I'm Back!

I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted a blog entry. You may think that I had given up! But, I decided I need to get back to it.

So, now we live in Kingsland, GA where Paul is XO on USS Georgia. He was initially on the Blue crew, but has been switched to the Gold crew due to the fact that Jim Beau will have surgery sometime this spring to correct the hole in his heart. Speaking of Jim Beau, you can follow his progress at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jimbeaureinhardt

Jane Ritchie is doing fairly well with her new little brother. She has her meltdowns every once in a while. She goes to Mothers Day Out three days a week. I'm not sure how much she loves it, but Mommy sure does love it!

We were in Gainesville with Jim Beau for almost two months, including Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it is nice to be back here at home. I am starting to figure out where Paul put everything while I was gone and still trying to figure out where I put everything when we moved in! :)

Here are some recent pictures. Thanks for hanging in there with us!

Life in Montgomery

Here are a few pictures from our life in Montgomery.


These first three were taken by a friend at a church picnic. Check her out at http://www.shootmenowmc.com

We didn't have a good yard in Montgomery so we didn't want to buy a big baby pool. As you can see, the plastic storage bin does the trick for Jane Ritchie and our neighbor John Allen. We called it the Cloverdale Country Club!

Easter!

Helping Daddy wash the car

Our Status

Very sorry for leaving everyone hanging for so long! I promise there will be more updates to come. Currently Paul is in Hawaii training for his next job as XO on USS Georgia. He will be in Hawaii until September 4. Then he has several more weeks of travel before we move to Georgia in October. So, Jane Ritchie and I are having fun staying at May May and Grandaddy's house in Mobile in the meantime.

We will be stationed at Kings Bay Naval Base which is in extreme Southeast Georgia. It is about 30 minutes north of Jacksonville, FL. Our options as far as towns to live in include Kingsland, GA; St. Mary's, GA; and Yulee, FL. We will start looking at house options in September.

Jane Ritchie has not quite gotten used to life without her Daddy. She asks, "where's Daddy?" She can now say that he is "in Hawaii" and on "a submarine." She also says, "Daddy's coming back."

We were definitely sad to leave our friends in Montgomery, but are keeping busy down here in Mobile. Look for more info and pictures to come!

Cousin Campbell

Last weekend we had a visit from Jane Ritchie's cousin Campbell, as well as Uncle Keith and Aunt Catherine. Jane Ritchie and Campbell got along really well. It was funny to hear them in the morning when they discovered that there was indeed another little one in the house. Jane Ritchie has never squealed so much in her life!

10 Week Ultrasound

Here's a picture of my 10 week ultrasound that I got today. I am discovering that going to a regular doctor is a little different than going to the Army hospital! With Jane Ritchie, I only had one ultrasound the entire pregnancy. It was neat to see this little bean on the screen!

Spring has sprung!

Cousins

Jane Ritchie got to see some of her second cousins this week. Robert and Sally Frances came through on their way to the beach. I did not have my camera with me so I didn't get to take any pictures. We met at an art gallery down the street and Jane Ritchie had fun looking at all the "pitures" with them.

The next day, Mary Creigh and Baby Sister came to stay at our house for a little while. We had ice cream sundaes and they loved on Jane Ritchie.

Surprise!

I'm back!!   Sorry I have been away from blogging for so long.     The blog has been neglected because I feel like everyone keeps up through Facebook now.    But, alas, I realize that not EVERYONE is on Facebook.    Prepare yourself for a long blog post....

Things are going fine here in Montgomery.  Jane Ritchie got tubes in her ears a couple of weeks ago so we are ALL much happier!   She is talking up a storm and has started singing some of her Kindermusik songs.   If she fusses in the car, all we have to do is play the Kindermusik cd and she is happy!  

It snowed in Montgomery as you can see from the above picture.  

Here is a cute Easter wreath I made.  It is made with those Jordan almonds.  I hope the ants don't get it.

My next door neighbor Tait, gave me the best idea.   I was always worried about what to do with all the lovely Christmas card pictures we get every year.  You don't want to throw away pictures of people's kids but then the cards just sit in a drawer somewhere.   Well, every year Tait makes these cute Christmas card books of all the cards they receive.   At Christmas time she pulls them out as part of her decorations.    Tait is an expert scrapbooker, so her books are really nice.   She finished her 2008 book a week after Christmas....and it is March and I am still working on mine!    Here is a picture of some of my pages.

I got my other project idea from Family Fun magazine.   We had tons of United airline miles to use up and so we subscribed to all kinds of magazines.  The Family Fun magazine really has some cool stuff in it.  It actually inspired me to make an "idea" book because it has lots of ideas regarding kids that I was worried I would forget!   Anyway, I saved all the cards we received when Jane Ritchie was born.   They were all so cute and sweet and since Paul was not there I wanted to save them so he could see how many people were happy that Jane Ritchie had arrived.   All you do is buy binder rings at the office supply store, punch a hole in the top corner of the card and stick the cards on the ring.   I've decided to do it with all the cards we receive now.   I told Paul I was going to make one for our Valentine cards that we give each other and he said, "You save all those???"   ha!    Here is a picture.

We took Jane Ritchie to her first Mardi Gras in Mobile in February.   It was great fun.  We had a blast hanging out with old friends, as well as May May and Grandaddy.