Sunday, August 23, 2009

Best Birthday Presents... this one takes the cake!


So. I just turned 26 on the 19th. Very lowkey day. But thanks to Facebook, I had a constant stream of birthday well-wishers, as well as some very sweet friends and family members who called-- a couple of whom left some very... uh, musical... messages. (You know who you are. You're amazing.)

I woke up to a sweet text from Derek and told Avril it was my birthday. She looked at me for a minute, then asked how old I was. I told her and she looked a little harder and said,
"You don't look 26."

So I asked her how old I looked. She said,
"You look like you're still 25."

I think I'll keep her around.

In all honesty, the day proceeded fairly normally. Nothing too out of the ordinary, I took Roman in for his well-child check, cleaned the house, worked on the budget, went for a run, did whatever. Derek's doing an out rotation in Washington right now, so literally there was nothing to expect.

Except.

We had been texting all day and one of his texts made me wonder... we were talking about how much flights were to Washington, our little "pipe dream" to fly me up there for his days off... and I started wondering if it gave him the idea to fly down here. So I started trying to figure out if that was even possible. I came to the conclusion it probably wasn't, but there was a slim chance he might show up. As the night wore on, however, I realized it wasn't going to happen and that that was just my own little dream.

At 11pm he said he was just heading back to his hotel after grabbing dinner at the commissary. Then a couple minutes later, he asked how my birthday was and what the best birthday present I could have would be. I answered, "You. Here."

He said, "Go look out at the gate."
"Shut up."

So I went. And he wasn't there. No car. No sign of anything except some beautiful roses slipped through the chain links. I turned around, happy that he had them delivered, but a little disappointed that I had my hopes up... and he walked out of the trees and swept me into his arms.

Honestly, people, it was like a freaking romance novel, so we're going to just let the camera slowly pan over to the window and let the curtains blow...

Next day: the man scrubs my freaking kitchen, does my laundry and takes us all out shopping and for a delicious cheese run at Gossner's. (Aside: Aren't cows truly the most magical of animals? They just give and give and give and when they're done, they give a little more... Milk, cheese, ice cream, there's a meal, right there. End of aside.)

Then the NEXT day, instead of driving back so he can get some sleep before his night shift, he mows the lawn for me. I am so deliriously in love with this guy. And SO spoiled.

He spent his Saturday driving the 12 hours back to Ft. Lewis just in time to have about an hour before having to go work a 10 hour night shift. That's a killer birthday present, people. Why did he do it you ask?

He wanted to tell me Happy Birthday to my face on my birthday.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Scoping Out Seattle

Derek's in Tacoma (Ft. Lewis) doing an ER rotation with the Army... gone for 4 horrible weeks, but now just days away from being back! I flew out the second week of August to check out the area and pretty much see how much I'd like to live there. But more than that, I really just missed the guy (he'd been gone for a week. How am I gonna be an Army wife?!)

Anyway, we had a great time since he had every day off that I was there.

Our first order of business was of course to see the world's Tallest Totem Pole:



My new clearance AE outfit and a delightful hot cocoa:


No, Derek didn't mind... he was the one taking the pictures... I think he thought it was hot.


We took a ferry from Point Defiance in north Tacoma to Vashon Island, car included. Pretty rad.



My man....


Apparently, people love to build shelters out of driftwood on islands. Who knew? This is right next to a lighthouse, so it's not like someone's going to be stranded here...



This is what I do with driftwood.



This is what I imagine people do in their driftwood shelters once they're completed.


See? There's the lighthouse. I'm SOOO cool.... poser.







There were these beautiful little purple shells-- we only found a few. I think they're actually mussels with the brown stuff rubbed off. We collected quite a number of other shells as well. And you know, cold northern beaches that don't offer tanning options have never appealed to me really, but this made me love them. These beaches were beautiful.


Washed up jellyfish anyone? We were REALLY hungry....

No, but really, we went to this amazing place called The Crab Pot where they served up this amazing thing called a Sea Feast... If you're ever in Seattle- order it. NOW. Unless you don't like seafood. In which case, get out of Seattle.


Now this next section might be considered a little over the top for some of you... a little too crazy too handle. Now's your chance to turn back. Because I'll tell you right now: we went skinny dipping in the FREEZING cold Puget Sound. And then in order to dry off afterward, we naturally did some yoga. So I mean, it's your call if you want to keep scrolling down here or not, but you can't say I didn't warn you.



Ok, so for those of you who stuck with me, the blackberries in Washington are ridiculous! They are literally all over the place and amazingly delicious. I felt like a little black bear cub with my paws all covered in berry juice, but man... oh they were good. Free, fresh, juicy blackberries. Sign me UP!



Seattle skyline--- took this on our way to The Crab Pot!


We got halfway to Mt. Rainier (here) and turned back cause it was raining pretty hard. Of course by the time we got back to the base the sun was out and shining. Oh well, we did karaoke that night with a couple of friends, so that made up for it. (Well, except for the shameful rendition of Rich Girl I gave. My heartfelt apologies to Gwen and Eve for it. Don't worry girls, I'll make you proud yet.)


On Thursday a couple of the attendings invited us along with the other med students out sailing. It was my first experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A very peaceful activity, sailing.


man I need to get my roots done...



Overall, a very fun trip. We really enjoyed it, each other and honestly I could see myself living there. Who knows, we'll see in December!

Roman- 9 months


This boy is honestly the happiest kid I've ever seen. He just warms your heart just looking at you with this big grin. I adore this chubby little monster-- even though he's into literally everything
his little baby hands can latch onto.



He's such an intent observer and loves to figure things out. He's always working, looking, checking stuff out and just overall busy learning. He has to know what's going on at all times, where his crazy sisters are, what's making that noise, where's mom and why can't I get anything out of this bottle while I'm sitting here?



He's figuring out how to climb. This terrifies me. And yet I encourage it... but don't we all? The sooner he learns the dangers, the sooner he'll learn to be cautious of them, right?
Stairs aside, though, every time I turn around he's annoyed because he got stuck in the
chair rungs AGAIN. How does this always happen?


Not to mention he's the most adorable little boy I personally have ever laid eyes on...

And then of course, there's the fact that the natural way to truly discover anything about anything is to chew on it! (I think little boys really are part puppy...)



Friday, August 7, 2009

Bedtime Rituals

I decided to separate the girls' bedtimes by an hour which I have to say is SO NICE. It gives me a little personal time with each girl, but most of all they don't lay up there keeping each other up and irritating each other the whole time! Anyway, so Avril and I have 45 min-1 hour of one-on-one girl bonding time and we've spent it in various ways. She got these great giant coloring pages from one of her friends on her birthday and we've been coloring together every night.


I gotta admit--- I really like coloring.


Thursday, August 6, 2009

Just Like Big Sister...




Xandri absolutely adores Avril. If you're ever wondering what she said, probably just refer back to what Avril just said.

Whatever Avril does, Xandri does. It doesn't matter if I just said, "Avril get your feet off the table", I have to address it to Xandri as well. It's just a fact of life.

The leotards? Yeah, for Avril's birthday we signed her up for ballet. I took her into the store to get one and of course had Xandri and Roman with me as well. I told Xandri she could pick out a leotard, too and after MUCH deliberation and repeatedly trying on all the colors of the same leotard, FINALLY settled on-- surprise, surprise-- the same one her big sister got.