Exciting Week!

Major life highlights within the last few days:

• Saw Jenna Voorhees (my bff who lives in Boston) for a few hours when she was in South Carolina this weekend
• Decidedly felt Baby move in the car during said 5-hr round trip
• Bought a washer & dryer (I love new things, even especially if they're appliances)
• Picked up keys and toured our new house
• Realized that I could live in our walk in closet (it'll take a picture for you to believe it)
  
• Programmed my car's garage door opener (because we have a garage!)

Mover's come tomorrow! SO excited to get our new house together and ready for Baby with OUR things!!!

*HAPPY DANCE*

Housing Timeline

Thursday, Oct. 20th - Movers (paid for courtesy of USMC) come to survey our stuff in the rental

Friday, Oct. 21st - We sign the lease on our base house, Movers survey our stuff in storage

Wednesday, Oct. 26th - We pick up the keys to our base house

Thursday & Friday, Oct. 27th & 28th - Movers inventory/pack up all our stuff and deliver it to our house!!!

It looks like this is really happening!

WE CAN NOT WAIT TO HAVE ALL OUR STUFF BACK!!!


P.S. This will make 6 houses in 1 year!

• Late Oct. - early Nov. 2010 - Stafford, VA
• Nov. 2010 - Jan. 2011 - Jacksonville, NC
• Feb. - May 2011 - Newport, RI
• June - Aug. 2011 - Surf City, NC
• Sept. - late Oct. 2011 - Holly Ridge, NC
• late Oct. 2011 - Base Housing in Jacksonville, NC

Please don't ever complain to us about how much you might move :)

For Real This Time?

Base housing called on a Friday a month ago to offer us a house, then called Monday to take it back. So frustrating...

They called again yesterday to offer us the SAME house.

Same move-in date too, October 26th. That's a week and a half from now! Hopefully they were serious this time...

Dyson

When we first got married we got a vacuum as a shower gift. It was great to finally have a decent vacuum! It worked wonderfully in our first few small apartments and for the first few years. Now it overheats every time I use it and I have to wait for it to cool down before I can keep going. Suffice it to say that we were in the market for a new vacuum. And Nate just happened to find a deal on a refurbished vacuum online a few weeks ago.

We are now proud owners of a Dyson!



I wasn't supposed to get it until Christmas. But the other vacuum quit yesterday while Nate was using it and I got it early :) The suction on this thing is amazing!!!

We have never been so excited to vacuum! Yay for being an adult and excited about new household appliances :)

16 weeks

Early pregnancy just makes you look fat. I can't wait until I look more pregnant than fat... At any rate, here's what 16 weeks look like!

15 week appt.

My doctor's office had to reschedule my Friday appt and I got to go in a day earlier :)

It was rather non-eventful. They checked my stats (weight, blood pressure), asked if I was doing ok, did I have any questions... As always the most exciting part was hearing Baby's heartbeat (160 bpm). Good and strong!

I did have more blood drawn. And the guy had to stick me twice :( Never in my life have I needed to be stuck twice... And after an hour of waiting to have said blood drawn I wasn't exactly in a happy mood to begin with.

Ah well...

Next appointment isn't until Nov. 9th, but I'll also get an ultrasound! Hopefully we'll be able to tell if we should be thinking pink or blue :)

Mucus

Apparently stuffy noses are a typical pregnancy symptom.

Who knew?

This explains why I kept waking up with a slightly sore throat last week and am blowing my nose all the time this week.

Turns out decaf hot tea is a gift from heaven.

I'm kind of hoping I just have a cold. Or allergies. At least they might go away.

I have a doctor's appointment Friday. Maybe we can figure it out.

Here's to the joys of pregnancy and probably being mildly stuffy for the next 6 months.

14 Weeks

Now that everyone knows we're expecting you all want details. So needy... :)

(As if I'm not dying to tell you all about it.)

I'm 14 weeks today and baby Gilliam is due in exactly 6 months, March 25! It's crazy, scary, and absolutely wonderful.

Before I knew I was pregnant (I was excited to be wearing my boat shoes on a boat!)

We found out I was pregnant July 17. I took 2 home pregnancy tests, which Nate thinks was one too many but the first one (even in spite of the blurry picture) was a VERY faint line. So I took another the next morning which was much clearer. The doctor's office confirmed it later that day.

