Time to play catch-up :)

Ciao! :) (friendly greeting in Italian to say hello or goodbye. pronounced "chow")
We've finally gotten settled into a house here. After blogging last time, one of the appointments we had set up for that following week, we really liked and decided to take it. It's a 3 story duplex (basement, ground floor, first floor), as it's very hard to find single homes here in Italy.



Since this picture was taken, our side has been repainted like a dull orange.

It's very roomy, as the basement has our 2 car garage, furnace (our house is heated with gas), laundry room (it also includes a single shower and sink, but no toilet..so I'm not sure you would consider it a bathroom =/), and just a little room off to the side my husband will probably make his "man-cave".

Chances little "man-cave" area

Our garage, that's currently storage and piled with moving boxes

Single shower downstairs

The sink

Our washing table, washer & dryer (did I forget to mention how small these suckers are?? you can only do half of what you consider a "normal" load back in the states in one of these!!)

The ground floor has our forier/walk in room from when you first walk in the door, kitchen, living room & play room, and the half bathroom.

Walking through the front door

Walk in area (behind that black thing is a coat/purse rack and the green part lights up)

Forier

More forier with our posing cat :) (if you walk through that door, you'd be in our kitchen)

Ground floor bathroom

Gracie's area

Play room view from the living room

Other side & our lovely tree :) (the white thing on the wall back in the back is our heaters that heat our house, there's one in every room, and the white thing in the right top corner is our air conditioner)

Living room

Kitchen (its decorated in the great red, white, & blue!)

The first floor has a green/spare type of room (it has nothing but windows in it), master bedroom, the two kids bedrooms, and a full size bathroom (this one has the bidet, which for those who don't know is basically our butt cleaning toilet..we haven't used it yet, but maybe one day we'll get brave, haha).

Going upstairs

The hallway from the other end

The baby's crib :) Don't mind the boxes, since we don't know the sex we haven't unpacked them, plus the dresser is under construction.

I love the tree! It's a wall sticker & that big bulky brown thing is a closet, since Italians don't believe in installing them with the houses.

The brown dresser is the one under construction and will soon be white :)

Master bedroom, Chance's side

Master bedroom, my side. FYI, if you don't own a down comfortor, invest in one!

Other side of master bedroom, of course my dresser

Upstairs bathroom, the theme will be changed soon! :)

Our sink and bidet

The porcelain throne, haha

On the ground floor there are 4 doors leading to outside; the front door and then one in the kitchen that leads to the back porch/patio, one in the playroom that leads to the same porch/patio, and one in the living room that leads to the front balcony. On the first floor there are 3 doors leading to outside, each room besides the green/spare room have one. The baby's room and the master bedroom have doors leading to the same balcony. Then Gracie has a door leading to her own personal balcony. Houses in Italy have what we would call "shutters" but they're not the kind of shutters you are thinking of. These shutters completely cover your windows as for in the states they sit beside your windows for decoration and never move. These here are more like screens..blackout screens. When you want your house dark and secluded, you just close them, when you want your house full of light, you open them. I haven't quite come to terms with myself though on whether it's money saving on the electricity bill or if it's heat hogging on our gas bill..? We do have air conditioning, except there's only two units which are kind of like window units back in the states, but they look nicer and set up in the corner of your ceiling. We have one in the play room and one in the master bedroom. Almost every room has a door to it. For instance, the living room can be shut off from the kitchen, the kitchen can be shut off from the forier, the forier can be shut off from the walk in room, and so on. The water here is called hard water, meaning there's more minerals and chemicals running through our system that causes those pesky rings around bathtubs and sinks and leaves water residue on your dishes. Our kitchen is pretty neat though. Unless I told you where our refridgerator and dishwasher was, you'd have to open every cabinet to find them. Why you ask? Because they look like cabinets, duh!

Can you tell me where the dish washer is?

Ta-da!

Can you tell me where the fridge is? Okay this ones probably more noticable than the dish washer.

Ta-da!

Ah, trash...how I despise thee. Here, it's the law to recycle. So we have a bin for organic waste which is pretty much your food, a bin for non-recyclable waste which is pretty much your diapers, a bin for plastic, paper, and aluminum, and a bin for glass. Doesn't sound hard, huh? But when you've never recycled in your life, its alot harder than it seems, of course I'm sure me and Chance probably think too much into too. We're constantly asking each other stuff like, which bin for cardboard? Well to me thats paper and recyclable so the paper, plastic, aluminum bin..but because it doesn't specifically say cardboard we question it.

