For my collection!

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Location:SE Kemp Ln,Port Orchard,United States

Home for awhile.

Home For Awhile..


Chris has landed safely, home from his Korean adventure where he ate food like baby octupus and some other things with tentacles.



He came baring amazing gifts, and we are so happy to have him here. particularly since we had a ridiculous wind storm last night that would have scared the beejeezus out of me. Instead I slept blissfully wrapped up in his arms, not worried about a thing.



He is off again in a few weeks, and that's strange to know. I feel bad watching him poke around the house. I know he feels sort of alien to the contents of it and to our routines, and I want him to feel like he is home, and not just at a temporary stop. It's hard though, when we had almost just moved in. I think he knows though, that home is where his family is.



And I hope to solidify that next week when we go to cut our Christmas tree down. I couldn't be more excited to do this for my very first time. I absolutely love the ritual of getting out the Christmas boxes and remembering all of our stuff and am thrilled that we get to do this part with him. I feel like he will be with us and our kids at Christmas, even though he physically won't; be here. Putting everything up together gives us the opportunity to start some new traditions in our new home.

I am resorting to a list of random thoughts:

1. Friday Night Lights is truly a fantastic show.

2. I need to get the (swear words) Halloween candy out of the house.

3. I need to read a book and quit rotting my brain.

4. I want to go to bed every night at 7:30, but it seems unrealistic.

5. Poor Abby is sick and she is snoring over the monitor and it's breaking my heart.

6. I am surprised by the people I spend a lot of time with, who call and check on me. I am so grateful for the support I am getting.

7. I can't wait for the first snow (no matter what the ramifications of that snow are). I am fairly certain I am going to jump around and shriek.

And with that, I have made it to 8:08. I am going to crawl into bed and listen to my baby on the monitor.




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Some humble advice.

I think we all have those people in our lives, that we have fallen out of touch with because...well, we can't remember why.

And now time has gone by and you feel like you don't know how to reconnect, even though you may think of this person often.

Chances are, they feel the same way. And if they are a good friend, when you reach out and say, "hello", they will be right there to say "hello" back.

Call them, write them, hug them, love them!

Our Amazing Dog

I had a request for a Bella-centric post. This dog is the dog that we were always fated to have. She is the most amazing little creature who knows every one of our personalities and tolerates us all. She snuggles when we need her to, and knew I was pregnant before I did! She protects the kids as ferociously as if she weighed 40 pounded instead of 14. She is our Isabella-Boo-Boo-Head and we wouldn't have her any other way.

Oatmeal cookie bars

Because Zoe is having a sleepover and baked goods are a necessity.... (they will never know all the substitutions to the recipe I made to make them healthier than most breakfast cereals)

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening   (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup apple sauce)
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar (I reduced by 1/2 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons molasses (I used honey)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour  (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I reduced by 1 cup)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans (I eliminated..they are 5)

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in molasses and vanilla. Combine the oats, flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.
2. Spread in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 28-32 minutes or until golden brown and edges pull away from sides of pan. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

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When everything goes wrong but it ends up totally right.

So I have actually been accomplishing my goals of meeting people lately. I have worked myself out of my perpetually comfortable hermit niche and joined the land of the living. And I am surprised to find that I really like it.  I mentioned in a previous post that I have made a great friend Heather and become friends with two of my neighbor, both of whom have children my daughter is crazy about.

My next objective was to find a babysitter. I thought I could interview some people on Craigslist and maybe I would find someone that I just clicked with. So on Monday night, while Heather was over, we met a woman who sounded wonderful in her ad. She had tons of experience, five references, CPR cards, etc.

Well, she showed up and I knew right off the bat that this wasn't going to work out. She was a disaster, and couldn't keep straight who she had every babysat. The clincher came when I asked for her references and she could only supply one, but asked if her best friend from high school would count.

Two words: epic fail.

At this point, I was totally distressed. I know that I absolutely need to have someone that I can call if there is an emergency or situation here. I have my in laws, but they are too far away to really be able to help out in a pinch or on short notice. Also, with Chris being gone for a year, it's just necessary that I have some time to run errands or go to Dr's appointments without kids.

The next day I took a walk to my wonderful neighbor's house, an author namedTheresa. (you will probably see some book plugs on here for her work soon). I was going through the story of my internet nanny plight, and low and behold - she just happened to have a best friend that was looking to baby sit some kids occasionally during the day while she was home with her four year old!