The first

The second

So far pregnancy has been easy, breezy. I was nauseous for a week, but all I needed to do was eat every few hours. I never got sick!!! No smell or food aversions. Which is good since I'm hungry ALL the time. One weekend I was absolutely exhausted, but I haven't been nearly as tired as expected.

8 weeks

9 weeks

I've only had a few doctor's appointments, but so far everything looks great! We first got to see Baby and hear its heartbeat at 9 weeks. The heartbeat was 170 beats per minute. I had a physical at 10 weeks and got to see/hear Baby again. My next appointment isn't for another few weeks and I probably won't get another ultrasound until 20 weeks. We are planning to find out if it's a boy or a girl. It'll definitely help with picking a name.

I'll try to keep this updated with pictures and any new info. Thanks for all the congratulations! We're excited and glad to share it with you!

12 weeks

Summer 2011

I can't believe today is the first day of fall! Where did the summer go?

Sorry for the delay, but here's a Gilliam summer recap. Trust me, it's not that I haven't had things to blog about. It's that we've been busy enjoying our summer :)

For most of the summer we lived here.


Well, more like in this house right across the street. But we sure spent plenty of time on our gorgeous, non-crowded beach.

Jealous?

You should be :)

Our beach house

I loved living on Topsail Island and being able to walk to the beach. But, the owners of the beach house wanted to come down for a few weeks, so we had to move out :( It was silly (who would want 2 weeks at the beach over several months of someone else paying their mortgage?!?!?) and we were none to happy to be moving again, but alas now we live in what I call the "highway house". It's not as nice, it's definitely not across the street from the beach, it was D-I-R-T-Y when we moved in, Daisy got fleas, and I found a HUGE copperhead on our front porch. A few weeks in and it's better now that it's clean, we've mostly taken care of the fleas, and Nate killed the snake. Oh base housing, why must you be so elusive...

Yes, that is a red bathtub in our front yard. Don't ask. We don't know.

Amidst all our moving and housing woes, we did have a wonderful summer! Nate's mom, Nate's brother, and my parents all came to visit at some point or another! We attempted to go to a wedding in TN, but thanks to traffic ending up spending the whole weekend in GA with our good friends, Leandi and Kevin (L&K). One of my best friends from high school, Cat, got married to the wonderful Clay and I was honored to be a bridesmaid. We made a trip to Maryland to visit family and for Cat's wedding reception. I felt the VA earthquake all the way down here. Hurricane Irene was weathered with Cat and Clay at his parents farm. Labor day weekend we went camping with L&K (it's become a tradition). College friend JB flew down last weekend and while she was here we met up with our friend Jen in Myrtle Beach, SC. And if we weren't running around doing all that, we tried to be relaxing at the beach.

4th of July with my parents and our friend Lewis

I finally got a picture on the "River Court" from One Tree Hill

We toured the USS North Carolina

Cat and me on her wedding day!

Nate caught a shark!

Our pathfinder successfully navigated the 4-wheel drive beach on the north side of the island

How I wish I spent everyday :)

Oh, and one other big thing did happened this summer.

Can you guess?

Do you already know?

I'M PREGNANT!!!

Restaurant.com

We bought $100 worth of gift certificates for $9.50 at restaurant.com! Go see what restaurants are in your area between now and the end of the month, enter the code "KRAZY" at checkout, and get 80% off! It's normally $10 for a $25 gift certificate (there's usually a $35 minimum purchase at the restaurant), but with the coupon you get it for $2!!! So get the coupon, go out, enjoy some awesome food, spend just over $35 and pay only $12. I'm excited and you should be too :)

In other news, we have our first visitor this weekend!!! Nate's mom is coming down for a long weekend and we're excited to show her our new home :) Hope you enjoy your weekend too!

Pics from Graduation in Newport

Nate graduated 7th in his aviation supply class up in Newport! Here are some pictures from that day (our last one in Newport). Better late than never!

Me and Nate

Nate with some of his classmates and Stacy

Stacy, Candie, and Me

Quarter Century and 3 Years!

Within the past week we've celebrated both my 25th birthday and our 3rd anniversary!

