I'm feeling better!

Okay. I think it's finally safe for me to crawl out from under that rock where I've been for the last few months. My body is threatening to actually start feeling better. This is the first week in literally months that I've been able to work 40 full hours! (Rob and I are ready to throw a party). Additionally, we have some great news: Rob is moving home! Next weekend (Oct. 5th) Rob will officially be moving to Maryland to work out of the base at Quantico! This is the best 2-year anniversary present I can think of. (And yeah, it's been two years- crazy huh?)

Tomorrow we are throwing Jessica's baby shower. Home girl only has like 5 more weeks before she's due and just looking at her belly kind of scares me. The sheer size of "Peabert" only serves as a reminder of how big Rockstar will get and the expectation of me to...you know.... All pregnant women are adorable and the thought of them having their baby is exciting... but now that there's no turning back for me... well, let's just say I don't sleep as well as I used to.

Kukich Cousins: The Yugoslavian Drinking Team

Since I have no life these days, I figured we could all reminisce a little. My cousin, Christine, graduated from high school last year and we went to her party back in July. I never updated you guys on it because I was still in the land of the living. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Anyway, I found "old footage" from it today, and even though it means I'm going straight to hell, I figured I'd share it. Christine insisted on having a "moon bounce" of sorts hooked up in the backyard. It's a basketball game- the players are tethered together by rope and have to make two baskets on their respective sides. Anyway, we were trying out our new camera and I caught the action of 18 year old Christine vs. 27 year old, Marine, "I bench press small ponies for fun" body-builder Rob... And she kicked his butt. (Sorry honey... I still love you!)

Nothing Much Here

Just so you guys know, we're not abandoning you. We just really have nothing to talk about. Rob is still driving back and forth from NC every weekend and I...well, I'm the sickest pregnant woman I know. I've missed so much work that my company has asked if the doctor will consider putting me on short-term disability. (Dear Lord, I hope so). So unless you'd like updates on the latest from day time television or the happenings of me and my security bucket... i got nothin'. I kinda miss having a life.
I suppose the up-side is that we're now almost 16 weeks along. In another month we'll be HALFWAY and we should find out the sex of the baby. Although as of now I still don't even look a "little pregnant". I'm down 10 lbs from my regular weight. Yep, apparently pregnancy is the best diet ever.
Today I have a dentist appointment. THAT should be interesting...

JOSH IS HOME!!!

Yes. This would be our neighbor Josh who has just returned from four months in Iraq. I missed the airport scene because I was home hugging a bucket (yes. Still.) but luckily our paparazzi neighbors, Jess and Adam, and my sis, were there to capture the moment.
Those of you who've never had anyone close to you deploy, let me just say, there's NO feeling in the world quite like having them come home.
Welcome home Josh! We're so glad you're back safe!!!
P.S. I stole these pics from Jess's blog. You can see the rest of them by clicking here.

Of Monkey Bread and Commuting.

Ok guys....so the aforementioned monkey bread? Yeah, pretty much awesome. Sure to become the "normal Townley contribution" to pot luck suppers and what not. How could anyone NOT like a foot tall, gooey, chunky cinnamon bun?

Down to business. This weekend's marital bliss was cut short for us because my employers thought it best to schedule a weapons' training day for some folks in my unit who missed their annually required training, on my day off. So...being apparently one of two guys around certified to supervise this sort of thing, I had to drive back down to NC, arriving at the weapons' range around 6:30 this morning ready for a full (if sleepy) day of watching people shoot silly guns. I was already frustrated enough with missing a day off...even moreso to find out that there were only 6 guys showing up for training, none of them actually needed the training (all had been to Iraq at least twice, and were all seasoned vets)...and the powers that be only gave us 50 rounds for each guy (normally for this kind of thing, each would get about 500). Basically the whole thing was taking place so the bean-counting officers in charge of us could say that "their people meet all the necessary training requirements" so if something goes wrong in Iraq (you know, like someone getting shot)...they can point a finger at someone's training record and say "I'm not to blame for Johnny getting shot! I made sure he was properly trained!" - In reality, the only useful training we get happens when people actually start shooting at us...and we hopefully make it through a little smarter and more wary..

