Chad's graduation, the St. Louis trip, and Welcome home party

It has been quite a week for us! Sariah flew on her first plane. She was so good~ she slept the whole time. At first, I was afraid we weren't going to be able to make it to Chad's graduation because the lady at the front desk didn't want to accept the doctors note for Sariah. Luckily though, she sent us to her supervisor, who saw that doctors note, and whisked us away to our airplane. We rented a car in St. Louis, and then we drove two hours to Ft. Leonard Wood. On Wednesday, we attended Family Day and watched a movie of all of the new MP's and the different training they have gone through in the last 20 weeks. Chad got his first glance at Sariah on Wednesday morning, and after the Family Day event was over, he was allowed to come off post and spend the day with us. He is such a proud Daddy!



We spent the rest of the day relaxing and letting Chad and Sariah get to know one another. She took to him right away, and he handled her like she was going to break, it was so cute! Mom and Dad Nunes got into town later that night, and we went out to dinner at Cracker Barrel. Chad had to return to the base for one last night of Army duties, and we watched as he mingled with the other MP's and lined up in formation.


Thursday morning was graduation. They played another movie of MP activities and then they released all the service members to their families. We picked up Chad's packet of orders and then went off to file paperwork for Sariah while Mom and Dad went to the MP museum there on base. Chad finally officially changed my name so that the insurance company would quit hating me, and added Sariah to our list of dependents. We fixed our passport papers to have the new date and duty station (It's no longer Mannheim, but not Geissen). We went out to lunch with Mom and Dad, and then we went back to the hotel for some much needed NAP Time!

Friday morning we left Ft. Leonard Wood and drove to St. Louis. We decided to do some sight seeing to kill time until our flight home that night, and ended up at the St. Louis arch. We walked through the park and then we went underground to the museum. We rode the tram (which should not be allowed to fit five people per box!) to the top, and took wonderful pictures of Illinois and St. Louis. We then went back down in the tram (down was ten times worse than up) and headed back to the airport to bring Chaddy home.


Saturday rolled around and we went to Uncle Lenny's house to celebrate. Chad's friends and family all came out to eat good food and catch up on the last five months. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family! The food was so good I'm positive no one left hungry.


We took Sariah to church for the first time on Sunday. She looks so pretty in her dress. She's quite the people pleaser, always look so dang cute and happy (or sleepy) whenever anyone else but her mom and dad are around. But we know the truth, all that cuteness hides a little girl with a temper! But thats why we love her so much! that and she tends to giggle in her sleep!

Chad will be working for our local recruiters office for the next two weeks, and then he's got a week off to play with me and Sariah. He's off to Germany before we are to set up our housing and make sure that things are set. Once Sariah's paperwork makes it through the system, we'll head off and start our life over there. Hopefully Chad will get to stay on post long enough where when the call him away, We'll let him go (temporarily), lets just pray they wait that long!

Sariah is here

Sariah Pomaika'i Ahonui Nunes: 6lbs 11oz, 19 inches long, 2:58AM, August 13th, 2009









Sariah is here. She came early Thursday morning after 18 hours of labor. She doesn't look a thing like me, but is definately a clone of her father. Silly man, claims he cant see the resemblence (insert eye roll and a pahlease!) She is definately a Nunes, has the Nunes lungs on her too. She's long and skinny. The clothes that I have labeled as "New Born" are too big, making it look like she is wearing a dress.

I'm wondering when this mom thing that is supposed to be part instictual is going to kick in. Luckily I'm staying with my mom and have his mom so close at hand to help me through the transition phase. Transition phase never ends past this point, does it? Auntie Machiko says that she has hoppa hair. I guess when Chad was a baby he had the same semi undistinguished light brown wavy hair. Unfortunately for Sariah, she has my hair line, which on a newborn looks kinda funky.

I learned today, well, as I type really, that i can multi-task. See, she's eating right now, and I'm still typing. But if i don't watch her, she gets mad and unlatches. So I'll spell check when I'm done. We're on day three of life, and her eyes are already changing color. She's going to have pretty green eyes, Just like Chad (me too, but I'm partial to his). She absolutely amazes me. I like just sitting here watching her.


She has my feet too, but I think that she has Grandma Nunes's hands. She didn't get long fingers from either of her parents.


