I called her and went to her house the next monring to meet a wonderful, clearly caring mother who has two great dogs, a cat and a house that you can tell is filled with the kind of chaos and love that makes for the best kind of family!

We made arrangements for her to watch the girls for a few hours this morning, so that I could shampoo my carpets. Ok, I admit that this is totally lame but I have the kind of baby that allows me to accomplish absolutely NOTHING during the day.

Sadly, she called this morning to say that her oldest son had gotten sick but she would still be happy to watch them if I wanted. I declined (don't need sick kids on top of everything else!).

But here is where I made so much progress...ordinarily, this would have thrown me for a loop. I am generally horrible with plans changing at the last minute and allow myself to get all "a flutter" and stressed out. But I decided instead that it would be a great morning to try out the local MOPS (mother of preschoolers) group that I had been intending to go to. The deal is that the kids get split into groups and watched while the moms chat, do crafts, have speakers, eat, etc.

So I set out for the church near my house where I knew they had a meeting. Turns out I had gotten the day wrong. Here again, I orindarily would have turned around and headed home but instead I headed to another church where I knew they had the meeting.

I was pretty nervous, it can be very intimidating to walk into a group event where everyone know everyone else and you know nobody, but the only way I am going to survive the next year is to meet people, gosh dang it so I did it.

And oh my gosh, am I so glad I did. Everything just clicked! It was incredible. There were so many wonderful moms. I got to have conversations with about 10 people individually. You are put into a table group and I got pink (first sign I was meant to be there). The food was amazing, they do this incredibly ridiculous spread with coffee and homemade treats.

They start out with a raffle which I totally WON (second sign I was meant to be there!).

And then the speaker came on - she was talking about how to stop being so frustrated and angry with your children. This is something that I have put my primary focus on in the last several months. I hate being the mom who yells all the time. It was so nice to see the other forty moms nodding in the places I was, relating to this women, hearing other people's struggles with the same things. I swear I got all teary eyed when she started talking because I just could not believe the series of events that had brought me to exactly where I needed to be this morning.

I can't wait for the next meeting, and that is saying a lot for me! The girls had a blast in their groups and I am riding high on the positive energy of the day!

The loooong and the short of it all.

I am in the mood to count my blessings. I know that I have many and the heavy Christmas marketing that is already starting is making me start to feel merry and emotional. I thin.k that this desire to sit here and catalogue all of the positive things in my life is a reaction to a small (okay maybe not so small) freakout I had today.

I thought about what it's been like since Chris has been gone, and I did the thing that you should never, ever do. I counted. I realized that he has only been gone less than two weeks, and that there is so much more to go. I know that he is going to be home for a short period here soon, but then the year doesn't even start until after that. And that is just such a long time.

I think that maybe these separations are a little like walking a tightrope over the Grand Canyon. You just need to put one foot in front of the other and take it one step at a time. If you stop to look down or at how far you have left to go, you are just plain screwed. And I think that I did that today.

But I have a lot to be proud of so far in how I am handling this deployment. I think that the most important thing for me to remember is that life doesn't end when he is gone. I can't spend the next year just waiting for him to come back, because one year is a long time. It is 1/30th of my life, 1/5th of Zoe's, 1/2 of Abby's. And so we are all going to do things and truly live and enjoy the next year.

Yes, there is a hole. There will always be that hole. But we fill it. We talk to him daily. He watched the kids play from hotel rooms far away. Heck, he even watched Zoe while I jumped in the shower the other day! And I miss him. Oh, do I miss him. I guess the best thing about deployments is that the distance really makes you stop and realize just how much of an important role that someone plays in your life. Chris is my rock. He makes sense even when nothing makes sense.

But I am handling this very well. I am proud of myself. I have amazing friends who fly from across the country to be with me. I have a mom who is coming to man the troops at Christmas. I have a sister in law who came to make the weekend less lonely. I took initiative and made a new friend who is in a very similiar situation who has been just great for me and the kids. I am doing things, teaching the kids, reading to them, reading to myself and living life. I am going to be okay. We are all going to be okay.

And that is the biggest blessing of all.

Make your own oatmeal bar

-
I started with the base recipe oatmeal from www.katheats.com

Boil 1/3 cup oats with 1/3 cup soy milk and 1/3 cup water. Add an entire thinly sliced banana once it starts to boil.

