The best news!

Wow ! Has a lot happened since my last post. To say that things were crazy through the holidays and January would be a lie, it's actually been pretty calm and lazy around here :)

The holidays were absolutely glorious , spending another year just us as a family. When subtracting the idea of traveling from the equation, the holidays are extremely enjoyable ! Steven had way too many presents ( thanks to some ridiculously spoiling grandparents and parents ) and we both ended up with gifts that were on our lists for Santa as well . I made an enormous feast full of family favorites and some new recipes of my own, we had some close friends over and really just had a blast. New years was spent having a pj party , yes an adult comfy pj party, over here watching the ball drop. Being so pregnant was not treating me well so it was extremely enjoyable to just relax on a holiday that is usually filled with over indulgence and little sleep .

January was spent getting Steve back into the swing of the Apache course , lots of park days with Steven , a zoo trip to Montgomery, and utter exhaustion on my part. I can say that I enjoyed being pregnant all 16 months of the past few years... But those last two definitely took a toll on me physically and mentally . Poor Steves had to deal with a half version of myself thanks to minimal energy, severe pain, and constant complaining.

The middle of the month contained some fun weekends with a baby shower put on by my great girlfriends here Aly and Monica. A group of girls we have been friends with here all came and even Nana , Missy, and Aunt SueSue came up from Florida . The following weekend our FRG ( family readiness group... Basically a spouse group from flight class) had a 3 way shower which was also a blast. We are truly beside ourselves with how much support and friendship we have here at Rucker .

The end of the month brought Steve's birthday , old man is 26 ;) my attempt at a surprise party didn't exactly pan out. I invited about 15 of our friends to go to dinner where we would surprise Steve and then all come have Cake here after . Thanks to his speed racing driving skills we ended up getting to dinner before most people, ruining the surprise. Either way I think he had a great night hanging out with friends and celebrating another year in the books ! We were definitely waiting for this baby to be born on his birthday ...We kept on waiting...

The first weekend of February brought more excitement than we could have imagined . Friday night I began itching. For those who don't know I had a condition called cholestasis with Steven thanks to my lack of gallbladder. There is no way to know you have this until you begin itching . Your stomach bile leaks into your blood stream and in turn the babies blood stream , which becomes very dangerous in late pregnancy . Doctors want to induce by 37 weeks to avoid the high chance of stillbirth . Unfortunately we had no idea I had this condition again until the itching began at 38 weeks. Saturday my dr. Put me on a bile reducing medicine . Saturday was also the day of Steve's good buddy Dave's wedding in AZ which he obviously couldn't make it to. Sunday the itching persisted so Dr. Johnston had me venture on down to labor and delivery to simply test my bile levels . After driving myself down to Dothan and being monitored for hours the results came back worse than anticipated. My levels were nearly double what they were with Steven and way off of the safe zone charts , needless to say I was not being released until Kane was here .

This same day was ironically the day of the super bowl that the patriots just so happened to be playing in against the giants ... We all know what happened there ... I will say no more. ;/ watching it in the hospital was possibly the safest place for My husband ! I spent the evening sleeping until the morning induction began. After having my water broken at 6 they began my pitocin induction at 830 just in time for Steve to arrive from dropping Steven off with friends . Everything progressed very fast from there and our sweet baby Kane was in my arms by 11:36 in the morning ! He came out at 7 lbs 7 oz 21 1/4 inches long . He is absolutely perfect , more perfect than we ever could have dreamed of.

The next few days were spent very peacefully for me . I called it a mini vacation being waited on hand and foot with my sweet new little guy by my side! Steve on the other hand had quite a handful with Steven ;) being thrown off schedule and not having mom around was unsettling enough but later we found out he had Some terrible allergies he was fighting as well . Zyrtec has made all of the difference and brought back our happy energetic guy !

We had some great company in the hospital and even more after returning home. Many of our friends were quick to make dinners for us, come visit Kane , and really just show us tremendous amounts of support .

We have spent the past two weeks getting to know our little angel Kane James and our dynamic as a family of 4. Steven and Kane are literally night and day, we have a lot of fun ahead of us ! From the second Kane was put into my arms and Steve clipped that last attachment to me, we could just feel his peaceful disposition. Boy were we right ! He is a great eater , sleeper and simply happy/ easy as can be . Steven is totally in love with his brother. He is constantly kissing him, checking on him, and really just adoring him throughout the day. We could not be more blessed as a family , the feeling of wholeness and joy has been overwhelming . We are both beyond excited to have such amazing little boys to raise.

