For My Husband!!

Jim-

Today is Veteran's Day and even though you are no longer in the service I wanted to make sure you know how proud and grateful I am to have you as my husband!! I know we have had many struggles a long the way and after 10 years of being together we are stronger than we have ever been. 

As a recap of our lives in the military I wanted to show that it wasn't always all bad.

I remember when I first met you at Prairie Farm June of 1998. I thought you were so cute (of course I was 16 then and very hormonal) :) I knew you were int he military and I thought that was really cool. Not to mention a man in uniform....WooHoo!!

From that point on for a few years we stayed good friends and saw each other occasionally. I remember going over to the ROTC house and watching movies with you and drinking Honey Brown Beer (the only beer I would ever drink-and you introduced me to it). I remember going to a few parties with you, and just hanging out!!

Well we had lost contact for a little over a year and our reuniting wasn't the best of circumstances. Your cousin had passed away and I knew him from school and when I went to his visitation I had no idea you two were related. We talked and caught up and decided we needed to hang out again. So with great tragedy came a great love. 

We hung out that summer and at one point had talked about possibly dating but we both had just came out of a bad relationship and we knew it wasn't the right time. At least not for it to be a relationship that would work out. That Halloween (2001) we decided to go to a party, but I ended up just wanting to go home because I was tired and didn't know anyone and felt a little out of place. At that time we decided to try to "go out" with each other. Of course with that said we still didn't really act like girl friend and boy friend.... :) 

It wasn't until New Year's Eve that  you started staying over at my place more and it felt a little more like a relationship, however it still wasn't the fireworks going off type of relationship at that point. We still did our own thing but enjoyed each others company a lot.

I knew that coming Feb you were to be deployed to Germany after 9-11 had happened. I knew you would be gone for about 7 months but thought eh "if it works out, it works out". It wasn't until that last weekend at the Ramada Inn hotel in Bloomington that I knew my life would never be the same.

The weekend was a lot of getting stuff ready to leave. It was busy and we didn't get a whole lot of time to spend together since you were having to run around so much with meetings and so forth. That last night I remember vividly and it was a wonderful one. It wasn't until the next morning at 6 am with just a peak of light coming in the window that I realized you were the one!! I remember looking over at you and rubbing your arm and thinking how mad I was that I had fallen completely head over heels for you. I mean I had gotten out of a bad relationship just 10 months before and didn't want to "fall in love" again, but it wasn't up to me, I was....I was madly in love with you and knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you!!

That morning was very difficult. Here I had just given in to the fact that I loved you so much and now you were leaving me for 7 months. I was devastated. 

Once you got over there we talked as much as possible. I will never forget one of the best day's of my life. I was in Florida with my mom visiting my grandfather and you had called one evening. I would have never thought in a million years that phone call would be a huge change in my life. It was the evening in Florida and about 3 am in Germany that you asked me to marry you. We were both in shock I think. I received my ring via Fed Ex (I love it cause it's our own special story). Then it was a waiting game and planning for a wedding that would be that next June.

I remember when you came home (Sept 2002). I loved seeing you get off that bus. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. I had missed you SO much!! It was wonderful to have you home and to show you all the things we had gotten done for the wedding. We had decided to move into a little one bedroom farm house on two acres in St. Joe. Those were some of the best months of our lives. I had my horse, you had your gun range. It was wonderful. We had bonfire's, and cold winter days cuddled in bed looking out the skylight!! Things couldn't get better.

We moved back into Champaign that Spring because you were going to go back to school and we only had one car so we needed to be close for the buses. We lived at Ashton Woods and that would be where we would go home as husband and wife and where we would conceive our first child Jackson. Once we found out we were pregnant apartment life wasn't going to cut it. We needed more room and not so many neighbors. :) So it was time to look for a new place.