So we lined them all up on the firing line, and it took 7 minutes to blow off all the ammuntion. That's right folks...I drove 7 HOURS in the middle of the night to watch 6 combat vets shoot at paper for SEVEN MINUTES. We were all packed up by about 8:15...gone by 8:20. Had I stayed home, I would just be getting up to make some coffee and enjoy it on my deck in the Maryand breeze. As it happens...I'm in North Carolina with absolutely nothing to do because the whole world here is closed for Labor Day.

Suffice to say...I'm getting out of the service.

weekend stuff

Well the morning sickness continues. We'll be 14 weeks on Thursday which means SECOND TRIMESTER. If all the rumors I've heard are true, I'll stop wanting to "just end it all" here pretty soon and start feeling superhuman. Or at least human... I'm not picky.
This weekend has been pretty good though. Rob got home before me on Friday, cleaned the house (which I was responsible for trashing), provided me with dinner made to my exact specifications (popcorn, juice box) and rented the only three classic movies that Blockbuster carries (LOVE classic movies...Rob hates them). So yeah, HUGE husband points for Rob.

We also got a juicer from our buddies, Victoria and Seth, and spent this morning juicing everything we could find in our house. It reminded me of when Laura and I were kids and got the Play-Doh spaghetti factory. We had quite a few concoctions going - and since my husband will drink anything, it's a super fun spectator sport.

Tomorrow morning the P-street crew is doing breakfast- as we do most holiday mornings. Rob is making Monkey Bread! (I know you don't care, but I'm pregnant and monkey bread sounds like Christmas right now).

Can I just say...

After 13 weeks straight, I'm really tired of the nausea/vomiting. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy we're expecting, but this is starting to seem a little ridiculous.

Help Kids Learn Stuff

Okay, I know there are people asking for your money on every corner (at least here in Maryland there are). But I have a friend from college, Libby, who has been a missionary in Kyrgyzstan for the past few years and she's got a good thing going.

The school she works for is a Christian one with the lowest cost available to families there. ($42 a month). They finally were forced to raise their price to $60 a month this year. This has caused a lot of kids to drop out because the family can't afford to send them anymore. They are looking for people to donate (any amount is GREAT)approx $300 ($30 a month for a school year) so that a child can go to school.
Each child that is sponsored will write a monthly letter to their sponsor and send updated pictures throughout the school year. The sponsor will also be able to receive his/her children’s progress report from their teacher. (I thought that was pretty cool). It's also tax deductable and they will send you a receipt.

Anyway, no pressure. I just thought this was a great cause- and I love that you get to hear from the child that you help. (also a good way to get your kids involved). If you're interested you can leave me a comment or email me at danielletownley@yahoo.com and I'll put you in touch with the right peeps.

Oh, the madness!

Oh, you guys and your craziness!
Okay, please let me clarify for those of you going nuts that we're having a boy and didn't tell you before posting it on our blog. We are almost 13 weeks along. We have NO IDEA what we're having! We probably won't know for another 2 months.
I wrote "He" (in quotations and everything) in my last entry because I don't want to call Rockstar "It".

K...everyone good? The sex is unknown. Say it with me. :-) Smile. Breathe.

Say CHEESE!

Rob took Friday off to drive up and go to our first sonogram with me. I really like our new doctor. We had our first appointment with him yesterday and not only did they seem knowledgeable, but they gave us a ton of ways to contact them should we have any questions or need anything. Plus our "new" hospital is much closer. Oh, and, AND we got to see ROCKSTAR for the very first time!

It was a lot more emotional than I had expected. "He" was bouncing all over the place- it was fascinating. Anyway, so far everything looks great! According to them, the worst of the morning sickness should be over and in two weeks I should be begging Rob to take me out to my favorite restaurant. (I'll believe THAT when I see it).
Anyway, glad we could share our first pictures with you guys :-)

8 hours down!

I'd just like to point out that this makes two days in a row that I've gone to work. I seriously am going to buy myself a medal. My co-workers are joking that I must be feeling better because the sarcasm is returning. Ahhh... life. :-) They are also teasing me that I'm such a hard worker, I've already worked three times as many hours as last week. (If you remember, I got two whole hours in last week).

