TDY Cheaters

TDYs are the worst. TDY = Temporary Duty . . . one of the few military acronyms I actually know. I went to a neighborhood playdate with other military spouses and I was definitely the only mom who missed the memo with all the acronyms. 

Neither here nor there!

TDYs seem to be especially horrendous when they are more than two weeks. Something about remaining under the two week mark makes them much more reasonable. Will has been gone for a little over a week. For what it's worth, I'd 100 times over take a long TDY third trimester with a toddler (who's a good sleeper!) than fourth trimester with a newborn (who's a bad sleeper). Any day. But it's still been a rough go to spend all your waking hours with an irrational little human. 

Our demeanors, 65% of the time. PS - find us on snapchat: theresabreslin.

The TDY is one of the pinnacles of "motherhood martyrdom." I have yet to experience a deployment, but at least then you feel lots of concern and sympathy for your spouse, who will typically be working exceptionally long hours in uncomfortable quarters in dangerous locations, etc. etc. But the TDY. At least in my experience, it means short days of lectures/exercises, plenty of "team-building" (e.g., ultimate frisbee, barbecues, and drinks out) with various colleagues, and lots of Netflix streaming. And if you're lucky, an absurd amount of FaceTiming with your wife ;) It is really easy to let yourself feel resentful if you're not careful and grounded. By staying grounded I mean stress eating pumpkin muffins obviously.

But that's beside the point, because we're cheating this time. Yep, little Will is going to daycare all week. 

The Child Development Center (aka the CDC - sad choice of acronym) has hourly care available if a classroom slot is open. It's a fantastic option at only $5 per hour, plus it's an environment with which Will is already very familiar as it's where he went full-time from 12 months to 18 months old. I knew I would probably need this option if I wanted to get any work done from home. (I really did have more energy for it when Will was an infant - go figure.) So, I called the CDC on Friday to see if they had any open slots for the next two weeks and ...

Nope. 

But then later that day I got a call telling me that Monday and Tuesday had opened up. I just had to gather some new paperwork and he'd be all set.

And thennnn . . . 

Yesterday morning after dropping him off I get a call that the rest of the week had opened up. If I took the whole week I would only pay the discounted weekly rate.

Well, twist my arm whydoncha?

So, William is currently at daycare, as he will be tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. I am able to furiously bill hours and hopefully get this project out of the way before tackling trial prep for my pro bono case. (Oh, have I not mentioned that I have a federal pro bono trial scheduled for when I'm 35.5 weeks pregnant? No? Let me remedy that now. I have a federal trial for which I am sole counsel scheduled one month before my due date. Hooray!) And then after that maybe I can tackle prep for the next little human that will join our family. 

One thing at a time. 

JAG Life: The Military Lifestyle

Okay, I'm back discussing the JAG life. Last time, there was that snooze fest where I talked about what my husband does all day long. Now I'm diving into my extensive 10 months experience with the military lifestyle. Hold onto those socks and prepare yourself for acronyms. 

Getting Orders. I talked about the agonizing wait to get our orders here, which seems to be pretty normal for those first orders. Your orders is a little piece of paper that tells you when and where to report when you are entering active duty. You and your loved ones need this piece of paper for everything: getting military housing, a military ID, health insurance, in order to cancel your existing lease, etc. etc. etc. 

Ours took forever to get because Congress couldn't pass a budget and there was a government shutdown, but that will never happen again, right? . . . RIGHT?!

"I think we're in the right place."

PCSing aka Permanent Change of Station. The military lifestyle is most famous for making its peoples move every 2 to 3 years. I think in the Navy you get 4, no? Anyway, moving can be a real chore, especially when you do it all yourself. I blogged a bit about that here and here. To be honest, though, it was financially a great deal because we got paid to move ourselves. And since our orders took forever we were in a dire financial situation and that basically helped us pay off some debt we acquired during that lovely time period!

Next time, we will be having the movers come. Basically, the military sends people to pack up your belongings while you awkwardly sit around supervising, and then they send another set of people to move all the boxes out of your house. At your new place, more people will come and unpack everything for you! I've heard a lot of stuff gets damaged, but stuff will always get damaged, even if you move it yourself. Rest in pieces, old big screen TV and coffee table . . . . 

Our next door neighbors are currently in the process of PCSing to Italy! This means that there are constantly movers and big trucks sitting in front of our house. Those movers can be interesting looking folks, I won't lie. But they seem friendly enough! I don't care what you look like, just handle my belongings gently . . . . !

For our next duty station (which probably won't be for another two years), we have our fingers crossed for either somewhere super close to family, orrrrrr . . . Europe. Go big or go home.

This is our house. Easily double the living space of our last apartment. Five times the size of our first apartment.

