She claims that they were sold out of Packers and Cubs bibs

My sister, Colleen, sent a package of goodies for Baby Volkmann, which included this very cute Old McDonald singing farm set.

But for some reason she also sent this:



It appears to be more of a gift for Benny than I. And when I asked her about it, she claimed the store was sold out of Green Bay Packers and Chicago Cubs bibs. Since she is a Vikings fan, I'm seriously having my doubts about the likelihood of her story.

Baby V has an Iowa State wardrobe

Nearly every day Benny brings home a box from the States filled with thoughtful presents from our friends and family members who are determined to spoil Baby Volkmann. I wonder if the Navy guys at the post office are catching onto this whole thing. Or if they think our family sends Christmas presents really, really late.

This week we received a box of goodies from my close college friend, Dani. She did her part to make sure that Baby Volkmann is ready for college football season in August. Go Cyclones. Thanks Dani!

Year of Baby Volkmann

Happy Chinese New Year! Happy 2009, the Year of the Ox!

No big celebration here at the Volkmann household, but the date was definitely on my mind all day.

Benny previously wrote about our unborn child's personality, according to his/her Chinese zodiac. And so far, the baby seems to be living up to its characteristic traits. For example, my ultrasound in November lasted 1.5 hours because Baby Volkmann decided to take a nap during the appointment and would NOT move, no matter how hard the technician pushed on my stomach or how much rolling from side to side I did. Instead of turning so that the technician could get a picture of its spine, Baby Volkmann -- being as stubborn as an ox -- decided to stay put.

I'm starting to worry about the baby showing off its stubborn side again around the due date by not delivering on time (so I would have to be induced) or coming out breech among other possible complications. To relieve my stress about this fear factor, Baby V and I have nightly pep talks about "The Big Day" AKA Baby Volkmann's Birth Day. We talk about how nice it would be to have a calm delivery that matches textbook scenarios for labor and delivery nurses: How he/she should turn its head south at the appropriate time, follow the light, do not stop for lunch, do not pause at any point, do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not squirm and focus on smooth sailing rapidly toward the doctor's hands the whole time causing minimum discomfort to mommy. The key word is smooth.

During this pep talk, I may be the only one talking, but I'm sure that Baby V is on board with my wishes and listening attentively to my instructions.

Over the weekend, local newspapers wrote about the numerous positive traits of those born in the Year of the Ox.

"Those born in the Year of the Ox are said to be extremely patient and diligent in their work and capable of enduring hardships without complaint. They are frugal, dedicated and sincere."

"They're quiet and systematic in all activities, talking little. Still, when talk is needed, Ox people are intelligent, articulate and eloquent."

People born in the Year of the Ox are known to be leaders, which makes me happy. Baby Volkmann will share the Ox designation with Johann Sebastian Bach, Napoleon Bonaparte, Walt Disney, Vincent Van Gogh and Richard Nixon. So as you can see, the whole leadership thing can go very well or very, very poorly. What makes the difference? The parenting.

Pace yourself Benny, we still have the Pineapple Park

We've been waiting for Jan. 24 to arrive for months. It's the day for our trip to Nago (city about 60 minutes north of us) to pick mikans at a local orchard.

This time of year is prime time for the mikan, a citrus fruit the size of a mandarin orange with a taste similar to a tangerine. And even though I could purchase this fruit at the on-base grocery store, the farm girl in me wanted a closer, hands-on experience. I wanted to see my first mikan orchard.

The weather was chilly with temperatures in the high 40s. But at least it didn't rain as expected.

So the way it works is you pay 250 yen (approximately $3) to pick the fruit for as long as you want. When you leave, the owners weigh your fruit and you pay a discounted rate for it. In the meantime, while you are picking you can eat all the fruit you want for free. This is where I had to tell Benny to pace himself.

In less than 60 minutes, Benny grabbed, pealed and ate 9 (yes 9) mikans. I think he set a new record in mikan eating. Here he is passed out from a Vitamin C overdose in the orchard.

After the mikan orchard, we visited the Nago Pineapple Park, where we sampled pineapple juice, pineapple cookies, pineapple cake, pineapple wine (for Benny, not me), pineapple vinegar, etc.

It was a very fruity Saturday for us.

Green Acres is the theme for Baby V

My co-workers threw me a baby shower with a farm theme on Thursday. I was overwhelmed by their generosity and well wishes for Baby Volkmann. My favorite part was the cake. Isn't it amazing? And it was a red velvet cake, one of my favorites. Tasty!


One of many photos of the cake.


The organizers, Bonnie and Rachel.