I'm still working on re-entering everyone's phone numbers on God's green earth into my phone. You don't realize what a crutch the cell phone is until you don't have your electronic little black book anymore. I think I'm at like 70% recovery though... which isn't bad considering I had a LOT of numbers. I think the lesson we learned is that Rob should do all the cleaning from now on in order to prevent future cell phone loss. I just can't be trusted. Can I get an Amen? Anyone? In the cheap seats??

Doctor Drama...yes still

I just want to put it out there that I actually WENT TO WORK TODAY! Today was the first day SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME where I woke up and my first thought wasn't "Where is my security bucket?!" (The security bucket is exactly what you're thinking it is).
So I went to work...a little late...but still, I was there. I actually left the house!

I also had my second doctor's appointment today where I planned to go in and tell them off for being, well, horrible. Then I was going to inform them I was changing practices, demand my medical records and leave feeling fairly superior and intelligent.

Yeah, not so much.

On my way there I got a message from them cancelling my appointment and instructing me to call and reschedule. I'm a little angry about that. Less than 30 minutes before? Really? My lawyer friend says I can actually bill them for cancelling on me last minute (in the same way that a doctor's office will bill you for cancelling with less than 24 hours notice). After the Tom Foolery they've been putting us through, I'm considering it... I mean, at least for the gas....

Great Americans

So, not to take any thunder away from Rockstar (yay for Rockstar!!)...but you guys have to read this.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aY5OQ5xv9HR8

A pair of sisters from Lexington, SC have just been endited for defrauding the U.S. Government of over 20 MILLION dollars in fraudulent shipping costs by overcharging for the small items their company supplied to the troops in Iraq. Taking advantage of the "automatic online approval" that government supply shipments receive if they're going to a warzone from authorized government contractors (so supplies get to our troops as fast as they can, with the least amount of red tape), they charged $998,000 (yes, that's nine-hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars) for sending an envelope with 2 steel washers in it to a base in western Iraq and $455,009 to ship three machine screws that cost $1.31 to manufacture.

To add insult to injury, the sisters spent the majority of the embezzled funds on luxury items (Bentleys, a yacht, property in the Carribbean), so even if the FBI reposesses the property, they still have to auction it off to recoup the stolen funds.

One of the sisters (Darlene Corley) committed suicide by shooting herself after learning that she and her sister were to be sent to jail when federal investigators uncovered their crimes. I wonder if that bullet cost her less than the washers and machine screws.

Yet again...the picture below proves true. Taken somewhere in western Iraq. How a propos.

An Apple A Day...

Today the "miracle of life" landed me in the hopsital with an IV of fluid.
Nothing serious, everyone please calm down.
I've just been dealing with some bad dehydration lately and for the past three weeks getting ahold of my doctor has been like trying to understand why Paris Hilton is still trying to have a singing career: Impossible.
His receptionist apparently is under the impression that SHE holds a medical degree of some sort beyond "Hello, Doctor's Office, this is Susie". She demands to know why I'm calling and "what's wrong, exactly". Anyway after leaving about 500 messages for my doc over the past three weeks, I finally called today and yelled at her when she told me the doctor was out (you know...again.). She finally listened to the laundry list of what's up with me and she was like "Yeah...that's not good...you should see someone".
(are you rolling your eyes?)
So yeah. Unless Rob wants to deliver Rockstar out of the back of a truck or something, I have a feeling we'll be switching doctors.

The Cat is out of the Bag

Okay, all of you who already know and have been bugging me to post this;

WE ARE PREGNANT!

(dun Dun DUN)

I wanted to wait until the 12th week to go announcing it all over the internet, but we're almost 11 weeks and apparently I've joined the varsity team of Morning Sickness so I'm miserable and running out of other stuff to write about. So here's to being knocked up and miserable! Go Team!

Despite all the 'super fun' morning sickness stuff, we are really excited about the arrival of Rockstar (which is our nickname for "it"). It's been pretty tough with Rob gone all the time, but I swear, he's like the Merry Maids service on weekends when he's home, and in the mean time I have awesome neighbors (those are two seperate links) who come over on a daily basis making mac and cheese, taking out the garbage, and force feeding me bottle after bottle of water. (Had a few hydration scares).