Living on Base. This obviously depends on the base, but we really enjoy living on base here at Scott. While we don't have a gourmet kitchen or anything, it is very comfortable and, to us at least, HUGE. There is an entire room on our first floor housing only a bookcase and a pack n play. Gone are the days of our cramped one-bedroom studio apartment.

When we moved here I assumed there would be, like, awesome military team-building block parties, but it's pretty quiet. I stalk my neighbors pretty hard and have been trying to do a better job of making real life friends. I sound pathetic, but whatever - it's working! And we do go to parties about once every other month with people from Will's office.

The biggest perk of living on base is Will's non-commute. He gets to come home for lunch pretty much every day. And his commute is approximately 8 minutes if there's no line at the gate.

In this area, it was really the best bang for our buck. Will's BAH is taken out to cover rent and utilities (gas, electric, water, and waste are all covered!). It's just money and a bill that we never see, which I like because I handle the finances. We are given an allotment for gas and electric, and if you use less than your allotment you get that money back. We are set to receive about $180 back right now, hence, the A/C is off right now because I'm all about getting a payday when we move out. Huzzah. Word on the street is that the military rental people like to hit you up with charges (just like any rental company - I hope you are enjoying that brand new carpet I paid for current resident of Citation Club!!!), so it will probably definitely go toward that.

Sure, there are also loud planes and trains that goes by, the occasional EOD or firing squad perhaps (not joking), but these aren't really that noticeable to us. In Miami, we lived directly on highway US-1. I guess it's all relative. Baby Will's sound machine is always set to full blast. 

Shopping at the Commissary. It's a real experience.

First of all, it's always packed.

Basically.

It's no wonder. Everything is sold at cost and tax-free, with a small charge for overhead. Stuff is cheap! But I think I've found my sweet spot, which is the Wednesday BEFORE pay day. I've found that this is generally when things are well-stocked and the prices are the lowest. It was pretty crowded, the checkout line was really long, but I just threw some Puffs at Will and it was all good. Totally worth it.

I've also had pretty good luck with finding good organics. They have a separate organics section for produce and everything else, BUT there's no organic meat. You can find Perdue cage-free "natural" chicken, but no certified organic meat, which is a bummer.

Some other random commissary deets:

• You can't check out without your military ID, even if you have a visitor pass that gets you on base. This was a real bummer when my parents were in town visiting to help me take care of baby Will right after he was born. I was NOT in any position to leave the house, but we would need something, so my parents would have to drive further away to Walmart to pick up anything we needed.
• You have to tip the baggers. That's the only money they make! They bag your stuff and take it out to your car. If I was a single lady this would bother me a lot because I wouldn't really want or need their services, but now that I have a little person with me every time, it's a huge help. I usually tip 5%. 
• Everyone uses paper bags. It was like twilight zone when I realized this. Everyone was asking for paper bags and I felt like the odd man out requesting plastic. What is it about paper that I wasn't realizing?! And then I noticed the GIANT sign behind the cashiers stating, "Please help keep costs down by requesting paper!" Got it.
• They accept all manufacturers' coupons. I am not a big couponer, but I see people with their double carts and their big coupon binders going all crazy with the coupons. More power to ya. 
• Alcohol is sold separately at the Exchange (where the gas station is). The alcohol at the Exchange is also a great deal! But you will pay buttloads for a stinkin' gallon of ice cream. Priorities, I guess. 

TDYs aka Temporary Duty Assignments. One word, JAGGYs: ALABAMA. TDYs are basically trainings you get sent to. Lots of sexual assault trainings, trial advocacy courses, etc. I think Will went to an environmental one and he has an operations one coming up. I think in my last post, he is basically gone, on average, for one week every 1.5 months. Give or take.

Will has been to Maxwell AFB three times for a total of 12 weeks in the 10 months since commissioning and going active duty. JAG School was 9 weeks, then another was one week, and this past one was two weeks. That doesn't even include officer training, which is more time spent in the beautiful Alabama sun. A few months ago Will went to Seattle, which was pretty cool, a bit of a change of pace. 

Deployments. You can't talk military without talking deployments. Obviously, Will hasn't been deployed yet. He has been given a 6-month timeframe of when he could leave for a deployment. I will just say, this makes for tricky family planning as we would like to add to our family. However, we'd also prefer Will to be present for the birth of our second child and for him not to leave me with a 2-week-old again. The whole bit about him actually being gone for 6 months is just something I haven't even wrapped my mind around yet!

Anyway, JAGs can be deployed anywhere in the world, including in the continental United States. While at Miami, we met a woman who was technically deployed in Miami. Fingers are crossed for a Miami deployment, but it's much more likely it would be to a hostile foreign area.

Air Force Balls. This is when you leave the house and get all fancy schmancy and schmooze. I am going to my first ball tomorrow tonight. I will be sure to report back.

7 things!!! Linking up with Jen.

And I hear Will pulling into the driveway now! Hooray!

The Home Stretch

I know I said we could make it, but . . .

