35 Weeks

35 weeks today~this is happening so fast. I cant believe we are going to be parents-I am definitely getting bigger and more and more uncomfortable. She is head down and getting ready for descent-I feel as though my ribs are bruised from her kicking me. The past two days she has been moving like crazy--little Miss Busy-Body; I have to say she is starting out like me. They say you are usually late for your first baby~I have a feeling this little anxious being is going to be early or right on time. I guess we will see I only have maximum of 6 weeks to go. We are still trying to figure out what we are going to name her; we are down to 7 names (well I am anyways) Chris has his number one pick--I just don't know if I love it and I don't know if it will fit her. Christopher mentioned getting our hospital bag together--just in case--having 10 months to prepare seems like a long time, but when it starts getting closer, the more nervous I get. I am excited to meet her, but at the same time, nervous about being a good parent.

Getting you up to date....

Well...its been a long time since I have kept you all updated, so where to begin~
After Labor Day Weekend at the Dave Matthews Concert with the VanDorstons Christopher and I headed on our road trip across the country to North Carolina. We started out of Tacoma headed down 5 to the 101 highway towards Cali. We did the Oregon Coast right into the Redwood National Forest (beautiful)~we took Kaya hiking, saw the gigantic Redwood trees and kept going.
We continued 101 down towards Napa; however, being pregnant we were unable to enjoy the Napa Valley as planned and headed inland towards Tahoe. On the way we did come across a winery called Ceago (delicious wines) and yes I did sample my husbands glasses. We ended up buying 3 bottles and I am looking forward to delivery day when I can put down a delicious glass of red wine :) After Ceago we continued towards Lake Tahoe, where we had a very eventful evening. We got in late, decided to pitch a tent and had way too much food to store in the "keep away bear container", so at 4 AM we were visited by a rather large 7 ft 600 lb Brown Bear! I thought I was going to die and I prayed like crazy that we would be ok--after he walked in front of our tent, jumped on Chris' truck and tried numerous times to get into the bed, he wasn't lucky and got bored and meandered on towards another campsite. The next day we headed down to a overlook and checked out the sites~I had Chris book a hotel for the next evening, so I didn't have to fret over the bear incident. We took Kaya to the beach, went swimming and then drove around to check out the scene. Tahoe is beautiful, no doubt about it! After Tahoe we packed up the car and moved towards the Grand Canyon--this trip is one I would love to do again.
The Grand Canyon was magnificent! We probably would've both liked to have seen more, but due to time and having Kaya we were somewhat limited on what we could do. We were able to get some great pics though--On our way out of town we hit up Route 66 and ate at the Roadkill Cafe; they had excellent Bison burgers! Onward bound to Albuquerque--we went into old town here and got a few keepsakes and then made our way East, continuing 40 thru Amarillo and Oklahoma City.
We made our way to Memphis where we stopped to eat ribs at the famous Rendezvous Cafe~ can we say finger licking good!! They were delicious, there is a reason they are on the top of restaurant must sees. We bought BBQ sauce and dry rub from here (you can get it online as well) and I know we will be stocking up on more to come. If ever in Memphis...
From Memphis we headed down to the Coleman's home in Mississippi and visited the family for a few days. It was great to see family and be somewhere we could just relax. Kaya enjoyed swimming in the pond, we had some great thunderstorms and got good meals :) After a few days in MS, we headed over to ATL to visit Jessi and James. I was glad Kaya got along with their dog, Barley and we really enjoyed our stay. We went out to eat with good friends of theirs and had a blast, had game night one evening and then as we were about to head to beloved Fayettenaum, we were informed we didn't need to report until a later date, so we made the trip to Ohio and visited more family!
In Ohio Kaya met a new boyfriend, Carson and hung out with O'dell to play, we had a great time and then once we were due to report we made our way down south to check into our lovely Lodge. We were in the lodge for maximum days (30) and were trying to figure out what to do as far as living arrangements. Our house was not closing as easy as anticipated, we were tired of living out of suitcases and we had no where to go. So, thanks to our good friends Nate and Tiff and Heather and Brent we bounced during the week at the Hoags and made weekend trips to the Lee's. Chris had to head off to San Antonio for a class for 5 weeks, so I was fortunate to make it home and spend quality time with the family.