Life has been pretty good to us lately and we are thankful for every moment . The only thing better would be to have family close by to share such precious time with . I have put photos of the birth and newborn pics I took on a Walmart account so family and friends can order their own prints! I'll post the link below ...

Click here to order prints of Kane!

Even though it's been a while since I've posted I'm going to try to write at the end of each month to not only update everyone but keep our own family journal to look back on as well.

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

- Brittany

Ps. Pardon my lack of editing, second grade level grammar , and poor sentence structure... Apparently midnight feedings and toddler chasing has temporarily exhausted my brain ;)

Christmas wishes

There are always those days in our lives that remain vivid due to the impact of their events. Some are world events , national events, or even family events. We made huge steps as a family today...pun intended.

Since our last post Steve has just got deeper and deeper into the apache course . He is loving it even more everyday ( sickeningly probably as much as Steven and I !) His first check ride was last week and he passed with an A which is HUGE for him . He really is a perfect fit for such a demanding ad powerful aircraft. This is what he is supposed to be doing with his life and we are very fortunate that he is able to not only be doing this but supporting our family because of it. Waking up st 3am mon- fri is definitely not ideal for my night owl husband so these 2 weeks off for exodus are going to be full of sleep catch up and a lot of relaxing !

A graduation date as been" set" for may 22nd but due to weather days it could tentatively be more likely postponed towards June 6th, exactly 2 years after our move here!

Last weekend Steven and I went to Orlando for a few days to celebrate at my nana's Christmas party . Steve had to fly Saturday morning so wasn't able to come last minute . It was great to spend time with our family down there as always , but Steven was quite a handful being so thrown off his normal schedule staying up too late and breaking some molars. It is all worth it to see Grandma, Grandpa,Aunt/uncle and of course Nana and the rest of the family .

Our good friend Candace came to visit for the past week which was amazing as an understatement . We have been friends with her since the beginning of college as a teamate at NAU and she truly is like a sister to me. Having we here really reminds us how lucky we are to have such awesome people in our lives. Not only was she entertaining and brought more laughs than I could explain, she is a saint with Steven which is hard to come bye considering most of our friends are not in the kid zone quite yet. We all had a blast followed by some heartfelt tears as we had to send her back to her fiancé in Phoenix .

I have officially stopped running. For about a month now I had limited myself to only a few mile runs with the jogging stroller( as I have no alone time now with Steve's schedule. ) my last run brought on contraction like pains that left me barley able to walk us home, that's the last ill see my running shoes for a few months :) its always a difficult adjustment being my one mental release let alone physical activity but I'm planning to get some good swims and long walks going here this week . My time has been occupied with Christmas shopping , baby room decorating, and crafting so luckily my hands have been very busy !

Steven has been growing more and more mentally the past few weeks.. His independence is really developing and his patience and capacity to Lear. Is amazing to see. The ah- ha moment was always my favorite part of teaching but seeing it in your own child is just way too cool! But today we hit a huge milestone ...

Today we had our 4d ultrasound for baby Kane . We were so lucky that Steve was on exodus this week so he was able to come with us to see our little guy . I am not one to remember or realt show preference to doctors or nurses but I LOVE our ultrasound tech . I spent a lot of time with her when I was pregnant with Steven due to the late complications, she always remembers Steve and I and it was so nice to have her today. Going in I was a little nervous mainly because of the early concerns of down syndrome . Seeing such a clear picture of his face will really show the likelihood of down syndrome . I am so happy to say that he looks absolutely perfect! The first shot of his face, long legs , and huge feet pushes every concern out the window . He looks identical to the 4D pics of Steven with the same nose , pouty lips, huge cheeks , and long appendages . Kane has about an inch of hair already which was funny to see on the screen and his legs and feet are measuring much larger than average ( go figure right?) apparently steven was not happy with all of the attention his brother was getting as he starting throwing a temper tantrum in the small dark room . Steve takes him out in te hall to cool down and sure enough he immediately stands up and takes ft walking on his own. He has been taking up to 6 steps the past week but was yet to cruise steadily without touching a wall or another comfort object . Forget that now! He was off and there was no stopping him. Steve chased him around the office as he ran around joyously as though he'd been doing it all along. We wrapped up the appointment and he ran over to the elevator and pressed the down button for mom and dad without asking. We were absolutely giddy and couldn't control our laughter at the circumstances . He walked out with us to the car and it looks like we will not be looking back to those crawling days :) today he turns 16 months, about 4 months later than average but we could not be happier or more proud of our little walker. It really is all we wanted for christmas!

