Hoping for a midwest way of life

When Anthony and I first got married he had made it very clear that he wasn't ready to get out of the military. This was ok with me as it is a stable job, we are guaranteed a roof over our heads and the military lifestyle isn't quite as bad as what people make it out to be.

This all changed the night Connor was born.

That picture sums up the moment when Anthony decided that he's not ever leaving us to go on some long deployment across the world. Of course he still thinks it would be fun to go to Afghanistan and ride around in his MRAP looking for bad guys to shoot, but he now knows its not whats best for us anymore. Coming home to us every night after work makes him happy. I kept telling him throughout my pregnancy that his feelings/emotions and life in general will totally change once the baby was here and he didn't believe me.

So this all leads to the hunt for a job. Yes we want out of the military, and yes we want to move away and be able to buy a home where we can raise Connor without having to move every 3 years...but we aren't willing to give up his guaranteed job without having a new one lined up. In this economy I think the stupidest thing we could do is leave the roof over our head and a steady paycheck with the assumption that we will be able to find him work in the following months.

Anthony has already flown back to Omaha to test for their police academy and this following weekend he will be in Lincoln NE testing for theirs. Two weeks after that he goes back to Lincoln yet again and tests for the fire department. If ya cant tell we REALLY want to move to Omaha/Lincoln. My brother is there, housing is affordable (and adorable), great school systems, and the people are great. You actually know your neighbors there. The whole atmosphere is different in the Midwest.

Competition is fierce, the Lincoln police academy has around 600 guys signed up to test and there are only 8 spots left in the academy. It wont be easy but we are hoping and praying that one of these jobs comes through.

Denial at its best

I love my husband....Every day while pregnant (and even now not pregnant) he tells me that I'm beautiful and he actually means it.

Because of this I guess I failed to realize how RIDICULOUSLY large I was at the end of my pregnancy because I still felt beautiful.

....What on earth was I smoking?!?!

This picture was taken about 5 days before I had Connor and it blows my mind looking at it and seeing how big I really was. I suppose I had selective vision and was only seeing the adorable little baby clothes that were filling my home and chose to ignore the sight of my midsection (although how the hell I managed to ignore something that large is beyond me)!

I loved being pregnant and looking at these pictures: A) REALLY makes me miss having the belly and feeling the kicks and hick ups. B) I now totally realize that its SOOOO true and you forget about all the crappy parts of the journey as soon as its over. Of course I remember how I couldn't roll over at the end and how bad my hips hurt, but looking back it really wasn't all that bad. Plus, it was well worth it, look at the adorable little guy I got out of it.

HAPPY (LATE) BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Last Friday was my birthday. Anthony surprised me with tickets to a dinner cruise which I was so excited about. Some friends of ours from Vegas were already planning on being up here visiting that weekend and were awesome and said they would watch Connor Friday night while we went out on our date.

The cruise was a blast. The food was really really good which neither of us was really expecting. We sailed around to Coronado, under the bridge and around the harbor. The whole thing was about 4 hours and there were DJ's, bars, yummy food and just a nice time out.

The pictures from that night didn't turn out to well as it was quite windy and I have a crappy camera.

Anthony also got me the necklace that I had been drooling over! I LOVE my new pearls.

The next day we went to lunch and the beach. This was Connor's first time down by the water. We have taken him to La Jolla before but stayed in the grassy area. I'm not sure if it was the loud sound from the waves or the bright sun but he DID NOT enjoy himself there.

Nursery picture

This is one of my favorite things in Connor's room.

I found it one day while browsing through pages and pages of baby items on Etsy and knew instantly that i had to have it.

First Easter!

I was really looking forward to Connor's first holiday (Valentines doesn't count). Sadly Anthony ended up having to work all weekend, and we ended up not having any visitors that weekend so instead of being alone and stuck at home me and Connor braved the long road trip and headed down to Vegas to stay with my parents. A last minute trip, but well worth it.

After a failed attempt at seeing the Easter Bunny on Friday I returned to the mall 40 minutes before they opened on Saturday morning and was the 5th person in line for their pictures.

I'm starting to think that Anthony has trained Connor to hate photos and to be difficult and whiny when there is a camera around. That's how Anthony acts, and now Connor is being that way too! As soon as I sat him in that bunny's lap he was crying at the top of his lungs. Luckily the photographer was able to snap a shot while he was catching his breath so it didn't turn out all that bad!

On a side note, if the Easter Bunny charges $18 for ONE 5x7 I cringe at the thought of what I will be paying for pictures with Santa this year.

Sunday was a nice day. We headed over to my brothers house and had yummy ham, pasta salad, veggie pizza and lots of other yummy food. After a few hours over there me and Connor hit the road and arrived home a very long 7 1/2 hours later.

A few more photos

This little piggy...

Aren't these just the cutest little feet ever! I just wanna eat em up!

Anthony and I took Connor to our neighbors house to try and get some photos of him. We walked away with a few good shots and many shots of a super fussy baby. Of course the little man chose that day to be in the worst mood he has had in weeks.

The minute we got there all he did was fuss and cry and refuse to sit still! The minute we got home he was all smiles and talking... Just my luck!

Of all the shots we got this one of his feet is by far my favorite. I love baby feet in general, but this is just too precious! It really puts it into perspective how small he is. (and look how big my diamond looks! ;-) )