I thought 25 would be a "scary" birthday. It's a birthday that you realize is on the horizon for a few years, but you can take comfort in the fact that (for now) you're still in your early 20's. As of the 16th I've officially entered my mid-20's, but so far a quarter of a century really isn't looking so bad from here :) I spent my day receiving lots of love from family and friends. Thanks for all the messages, cards, gifts, and calls. I really felt special. Nate even made me a cake (complete with candles) and sang to me! I had my nails done during the day and we went down to Wrightsville Beach that evening for dinner. All in all, it was a great day and I really don't feel any older!

Tuesday Nate and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! It's hard to believe where we've been in the last 3 years, but they've been the best 3 years of my life :) Nate was exhausted from a night of duty so we just stayed in. Our gift to ourselves this year was a gas grill which we used to grill some filet mignon and shrimp. I steamed some crabs and we had ourselves a feast :) And every year I make Nate a "replica" of his grooms cake. The rental house doesn't have the right pans so I had to improvise. Surprisingly, it doesn't look bad and is as delicious as always! Enjoy some pictures from our special day. We're looking forward to many years of special days to come :)

Surf City, NC

Surf City is our new home for the next few months until we get a house on-base. We've done an island hop from Aquidneck Island in RI to Topsail Island in NC.

To say I love our new home would be an understatement.

The house were renting is 3 times as big as the "cottage" in RI. Daisy is loving the room to run around and play. I'm loving the dishwasher, the increase in pots and pans, the bed that doesn't sink towards the middle, 2 bathrooms, a dining room table, and just generally more room to put our stuff. Nate's loving that we found the XBOX 360 at the front of storage. Having 2 weeks of leave to play it was a nice perk too.

But, the best part?

We live approx. 662 ft. from the beach on the Atlantic Ocean!!!

I am in HEAVEN.

We take Daisy to the beach for walks in the evening, I've been there every weekend, and with enough motivation I could go during the week for my lunch break! There's even an ocean kayak here for us to use. Plus, being on a very narrow island provides many a fishing spot for the mister.

Not many people get to live in the place of their dreams (even if only for a few months) and I've wanted to live at the beach for as long as I can remember. God truly knows the desires of his children's hearts and often fulfills them in ways that we never could have imagined. If I had spent my life trying to get here, I probably would still be working toward that end. But instead I followed Him and ended up right where I wanted to be without even trying. Amazing how that works...

Craziness

We have not fallen off the face of the earth. Promise.

We have...

• Celebrated Easter with my family. They came to visit RI Easter weekend.
• Spent time with my sister before she heads to TX (she came up a few days before the rest of the fam).
  
• Attended a coffee house/auction to support a friend's mission trip to India.
• Bought a new (to us) car! We bought a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder as our second car.
• Spent a long weekend in MA celebrating Jenna V's birthday which included a trip to Maine (Jaime).
• This past weekend Jenna B came to visit! We did the cliff walk (for the final time) and Jaime and Jenna went to Block Island (Sunday) and spent Monday in Boston doing the Freedom Trail.
• Found a house to rent for a few months until base housing is ready.
• Started preparing for Cat's bridal shower.
  
• Worked on finishing up school and online classes that need to be complete shortly after we get to NC (Nate).

It's been a little busy.

AND

Graduation is TOMORROW!

So the craziness continues.

We'll be leaving RI right after graduation and making our way to MD. We'll be in MD for the long weekend, complete with a wedding, a birthday party, and visiting with family. Then Tuesday we make our way to NC!!!

Nate's excited to be done with training for a while.

I'm excited for the beach.

Now that we'll a) live like normal people without homework and b) live at the beach, we do have one small request...

COME VISIT!

Better Late than Never

I finally got around to taking pictures of our Rhode Island house. I'm 3 months late, but figured those who won't get a chance to visit would still appreciate them :) Enjoy!

The house as you come up the driveway

Our yard

The front door and patio from the yard

What you see when you walk in the door

To the right of the front door is the kitchen

Off the kitchen to the right is our laundry "room" (closet). That machine you see is both the washer and dryer. It's European!

To the left of the front door is the living room

Behind the living room is the spare bedroom/office

Across from the office is our tiny bathroom

In the very back is our bedroom

The house is little, but has a surprising amount of space for the things we brought and is not nearly as small as I originally imagined. There are definitely a few things we're not loving, but overall it's been perfect for our few months here.