I just got spit up on. Amazing. I know, babies do that, but since it's my baby who did it, I'm fascinated. Her face made the cutest expression right before it happened, which some might attribute to the full diaper now sitting in my lap, but I think it's because she saw me and decided to smile at her momma.




















Of course, she then made this "Oops... hehe" face.
























She's also found her thumb, and although it gets in the way of real food, she'll at least be able to comfort herself! She's doing so good, the doctor actually released her from the hospital before they released me, and I had an "ideal" birth. Oh, I'm so glad that he's is finally here. I'm so glad that I'm not pregnant any more. Chad is fascinated when he calls and gets to here her squeak, she doesn't ever squawk when he's on the phone. It was funny, if I ever wanted her to calm down while i was carrying her, I just had to put him on speaker phone and she would stop wiggling and listen to his voice.

Chad will graduate in two weeks. We are going out to see him and bring him home with us before the big move to Germany. I'm very excited to introduce these two who look so much alike. We are going to spend an extra day out there as a family, and will probably see the St. Louis arch. It's time for him to be home!

Basic Training

Chad finished Basic training this week, and he has ten more weeks of Military Police training and then he will be able to come home and everything will be all honkey dorey... yeah. right. so here are the pictures that he sent me today with his new fancy beret.

The Nunes Ohana

Yay!! you looked at it! Congratulations~ I'm so excited to get this started. Facebook is great, but I can only see what's happening every once in a while. Blogger gives us a chance to write our own family history. It automatically archives once a month, and so when we have things to share, this is a great place to do it. Just for starters, I'll give you an update on what is happening with Chad:

Chad is currently going through his AIT program at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. For those of you who don't speak military, AIT stands for advanced individual training, and is pretty much the Military Police school as far as Chad is concerned. He gets to carry around guns, play war games, and learn survival skills that even the boy scouts can appreciate. He claims to be loving it, which brings a peace and comfort to my world. I got to speak to him for a whole 20 minutes tonight~ thats big time, lemme tell ya, normally I only get to talk to him for about three minutes on Sundays. It's hard to tell him that I'm selling his car and that his baby is so big that i can't breathe and how much I miss him.. etc all in three minutes. He really didn't take kindly to the whole selling his car tidbit.. but I persevered, found a good buyer, and convinced him of the benefits ;) he's still not overly happy, but told me what I could and couldn't accept for it (point 1 to Amanda!). I may even get a piano out of the deal! Woohoo~ music in our home.. when we get a home.. maybe.
He has ten more weeks of training, and will graduate on August 27th. His orders right now have him going to Manheimm Germany in the begining of October, but like my dad always says, the army makes the rules and the army breaks the rules. We'll know more for sure in the middle of August (but I'm crossing my fingers for Germany!!!) He likes to get letters, so if you would like to send him one, be sure that you get the address right;

PVT-1, Nunes, Chad, I.K.
A. Co. 795th MPBN, 3rd PLT
1301 Iowa Ave, Unit #15
Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo 65473

I'm sure that he would love hearing from all of you. He also loved to show pictures to his battle buddies, so be sure to send him some to put up on the "family" wall in his barraks. Who knows, maybe you younger girls will find a penpal ;)

As for me and baby Sariah, we are doing good and getting bigger daily. The doctor has moved her due date up to August 12, so unfortunately Chad wont be able to make it to the birth. It's ok, I can handle it... But he better be there for the next one! Hehe, we'll see.. I'm pretty settled on her name: Sariah Pomaika'i Ahonui Nunes, and look forward to being able to put pictures up for all of you to enjoy. I'm so excited to be a mom!

Here are some pictures that might make you laugh~

Chad's self portrait with army issued glasses (such a sexy nerd!)

Sariah and Amanda at 28 weeks pregnant

Now, go track down your family members and lets get our families all up to date. There are 13 cousins, three Nunes siblings and their spouses, and Grandma and Grandpa, I should see at least ten additional family members/groups join asap!! Love to you all, we'll keep you posted on our comings and goings! I'd love to see Aislinn and Nolan talk about their beautiful Peyton! Everyone else should write too, but babies are my current favorite subject (other than Chaddy...).

Amanda Nunes~~