I'm so glad that she's my little girl

The day started out better than usual. Katie woke up right away and seemed to be in a good mood. She popped right up when I said Good Morning KateKate. She quickly noticed that she had wet the bed and apologized. I told her that it was alright, she will get it soon enough. We decided that when there were no more pull-ups, we were going to attempt sleeping without them again. Before we moved back to the states she was doing very well with it but all the changes we recently went through made her regress. Hopefully she will get back to sleeping through the night dry soon. She proceeded to go through a few cranky moments but by the time we were in the car to leave she was little miss sunshine. As always she asked to hear Robot (Mr. Roboto by Styx) I like to think she relates to him because he has parts made in Japan too. When we got onto base she asked if she could go to work with me but with regret I had to say no, but I did tell her I would take her to lunch today even though it wasn't our regular day.

The guys at work are doing their best to keep me distracted from the problems at hand and 80% of the time it works but there are still moments where I am in my head too much. I really don't have a good feeling about anything and I am scared, but what can I do? I just have to wait this week out and hopefully my intuition is wrong. God has a plan for us and I just have to have faith. A good thing is that we installed a TV in our back offices today. Not only is the TV entertaining in itself but watching TSgt Smart and MSgt Cottuli hanging it was even more amusing. They are like the Odd Couple in real life, but with joking aside these two men have been really understanding towards my pregnancy. They both understand how high risk I am and they haven given me time off along with calling off duty to make ensure I am alright. Even Sgt Smart's wife has offered to come help me out with Kate since Justin works nights and will be leaving for a month soon. It is really comforting to have them watching out for me and my baby.

At lunch time I went to pick up Katie and had didn't have the slightest idea of where I wanted to eat. We are still pretty new to the area and all I wanted was a soup & salad bar, but wasn't sure there were even any restaurants around here like that. Where is a Hoss' when you need them?Anyway we decide to drive down the main road in town & see if anything looked appealing and of course nothing did. During the ride Katie is talking my ear off making me smile at every turn. First she starts out singing this version of Row, Row, Row your boat that I have never heard before: "Row,Row, Row your boat gently down the stream. If you see the Alligator don't forget to scream. Ahhhhhhhhhh" It was too cute!! She then starts talking about the baby; I am all about child intuition because I believe their souls are pure and their answers as true as can be. So I ask her, "Is the baby alright?" and she responds yes. I ask her if I can keep the baby and she says, "Sure why not?" Then I ask her if it's a girl or a boy. Before I tell you her answer I should tell you that lately even though every one thinks I want a girl, I now want a boy. I was thinking it over and I am blessed with the relationship I share with Katie. With our family being "mixed" I feel that her being my only (by birth) daughter we have a connection that could remain strong throughout the years and I could gain that wonderful bond between a mother and her son, as Amanda explained to me, without jeopardizing our relationship. If by chance I am blessed with a girl I know I will be over the moon and I will find some way to keep that bond between Kate & me strong. I could never love one child more than another, but I do believe you can have different bonds with them as they are different people. But back to the question I asked her, will it be a boy or girl? She said,"It's a girl mommy, so she can be just like us." I try to talk her into a boy because she absolutely loves Kaiden but with no avail. Hopefully her child intuition is correct and this baby is alright, that's all that matters in the end! Even Chachi, who was so head strong about wanting another boy said that we have reached that point where the gender is not important, we just want a healthy child.

We traveled all the way down that main road and back without seeing anything appealing. With us so close to making a complete circle and ending back on base, one last restaurant appeared on our side of the road; TGI Fridays is our destination. As I perused the menu, not seeing a single thing I was in the mood for (earlier I had a nice bout of the "morning" sickness) but then I noticed that they had French Onion Soup. Now since leaving Japan I have yet to find a French Onion Soup that is anywhere near the master piece they had at the Eclub on base. They are always way too seasoned and end up tasting like a big crouton in broth but I thought maybe the 5th time's a charm. I ordered the soup and a salad while Kate enjoyed Pizza and oranges. The waitress Victoria was really sweet, she brought us a free appetizer of chips and salsa which Kate did not eat but instead proceeded to lick each of red colored chips and put them back. When the waitress dropped off our check she informed me that on Tuesday's kids eat free!! So, not only did we finally find the good soup, but Kate eats free, Yeah our weekly lunch dates have officially moved to Tuesdays...at Fridays!!

Tonight I felt like cooking! I had some meat that was already defrosted that I had to use. I thought about what else I had and it all seemed it would go together well in a pepper. So I stopped by the store on my way home and bought 2 large green bell peppers and 2 red ones. The meat I had was brats, I really had to use them and I didn't feel like grilling. I took them out of the package and removed the skin covering. Then cooked them over the stove with some chopped onions, olive oil and pepper. I also cooked up some rice pilaf to finish off the stuffing. Once I had all cooked I stuffed them into the pepper with layers of shredded cheese which I also piled on top. Baked them at 350 for about 30-45 minutes, I like the peppers still a little crispy. I am surprised how well they turned out!!

The rest of the night was spent playing a little rockband with Chachi and a friend of his while Katie danced & played around us. Overall despite everything I have been going through with every horrible thought that passed through my head and every saving prayer I have said, it was a good day! Thanks for reading today!