Our little signs I made to remind us

Recycling "area"

So far we love the house but we've run into quite a bit of problems since we've been here. Our neighbors..boy do they like to party (by party I mean be loud). And they just got a puppy that only barks and whines during Gracie's naptime. Its like the darn thing knows the minute she lays down and the minute she gets up..grr. But you can't say anything because remember you're American and for one, you can't speak their language and two, living in an foreign country, they're always right and you're wrong..so what do you do? Suck it up and deal with it. That's our neighbors we're sharing the duplex with. Another neighbor that lives diagonal from us is very nice. Even though she didn't speak a lick of English, she came to our gate (another thing I like about these homes, you have a gate that leads to your drive way and another that leads to a walk way, so someone can't just come knocking on your front door, they have to press a buzzer button and you peep out your window..if you wanna talk to them you go let them in, if you don't you just ignore them :)) and tried introducing herself and 'Im thinking possibly inviting us over. We actually had a decent conversation with the pointing and hand signs. She told me about her kids and grandkids and I told her about Gracie and this baby.

Our goregous walk way and the gate I was telling you about. The drive way is to the left of this picture and also has a gate but it's open in this picture so you can't see it.

Other problems we've had are a leaky ceiling in the living room that almost ruined our entertainment center..so now a bucket and towel reside in that corner; our electric breaker is always flipping because the house can only hold so much and we try to plug everything in at once; our toilet upstairs was leaking (they fixed it) but now when you flush it, it makes these evil sounds that makes you think it's haunted; Chance busted the sink pipe upstairs by tapping on it..yes I said tapping, but they fixed it; we've been having to take showers in our single shower in the basement (do you know how hard that is being almost 37 weeks pregnant?!) because our upstairs bathroom didn't have a shower head, so we bought one and had it installed..now we just gotta go get another curtain because one wont wrap around the bathtub; our basement shower doesn't like to keep water hot long..so those long hot showers that pregnant women love? yeah I dont get those anymore :(; our furnace was leaking but they fixed it; half of our lights and ceiling fans weren't working when we moved in but they've fixed those and are still working on the garage one; our ground floor toilet didn't flush completely (it's also fixed), so yes when you pooed it didn't go down all the way and it sat there and stunk!..hm, I think that pretty much sums up the problems. We love the town we live in, Maniago, because we're literally on the outskirts of town where the market is and there's also the only mexican restaurant near by here, which we haven't ate at yet. What we don't like is that because we're so new here we haven't ventured out in our own town much so were constantly driving back to base and around that area to do our shopping, and that's a good 20 minute drive.

The market in our town, a market by the way is a bunch of Italian vendors set up booths and sale stuff. You can find pretty much anything you want here.

A fountain in the center of our town, with beautiful mountains in the background!

Another fountain in the center of town

Some other things I think you'd like to know about Italy..
*Everything cost here. Literally. If you wanna go sit in a restaurant just to chat, don't order any water, food, nothing..you pay. It's called a coverage charge for sitting in their seats. So if you ever fill the need to move here on your own expense or come visit, bring lots of money!
*Although looking at all the new surroundings while driving is like a second instinct in America, you keep your eyes on the road here! If not, you'll curb your car and pop the brand new tire you just put on like I did and have to wait weeks to have another shipped to you..sigh. (In my defense, I was teaching Gracie about jets :))
*The carabinieri (the police) are scary here. They like to do what's called "lollipopping" here. It's where they stand out by the road with a little reflector like wand and motion you to pull over just to see if you have everything your suppose to and if everythings up to date. For instance, for any reason if you have to pull over and get out of your car you have to have a reflector vest on and set out a reflector triangle so many feet behind your car..so when you're "lollipopped" those two things have to be within reaching distance, and I'm not talking about having to get out of your car to find them..you have to be able to sit in the drivers seat and get to them. For Americans you have to have several forms of ID on you, especially your passport. And if for some reason you get fined you have to pay it right there on the spot. Theres rarely a time when they "ticket" you and let you pay later. And if you cant pay? You lose your car and probably license. Oh and if you don't stop when they "lollipop" you, they have all rights to shoot at you and your vehicle.
*Guns are usually not allowed here. So those fears of pulling into someones drive just to turn around and fearing someone will come out and shoot..only turn into fears of someone coming out with a baseball bat.
*We have whats called Gpysies here. They're basically your average thieves back in the states, but alot more sneakier. They pick-pocket you without you knowing, they come into your home and steal, they have their kids follow you and they watch your every move so they know the best way to steal from you without you knowing. We've been told though, that they are completely harmless and that if you catch one stealing from you they usually run. They don't put up a fight, but if you do catch them more than likely by the time the police arrive on the scene, whether it be in public or at your house, the evidence of what they've taken is already gone because they work in groups and fast.
*You could probably guess this one..but if you don't know Italian and you come to live here..save yourself the trouble and go back to where you came from. Our landlord speaks very little english, so in order to communicate we have to talk through his daughter, who doesn't fluently speak english, but is way better than he is. Also you run into problems like not being able to tell your neighbors to quieten down, or when you're shopping like we were yesterday, looking for paint for the baby's dresser, you can't read the labels and don't know whether it's clear coat, white and shiny, or white and dull.
*They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, however they do celebrate Christmas. So yes, we've had our Christmas decorations up since Nov. 6th. Not only because we we're too anxious and had a toddler who loves the lights, but we didn't know when this baby would make its appearance and wanted to be sure we we're ready at all cost for Christmas.