Fantastic Weekend

What an amazing weekend; Christopher and I were able to see all of our friends in one fantastic weekend! Our journey started with a missing wallet and someone, not to mention any names--Christopher--missed his flight due to a scheduling error, but after everything got situated we were on our way to Moline, IA. We started off with a fun adventure on a country road trip out to Sam and Samantha's in Illinois City, IL. We had a fun day sitting around catching up, drinking some beers and wrapping up the evening with a bon fire. Samantha has an amazing garden and has inspired me to buy property in NC and start my own garden :) We had a great time and can't wait to do it again.

The next morning we woke up and headed North to Galena, IL--a really cute city! I met up with Abby and Momma Cates to run some errands, got a much needed pedicure, got ready for the Rehearsal Dinner and caught up with Heather and Brent. 5:30 the Rehearsal started at the church (it gave me goosebumps just thinking about how much Abby and Luke have been through), then we headed over to Vinny Vanucchi's for dinner (delicious!), we made our way over to Gobbies for drinks and a fun evening. We ended up getting our taxi driver a ticket by driving the wrong way to pick us up :) Chad and Terri (Luke's brother and sister in law), Heather and Brent and Chris and i ended our evening at the Ramada on the back deck smoking cigars and having a few beers. Fun times.

Saturday, June 6th Abby's Big Day!
The morning consisted of getting ready, writing a little speech for the reception (that i freaked out about) and taking lots of pictures. Abby was so beautiful in her gown and made a beautiful bride--We jumped on the trolley and headed off to the church. The ceremony was wonderful...tears. It was so awesome being a part of their big day. I got to ring the church bell and then we were off in the trolley to take pictures around Galena. We had a party trolley that took us to different parts of the town to take pictures and then went to a little Irish Pub to take a congratulations shot! Off to the reception--it was fantastic! The room was beautiful, the people were a blast and we just got after it. I was able to spend time with my parents, dance with Heather, give a speech and tell a friend how much she means to me and just see two people grow over the past four years has been a blessing.

What is new in the life of Dawn Coleman

Well, to be quite frank a lot has been going on in my life--from waiting on orders, to work (economic downturn), Miss Bailey Anne having her last moments of life, and just really trying to get my butt in gear for a better body/lifestyle. It has been a while since I have written and I really need to get better at this whole thing.

We are currently waiting on orders to see when we have to report to the Carolinas; don't get me wrong I am really excited--but i am really nervous as well. There are a lot of questions that have been circling around my head--do i transfer w/ my job, do i take some time off, where are we going to live, what are we going to do w/ our home now, when do we have to leave, the friends i will be leaving behind (but keeping in touch with)...oh thoughts :) love them. The best part is my husband will be with me for four years and we can hang out everyday--:) i know he loves that part :) but no more deployments (for the time being), closer to family and friends and just an entirely new life.

Work...don't wanna gripe.

Miss Bailey (pictures to follow) a Labrador that was a true family member. A true Marley & Me real life story---
She was the best dog, next to Kaya--
Things I will miss about that girl
-She always made me smile.
-When we first got her I would pick her up like a baby and place her on the floor off my bed. (she did this until she was full grown!)
-She would steal the napkin off your lap at the dinner table.
-She taught my dog how to destroy her toys and rip them up!
-If you had food, don't look away--it would be gone.
-She romped, like a fat girl, she romped...
-She would sit in my lap for back massages.
-She kept us on our toes.
-She had an annoying high pitch bark when she wanted something.
-She has eaten loaves of bread, entire plates of desserts and right before the guests arrived.
-She ate things she shouldn't have and we had to wait for the digestive system to give us back our money
-She was Smart. She was a very smart dog.
-She was a love.
-She would take things she knew she couldn't have so we would pay her attention.
-She was happy.
-She was loved.

So much for New Years Resolutions...