Then give your kids a choice of toppings and let them design away!





She added a blob of no sugar added apple sauce, a blob of Marion berry preserves and 8 chocolate chips.

She had a ton of fun and is getting all her soluble fiber (she hates oatmeal normally!)


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Suprises of the best kind.

Thursday afternoon, while I was cleaning the house trying to distract myself from the whole deployment thing, the dog suddenly started barking out the window. I peeked out the window, only to discover my best friend Jessica waking across my driveway. I nearly propelled myself out barefoot on sharp rocks and probably scared the heck out of my neighbors with my screaming! What an amazing friend, she came to be here for Zoe's birthday!

We had a whirlwind weekend of activities, restaurants and scenery. We covered all the way North to Bainbridge Island and across the sound on the ferry into Seattle. We also worked in a Harvest Dance and dinner at a Thai restaurant. I have some wonderful memories to take away from the weekend, there was a lot of laughing and reminiscing. Truly great for the soul.

But oh the rain, rain rain! It has been nonstop and doens't show any signs of letting up. We lost power yesterday in our town, including the school. Apparently this is a common occurence. I am learning all about living through a winter on an acre of land with a hundred trees, and a (electrically powered) well pump and a septic tank. It is actually really enpwering for me to be able to trek in the wood and build fires!

She went to bed four and woke up fifteen.

-


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Location:Pumpkin patch.

Best friends, angel daughters and flowers!

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If I could just squeeze in there...

Maybe they could send me to daddy!


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PIcking Myself Up By My Bootstraps...

The first few hours after Chris leaves are always very intense. Basically the overwhelming feeling is panic. It's strange and it always catches me by surprise. I expect to be sad, I expect to be determined. I always, always forget the panic. Today while looking forward onto a fairly long period of time without him, I sort of felt like the wind got knocked out of me a bit.

But I have managed to get through an entire nine hours without him so far and pretty soon I will head off to bed, having survived a day. One then once one day is over, the next one starts and then ends and before you know it, this whole thing is a distant memory.

People approach the initial send off in different ways. Some people like to take their "other" to the airport, others like to stay home and not deal with the emotional intensity that occurs there. We have always gone to the airport together (in fact we have a wonderful, long standing joke about this that makes it sort of fun). In the past, I have both scheduled a million things for the hours after and scheduled nothing at all, wanting to be alone with the feelings.

I toed the line today. I made no plans ahead of time, but called a good friend of mine who has a daughter Zoe's age first, figuring the distraction would be good for both of us. We had a very casual day. Luckily the sun was shining and I was able to soak up some much needed Vitamin D. I also made plans to have dinner at Panera Bread with my sister in law and nephew, who always cheer me up.

We left everyone at about 6:30 and drove home before the girls' bedtime. This gave me time to cuddle, change and feed Abby and then to read, snuggle and talk with Zoe. It was a great mix of busy and calm. Everyone is sound asleep now, including the dog, who is always unhappy when she realizes that Daddy isn't here.

I am left alone with my emotions and I have had some ups and downs so far. The hardest part isn't that I have to be self-reliant. The hardest part isn't the loneliness. The hardest part isn't the work involved. The hardest part is just missing the person who I love talking to, adore listening to, and who pushes me when I need it. But I digress into cheesiness.

I have scheduled appointments with some baby sitters tonight. I do have in laws an hour or so away, but I think I need to have some back  ups in case of emergency and for sanity. I am also trying to schedule some classes for January and will need some help with Abby then.

On a lighter note, I am reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". It's a fantastic book, the final in the series. And with Chris gone, I am finally going to finish it. Not a fair trade off by any means, but I am trying to look on the bright side here.

A Brief Q & A About the Upcoming Deployment

I have received a variety of questions/comments about Chris' upcoming deployments and I expect my blog posts will pick up as a way of keeping him in the loop. I am going to just address some things that I have been asked or told so far.

Q: He is out of the army. Why is he going back there?
A: Yes, he got out of the army. And while in the army, he did all of the things he was supposed to (got a Bachelor's Degree and a Cisco certification) and he was fortunate enough to get a great job in this economy. That job kind of expects people to take their "turn" overseas and it's good to get it over with early on.