Hours after clicking "Publish" we saw hail. Flash floods. Lightening. Howling winds. TORNADOS! Etc. Et al. I don't know if the photo above captures the gravity of the weather situation, but, listen - I grew up in Maryland. A land of crab cakes and moderate weather. A land where there do not exist sirens to warn sleeping citizens of impending meteorological doom.

Will woke at 5:30am, probably from the sounds of the storm. I thought I heard sirens, but I wasn't completely sure because the soft breaking waves of the ocean (via sound machine) were drowning it out. I soothed him back to sleep and as soon as I crawled into bed, the ocean stopped. It took me a few seconds to realize the power went out. That was when I really heard the tornado sirens. Texting my mom, who was raised in Oklahoma as a child and saw many a tornado, seemed like a good idea at the time. I had gone to the upstairs hallway with the baby to get away from windows. Seemed like a nice spot to camp out and nod off.

No.

Big Momma D called me immediately and implored me to get downstairs because "the whole top floor could be ripped off." Lots of deets like that in the pitch black power outage with howling winds outside. She proceeded to tell me things like how her mother would drag a mattress over them, would dress them in their winter coats, and told me that if I heard the tornado to go to the corner of our freezing cold garage. "It sounds like a freight train. When you hear it get in the corner of the garage by the stairs and make a triangle of life."

Thank you, mom, for your expertise, but I don't think I'll be calling you next time in my moment of terror.

Moving along.

We did, in fact, survive long enough to face our next life-threatening obstacle: cross-country travel with a two month old. 

After much hemming and hawing, I agreed to take baby Will down to Maxwell AFB to visit husband Will at JAG School. Shockingly, there are no direct flights from St. Louis to Montgomery and we had to stay in a hotel with the baby, who is not a great night sleeper. In a rare bout of first-time mom confidence (momfidence?... no), I bit the bullet and booked the flight. I then spent the next few weeks in terror at the thought of actually traveling alone with the poop machine that is Baby Brez. How would I carry everything and get through security??? Where would I park??? Would he cry from the air pressure??? Would people stare at me nursing in public??? Would he spit up on the passenger next to us??? Would he get sick from the airplane germs??? Does he need identification??? .... and so on and so forth.

The Mobester was clutch.

I guess you could say I over-prepared. I knew exactly which hand would carry what piece of luggage, what pockets my phone, ID, and tickets would go in, when I would feed him, etc., and honestly, the trip down went without incident. Momfidence points for Team Brez.

Will greeted us in Montgomery and we had a nice little reunion.

And the remainder of our trip was fantastic.

We showed off the babe to Will's JASOC buds and my college lax teammate, explored the three tiny streets that make up downtown Montgomery, and even went out to dinner sans baby.

On Palm Sunday we went to confession and Mass on base and it ruled. The weather was so nice by the end of Mass, baby Will decided to go shirtless (hubba hubba). And then we went brunching, which is one of my top 5 favorite activities. 

I got to see what JAG School life was all about. And although some of my resentment toward Will was well-founded (beautiful weather, adult interaction, free time for recreational activities), I saw the dungeon cell they put him up in to live in for two whole months. Shared bathroom and all! And the water pressure! Oh, the horrific water pressure! The grass is always greener . . .

Someone really enjoyed the free HBO and king-sized bed at our hotel.

The trip home was a little more hairy. It started out like this:

Censored a la Eve in the Garden of Eden. SINFUL, I say! 

Will had his first Stage 5 blowout before we were to board our flight. I was wearing him in the Moby and felt it happen. And, I just knew. I just knew. Luckily, I arrived at the airport with a ton of time to spare because I was still a little paranoid despite our easy trip down, and you know it was a good thing because it took me twenty minutes to give him the old diaper-wipe-baby-bath and get him changed. Unfortunately for him, I didn't bring a spare pair of pants, so baby Brez was pantsless for the rest of our trip. No big deal in the 80 degree Alabama weather, but we live in the polar vortex, so you can use that info for a very weak literary foreshadow . . .

The first flight was uneventful, however, we landed in Charlotte and had to do that walk/jog to our next flight across the airport. I knew I had to feed him, so I took him out of the Moby and he started screaming. There was a scream-match with another baby on the flight (everyone around was very entertained!), but luckily for us, Will lost. He nursed without incident and was happy. So happy that he puked allllll down the front of me. I was so momfident going into the day that I did not pack an extra shirt for myself. Fail. But I felt lucky that all the fluid stuck to our side of the armrest. Once we were in the air I again felt and heard the inevitable BM. I got up (from my window seat!!!) and could not find our diaper bag. It felt like an eternity I was searching for it. Finally I found it with the help of about five other passengers (where I left it, of course) behind some other bags. 