So all is lovely with the Trumbull family , I will post some pics/ video tomorrow for y'all. Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season , wishing we could be with you all! Lots of love from Alabama !

Giving thanks

Hi Family and Friends!

 It's been a few weeks but what better time to say hello than THanksgiving EVE? I'll try to make it quick so y'all can get back to preparing yummy feasts for tomorrow :)

Steven is doing wonderful as always! 2 weeks ago he had a double ear infection and a bug bite turned staph infection on his wrist that was really holding him down. As soon as we got antibiotics for all of that he was happy as can be and we can now appreciate the happy guy that has returned after a week of crankiness. He is SO close to walking it is rediculous. He CAN do it and takes a few steps between furniture but he just has no interest in walking solo whatsoever. It will come sooner or later! He broke some molars finally adding to his tooth collection . It is amazing how much his vocabulary has grown in the past few weeks. Even though some words are difficult to understand he knows exactly what he is saying and listens very intently. He responds to and will take direction from us easily which shows us how much he really understands. THe past week especially he has been just the most fun child I have ever been around, it is unbelievable how much we love him more and more all of the time. He is AMAZING and it just leaves us wondering how Kane will fit into our little family. It is so cheesy but we truly are more blessed than I could ever have imagined!

 Steve has been head high in Apache study materials. These first couple weeks have taken pretty much everything out of him leaving him with nothing left in each day but to eat dinner and sleep. He is loving it completely but learning so much content on top of hours in the simulator each day is exhausting. We are lucky on nights that he is even home to put Steven to bed, and trust me those nights are quiet and boring the say the least. It is just not the same not having Dad around for Dinner Bath and Bedtime routines, but we know that it won't last forever. The first day that they began the start up for the Apache he came home more excited than I had seen in a while. This dream has been out of reach for YEARS and years and here it is, he is living right in the middle of it. Very very cool. His first flight is Novemeber 30th so we will keep y'all up to date with how that goes :)

Since the last post we traveled to Ft. Benning GA for the Soldier half marathon. What a neat place that was! The infantry museum there is something that everyone should see at some point, the history in that town gives a warm and cozy feeling that I have been craving more of since we returned home. The race went awesome finishing under 2:15 which isn't crazy fast but MUCH better than I ever imagined being this pregnant. My good friend Monica ran it with me and she totally blew me away.  She had been running for MAYBE 3 months starting from nothing and finished under 2:20... CRAZY ! Overall it was a great weekend spent with lovely company. Last weekend I ran a MUCH shorter race for the TUrkey trot on post finishing the 10k in 55 min. which was also much faster than I had planned. It is amazing what you can do when you just try! It is finally time to cool it down on the distances for this pregnancy, my hips are starting to ache and I promise myself that as soon as it hurts it's time to make a change. Running has taken me far through this pregnancy and I am so thankful for the sanity, health, and fun times that it has offered me !


It is a bit strange not being with our family on Thanksgiving this year. We have always either been with our families in Arizona, Las Vegas, or Orlando ... so here goes our first and last in Alabama :) We were planning on going to Orlando but with the family traveling 3+ hours south to my godfathers house there is just no way we could make the 9 hour drive for a short weekend. Turned out to be a blessing because we have an awesome group of friends all staying here and we are preparing a serious THanksgiving feast for tomorrow that could be the tastiest one in the past few years ! Our contribution consists of my favorite from Grandma's recipes- Pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, holiday rolls, Pineapple ham, and of course peanut clusters thrown in there. Others are doing a couple turkeys, prime rib, tons of sides, and WAYYY too many desserts, don't worry I will take plenty of pictures :) We are thinking everyone at 'home' wherever that may be!  We miss and love all of you very much .

- HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!-
      The Trumbulls

Laugh laugh laugh

For some reason today while we were running around town Steven thought EVERYTHING was hilarious so ,typical, I had to catch it on video. How funny is he? 

HELLO November!