We ended back at Deerfield Woods (where I lived right before you left for Germany). It was a great little subdivision with duplexes in it. It was in the middle of no where off High Cross Road and Rt. 130 in Urbana. I loved it out there. That would be the place we would bring Jackson's home. However it wasn't going to be big enough for our growing family (two bedrooms) so when Jack was about 10 months old we decided to start looking to buy our first home. We found a few in Champaign, but I really wanted to be in Monticello.

We found a few houses in Monticello, but most of them were to small, or needed way to much work. Then we found this great little 3 bedroom, 1 bath, finished garage home with a huge yard. It was perfect. We moved in April 15th 2005 just before Jack's First Birthday. Little did we know that just the month before we had conceived Alexander during all the house hunting and packing. :) 

Here we would make our family. However you were in OBC (Military training school to become a Lt.) and we found out that you would have to leave for 5 months to Aberdeen Maryland. Well we didn't want to have to leave our families and doctors (3 months pregnant at this point) so we stayed here and you went to Maryland for 5 months. It was very hard to see you leave just after we bought a new house and my being pregnant, but it was what had to happen.

So from June 1st 2005 (right before our 2nd anniversary)-Oct 28th 2005 you were gone and I held down the fort. It was hard not having you home being pregnant, with a new house and a 13 month old, but we managed. We went and visited you in Sept (over Labor day weekend) and it was wonderful. Jack did great on his first plane ride, and we saw the sights of Baltimore. It was a great vacation and visit, but sadly we had to come back and wait about two more months to have you home with us.

You came home right before Halloween and it was wonderful to have to home!! We flew through Thanksgiving and then Dec. 8th Alexander was born. He was born during the only blizzard of that winter. Went in Sunny, and got to my postpartum room and it was a blizzard outside.Should have warned us :)

The years went by as they do and we had you here sometimes and gone others. You worked in the Military up in Marseilles IL (two hours away) so you would only be home a few nights a week. It was very difficult on us all, but once again we made it through it.

In 2008 we thought you would have to be deployed to Afghanistan and I knew that if you went over, you would not have come back. I don't know why I felt that way, but it was in God's cards to keep you here with us and I am thankful he did. You got out shortly after that because 14 years of ups and downs was enough. You wanted to live a "normal" life and be able to see your children grow up.

We have had our own challenges along the way but they only made us stronger. I know this may seem silly to put this all on a blog, but I wanted you to see some and I mean only some of the paths we have gone down together. 

I love you James Patrick Mortland and I look forward to all the paths our lives together will lead us down. With the pending birth of our third little boy, I see new adventures on the horizon and I could not have asked for a better partner in life to share them with.

I love you Babe!!

Lizzy

Pregnancy Testing

I had my 28 week labs done last week (at 30 weeks along) and my glucose was high so I had to go back in today and have a four hour testing done to check my blood sugar levels. I got my results a little bit ago and I have gestational diabetes. I will meet with an Endocrinologist next week to get my glucose meter and to learn what my new diet restrictions will be. I will have to test myself four times a day and report in with my OB every week with the results. If I can maintain my glucose with my diet then I will not need to do insulin. If my diet does not solve the problem then I will be taking an oral insulin at that time. If I do end up having to take the insulin I will be seen by my doctor 2 times a week for stress tests and sonograms to watch the placenta (as it can age with the insulin).

Good news is, once little man comes out I will be able to go back to my normal diet/routine as usual. They will retest me 6 weeks postpartum but at that time my levels should return to normal. As for baby they will watch him when he comes out to make sure his levels are where they need to be and if needed will give him some "sugar water" to help regulate. My levels are not off the charts but they are enough that we need to proceed to the next step.

I am not thrilled about the news on many levels but mainly because it is the holiday season and I will be limited in what I will be allowed to eat-which sucks ASS!!!! The other thing is I am not thrilled about having to stick myself four times a day. It is very irritating because I ate so poorly with Jack and gained SO much weight and had no issues with him. Alex I didn't eat as bad but I had no issues with him either. So of course my little "surprise" baby has been even more of a surprise with this new news!!

