Hello 2010!

We are back! We had a great Christmas and New Years and hope that everyone else did too! It was great to be home in Minnesota and see friends, but I have to admit the snow, ice, and cold got pretty old! You would think I had grown up in the south based on how I can't handle the cold anymore. We had pretty bad weather while we were there though. We left Mississippi on the 22nd and drove straight through to avoid the blizzard. When we got to Minnesota it snowed all day on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th. Then it turned to freezing rain, and then it just got super cold! It was -26 air temp when we left on the 3rd.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Brian's family and it was great! We spent a lot of time with friends and family and eating the foods we can't get here in Mississippi. On New Year's Eve we celebrated with some friends from high school. I celebrated with a few glasses of sparkling grape juice! :) New Year's Day we had a lovely co-ed baby shower thrown by my parents and some friends. We got a ton of great stuff. We are so lucky to have such great friends and family! Our trip went by so fast but we had a blast and can't believe it's already 2010! This Friday we are eagerly awaiting to hear where we will be going and what plane Brian will be flying next! Our top choice is the KC-10 to Travis AFB (CA) but honestly anything in our top 10 would be great! I will keep everyone posted on what we get!

I've been feeling good. The 16 car ride took me some time to recover from and the constant activity while we were home made me tired but I had a blast. I am now 24 weeks along and my bump is definitely growing. The baby moves constantly and while we were home Brian felt him kick! He's felt him kick a few more times now and I think now he actually believes there's a baby in there! :) I think we may have a little athlete! I just pray that the rest of the pregnancy goes well and I think before we know it, he'll be here! I will post some more pregnancy pics soon. Thanks everyone for their support and love! Here are a few pics from our trip:

Brian, Rascal, and I at our Christmas


Rascal opening one of his many presents!

Brian and I on New Years

Friends Lynsey, Lauren, and I on New Years

Some of the guys doing bottle chugging races at the shower

Brian and I at the shower!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Ok, well not really here in Columbus, MS. It is currently 67 and drizzling. However, I am still very much in the Christmas spirit! I have all of my Christmas shopping, decorating, and wrapping done! Now it just needs to be December 23 so we can drive up to Minnesota and celebrate with real snow! Sorry for the lack of updates lately! On December 5th, two of my wonderful friends and fellow 10-04/10-05 spouses threw me a baby shower! It was great to have my Columbus AFB and Beans and Cream friends all together! It was wonderful and Brian and I realized how truly blessed we are to have made so many great friends down here. Baby Ross will be a very well dressed and well loved little man! :) That same day Brian took his test to get his commercial pilots license and passed! He will get that rating the day of his graduation. This week is his last week of flying. They've really been pushing his class hard to finish before Christmas, which leaves his whole month of January up to the 22nd flying stress free! He even had to go in one weekend and fly just so they could get done early. He has his last checkride this week as well, either Thursday or Friday and then he will be done! It's also his birthday this week, on Wednesday, so once he again he will be studying on his birthday, very much like studying for finals on his birthday while at the Academy! We are planning on driving up to Minnesota and being there from about the 23rd through the 4th or so, all depending on driving weather! We are so excited to see everyone and Rascal is excited to play in the snow and with Casey (my parent's dog). I have been feeling pretty good. My belly is growing every day and I can feel our little man moving inside me. Still no names decided on, I told Brian our 16 hour drive will give us plenty of time to decide! :) It's been really nice not working, especially since I have not been sleeping well. I keep waking up at 4 am and am wide awake and it takes me forever to fall back asleep. Oh well, good practice for the baby, right?! I have my next doctor's appointment this Friday. We have so many changes coming up in the next few months: assignment night (Jan 8) where we find out where we're going and what Brian's flying, graduation (Jan 22) where we will get our orders, moving to either a training base or our permanent base depending on which aircraft he gets, a whole new training phase, and a new baby! Whew!! We will try to keep this thing updated as much as we can to let y'all know where we're going and what we're up to! Hope everyone has a Merry Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!






Picture from my baby shower. Yes, that is Rascal wearing his big brother shirt helping me open presents!


Rascal in his santa suit, and not happy!

Much better! Notice the santa suit on the ground!

The Ross family at our class's Christmas party with our tacky sweaters. Rascal was not feeling it! And no, Brian was not forced to wear that! He picked that outfit out on his own and wanted to wear it! :)


Some of the 10-04 spouses and fiance!

My belly at 19 weeks

Belly at 20 weeks. Same shirt to show the little difference there is!