When we arrived in St. Louis we were greeted by 40 degree temps and horizontal rain. The wheel on my big piece of checked luggage had been damaged, so I was dragging it around in anger, shaking my one spare fist in the air. And of course the exit I needed was under construction, so I had to walk all the way around to my shuttle . . .  in the cold rain . . . with Will's bare legs hanging out of the Moby. (I tried unsuccessfully to cover him with a blanket.) He slept through it all! God bless him. When we got to our car, I fed him, heard another BIG BM (it never stops) and had to change him with the door open and the wind and rain whipping into the car. Baby Brez handled the trip like a pro. A true jetsetter.

Will is home for good TOMORROW! Dare I say we made it? I don't want a last-minute rogue hurricane headed for our direction, so I will just hold off. But I will wait with excited anticipation. 

We Can Make It

Two more weeks! Two more weeks! TWO-POINT-FIVE-MORE-WEEKS! 

. . . until Lent is over and I can have my husband back. I wanted to do some other things during Lent, like make it to daily mass and exercise more, you know, things of my choosing, but really I think God sees my sacrifice of sleep and spousal companionship and sees that it is very good. Not quite Genesis status good, but good nonetheless. 

Two more weeks. (In times like these, we round down, amirite?) I'm choosing to see this as a glass-half-full thing today because I got a couple good nights of sleep. In. A. Row. Woot! Don't get me wrong. This past week saw some moments where I told Will, "you are getting out of the military! I can't do this ever again! HALP." But then I got four hours of sleep or something and all is well. I think I said last night something along the lines of, "when you become TJAG . . . ." So yeah. Tiger Wife is back. (However, note that tigers need sleep, too.)

Reflection Time: In general I don't feel like a "military spouse." I mean, I've seen a couple episodes of Army Wives. And their struggles - they aren't mine. I guess it's easy to feel that way when you're husband is a JAG. He doesn't carry a gun or get shot at. (Though he does get tazed, apparently.) If he ever were to deploy somewhere, he would probably never have to leave air conditioning. Those airmen and their climate control. And he's NOT deployed. There's that. That's a big one. But, hey. My husband has been away at training for seven straight weeks and I'm up in here with a newborn and two psycho poop-eating dogs, so I reserve the right to give myself a pat on the back. Or, like, an excuse to not have the most zealous Lent ever.

This experience has made me feel like more a part of the AF community, though. These are good people. And I'm not just saying that because the cashiers at the Commissary know way too much about my life. (I get a little chatty in the checkout line, what can I say?) Will's boss calls to check up on how things are going while he's away. His coworkers stop by to drop off food. There was the great cupcake mystery. And then, there was this . . . 

An old high school friend who is in the Air Force sent us this crocheted Air Force bomber jacket for the bambino, and dare I say, it's the cutest thing we've ever seen. As Will said when I texted him a picture . . . "THIS WINS EVERYTHING!" So thoughtful and so cute. Thank you, thank you, Jen! 

The Takeaway: (1) We can make it two more weeks; (2) the Air Force community is the best out there; and (3) if I have to shoulder all the sleep deprivation of our first baby's first two months of life, then, yeah, it doesn't hurt to watch Will B. get tazed a few (dozen) times just for kicks. (Just go watch it. You will laugh, too.)

"We can dooooo it. Bliggity blerg."

Our First PCS Move

What. a. whirlwind. I can't believe that just a week ago, I was in North Carolina celebrating Thanksgiving with these cuties:

(Happy Belated 2nd Birthday, Noa!!!!)

Nan took this beaut' of the two of us:

I guess time flies when you are PCSing.

The day after Thanksgiving, we drove 9 hours back to Florida from NC. Upon arrival in Florida (around 5:30PM), we got a call from Budget Rentals telling us that our reservation we'd had for a moving truck for weeks could not be honored. Cue well-founded rage and mad crazy scramble to find a new moving truck on one of the busiest moving weekends of the year. Luckily, we found the last 17' moving truck in the greater Daytona Beach area that night around 9:00PM. 

On Saturday morning, at 7:00AM, Will picked up our Uhaul and got to loading it (along with his dad) with our belongings that had been in storage for the past 7 weeks . . . 

It's like a very large, very expensive 3D puzzle.

and off we went on the 1,000 mile drive.

Little Billy take the wheeeeel. (That's my little brother.) 

We made a couple pit stops, one night in Macon, GA and one night in Nashville. On Sunday morning (1st Sunday of Advent!!!), we attended Mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Macon. It was a gorgeous church and Mass, and was a much needed calm period during the storm of the move.

Right?!

We then promptly hit up Starbucks for some PSLs (naturally), when we discovered that Ace was sitting on our Advent calendar in the back seat of our car.

Those poor dogs were pretty cramped the whole trip, but they were great! And yes, we're eating the chocolates from the Advent calendar anyway.