Q: Well, I imagine it will be easier since he is "just" a contractor.
A: Anytime we are separated is difficult on all of us, whether he is overseas or one state over. However, this is something that we have become good at and we will get through this. I also get just as pissed off at this comment as I did when people told me that I was "just" his girlfriend, "just" his fiance, or that he "just" did shorter deployments. None of this makes a freaking difference. One day is great, the next one sucks. And there are tons of Navy wives who go through this all the time when their husbands are on subs or on a ship and I can only imagine how aggravated they must feel when being told "at least" their husbands aren't overseas.

Q: Isn't that a really horrible thing to do to the kids?
A: Well, we had a lot of difficult choices to make. Staying in the army would have been pretty difficult given some situations with the housing market and our condo in Florida. We wanted to give them a house with a yard and great schools, and so we are sacrificing to make that happen.

Q: But don't you think the industrial-military complex is just soo messed up? You are profiting from the war.
A: How I feel about the industrial-military complex will always come second to how I feel about my family. And I find this vaguely insulting. Contractors actually outnumber soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan right now, and I think that it's great that some very overworked soldiers (who have done multiple deployments with little rest) get to be home for a change. And while I have some issues with the concept in general, I can't help the fact that it's the reality of the world.


So that's that. I am having some difficulty figuring out how this is all going to go, and how and if it willbe different from being a military spouse. I am sure that some things will be much easier and others might be somewhat harder.

The bottom line in all of this: I support my husband, who is doing an extraordinary thing to take care of his me and our daughters.

My life never feels as overwhelming as it seems when I write it all down

It's been a long time since I have felt compelled or inspired to do more than just the monthly and event posts for the kids. I think a lot of that was just Abby not wanting to go to sleep at night and me falling into an exhausted heap right behind her. Now that she goes to bed reasonable early and Zoe follows a few hours later, I atually have some time to myself. It's amazing!

We have moved and settled into our brand new house. It is so amazing to love where I live. I feel so at peace here and I am remembering so many of the things I always loved to do. I guess somewhere around nine months after a baby is born you suddenly sort of look around and remember who you are.

And a ROUGH and busy nine months it has been. We moved when Abby was three weeks old, which means the movers came and we cleaned the condo out when she was two weeks old. No matter how hard I tried to take it easy, there was always something to do. That coupled with the fact that Abby only very recently started sleeping the night just kind of made me not myself for a lot of the last year. And I don't really like that feeling, but those days are behing me and I definitely feel much cheerier these days.

I am obsessed with the little town where we live. It's a strange and wonderful place. We have pretty much no chain restaurants, but it's still big enough that you would expect it. We have a waterfront downtown area, and they have now zoned most of it that you have to have a full five acres to build a new home. The school Zoe attends is just unbelievable. I love the small town feel around here so much. Yesterday our neighbors down the street picked their daughter up from the bus stop on their horse! It was great to watch the horse walk past my front door (thankfully not pooping right there!).

Chris and I got to go away for the weekend without the kids last week, and that was just as amazing as you would expect it to be. We stayed at the Renaissane Clubsport outside of San Francisco. It was very strange being away from the kids for so long, but they were in good hands and it was really good for us.

It was especially good for us because we are closing in on yet another deployment. Chris is headed to Korea for about a month at the end of this month and then will be heading back over to Afghanistan in early December for about a year. I am having a hard time verbalizing my feelings about this, and it may  be because it hasn't truly sunk in for me. It's going to be hard being in a new place without any nearby friends or support. His family is a little over an hour from here, so I do have them in case of an emergency but I don't have any "let's grab coffee" friends nearby.

As for making friends, it is so hard when you are an adult! It seems like I become the most awkward and strange person whenever I meet new people. I think I definitely take some getting used to. I manage to say all the most inappropriate things. But I am confident that if I stop being so lazy about it (and really attend those mom groups, etc instead of just thinking it would be a good idea) then I will make some friends.

And I miss my people in Florida. A lot. I miss my mom and dad and my Jessica and Carol and my brother's family. But I love it in Washington. I love my house and my town and the school here. I love the fall and the cold weather and the wild blackberries that grow all over everything. I wish I could somehow merge the two because I feel a lot of guilt about not being able to be there for people on the East Coast sometimes.

This has turned into something much longer than I intended but I guess it's good I got the baseline information out of the way so that I can just jump in with thoughts from here on out.

And now, for those of you who haven't read this far but just want a quick glimpse of my life's recent goings ons:

Happy Nine Months Aberdeen!