Cindy's 2-year-old was so confused. She kept asking "where's the baby," which is a fair question for a 2-year-old attending her first baby shower.


And of course, present opening.


Co-worker Lauren wrapped my present in this beer bag. Isn't it great when someone knows you so well? No beer in the bag. But it was definitely my kind of wrapping job for a baby shower.

Obamamania hits the Volkmann house

At 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday night, Benny and I went to bed, so we could get a few hours of sleep before the presidential inauguration. The alarm was set for midnight. We hit the snooze button once before walking in to the study, climbing into the recliner and turning on the television. We watched the coverage live for about 10 minutes before we realized that the swearing-in ceremony wouldn't start for another hour. Benny set another alarm and drifted off to sleep. I was too excited, thinking about this historical moment for the United States. I watched every moment, until my eyelids got really heavy. Luckily just as I fell asleep the alarm went off. We were awake.

We didn't say much as we watched NBC's live coverage of the cheering crowds in the freezing weather in Washington, D.C. We kept our eyes peeled for Tammy, but we didn't see her. We held our breath during the swearing-in ceremony. We listened to Obama's speech. We heard the cheers. And then we went to bed. I wanted to stay up and watch it all, but my tired prego bones couldn't do it.

At 2:30 a.m. we were back in bed. Benny was at work by 6 a.m. I was at work at 7:30 a.m.

I've been dragging all day, so sleepy. And I'm not the only one. The majority of my co-workers watched television all night, didn't sleep at all and then came to work.

Between playoff football and American history, my sleeping pattern is WAY out of whack this week.

Looking for whales

For the three-day weekend, Benny and I stayed at our favorite military resort -- Okuma. It's the same place we celebrated our wedding anniversary in October. It's on the north, less crowded part of the island.

All week the weather was cold and rainy, but luckily the sunshine came out for the weekend. Benny was able to golf while I slept in. That's my idea of a vacation.

On Sunday afternoon we drove to Hedo Point. It's the northern most point of the island. This time of year it is great for whale watching. Benny spotted a few in the water. I'm not patient enough to stare at the water that long, so I missed all but one whale. We found a relaxing spot to read in the sunshine and enjoy a quiet day.


The view from Hedo Point. Also shown is the shelter where we read and ate a picnic lunch.


Yes, my hair was especially crazy on Sunday. Plus it was super windy. Bad combination for my head.


Bird statue at Hedo Point. All the signs for this bird are in Japanese, so I don't want it is or why it is important. But it must be important because there are signs on the road to watch for it and don't hit it.

On Monday morning we got up at 7 a.m. to watch the last half of the Cardinals game and the entire Steelers game while we ate breakfast and lunch in the bar at the resort. I felt kind of lazy sitting on my butt for five hours straight to watch football, but I was knitting at the same time, so I think it was a pretty productive morning. After lunch we drove back to our house to prepare for the rest of the week.

It wasn't our most exciting vacation, but it was the vacation I needed since my walking stride is now a waddle.

Cross it off the checklist

At our last doctor's appointment, the doctor kindly reminded us that Baby Volkmann could arrive any time, so we should be prepared.

Benny and I reviewed our to-do list to see what we have accomplished and what we still need to do:

1) Buy crib. Set up crib. Check.


2) Decorate Baby Volkmann's room. Hmmm. Well right now we have everything that we bought for the baby in the baby's crib. Should probably start putting items on the wall and washing the clothes and putting them in the drawers. Benny offered to put the clothes, blankets and sheets away, but I told him I wasn't ready to decide which drawer will hold what items.

3) Child care. We are on the unborn baby list. After the baby is born we are put on the actual waiting list. I still need to tour the facility and ask questions about the care.

4) Budget for Baby class. Check. This is where Benny had sticker shock over the costs of feeding, diapering and clothing a little one.


5) Breastfeeding class. Check. I attended the 3-hour class last week while Benny was at Japanese language class. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Lots of helpful information. Now if I can only remember it all when the baby is here.

6) Childbirth class. We are signed up to attend this 8-hour class on Feb. 7.

7) Baby care class. We are signed up to attend this 8-hour class on Feb. 5.

8) Birth plan printed and bag packed for hospital. Again this remains on my to-do list. We have looked at the checklist to create the birth plan, but have to put it down quickly. It makes Benny squirm. It makes me cross my legs.

9) Baby registry. We are already starting to receive wonderful gifts from our registry. We picked out our stroller and ordered it through the Exchange's catalog. It will be here in 3 to 6 months. Got to love this kind of slow-boat from China service. I have two all-in-one cloth diapers and 12 pre-folds. I still need covers and many more all-in-ones. Need to place those orders so Baby Volkmann has something to cover his/her bum.

