Keeping up with the Phillips'

Good gosh, time flies!

2011-06-30T20:26:00.000+02:00

I know I've been awful at updating lately! Something about having two little boys and barely keeping our clothes clean comes to mind! Anyway, Jonathan just turned one yesterday! Here are some pics of our celebration!

Absolute cuteness!

2010-11-04T15:14:00.002+01:00

Jeffery LOVES being a big brother!

Race for the Cure

2010-10-15T15:45:00.007+02:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that Neal and I will be participating in the local Race for the Cure here in Jacksonville on October 23rd. This is a cause that is close to our hearts, as we both have very close loved ones that have or had breast cancer. We intend to run this race in their honor.

We have a fundraising page as part of our participation, and we ask that all of our family/friends would consider donating. I know we are all a bit tight these days, but even a $10 donation makes a difference!

http://www.komennorthflorida.org/goto/nealandjaniephillips

Neal and I both will be running in the 5k, though he will be running for time, and I'll just be happy to finish! I will also have the boys in their stroller with me, so this will truly be a family event! We'll post pictures and a post-race update as soon as we can. In the meantime, check out our page even if you can't donate!

We love you all!

Our precious littlest guy!

2010-09-30T22:40:00.007+02:00

This was even after having gotten his shots today!

Video

(You'll have to click on the link. The video was too big to post here.)

Another cute video!

2010-09-29T22:04:00.002+02:00

Jeffery really loves his little brother!

I swear I will update soon!

2010-09-18T21:38:00.004+02:00

I swear I will post some pictures and information on how things are going here. But in the meantime, enjoy a video of our sweet boys!

P-Nut is here!

2010-07-10T18:42:00.011+02:00

Jonathan Wesley Phillips was born at 12:48pm on Tuesday, June 29th - his due date! He weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 22 inches long!

He is a great baby so far: eats well, sleeps well, and is developing his own little routine, which for the last couple of days includes napping at the same time as his big brother! He's already back up and past his birth weight, so he's doing well.

Mom and Dad are absolutely in love, and big brother dotes on him. He didn't really pay him much attention at first, but now goes to him when he cries, looks for him in the Pack N Play every morning, and kisses him and tries to hold him! He tries to give him back his pacifier when he loses it, and he loves to push Mom and Jonathan in the rocking chair while singing to them. He's going to be an awesome big brother!

The delivery went great! We were able to avoid a C-section this time, and the recovery has been much smoother on both Mom and baby. I was up and moving within hours of the birth, and am about 95% now. Neal goes back to work this coming week, so that's encouraging.

My mom and sisters were here staying with us when he was born, and were able to spend some quality time with him in those first few days, as well as take some of the burden off Neal with caring for a toddler and a newborn while I was down. They were hugely helpful! And Neal's mom is coming in later today for a week to visit and meet the newest little man. We are SO glad that everyone is able to see him almost immediately this time, as everyone waited 3 months to meet Jeffery! This is much better!

Thank you to all those who have sent their congratulations, and we can't wait to introduce Jonathan to each of you eventually! We love you all!

Some pictures:

Wanna play a game?

2010-06-16T04:03:00.005+02:00

So because I'm dying waiting for this baby, I decided to start an online baby pool! Anyone can guess, just go to the link below:

http://www.expectnet.com/games/BabyPNut

I can' wait to see some of the guesses!

We are alive, I promise!

2010-06-05T05:21:00.003+02:00

I am SO sorry it's been forever since I last posted. The move back to the US, checking in and learning our new area, looking for a house, and growing a baby while tending to a toddler have kept me just a bit busy!

We're doing well though! Neal loves his new command, and is excelling there (as if anyone's surprised). He has some really great people that he works with, and it makes for a much more enjoyable work experience.

We're in an apartment temporarily, as we weren't able to find a house as quickly as we had hoped. We're in the final stages of the process now, and have hopefully found one, but it's not set in stone yet. The apartment was a HUGE improvement over a hotel though, as Jeffery now has his own room and a big boy bed that he has adjusted very well to, and we got all our stuff back so I can now cook again!

The baby baking is going well! This pregnancy has been a bit harder because of chasing after a toddler, and all of the life changes going on right now, but we don't seem to know how to do it any different! It's going well though: all my vitals have been great, the baby's healthy and now in birthing position, and with the exception of a bit of anemia, everything's great! Now we are just waiting. Less than four weeks until our due date (June 29th)!

Mama Carcello, Karen, and Sarah will be coming soon to help me out during that last week-plus of the pregnancy and will be here to keep Jeffery while we're in the hospital. I am looking forward to the help! Daddy Carcello will come visit once the baby's born. Then, Mama and Daddy Phillips will be visiting in July. We're so glad everyone will get to see this baby almost immediately this time, instead of 3 months old like Jeffery was!

I am settling into being Stateside and staying at home. It's much different when you can go grocery shopping and not have to think in/speak a different language! It's also nice to have WalMart, Target, and Publix available again! Fast food, stores open in the evenings, and dependable internet are all great too! I will admit that I'm still getting used to some bad drivers around here too though. But nothing like Italy.

There are some things I miss about Italy: capuccini, amazing pizza, fresh (and cheap!) produce ... you know, mostly the food! I couldn't believe I paid $2 for a wimpy head of wilted lettuce the other day. It would've cost me about 50 cents in Italy. So that will take some getting used to.

But overall, we are enjoying our new area. We've not made it to the beach as much as we'd like, but it's taken us a while to get used to Neal being on shift work again. We're in the waiting game again this year for Chief's results. This is the first year he's had a really good chance of making it, so we're a bit more impatient this time. He's got a great attitude about it, but that curiosity to see if you got a promotion is hard to resist. We should know around the first week or so of August.

I am settling in and trying to get going again selling Pampered Chef. It's like starting all over again, and having to work around my due date causes interesting issues! But I have a few leads here, and am working hard on getting shows scheduled so I can relax when the baby comes. I'm really enjoying it though.

I've also started selling my quilted burp cloths, and am trying to start on quilts and possibly other things as well. I was so thrilled to get back to the US where I could use my good sewing machine again (didn't want to use it with a transformer in Italy, and risk burning out the motor)! It's been like a dream sewing on it again! I did a craft fair a while back and am going to try (after the baby's born of course) to see if I can find any local boutiques willing to sell my stuff. We'll see.

I think that's about all the updates I have for now. There will obviously be lots more in the coming days (house, baby, Chief results, etc). We love you all and are SO glad to be back and closer to everyone! Please drop us an email (janie.neal.phillips@gmail.com) and update us on everything! In the meantime, we hope everyone has a great weekend!

P.S. I have TONS of pictures to catch everyone up on, so I will likely upload those as one big post over the next few days.

Jeffery's First Snow!!!

2010-02-12T17:25:00.005+01:00

We've had a crazy weather day today! First it started out extremely windy and started raining around 7am. Then it cleared up and was cool and partly sunny. This afternoon turned a bit dark and gloomy, with thunder and lightning. Moments later, this is what we looked out to see!

We've been told it hasn't snowed in this area for over 50 years! So much for that global warming thing, huh?!?

Half -Baked!!!

2010-02-09T11:20:00.003+01:00

Well, today I'm officially 20 weeks pregnant! It seriously sneaks up on you! And if this one is anything like his/her big brother, we're about exactly halfway there.

We have a doctor's appointment later this week, as well as our big middle-of-the-pregnancy ultrasound! We've decided again to wait to find out what sex this baby is. We enjoyed the surprise so much with Jeffery, and really don't have any practical need to know anyway. So while we'll be posting plenty of sonogram pictures, don't expect a big announcement!

The pregnancy is still going well. I had morning sickness pretty badly in the beginning, but that eased up around Christmas. I am still easily tired (chasing a very active toddler doesn't help that much), and have learned to take it easy when I need to. A few weeks ago, I was told by the OB that I need to stop lifting Jeffery because I may have pulled a muscle in my stomach. I guess it isn't wise to be lifting a thirty-plus pound toddler while pregnant! But we're better now, and though I still try not to lift Jeffery unless I have to, it hasn't caused any other problems.

I am beginning to get some energy, and am definitely developing a bit of a belly. According to Neal, there's no denying it now! Though I did start getting a bump sooner this time around, and felt the baby earlier, it seems to be a bit smaller than Jeffery was, so here's hoping this one's not going to try and beat his/her big brother's birth weight record!

Jeffery is doing great! He's super busy, always on the move, and babbling up a storm! He says several words now (daddy, hi, bye, ball, up, boom, thank you, and even kitty cat, among others), and really tries to copy what you say. I've been trying to teach him a few signs, and so far he's learned please and more (or his versions of them). We're currently working on eat. He blows kisses and says bye, and loves talking to his Grammies on Skype! Any time we ask him if he wants to call Grammy, he instantly starts babbling, "hi, gee" while running to the computer!

There are so many things that he's doing right now. I can't even remember all of them to post! He is just SO easy, and is such a joy to be around. Neal and I are constantly saying how unfair it is that he's so cute and cuddly. It just makes it so hard to get onto him sometimes! He obviously has his moments just like any other kid, but we're so grateful for such a sweet little boy!

His latest thing is dancing. I try to catch him on video every time, but he stops when he sees the camera out. Here's the best I have been able to catch:

I'm late posting these

2009-12-16T11:29:00.005+01:00

Sorry for taking so long to post new sonogram pictures. I've been trying to keep up with Jeffery lately, and that's increasingly difficult to do.

These were taken at 11 weeks and 1 day. The baby is measuring a week ahead (that's the 12w1d measurement), so it looks like we're on track for another large baby! I suppose that we just make big babies.

Doc said the baby's looking "great" and moving a lot, which is good. It was quiet at first, but then she poked at it a bit, and it really responded. It started stretching limbs and rolling around. The funny part was it did the same thing Jeffery did at this point when we were having a sonogram with him. When the doctor got a good front view, it rolled over and turned its back toward us! I think our kids are fond of their sleep!

All in all, we're doing well. Morning sickness is tapering off now, and I'm beginning to feel some weight gain in the midsection. Given that I've lost about 6-7 pounds now, there's no real baby bump yet, but it's definitely coming. It's starting to poke out every morning now when I wake up. I'm definitely out of my regular jeans, so it won't be long before I break back into the maternity clothes.

Our next appointment is at the first of January, and then we'll schedule our big ultrasound for later in January, so be ready for several pictures then! For now, here's the three we were able to get.

Like father, like son

2009-12-09T11:07:00.004+01:00

Jeffery decided yesterday that he was going to get a head-start on being like his Daddy, and got his first serious injury. It was getting to be naptime, and he's always clumsy when he's tired. Mom was getting him some milk for nap, and turned around to see him trip over the rug and go head-first into the marble hearth. Luckily, the gash was all that is gave him; no concussion or anything else. But Mom and Dad could definitely have waited a while for this "first."

We headed to the Naval hospital ER, since the Italian hospital that would've been closer is not known for using anesthesia (eek!). They didn't end up giving him stitches. I think they were hesitant since they usually sedate little ones for it. They did use liquid adhesive and put some steri-strips over it. He was great during the whole ordeal, only crying when we had to hold him to have it cleaned and "glued." Otherwise, he was happy and babbling almost the entire time.

It is still a bit angry-looking this morning, but hopefully once the swelling goes down, it will heal up nicely. Here are some pictures of the little trooper:

More reasons to be thankful!

2009-11-30T20:46:00.007+01:00

Well, we have yet another reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving! We announced to both sides of the family on Thanksgiving day that we are going to be parents again!

Introducing baby P-nut!

We found out we were pregnant again on October 19th, but since we would have both families in one place on Thanksgiving, we decided to hold our tongues for the few weeks until then, and tell them in person, all at once! It was horribly difficult, we almost let it slip a few times, and were almost found out while we were home, but we made it! And what a great memory to have for years to come!

How we told everyone: Since Jeffery's prenatal nickname was Wee P, we decided to stick with that theme, and call this one P-nut. So on that theme, Neal went to a jeweler in Knoxville and got seven small gift boxes (one for everyone at Thanksgiving dinner). On the little layer of cotton inside, we placed a single full-shell peanut in each box. After the meal, we told everyone that we wanted to give them a small gift since we wouldn't be home for Christmas, and told them to open them all at the same time. Needless to say, there were some confused looks. Mama Carcello was the first to ask, "Are you pregnant?" And all chaos ensued!

We are due June 29th, 2010. We did get a sonogram before we left Italy, just as a precaution and to make sure everything was in order. We were 6 weeks at the time, so there wasn't all that much to see. But we did get to hear the heartbeat, and see that everything was just fine! We'll have another appointment to get a better look shortly after we get back to Italy.

The best part is that this baby will be born in the United States! We received our hard orders a few days before Thanksgiving, so we are set to move at the first of March back to the US! Neal will be stationed in Mayport, FL, which is just outside of Jacksonville. We've already taken a very short trip down there to look around and find out about the real estate market. We'll know more specific dates as the weeks go by, but for now, we're pretty sure that we'll be flying out within the first week or so of March!

We've had a great time spending Thaksgiving here in the US, and while we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to (we never do), we're looking forward to another trip through Tennessee in March, then down to Florida. We can't wait to be living in the US again, and we're thrilled that we'll have a great reason for family to come visit next Summer!

We love you all, and thank you for being a part of our lives!

A new word!

2009-11-02T11:40:00.003+01:00

Just last week, Jeffery surprised us by learning a new word, one that we were sure would NOT be one of his first besides Mama, Dada, and bye-bye.

