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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

It's been a while!

Hello to all!


It's been so long since I've posted on here last. I just wanted to give everyone an update as to how the family's doing so far etc.

So far we've been living here in Fort Rucker, Alabama for about a month now and we love it! It's beautiful and we feel very blessed. Our little girl will be here in mid February! that's just around the corner! I've been busy trying to prepare her bedroom and get everything ready for her arrival.. I've registered at Babies R Us and at Target.com for the baby shower. My mom's putting it together with the help of Danille and Mary so please send me your address just to be sure we don't forget to send you an invitation! We're going to be doing the same thing that we did for Matt, which is a "baby shower by mail" I'm SO EXCITED!


Christmas was great. It was Steven, Matthew and I's first Christmas as just the 3 of us.. I cooked dinner and we opened presents and just spent the day as a family, and even though i missed every one back home I have to say that i truly enjoyed myself this year.


Steven's Birthday was on the 30th of Dec. and so we decided to go out to dinner and celebrate. Then we came home and watched a great movie called Traitor. You should see it.


That brings me to today! Which is NEW YEARS EVE!!! Steven's going to BBQ some baby back ribs and we're just going to kick back at home and watch movies and eat and enjoy ourselves. I'm going to make Steven a Cheesecake for his birthday, hopefully it's a good one! =) I'll be sure to post some pictures on here soon! But in the meantime, here's some pictures from Christmas and of our house etc.

Love all of you!
Happy New Year!




Just some pictures of the front of our house.

Matthew and Steven playing.

Our family Christmas photo

Matt looking all cute Christmas morning!

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

It's A Girl!

Photobucket
It's a Little Baby Girl! We are so happy and excited! She is Due February 15, 2009.. who knows? maybe we'll be lucky enough to have her on Valentines Day?! that would be a great valentines gift! We're still not certain on any names but we have a few in mind. Keep in touch, I'll be updating soon!
love you all,
The Bittle Family.

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Baby's Kickin!


I felt our sweet little baby kick for the first time on the 20th of this month, September! before that i would feel little flutters.. but now, it's undeniable! this baby is kickin my butt! haha. We have an Ultrasound Appointment on October 3rd!!! I'm so excited! we get to find out whether or not our newest Little Bittle is a boy or a girl! YAY!!!!

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Monday, August 25, 2008

For those of you who don't know already;

Steven and I will not be moving to Japan now. For some reason they denied Matthew and not me. I'm a little confused as to why they made their decision, but my best guess is because he's so young that maybe they thought the long distance and travel time would be too hard on him. Anyway, we figure everything happens for a reason! and now we're looking into moving to Fort Irwin, CA. With the new baby on the way this makes me very happy! I'm glad that we will be close to family and friends. We're still waiting to find out wether or not we will get Fort Irwin, but we should find out within the next week what's going to happen. If not Fort Irwin, then I'm sure we'll be presented with different options that will be open to us and I'll inform you of what those are if that's what the case is.

Keep your fingers crossed that we'll beable to move back to California! It's not that long of a drive home for us either from there!

love you all.
xo

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Monday, August 4, 2008

Just For Fun!

BOY OR GIRL????
So... I've been surfing around on the web looking up baby things and what not.. I happend to come across this chinese "baby gender predictor" http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/PredictSex.htm
mine just so happens to say i'm having a little girl! so i'm thinking "hmmmm, i wonder what other old wives tales would say the same?" Needless to say ive found some pretty interesting little "tales" and silly things you can do to "predict" what the sex of your baby might be.
Here are a few of the neat ones that i've found:

buy some drano crystals, pee into a cup, then poor the pee over the crystals.. If the crystals turn a blue green, then it's a boy, if they turn a brown green, then it's a girl.

if the baby's heart beat sounds like a horse galloping then it's a boy, if it sounds like a washing machine then it's a girl.

and the last interesting little thing i found was to take a strand of your hair and loop it through your wedding ring, hold it over your belly button... if it swing back and forth then it's a boy, if it swings around in circles then it's a girl!

Pretty interesting stuff!!!

lol. if anyone else has any interesting little stories or old wives tales about telling your babies gender, you should share them with me! i find them quite interesting!

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Monday, July 7, 2008

pregnant!


yes, it's me! We're due February 16,2009. I'm currently 8 Weeks pregnant! We're hoping for a girl, but of course will be just as happy if we have a boy! Be sure to visit every once in a while as i will be posting updates on here not only about Japan, but now our new Little Bittle as well!

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Once again, Travel Plans have been Delayed.....

hola everyone! Just an update:

In the last blog i posted i explained that there were MANY, MANY things to get done by July 10th. Well, we got all of 2 things completed on that list. The EFMP (exceptional family member program.. I'm not sure if i explained it befor, but that covers such things as certain doctors we might need and if they do or do not have those doctors in Okinawa for us. For example my thyroid problem, or the correct equip. to keep an eye on Matthew's heart murmur.) I'm pretty certain that they will indeed have everything that is needed, But they like to make sure. Lastly we still need to clear housing. Once the EFMP information comes back to us, we'll beable to make flight arrangements, and once we make the flight arrangements, we should beable to clear housing with no problems. Our Next deadline for Okinawa, Japan is August 10th. I assure all of you that this time WE WILL make it! :)

Thank you for supporting us! We Love You!

