Settling In

Sorry for the delay from one blog to the next! We've been so busy getting settled and staring at our Precious Jacob, that we find it hard to get much else done.

The three of us are doing great! We were excited to receive our first shipment of our belongings almost 2 weeks ago. We finally have the majority of all the fabulous things we got from baby showers and Suz's obsessive baby shopping. Now Jacob does not have to ride around in a car seat 10 times his size or hang out in borrowed pack n' plays and bouncers. We are very grateful for all of the wonderful people who loaned us their baby gear, but we are thankful to finally have our own things for Jacob. He loves playing and hanging out in all of his gear...especailly his bathtub! We also got a few kitchen supplies, a few more clothes, and our desktop computer. The clothes have not done much for Suz though, since all she had packed for this shipment were more maternity clothes!! Oh well, who knew Jacob would have come as early as he did? We are still waiting on the rest of our belongings....the rest of our furniture, kitchen, clothes, accessories, etc. As much as we are looking forward to getting our things, unpacking all of that seems like an overwhelming project.

The weather here last past 2 weeks have been the hottest in Misawa in recorded history. It's been in the high 80's, low 90's coupled with 90% humidity and the heat index flirting with 100. The real kicker is that we don't have AC in our home! The only places on Base that have AC are the hospital and the commissary (grocery store). Suzy has been thankful that Jason works at the hospital, or the joke is she'd make him get a job stocking shelves at the commissary! Even our friends who live off base with AC had to finally turn off the air since it wouldn't work fast enough to cool down their house. Suz and Jacob have spent most of the past 2 weeks, sitting in front of fans at home and hanging out in Jason's office at the hospital. Thankfully, it has cooled down the past day or two and all of our moods have dramatically lifted.

Jacob is the most amazing thing either of us have set our eyes on. (A sentiment all new parents say I'm sure!). The fact that he is just a few days shy of 4 weeks seems impossible to us. He already seems to be growing up too fast! We are learning that parenting is not only the most rewarding experience, but the most frustrating. We (Suzy especially) have worried about more things in the past 4 weeks than we have our entire lives...is he eating enough? gaining enough weight? passing his hearing test? producing enough dirty diapers? too hot? All of our worrying so far has been just that, and he is doing very well. He is the most content baby we neither of his parents get anything done. Who could think about anything else whcould have asked for! He rarely cries (yet) and when he does, he is easily soothed. He is awake more and more every day which ensures that en those beautiful blue eyes are looking up at you?

We did manage to get his nursery mostly finished. We passed our first lesson in Misawa Paint Mixing 101. We spent a Saturday putting 2 coats of baby blue paint on the walls of Jacob's room. We hung up blue and beige teddy bear curtains we bought from the Japanese Home Store and put his bedding on his crib and hung a few pics too. We're still waiting for a dresser that we ordered to come in and we still need to hang an airplane quilt on his wall, but other than that...it's pretty much done...the only room in our house that can carry that title for now!

Jason's first week of call was eventful. It was the busiest week that the department has seen in over 6 months. We thought it must have been to make up for all the time he had been off since graduation. He survived though and now we are all enjoying his 4 day weekend off. This past Friday was Family Sports Day on Base and Jason pitched for the Surgery Softball team. The team came in second place for the day and Jason had the war wounds to prove his teamwork! Not only was he covered in mud (it was raining most of the day) from a spectacular head-first slide into 2nd base (he was safe!), but he also got drilled in the shin from a batter's direct hit. He limped back to the car and proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon with his leg elevated with ice (which did give Suzy time to take a break and go get a mani and a pedi!). We have decided he will survive, although he'll have a pretty impressive bruise.

We're spending this weekend with day trips to local towns, shopping, and taking Jacob to see the ocean for the first time. We'll post our adventures and more pics when our weekend is over!!