From early on, we have made sure to tell him to say please and thank you, repeating them ourselves when he wants or is given something. We knew eventually this would help with manners, but when he started saying "please" last week (and in the correct context even!), we were shocked!

Granted, it is still not a clear form of the word, but he uses it correctly, and it is just SO DARN CUTE! So here is my video evidence, taken just today at his lunch time:

Jeffery's Birthday photos and details!

2009-09-28T11:41:00.009+02:00

Since we couldn't have the big birthday bash with family/friends, here's a recap of Jeffery's day:

Such a tall boy (no idea where he gets that, by the way)

Playing with the See and Say Mom and Dad got him (he didn't really care for the Jack in the Box, apparently that needs to wait a few months)

He loves to ham it up for the camera, but you have to be quick or he starts walking toward you

Mom making his cake

Chilling on the couch, watching football with Dad, while Mom decorates his cake

He caught me!

It's been a while, but I remembered how to decorate a cake

The finished product

Dad teaching him early

"Why's Mom got the camera for this?"

"Oh Wow! Maybe I like that!"

"What is this?"

"This isn't bad stuff!"

He didn't want to get his fingers dirty at first

"That's really good!"

Rockin' his new UT jersey from Grammy and Granddaddy P!

"I know I'm cute!"

Daddy's proud of his little Volunteer!

UT Football, here I come!

"Oh, I'm supposed to hold onto it?"

UT's quarterback for the 2026 year!

Finally figured out how to pick it up

"Mom, it's messy!"

"Eh, who cares? I'll just lick it off my arm!"

"What?!?"

Jeffery had a great day, and thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! There will be more pictures of his new toys in the days to come. And I will try to upload a video or two of his day as soon as I can.

It was a bittersweet day for Neal and me, as we were constantly reminding each other where we were, and what we were doing this time last year. It was a memorable day for sure, as well as a very special one. We just can't believe how fast this past year has gone!

One good part of that, however, is that we are that much closer to coming home! We will keep you all updated on our next set of orders, which should be determined in the next couple of weeks at most.

We love you all!

One year ago today ...

2009-09-27T13:20:00.000+02:00

... We met this handsome guy ...

The very first picture we have of Jeffery, about 3 minutes old!

His first picture with Daddy

His first picture with Mommy

The most beautiful sight to our weary eyes!

And now, for a trip through the past year ...

One month (10/27/08)

Two months (Thanksgiving Day - 11/27/08)

Three months (12/25/08)

Four months (1/27/09)

Five months (2/28/09)

Six months (3/28/09)

Seven months (4/21/09)

Eight months (5/27/09)

Nine months (6/27/09)

Ten months (7/27/09)

Eleven months (8/30/09)

One year! (9/27/09)

We have a WALKER!!!

2009-08-05T18:08:00.020+02:00

After several weeks of pulling up on various things, and walking around with help, someone decided to just bite the bullet and try it out!

Check out the video here:

We are in TROUBLE!!!

-

Urgent Prayer Request for a friend ...

2009-07-27T17:44:00.002+02:00

I had intended to post about Jeffery's 10 month birthday today, but that will have to wait:

I just wanted to post a quick request for as many prayers as possible. Stellan is an 8 month-old little man who was born with a damaged heart. For more info on him, you can check out his mom's blog here.

I found her blog through a mutual friend when I was still pregnant last year, and have followed their family ever since. Stellan is an amazing baby, and is just that much more special to me because he and Jeffery are only weeks apart in age. It breaks my heart to see a family going through this, and I hold my own little boy closer today knowing that it could be anyone's child.

Please take a moment today to pray for this most precious little guy. It seems he could really use it. Also, please pray for his parents' comfort, and the doctors' wisdom and leading.

Nine months old!

2009-06-29T15:16:00.012+02:00

Man, I can't believe that Jeffery's already nine months old! It seems like he's been a part of our family forever, but then again, it seems like yesterday that we were in the Stork's Nest, waiting for labor to start!

He really is an awesome baby, and getting more and more fun (and exhausting) by the day! He's hitting milestone after milestone. As soon I write something down that he did, he does something else! Last Friday (the 19th), I went to check on him after his nap because he woke up crying (he usually wakes up happy). I walked into the room to find him with both hands on the rails of his crib, and just in time to see him pull up to his feet and grin at me! I'm in trouble!

He's pulling himself up on everything he can now, especially on us when he's tired and wants to be held. He's eating big boy food and snacks, and has even mastered the sippy cup! He says "Mama" and "Dada," and will sometimes say "bye-bye" while waving. He learned peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake while we were home in May, and he loves Blue's Clues! He's really becoming a little boy.

Today we went for his 9 month checkup, and he is doing great! He weighs 24 pounds, and is 29 inches tall now! We knew he had grown (we recently had to move his exersaucer up a level), but were shocked at just how much! Anyway, luckily there were no shots again until his 1 year appointment, and today was nothing but good news! He even showed Dr. Moore his "petunia" side, as Mom likes to call it.

I'm posting some pictures of him here, but as usual, all of our pictures are on the photobucket site (I'll try to put the link in a sidebar). I'll try to post a video or two in the days to come as well. We love and miss you all!

Playing "got your nose" with Mom

Uh oh! Time to put the bouncy seat away!

"Hey, what's in here?"

Empty boxes make great toys!

He loves his new exersaucer!

He also loves destroying his new foam floor ABC pad

In his baby pool with Dad on the back patio

"Please, no photos!"

Working the sippy cup on a hot day

"Um, Mom? It's empty!"

Giggling at the mess he made on the bottom of his exersaucer

Watching Pooh

He caught me

He just couldn't take it any more

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T10:00:00.025+02:00

Happy Easter from The Phillips family!

By the way, the link below is where we add pictures as we take them. We're in the process of adding our Easter pictures now, but they should all be up by the end of the day.

Also, if you want to be automatically notified of new blog updates, go to the very bottom of the page here. There is a line that says, "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" that you can click on. It will open a new page that will ask you for your email, or to add our blog to Google Reader, if you use it.

There is also a link on the left-hand column of the blog with a link that says, "Follow." Then you can follow the blog through AOL, Google, or Yahoo. I believe it will send you emails of our blog posts. Let me know if anyone has any trouble!

Pictures are up!

2008-10-16T19:27:00.005+02:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that I finally got all of the birth pictures up. They are at http://photobucket.com/nealandjanie. Let us know if you have problems viewing/finding them!

Jeffery O'Neal Phillips is here!!!

2008-10-04T19:23:00.010+02:00

Jeffery O'Neal Phillips was born on Saturday, September 27, at 5:47pm local time (11:47am Eastern). He weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and measured 21 1/4 inches long.

Labor started at 2am local time, and around 9am we had to have some Pitocin to make my contractions more regular. Things were progressing smoothly until around 3pm, when Jeffery's heart rate started dropping with the contractions, due to the Pitocin. It was turned off and he went back to normal, but unfortunately that meant my contractions were sporadic again. Given that, and the fact that the doctor thought he was going to be a bit big for me to deliver normally, the decision was made to perform a C-section.

The C-section went picture-perfect, and within minutes of starting, we got the news, "It's a boy," and we got to hear his first cries. Neal was able to be with me in the operating room, and got to cut the cord. He also got to be the first to see our little man, who did end up being a big boy. But he let me be the first to kiss him, and held him for me to see. They then followed the nurse to go get him cleaned up. It took what seemed like forever for the doctor to stitch me up and for the anesthesia to wear off so that I could go see my boys, but it was worth it.

We were able to go home Tuesday, and have really enjoyed having some family time. Neal took time off to be with us, and it's been great to have him home. Unfortunately, my recovery is a bit slower given the C-section, but I'm healing nicely, and already up and getting around on my own. Jeffery is a great baby, eats and sleeps well, and is super sweet and cuddly. He has been great at night, usually sleeping at least 3-4 hours at a time, which makes life much easier for us. He had his first check-up on Thursday, and is already gaining weight from when we left the hospital, so he's doing really well. We're taking tons and tons of pictures, and will hopefully get them all posted online within the next few days or so.

Warning: There are tons of pictures posted here, and even more I'll be posting on Shutterfly as soon as possible. I'll put the link here once they're up.

Daddy, after cutting the cord:

8 pounds, 10 ounces:

Daddy's first few moments with his son:

Mommy's first chance to hold her little man:

Sleeping like a champ!

Go vols!

Daddy's quote for this one: "What, UT lost?!?"

"You mean they're keeping Fulmer?!?"

Mama's little Vol:

Jeffery's model look:

Pure sweetness:

All decked out:

Aunt Mikel Lauren's first visit:

Proud Papa:

Just precious:

Checking things out:

Mommy's in love:

The new family:

Daddy holding his little man back at home:

Mommy holding Jeffery at home:

Hello from Naples!

2008-09-17T12:44:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone! I just wanted to give an update that we are all settled in (as much as is possible) in our hotel room in "The Stork's Nest" in Naples. We are literally right across the street from the hospital, and have access to the gym, exchange and commissary, and everything we could possibly need here. Though a bit tight, the room has a little kitchenette, so we are able to eat in most meals, which is nice. We also have a theater, bowling alley, and plenty of walking trails here, so we have plenty to keep us busy. Neal is still commuting back to Gaeta this week, but he will be able to be down here with me full time until the baby comes starting Saturday.

We had a doctor's appointment on Monday, which went well. We have a new female OB, so we got to meet her, and we both loved her! My blood pressure is still very low, so they are very happy with me (thank Mom for good genetics!). I am doing well on all my vitals, and the baby's heart rate was 144 - right on target. The baby is still very active these days, though it has settled into a favorite spot with legs/feet usually poking out of my left side. It's a funny sight to see the little bulges when it squirms. They verified at an earlier appointment that the head is down, so we are good there. And Monday, we got the good news that my body is already starting to prepare itself for delivery, so it could literally be any day now!

We have our list of phone numbers to call, and will get word out as soon as we can when the big day arrives. And if possible, Neal will try to find a computer to post a blog update once the baby makes its appearance. I will try to post every few days just so everyone is kept in the loop. We love you all, and can't wait to show off our little one!

Garden pictures!

2008-09-03T00:04:00.003+02:00

As I haven't updated info about the garden, I thought maybe I should.

As of now, we've pulled all the tomatoes except the cherries (they're still producing like crazy), and I managed to get about a dozen cans of diced tomatoes out of them, as well as some really good salsa. The zucchini had slowed down, so we pulled them as well. The cucumber plant only gave us three cucumbers and then died, so we'll have to figure out what happened there. Unfortunately, even though we had friends checking in on our garden in July while we were home for a quick visit, it seemed to have a hard time while we were gone. But we knew it was a possibility.

We left the bell peppers to grow for now, as we think they were getting crowded by the zucchini. We may have been right, as they have started blooming again now. We've definitely learned for next year to give the plants about 2-3 times as much space as we think they will need, as overcrowding seemed to be the story to this year.

We have six basil plants left, and they are doing fairly well. I have to keep an eye on them, pick leaves regularly, and snip the blooms off. But they are still growing strong, and they smell great!

Lastly, Neal's butter beans are just about ready to start picking. We're still waiting on them to get just a little bit bigger. And this past weekend, we were finally able to pull the first dozen or so pods of purple-hulled peas! They look great, and we are just waiting to get enough to cook up and have a real southern dinner! We've found we have to check them every 2-3 days, as they are all starting to pop like crazy!

And here are some pictures of Neal's babies! I'll try and get more soon, as they're even bigger now!

The butter beans:

The purple-hulled peas:

A baby update!

2008-09-02T23:48:00.008+02:00

Sorry it's been a while. After a July trip to the US for a wedding and last-chance visit with family before the baby arrives, things started to kick into high gear for us. Anyway, several people have been asking for pictures, and though I've been horrible about taking them regularly, I wanted to post a few.

As for life right now, we're steadily working on making way for this baby! We've begun clearing out our second bedroom (currently Trajan's bedroom and extra storage space), and should be getting a call on our baby furniture any day now. I've started washing baby clothes, and can't wait to have a dresser to put them all in! In doing so, I realized that this child has a ton of clothes! We may not even make it to wear everything by the time it grows out of them all! But there are some adorable ones, and some stuff I can't wait to use. Now I just have to decide what to pack in our hospital bags.

We'll be heading down to stay at a temporary lodging facility on base in Naples around mid-month. The OB likes the women who live far away (we're at least an hour from the hospital) to stay there starting at least two weeks before the due date, just in case. Neal will be commuting up to Gaeta for a week, but the last week he'll be given some time off. We will have access to a phone while there, and hopefully it will be on a military line so we can call out via a U.S. number. But either way, definitely know that we will get word out when the time comes! As for updating the blog, I'm not exactly sure when that will happen, but we'll get an email out with pictures to everyone asap!

One of the Navy spouses here is throwing us a shower Sunday, so I'll probably have more pictures to post from that. But for now, here are some of the latest:

Me, back on the 4th of July, at a local BBQ (27 weeks) ...

Picking blueberries with Mom C and the girls while in Knoxville (Karen's beside Mom, Sarah was the event photographer) ...

At the wedding in Chattanooga (July 26th, 30 weeks) ...

The belly at almost 35 weeks ...

A close-up ...

The fabric that we just had to get for a baby quilt so we can start Wee P off right!

The Navy gives new parents a gift ...

This is what was in it (including a hand-knit afghan!) ...

Our diaper bag (orange, of course) ...

Gifts from the May baby shower in the U.S. ...

More baby clothes (I'm having so much fun!) ...

Mom and Sarah's "faith" outfit, for that girl they really want! ...