From Macon, things got wild. As in, we stopped at Ikea in the heart of Atlanta to purchase a new couch cover and coffee table. The former was destroyed by our dogs, while the latter was destroyed by the infamous Neddy-bear (Will's dad, Ned) during the move. We managed to make it out of Ikea in under two hours, which I attribute to the grace of God received at Mass earlier that day, but I digress . . . .

We spent our second night on the road in Nashville. Will met up with a law school friend for a couple of drinks while I refused to put on pants (sorry, Courtney!!) and watched another disappointing Redskins loss with a Wendy's frosty in hand. (I was a vision of beauty, I'm sure.) At this point, we were thoroughly pooped, and still had 5 more hours of driving ahead of us.

Daisy also refused pants.

We left the hotel the first thing the next morning (not too too hard thanks to the time change!) and headed to Scott. We came in from the east, so it was a boring drive, which we didn't mind after driving through the heart of Atlanta and the winding Tennessee mountain roads in the dead of night!

Lots of flat farmland.

We figured we made it to the right place when we approached the base entrance flanked with four massive Air Force planes.

You think we made it to the right place? 

We arrived on base at about 1:00PM, got visitors passes so that I could drive our car on, and went straight to the JAG office to meet Will's sponsor (i.e., a poor coworker who was assigned to answer all of our many many questions!), commanding officer, and coworkers. Everyone was really friendly, and I got to see Will's very own office, complete with a large window, to the outside world! (Anyone working in government straight out of law school will understand this is a rare and amazing privilege.)

His work building.

We left to go to the housing office to go check out our new house (more on that later . . . but suffice it to say I'm about to get all Young House Love up in here).

It is a far cry from our apartment days.

It wasn't the floor plan we were initially told we would get, and was two stories instead of one. The dogs ran up and down the steps 27 times within 15 minutes. I think we'll all get used to it! ;)

We then checked in to the Scott Inn for that night's lodging arrangements (kind of icky - glad it was only for one night). We signed our lease first thing the next morning and started moving into our house, which was just on Tuesday, in addition to doing all those other fun military things (i.e., registering with DEERS, getting ID cards, enrolling in health insurance, registering the dogs on base, etc. etc. etc.).

Things are NOWHERE NEAR settled down, but we obviously did manage to have our Internet installed, which is why I get to over share our experience with you all.

Joy for you and me!

7 Quick Takes: PCS and the Move

After quite the hiatus, I'm linking up with Jen over at Conversion Diary.

1 - Will received his official orders yesterday, which is a proverbial weight off our chests. Basically, in order to arrange anything in the military, you need this magic piece of paper in your hands. Now we have to navigate the shipment of our things, travel arrangements, housing, etc. As lawyers, we are literally trained and conditioned to read wordy documents and fill out paperwork, but we find ourselves scratching our heads constantly. This PCS ("permanent change of station") stuff is like a huge puzzle of acronyms that must be slowly pieced together. That's just the federal government for you. I haven't put together the big picture. 

2 - I think I am in for a rude awakening once I'm a real life military spouse. I don't know, but there is a formal military spouse orientation. A formal class on how to be a military spouse? This fact alone intimidates me. I have visions of it being a boot camp, where I'm derided for making eye contact with a general or not being able to sing the National Anthem in under two minutes. I'm sure it's just normal things like how to shop at the commissary or use the on-base gym, but what can I say? The idle mind wanders.

3 - The majority of my time (when I'm not reading birth stories or trying to figure out PCS) is spent checking out the surrounding neighborhoods by the base. I'd like to know exactly where the closest Starbucks is located and its proximity to my future home, church, and workplace. (It's 15 minutes away from base, but close to World Market and their supply of Cheerwine, so I guess I'll survive.) 

4 - With orders in hand, I can begin applying for my Illinois bar license. Illinois has a rule to temporarily admit military spouses with licenses from other jurisdictions while stationed in the state. On the one hand, this is fabulous because it means I don't have to study and sit for another bar exam. (I don't hate the idea, but it's time-consuming and costly.) On the other hand, all the legal jobs are in St. Louis, which, if you didn't know, is just across the state line in Missouri (pronounced, Mizzouruh, if you didn't know!). Most jobs require a Missouri license, if not a MO/IL dual license. So, in effect, I don't know how helpful an Illinois license will be to me. Oh well, can't hurt.

5 -  This weekend, Will's mom and aunt are throwing me a baby shower! Nan has gone borderline out of control with the Pinteresting, so I'm sure the shower is going to be a hit. Be sure to check back Sunday (or, more likely, Monday) for all the pics! 

6 - Jen posted today that she will be announcing her book title and posting the cover . . . on Monday. Raise your hand if you think the cliffhanger is too much and she should just post it later today. And if you are confused as to what I'm talking about, click over to Conversion Diary, read her post, and then raise your hand in agreement.

7 - And just like that, I'm out of takes and out of patience because I'm most definitely hangry. It's lunch time, you guys.

Have a great weekend, all!