For only being 1week, SO much has happened. It seems to be the consistent pace lately around here I know, but things are starting to slow down a bit... just in time for the holidays : ) 

Last week I had by 24 week check-up, glucose screening, and results from my genetic disorder test we had anxiously been waiting for. Even with the 1 soft marker the chances of down syndrome are 1 in 3100 which they consider a negative. Very good news about baby Kane! With Steven I remember them saying there was a 1 in 50,000 but really those odds are phenomenal and we will just keep hoping and praying for healthy little Kane. The glucose screening is something that I was dreading . For some reason this little guy is forcing sweets down my face daily. I mean candy every trip to the grocery store, baked goods, sherbert, fruits, carbohydrates... ANYthing that contains sugar or turns into sugar. The results could have been predicted really, a big fat FAIL. I laugh about it because the risks on the baby if gestational diabetes is present seem unobtrusive to be honest. I may eat a lot of sugar lately but besides that we are super healthy people, very cautious of diet, and I'm averaging 25 miles a week... a little sugar isn't going to cause major damage :) So tomorrow I have a follow up to complete a 3 hour screening where they take blood samples each hour. I have cut out all candy in the past week and HIGHLY monitored my sugar level... and trust me with Mr. Man's candy selection from last night it has been TOUGH!

Steelers beat the Patriots. Just throwing that out there.

Steve is on a 2 week "break" until Apache school begins. I say break loosely because he still has 5:45 AM PT and 3 hours mandatory study session but c'mon he is studying APACHE 5&9's now... nothing could make him happier ! The 3+years it has taken to get to this point and now all of the study materials are actually sitting on our counter. It is pretty surreal to be honest. After talking to the right people, it looks like he will be squeezing into the November 14th class which is AWESOME. We will find out for sure though in the next two days. Starting that class sets graduation and moving to APPROX. June 12th 2012 which is almost exactly 2 years from our move here since he began WOC school June 15th 2010. Enough time to have our two boys which is PRETTY awesome :) He is just gloating around about the idea of actually flying the BIG BAD APACHE as opposed to the small aircraft they trained on. It is going to be what he flies for quite a while so it's great that he is so in love with it, maybe a little too much at times ! 

Halloween was last night and what cute guys I was fortunate enough to trick-or-treat with. The Delacruz family that we have been friends with here since WOC school had a big group of us over for pre-candy pizza and some fun playtime for all of the kids ( ages 4 mos-7 years) . Steven hung out with his buddy Kaleb most of the night who was born just 6 days after him... we call them the Alabama babies. Jasmine and I were both pregnant with them at WOC graduation and somehow they both have been abnormally HUGE compared to kids their age. The two of them had the luxury of riding in the wagon while Optimus prime ( Steve) pulled them through the neighborhoods. We all ventured through the haunted houses set up in the FGO neighborhood and got some tasty treats! Besides being exhausted after skipping a nap altogether and then being up HOURS past bedtime... Steven had a blast :) 

Steven is officially the LARGEST 14 month old not walking! It's getting kind of hilarious if you ask me. He crawls faster than ANYONE and can climb on any piece of furniture imaginable on top of being SUPER mobile for his age, I think he is just afraid to fall from his 3 foot tall height! He has begun squatting and pushing his booty in the air so it looks like he could take off any day now. Clapping is his new favorite thing to do, but only when you aren't trying to show someone his new skill of course. I have some videos of it that are pretty funny. Anytime we go anywhere in the car he shakes his head to the music and claps his hands ... he really cracks us up. He also, as of the past 2 days, can fully maneuver and iphone so we are thinking of kid proofing and setting up the itouch we have for him for Christmas maybe. It sounds crazy I know, a 1 year old playing with an itouch, but he loves it and with a good indestructible case he could use apples alphabet and learning tools on it which he LOVES. Already a tech geek like his Dad :) 

I think that is everything up until now. We have my coveted PEANUT FESTIVAL next weekend which is basically a huge fair but everything is geared around peanuts... my heaven. THe following weekend is Veterans weekend which we will be heading to Fort Benning GA for my big Soldier Half MARATHON WOO HOO! November has some fun in store for the Trumbull family :) 

On a not so light note, a friend of mine from High school and the neighborhood up in Anthem passed away in a car accident in Phoenix this week. He was a soldier and returned from deployment last year to lose his life on the highway in Arizona. He was one of the first people I met in Arizona and was very close with two of my best guy friends from high school Aaron and Jarod. Keep his family and friends in your happy thoughts and prayers because they will be needing it. Also in Anthem, a girl from my brother's high school has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 bone and lung cancer. She is 15 years old and beautiful as can be. The entire community has been showing tremendous support for her and her family as they begin the fight against the nasty C word. It's unbelievable how things can change in an instant , really puts life in perspective. She and her family are very active in their church in Anthem and have all the hope and faith that she will win the battle, and with that I am positive that she will. Keep Katie Wagner in your thoughts. 