Dear Abby,

Let's start with the most important thing: THANK YOU! Thank you for letting me sleep through the night. It took eight and a half months, but we are finally there. By the night, I mean you still wake up at four am but you sleep from 6:30 until then so we are all much happier people. The renewed energy

We have moved into our new house, and it has been wonderful for you. You love to crawl and explore everywhere. You are trying to get up all the time. You put your hands in front of you put your feet on the ground and try to get up. You also cruise around the furniture. We don't think it's going to be long now.

You are also a champion babbler. You are definitely saying momma and dada and it's directed at us. When daddy gets home from work, you immediately start yelling at him and waving your little arms like you are trying to fly until he gives you his attention.

Speaking of the arm thing, it's hilarious. Whenever you want anything, you turn into a bonafide windmill. It happens when you want out of your crib, when you want me, when you want a ball, when you see your sister getting off the bus or when ANYBODY has food.

You loove to eat. You manage almost half an avocado, and do a funny little song where you hold up whatever you eat. You also really love to plant your mouth on an apple and suck the juice out of it. It also makes for a hilarious sight.

I can't even stand how much I love you most days.

Love,
Mommy

Zoe, My Little Kindergartner

The dreaded day has come. You have started kindergarten. I tried to tell you the day before that I wasn't going to let you go, and you should have seen the indignant look that you gave me. You tried to tell me that I didn't have the authority to do that and I told you that I wouldn't let you go. You told me you would go anyway, so I asked who would drive you. You then said you would walk, and I told you that you didn't know where to go. So then you told me that you would get a map. This exchange quieted any doubts I had that you were absolutely ready for a kindergarten adventure.

The first week was a little bit strange, because we didn't close on our new house until the 5th day of school. So the three of us drove an hour out to school each day. The first day we decided to have lunch before school but out in Port Orchard. I told you that you could choose anything you wanted, and you decided that you wanted to go to the grocery store and get a cheese block and a mixed berry cup. I got sushi and we shared everything. It was a pretty perfect meal.

And yes, I was that mom. The one who cried dropping you off and again waiting anxiously in the hallway for you at the end of the day. You ran into the classroom and didn't look back. You had learned the ways to sign in at open house and you quickly executed everything and basically kicked me out of the room. You were thrilled to have a friend named Abby.

At the end of the day, I tried to drill you about everything that had happened, but you were shockingly quiet. We have gotten a lot more out of you since then.

You are now ten days in, and you absolutely love school. We have been getting work home, and you are writing "stories" with sketches and writing your name and the date on everything. Today was popcorn day, and all the kids bring a quarter and get a bag of popcorn. You told me that your friend Shea didn't have any, so you shared with him because nobody else would. I have to admit, I also got a bit teary eyed in that moment. I am very proud of your emerging empathy.

Your stories are hilarious. You keep telling us about the "graders", who are anyone who isn't a kindergartner. You seem to hold them with a certain reverence and actually came home one day and said that a grader had spoken to you at recess and you didn't know what to say. But then a grader hit you on the bunch and you hit him straight back, so I guess you weren't all that intimidated. That was a tough parenting moment, where I was caught between telling you not to do that and being proud that you had stood up to a fifth grader.

You are all YOU, zoe. I don't know a better way to explain it than that. You have our hearts. Totally and completely.

Love,
Mommy

Seven Months...

Dear Abby,

So I am a few day's late with this update but life has been kind of throwing a lot at us these days! You are a mover and a shaker now. By mover, I mean that you are scooting, climbing, wiggling, army crawling and just generally antsy. By shaker I mean that you are starting to dance and sway to music, an absolutely adorable talent!

You are talking and babbling incessantly, it looks like you are going to give your big sister a run for her money someday. You can say hi and kind of wave. You smile and everyone and burst into a smile that looks like it's too big for your tiny face to contain. You then burrow your way into the chest of whoever is holding you at the time.

You try so hard to keep up with the big kids. Zoe loves to make you laugh by playing peekaboo and you come alive with excitement upon seeing her in the morning. Your big cousin Dominic loves to make you laugh by essentially hurting himself. He will throw himself on the ground for hours if he thinks it's entertaining for you!