Well, for New Years I had planned to keep my family and friends up to date on our blog--but so far as you have noticed I have not yet written one time this year--so here goes, you have start somewhere, right? Well, since the New Year Christopher has turned 29 and was lucky enough to head out for a five day guys get-a-way to Whistler (lucky him!!!) He gets home tomorrow, so lucky me. Although I missed him while he was gone having fun, it was kind of nice to have the house to myself. :) Speaking of new years resolutions--the one I stated bout getting my butt to the gym hasn't kicked in yet either, but I have started soccer back up and that seems to be a really good workout especially when we don't have enough players. As for the gym this week, I take Mondays off and Tuesday is my birthday and maybe I will get there on Wednesday-- we will have to wait on see. :) The fun thing for Chris and I has been that he is home! He has been home since October 30th and up until the Whistler trip was the longest period of time in almost 4.5 years that we have EVER spent together!!! So almost 3 months...and we are still getting along :) We do have some things in the works with his job and we will see where this takes us, possibly back to the Carolina's by mid-year. We will have to wait and see...a lot of changes. I am off to bed for an early night b/c last night kicked my butt!!!

Back to work for 2 days and off for 5!

Well, I am back to the office for a few days, while Christopher is hitting up the slopes (it is luke's birthday after all) and having a play day. We had a crazy weekend, that ended up putting me on the couch with a pathetic headache until 9 PM! Ridiculous. Double Margaritas and Coronas--get ya everytime. We are planning on heading to Crystal Mountain for New Years Eve to ski during the day and then hang out with our friends, Callie and Kevin, we even get to stay in the winebago for the night! fun times-- :) I am planning on taking a 1000 pictures so i can capture every moment. Have a Happy New Years! and stay safe.

Couple days after Christmas

Its the Saturday after Christmas and what a Christmas it was; we enjoyed having our first Christmas with just the two of us. Usually we are fighting the traffic, traveling across the country to see our families and getting back late to only return early to work. Don't get me wrong I love my family, but traveling has become such a hassle anymore and not too mention we got so much snow the Seattle airport ran out of de-icer and no flights were leaving, so our flight may have canceled anyways. So we enjoyed a nice day out on the slopes of Crystal Mountain with our friends, Luke, Abby, Callie and Kevin. I was feeling a lot better to the start of this season then how I ended last year, but then again I have a great, patient teacher. ;) We exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve, shhh....don't tell the family and just had a day in the snow for Christmas. For Christmas Eve we had the future Van Dorstons over for dinner and drinks; it was good times as always. Friday we headed out for all you can eat sushi at Sushi Town and then hit the movies, only to laugh our butts off at Four Christmases--if you haven't seen it, I would recommend it for a good laugh. We were going to try and attempt the mall today, but we all know how I am in busy places, so we made a quick trip to return a few things and then headed home to lounge. We are getting ready for soccer season to begin and have a game tomorrow; we will see how things go--hopefully no broken bones this year! Lets keep our fingers crossed :) Things are going well for us, now all we have to worry about is what to plan for our fun New Years Eve! Wow, such a hard life we live...Happy Holidays to all, we hope you enjoyed your Christmas as much as we did.

Home!

Christopher is home. He got home Monday evening~so this week has been a week of adjustment and getting back to the flow of having two people in the home at the same time. My schedule is a little wacky right now, but we will get it worked out. Chris got home on Monday evening and it was great to see him; I know that he is glad to be home and not caught up in a hospital every morning. His foot looks great and is healing really well, he will have a pretty nasty scar when all is said and done, but at least this gross disease is gone and he is feeling better. It was nice to have him home this week and have someone to eat dinner with, watch TV with and to have adult conversations; so often I catch myself talking to Kaya :). So, I finally got a date night last night; we went to the Flying Tomato for dinner and then went to see Body of Lies~good movie, but hard to watch knowing so many troops are still over there and things like this do really happen. This weekend is going to be a little busy we have dinner with Kevin and Callie tonight and then all day Sunday I have Special Olympics volunteer day at the bowling alley~i am so excited to be with these kids again! Well, its time to get back to being a veg.