And finally, our hospital/take-home outfit for Wee P ...

New garden pictures!

2008-06-30T13:41:00.011+02:00

We finally took some new garden pictures, and I wanted to post them while I had the chance. The weeds really got crazy while I was home for a visit. Neal was transitioning into his new position, so it's taken us a while to really dig in and take care of things. Here are a few pics of what we were/are dealing with:

The "before" pic of all the weeds (it's like playing "Where's Waldo" to find the plants) ...

In progress ...

More progress ...

Hey! There are plants in there!

Here are some of the Roma tomatoes already coming in ...

Our massive zucchini plants ...

We have one cucumber vine (just got our first one Saturday) and four bell pepper plants beside the zucchini plants ...

The garden from the top, all cleaned up and staked ...

A close-up of the staked cherry tomato plants ...

We planted some butter beans this past weekend. Can't wait to see how they do ...

Our other newbies, purple-hulled peas, freshly planted ...

Our marigolds that have taken over ...

And some of the "fruits" of our labor ...

This is what we saw on the way to Rome a couple of weeks ago. We decided to take the scenic route (by accident), and found a lake!

Neal, thinking of all the fishing he could be doing ...

Me, at about 25 weeks, and with a new haircut (it keeps getting shorter!) ...

More updates to come, as we get more and more from the garden!

Hello again!

2008-06-10T09:05:00.010+02:00

Well, Janie just got back last week from another trip home to the States for a relaxing beach vacation with the Carcello family! The annual trip to Kiawah Island, South Carolina was great fun, though I was a little disappointed that bike riding was a no-go for me this year. The doctor was a little concerned with the possibility of balance issues and me falling off, even from a beach cruiser. But overall, the beach was awesome! It was so nice to be on a U.S. beach again, where you have more than a foot between you and the next person, with tons of sand to play in, and no worries about seeing more skin than you really wanted to!

After the beach, it was back to Knoxville for a few days before I came home again. The Carcello's got a new puppy (a yellow labrador) that they named "Pearl." She's super sweet and smart, and already was doing really well with potty training before I left. She seemed so big to me though, after having Trajan who was eleven pounds at his four-month checkup! She was seventeen pounds when they got her at ten weeks!

Also while I was home, Mom was super awesome and planned a surprise baby shower for me! She had gotten all of our registry info from Neal without my knowing, and had managed to keep it all a secret! Later, everyone started telling stories of the time they "almost" let the cat out of the bag! Of course, we joke that I'm the most oblivious person around, so it probably wasn't all that difficult, but it was super sweet, and I loved it! The best part was that she made sure to invite several family members and girlfriends that I was sure I wouldn't have time to even call, much less visit with while I was home, so that was awesome! It was so great to see everyone, and I felt so blessed to have such great friends and family! And we all had tons of fun looking at the little baby clothes and toys and bedding! It's becoming more and more of a reality!

I've been back home for just over a week now, and am getting back into the swing of things. Jet lag wasn't quite as horrible this time, so that's good. Neal was promoted at work, so now he has a regular Monday through Friday schedule, and gets home most days at a reasonable hour. This has done wonders in regards to eating dinner at a normal time, and being able to spend some time together before going to bed each night. It also means that he now gets holidays off, and we have better planning ability if we want to go somewhere for fun. It's been a bit rough the first week while he's getting things settled in the new position, but this week is looking a little better, and hopefully he'll get it running smoothly. In the meantime, everyone I talk to is so glad he's in the new position, knowing that means they'll get taken care of as well, and that the department will run as efficiently as possible. Luckily, his troops love him, which makes his job so much easier!

The pregnancy is going well! No problems, nothing big to report, other than the fact that we have a very active baby coming soon! Sarah got to be the first one to feel it kick, which she is extremely proud of! Karen and Mom got to feel it immediately after her. Neal finally got to feel it the night I got back home, and several times since. It also has become more and more sensitive to outside noises now. It's kicked in response to Trajan's barking a few times before, but now it really gets moving at night when Neal and Trajan like to play. Also, last night, Neal was teasing and raspberrying my belly and it would kick in response each time.

It definitely has its favorite positions, as I always tend to get kicked in the same places, especially the sides. Most of the time, I carry it relatively low, but at night, it likes to curl up behind my belly button to sleep. And every time I readjust in the night, I feel it doing the same. It also likes to kick me first thing in the morning when Neal's getting up and ready, and I'm trying to get just a few more minutes of sleep. I used to be able to sleep in after he left for work, but now I wake up so hungry, it's hard to do.

We had another checkup last week, and all is going well and on the mark. We heard the heartbeat again, and got my belly and weight measured. The doctors say everything looks great, and I'm feeling awesome! These are apparently the "easy" appointments, with not much to do other than measure our progress and stay updated. In July, I will have to do the glucose screening test that checks for gestational diabetes, and then just a regular checkup again.

We are trying hard to keep up with the garden! The weeds went crazy while I was gone, and I'm doing a little bit each day to try and get them back under control. We also already have some zucchini babies growing, as well as a few cherry tomatoes. The basil and bell pepper plants are growing tall and strong, as are the rest of the tomatoes. We have some pea and bean seeds that we're putting out this weekend, and that should just about do it. I may pick up some more herbs here and there, but I think we'll have enough to keep up with in what we've got for now. I'll post pictures after we clean up a bit more this weekend.

And now, for some pictures:

Janie on the boardwalk at Kiawah Island on our last day there (Sarah took this picture!) ...

Karen and Sarah and their newest family member ...

Neal, on a recent golfing day we took with Steve and Mikelauren ...

On the putting green ...

The biggest zucchini I've ever seen (it came from a friend's garden, not ours) ...

New sonogram pictures!

2008-05-09T12:35:00.009+02:00

So Wednesday was our "big" sonogram at 19 weeks. We decided not to find out the sex of the baby (it will remain Wee P until birth), but we saw plenty of other cool things! Unfortunately, the baby is now too big for the entire body to fit in the picture, but we have lots of pictures of hands, feet, etc.

The techs said the baby is looking great, all body parts accounted for and healthy, and weighs about 13 ounces now! They updated our due date to be September 25th, so we're now 20 weeks as of yesterday (Thursday)! We're halfway there! The baby was really cooperative, only moving around a little bit during the 1.5 hour procedure!

Pictures are up!

2008-05-01T18:42:00.003+02:00

I finally posted our pictures on our Shutterfly website: http://nealandjaniephillips.shutterfly.com. I've emailed the password out in our blog email, but if you don't get it, email me at janiephillips@gmail.com, and I'll send it to you and add you to the blog list. Enjoy!

Another trip to the Amalfi Coast

2008-04-30T13:29:00.014+02:00

Last week, we got to have Tiffany, one of my best friends from back home, stay with us! We had tons of fun, did lots of walking, and lots of catching up! It was a great visit, and she got to see Rome, Pompei, the Amalfi Coast, and a few local spots. It was great to have a friend visiting again, and we had fun showing her around. We even spent three days in Rome, shopping and sight-seeing. The weather cooperated for the most part, as there were only a couple of rainy days, and we had planned to be down on those days anyway.

We got lots of pictures of the Amalfi Coast again, and this time Neal got to come too, so we had loads of fun! We drove through Maiori, Amalfi, and Positano, but didn't make it to Sorrento. Neal and I are planning on hitting Sorrento on one of his days off soon.

On the pregnancy front, we are now at 18 weeks as of this past Monday - almost halfway! Wee P started making his/her presence known last week while Tiffany was here, and has not stopped since! Not a day goes by that I don't feel the bubbles of movement. S/he is especially active first thing in the morning and after I eat. But I joke that I must have swallowed a goldfish because it feels like I have one swimming around in my belly!

We've now had our third doctor's appointment, and everything is going smoothly! My blood pressure is excellent, the baby's heart rate is strong, and I've only gained a net of about 2 pounds overall, so we're right on track. Our next sonogram is next week, and we'll definitely post pictures from that one. We're very impatient to see our little one again, although we have finally decided that we're not going to find out the sex before the birth. We really look forward to finding out the day of the birth, and hearing the "It's a ... !" As so many have said, there are so few good surprises in life, and this is definitely one that we'll love! So bets are on now as to what we're having, weight, dates, etc. lol! Mom Carcello said knowing the genes on both sides, we could even take bets on hair color, as there's just no telling with brunettes, blondes, and redheads in the family!

Neal has this weekend off, so we'll be doing lots of playing in the garden! Janie's carrots finally came up this last week, so we can finally till it all up to start planting. We're already planning out what we want to grow, and how we're going to do it. At this point, we definitely want to do tomatoes, basil, peppers, cucumbers, beans, lettuce, onions, and some herbs. We'll definitely be busy, but it's so much fun! We also still have some cilantro and parsley in planters already growing strong, as well as some baby tomato slicers started and ready to transplant.

Anyway, here are some pictures from this last week:

Janie's carrots, ready to be cleaned, cut, and canned.

Sleepy Trajan, in his favorite place, sleeping beside Daddy as he works on school.

Springtime at the Spanish steps in Rome

Look what we saw on the way home from Rome! Neal almost lost it!

A little fruit stand on the Amalfi Coast

This is actually a restaurant that we ate at while driving around Amalfi

This was the view from lunch!

And on Tiff's side...

The baby bump, at 17 weeks, in Positano...

One of the local artists, painting on the beach of Positano

I'll post all of the pictures, and post the link later!

15 weeks and the belly's already expanding!

2008-04-08T16:39:00.002+02:00

Updates abound!

2008-03-24T17:09:00.004+01:00

I'm sure everyone's been waiting for some back-story here, since the last post came out of nowhere. Yes, we are pregnant. Wee P, as we're calling him/her temporarily, is due to make a debut around September 29th. It was a surprise, though a nice one. We were planning on waiting a couple of months, but as we've come to say, "God trumped us." We're super excited, as you can imagine, as are both families. This will be the first grand-baby on Neal's side, and the third on mine. Needless to say, this is going to be one spoiled child!

The pregnancy has gone very well thus far, and I can't complain at all. I only had a touch of nausea here and there, a little indigestion, and a few headaches. Nothing like what some women have, and I know how blessed I am. We're starting our 13th week today, which is the last of the first trimester. I'm already mostly over the little bit of morning sickness I've had, and though I still get tired easily, I'm feeling almost 100%.

We've seen our little one twice now. Our first doctor's appointment was on Valentine's Day, which is where we got to see and hear its little beating heart for the first time. The baby was barely over 1 centimeter long from head to bottom! We were both beyond ourselves, and Neal was nothing but grins. Our second appointment was just this last week, and though we weren't scheduled for another sonogram, it's still a little early to pick up the heartbeat without one, so they went ahead and did another. This time, we got to see our little one moving! And was it moving! The doctor had a hard time getting good pictures because of all the gyrations! At one point, we finally got a few good pictures, and Wee P decided to turn completely around away from us. I think s/he was done with being poked at that point. It was really neat to see though. S/he is now about 3 inches long. You could see the joints forming in between the bones, as well as the eyes and nose. The first picture we saw, an arm was up around the head, and you could see all the little bones inside the hand! Our next appointment will be at the end of April, and we have until then to decide if we want to know the sex, or if we want to be surprised.

This was the best picture from our last sonogram...

Sorry about leaving that last post for so long. I wanted to make sure we got the announcement on there before I left for the US again. That's right, I went back home to visit for a month, while poor Neal had to stay behind for work. He didn't like being a bachelor again, even temporarily, but he managed, and was extremely happy to have me back home again.

It was a great visit. I got to spend much more time with the families, and got to spend Stephen's birthday with him. I did some house-hunting while in Knoxville, but alas, the housing market there has unfortunately not come down from its bubble at all, and we decided against buying right now. I also researched Obstetricians while there, because it looks like I'm going to be moving back home to have the baby. We're concerned about driving around here, as well as several other safety factors, and are working on the process of getting me moved back to the US at some point this summer, so that I can be back home and around family to have the baby. Unfortunately, Neal will have to stay behind, but he will get 30 days of leave to be with me at the birth, and a couple weeks afterward.

Finally, we have a fourth addition to our family now: an eleven week-old beagle puppy named Trajan. I got him while I was visiting in Memphis, and he's been a great little guy. He's a beautiful puppy, and has a great personality. He's definitely full of energy, but is also very smart, playful, and loving. He loves to cuddle, and fits right into our family. We got him eleven days ago, and he's already learned to sit, knows "no" and "down" well, and is working on using the bathroom outside. Luckily, we have tile floors. He sleeps mostly through the night now, and is just adorable and fun in general. He's a great companion.

Unfortunately, his eyes got messed up, but here's little Trajan at home in Italy...

I believe that is all the updating that I needed to do. We love and miss you all, and hope everyone's doing well! We'll keep you updated!

...and baby makes three!

2008-02-15T10:07:00.004+01:00

Meet our "wee P" ... making an arrival around the first of October!

We are alive, I promise!

2008-01-20T20:57:00.000+01:00

(Back in Memphis, relaxing and loving being home again!)

I'm so sorry it's been forever since I updated the blog! We went home earlier this month, and it seemed like I got nothing done the entire month of December, leading up to our leaving. Since we got back, I've been having a hard time adjusting to the time change, and Neal's had a sinus infection, so needless to say, I've not really been able to update. But here goes!

We left for the US on Dec 28th, but hit a snag with our first flight. We got to the airport 45 minutes before the flight, but due to horrible Italian security, we got to the gate literally 2 minutes late, and the plane was already gone. Who knew leaving the house at 6am wouldn't give us time to catch a 10:45am flight?!? Travel is seriously interesting over here, that's for sure.