10) Car seat. Check. We bought the only gender neutral infant car seat at the Exchange. Benny installed it right away.

It didn't fit in the backseat on my car (Cy), so it was put in Favre.


As you can see Baby Volkmann hasn't even arrived yet, but he/she is already occupying all my time and thoughts. Welcome to parenthood.

Diaper Dude

Benny models our diaper bag, a very generous gift from his side of the family. How does he look?

Under the Sea Baby Shower

As many of you know, I'm not a big fan of baby showers. Actually I find the whole progress of showering women either for weddings or babies kind of awkward.

But I have to say, that I felt very relaxed and comfortable at a Navy-sponsored baby shower last weekend. It was a small affair, less than 10 women, which is one reason I liked it. We had a light lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, broccoli salad and cupcakes instead of a traditional cake.

We played three games and there all were related to trivia, so I loved them. Thank goodness I didn't have to taste baby food or diaper a doll with my eyes closed. That's my worst fear anytime I show up for a baby shower.



I especially liked the theme and decorations, since Benny and I both loved to snorkel.

And even though I swore I would NEVER, NEVER do this, I squealed with delight when I opened the first gift:







The matching elephant sweater is hooded with elephant ears and the back has an elephant tail. Too cute. I can't wait to put Baby Volkmann in it.

Here are more photos from the shower:

Only 8 weeks to go

We've made it to Week 32, only 8 weeks left to go. Or less, depending on when Baby Volkmann wants to make his/her debut. And I'm not ready at all. So much stuff to do. I better put down my cupcake and get to work on the baby's room.

Ringing in the New Year

For the first time, I was the designated driver for New Year's Eve.

At the beginning of December, Benny and I were a little nervous about NYE. We kept asking people (his Navy co-workers, my co-workers) what they were doing for the holiday and people just shrugged. "Nothing," was the usual response.

Most were surprised that I wanted to go out on Dec. 31. The public assumption is that all women who are 8 months pregnant should be home with their feet up. Ladies in my "condition" shouldn't be out with drunks, sipping ginger ale and wearing a Happy New Year hat. Obviously these people don't know me. I wanted desperately to go out to a party. This is my last NYE of freedom, without a baby sitter or an early morning wake-up call on Jan. 1.

Luckily the Navy pilots came through. Two couples invited us to attend the New Year's Eve Celebration at the Officer's Club with them. The event had dancing, drinking, a countdown at midnight with free champagne and (here is the best part) a breakfast buffet starting at 12:30 a.m. To a prego lady, this is the ideal way to ring in 2009.



We showed up at the pre-party dressed to the nines. We had strict wardrobe instructions from one pilot, specifically suits and dresses. I was happy to oblige and happy to see Benny wear the suit he bought in Wales more than 5 years ago. I've never seen Benny wear this suit, but it looked good.

For the pre-party we brought our plum sake to share. Remember when I started that moonshine in June. Well it was planned to be ready for Jan. 1, in prefect timing with the Okinawa tradition. The group was skeptical at first, but with some coaxing about my brewing abilities, they each grabbed a glass.

And it turned out good. The smell was fantastic to my prego super sniffer and everyone said they liked it. It was gone in no time. One brave soul even ate the fruit sitting at the bottom of the jar, which is suppose to be good luck for the next year. Usually it is given to the children.





After this pre-show, I drove the group in a Japanese space-age van (I need to get a photo of this vehicle) to a Navy civilian worker's house for party No. 2. Here there was brownies for me and scotch for Benny. Again, perfect.

Then at 10:30 p.m., I gathered up the group for our final destination: the Officer's Club. The atmosphere was drunken chaos when we arrived, but I was the only one who noticed. Benny and I immediately hit the dance club and didn't stop twirling and dipping until the breakfast buffet opened. After a plate of eggs and sausage, we headed home.



The next morning, Benny got up early to go golfing with some Navy guys while I slept in. At lunch we watched New York City celebrate 2009. So actually we had two NYEs this year. Now there's a first.

Someone has a sense of humor

So inside this DVD case is says "PLEASE BE KIND, REWIND"

Really? It's not like this was a VHS case converted to a DVD case. I googled "rewind DVDs" to ensure I wasn't missing something. No I didn't google it, I just made that part up. Seriously though, who puts that sticker inside a DVD rental?

If you really want to know, it rhymes with "AAFES Camp Foster 24 hour Shoppette".