Awaiting a Homecoming...

Well, it is now Tuesday and I just wrapped up an amazing weekend with my best friend Heather. We have been fortunate enough to be able to fly to and from Charlotte-Seattle-Dayton-to wherever we may be to spend some quality time together and lucky for us we had just a great girls weekend. She got in on Thursday afternoon with her adorable "hammer" baby boy tummy and left on Monday morning, we were able to just relax and hang out all weekend. Very much needed! Christopher had the opportunity to spend the weekend with his parents which was great for all of them, since he just got back from deployment and it sounds like his dad may be on his way next. :( They left this morning and headed back to Mississippi.
I am on the countdown for Monday--Christopher is coming home on Monday and we will get to spend time together as a married couple! Finally. Five days to go and counting. :) what a wonderful feeling. I am full of excitement for my girls because we are now down to 1.5 months to go until the rest of the boys! Another deployment down.

Spending time with my Hubby in DC

Well, Christopher is in DC and is back from deployment and is getting treatment on his foot for his leishamaniasis. I was fortunate enough to be able to go and visit him this past weekend; I flew out on Thursday and came back on Sunday evening (they lost my bag) and was back to the grind. On Friday we went into downtown DC and hit up the Spy Museum, that was really cool and went over to Shaun and Nickie's for pizza. It was really good to see them and see how well Shaun is doing. I was lucky I got to meet little Trevor! Can we say adorable. :) He is a true Meadows. On Saturday my parents were able to meet up with us and we went and walked around DC to the Monument, White House, Reflection Pond and the new World War II Memorial; that was really neat as well. Then we met up with an old friend Greg McIlvaine and watched Vandi play and then were off to Rock Bottom to watch LSU get stomped by Florida (sorry baby :(...after a long day hit the bed; on Sunday we spent the day in Georgetown and were able to check out the National Cathedral--AMAZING! It is the 4th largest cathedral in the world and has a lot of history. After that hung out by the water and got some Ice Cream. His foot is nasty, but seems to be doing better with the treatment. He has to go in every day for 20 days and get an IV of steroids/antibiotics, it is starting to make him a little sleepy during the day, but the good news is that his swelling has gone down and they believe the sore is getting better and isn't as deep as it used to be. He will be home by the end of October and I cant wait to have him around, just spending three days with him was not enough. That is all I have for now--Heather will be here tomorrow for a visit until Monday! I am looking forward to seeing her and 6 month prego belly! :)

Heading to DC

We found out yesterday that Chris will be staying at Walter Reed for the next 20 days to treat the bacteria that he has in his foot. They have confirmed that it is Leisenmaniasis and he will be undergoing an IV of heavy steroids and antibiotics every morning for the next 20 days and will be watched closely to make sure that it doesn't get into his blood stream and that his organs are not affected as well. I will be heading to DC to see him on Thursday and staying through Sunday; I cant wait to see my husband! And lucky for us my parents may be driving down and staying with my Aunt Chris and Uncle Jack and we will be able to see them this weekend. Chris is doing well and has been fortunate enough to be able to hang out with Shaun all last weekend (who is doing excellent i may add). I am looking forward to a wonderful weekend with Chris, my family and the Meadows.

October Update...

October already! Can you believe it? Well, Christopher is at Walter Reed in DC for his infection and we will find out on Monday whether I will be heading there on Thursday to visit or if he may be coming home and taking care of things here...hopefully he will be able to come home, but the chances are few to none. So we will see, just playing it by ear at this point. Work has been busy and I have been slacking on the work outs, unfortunately I didn't stick to my plan and husband is home a little bit earlier than expected (which don't get me wrong, I am stoked!) but I didn't get to lose the weight I was hoping for. I do have something really special to look forward to this month and that is Heather is coming to visit me on the 16th! So, if Christopher does have to stay in DC we will still have a girls weekend and if he does make it home--we will be able to have a party and celebrate his homecoming together, so either way we win. :)
I am heading to be early so goodnight and have a great week.

My First 5K!