Work has changed 180 degrees. I never go these days and if I do, I look like hell and I'll stay for an hour or so until my face turns green and someone says "Hey, you really don't look well... do you need someone to drive you home?" It's mostly men and they've been surprisingly understanding...although most of them have been married for 20 years and have kids close to my age, so I'm guessing it's not their first time dealing with a pregnant woman. They are basically letting me work 'consultant hours' (i.e. whenever I can) and even let me move my cube to a remote section of the office so I don't have to smell lunches, coffee, etc.

In the mean time I've been threatening Rob that he'll be carrying the next Townley baby... Hey, Science is always making progress...

And we're back!

New phone got hooked up today (whew). Thanks for all the emails with your info... Keep 'em coming... Or, now that I'm back, you could just call me.

Oh... and enough with the garbage can jokes... yeah yeah, you're all hysterical.

Call Me

Rob has been super husband lately. I'd just like to get that out there first. So this week I thought I'd counter with 'amazing wife' and clean our house from top to bottom while he was in NC. So I did. Like the "clean the baseboards, and all the tiles in the showers" kind of clean. (See? Amazing Wife). Anyway, somehow - it still baffles me - I managed to throw away my cell phone. Yeah. So anyway, the insurance peeps are sending me a new one, but I have no ones numbers anymore. So here's your big chance to get a space in the Townley's phone book. :-) Email me your numbers at danielletownley@yahoo.com
Thanks guys... and in the mean time, yeah... I got nothing. My bad.

You know what your life is missing? More usless stuff!!!

When you see a sign that says "No Soliciting" To you, does that mean "Hey you know what would make our day? Come knock on our door during dinner and sell us something we don't need!!!"
I'm just curious because that seems to be the case in our neighborhood even though we have a sign at the FRONT of the neighborhood that says "Private Community, NO SOLICITING". This has encouraged numerous salespeople to come on in and piss us off. Some are so aggressive I've seen them actually wait for a neighbor to get out of their car, and then walked them to their door while pitching their product.
The worst are the following three products that I like to call repeat offenders.
1.) Newspaper salesmen. Apparently the new fad is for newspapers to send around kids who claim that my subscribing will help them go to college. I totally don't understand this. A paper costs, what, $1.50 at most? So even if the paper gives you get HALF of the proceeds, you're making a whopping 75 cents each time someone doesn't slam a door in your face?? For College? You know how else you can get money for college? AN ACTUAL JOB. The last kid that came to our neighborhood didn't even care about the paper he was selling, he wanted to come in and use the bathroom. But I'm sure he's on his way to Med School by now.
2.) Comcast Cable guys. The last one that came to our neighborhood was knocking on each door and asking for the phone numbers of the girl's who lived there. I know this because my sister was one of the "lucky" ones that got harrassed. Creeeepy.
3.) This last one is my favorite. The Kirby vacumm cleaner people. In case you need a vacumm and can't see spending less than a grand. These guys you literally have to shut the door on WHILE they are talking. I told them I HAVE a vacumm cleaner. The guy (way too cheerfully) explained that he didn't want to sell me a vacumm, he wanted to show me how clean my carpet could be!!
I always ask if they saw the "No Soliciting" sign- just to be sure before I start to get mean. This is what I get: "We're not soliciting, we're here to improve your lifestyle" blah blah blah.
So yeah. I'm just curious, is it just us? Am I missing something? Are you all part of this harrassment or does my neighborhood just have this invisible albatross around our proverbial neck?

We're totally hot

Okay, I'm starting to think there may be something to all this "global warming" we're hearing about. It's flipping HOT outside. Yesterday I came outside and overheard one of my neighbors literally "yelling at the gods" and asking them why it's so (expletive) hot out here. I think she saw me giggling - and I felt bad about that because I don't know her, but I didn't think it was a really good time to go introduce myself.

In news that will absolutely SHOCK you, the marines have decided to renege (yes. again. shocked, right?) on sending Rob up here permanently by this weekend. We are now looking for sometime in September...although they haven't mentioned September of WHICH DECADE.

I think we're going to start drinking...

The Bourne Ultimatum

Rob is going to see this movie tonight while in Jacksonville, NC. I don't know anyone who's not a Matt Damon fan. I saw this 'trailor' today and thought it was hysterical. So here it is... freshly ripped off of youtube. Enjoy!