Fortunately, we were able to grab another flight to Amsterdam, but we weren't able to catch one from Amsterdam to the US until the next day, so we got an overnight vacation in Amsterdam. We thoroughly enjoyed the Dutch people; they are extremely pleasant, helpful, and almost everyone speaks English - a real plus after living in Italy. We ate dinner at an Argentinian steakhouse, then walked around the city center. We were also able to do some last-minute Christmas shopping for our families while we were there.

The next morning, we were able to catch another flight out to Memphis, and arrived around 6pm local time. We had belated Christmas dinner with the Phillips parents, and really enjoyed all the hugs and kisses and time together. We brought Mom and Dad P a couple of mugs and some chocolates from Amsterdam, as well as some of our canned tomatoes and dried basil from the garden, which was really fun!

Because we wanted to visit the Carcello family while Stephen and the girls were out of school, we left the next morning, and drove to Knoxville for the first half of the visit. We were so excited to see everyone again, and the hugs and kisses started all over again!

The first night we were there, we all exchanged gifts (the flight over was supposed to be our Christmas gift, but nobody sticks to that, including us!). Mama C loved her tomatoes and basil too, and we brought some blue and white wooden ornaments for the Carcello Christmas tree. We also were able to surprise Karen and Sarah big-time! Back in January of last year, before we left for Italy, they said that all they wanted from Europe were "some of those wooden shoes." We weren't sure at the time whether we'd ever get to Amsterdam, but we told them we'd try to get some by the time we moved back. Given our overnight trip there, we were able to find some adorably painted authentic shoes, and the girls were so excited! We had them close their eyes, and even Mom gasped when she saw them! They had completely forgotten about asking for them, and were walking around the house in them the entire time we were home (which we didn't think about Mom and Dad having wood floors - sorry guys!). Overall, they were definitely a hit.

While we were in Knoxville, which wasn't long enough at all, we also got to have New Years' Eve dinner with some of our college friends. We watched the UT bowl game on New Years' Day. And we went outlet shopping with Mom and the girls. Dad made his famous ribs on the grill, which were very quickly devoured. We finally got to see "Facing the Giants." And Karen and Sarah got to tell us all about the labrador puppy they're going to get! It was so nice to be back at home, and we really hated leaving again.

Back in Memphis, we had more shopping to do (there are tons of things we can't get over here, or are ridiculously expensive). We also got to just spend some time with the Herman and Peggy, which was nice. Daddy P took us out to eat one night at a local steakhouse, and we were served HUGE steaks! I also got to cook for Mama P one night while we were there (Chicken Marsala!), and we had a great time overall, though WAY too short!

Our trip back was not nearly as eventful, which was fine with us. After our flight into Rome, we still had a couple hours of train rides to get home. We got back just in time for Neal to get some dinner and get ready for work. Neither of us were ready to leave home again; it was much harder this time. But we're already planning our next trip home to be much longer and much more calm!

Unfortunately, as soon as we got back, Neal started having sinus problems. With being on nights, and the horrible sleep schedule that causes, it's really been kicking his tail. This past weekend he was coughing so much that he lost his voice. Luckily he seems to at least be feeling better, and with some rest of his voice, it seems to be (slowly) coming back. We're hoping that he can take the long weekend he has this week to rest and finish healing up.

Other than adjusting to getting back into our groove here, there's not much going on. It rained the first week or two after we got home, but it's been sunny now for a couple of days, and it's supposed to stay that way for the next week. Though it's recently been very windy, the temperature here is around 35-45 at night and 45-55 during the day, so we can't complain at all. Hopefully it will stay like this well into Spring.

Our baby garden grew by leaps and bounds while we were gone! The boxes really protected them from the elements, and they're doing really well! Unfortunately, so were the weeds, but I was able to get out there on one of the sunny days and tilled up the weeds, and babied the plants some. Here are some pictures:

The entire area, with our boxes open for some sun.

The box below has some parsley and chervil thriving well. The thyme is finally trying to peek out. There is basil as well, and I counted three sprigs today that are trying to break the surface. I'm afraid the oregano and mint that I also planted in here may be DOA's. The big bushy plant there right in the middle is a cilantro plant (I finally found cilantro for salsa!) that I keep in the box for the still cold nights. I have a second plant that I planted outside of the box just to see how it fares.

Behind the box, almost out of the picture, are three extra rows of carrots (on the right and center), and the one row on the left is more of the larger scallions. Those were extra seeds that wouldn't fit in the boxes, so I planted them outside to see if they survived. They're doing great, and are just growing a little slower than the box herbs/veggies. But that way, we'll have a second harvest of herbs/veggies.

The second box (below) contains two rows of carrots (on the right), as well as one row of two types of scallions! The bottom half contains the bigger scallions, which seem to be doing better, and the more sparse top half is the smaller ones we Americans are used to.

Back behind the box in the big square patch is where I threw the rest of the parsley seeds I had left, and they're doing very well! The row in the middle is another row of chervil. And the one small plant on the right is the second cilantro plant.

We're planning on getting some more tomato plants going soon (mid-February we'll be starting seeds), as well as some peas, bell peppers, squash, eggplant (maybe), and whatever else tickles our fancy. We're really looking forward to our garden this year, since we know how well the tomatoes did last year. We can't wait to start playing with it all. We're going to take pretty much the entire side of the yard here for a veggie/herb garden. Also, our landlords are letting us use some of the space behind the house for more tomatoes! We've already used most of our canned tomatoes, so we're looking to can even more next year. I'm going to be a busy bee this fall!

Last, but not least, we have some bulbs that we potted back in the fall that are starting to come up. We'll post more pictures as they start blooming.

I will try and update a little more often. We love you all and miss you dearly! Feel free to email us, or put comments on the page. We love hearing from everyone!

Italian driving rules...

2007-11-29T21:06:00.000+01:00

Neal likes to joke that when it comes to driving in Italy, everyone is related to Mario Andretti. We joke about the driving here constantly because it really is laughable. Here is a satirical look at driving in Italy...

The rules of the road are as follows:

1. GET OUT OF MY WAY
2. Anyone can do anything at any given time
3. Those lines painted on the roads are purely cosmetic, there is no purpose for them whatsoever
4. The person who pulls the furthest into the intersection first has the right of way
5. There is no such thing as a crosswalk, the entire road is a viable option for crossing
6. You MUST go at least double the speed limit
7. You MUST slam on your brakes and come almost to a complete stop when Polizia are spotted
8. Seat belts are purely optional. In fact, children are not allowed to use them. They are required to be up and about the cabin of the car at all times, smiling and waving at other drivers.
9. It is illegal to have any less than 6 inches between you and the next car, this is reduced to 2 inches when stopped
10. While you must be 18 years old to drive a car, simply being able to breathe is the only requirement for driving a motorino
11. Helmets on motorinos are only fashion accessories, and need not be worn. It is highly unnecessary to wear anything more than a tee shirt, cut off shorts, and sandals for men; and a bathing suit, miniskirt, and heels for women.

More to come I'm sure!

Our First Thanksgiving (together)...

2007-11-23T21:01:00.000+01:00

Neal and I thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day together. It was just the two of us, with loads of food, but it was nice and relaxing. We had a wonderful day, and we loved every minute of spending the holiday together this year. I really enjoyed the time we got alone, him helping me cook, sitting at the table and nibbling on what was left on our plates after we filled up, and enjoying a glass of wine and a game of cards together. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect, romantic, or special Thanksgiving.

I think we're both getting more and more anxious to get back home for a visit, as we were talking all day yesterday about what we want to do when we get there, things we want to take home with us, and what we can only get at home. We're both very weary of being so far away, and overly ready for a trip back home. This assignment will really test our patience, I think.

I was really happy for Neal to finally have a normal holiday. Given how many holidays he's missed out on from being deployed or working and not able to get home, I was so happy that this year, even though we’re not at home with family, we could at least have our own special dinner. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, as he’ll be working this weekend, but we were both so grateful for him being able to be home to have a special day, and for all the ways that God has blessed the two of us.

Here are some pictures from our dinner:

...Trying to reheat the casseroles that I made up on Wednesday, while keeping the turkey and mashed potatoes warm. Thank you Brian and Melanie for our casserole dishes! You can tell they've come in handy!

...I just had to set out my snowman dish that the Pritchard's gave us at my bridal shower in Memphis. It's adorable! I told Neal I needed something to put in it, and he said I would just have to make cookies to fill it, hahaha!

...the spread (turkey breast with stuffing, corn pudding, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, and steamed broccoli), and the cook...

...Our desserts, Apple Crisp and Pumpkin pie (already a casualty)...

We love you all, and hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving!

Just having fun...

2007-11-20T12:06:00.000+01:00

I found a link for some seasonal fun the other day, and thought that everyone would enjoy seeing this...http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9555628610 (P.S. Neal hates me now, lol!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

More garden pictures

2007-11-17T23:44:00.000+01:00

Here are some more recent pictures of the garden and other stuff. Some of them were taken at night, so they're not all that great, but they're just so everyone gets an idea.

These are the cold frames that Neal made for us. We put carrots, onions, and various herbs in them, and still had enough seeds that we decided to plant them in the back half of the garden.

This was our way of labeling what we planted. We had a few pieces of wood left over and had to use something so we didn't walk all over the seeds.

Here's Neal fighting our new tiller. Luckily it's just a bitty little one instead of a monster one, but it was eagerly eating up that ground. It was jumping and bouncing all over the place at first because the ground was so hard, but once it softened up, we got some gorgeous dirt!

This was the ground, after we burned off the "grass" (read: weeds and rocks), and before we started tilling it.

This is for comparison. The far end was the area with the hardest ground, and in the foreground is the area that had been tilled once over.

My hunny doing the hard work for me!

Another view of the garden, and my guard duck!

My Guard Duck - we're still trying to come up with a name for him. (Neal doesn't like Howard)

We took this picture about two houses down the street. There was a gorgeous sunset the other night, but we had the hardest time getting good pictures. This one's even a bit blurry. But it's beautiful, and you get the idea.

The same night, this was the view from the back of the upper deck of the house. (There's actually snow on those mountains now, it literally happened over the course of about two nights.)

I was nice and didn't post the picture I took of Neal, but he got a serious giggle out of my choice of color coordination. I told him I was just trying to blend in here in Italy. Note the bright yellow garden shoes, lol!

Not much going on here. The weather's turned bitter cold, and it's been rainy for the past few days. We're waiting for the rain to stop, and for things to dry out a bit, so that we can till again and plant our fall bulbs. We're having a really quiet Thanksgiving this year, just the two of us. We're planning on getting a little turkey breast and making our own little feast.

We hope everyone's doing well, and enjoys the upcoming week with family, friends, and food! We love and miss you all, and can't wait to see everyone!

Pictures

2007-11-06T13:29:00.000+01:00

Well, we've taken a few more pictures since the concert, and I've tried to upload them to Shutterfly, but didn't realize that I had a limit. So I'll be doing some rearranging of albums and such, and I'll let everyone know when I've finished putting them all up. For now, I'll post a few pictures of the cold frame that Neal made this past weekend. He's making another on his next day off. We've already put it in the garden, and I'll be doing some serious planting this week. We've already got seeds for lettuce, spinach, carrots, various herbs, and some Spring flowers. I'll be planting them throughout the winter to make sure we get several crops out of them. The flowers will be planted closer to February, then moved to another bed. We also bought a bag off 100 Spring bulbs that we're looking to plant in the bed where the impatiens used to live. We're going to try and find some stepping stones, then plant the bulbs around those.

This was the finished product before we moved it out to the garden.

In the garden, with the lid open.

From about halfway up the patch of yard on the side of the house. That's my little basil plant. The fencing is for the cats. We're going to just use the two cold frames during the winter, then use this whole area for tomatoes next year. We're working on another area on the other side that will be a little smaller. That's where we'll put the herbs and other summer veggies next year.

This is from July, just to show you that this is the little spot that we've widened, and are planning to put the stepping stones and bulbs in. I'll post a couple more updated pictures of this spot soon.

For right now, the only thing we have growing is my last basil plant (he's staying strong and thriving though), and the Wisteria tree that the landlady likes. If it were up to us, we'd remove it (Wisteria's not meant to climb a 2D wall, so it keeps growing out over the garden). But the landlady babies it, so we have to leave it.

Neal is back on nights now, and will be nocturnal for a few months again. But it works out well, as he's still busy taking classes. I'm back to working out daily, and Mikelauren is really doing a number on me! But it's all good. I'm running again, and I've actually gotten back to it even better than before the ankle sprain!

The weather is still really nice during the day. It's usually in the upper 50's to mid 60's during the day, and in the mid 40's at night, so very bearable. Most days are sunny and cloudless too, which I guess makes up for the late Winter/early Spring rainy days.

I'm in the process of making some curtains for the house windows, and will post pictures of the inside, as I've had requests numerous times (*hanging my head in shame*). Neal took a few this past weekend, so I'll take more and post them here soon too.

Enjoy the pictures!

Rome!

2007-10-27T17:50:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone! We just wanted to upload a few pictures and update you all on our most recent trip to Rome! We had heard that Michael Buble was coming to Italy, and since we're both such huge fans, we decided to do an overnight trip to Rome to see him there as an anniversary get away. It was loads of fun! We got there Wednesday afternoon and checked into the hotel, which was about a block away from The Vatican. We then did a little shopping (mostly window shopping, Rome can be expensive!), and had dinner at a little cafe that we've eaten at before. It's quickly becoming a favorite, and it just happened to be right beside our hotel, and we didn't even know it!