I have been able to tell for a few weeks that something was off with me. I have had problems with light headiness, a few times having spots (almost to blacking out), very sluggish and tired. The only good thing about this is maybe I can convince my doctor to take him a little earlier....I guess we will see. :)

So anyway I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on my pregnancy news!!

Liz

Trick or Treating

So yesterday was Halloween and it was a great one. The boys dressed up as Darth Vader (Alex), a Jawa (Jack), Daddy was a generic made up into whatever you want it to be costume, and I was a pregnant cat with stickies on me that read: BE KIND SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!! :0) I thought it was pretty clever.

Our first stop on our venture was the Buenekemper household. Lisa's has a Halloween Party every year and there are always a large group of friends that get together with there little ones and eat and trick or treat. Well this year was no different, there were around 40 people I thin there. It was crazy, but super fun! There was great food, friends, and fun. The boys had a blast and I know Jim and I enjoyed ourselves as well. 

Our next venture was to Champaign to actually trick or treat. The boys love to go over to my folks neighborhood, because there are a few houses they love to go to and we have some family friends in that neighborhood as well that love to see the boys. So we got to my folks at 6:05 and we started our trick or treating there. We only made it an hour this year (not even a full hour) before the boys wanted to call it quits. Last year we went the whole two hours and man did they have A LOT of candy. This year they made it out with a basket 3/4 full (which is fine with mom). 

After we did our trick or treating we left mom and dad's (after a piece of candy and a quick bathroom break) and headed over to my brother and sister in laws house to trick or treat there. My brother was so proud of his decorations this year. The boys just love there Uncle Jake and Aunt Courtney of course that helps when Uncle Jake let's them take as much candy as they could possibly want from the basket. :0)

After leaving my brothers we headed over to Jim's parents house and trick or treated there. The boys got some nice baskets with some candy in it and a Halloween card. By that time they were pretty tired and so was mom and dad. We stayed there about 30 mins and then headed home. We got home about 8:50 and the boys took showers (in which poor sweet Alex cried the entire shower because he was SO tired) and then they headed off to bed.

It was a great day/evening/night. I hate that I don't have Jim on the weekends at all, but I will say it is super nice having a "normal" week this month with him when it comes to his schedule at work. The boys have half days today and we are going to go in an see my folks since we haven't been able to do that in a month (during the week). My B-day is in 7 days (I will be the big 3-0) it makes me want to cry. We are also down to only 64 days until we are holding our little one!! I am very excited and ready to be done....9 weeks left from today.

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween :0) Here's to November!!

Lazy October Day

So as most know fall is my favorite season for more reason's than I can list. However today is all that is Fall and one of the reason's why I love it so much, it's rainy, cold, and dark.

Jim is working weekends in November and it started today (yes I know it isn't Nov. yet). The boys and I went to church this morning and then had some McDonald's for lunch. Then Jim came home and we all got back into our P.J.'s and we decided to have a Tim BurtonAthon today!!

We started off with a quick Garfield Halloween to start off our movie day. Now we are watching Nightmare before Christmas, then on the list is Corpse Bride, and then a Tim Burtonish film by Henry Selick (who Burton works with) called Coraline. 

I made the boys a tent to watch the movies inside. They seem to be enjoying it, almost to the point of a certain destruction in it's near future. Either way we are having a nice LAZY day at home. I imagine I will have A LOT of cleaning to do tomorrow because of it though. :)

O well....it is nice to have a day every now and again to be a lazy family together. :)

Enjoy your day whatever it is you are doing :)

Liz

Pumpkin Day :)

Today was our family pumpkin carving day. As a tradition we carve our pumpkins here at home in the morning and then head over to my folks in the afternoon and have a meal with my parents, my brother and his wife, and us. After the meal we have a Halloween themed dessert...it was a pumpkin shaped cake this year.... then we all carve a pumpkin. 