A happy week to all, hope that everyone had a great Halloween! Enjoy every minute with your loved ones that are close by! 

Here are some pics from this month :)

Pumpkin farm

Another busy week behind us!

I have been projecting around the house this week. Purchased and painted/stained some old furniture , built a headboard for us, and of course got the fall decorations going around the house :)

The beagles continue to shock us! After letting them outside for 30ish minutes I realized I hadn't heard them. Turns out they dug their way under our fence to our neighbors backyard so Lola could play with her boyfriend patches. THEY are crazzzyyy! Good thing we are friends with our neighbors otherwise that would be awkward. Escaping beagles at it again...

This week was the week that we were waiting for news from the doctor on the genetic disorder test. They said that no news was good news so the absence of a call be Wednesday was very relieving :) looks like Kane is healthy as can be, but we will find out more at my appointment next week. Thank you all for your positive thoughts and prayers! The power of prayer is amazing .

Steve is about to finish up BWS next week which means we will find out when he begins apache school and hopefully come close to a graduation date woo hoo! Tuesday is his big checkride so keep him in your thoughts :)

Today was possibly the most beautiful day of the year so far here in Alabama ! I started my morning to a brisk 10 mile run in 37 degree weather ... Man was that cold! After relaxing all morning we spent the day at a local pumpkin farm. You never know what to expect around here when it comes to.. Well anything really ... But the aplin farm was really really neat! We went with a bunch of other families that we are friends with and all of the kids had a blast, adults too of course :) there were really clean petting zoo animals , fresh local produce from their farm, rides, and a fun hayride that takes you to the pumpkin patch to pick your own pumpkins . Not only are there tons of pumpkins but it is a MASsIVE sunflower field as well. We all spent quite some time just playing in the fields, taking some pictures of course , and picking flowers and pumpkins. The perfect weather made it just that much better too. Before leaving we purchased some of their local honey, tomatoes, and cucumbers ... Yum! It was really a fun day with some great friends :) followed by large amounts of food at five guys and frozen yogurt . The best part of the day was spending time with Steven and seeing him taking in all of the animals and fun new things at the farm. Seeing him develop into such a neat little human amazes us every day! Tonight he learned a new trick, if we say "touchdown!!!" he raises his arms up for the TD :) it's hilarious.

We have a lot of videos to upload to so hopefully tomorrow I can get around to it along with some great pics from today.

I hope all is well with everyone , we miss you all as always. Would love some visitors anytime this fall/ winter ;) pictures and videos to come tomorrow! Have a great rest of the weeked

PCB and buddywalk

What a busy start to a 4 day weekend! Looks like we'll be relaxing and watching football for the rest of it... Typical :)

Yesterday afternoon we headed down to panama city beach Florida to escape the gates of fort Rucker for a little bit. We really don't take advantage of having the beach 80 miles away enough.

Steven got to crawl( yes crawl still no walking...) all over the "giant sandbox" which is always funny to watch. We ate dinner at buffalo wild wings, another average meal that is a serious luxury when you live in the middle of nowhere! Yum .

There was a pirate festival all weekend with added activities and events for kids and families at the PCB pier park. We took Steven on the ferris wheel for the first time which was HILARIOUS. He sat in the seat between the two of us and we literally couldn't stop laughing at him. His eyes were huge the whole time just taking it all in. We took a video, I will upload it below later. Before leaving I had a craving for snow cones, so of course being the wonderful husband that he is, steve ventured around with me to find some... Definitely well worth it! So after chocolate milk with dinner and way too many spoonfuls of Mom and Dads snow cones, I can't believe he even fell asleep in the car ride home :)

This morning I woke up early as usual on saturdays for a nice 8 mile sunrise run ( aka my happy pill.) After breakfast We went down to Dothan for the 4th annual wiregrass buddywalk. The buddywalk is a national event that is put on to bring knowledge and awareness about down syndrome. The fact that this event fell in the middle of our waiting period for out genetic testing was quite ironic , but it was a really great event to go out and show support . There were tons of kids and adults of all ages with DS that were extremely inspiring . What beautiful and wonderful people to spend the morning surrounded by! The walk was around the nature trail at landmark park which was cool and beautiful on a rather warm fall day.

Steve just bought transformers3 on blue ray so it looks like this and Alabama football will be consuming the rest of the day;)

I hope you all are enjoying the Columbus day weekend as well . No better time to enjoy the outdoors than the fall ! Miss and love you all very much. Wishing we had our family/friends here as always . A very Happy Saturday :)