Our beautiful tree :) Its a fake pine tree with little pine cones on it and pre lit with white lights

Our bows on our balconys

*Everything is slow paced here. They don't put a pep in their step. It's always tomorrow, tomorrow. It took 2 weeks for them to come hook our internet and phone up.
*Ah, the hospitals off base. You think American hospitals food is nasty..try even getting that kind of service here..HA! You have to bring your own water, pillows, blankets, etc to stay in the hospital. You don't get treated with royalty here, which is why I hope that I can deliver on base (as there are 30+ women due before the first of the year on this base alone!) because they try and incorperate what they can to make it feel American.
*That's another thing..ER visits..yeah, unless its an absolute life or death situation, you usually don't go. Why? Because the base doesn't have an ER room in the hospital so you have to go off base, which means you have to have a translator and hope they're available at that time.
*I know the Italians were trying to be oh so nice when they decided to put American fast food restaurants in their town, but I think they'd been better off just saving their money and building a nice Italian restaurant. We tried their McDonalds once (this also coincides with knowing Italian), we get there thinking, mmm a big mac and double quarter pounder. Wrong. They have your big macs and maybe 5 other choices but thats it. No double quarter pounders or angus beef burgers. So I was happy I was still getting my big mac, Chance on the other hand wasn't so happy. So he settled with their deluxe burger, which has everything on. Chance is a mustard/ketchep/cheese only kinda guy. But you try telling them that in English..ha, you get everything on it PLUS a hair! Not to mention our fries were cold, yet they were the best part =/, and it cost us almost $30 for 3 people to eat.
*Majic Jack, yes that little gimmick you see on TV..it actually works and it or Vonage (whichever you choose) will become your best friend! Because of Majic Jack we are able to call back to the states and our family can call us and talk unlimited only costing us $20 a year! We have a KY number so that our family can call us and it not cost them long distance or anything.

We got to celebrate our first holiday here..Halloween! We still made the traditions of craving pumpkins and dressing up. This year we all dressed up as the Incredibles and Chance painted the Incredibles logo on my belly! They have a fall festival here with 30+ booths set up to give out candy, play games, haunted tents, and a little pumpkin patch. So that was nice, and Gracie got plenty of candy!

My Incredible belly at 34 wks!

The Incredibles :)

Her loot :)

Her first tattoo..it was a mummy

Carving/painting our pumpkins

All done!