The concert was at 9pm, and it was packed! Michael is definitely a favorite here in Italy. They play his music on the radio all the time, and the crowd was singing his songs (in English even!) throughout the night. It was a very fun concert. He is a great showman, and you can really tell that he enjoys himself on the stage. He has a great voice, and there was one point at the end that he cut all the music, put down his microphone, and belted out a few lines of the current song! We were both amazed that even with the not-so-great acoustics in the building, we were able to hear him crystal clear up in the "nose bleed" seats! Amazing!

The group that opened for him was called Naturally 7, an American a-capella band of seven guys who have gotten to be fairly popular here in Europe. They are described as a gospel, R&B, and pop "band" that has covered songs like "In the Air Tonight" and "Broken Wings." They are amazing, and even though neither of us are fans of the genre, we couldn't help but be amazed at the "beatbox" style of music they performed. Every sound was done by their mouths and/or bodies, and it was amazing.

Here's a teenie taste of Michael:

On Thursday, we went to Saint Peter's Basilica, took loads of pictures, ooh'd and aah'd and generally had a great time. We spent two hours in the basilica, and Neal, the resident shutterbug (and people thought I was bad), took almost 200 pictures! Of course, not all of them turned out, but he was very pleased with the ones that did, and I'll be uploading those very soon.

Neal at Saint Peter's Basilica...beside a massive marble "thingie" for a former Pope. A lot of the Popes were buried there, and there were these huge pieces all over! We just kept gawking at the massive amounts of gorgeous marble!

This is me before we left for the concert, in our hotel room. It was tiny (probably about 10x12, including the bathroom), but for one night, it worked fine. I even slept really well! And the bed didn't have a huge gap in the middle (Italians will put two twin beds together and call it a King)!

Neal is working this weekend, but we have been told about a store near Naples that we can get lumber at, so we have plans next week to go and get the materials to make a cold frame or two for the garden. We're planning next weekend for our stay at home/gardening weekend.

The weather was bitter cold last weekend, mainly because we had wind gusting up to 25 mph (I think Neal was wondering if he was back in Whidbey Island, lol!). It was around 45 at night and 55 during the days. But yesterday it perked back up, and we're back in the 60's again, so it's really pleasant.

P.S. This is what we saw from our back patio last weekend, in the middle of 25 mph winds!

A close-up:

The Italians like to burn everything: grass clippings, trash, and apparently the mountainside! Amazingly though, it ended up burning a complete circle, then going out as quickly as it started. We asked one of the ladies on base what the purpose of this was (we see random fires on the hills regularly, although not usually that big and close), and she said the shepherds burn all the dead brush and weeds from their pasture land to allow for new stuff in the Spring. Although it is technically illegal, they don't really police it (surprise!), and she said there's never been a problem with one getting out of hand! But with all of the wildfires in California right now, that was just a little bit of a nerve-wrecking sight to see when you walk out to get firewood from your back patio!

We did have fun with the colder weather over the weekend though:

I am back to working out now, so the warmer weather is definitely welcome now that I'm traveling to base daily as well. I have plans next week to start personal training with Mikelauren (the Navy wife I mentioned from Easter Mass), so I'm really going to be busting my rear end back into shape hopefully. The two months off from my ankle sprain were no fun, and I really missed it. Luckily, it seems I haven't lost too much stamina, as I've managed to run three times this week already, and I only had to limit myself because the physical therapist said to do so. Otherwise, I could've kept going, so that's encouraging. Mikelauren is going to help me with weight training, and I'm going to keep running too, so I should be a hot mama in no time! Just kidding, I've got a personal goal to meet by my birthday next year, so Mikelauren's going to be keeping me in line. She's good like that.

Neal has his biannual physical readiness training (PRT) next month, so he's been running again as well. He told me yesterday he ran it easily with only a minute to shave off his time, so I'm not concerned for him at all. I'm sure he'll do fine.

So that's what's going on in our little world! We love keeping up with everyone, and hope you all are doing great! We love you!

Minor update and pictures

2007-10-16T16:15:00.000+02:00

I know I just updated, but I wanted to post some pictures now that Blogger is back and working. I still had tons of tomatoes left, so I talked to a couple of the Italian women who work on base, and they told me how best to can them for use later. So here are pictures of the process. Overall, I ended up with 15 cans of diced tomatoes, 4 (now 3) of sauce, and 2 of what I call "guts"(basically crushed tomatoes). So I think we're pretty good for the winter.

The tomatoes in the plastic bag were about half of what was originally in there. The ones that were already diced at this point were what I'd already taken out.

Even more, besides the ones in the bag. In all, over 25 pounds!

This was fresh basil that I'd just picked off our own plant. I put a few basil leaves, as well as some garlic in each of the jars with the tomatoes. So they are about 90% home-grown (the garlic wasn't ours).

The first batch, about to be sealed up and then boiled.

Doesn't that just look yum?!

This was the first batch, ready for boiling. The cans are about 24 ounces maybe, so we've definitely got plenty of tomatoes for chili, spaghetti sauce, salsa, marinara, pizza sauce, etc...

On another note, I had a couple of people ask how to post comments on the blog because they were having issues. I did some research and realized that when I set it up, Blogger automatically only allows fellow Blogger members to post comments. However, I've changed it now so that anyone can comment. I still moderate them, so they won't show up until I've approved them, but it emails me anytime someone comments, so it shouldn't take me long to get to them.

Thanks for looking!

Hello again!

2007-10-12T15:16:00.000+02:00

Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. Somehow, I manage to let the pictures get all stacked up on me before I sit down to post again. But I'm loving the Shutterfly website, as I've posted all of our pictures there, and everyone can scroll through them at their leisure. I'll still post a few here, but I'll put the link below for the whole set.

Note: when I posted this, the Blogger site was having issues uploading pictures, so I couldn't add any here. But you can still check the link below, and you should get access to all of our pics there.

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks around here. We cleaned up the garden with the exception of a plant or two before we had two guests from Knoxville. One of Neal's college buddies, Chris Brown, and a friend of his from church, also Chris, came to visit for a week. We very quickly took to calling them Thing One and Thing Two, and though it was a whirlwind of a tour, we had loads of fun! I got to take them around the area for the first two days while Neal was working, then Neal had three days off and we all went carousing around the area. They had been in Scotland before coming to Italy, then were heading out to Germany and Spain, then back home to Knoxville.

The first day we went to Pompeii, then on the second we went to Positano on the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, Neal wasn't able to do either of those with us since he was working, but we decided that he and I will have to take a long weekend to Positano on our own soon. You'll understand when you see the pictures! On our way back from Positano, we missed the last train to Naples, and thus ensued a hilarious comedy of errors for the night, during which we argued with train conductors, I learned I know more Italian than I thought I did, and poor Neal had to drive to the Naples base around 2am to pick us up after working all day. We ended up getting in bed that night around 4am, but were able to laugh about it the next day, so all went well. It was quite the frustrating situation, but all-in-all we learned alot from it, and are much more comfortable with transportation in the area.

Friday, the third day they were here, we slept in and just chilled. That afternoon, we walked around a local historic site, Minturnae, and then went to a WWII War Memorial near the house. It really was the most beautifully kept area we've seen in Italy. The Italians aren't all that big on landscaping and keeping grass healthy and weeds under control, but this area would've rivaled many golf courses back home, and was immaculately kept.

Saturday and Sunday we toured Rome, including all the big tourist spots. We saw the Colloseum, Palantine Hill, Saint Peter's Square and the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. We took loads of pictures, and really enjoyed all the sights of Rome. Having friends visiting was really nice, especially being able to talk about friends and family back home and how everyone is doing there. The house was definitely not as quiet as usual, and it was really nice. They left to finish their tour of Europe before heading back home before the UT-Georgia game.

After they left, Neal and I both managed to get allergy/sinus colds, so we've been taking it easy for a week or two. We had been noticing the yellow pollen everywhere, but even through allergy medication, still managed to eventually succumb to it. We're doing better now though, and looking forward to Neal's next few days off.

We're already planning our winter garden, and we've got big plans for a couple of cold frames with lettuce, spinach, onions, carrots, and whatever else we come up with before then. The garden is really looking great. This past week, we took down the fencing and expanded it for the winter garden. Neal's got plans in his head for landscaping the rest of the grassy area back there, and we're just waiting for him to get the time to be able to do it. He's enjoying playing back there, and it's making a huge difference. It's definitely relaxing, and has been a great way for us to do something constructive together.

Neal has just finished a couple of his business classes, and is finishing up week two of his next batch. They're keeping him busy, but he's really excited to be back on track with his degree. His estimate is to finish up the degree, including a real estate certificate by Spring of 2009. He's doing really well, and while the material isn't always the most thrilling, he's sticking to it!

I finally made it to see a physical therapist about my ankle. The news wasn't thrilling, but it was good overall. He informed me that I somehow managed to pull two of the three tendons in the ankle (go figure). But he did say they were healing well. He gave me the okay to ride a bike (Neal had just gotten me one the day before), get back to working out 100%, and only limited me on running. He said that I could use the elliptical, but the treadmill is definitely a no-go, at least until after Christmas, or he re-evaluates the ankle. I'm definitely at about 99% now, as I can walk/run as needed, and rarely feel any kind of soreness or swelling, so that's good. But I'm really ready to start running again, so we'll see how that goes. I have another appointment later this month, so maybe he'll clear me to at least run on the track. I can at least hope!

Other than that, there's not much else to update on. We have a couple of minor trips in the works, and we'll definitely update on those as we do them. There's a few classes and field trips that are being offered on base, as well as an Italian language program starting next week, so it looks like the Fall will definitely be busy.

We love you all, and miss you dearly! We are really looking forward to making a trip back home as soon as we can, and can't wait to catch up with everyone!

You can view the pictures at this site: http://nealandjaniephillips.shutterfly.com. You'll need a password, which I have already sent out in the blog email. If you don't have it, please email me at janiephillips@gmail.com, and I'll give it to you. Sorry for the hassle, but no need to deal with all the crazies on the internet. Thanks!

WE HAVE COLOR!

2007-08-26T12:35:00.000+02:00

I had finally decided to seek out some advice from one of my food science professors on why our tomatoes were frozen in time, and wouldn't you know it, the very next day we got a ripe tomato!

We were out staking up one of our baby seedlings, and I just happened to look over and see a spot of red. I walked over, and it was a tomato that had finally started ripening! I poked at it to see if it was ready, and it fell off into my hand. The neighbors probably thought we were crazy because we were so happy over one silly tomato!

So we have our first successful tomato from the garden! Apparently, we are doing things right, we just need to be patient!

P.S. Here's a bit of a better pic of my new haircut!

New haircut! And other recent updates!

2007-08-23T00:04:00.000+02:00

I got a new haircut today!

I've been meaning to get it trimmed since we got here, but hadn't quite built up the courage to brave a trip to the Italian salon. I talked with one of the Italian ladies that works on base, and she suggested a salon she thought was great, and I went there. The guy did a great job! I just took in pictures (decided to get a little more than a trim), told him to do some combination of them, and he did exactly what I wanted! He was super sweet too, stopping frequently to ask if I was okay, if he was doing what I wanted, etc. I think he was a little concerned about the language barrier, and wanted to make sure we understood each other. They take their time, but it turned out really well, and even less than I used to pay in the States (random fact: they don’t tip here!).

That’s definitely not the best picture, as I had to take it myself, and didn’t realize there was a glare off of my glasses, but you get the idea. I’ll probably post another soon, once I have a chance to get used to doing it myself.

I love it! It’s so much lighter on my head, and has some character to it now. It’s also nice to get rid of all of those split ends! Neal loved it too. I went back up to base afterward to show him, and I think he was pleasantly surprised. He had another one of the guys laughing at him because he had to tousle and play with it. It was cute. After I got home, I had called him to let him know I was home, and he commented again on how much he loved my hair, and how cute it was! So I’m glad he likes it too.

Other updates: Janie's adventure in blood-draws! So I haven't had my cholesterol checked since last June, and I figured it was high time to check on it again. I had actually scheduled it back in July, but I had to go and sprain my ankle the day before my appointment, and I was not about to deal with a needle while in that much pain (I know, I'm a wimp). So I finally decided to get it done last Tuesday.

After fasting for twelve hours, I go to medical, and the tech just cannot get blood. She pokes me three times (including once in the hand - ouch!), and it doesn't even bleed after pulling the needle out! We finally decide to just stop, and try again another day, after drinking tons of water the day before/of. So I pour the fluids down, and try again Friday. Different tech, same results. She just goes straight for the other hand, knowing how hard we had it last time. Nothing. She tries an arm - again nothing. Finally, she decides to go for the wrist. Oh so not fun! She finally manages to get some blood, but it is literally dripping down the tube. Halfway to what we need, it just stops! She maneuvers the needle deeper, has me flex my hand, and tries to physically pump it from higher up on the arm, but it will not give anything but a nasty bruise. Again, we decide to stop. The funny part of all this was that while I'm trying cleansing breaths and praying for help, the tech was actually praying for God to show her a vein, lol! She was seriously saying, "Praise you Jesus, just show me a vein." I couldn't help but laugh. She honestly felt so awful for inflicting so much pain. I'm not sure who was more relived that we stopped!

