. I know now that she will be a great mother, which I guess is good news since there isn't a lot I could do about it now, if I thought otherwise!

Addicted To Shopping

Let me start off with saying, that because I don't have any real "manly" flying news, I will temporarily give up my man card to discuss the other happenings in our lives. I, however, have full right to reclaim my man card after this post and return to talking about manly things like killing animals, football, and motorcycles.

Well, we did something this week that we hadn't done in...HOURS...we went shopping! Last week I was thanking everyone for all the presents, gift cards, and money...now I want to thank the first group and curse the last two! The gift cards and money have made us addicted to shopping, except I don't get a high. I know that I am complaining for no reason, because we couldn't have brought all that stuff home or shipped it down here, but if I wasn't complaining I wouldn't be a man!

We now have almost all the items we registered for, minus a few that we are waiting to see if we really need...like a car seat, stroller, crib...just joking! We have our Pack and Play, car seat, stroller, swing, diaper pale, hamper, organizer, wash tub, etc. Basically, we have all the major or more expensive stuff, with the exception of a baby monitor, which we are still debating whether to get one with video or just audio. Candi is looking for any suggestions on baby monitors, if you have them.

In keeping with the suspension of my man card, I spent an afternoon learning what the terms "enfacement" and "false labor" meant. Contrary to my thinking, "enfacement" isn't slang for getting real close to somebody's face and "false labor" isn't how my mother thought of how I did my chores around the house when I was younger...making a bigger mess than I started with! I also got to learn how to breath and push...which apparently we were just supposed to simulate, but it bought me a quick trip to the bathroom. All I know is that I AM SO GLAD IT IS CANDI HAVING THIS BABY! I am glad they give you this class AFTER you are pregnant, because it sure wasn't a great advertisement for having a baby. I equate it to the end of a sports car commercial where the guy talks real fast and tells you basically that the car you just saw is NOT like the one that they actually sell and that all this bad stuff can happen to you if you actually drive the car. Anyway, it was good information and now I am "an informed future father."

Candi and the baby continue to grow. Candi had her last scheduled appointment here and she was cleared hot to go to Tucson. The only problem, nobody wants to help us with that process. Here is the latest picture at 32.5 weeks.
I continue to press with my scheduled flights and I have fifteen work days to get eight events complete, in order to leave on the 6th of November. My dad is flying here that weekend to help us move and drive to Arizona, so that Candi doesn't have to drive a vehicle and can ride with me. Please pray that we can move & get settled in Tucson BEFORE the baby decides to make his worldly entrance:)

Wee Wee All the Way Home…and Boo Boo All the Way Back

Well, my favorite commercial out there is the Geico “little piggy” one and we were just as excited as the little piggy to go home this past week. We had a great time back in Idaho and we definitely came back with more baby “stuff” than we had before we left San Antonio. Apparently, we will have to change the baby’s outfit five times a day (even if he manages to keep them clean), just so he will have a chance to wear all the clothes before he out grows them. I mean, the baby has more clothes than me…not like I am jealous or counting or anything…at least I still have him in the shoes department by a score of 39 to 4!

I will get into all that a bit more, but after all, this is MY BLOG! Now, about me and my last two weeks, since I so hate to talk about me. I could say I have a pretty good life. I have gotten to fly a jet five times, fly a sim three times, dirt bike, wakeboard, street bike, and see a ton of friends. Thanks to Joe Palmer for letting me borrow one of his dirt bikes and letting me ride it at Pleasant Valley Track. He even loaded it up, hauled it to the track, and cleaned it after the ride. I felt like a sponsored rider.

Thanks to my uncle for keeping the boat out so that we could enjoy a 90+ degree day in October…in Idaho! A year off and I still managed to land a few flips!
I also found time to get my Harley out for a few rides!

Well, as you can see, I had a great time “playing” back in Idaho. But, I also had a great time seeing all my friends. A big thanks to all those who took time out of their schedule to meet up and to those who I didn’t get to see, sorry. Thanks to the Warriner’s for letting us turn a simple dinner into a small party with several friends. Candi and I really enjoyed it, since we have absolutely no friends to “get together” with down here.

However, Candi and the baby stole the show during the past two weeks. Not like I like to be at the center of attention and resent all the attention people showed them while we were in Idaho, but I think people went a bit too far. Candi got to open all the presents, got to eat all the cake, and got all the “you look so cute” comments. I think people don’t realize what I have to go through with this baby! I mean, I have had to… well, I have gone through… experienced… ok, maybe Candi does deserve all the attention! If you want to even pay her more attention, she has set up a website to post pictures. Go to www.picasaweb.google.com/candijeremyp and check out all of our pictures. We will use this site to post most of all our baby pictures. If you become a follower, I believe you can get emailed updates when we add new pictures. Enjoy!

Seriously, thanks to all who gave gifts, money, cards, and hosted parties on behalf of the alien in her stomach. We got so much and with the gift cards, we still have tons more to pick out. And when I say tons, I mean tons. I have spent more time in baby sections of department stores and at Babies R Us, that even the employees ask me questions. I posted on Twitter/Facebook that I should get a timecard because I am spending enough time there to earn vacation and sick time.

We continue to get ready for the baby and the ever closer move to Tucson. We are going to get all that we can bought and ready, so that we won’t have to do that while we are unpacking and getting settled. I have four front seat flights, six back seat rides, and two more simulators left. Once I complete those, we can get going to Arizona. In preparation for leaving, I took time to get a few pictures of the aircraft I have been flying for the last six months. I hired the glossy picture business in the mall to get some real professional pictures, but apparently they can’t even make me look good!