Time has flown. Every night I have the great intention of updating my blog…and every night something comes up or I am too exhausted to even put 3 words together!
Life has been nothing short of crazy lately! I ended up having to fly to TX for 2 weeks to help take care of my grandmother. Her health has been pretty bad since my grandfather died (I feel like I’m witnessing a slow death by broken heart…..it is horrible to watch). She seems to perk up when Harper is around but as soon as I leave she goes down again 😦 While home my other grandmother (dad’s mom) passed away. 2011 has been a crappy crappy year for family. Ugh!
After 2 weeks I was more than ready to head home to see my husband!! I got there just in time to pack up and head out. We were u
nsure of what to expect with a military move but oh.my.word it is amazing!! We were told to unhook all electronics and pack up the things we watned to keep with us…nothing else. It was so strange hanging out at home the night before the move! No boxes, no packing gear, nothing different! The movers arrived around 8:30 am and while Harper & I hung out at my in-laws they boxed, moved and inventoried EVERYTHING! It took less than 5 hours! I will never want to move myself again! 🙂 Once the movers had left we did a quick clean and spent the night at the in-laws before heading out!
I have to say I am much sadder about leaving Chicago than I had planned on! We had just started to make some friends, and the amazing spring/summer months are coming. Blah! We had some pretty rough times in Chicago (thank you again economy), but it is honestly a great city! I wish I could have enjoyed it a little bit more.
With a last goodbye to the gorgeous skyline we headed toward Kentucky to spend 2 days driving around the horse farms and distilleries. The horse farms are gorgeous! The amount of money in the area is absolutely insane (the royal faily of Dubai own one of the largest farms!). Harper LOVED watching the horses run around. She got so excited and laughed/squealed like crazy everytime they passed her!
After a quick stop at Makers Mark distillery (which involved some very interesting back country roads!) we headed into Tennesse to stay a few nights in Chattanooga. I had visited Chattanooga as a kid with my grandmother and had great memories of Rock City so I told Dan we HAD to go….no ifs/ands/buts! 🙂 It was still as great as I remembered! I can’t wait to go back when the kiddos are older and let them explore it!
Our next destination was Atlanta (which we hated!) and the Antebellum Trail in Georgia. I love Georgia…I really do. The amazing southern charm, good comfort food, and sweet tea are amazing. Hearing people say “yes ma’am, no sir” and give up seats automatically for elderly/people with babies is so refreshing!! One thing that living all over the nation has taught me is that no one teaches manners like the south! It was so hard to restrain with all the yummy southern food around! Poor Dan had to weigh in once he arrived at COTs and he was being very careful. I did my best to support him (although we did enjoy the sweet tea, fried green tomatoes, and peach cobbler…..you had to!). One of the highlights of the trip was finding the small town that Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed at. The Whistle Stop Cafe is a real place and is still in business!! We got there just in time to eat some FGT, BBQ, and cobbler. It was a great unexpected find on our trip!!
All too soon we were in Alabama (hated it there as well…) and getting ready to say goodbye 😦 I am so glad we got to go on our little roadtrip and spend some quality time together as a family! The anticipation of goodbye made the last day absolutely miserable….it is worse than the actual goodbye. 5wks of seperation. Ugh! I feel bad complaining about it because I have friends who are going through long deployments with their significant others. I know I am very lucky in that it is only 5wks and I know where he is and that he is safe. But seperation sucks all the same. I guess this is my training for our first deployment (which I hope is a long time from now!).
I finally got a call today from Dan and it was sooooooo nice to hear his voice! The no/little contact is the hardest part of all. Harper got so excited when I held the phone to her ear to hear daddy. I know she can’t wait to see him. She is slowly turning into a total daddy’s girl! It was a short call (which stinks because you know you are on a time limit!) but he said everything was going well which I am so happy to hear! It is a lot harder than he was expecting (which is a suprise since he is previous enlisted!)…..I guess they really are making a leader out of him! It was really weird to see people saluting him when we went on base. The first time it happened it shocked the hell out of him (and he had a big grin on his face for the next hour…) 😉 My own little Lt Dan (hehe)
So for now I am slowly counting the days until I see him again and trying to find us a place to live in San Antonio! I am ready to have my own place again and get back into a routine with Harper! She is a trooper though! I love how she just goes with the flow now!
Harper update (since it’s been so long!):
– She weighed in at 18lbs 3ozs at 8 months old! So big! She will be a big 9 month old in a few days so I will get a more updated weight…I’m thinking we will be getting close to the 20lb mark!
– She cut her first tooth a few weeks ago! She was a little extra fussy one day (not bad but different) and I felt for a tooth in the morning….nothing. On a whim I decided to feel again before bed and BAM there it was! Her bottom front tooth! We are now having a little bit of a biting during nursing problem…..but hopefully she learns quick that mommy does NOT like that!
– She is sitting like a pro (no boppy needed!) and is sooooo close to crawling! It is driving her nuts! She can get on all fours and will kinda rock….but she can’t figure out how to go forward! If she ends up on her belly she will slowly scoot backwards….which makes her mad because she is going further away from what she is after! Haha! Every day I think “today is the day” but so far she hasn’t taken off. It is so amazing to watch her grow and develop! I love seeing her learn new things and I am cheering her on….but I am REALLY going to miss my unmobile child! I love that if I put her down she stays! 🙂
– She has turned into the happiest baby! My crazy cranky newborn is officially gone! Unless she is tired she just smiles, laughs, and talks all day! Her talking is far beyond babbles…..she has full and complete conversations (I just don’t understand them!) 😉 Motor skills have not been her strong point but she is a little ahead in verbal skills. Once she learns real words we are in trouble. She is never going to stop talking! Dan and I have resigned ourself to the fact that we have a LOT of parent/teacher conferences in our future about our little chatterbox! I love love love her little personality. We have so many strangers come up to us at restraunts and other outings telling us they have been watching her and are amazed at how happy and personable she is. We have no idea what we are doing in the parenthood thing….but we must be doing something right!
– Sleep. We are still far from sleeping through the night but I have seen some improvement! She still fights naps like they are the ultimate demon though! Most days she takes one 45min nap, but some days she will take none. Those are hard hard days! I keep hearing other mommies talk about how their babies take 2-3 two hour naps. I don’t know what I would do with myself! haha! This stay at home mom thing would be a breeze if she did that!! We are going to start the transition to her floor bed in her room next month once we move in and get settled. Part of me is looking forward to having my room/bed back…..and part of me is dreading it! Where did my tiny little baby go?! How is she big enough to be in her own room?! I don’t think the transition should be too hard though, she slept on her own bed at the hotels and did pretty good!
Here is to hoping we make it through the next 5wks! Just me and Harper……oh boy!
Passports & Prams 