This year at home Jack and Alex did great Jack O Lantern faces and Jim and I did a dead man's face for ours. This was the first year the boys really did the carving for the most part (with a little help from dad). Mom always get's the fun part of gutting the pumpkins since the "men" in my family are grossed out by it. :)

At my folks we had a great surprise of faces again this year. We all do a pumpkin (Jim and I shared this year) but we don't tell anyone what we are doing. It is a lot of fun and the surprise when it is all done is great. Alex did another great Jack O Lantern face and Jack did a Maple Leaf (yes it is a Maple Leaf) and a little Pumpkin, and Jim and I did Jack the Pumpkin King from A Nightmare before Christmas.  Our family had a great batch as well this year in creativity. 

In the past we did the real hard carvings with the tools and the patterns but this year we all did it free hand with no patterns and it made it real special.

I hope you like the pictures I know we had a blast doing it, and once again it is a family tradition that we cherish greatly. :)

Love to my family

Liz, Jim, Jack, Alex, and (Kian)

The 3D/4D Sonogram 10/22/2011

We had a 3D/4D Sonogram done today and it was amazing. We never did this with the other two because we thought it was a waste of money since we got the other 2D sono's covered by insurance. Well I was very disappointed with how his 18 week sono pictures turned out (our sonographer was not very good) so I got no good pictures and no video on Kian and was bummed out, well Little Wonders out of Normal was having a special today and so we decided to do it and I am SO happy we did. Even though he was a little stinker about moving his arm out from in front of his face, we still got some great pictures and video. We got to see him smile, his big beautiful lips, him playing with his cord and feet (while getting to see all five fingers on the little hand playing with them), we saw that he has hair, and he even LOOKED at us a few times (that was a little creepy :) All in all we were SO pleased with our visit and may even go back one more time around 35 weeks when he is a little fatter :) I posted a few pictures on here and the video can be found on You Tube and on our FB pages. It has been a truly amazing day seeing our little one with such realistic views. :)

Until Next Time,

Liz

The Newest Member of the Mortland Clan-Kian Michael Mortland

Kian Michael Mortland 10/22/2011 28 weeks and 4 days. Our new littlest member to the Mortland Clan. :)

Last Few Weeks

Well since the last time I was on here a few things have happened. Let's see where to start.....

Well my parents after a month decided that a dog was a must in their lives (at least my dad's) so after meeting a few pooches at the Humane Society, they found a little girl named Missy and they named her Miss Maizy!! I know a lot like Daisy....I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but the truth is it's their baby and she is a cute little pitty mix. I will get pictures soon. She is about a year old and still very much a puppy. :)

Let's see.....We have had a busy few weeks but luckily nothing too big has happened. I managed to sleep on my neck wrong one night and I tell you, it was a pain I have not yet had in my neck and I am happy it is feeling MUCH better today!!

The boys seem to be loving school and I am very proud of Jackson. He got 100% on his spelling test last week and it was the challenge list. He got all the words, the high frequency words and the "surprise" words as I call them, correct!! We studied really hard for it and it paid off. He also got a B on his Math 18/20 correct I was very happy about that as well (since Math is not my strong suit). Jack also lost another tooth and is already working on another one!!

Alex has been enjoying art and he seems to be having a great time in school. He loves his friends and is very proud everyday to stay on "green". He also has his first two lower front teeth loose with the permanent already coming it.

Jim is looking for another job since his will be ending in a few months and has had several interviews and calls already and we are just waiting on the right one. He received one from Chicago but we think that pushes how far we are willing to go.... (I don't want to leave Monticello and I think Jim agrees as well). So crossed fingers...I would love to have my hubby back on days.

Kian is growing great!! He is a very active baby, moving all the time and not gracefully either. I can't wait to see him and snuggle him. I am getting more and more excited. Of course that is when I don't think about all the things that come with a new baby again. :0)

Otherwise as a whole we are all doing well and have a family reunion this weekend in Southern IL that we are all looking forward to. We can't wait and I will post pictures when we get back.

We hope you are all doing well out there and until next time......

Liz