You and the dog are the best of friends. You are still feeding her everything you eat, especially your cheerios and mum mums. The dog ate apart your net feeder, where you love to have frozen bananas. You two play, crawl around each other, and last night you both fell asleep cuddled into daddy's lap. It was a scene so cute I very nearly died!

You will finally take a bottle and are slowly weaning away from mommy. I am highly conflicted about this. I am enjoying the greater independence, but miss that feeling that I am providing all the nutrition for you and the bonding that comes along with it. The weirdest thing about you taking a bottle is that you insist on sticking  your fingers inside of my mouth when I feed it to you. It's like you have to give me something since I am giving it to you.

Sleeping was getting a tad bit better until the last two nights when you decided it was party time all night. You love to YANK on my hair, so hard that it hurts while you are going to sleep. Makes for a rough night sometimes.

Mostly, I love you. It's just that simple. I love slowing down and appreciating every little thing about your baby days. I am in absolutely no hurry for you to do anything or go anywhere. I know you are our last little baby and I know that I want to remember the way you sound when you are eating and the pretend cries and the way you get your feet out of the most complicated blanket sleepers.

Love,
Mommy

Happy Six Months Abby!

Dear Abby/Ab/Abber/Aberdeen/Aberdeenia/BabyButt/etc,

You have made it a whole half of a year! You are sititng up all on your own and are standing up while holding onto things for the most part. You still really aren't a roller-overer, though you will do it when pressed, or more likely when going for Mommy's hair.

You took your first vacation, to Florida to see Nana and Pop. You had a wonderful time and reached for Nana just as soon as we walked off the plane. And Pop got you to giggle and laugh the most I have ever seen while playing peek a boo with you and a blanket. In Florida you also took your very first swim and you predictably loved it.

Bella, our dog, is your new best friend. You love to share your food with her and start looking around all excited whenever you hear her collar clanking. It's so funny to watch, because the two of you are the exact same size.

You still HATE to sleep. You don't nap, you don't sleep the night, the only time you sleep peacefully is in the Moby wrap with mommy or in mine or Daddy's arms. I have to say that it's an incredible feeling to be holding  a baby while they totally relax and fall asleep. A few times now, you have giggled in your sleep and I take this to mean that you are a very happy girl.

You talk and squeal unendingly and we think you are going to talk as much as your sister. By the way, you guys really bonded on the trip to Florida. You also got to meet your cousins Annalisa and Gage, who adored you!

It's been a busy summer already. Dominic is spending his summer days with us and just last week we have been to the movies and to a park and you love to go all over! You are just now starting to be okay with hanging out in the stroller and really seem to enjoy people watching. Music makes you kind of shake now, and everything gets you to blow raspberries!
Watching you and your dad play makes me just love both of you more all the time. You beam and beam at him to get his attention, then you look away all shy and do the same thing over and over. You like to reach out and pat him all the time, it's hilarious.

You weigh almost 15 pounds at this point and are about 25 inches long, and you just keep getting bigger! You are eating lots of solid foods, but you love your baby Mum Mums the most (they are a weird rice cracker dissolvable thing). I think you love them so much because you can do them yourself.

You are a big fan of the Lazy Boys and can often be found lounging in one with the dog, or possible with the dog AND a parent. Depends on your mood. :)

Love you,
Mommy

Yum...

Canadian coke, made with real sugar! No high fructose corn syrup. Definitely a treat!




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I am grateful...

For Canadian coke! It is made with no high fructose corn syrup, and is so delicious!



-- Post From My iPhone

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Title

Test test

ur Four and a half

Dear Zoe,

 

You are closing in on four a half. I never wanted you to turn four. I was so afraid that this was the age where people started to have expectations of you. And your personality is so huge, and so you that I didn’t want to see any of it stilted or numbed by the various confines of the world’s views on how children should behave exactly.

You amaze me. Daily. You excite, infruriate, frustrate and envelope me. All the time. I can’t even begin to explain the passion you have about everything. Your whole face and body get into every single thing that you say. And oh my gosh, some of the things you say. You are hard to yell at without laughing sometimes. Everything is a giant, sweeping proclamation uttered in a vocabulary YEARS beyond your time.

And if I think Abby is teaching me things about her on a daily basis, it is you, Zoe, who teaches me things about myself. You grabbed the back of my head the other day, looked into my eyes, and said, “Don’t worry momma, you always take good care of me. I know you love me.” And you are FOUR, for crying out loud. How do you even know what all of that means?