Meet Me in St. Louis

If you've been anywhere in my vicinity in the past two months, you've probably heard me whining, wondering, speculating where on Earth we'd be living for the next two years. I try to keep this blog a happy, cheerful space, where dogs can wear spectacles and I can discuss every minute detail of my pregnancy. As a result, I've failed to update the blog regarding the saga that is the first base assignment. The drought ends now. 

The story starts ages and ages ago. It was some time in early September when Will notified JAG headquarters that he had passed all legal licensing requirements and was good to go active duty. He was told he probably wouldn't go active duty until November 1, and as we were thinking he would go active duty in October, we were a little disappointed. (Ha!) My last day of clerking was August 30, so we were both rearin' and ready to move out of South Florida and get this military lifestyle show on the road.

Then there was some dragging of feet. . . . Then there was a government shutdown. . . . We moved out of our apartment, put our belongings in storage, and became traveling gypsies. (Okay, we've basically been living with Will's parents, but I prefer the term "extended stay.") November 1 of course came and passed. As did November 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, not just without Will going active duty, but with no news of even where we would end up. I was getting pretty anxious about where I would be giving birth to this baby. Will was just anxious in general from sitting on our hands for so long. Things were getting a little hairy after being told over and over for weeks that base assignment news was imminent. Finally, on Wednesday we finally found out where we will be living the next two years!

St. Louis, here we come. 

(And we'll be there sooner than we thought.)

Source. 

Will is actually assigned to Scott AFB in Illinois, just east of St. Louis. We don't know yet if we'll be living on-base or off, or how long it will take to find a place to live, but we do know that we will get to enjoy Thanksgiving with our family and should be nice and settled in before the Christmas holiday. Praise. The. Lord.

There is some slightly bad news. Will must go to JASOC (JAG training) in Alabama from February 18 to April 18. Our due date is February 19. But it's fiiiine, right? I hear the first two months are the easiest, right? RIGHT?! I'm sure Daisy and Ace will do more than enough to help me take care of the baby!

Right???????????

It really will be okay. We knew this JAG School timeline was a strong possibility and the grandmas are already lining up their trips to St. Louis. I also have a cousin in the St. Louis area who will help out as much as she can. Oh, and I also hear that babies can come early? (Pretty please? My momma never delivered past her due date, so . . . fingers crossed.) And Will should be able to come home for a few weekends over the two month training. 

So you know what? We are looking forward to life in the midwest! Four distinct seasons? Count us in. (We know it's cold there, but you know what? 90 degree weather in November ain't no picnic either!) As some people say, midwest is best. Boots and scarves be mine.

20 Weeks

After some travel and recovering from the plague known as the "common cold," I am back for a 20 weeks post. HALFWAY there, give or take! (Have you ever ran with Nike+? You know, with the old school chip in your shoe? Well, the man or woman robot always says "Halfway point! X miles to go." I can't stop thinking of the robot voice. Get out of my head!) According to the fruit charts, Baby Bill is the size of a banana this week, but we know from our anatomy scan that Baby Bill is more of a genetically modified giant banana if a banana at all. More on that later. The bell-shot:

We are in the process of moving and the ol' chalkboard is the only piece of decor that continues to hang in our apartment, so I thought, let's get a shot displaying my madd chalk skillz. (Pun intended, as I am sort of a mother against drunk driving.) Why are we congratulating Will? Well, he passed the NC bar, so he officially commissioned into the Air Force and swore in to the North Carolina bar (necessitating the aforementioned travel). Also, Daisy just loves Ace.

Overall Weight Gain: For comparison, my last belly shot was a few weeks ago (17 weeks) when I looked like this . . .

Such a svelte young thing. Lately, every time I look at myself in a picture, I have to ask Will, "Do I really look that pregnant? . . . Are you sure it's not just the way I'm standing? The angle of the photograph?" When I look in the mirror, I still see myself around 16-17 weeks. I do not see the protruding belly that much. But WHOA it's there. Needless to say, I experienced quite the growth spurt over the past few weeks. I've gained six pounds the past three weeks for a total weight gain now of ~16 pounds. That's a lot for 20 weeks I guess, but the baby is measuring a week and a half ahead so I am just going to embrace it. Rock them curves. If you've got it, flaunt it. {Insert cliche saying here.}

Exercise: Over the past two weeks, I've only worked out twice, and that was before I got sick. I tried going for some long walks otherwise, but I've had to pause in the shade for breaks. I felt like one of those sickly children from a Bronte novel. Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better lately so I'll be back at it this week!

Cravings: I was unable to stop myself from diving head first into the giant bag of Halloween candy at my friend Katie's house last night. I usually never eat candy! (Just not my thing. Give me a pastry or some ice cream . . . .) 