Thanksgiving week

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great one! We have so much to be thankful for this year, so it was an extra special one for us. We were blessed to share Thanksgiving with three other couples and we had a blast! The past week has been quite a blur for us. On Monday, we found out that we're having a boy, Wednesday was my last day of work, Thursday was Thanksgiving, and Friday was Black Friday!! You better believe the night we found out it was a boy, I went out and bought some cute boy outfits! We're still debating on names, hopefully by April we'll have one picked out! :) On Wednesday I was sad to say goodbye to Beans and Cream. I can't believe it's been a year since I started working there! Brian and I decided to have me quit before Thanksgiving so that we would be able to come home for a couple weeks in December, so that I could take it easy before we move, and so I could spend time with our friends and enjoy Columbus! I also wanted to be home more so that when Brian wasn't flying I could spend time with him since after he gets his wings he will be gone a lot flying. We put up our Christmas tree and decorations on Friday after I got done shopping. This year has flown by, I cannot believe it is almost Christmas time! Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving:

It's A...................

BOY!!!!!!

We had a great appointment today. Everything looks great and we are super excited that we are having a little boy! Now we just need to agree on a name! Brian's excited because not only did Joe Mauer win MVP but he's having a boy! Great day! Here's some pics from our ultrasound:

It's definitely a boy!! He had his legs nice and open for us!


Our sweet baby's face. His eyes are open!

His little arms that were waving all around! :)

His little legs that were kicking

Kinda hard to see, but it's his foot

Another boy shot! (As Brian would say, the toilet seat view)

Legs on the left, stomach, arms, and face!

Career Day!

Last Saturday was Career Day at Columbus AFB. On this day they have several pilots from different airframes come talk about the plane they fly, the mission of that plane, what the lifestyle is like of that plane, and the available bases for that plane. It helps the students make informed decisions come assignment night where they get to rank their top choices of airframes. This was the second Career Day since Brian was in pilot training, and I went to the first one, so I opted out of the morning briefings but went to the static displays in the afternoon. We got to see the most important one though, the C-17. This is Brian's top choice to fly and is a really cool plane. They have been dropping a few for the past few classes, so hopefully we can get one! They have really nice bases too, all on the coast. Another plane Brian is interested in is the RC-135. It's a spy plane that does some cool things! The main base for that is in Omaha so it would be really great to be closer to home! Brian did pass his checkride last week and did well! It's such a relief to have that stressful checkride out of the way! He started some formation flying this week and really enjoys it. They are still on track to be done flying before Christmas so it's pretty crazy to think he only has a little over a month left of flying! We are more than ready for assignment night and to see where the Air Force will take us next! Here are some pictures from Career Day:

The lovely C-17

Brian looking right at home in the cockpit of the C-17

Me with the cockpit behind me


Brian and I by the C-17

Baby Update!

I had my third doctor's appointment today and all went well! They just took my vitals and listened to the baby's heartbeat. It was at 156 bpm and sounded good. Both the doctor and the nurse have a feeling that it's a girl! Brian and I both think it's a boy, but now we're not so sure! However, we will find out for sure, if the baby cooperates, on the 23rd of November!!! I really wanted to find out the sex before Black Friday so I could do some shopping and it worked out that we can! So in less than 3 weeks I will update you on what it is! Brian has the most difficult checkride of his training tomorrow so we're crossing our fingers all goes well! We will keep ya'll updated! :)

Halloween: Columbus-Style!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! We sure did here in Columbus, MS! We didn't have any trick-or-treaters this year at our apartment but no worries, the leftover candy will get eaten! Brian's roommate from the Academy, Spencer, was in route from Pensacola, FL to Enid, OK to continue his pilot training and spent Halloween night with us! It was great to see him. Spencer is from Wisconsin, so he's a huge Packers fan and I had a ton of fun decorating his room with Vikings decorations! GO VIKINGS!! Spencer did not have a costume since he was moving, so I gladly lent him the banana costume for the night! He made a great banana! :) Rascal did not want to re-live the whole pet parade incident, so he was a glow in the dark skeleton. I went for a pumpkin lady look. Most people had no idea what I was, so I just said I was going as a redhead or a pumpkin lady, either one! Brian wanted to be a local again this year, with a little different outfit. I was afraid when a real Mississippi local saw him that he was going to get beat up, but they didn't know what he was and that he was making fun of them! We went to a few parties our pilot training class was having and all in all it was a fun Halloween! Here are some pictures:


The Ross family has never looked better.

Brian and Spencer

Rascal and Brian just hangin out at the party