Summer fun

After Hawaii, Matt and I spent time in Chicago, then in Cincinnati. We were able to visit with family and friends, which was nice. We were also able to show off our wonderful tans from Hawaii! So much fun!
We finally made it down to Florida just after spending the 4th of July with Matt's family. We stayed overnight with Buffy and Jeff LaPeters, right before their little one, JR was born. I saw Buffy and knew how much I had to look forward to! We stayed in base housing until we could find a place of our own, which thankfully didn't take long!

Here is a picture of me pregnant at 20 weeks. Man was I tiny!

Hello Hawaii!

Matt and I didn't really get to go on an extended honeymoon (only a few days in Wisconsin) so we decided to take time in between his assignments to go on a longer trip! We chose Hawaii for several reasons, one being that Katy Thomas' parents were so generous in letting us use their condo, but also because I really wanted to go to Hawaii as I hear it is awesome! Airline tickets could also not be beat, so all signs pointed to Hawaii! Matt had already been there when he was at the Academy for a few weeks over a summer, however we stayed the entire two weeks on the Big Island and the condo was in Kona on the West coast. It was a blast!

The gorgeous view from our Lanai, or balcony as I called it!

Matt impersonating a statue at the Refuge.
Momma and baby looking their best!
The Refuge

St. Peter's Catholic Church on the shore...so tiny!

The Green Sand beach....we finally made it! That is a story you need to hear sometime.
South Point and the windmills that didn't work.

Snorkeling at pregnant beach. Seriously it was a tiny beach but I was one of six pregnant women there!
Our adventure around the island up north.
Volcano National Park, or should I say Mordor??
Steam coming from the ground in Volcano. There were over 100 earthquakes two days after we went, and they ended up closing the park! Good thing we went when we did!

Baby Hale can never say that he or she never went to Hawaii! Here is proof!
Just amazing...the sand was like sugar!
Secret Beach #1

Breathtaking!

We look so happy...but Matt looks a little scrunched up. We tried so hard to take pictures of ourselves!
Our last sunset....it was beautiful!

Bye Bye Boston :(

Well, all good things must come to an end, and our time in Boston was one of those good things! Matt was finally finishing his thesis, saying good-bye to MIT, and closing that book, literally. His thesis ended up being about 300 pages!

Carly's friend Jen Willeke came out for a visit, that ended up starting very wet, but drying out by the end. We had a blast, and were able to see all the fun things in Boston one more time.

Our wonderful Boston friends came over to the apartment for one final brunch, which turned into a surprise of gifts for Matt, Carly and Baby. We were so grateful and blessed to have them with us!

Carly's time in Boston ended early, as she was off to New Staff Training with FOCUS at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS. It was sad, but good to be moving forward.

Matt finished up just in time for the movers to come and take all of our things, but that meant we were that much closer to our real honeymoon in Hawaii, and seeing both of our families!

Martha's Vineyard

Matt let me choose between a Red Sox game (which I really wanted to see before leaving Boston) and a little trip to celebrate my first Mother's day - and I chose to take a day trip to Martha's vineyard with Nichlas and Joelle. It was great to have a fun day with friends, though I think the ferry didn't agree with Joelle so much, and the bus didn't agree with me so much. Matt and Nic had too much fun on the beach, though the water was freezing, they managed to get wet. The weather was beautiful....I couldn't have asked for a nicer treat! It was also a celebration of my ending morning sickness....I was very glad to see that my getting sick 3-4 times a day had finally ended. I was only surprised every now and then with some nausea, but I think Baby Hale and mamma's body had finally gotten used to one another!

Easter Joy

Now that we knew little Hale was on the way, Easter had an extra special importance that year! Carly's good friend Kate Ebeler came to Boston for Easter, and they had such a blast! It was so much fun for Carly to share her good news with Kate! Carly and Matt had called Carly's dad on his birthday, and told her parents that they would be grandparents again! Look out AJ...there's another one on the way! Matt hadn't told his parents just yet, as he wanted to surprise them in a little bit more of a creative way. He sent them #1 Grandma and #1 Grandpa hats. It was fun.