Neal has now nicknamed me "turnip." We finally decided that since Neal has a dental appointment in Naples this week, we'd see if their lab tech can fare any better.Fast forward to today. We tell the lab tech how much trouble we’d been having, and he took his time finding a vein to try, but he got it on the first poke, no problems! I barely felt the initial prick, then about 15 seconds later, he had all he needed. I told him he’s my new hero, and is on my Christmas list! I was amazed! Of course, I had been drinking water like it was going out of style, but I still think he was an angel sent from God! I'm kidding of course, but I was praying throughout the day that this would be successful. I'm so not good with needles, and though I'm cooperative, I was about to start losing it if someone couldn't get me to bleed! I told Neal that if they had trouble, I was just going to slice a finger open for them!Anyway, not so interesting maybe, but definitely a successful day for me.

Other notes: our garden is frozen in time, I think. After several weeks of amazing baby tomatoes, they have just stopped growing! We hit a bit of a cold snap, and it's really cool at night here, so I'm thinking that's the reason, but it's really frustrating! It's so hard to see all those lovely tomatoes on the vine, knowing that they're not quite ready to pick, even to ripen off the vine. We've been feeding them once a week, and we're praying that since the heat is back, they will buck up, but this may just be a lesson for next year. We may have lots of fried green tomatoes and green salsa on our hands.

Neal didn't end up making chief, but no one here in Gaeta did. There were about eight candidates I think. Apparently, it's not unusual, and only about 10-15% of the candidates were selected anyway. Neal said they call the Chief's exam "the annual meeting of the first classes." Some people never actually make it. Neal took it really well, and said it obviously wasn't God's timing. I think I took it worse than he did, but there's always next year.

We watched a friends dog last week. I just wanted to post her picture. Her name is Bella. She is an adorable little thing, though she's definitely still a puppy. She's very cuddly, and follows you everywhere. Mommy lives in an apartment, so she really enjoyed being out in our yard. Because we have the fence, we could just let her run loose. She would play fetch with a tennis ball for as long as we kept throwing it. And she even scared one of the stray cats away while she was here! This picture is of her crashing on our bedroom floor after we came inside. I think she liked the cool tile. Obviously, she's just a teenie little thing, but she has some serious energy!

I think that's about it. We're just living daily life right now. We're definitely looking forward to Neal's college buddy Chris and his friend from church, also Chris, coming to visit this fall. They will be our first guests from home, and we can't wait to just see familiar faces! And of course, we'll get to show them around. We're also really looking forward to football season, now that we have a satellite box to be able to watch American football! Right now, we're planning a trip just for us to Florence this fall too. We're still in the planning stages, but it's so much fun to research the area! We're really looking forward to getting away for a while and spending time together exploring!

We love you all, and hope everyone is doing well! As always, we miss you all dearly, and can't wait to see everyone again at some point or another!

Oopsies!

2007-07-27T12:40:00.000+02:00

So, on Tuesday, I decided to "test the integrity" of the roads around here. Results: not so much. Roads: 1, Janie: 0.

Neal and I were helping someone move some boxes, and when I stepped off the curb into the street, I neglected to see a large pothole - a dumb move around here, since they are everywhere. I stepped right into it, turning my left foot under me, and spraining my ankle pretty badly. Nothing's broken, thank God, but it hurt like a beast!

We ended up in the Italian emergency room, but thanks to our medical translator, managed to get in and out rather quickly, and got x-rays saying everything was okay. That night was rough, as I had to sleep on the couch (didn't want to attempt the stairs to go to the bedroom), and Neal slept on the floor beside me. He is such a great husband, and an awesome nurse! He carried me around alot, even while I was wincing and whining from the pain.

We went to the medical clinic Wednesday, so I'm now on medicine and feeling better. They gave me some crutches, but they are painful and awkward, and give you bruises too. I'm now able to put some weight on my foot though, and am only using the crutches for stability instead of support. I'm going to have to do physical therapy starting next week, so I don't re-injure it, and working out has gone out the window for a few weeks (there goes that goal). The funny thing is that was the first thing to go through my mind once I realized what had happened - after the initial "What was that? That hurt!" I immediately thought, "Shoot, now I can't work out any more!" Neal thought I had lost my mind, I think!

This was Wednesday morning, before the swelling really set in:

My "pimped" crutches. Neal tried to soften them up a bit:

But overall, I'm doing fine. I just have a foot/ankle the size of my calf! It still feels a bit tingly when I'm up on it for too long, but no more pain is a great thing! I think by the beginning of next week, I won't need the crutches any more, and I'll be well on the road to recovery. I told Neal that I was just making sure that he had some practice before we had kids. He did fine, lol!

Garden update!

2007-07-23T11:53:00.000+02:00

I just wanted to let everyone know I've posted more pictures of the garden! It's really starting to look like an actual landscaped garden now, thanks to tons of heavy manual labor on the part of my hubby! He's been so great, doing all of the hard work and leaving all of the easy and fun stuff for me! He managed to finish clearing the weeds and grass from the top of 50-60% of the whole area this weekend. He's put a tarp over the part we're not using yet, hoping to keep everything from growing back, and it really helps make the whole area look alot better.

We also caged up the tomato plants, so they don't look like such monsters any more. We pulled a basil plant and are drying it to save for some home-grown, fresh-dried basil to use in the winter. I planted the last four baby tomato plants. We're thinking that our monsters are Roma tomatoes, which would be awesome for making sauces. The baby four are beefsteak tomatoes. No telling what we'll get from them, given that it's so late in the season, but we'll see. And finally, we planted some colorful impatiens in the corner. We had wanted some color, as well as something to eat up the awkward corner right there. They will have plenty of water, given that the area gets all of the drainage from the rest of the garden. They made a huge difference, and they are so colorful and happy-looking, you can't help but smile.

Before...

After...

My job this week is to lay out more topsoil in the vegetable garden (some has washed away, and it's looking a little dry), and also some more on the impatiens, and to fertilize and weed the entire area. We already have some babies growing on the biggest of the tomato plants, so it should be another two weeks, give or take, until we have some fresh produce!

Neal's planning on clearing the last of the side area by the end of the summer, then tarp it all off as well. Our hope is that it will kill any grass and weeds off during the fall and winter, making it easier for us to clear and till next Spring. We're already planning our vegetable garden next Spring, including peppers, beans, more herbs, and who knows what else. We're thinking about using the little plot we have the tomatoes and basil in right now for some late-fall lettuces and peppers, and maybe some peas and broccoli if we're feeling adventurous. And of course, we'll have to plant some bulbs for the Spring.

We're loving playing in the garden, and it's really encouraging that it's doing so well with so little difficulty! The soil here is so rich and healthy, I'm sure whatever we do will turn out well. It's so nice having our own little space, and being able to do it together is a lot of fun! The hard work feels good, and the reward is amazing!

P.S. We've put more of the garden progress pictures on Shutterfly: http://tinyurl.com/2h9zby

Another late/long update

2007-07-19T13:50:00.000+02:00

So I've been horrible about updating our blog. Sorry about that. We've stayed busy, though there's not a ton of really interesting stuff going on, just day-to-day life. Neal is finally (!) back on days now. Wednesday was his first day on, and he has a long weekend this week. We're planning on getting out in the garden and doing some more landscaping. Little by little, it's really starting to look good! The basil and tomatoes have gone crazy just in the last week or so. They were doing really well before, but it seems they just about doubled in size in about a week, and the larger two tomato plants are monsters! I've been pinching the blooms to make them grow bigger before letting tomatoes grow, but I'm afraid I might run out of room at this point, so we're going to let them start producing. We've got about a dozen blooms on different plants, so the next two to three weeks ought to be interesting. I somehow have this feeling that we're going to be swimming in tomatoes and begging people to take them off our hands. But we're hoping to make some sauces, can some of them diced and whole, and I guess we'll be eating the rest! We also have two little plants growing among the tomatoes. I was weeding one day and noticed two very different-looking sprouts that I decided to leave and see what happened. They looked very much like vegetable sprouts. Right now, I'm still not sure, but I think they may be squash or something similar. How cool is that?!? I'm going to wait another week or so and see if I can tell what they are. Either way, I'll have to either pull them or move them, as the tomatoes are already crowding each other.

We have cleared about 2/3 of the area that we are working on, and we're going to do the rest this weekend. We are planning on expanding the length of the garden by another row, to allow me to plant my tomatoes from seed that are still potted right now. Then, we're going to leave a border on each side of the garden, place walking stones in, and put down some marigolds to keep pests away (we have a bad mosquito issue out there) and make things pretty. Eventually, we want to put some more flowers, maybe rose bushes along the back wall, and some smaller flowers below the wisteria tree. I'll attach a few pictures so everyone knows what I'm talking about. I'll probably take some before and afters this weekend too, and post them next week (P.S. I have an album of the entire garden and progress here: http://tinyurl.com/2h9zby).

Somehow, these...

...turned into these...

...and these...

...turned into these!

We went to Rome two weeks ago. We had a blast! We left Saturday morning, spent the day in Rome, then got back home around 10pm. It was a long, exhausting day, but it was loads of fun! We went to the Colosseum, then just sort of made our way around the area. We checked out a couple of churches, a monastery, a couple museums (including the Italian war museum), and a cute little cafe. We just snacked all day while walking around, then stopped for dinner before the train. The cafe was a quaint little place that has tables actually in the alley between it and the next building (very popular way of doing things around here). Neal had ravioli, and I had a pork chop. And of course, we couldn't turn down dessert, so Neal had a tiramisu, I had rum-soaked pineapples, and we split the two. Overall, the day was a blast, and we took tons of pictures! We have them all posted on the Shutterfly website because there are so many. We didn't want to overload the blog. I'll post a few here, but the entire album (191 pictures) is located at: http://tinyurl.com/yuks65 (warning: there are several pictures in here that include nudes in the art. If you'd like a kid-friendly version, click here: http://tinyurl.com/2gm8rf).

We're getting a new car this week. The BMW we bought has been difficult lately, and since we got it dirt cheap, we don't mind replacing it. The brakes had been acting up, and we weren't super happy about depending on it. We're buying an Alfa Romeo from another MA that is getting transferred. Apparently it's in great shape, so we won't have to worry about this one.

We're also anxiously awaiting Chief's results, which should be out no later than mid-August. Apparently, Neal is considered an early applicant because he has less than twelve years in the Navy, and they're only allowed to have 10% of the final group as earlies. So while that's not great news, if he makes it, that will just make it that much sweeter! Though we're both anxious to know, he's kept a very calm attitude about it, taking the "wait and see" attitude. I, on the other hand, am like a kid at Christmas! If there was a box to shake, it would be torn to pieces by now! I never have been good about waiting for things, hehe!

Mom and Dad Carcello sent us the Rosetta Stone Italian language program for Neal's birthday. We'd been wanting to try to learn the language, and we've heard that this program is the best. We just got it yesterday, so we may try it out this weekend too. We're super excited about it, as we're starting to understand, or at least distinguish, Italian words a little better. One funny thing that happened in Rome: when we were getting in line at the Colosseum, there were "tour guides" (they use that term loosely around here) that were trying to drum up business before we went in. There was one that was near us and started asking us in English if we needed a guide, and I didn't even realize she was speaking in English at first! I had been so used to being among Italian speakers, that it seemed odd to hear someone speak English anywhere off of base! It was hilarious!

We're both trying to lose some weight together, and I am finally back to working out on a daily basis. We're trying to focus on our diets, less processed and more fresh foods, and really paying attention to what we're eating. I am doing the Body for Life workout challenge, and it's been great so far! I can really feel my body getting stronger. And I've lost about 1.5 inches all over, which is nice given that it's only been three weeks so far! Though I still am not on good terms with the scale, I keep reminding myself that I'm building muscle, and the scale won't drop as fast that way. I'm also running, which is nice. I've finally been able to build up to the point that I can run straight through, albeit slowly, for 25 minutes. I usually get in about two miles, so I'm satisfied with that. I probably could keep going, but I'm doing so well, I don't want to overdo it. Neal is doing PT at work. There is now a requirement that he has to work out with the command, so unfortunately we don't get to work out together anymore. But he's doing really well too, and you can see the difference!

I believe that just about covers everything going on here. I will definitely try to update more often, and will do so if I think of anything that I missed. We love you all, and hope everyone is doing well! Ciao!

Not much to post on

2007-05-14T20:09:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

There's not a ton to post on, but I figured I'd say hello again since it's been a while. We're settling into life as a married couple a little more. The last month has been uneventful, with us just learning our way around our little town, working on tilling up a garden, and being home-bodies in general. It's hard to do a whole lot since Neal is working the night shift. Even on his days off, he has to have some transition time to the life of the living again. So it doesn't leave us a whole lot of time to gallavant around. But he'll be switching back to days in a few weeks, so that will change.

Neal got his scooter fixed a couple weeks ago, and we've taken a few rides together on it. It's a lot of fun, and I'm going to be taking the motorcycle safety course later this month so I can drive it too, just in case. I'm actually taking the course on Harley-Davidson's sport bike, just so I can have the motorcycle endorsement on my US license. We just both thought I might enjoy learning to ride. But we're leaving the option open for me to chicken out once I get there!

A while back, we went to a cookout at the house of one of the other security guys, Jake Moore. He and his wife are awesome, and they have adorable kids. Jake drives a Harley, and just for my best friend Ellen, we had to take a picture of me on it, thought I didn't get a ride yet. Jake said he'll take me out next time we're over. Jake is the one in the picture with the "Kiss me, I'm Irish" shirt on, and his little boy, Bryce, is at my feet.