Well, this morning I completed my first 5k run; you would think that being a college athlete i would have mastered this by now, but I haven't. So, today I was proud of myself. I ran it in 26:32, averaging 8:34 miles :) and placed 38th out of the group and 8th in my age group. You know when this excites you, your life must be pretty boring :) I think this just gives me the motivation to continue on, b/c I know that I can do it, its just the getting out to do it is the problem. I owe huge props to my work friends Zia and Jesica who motivated me to do the run in the first place. Without them I would have slept in on this rainy, 47 degree day and never made it to the gym. I gotta say running outside on fun trails is much more exciting than the treadmill. With this being said I am going to look into other 5k's in the area, before it starts getting to cold. Instead of having a goal of completing the 5k running, I now have a goal of beating my time for the next one. Lucky me even got to speak to my husband this morning after my race, since he just happened to call me right after the race. It was nice hearing from him, since it had been awhile. For those of you that know about his foot he is doing okay. They did take a sample and send it off to Walter Reed for further testing; as of right now it looks like he may have leishmaniasis. This is a bacteria carried by disgusting, contaminated sand flies (which they have over there) and they get into sores. So from a mild spider bite to this infected foot, we are hoping they can figure out what it is before anything too serious comes about. Everything should be fine though. Overall, it was a great morning finished my 5k and got to talk to Christopher. :) The rest of the weekend should be eventful, I have a dinner at my DBO's home tonight, joining some friends to watch the Bengals play tomorrow and then off to see Counting Crows and Maroon 5 tomorrow evening. Fun times.

What I have been up to...

Overall, things are going really well with Christopher being away. I have been able to keep my head and stay focused, although my house has been extremely cluttered lately which just goes to show I pop in and pop out and am staying busy. I have just been trying to work out after work, get Kaya out on nice long walks and somewhere in between all of that I am cleaning up the house.

I was able to hit the bed around 9 this past Friday, can you say exhausted, which was awesome because I got some much needed sleep. Saturday we got to have a girls night out (whoo-hoo) which was a blast! We headed over to E9's for a few beers and Karaoke and then off to Masa for some Salsa dancing (i did not salsa) and I have actually forgotten what it was like to be around the male species (yuck). It is sad to say there are a lot of desperate men (boys) out there, either that or we were just lookin' good that night :) After an interesting evening getting home (funny taxi cab story) and being locked out (thank you Jody!!!) I passed out and laid around all day Sunday. Jessi I have posted a picture so you can see my hair, I think I may go darker.

I got to talk to Christopher last night and found out this husband of mine has a nasty bite on his foot from a month ago and now has an infection, so he is heading to get it checked out at the hospital. I was going to post the picture, but I don't think you all need to see it. I will keep everyone posted on the outcome, hopefully it wont be staph.
I didn't work out tonight, but am heading to the gym tomorrow for another fun spin class.

Another day down and one day closer to Christopher being home--its been a long week at work and after a nice long walk with Kaya I felt much better, relaxed.
Relaxed, something I have forgotten how to feel. I am going to focus on doing some things for me and learning how to just relax--I am really enjoying spin on Tuesday nights and am getting a kick butt workout, now if I could just continue to get my butt there the rest of the days. :)
After reading Jessi's blog and seeing that a lot of my former teammates are running triathalons and getting motivated, I feel as though I need to do this for myself as well. I am excited to start a routine and get moving. I will keep you all posted on my progress.

Football Season

Here I am on a Sunday morning itching to go to a local sports bar just so I can watch the Bengals; I know what all of you are thinking,"the Bengals!?!" well I am a fan and will continue to be, but what I miss the most is my husband going with me every Sunday to the Ram and cheering on those lousy cats. :) I just miss our Saturday BBQs and home tailgating and our Sunday bloody mary's and mimosa's. Lucky for us football starts at 9 and 10 AM since we live on the West coast, so we get to start early. Fall is football season and it is Christopher and my favorite time of the year. We have a true in-home rival him being an LSU tiger and me the Ohio State Buckeye; what I would give to have him around for the weekends so we could enjoy our favorite time of the year. I will sit at home and enjoy the games that are on, but as for my Bengals I will be surprised the day they air on West Coast tv.