And thanks to all who have and will make it out here to say goodbye.

There's a small chance that we might beable to make it out to California one last time befor we leave for Japan. So keep your fingers crossed!!!!

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

newest update : Okinawa!

So Steven got his clearing papers today and we've been busy, busy running around and getting everything done in order to leave Fort Carson, FINALLY! we got all of the easy things on the checklist done today, the ones that are going to be the toughest on us is clearing housing and Steven's CIF gear. (he has to wash and polish etc etc. ALL OF HIS ARMY GEAR! ahhh!) that will be time consuming. We have a deadline to meet of June 26th, so we're in somewhat of a hurry.. But we're confident that we'll get everything done in time.

There's a possibility that Matthew and I may have to travel to Okinawa a few weeks after Steven does due to the fact that our passports may not be in on time to make it there for Steven's deadline. That's going to be hard, but i believe that god doesn't give you anything you can't handle, or atleast learn from! every experience will make us stronger as a couple, as well as individually.

So for now, everything seems to be going as smoothly as it can for now. We're both excited, scared, and second guessing ourselves now that the date is getting closer.. wishing that we had picked a duty station closer to california and our friends and family.. But it's going to be the experience of a lifetime and something we would never beable to do otherwise! so because of those reasons we are eager to see what our lives will be like in Japan.


I love you all!
Stay tuned for more news!

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Old Hospital Complex.

So I've been doing some more research on the "haunted hospital" here at fort Carson. I'll copy and paste what I've found so far along with the links to the actual site. I've also taken some pictures that you may or may not find interesting... I'll go ahead and post these on here too.


"The Old Hospital Complex (5EP 1778) at Fort Carson, Colorado, consists of 59 buildings. The Complex was built during World War II and is significant due to its association with the history of the United States. The complex is semi-permanent construction, constructed from the Department of the Army's Series 800 plans. This report documents the complex in accordance with Section 1(g) of the Memorandum of Agreement enacted among the Department of the Army, Headquarters Fort Carson, the Colorado State Historic Preservation Office, and the
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation."



Just some history for you about Fort Carson around the time the hospital was built

Fort Carson was established in 1942, following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The city of Colorado Springs, Colorado purchased land south of the city and donated it to the War Department. Construction began immediately and the first building, the camp headquarters, was completed January 31, 1942. Camp Carson was named in honor of the legendary Army scout, Gen. Christopher "Kit" Carson, who explored much of the West in the 1800s.

"The hospital was of the semi-permanent type concrete block and had space for 1,726 beds with an expansion capability of 2,000 beds."
One of the most interesting sites I found about the hospital.
"To provide immediate medical care for Camp Carson's soldiers, a Station Hospital was opened in August 1942. With a 2,000 bed capacity and 11 square miles of floor space, the Carson Hospital Center was the largest in the country during WW 11. During their existence, the combined general and convalescent hospitals cared for more than 30.000 patients. The staff consisted of three Women's Army Corps (WAC) hospital companies, about 2,000 civilians. and hundreds of doctors, nurses and medical corpsmen. In the fall of 1945, a temporary separation center was established at the hospital. About 9,000 soldiers from installations in a four-state area were processed for discharge from the Army through this separation center.
In addition to being a general and convalescent hospital. Carson Hospital Center was a major training center. The Army Nurse Training Center, activated on October 23. 1943, trained more than 3.000 civilian nurses in Army nursing techniques in less than two years. A large number of field. evacuation and general hospitals. and medical ship platoons were activated.trained and shipped to ports of embarkation by Camp Carson. When the war ended. the Camp Carson Hospital Center was inactivated. In its place, the 400 bed Station Hospital continued treatment of patients scheduled to be released before May 31. 1946. With the outbreak of the Korean War, the hospital was expanded to 1 ,500 beds. In addition to a greatly increased patient load. in July 1951 it was asked to assist the Camp Carson Separation Center. In a little more than two years. hospital personnel were responsible for complete physical examinations of more than 100,000 soldiers. "


Graduates of the Camp Carson Army Nurse Training Center pass in review

Volunteer Red Cross workers were a mainstay of the Camp Carson Station Hospital.


Link:http://www.carson.army.mil/pao/History%20Book/History%20Book.htm



So now that we know a little bit of history, We understand that this hospital was once occupied by many WWII Soldiers, among many other people.. Children, mothers, wives, etc.