Strange Observations:

• During the absurd growth spurt, my hanger attacks were at full force like I'd never before known. It peaked in NC, so Rach and Chris, sorry (again) for eating all of your food. I did have the last piece of bread pudding. However, I've found the past few days that I am getting full very quickly and don't have much of an appetite. It could be from the cold from Hell, but it could just be my body putting the breaks on the weight gain. I've found that I gain a lot a couple weeks, then barely gain at all a couple weeks, etc. et al. and on and on. 

• My belly is very itchy! Very itchy. And my belly button is becoming even more W I D E and shallow. Very weird to observe.

Recent Highlights:

• An obvious highlight is Will officially becoming a licensed attorney. HIYO!

Will at his swearing-in with his attorney sponsor, a fellow BAC grad and baseball alum!

We drove up to Charlotte for the swearing-in and then on to Will's brother's to meet our new nephew! A preview:

He's the best. THE BEST I TELL YOU. More on that trip later this week!

• We still don't know our base assignment, which we believe is attributable to the government shutdown. Let's pray for a resolution to this nonsense this week. But we're moving anyway! Luckily, Will's commissioning paperwork was enough to get us out of our lease, so we are moving our things into storage and mooching off visiting with our parents until we move on to our base assignment. We are still expecting him to go active duty November 1, as he was told a few weeks ago, but obviously our faith in that estimate is wavering.

• We had our big anatomy scan on Monday. Everything looked great! I was (LMP) 19 weeks, 1 day, but Bill was measuring 20 weeks, 3 days, and 12 ounces according to the ultrasound tech, "with a full beard" according to his father. He was not in the mood to take photographs, hiding his face with his man hands . . .

"No photos please."

• We got the best gifts from Will's aunt and uncle . . .

After 10 hours of driving, 3 to go, btw.

Just so we can reenact this legendary photograph of Will . . .

Consider it done.

• My sister Shannon is 100% (rather than 80%) having a baby GIRL! Big Momma D is PUMPED she gets "ONE OF EACH!!!" Shannon likens herself to a "#hippo" . . . 

If I could just direct your attention to the photograph featured at the top of this post, Shanna Banana. Thank you and good day!

He passed!

Congrats to Will on successfully passing the bar exam! 

. . . and another one bites the dust! 

Edge of the Precipice

Linking up with Jen once again this Friday with 7 Quick Takes. We have lots going on in September. Let's get up to speed.

1. Well, the day has come. Today is my last day of work. This will be the first time in my life I am officially unemployed. Ever since I was fourteen, with the exception of one summer when I was fifteen and recovering from knee surgery, I have either been in school or working a summer job. Besides making for a lengthy security clearance questionnaire, I think it's shaped my personality. 

But this labor day, I will no longer be a laborer. How do we commemorate such an occasion? Well, Will is making me breakfast in the morning before work, work is throwing me a goodbye breakfast with all my coworkers, my coworkers are taking me out to lunch, and then it's happy hour for dinner. To summarize: we eat. And I wonder how I've been gaining so much pregnancy weight. Just kidding. I know how. 

2. Why am I leaving my job with nothing lined up? Oh, it's just that little ditty about my husband starting his military career. If all goes according to plan, he will be receiving his bar results in the next couple of days, his MPRE results in the next couple of weeks, and promptly swearing in to the North Carolina bar. (Hello, road trip!) Once he swears in as a lawyer, he then swears in as an Air Force officer (or so we are told). Then it's either to JAG School in Alabama or to our first base assignment wherever. I know it's a lot of confusing information with a lot of swearing. Suffice it to say I repeat it a lot and will be repeating it again in the future. 

3. Yes, this blog will may finally begin to get interesting. <-- Don't want to make any guarantees. After all that swearing, we should receive our first base assignment. Our fingers are crossed for Tampa or D.C., but we're keeping things realistic by envisioning life in Wichita Falls, Texas, or rural Louisiana.

4. We will also be finding out Baby Brez's gender. I first mentioned not sharing the baby's gender but our lovely Miami friends have offered to throw us a gender reveal party, which we just could not turn down. One of the hostesses with the mostesses asked me if booze should be served at the party, to which I responded "Hellz yes !!!" via text message. Very mature. In a last-ditch effort to appear sophisticated enough to raise and educate progeny, I added that alcohol could come in handy should our ultrasound tech be unable to determine gender. I mean, green cake and balloons with no alcohol and a large group of twenty-somethings would just be awkward. It could easily be turned into a September St. Patrick's Day party. Just remember some O'Doul's for Yours Truly.

5. I thought I wouldn't be, but I'm ready to move. We've only been in our current apartment for a little over a year, but I'm looking forward to the change. I'm even looking forward to purging and packing our belongings. I am even hoping to move into a smaller place so that we keep our belongings to a minimum, all part of the nomadic lifestyle. But, with two dogs, a fenced-in back yard sounds pretty nice and I'm sure they are hard to come by with a small house.