While we're on the topic of homes, prayers would be greatly appreciated as we prepare to head back to NC at the end of May. Our original plan was to live on base, but when I called housing earlier this month I was told that it wouldn't be ready until the fall. And with the tornado that went through Jacksonville earlier this week, it may end up being longer. I'm a little afraid to call and find out. At any rate, we're really not wanting to move at the end of May, get our stuff out of storage, and then have to move again in the fall. So, we're considering renting a house out in town for the next few years or buying a home of our own. Pray for wisdom and direction. Pray that the Lord would be preparing a place for us. And not only a place of residence, but a church home as well.

And may we all find rest in knowing that the Lord is preparing a glorious everlasting home for us with him.

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
John 14:2-3

We've been busy...

to say the least. Our last four weekends have been packed, as will be our next four weekends. It's a good problem to have as far as I'm concerned, but it does make blogging a little more difficult. I'll try to be better at posting updates and pictures as they come rather than all at once, but I make no promises.

Here's what we've been up to!

Nate went skiing in Vermont. There are two other guys from Nate's unit in NC who are also here in school with him. The three of them took a guy's day and hit the slopes. They had a great time and Nate said it was absolutely gorgeous, but the camera died early in the day so there aren't many pictures. But, here's a shot of him with his buddy, Glen.


The next week I flew to MD on Wednesday night and Thursday morning my mom, sister, and I got in the car and commenced a two day driving trip to Stephenville, TX. What's in Stephenville, TX? Furthermore, WHERE is Stephenville, TX you may ask.

What - Tarleton State University. Brittany was accepted into the school as a transfer student. She finished up her associates degree and is now heading to TX for her bachelors. But, before signing on the dotted line she wanted to go visit to "make sure" she liked it. She'd pretty much already decided she was going to love it and visiting was just the icing on the cake. She wanted us to leave her there and mail her all her stuff :)

As for where - Check out the map. Dallas is at the top and Austin is at the bottom. The two hour drive from Dallas is gorgeous!


But, I digress. Thursday we drove from my parents house to Nashville, TN. I must say that a movie playing on a laptop with the sound coming through the speakers makes the time go by infinitely faster when you're driving. It helps when it's a movie you've seen a thousand times so you know what's going on without actually looking over at the screen (dangerous since you're driving). Our movies of choice were Twilight of course. Nashville was cool, but the most memorable part of our quick visit was Mario and Luigi singin' country on the corner.

Brit giving them some moolah for their effort.

We left Nashville Friday morning, stopped in Little Rock to have lunch with Nate's Aunt Vanessa, cousin Whitney, and Nana, and then finished our drive to Stephenville. Saturday was an open house on campus (the reason we just HAD to go this particular weekend). It was a spectacular day, from the great open house, to the 90 degree weather, to the beautiful campus. Here are a few winners from the day!

700 lb. pig. This picture so does not due it justice!

We drove home Sunday and Monday. It was great to spend time as just the girls, see where my sister will be spending the next few years of her life, and enjoy some warmer weather! If only Rhode Island could be so warm...

A few days after my return we found ourselves with a sunny day and went hiking/driving with Daisy.

Hiking along a beach :)

Driving around Beavertail State Park we found a skunk!

Shaggiest cow ever

That brings us to this past week! Christen, the wife of a Marine in Nate's class, was up visiting for the week. So Friday we went to a fancy, shmancy resort for lunch. We dressed up and had a lovely time. Lunch was delicious and the view was gorgeous!

The resort

The dining room

The view!

Saturday, Nate's class went to Boston for a tour at the Harpoon Brewery. All you can drink, as fast as you can drink it, free beer = happy Marines. It was a good time, even though Nate was on duty and couldn't have any :(

We found a dragon while walking around

Clint tapping a very large keg :)

All that beer would be gone in a few days if they shut down production!

Class pic complete with the harpoon

We left the brewery and headed to Foxborough, MA. Their claim to fame is the New England Patriot's stadium.

But why where we there?

Bass Pro, of course... We went in to "see the aquarium". Or so I was told. Turns out this Bass Pro is kind of like a museum in the middle. It was pretty, so I was happy and took pictures.





And that pretty much brings you up to date on the Adventures of Nate and Jaime. On tap for this week: my sister flies in tomorrow and my parents are driving up with my brother Friday night for Easter weekend. Yay!