*Here's another story about the hospital/mental clinic on Fort Carson*

"Fort Carson - The old Fort Carson Hospital/Mental Clinic - The old Fort Carson Hospital and other surrounding building were built around 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the forties there were a lot of German and Italian POW's located on Fort Carson. There is also an intricate system of tunnels linking the hospital's buildings together, One of the post's Military Police investigated an open door one night and deep into one of the tunnels he found an old setup of children's toys, a small chair, a small kids table and a few other things. There were also witnessed by three military policeman words painted inside an area under the building with no visible way to get inside and paint them there. They weren't painted over because the surface wasn't painted, and they weren't sandblasted off either. On some nights especially when the weather gets colder, many strange noises are heard there. Movement is heard through the building like furniture being shoved around, repetitive banging noises, and sometimes faces are seen peering through the barred windows. An elder American Indian Woman says the site was directly on the old trail of tears. She said that there is a large low-lying field where no building will stand; several attempts at building there have been unsuccessful.

Link:http://release-me.net/colorado.php


If your wondering what the "trail of tears" is, here you go..
"In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died."

This picture, The Trail of Tears, was painted by Robert Lindneux in 1942. It commemorates the suffering of the Cherokee people under forced removal. If any depictions of the "Trail of Tears" were created at the time of the march, they have not survived.
Image Credit: The Granger Collection, New York


Link:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html

So Steven and I drove by the hospital yesterday morning and decided to walk around and take some pictures. It's not as scary during the day, and it was actually really interesting.


Here some of them are:




Here's a side-view picture of one of the entrances to the hospital.

Here's a view of it from the front.

a look at the inside of one of the hallways

this tree is in-between two buildings.. i imagine this is sort of like a corridor.

down one of the hallways on the other side of the building


a close up of the doors.

a big empty room. Possibly a waiting room.

















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Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Fort Carson - Haunted Hospital

Photobucket A while back Steven brought up this old hospital here on post that is infamous for being haunted. Steven works night shifts pretty often (10:00 PM - 6:00 AM) and one night during a night shift he had, a friend told him about this haunted hospital. So they drove there to check it out. It has what everyone calls a "blood room" Steven describes it as a room that looks as if someone was slaughtered inside.. there's even drag marks on the floor. He says that once your in there, all you can think about is wanting to leave. He and his friend stood there inside the hospital with there flashlights off for a few seconds, and a heard noises coming from upstairs. Steven said that he heard something that sounded like a cart being wheeled around, and then it crashing into a wall, also he says he heard what sounded like someone moaning. His friend heard the same things!

So anyway, after hearing about this so called "haunted" hospital, I wanted to check it out for myself. I haven't found the courage in myself to go inside yet, but he's driven me by there and I've gotten out of the car and looked around. The building itself just has a creepy feeling to it. At night when we can't get Matt to go to sleep sometimes we'll drive around to calm him down.. Almost every time we do that we drive by this place. Recently we've started taking pictures of the building and the windows in hopes to capture some kind of proof of our own that this place really is 'haunted'. Steven brought a picture home that one of his co-workers had taken of the side of the building, and in one of the windows you can clearly make out a woman in a gown holding a baby in each arm.

I'll be updating this blog post as i continue to do more research on this place. So if your interested, stay tuned.. I'll be posting pictures and facts as i come across them.

below i'll list some links that have info. on them about the hospital.

http://theshadowlands.net/places/colorado.htm
(scroll down and you should see it, look for fort carson.)

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Saturday, May 31, 2008

2 years Married!




May 26, 2008 was Steven and I's Anniversary! we've now been married for 2 years. Soooooo...... I thought i might share a little 'shortish' version of how we met =)






It all started at a school called Belshaw Elementry in our hometown, Antioch. We met in kindergarten and have known eachother ever since. It wasn't until Freshman year in High School though that we started becoming really good friends. I was new to the school, recently transfered from Deer Valley High (which was the other high school in our town) and really hadn't made very many friends yet. Steven came up to me one day at the beginning of lunch and asked me if i wanted to go for lunch with him and his friends. So i went with them that day, and pretty much continued to do so until finally Steven and I started liking eachother.. Eventually we became a couple. We were together for 4 years when we decided to get married.. and now were working on year 7, Have a one year old son, and soon to be moving to Japan!!! We couldn't be happier!








Our Anniversary was on Memorial Day, monday. And thankfully that's a day that Steven got off! so we were able to spend the day together. Here are some pictures!!!



cheese!






happy anniversary baby.









celebratory drinks.. =)



cheers to us!




the view from our backyard. It was so beautiful.

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Bath Time with Matthew!!!


This little guy LOVES to take baths... These are some pictures i took of him that i thought i would share with you! He's SO HAPPY!
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I think We're Turning Japanese!

Image and video hosting by TinyPicSo We were supposed to be in Okinawa, Japan by the 18th of May, That has now been changed to July 10, 2008! So now we have much more time to get everything done and it's not as stressful. I'm very excited and I can't wait to Sit on the beach, build sand castles with Matthew, and spend some quality family time together just the three of us!

I'll keep everyone updated on the info. - such as flight plans and departure dates. Also i'll be posting lots of pictures on here!!! SO STAY TUNED!

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