Long weekend

Well, started my Labor Day weekend off with a nice long cry on my way home from work, I guess you could say I had my first true breakdown with my husband being away. This is our favorite time of the year--DMB at the Gorge, college football-Go Bucks! Go Tigers! :) its the best time to get out and grab a good local ale. When I got home from work my dog had gotten sick in the kitchen, so I had to clean up that and in doing so I clogged the toilet and had to have Mike (Jody's husband) teach me how to plunge a toilet for the first time. (Yes, it is true I have never had to use a plunger before! Ha.) So after a long day I went to bed at 9:00 on the dot. Waking up to a much better day, Christopher called so I got to chat with him for a while, that was great, I rested for a while and then headed over to see the new baby, Paislee Ann. She is beautiful and now my baby fever is definitely kicking in! :) Stayed at the DiMaria's for a while and then went home and had some wine with Abby and crashed at 2. Sunday I was bored and since its only in the 60's I went tanning (got burnt), went to the grocery store and came home to make Vegie Soup, Fruit Salad and Talapia. Cooking is my stress reliever and mind eraser, I love it. So now I am set up for the week in regards to lunches. I watched the entire movie, Wyatt Earp (4 hours) and then around 10 decided to get out with the girls to grab a few drinks. Ended up getting a little tipsy over at Tammy's and us hungover ladies spent 25 bucks at Jack in the Crack and ate maybe 6 dollars of the entire order. I guess our eyes were bigger than our bellies. So, now I am wrapping up my long weekend with a great movie, What Happens in Vegas (Hilarious!), relaxing with Miss Kaya and posting on my blog.

I have realized that I am half way there--I miss you, Christopher!

Ike Kinswa State Park

Miss Spontaneous "AKA: Abby" and I decided the other morning that is was going to be too nice of a day to sit inside and clean up. So we decided to pack up the car, grab our girls and head out for the weekend for a nice relaxing camping trip. We had no idea this would turn out to be one of our favorite camping spots. After searching through my Camping in Washington State book for nearly an hour we finally found a place that wasn't three hours away; Ike Kinswa State Park. On our drive down we soon realized we were sitting on a lake surrounded by Mnt Rainer, Mnt St Helens and Mt Hood; it was amazing. It was a truly beautiful atmosphere and lucky for us a few people did not make the trip this weekend, so we ended up with a Premium camp site right on the water. We took the girls for a swim and tried to soak up as much rays as we could before setting up camp. Kaya got to swim her little heart out and teach Skylar how to find rocks in the water. After we got our tent up we headed off to the store for more beer, came back and cooked a few dogs on the grill. Nothing like a beautiful day, hanging out with a good friend and kicking back a few cold ones around the campfire while we shared stories all night. What a way to relax while the guys are away. This is definitely a place I will be bringing Christopher back to and next time we will be renting a jet ski! :) All in all a great weekend, they weren't lying when they called the Pacific NW God's country, it is truly a beautiful sight to see.

Hot days

When I first moved to Seattle I thought it was strange that No one had air conditioning, after asking around everyone said, "We are just fortunate enough to have beautiful summers, no humidity, average of 79 and breezy, cool nights so that you don't need an air conditioner."
Well, they were wrong; we are now going on I don't know how many days of unbearable heat, with no air conditioning! And it may not be as humid as my fellow southern states, but we did have another huge thunderstorm last night--which is a rare thing to see out here and my hair looks like dog, so I know we have some humidity. Needless to say I am trying to learn the Washingtonian way of closing my windows at the right time of day to block the chilly air in, cool temperature of 74 degrees and prevent the heat from taking over. I am living with fans all around me and if think its not that bad...I went to Walgreen's for 2 hours last night to print off pictures from my Cd's just to get cool, on a Saturday night--can we say pathetic. I guess that is what you do around here. Well, I am off to host Jody's baby shower and drink some Ice cold Lemonade. Take care and enjoy the air conditioning, to those of you that have it.