Big News!!

Hi, everyone! My goodness, has it been forever since we've posted on here! As you all know, Josh is home safe and sound now -- he got home mid-September. We aren't planning on any deployments any time soon, but we have to be realistic in that aspect. He has three years left in the military, so there will probably be at least one more deployment. Hopefully we'll get lucky and not have to go through anymore!!

This blog is going to kind of switch modes from a deployment update blog to a family update blog. Yay!!

John is pushing a year old already. My, how time flies! His birthday is March 31, 2010. We cannot believe how big he is getting. He says mama, dadda, up (while he's reaching), and byebye (while he's waving). He also loves to point to things now. Our little man pulls himself up to his feet and can walk while holding someone's hands or while holding onto furniture. It's amazing how much he loves music. Any time he hears music on TV or anything, he stops whatever he's doing and listens. Once he's a little bit older, we are going to try to get him involved in some sort of music lessons (if he wants to, of course, but we will strongly encourage him in that area). At his last appointment, he weighed 20lb and a few ounces. He's tall and skinny (well, when I say skinny I mean he doesn't have the normal rolls on the legs, arms, and belly that most babies have). He is still under the 50th percentile for height and under the 25th percentile for weight. He has both his front bottom teeth and is in the process of cutting both his top front teeth. We love watching him learn and grow more and more each and every day!

Josh is working part-time for Daniel Zebell and looking for a full-time job (specifically in law enforcement, but at this point anything will do). He is drilling still once a month for the Reserves, of course and trying to complete his "packet" for promotion to E5 (Sergeant). Coming home after the deployment has been an adjustment, but he is doing well. John took to him immediately when he came home, which was a huge blessing. Now, when Josh gets home from work, John starts bouncing up and down and yelling, "Dadda! Dadda!" and reaching for his daddy. The two are an adorable site, that's for sure!

I am working part-time from home entering data for the insurance company my mom works for. It's tedious work, but it'll help with some of the bills! The nice part is that I can set my own hours, which means I can put in a couple hours here and there in the evenings after John goes to bed. I love being able to stay home with John all day (although sometimes it does get rather difficult if he's extra fussy that day).

We have some big family news to share!! Most (if not all) of you probably already know this, but we are expecting our second little bundle of joy. I am ten weeks into the pregnancy (1/4 down!), and feeling good for the most part -- just exhausted, but that is to be expected! With John I was extremely sick every day for the first ten weeks, but with this one I have just been a little nauseated on and off (what a relief). We will get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time on Monday, March 1. Josh is coming to the appointment and is really excited to hear this baby's heartbeat first-hand. We are very excited for this little addition to our family, and we are hoping for a girl this time (but of course, just being healthy will be perfectly fine. We will keep everyone updated as the pregnancy progresses.

Well, I think that is all we have to share for now. We'll try to post on here fairly often (well, as often as we can remember, haha). Comments are more than welcome! :)

Love,
Josh, Ariel, John, and The Little Surprise