So I'm sure you're wondering about the baby/pregnancy/delivery. Well the birth plans I had in mind, at home water birth, went down the drain when I found out TriCare (our insurance) requires that you pay up front, out of pocket first, then they reimburse you. You're talking about a good 5k there if not more. Then I was thinking okay, then I can settle for a birthing center..I can still have my water birth (the reason I'm so set on this water birth by the way, is because I plan on going natural and if I'm not gunna have pain meds then I want something to be able to ease my pain, which is where the water birth comes into play..hot water seems to damper pain so that was gunna be my pain reliever) and it'll ease Chance's mind, me being in a hospital setting...TriCare doesn't cover water births here and if on the off chance they did we'd be out of pocket 60% of the hospital bill. So that leaves me with delivering on base. No, it's not home, nor will it be a water birth..but it's what I've got and I'm still gunna make the best of it! If I have to use the shower as my birthing tub, then so be it. Of course I probably won't give birth in the shower but I'll use it for the same reason I wanted the tub, to relieve my pain. But I do plan on laboring at home for as long as possible before going to the hospital because I want to stay clear of pitocin. I wanna see the difference it makes on my delivery and the after effects. Because if you know me well, after birth I get extremely sick..puking sick. Why? I dont know, I just do. I wanna see if all the medication they've pumped in me my previous births is the reason. Also pitocin makes your contractions stronger, supposively I don't know because I've never went into labor on my own, I've always been induced with pitocin. And if that's the case, I know it's already gunna be hard with no pain meds doing it natural, I don't need something else making it worse. Of course there's still that possibility that I could be sent off base to deliver because the base hospital is full or other problems arise, but we're praying not to run into that. Because on the off chance that I do decide to get the epidural, and I have to deliver off base, if I haven't went to this "epidural class" where they basically prep you and make sure your spine can handle it, I can't get the epidural (unless I had to have a c-section or something). On to the baby; today I'm 36wks 5days. Our last appointment was Tuesday and the doctor done all the measurements and fetal heart tones and an exam, then asked me if I had always measured small. I said yes, 1 to 2 weeks. With the tape measurer she was getting that I was 3 weeks behind schedule meaning the baby hadn't grown any since my last appointment and when I was weighed I had only gained 1 pound. That seemed alarming to her so she sent us for a growth scan Friday to make sure the baby was growing properly, the fluids were good, and to make sure there were no abnormalities. This had me and Chance in wads. Not only was we worried about the baby but she then proceeded to say worse case scenario, we'll deliver you ASAP if the results don't come out good. Meaning there's the dreaded pitocin and the baby being 3 weeks premature, which isn't bad..but we haven't gotten the room completely done, the cloth diapers haven't come in (yes we are cloth diapering this time, because after doing the math we'll save a good $600 from not buying diapers)...we just weren't fully ready. So we go to the scan and Gracie's all excited about seeing bubby or sissy, and the tech says those dreaded words..."No kids allowed!" I wanted to turn around and leave..we'd gotten her pumped up for this and in the end it was my fault, because on my appointment paper in big bold letters at the bottom it said no kids allowed and I had failed to read the paper. So Chance and Gracie stayed in the waiting room while I went back, and the first thing I said to the tech was "I don't want to know the sex. Don't tell me. When you get near that part tell me and I'll turn my head. I've went this long and I don't want it ruined!" All went well and I didn't find out the sex. He done all the measurements and told me what he was allowed which was the gestational age and the weight. The baby was measuring 36wks 3days (I was 36wks 4days) and weighing a good 6lbs 7oz..praise the Lord! So I'm thinking because I'm small anyways, that's why I measured small, not to mention those past few weeks that me nor the baby supposively grew was the weeks we were moving and putting things away. Also our washer and dryer are in our basement and I had 2 weeks worth of laundry for 3 people plus 3 big boxes of baby clothes to wash..so I was constantly, for a week straight, going up and down, up and down stairs. We find out Monday about the fluid and abnormalities because he couldn't tell me that, but I'm willing to bet, God's on our side and everything is A O K! :) Other than that I'm already dilated a finger tip and the doctor said by the feeling of things that I'm thinning out nicely and I should be able to go into labor on my own and avoid pitocin! The heartbeat was 150bpm, so I'm still on the fence whether it's a boy or girl. I just can't wait to find out!! We finally choose a boy name and a girl name, which are also a secret so don't ask. I'm doing good..of course I have the sleepless nights, heart burn, braxton hicks contractions, and right now I have a severe sinus infection, so we'd prefer for the baby to wait til mommys better to make it's appearance.

36wks 1day

As for Gracie, she's still the rambuncious 2 year old. She's smart as a tack. She loves Disney movies now and has thankfully laid off the Spongebob (of course she has, we don't have cable here)! She sleeps in her toddler bed now :( and doesn't get up in the middle of the night or anything. Of course we don't put toys in her room so even if she got up she's got four walls and a dresser to play with. I think she's getting very excited about the baby, and there's no doubt in my mind she's gunna be a wonderful/over protective/momma hen sister! :) She's still the same picky eater from the last post about her. She's made a friend here. She's 8 years old and loves Gracie to pieces. We were on the same flight together over here and also stayed in the same TLF together so they would always go play on the play ground together. Unfortunately we can't all stay in TLF so now she lives about an hour away.

Her loves her bubby/sissy :)

Gracie and Quinn at her 8th birthday party

Helping Gracie bowl

Playing on the playground

Chance, well he's Chance :) The strong-willed, loving, amazing husband that I've always had. He never fails to tell me I'm beautiful every single day and no matter what my mood, he's always so sweet..like tonight he just grabbed my hand and said "I haven't held your hand in a while". We actually just celebrated our 3 year marriage anniversary on Nov. 7th! There's no place I'd rather be, than here with him. No matter what, with each other we can always get through life together! He, our kids, and God are what makes me whole. Of course he's back to work now, and me and Gracie miss him every night but we know he's out there providing what's best for our family and our country and with that we are so very thankful!

On our wedding day :)

I guess to sum this blog up...I miss home. I really do. I'd come back in a heartbeat given the opportunity Chance could come with us. But this is our new, crazy, adventurist life and we're gunna make the best of it!

Ciao!