And here's a picture of Neal, being a pain in my backside, not wanting to have his picture taken:

Neal just took his bi-annual physical readiness test (PRT) this morning, and he did really well. He was a little concerned, given that we've both just gotten back to regular working out, but he blew the bottom out of his run, and had his best time since he's started running again! As for me, running has always been a challenge, and it's no less so this time. But I'm determined to stick to it. I've started a program called "Couch to 5K" which helps non-runners to be able to run a 5K in about 10 weeks. I'm hoping to be done by mid-July. The beach that's close to us is about that long, so I'm going to test myself out and see if I can run it around then.

The weather has finally gotten to be consistently hot, and though we've not made it to the beach yet (other than a walk back in March), we're planning on it soon. Neal keeps getting called into work on his days off, so it's been hard to schedule, but I may just have to make that first trip by myself. We're definitely both getting the itch for some serious sand between the toes!

We're going to try and go back to Rome later this month. We want to make a trip specifically to see the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel. And since we didn't get to go inside the Colosseum last time, we'd like to do that too. We're trying to keep our enthusiasm at a reasonable level so we don't kill ourselves trying to do everything, so we're taking chunks of Rome at a time. At some point this summer, the Fleet and Family Services office (schedules trips and helps families adjust to the area) is planning a wine-tasting trip to a town nearby. It's an all-day trip, and will include antipasti and local honey-tasting (Neal's favorite part, after the wine). We can't wait to see when it's scheduled so we can know if Neal's going to be able to go.

Neal is waiting on results from the Chiefs' panel. The exam he took in January was part of the process in moving to E7, and he did really well on it, especially considering it was the first time he took it (usually takes people multiple times just to pass). He not only passed, but he scored high enough to "go to board." What that means is that he submits evaluations, scores, etc. to a board who then decides who gets promoted to Chief, depending on how many are needed. That board meets in June, so he should know whether he got promoted by the first of July (that would be a nice birthday present for him). If he makes it, he has to attend a multi-week class on how to be a chief, then will be official sometime around August-September timeframe.

Neal is finishing up his bachelors' degree in history. He's figured out that he's just about 36 credits shy, so he should definitely be finished by the time we leave Italy. He's just started his first history class this week, but I'm sure he'll have tons of fun with it. He had to take an orientation class before this one, and he was really good about doing the readings and assignments at work and turning them in early and such, so he should be good. I've also decided to go back to school. Everybody says it's a hard transition once you graduate, and it really is. But I'd always had a master's degree in the back of my mind, I just didn't think it would be this soon. I had originally thought about nutrition, but that would essentially mean earning another bachelor's because of so many classes. So I opted for an MBA. Neal and I figured this made the most sense anyway, since we want to open a restaurant. And we thought it was a better idea for me to do it now, while I have the time and before we start having kids.

Other than that, we're not up to a whole lot. Night shift is horribly boring for Neal, but he's getting regular workouts in since it's so quiet. I usually just hang out at the house after he goes to work, and it's no fun going to bed alone again. I remember my Aunt Rhonda saying that she and Sean used to "pass like two ships in the night" when he was on night shift, and I can really relate to that now. But I get a lot of time to cook now and plan meals, situate the house the way I like it, etc. so it's not too

I'll post some more recent pictures of the now lived-in house in a few days. We still have a couple of boxes here and there that I want to clear out, then I'll take some more. Until then, we hope that everyone is doing well! We love you all, and love hearing from everyone!

Lots to catch up on!

2007-04-20T08:48:00.000+02:00

Sorry it's been a while since I last updated the blog. With moving into the house, it's been a little busy, and I've not had instant access to the base since we now live about 25 minutes away. However, our computer is now up, so I should (emphasis on "should") be updating more frequently now. I've got tons of pictures to post, so this should be a good one. I went to Rome for Easter Mass, and we've got pictures from our trip to Pompeii.

Easter Mass:

This is what Saint Peter's Square looked like just before mass. Look at our picture below from last time we went to visit, and you'll see the difference. It was a serious throng of people - I'd guestimate about 30K.

This was how we saw the pope during mass. He was so far away that we couldn't even tell which guy he was except for his bright robe. Here, he was blessing the sacraments before communion.

This was after mass, when he made his speech. It would've been great at this point to understand Latin, but it was still pretty cool. Our translator was attempting to tell us everything he was saying, but glossed over the part he said about the injustice of the war in Iraq. I dunno, maybe she figured a bunch of Navy personnel and spouses really didn't want to hear that part. Either way, I miss Pope John Paul.

This picture was just for the viewpoint. Look at how teenie that camera-man is compared to the massive statues!

A lot of people carried flags of where they were from. We saw some from just about every country you could imagine. We even saw someone from Texas!

This is my girlfriend Mikelauren. She and her husband, Steve (right beside her), came to Gaeta at about the same time as us. They're awesome. Funny thing is, he's a Florida fan and she graduated from Georgia! Mikelauren says, "Love is blind, right?" But it's okay, we still love them (at least they're SEC)!

Easter Mass was fun. Mikelauren and I had a bit of an adventure before it started. We got there an hour before-hand and found our seats. Well, she and I decided that we were going to be smart and go to the bathroom before it started, so we wouldn't be in agony by the time it was over. Well, we waited in line for about 45 minutes, when the Italian carabinieri (Italy's military, they also act as security/police here - it's weird) shut down the bathrooms. Seriously, they were closed for the thirty thousand people there until mass was over (I shudder to think of the massive rush that must've gone that way afterward). So fifteen minutes before mass, we're left to fend for ourselves. Well, we managed to get to a caffe just outside of the Vatican and rush back about five minutes before mass, only to find ourselves blocked off from our seats and crushed in a throng of people up against a barricade. 45 minutes (and several elbows to the side, stepped-on feet, and rude Italians) later, they finally let us two girls through. We had told them we were part of a group, and that we already had seats (they kept telling us that there were no seats left), but they wouldn't let us in until our tourguide said she'd call security in Gaeta and have them tell her what to do about it. Miraculously, at this point, they said that it was okay. So after that, we were able to get back to our seats. We definitely didn't enjoy that 45 minutes, but it was an adventure, and we kept telling ourselves that we'd have a great story to tell about Easter Mass in Rome.

After mass, we went to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant (most of them are), and had lunch. It was amazing!!! We had an entire four-course lunch, Italian-style! They had our antipasti waiting on us when we arrived, as well as water (they like "fizzy" water here in Italy, so you have to ask for "naturale," or spring water) and red wine. The antipasti was a couple pieces of salami (one was very spicy, but thank God I could tell that before-hand), pickled vegetables, a couple pieces of mozzarella, olives, and bread. I wasn't too excited about the pickled veggies, but the rest was very good! Then they brought out beef-stuffed canelloni and a small piece of lasagna. They were awesome! Our third course was a small piece of pork loin, and a couple pieces of lamb (not sure what cut, they were so tender they fell apart on your plate), along with rosemary potatoes, a favorite here. I cleaned that plate no problem! Last, we had a fruit cup that had various fruit soaked in white wine and topped with a small scoop of ice cream. The whole meal was amazing, and surprisingly, I wasn't stuffed afterward. The good thing here is that restaurants will give you all day to eat if you need it. You have to actually ask for each course and the check, as they leave you alone to leisurely enjoy your food. Lunch took about 2.5 hours, and it was a lot of fun. the group that went was a great group and we had fun just chatting and getting to know each other. Unfortunately, Neal had to work on Easter, but we are going to have to do this again next year so he can go too.

Pompeii:

We went to Pompeii last Saturday, and it was fun! Unfortunately, it started sprinkling as soon as we got there, but most of it stayed back until about the last hour we were there. Pompeii is much bigger than one would imagine, with an estimated 20 thousand people living there at the time that Mount Vesuvius erupted. Though we had about four hours there, we have decided to go back, because you could spend days walking around and seeing the different sites. Unfortunately, not all of the homes are open that once were. Due to the effects of tons of people walking through each day, some of the homes have had some serious damage, and have been closed off to the public. However, it was definitely worth going just to see the town itself and how it was laid out, and of course to see some of the frescoes and art.

This was the right side of the entrance to Pompeii. At one point, it was a fortified city, so this was it's front wall. (Later it was conquered by the Romans, and this wall became a border of the city only.)

This is the left side of the city. From what the tour said, Pompeii was once a coastal town, and the four posts on the lower left side of the picture would've been at the water side.

This is the basilica. During this time, a basilica was where civil business was taken care of (not a church). Christians apparently adopted the name later when they designed their churches in this similar pillared style. It would've once had pillars all around the rectangular area, with some of it covered.

This is from the "House of the Faun," given that name because of this statue of a dancing faun. Unfortunately, our camera was running out of battery at that point, so we didn't get many other pictures of this massive home.

This mosaic was also from the same home. This is a reproduction of the tiles that were found underneath. Very detailed, and amazing to see in person!

This was an open forum area, where youth were able to play sports. One of the Caesars (can't remember which, sorry) also began holding youth Olympics here, training them for battle later in life.

This house was one of the largest in Pompeii. As best you can tell, it looks like a governor or similar person must have lived here. If you turn the corner to your right (there at the sawhorse), there is a depiction of Venus in a frescoe on the wall. It was beautiful, but for the sake of any young ones who see this, we're going to leave that (nude) picture out.

This was some of the original marble that would've served as a counter in a shop. It covered the top of the counter, except where there were three holes, where we assumed the shop-keeper kept his wares. From the picture, you can tell it is gorgeous, but even the picture can't do it justice. It is amazing how beautiful it has remained.

This was one of the large homes. Unfortunately, as you can tell, we couldn't go in because the roof was being held up with scaffolding. But as you can tell from the flooring, there were some amazing mosaics and artwork that Pompeiians lived among.

This was one of the shops. There were many like it, and we assumed that the shop-keeper lived here too (there's a small doorway to a back room in most of them, as you can see here on the left). The counter is the same here as the marble one above, only without the marble left.

This was a home in Pompeii. You can see the doors that replaced the ones lost in the eruption. This was one of the most lived-in looking homes in the whole city. You sort of expect someone to walk out of one of the doors at any minute.

This was the smaller theatre, mostly used for plays and musical performances where the crowd would need to be close-by. The marble tiled flooring is still there, amazingly preserved given how many visit Pompeii each year.

This was another forum for sports. It was the original place where the gladiators fought, before the main colosseum was built. The porticoed area covered shops (think concession stands), and further behind that was the area that the gladiators prepared in.

This was the larger theatre. This served for larger crowds, and had boxed seating for politicians and those of higher status (they even had sky boxes in Roman times!). It is grown over now, but the seating area used to be all stone.

This was a frescoe in one of the homes. We were never able to figure out what home it was, or what the picture was of, but it was beautiful, and the largest one we found on one wall.

This was inside one of the homes. The square in the ground would've been a fountain in the foyer area. Often, several generations of the same family would live in one residence, and this would've been a common area. There were also usually skylights above the fountain, but the rest was covered. However, roofing is left on very few homes in Pompeii.

Another home. This one didn't fare so well, but you can still see the fountain area, as well as the walls to the different rooms.

This was the backside of the city. Obviously, it is relatively well-manicured now, but we just thought it was beautiful on the rolling hill there. Pompeii was built on lava beds, which were very uneven, but extremely fertile. Some of the architecture here is studied for the unusual ways they made up for the geography, compared to the typical building styles of the day.

One of the famous Pompeii bodies. There are several of these on-site, but these are the only two displayed where you can look up-close and really study them. The others are kept in the main town square area, in a locked-up shop with other archeological finds.

We hope you enjoyed the few pictures here. We took tons of them, but these are some of the best, and they give you an idea of what Pompeii is like. For those of you that are considering a visit to Italy, we would definitely suggest stopping here. It is amazing to be here in an area that was originally developed about eight thousand years ago!

Corrections

2007-03-24T15:58:00.000+01:00

The Arch below is actually Constantine's Arch, my fingers were going faster than my brain.
Also, Piazza di Spagna is the correct Italian spelling for the Spanish Square.
Sorry!

Rome Pictures

2007-03-23T12:47:00.000+01:00

This is the Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish Square, most people call it the Spanish steps). I'm not exactly sure what that is at the top. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we only had a day there, we didn't look into a whole lot, but mostly hit the highlights.

Obviously, me on the Spanish steps.

This is the Rome McDonald's, supposedly the most unique, right there in the square.

This is the inside. Don't mind the horrid look on my face, someone didn't tell me he was putting me in the picture.

Saint Peter's Basilica. I took this one of the statues on top. I think they're close to lifesize, but I know they're huge!.

The statues close-up.

Saint Peter's Square - Vatican City

We saw this couple taking their wedding pictures at one of the fountains - no telling that they're native Italians (heavy sarcasm).

We found the Pope-mobile!!!

The Rodeo drive of Rome, where all of the designer shops are....

This is on one side....

This is on the other! (Story about this store to come later.)

If you have to ask....

The Trevi Fountain. We hit it at dusk, so the lighting wasn't great, but it was beautiful!

This is the view you get right out of the subway station. Smack! Right there in your face!

This is looking up at the Colosseum from the bottom. I'm not kidding, the thing is huge!

This is Constantine's Arch. It's right beside the Colloseum, and is amazing in itself! You gotta love the night pictures that Neal took, the lighting is so cool!

This is how they serve wine in Italy - decanted. We had dinner at this little cafe that was literally right across the street from the Colosseum! It was wonderful!

This is the cafe. This picture was taken right in front of the Colosseum, that's how close it is.

More about Kristen

2007-03-21T17:58:00.000+01:00

For those of you interested, there is a lady that writes for a New Orleans newspaper (where Kristen is from) that wrote about her. The link to the article is listed below. It is the best way of describing Kris that anyone could've come close to attempting.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/columnists/patientperson/6526292.html?index=1&c=y

Pictures

2007-03-21T17:18:00.000+01:00

This is our new house, on the day we went to see it. The floor you enter on is the main floor, and it also has a daylight basement, as well as a lofted second story guest suite.