You are very into dressing yourself right now, so it’s all striped with polka dots. And you have refused to give up your dresses, despite it being 40 degrees, so you usually have one of those, over jeans and under a sweater. People in public constantly remark how well accessorized and how adorable you are.

You are right on the verge of reading. You want to so bad. You are in a bowling league, and you cheer as much when you knock down one pin as when you knock down 8. You say, “HIII-YA” everytime you throw the ball. It’s amazing to watch. You start T Ball in a few weeks, and I can’t wait to see how you do on a team. You keep repeating to me what we talked about, that there will be kids better, worse than, and as good as you. You are sure you are going to have something to teach all of them. You and daddy have been practicing throwing a lot with velcro mitts.

You miss your nana every single day. You always want to right her messages, webcam with her. I want to preserve these wonderful feelings and memories despite the distance, because the relationship means so much to you.

You were NEVER a picky eater, and suddenly you are dissecting your food, looking for suspicious colored specks and turning away bread with oats on top. This from my child who ate hummus and salmon at the age of two.

You are a fantastic big sister, and you are always worrying about Abby. You hate when she cries, but you pretty much hate all loud noises. Bella sleeps up on the top bunk with you every night now, curled around your feet. This pleases you beyond anything else. You took the responsibility of coming to get us to get her down every morning very seriously.

I love you, and even though you are never what I would call easy, I wouldn’t want you any other way.

Love,

mom

Happy three months old, Abby!

 

Dear Abby,

You are doing so much all the time now! I don’t think I will have any front hair left by  the time you are done learning how to grab things. Taking you to restaurants (like we did last night for Aunt Melissa’s birthday) is always an adventure. You love meeting new people and charming them with your smiles, but when you have had enough, boy, you have had enough and only mommy will do.

You smile about 80% of the time you are awake, and are so absolutely engaging. Strangers stop all the time to talk to you because you peer out over my shoulder at them. 

You are in love with the toys that dangle over your car seat, and in your good moments you will sit in the backseat and squeal and giggle at them. You don’t ordinarily like the car though, which is a huge departure from Zoe. She loved it at your age.

And speaking of your sister, you two love each other. It’s great to watch your whole body convulse with excitement when you see her and she’s talking to you. She loves when she gets the chance to take a bath with you or hold you.

We swear that you are already saying “hi” and “mama” and it’s not a coincidence. You do it too much not to mean it! When you are very upset, you stop crying and just start yelling “mum” over and over again.

You just figured out that you love pacifiers and now look like a little Maggie Simpson when you are asleep. You are still wearing cloth diapers 95% of the time, and are 100% breastfed. In fact, you are vehemently opposed to the idea of a bottle. We have let you taste avocado, and you were undecided. The whole family is aghast that if I eat too much garlic, it seems to make you spit up!

We didn’t even realize just how much we were missing by not having you, and now we have you and can’t imagine life without you!

Love,

Mom

Hello everyone, I know that we have not posted but we are finally settled in Washington and I find myself with three spare minutes so I thought that I would.

The girls and I arrived Monday morning, thanks so a LOT of help from my mother getting us to the airport and situated, and Chris and his sister drove in Tuesday about 5:30 am. This is no small feat as they left Florida Saturday night around 9:00 pm! They never stopped to sleep, just slept in shifts. Crazy people, but thanks to Melissa for her help. Apparently Bella did a great job keeping them company. She blogged the trip here: http://mom-orion.blogspot.com/ Check it out!

Abby is three and a half weeks old now! Last time I measured her she was already 11 pounds ( a 2 pound weight gain!). All is ever do is feed the kid! Zoe is adjusting well and is loving playing with her cousin. We even had a second Christmas once we got here, which was wonderful because all of Zoe's toys are on the moving truck and also because my in laws got us all wonderful warm winter clothing that we were desperately in need of after living in Florida.

I definitely miss my family and friends back in Florida, but I am trying to look at this like an adventure!

Will put some pictures up once Chris unloads them from the camera.

Some more pictures

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The countdown is on

We are one week from moving to washington and embarking on the next phase of our lives as a family. It should be interesting and exciting. I admit I am a little nervous, particularly in today's economy but I know we are going to be just fine.

I will be blogging a lot more once we get there to keep everyone updated.




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Some pictures

We are so busy moving but i thought I would add some pictures in the meantime.



















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