Meanwhile...there are plenty more folks in Boston that needed to know the Hales' exciting news. We didn't know exactly how it was going to work out, but Matt and Carly decided to tell Sister Olga on friday before the service. I know it was a strange time, however we just really wanted to let her in on our secret. Sister screamed, and we just tried to play it cool, though everyone knew something was going on. We went through the service, which is always very hard and touching, but exciting as we know our Lord triumphed over the death on the cross for us!

There was a huge group congregating outside, including all of the brothers from the Brotherhood of Hope, at least the local ones, and somehow, word starting spreading like a wildfire through the crowd! Before you knew it, there was hugging, screaming, congratulations everywhere; it was awesome! We truly felt like we were celebrating with family!

Carly and Matt had an Easter feast planned for Sunday morning with a smaller group of friends. Of course Carly would spare no expense in cooking, and probably made enough food to feed twice as many people as were at the party. But isn't that the way Thomas parties end up? Carly was proud that she made her first Lamb cake, not as good as Aunt Laura's, but it was tasty! Carly's dad found a lamb cake mold and sent it to Boston for her! Of course there was green jello, jello eggs, and lots of candy! Of course we ate normal food too, but that's just not as important, right? A great time was had by all....even though they couldn't move by the end!

Just when we thought life had settled down....

So it was mid-March when Carly went to Kansas with the New Staff Training Leadership Team to have meetings and get things going for that summer's program. It was a great trip as she was able to spend time with the Cassidy's and the entire Benedictine College Team. The trip seemed to be going great, however Carly started to feel a little sick, and in shock that her morning cup of coffee so wonderfully brewed by Diana was not appealing at all. She quickly dismissed it, had a latte in the afternoon, and continued on with the trip as normal.

When she returned to Boston though, the sick feeling didn't really go away. Carly remembers talking to her mom on the phone and saying that she thought she picked up a bug from the Benedictine Team, as several of them were getting over a cold/flu bug. Again, Carly dismissed this sick feeling (as she hates getting sick) and remained in denial.

Well, one thing led to another, and after another week or two, Carly couldn't handle it any more! She and Matt talked and decided to take a pregnancy test. It was the only other possible explanation of why Carly was repulsed by coffee, was tired ALL the time, and just not feeling right. That Saturday morning, April 1st, at 6:30am, Carly sprung out of bed and took the test. While Matt continued sleeping in bed, Carly was agonizing over the thought that she would have to wait 10 minutes to know if it was true! Not so, as it changed almost immediately! Yep, it was a positive test! Carly was pregnant! This was so exciting and what Matt and Carly wanted most- a little one to share their love with! God is so good!

One problem though....Carly was about to head to the BU Women's retreat that day (women everywhere) ....and she and Matt had decided not to share their news with anyone just yet, keeping it to themselves for a little while. That was just not going to fly with Carly, so they agreed that they could tell one person their news. Stephanie, Carly's younger sister was on a retreat that weekend as well, so there was no getting in touch with her. Surrounded by women at the retreat, several to whom she just wanted to blurt out- "Guess what, I'm pregnant!"- but was unable. Finally, she decided to tell Joelle, of course also letting Miriam in on the secret. I know first hand that you can't tell one sister something and think it will actually stay there...not in a bad way of course, but sisters just don't do that to sisters! The girls of course were ecstatic! Carly was relieved that she was finally able to share this news that she was keeping inside of her! Matt of course told Nichlas Schaal, but would it be any other way?!?!

We were having a baby, and life would forever be different from that moment on.

Stephanie Visits Boston/Back to Normal Life

I would be a bad sister if I didn't also add the fact that my Sissy came to Bahston for St. Patrick's Day this year! We had a wonderful time going to the different Boston sites, including her favorite, Southie and the JFK museum. But we had sissy adventures, Matt thought we were nuts, and of course we bought the T-shirt to prove it!

After all our travels, we were finally in Boston to stay for a while. Matt needed to buckle down on his thesis, and Carly was keeping busy with FOCUS work and traveling. Our days consisted of work, evenings were dinner and time with friends. Matt would head out at times to work with the homeless, and Carly used those days to spend time with the girls. I think the picture below is the night Lydia, Joelle and Miriam came over for dinner, dessert, warm drinks, and watching Anastasia! It was such a good night. Unfortunately the house would get cold, so Miriam would "nest" in the papasan chair! Ha!