A Little Break

I haven't gotten the time or the drive to blog much lately. I know our family and friends really come here for Chase more than anything else, and I apologize for holding your beautiful grandbaby/niece's pictures/videos hostage. Lately, there's not a quiet moment around our household. I'm beginning to feel the full effect of what it's like to have a husband, who works long hours and can't come home for lunch to give me a helping hand with the baby :O. Yes, you military wives out there may now roll your eyes. I was totally spoiled last year after Wil got to spend so much time at home during his recovery period and subsequent stay in WTU. Plus we were living on-post and he was literally 5 minutes away at any given moment. Now he leaves before sunrise and comes home just before the baby goes down for the night, if I intentionally stretch her routine long enough so that they get to spend a little time together. Have I mentioned that we moved into a house with a big backyard, which quickly filled with poop that had turned into poopsicles, which I had finally pick up today? I'm going to leave the logistic of collecting 2 weeks worth of poopsicles that have been partially buried under the snow to your imagination. Yeah, I haven't even thought about unpacking these past 5 days except for that one time when I had to go dig for a pair of clean pants. Life has been routinely hectic in a way raising a young family always does, and I don't see it changing any time soon. Not complaining here. I'm loving every second of our new life but it's going to take a little time for me to learn to better manage my time/schedule.

I do want to make a mention of a wonderful man we had to say goodbye to this past weekend. Uncle Bill was Wil's grandpa's youngest brother and one of a few great father figures in his life. Grandpa's cabin is about a stone throw away from Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary's house, and I always hear stories of how Uncle Bill would make him grilled zucchini sandwiches while everybody was away and together they would watch some World War II documentary. My very first welcome into the Steinhauer family happened at Uncle Bill's house. It was a rainy December night, we got in late, and I was very nervous to finally meet Wil's family. I think everybody else was still at church except for Uncle Bill, who wasn't feeling well that day. Wil introduced us, Uncle Bill gave me a big bear hug and proceeded to offer me his seat by the fire. And as they say, the rest is history. When I was younger, I grieved differently. Death was to be feared and always seemed unfair. Now I think I tend to look at it as a way to celebrate life well-lived. And well-lived Uncle Bill's life was. We always enjoyed his Navy day stories, had shared laughs over Aunt Mary's famous potato soup (Wil's favorite), and witnessed a quiet respect everybody paid to him when he extended a firm handshake to them in church. He helped raise a man, who was to become my husband, and for that I am thankful. There is no one better to model a life of a loving husband and a doting father. Uncle Bill, rest in peace. We'll dearly miss you until we meet again. Save a seat for me by the fire!

I don't have too many pictures to share as we've been filming our Chaster a bit more lately. She's just a constant giggling and babbling machine and snap shots just don't really capture this tiny delight anymore. But since it's now 5 A.M., you are going to have to settle for these:

Lunch with Auntie Carol and Jessica.
Jessica snapped this picture of us and I loved it so much I made it my Facebook profile picture.
Isn't she just gorgeous?
Playing with one of the toys/wearing one of the outfits Santa dropped off. I should add that she has mastered the four keys since Christmas, when this picture was taken, and now prefers to flip the piano over and uses it as a bongo. A resourceful prodigy!
See why it's been hard photographing this child?
Auntie Mara and Sampson came to visit us.
The littlest Mutt showing them her funny face.
Soooo happy Brutus lets her sit this close to him. AND he's sharing his toy!

This is a new thing she does. She used to do this to see if Brutus and Paddy were on the floor, but now it's turned into her favorite way of playing peekaboo. And we were supposed to lower the crib last week...


We still don't have a land line and I'm still "borrowing" my landlord's internet connection. I told Wil to tell his new boss that he was on the verge of being kicked to the curb because he hit the ground running at the new job and didn't have time to get his high maintenance wife a phone and a mailbox. We'll see how long that would last.