6. I finally looked into requirements for traveling abroad with pets now that we are getting closer to our move. Someone had scared the bejeezus out of me by telling me that dogs had to be quarantined for three to four months before they could go to places like England or Japan. Well, that was a big fat lie. They will probably not have to be quarantined at all. But doggy passports? Those are real, folks.

7. Since I bogged your Friday morning down with all these words today (well, I did bless you with doggy passports - are you not entertained?), I will conclude with this adorable #flashbackfriday pic:

Ace's first night home. Daisy's expectations of his future behavior were more realistic than ours.

Proud Tiger Wife Presents... United States Air Force Commissioning

Ever since I've known Will (over six years now - weird!), he's always had a lot of admiration for people serving in the military. If Top Gun or A Few Good Men is showing on TNT or USA, hold on to those afternoon plans, because we're not moving until the final scene airs. (At first I thought it was just a Tom Cruise thing, but now I know better. No, wait, it is kind of a Tom Cruise thing.)

Will and I spent a year apart while I finished my senior year of college and he moved back home to Daytona Beach. We met in the middle a few times in Savannah, and he would always point out the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum from the highway and talk about his grandfather, who he happens to be named after. His grandfather flew B17 bombers in World War II, retiring as a Captain. He was a proud Air Force man. Will would always talk about how he would don his Mighty Eighth cap wherever he went until the day he died.

But the opportunity to serve really never came up for Will. After high school, Will was fortunate enough to earn a scholarship playing college baseball. There, he happened to meet his super hot future wife. And you know how I talked him into law school, not commissioned officer training. 

During Will's 1L year (and my 2L year, obviously), Will mentioned JAG to me for the first time. The tables had turned! We both ended up attending a seminar held at the law school with a panel of JAGs from across all branches to see what it was all about. (Okay, I really just went for the free lunch, but Will was really into it. I promise.) 

That summer, I worked at the Department of Justice in D.C. with a lot of former JAGs. As part of that internship, we went to an Air Force disciplinary hearing and toured Andrews Air Force Base. At that point I was like, okay, let's do this. I ended up applying to the Direct Appointment Program the fall of my 3L year and Will applied to the One Year College Program shortly thereafter (his 2L fall). 

We were galavanting through Ireland that October when I checked my voicemail and it was the JAG I interviewed with. I thought there must have been a problem with my application materials (the application process is super lengthy) so I called back right away. She informed me that I was selected! We drank Budweisers in Dublin that night, because, AMERICA! The following spring, Will was in New York City for a moot court competition and got the call on the New York subway that he had been selected! I happened to be in a meeting at the time when he called with the news. I was wearing an Air Force t-shirt and started crying and sweating profusely. Not embarrassing. We were going to be JAGs together! Except not. Every JAG selection is contingent on being medically cleared and passing the bar exam. I submitted my medical records and got rejected. C'est la vie. 

But you know who wasn't rejected? And who went on to complete ALL the requirements of ROTC in a year and a half. (You may not know what those are—I barely do—but suffice it to say: it's crazy.) And so, the day after law school graduation, Will commissioned as an officer in the World's Greatest Air Force.

The venue for the ceremony at Homestead Air Reserve Base was spectacular. Don't trust me, see for yourself. ("Look, look with your special eyes!")

Just the largest American flag you have ever seen and your average everyday F-16.

Just behind the hangar (outside that door to the hangar in the first photograph above) were more F-16s. Lots of F-16s.

The eight men commissioning sat on-stage. (By the way, the cadet MCing did a great job!) At the start of the ceremony, my dad asked "WHAT! WHERE THE HECK IS THE AMERICAN FLAG??" We were all like, "Huh? There's one right there....?" (????)

Yeah, he got us all. 

Will was the third cadet called. His detachment Captain gave him the Oath of Office.

Then Will's parents and I were called up to pin on his Second Lieutenant ranks. My moment of truth.

Nailed it.

Self-proclaimed record-holder for fastest pinning-on ever. I am smiling at my dad in the photo below because he was teasing me about messing up before I went up there. Typical Billy Nolan.

For inquiring minds, the dress is J.Crew Factory. It's still on sale!

Once we were escorted off-stage, Will received his first salute from Sergeant Knox.

Then he had the opportunity to give a one minute speech. He talked about living up to his grandfather's example and thanked everyone for their support to get him to this point.

After all the officers were commissioned, the Detachment's Lieutenant-Colonel gave each 2Lt two coins: one for the detachment and the other for becoming an airman. 

And, of course, a salute was given by each in response. 

I love this photo because I know Will is on the verge of laughing right here. He held it together. 

Afterwards, there were lots of photo ops.

With my parents.

With some lovely law school friends!

With his godson, Ethan.

Will's mom and my mom. Happy Mother's Day!

With his dad, Ned.

And finally, a closeup of Ned's tie, an homage to Will's grandfather.

FLY FIGHT WIN