This is the basement area. There's a fireplace to the right of me in the picture. That's the dining area. In the forefront is the living area. What we are looking at, on the left, is the kitchen. Past the kitchen, further back on the left, is an office area. The door right in front of me leads to the downstairs bathroom, with stall shower, bath tub, and utility area.

This is my new play-place!!! Believe it or not, this is a huge kitchen for Italians. There is usually only a counter about the size/length of the one that the sink is in. And all that pantry space is usually not even there.

This is the view from the lofted guest suite. The house right across the street is still under construction, but we still have a pretty awesome view of the ocean from here. Neal and I considered taking this as our suite, but it would be an awkward area for us, and unfortunately, there is only a half bathroom up here. But it will make an awesome guest suite!

This is the view from the back of the house, looking to the right. Those mountains are actually way off in the distance. There are more to the left that are huge and you look right up into. You can see them a little bit in the next picture.

This is Janie's new garden area! Actually, the landlords told us we could do whatever we want to any of the landscaping, so this will be my other new playground. Nobody puts plants out here until mid- to late-April anyway, so I'll still be in good shape to put out some tomatoes and herbs, as well as lots and lots of flowers!

I'll post more pictures in the next couple of days. I have tons that we took in Rome, as well as some around Gaeta. Please be patient, I promise I will get most all of them up eventually.

A few pictures

2007-03-21T17:05:00.000+01:00

I haven't been online very much lately, and thus unable to update as much as I'd like. The past two weeks have been busy busy, but we've gotten alot accomplished. Neal has bought a scooter (motorino, as they're known here in Italy) from someone going back to the US, and has been taking a motorcycle safety class to be able to drive it. We've found a house - YEAH!!! We're moving in on the 30th of this month. Neal says it is my birthday present. Boy he's getting out easy this year: a flight to Italy on Valentine's Day and our new house on my birthday. But it's okay. It will be nice to be able to stretch out some and enjoy it. This will not only be our first real home together, but also our first house. We're both really excited! I'm sure we're going to have to keep ourselves in check, as I've already got tons of garden ideas, and Neal's already talking about cutting grass, having dinner parties (the house has a massive outdoor patio for entertaining), and the like. Our landlords, though only the wife speaks very broken Engligh, seem extremely nice and very accomodating. The house was immaculate compared to some we've seen, but they still want to paint some areas, and have a lady come in to clean it once before we move in. The housing office said they've always been great people to work with, so thank God for that! The best part of all of this means we are this much closer to being settled, with a computer that I can post pictures with, and with a webcam to talk to our families on.

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot of time today, so I'm just going to post some pictures, and I'll update more in the next few days. We love you!!!

Update on Kristen

2007-03-06T11:05:00.001+01:00

I was hoping to come in on this beautiful morning to update everyone on our trip to Rome on Saturday, but it doesn't seem quite as important now. I checked in this morning on Kristen, and I found that she passed away on Friday afternoon. Please keep her family in your prayers. God was gracious enough to allow her to be awake and aware several times during her ordeal to spend time with her family, but she will be greatly missed. Please pray for comfort and peace for them. Thankfully, this was not extremely sudden, but it would never have been easy to let such a wonderful person go.

I think of what Neal's mom told me on Saturday when she told me that she was praying for Kristen, that sometimes the physical healing that God promises doesn't necessarily mean life on this earth, but going home to Heaven in our perfect heavenly bodies. I suppose that's what God had in mind for Kristen. Her attitude was always gracious, wanting God's will above all others, and I know that He is pleased to accept her into eternal glory.

We love you and miss you all.

March 1st

2007-03-01T14:35:00.001+01:00

Happy March Day! Again, we're sorry we didn't get time to say goodbye to everyone, as it was a crazy schedule leaving sooner than what we originally were prepared for. But we will definitely keep in touch!

Well, life has been busy lately. The command has kept us busy with "Welcome to Gaeta" classes, checking in, and our first housing trip this past Tuesday. Little by little, we're learning a few words in Italian, and mostly learning how to pronounce the words we read. Our cultural relations lady said that even if we don't know what they mean, Italians will appreciate our attempts and especially if we can pronounce them correctly. We can now get around a little better, and we've learned enough hand gestures to take care of most of the rest, but it is so different being in a culture that you have no idea what is being said around you. It's very interesting, but at the end of the day can be very taxing as well.

I took my first trip with "the spouses club" today. They do little tourist trips once a month to places you can't go unless you have a large group, mostly around the Gaeta area. We went to The Golden Chapel here in Gaeta, which originally was a hospital, then a hospice, and is now a retirement home for those without family, with a chapel and a larger church attached (the Church of the Enunciation - not sure about the spelling, but it's when Mary was told she'd be carrying Christ). It was amazing! There was so much handmade woodwork, gold-leafing, and gorgeous painting everywhere! Apparently, Pope John Paul II visited there in 1989, and several others. Stephen would've loved the paintings, as they were all done in the 1600's by local students from an art school here in Gaeta. And there were depictions of Jesus birth, circumcision and dedication at the temple, the turning of the water to wine, and the loaves and fishes - amazing! The chapel is rarely open, so we were definitely fortunate to get to see it. I know Neal's going to whine because he had to work today and couldn't go see it too. But they're having a special mass later this month, so we may just have to go then. I took tons of pictures, and I'll post them as soon as I can find a way to upload them.

Yesterday, I took a trip to the Gaeta open-air market. It's a weekly thing on Wednesdays. They have clothing, bags, linens, and of course fruits and veggies available for sale. It was so much fun just to roam about and browse. I didn't buy anything, but am still in my scoping things out mode until I get better acquainted with the area and prices. It's hard to get used to using the Euro and keeping the exchange rate in mind while shopping. But some stuff is about the same, electronics are much more expensive, and food seems to be much cheaper here, especially if you get it at the market. My next excursion planned is next Thursday at the Formia market (the next town over, about a 5-minute drive without traffic). I also walked down Via Independenzia (Independence Street, known as Picollo Alley) yesterday to browse in the shops. It was a good little walk, and I had so much fun! I always get a few odd looks, but Italians tend to stare since it's so easy to spot Americans and newcomers in such a small town.

We've made a couple of friends at the local pizza shop down the street from our hotel. We've gone there about 4-5 times now, and they have begun to loudly greet us as we walk in now. They're very patient and help us to pronounce the ingredients correctly. And the pizza is to die for! I've now started branching out and had a calzone too. Fairly different from the American calzones, even New York style, and so much better!!! We just went to a tavern last night with another new couple that's staying in the hotel, and it was great. It was really the first time I've had beef since we got here. It was weird to realize that, especially given how much of a carnivore I tend to be. We ordered a ribeye, and is was sooo good! The meat over here is cut much leaner, so there was very little fat on it, and they cooked it to perfection! It was so juicy and moist, I thought it might have been the best steak I've ever had! And here I was, worried that the beef over here might not be great quality. I think I'm going to be in gastronomic heaven while we're here, I may be spoiled when it's time to come back to the U.S.

Lastly, but so much more importantly, I'd like to ask you all for some prayer. Right after we left Knoxville, I found out that a college girlfriend of mine is in the hospital. Her name is Kristen. She's struggled with Cystic Fibrosis and Juvenile Diabetes for years. Since I've known her (about 3 years), she's had a couple of flare ups that have put her in the hospital for a day or so. However, this time, she's been in for about a month. It's been quite a roller coaster ride, and the doctors have said it's going to be a major uphill battle. She's a very small person to begin with, and being on ventilators and in bed for a month are wreaking havoc with her body. Please pray for her parents who are at her side 24/7, that they are getting the rest and peace that they need. Also, she's had a fever the whole time and they've found that it's a difficult-to-treat infection, and the doctors need wisdom and guidance with how to take care of her infection, her therapy to begin walking again (they just recently put a trach in so she could get out of bed here and there, among other things), and how to go from here. Shortly after I first met Kristen, when she was telling me the details of her condition, she said that God had given her a burden to pray for complete healing from both, and not just less flare-ups. Please pray for this now. She's such an amazing woman of God and continues to be an example to those around her. She's a super person and very loved.

P.S. If you'd like to keep up with her progress, you can follow the blog her parents are keeping at: www.etch.com. Once there, click on the CarePages icon, the "Visit a CarePage." You then need to register, which only takes a second and is free. Once you've registered, then type in "KristenFischer" into the blank for where you want to go, and you're into her CarePage. Just be sure you type it with no space between names and the first letter of each name in caps. You can even leave her a note there. Also, her parents have asked for as much prayer as they can get. Please feel free to share this information with your prayer list/group.

Thanks so much everyone! We love you all!

Major update: WE'RE IN ITALY!!!!

2007-02-20T15:03:00.000+01:00

So Uncle Sam decided to push things up a bit and flew us out on Valentine's Day (Neal's going to have a hard time beating that for next year, lol). After a jam-packed 30 days packing up the apartment, visiting Janie's family in Florida, and spending time with our parents, we flew out from Memphis on Feb 9th to San Diego only to find that we were going straight to Italy. So it was back to the East Coast to Norfolk on the 13th, then to Naples on the 14th. We arrived in Naples 6am local timeon Feb 15th.

Gaeta is awesome! We're loving the food, the views, and the people. The language barrier is a bit frustrating, but luckily it's fairly easy to get around and everyone is super sweet. We've even had a few people that asked us how to say something in English after we asked in Italian. S

So we've been here about five full days and couldn't be happier. Neal is checking into the command (a three-week process), and we start house-hunting on the 27th. We're going to Rome on Thursday (22nd), and we'll start branching out once we get settled. Unfortunately, we won't be able to do a whole lot of updates, and won't be able to post any pictures until we get settled into a house and get our computer up and running. Until then, we'll be updating from a computer on base. But as soon as is humanly possible, we'll have lots and lots of pictures up for everyone to see.

We love you all and miss you! If you're thinking about a visit, let us know!!!

Our Christmas

2006-12-29T00:35:00.000+01:00

Well, now that Christmas is over, the secret is out. Mom and Dad Carcello gave me (Janie) a plane ticket to go see Neal for Christmas. It was a surprise, and he wasn't expecting it in the least. The poor thing thought I was staying with my parents for Christmas, but I had taken a flight out and arrived on base around 4am local time. He was supposed to be working on the gate that night, and I was trying to figure out how to sneak onto base and into his barracks room without him knowing. But he ended up getting the night off, and that solved my problem.

Once the guards on gate knew who I was and that I was surprising Neal, they got one of the security cars to escort me to the barracks, after calling to verify which room he was in. Loving the chance to get one up on one of their own, the guards decided to hide me around the corner and make up a story about Neal needing to come in to work (at 4:30am). But he didn’t buy it, and one of the guards couldn’t keep a straight face anyway. When he asked what was up, I walked around the corner and he was speechless. He just had a completely blank look on his face as if he was trying to figure out if he was still dreaming. Later he told me that he was thinking, “I’m awake, but I have to be dreaming. I’m still in Washington, and my wife is standing right in front of me.” I hugged him, and the guards told him “Merry Christmas!”

The visit was a ton of fun. I managed to schedule it around his work schedule, so he had a few days off. I got there early Sunday morning, and just got home this morning. I had rented a car, so we were able to go to a movie, had dinner out, went to a casino, and even went to Vancouver, Canada for a day trip. I’m posting pictures that we took while there. The scenery in the area is amazing, and makes our mountains here in east Tennessee look like speed bumps! But I won’t deny it was COLD! Luckily, it stayed in the low 40’s while I was there, and the wind wasn’t too bad. But even still, I know I couldn’t handle living there. On Christmas Day, the sun came up at 8am and went down at 4:30! Only 8.5 hours of daylight! But I can see why people love the area, given the scenery.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

(Mountain view of the seaplane side of base)

(Janie at the Deception Pass Bridge)

(Neal at the Deception Pass Bridge)

(The Peace Arch at the Canada border)

(Leaving the country!)

(Mountain view on the Canada side)

(Vancouver Harbor)

(Vancouver mountain view)

(Garden in Chinatown in Vancouver)

(My man in his security uniform)

(and another)

A month later

2006-12-06T21:17:00.000+01:00

Well, I suppose since it's been a month, maybe we should make sure we actually have something on here.

Neal is back at Whidbey Island, living in the barracks on base and finishing out his last few weeks stationed there. The weather is not so pleasant, and he even had to deal with some of that evil white stuff, but he's doing well overall, and staying healthy, which is most important.

Janie is finished with classes now, and all that's left is finals. Several more papers/projects, but it's mostly smooth sailing from here. Today is my first day of no classes, and I'm enjoying it immensely!

Neal will be coming back to Knoxville to visit for graduation next weekend (8 and a wake-up!), as well as Mom and Dad Phillips. We're both really excited to get some family time in with both sets of parents and the siblings, and actually be able to talk and be a family.

As for now, that's pretty much it. There are a ton more dates and plans and all that, but we'll update slowly, as things progress. We hope everyone is having a great week, and we love you all!

First post!!!

2006-11-06T16:57:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! Neal and I will hopefully be keeping up with this blog, and will start posting more as soon as we can. We figured this would be an easy way for everyone to keep up with us as we travel around various places and finally settle in at NSAND Gaeta in Italy this coming March!

Please let us know if you have any trouble viewing our page, pictures, blog, etc. We want to try this out now so that we have all the kinks worked out by the time we leave the States!

We love you all!