Overheard

A conversation in the bathroom

Chase: Papa, can you do me a favor?
Wil: Yes, Chase. What is it?
Chase: A big fat favor?
Wil: Ok, Honey, you just have to tell me what it is.
Chase: A. BIG. FAT. FAVOR, PAPA.
Wil: So you want me to do you a big fat favor.
Chase: Yes, Papa, a big fat favor.
Wil, walking out of the bathroom scratching his head: Did you hear your daughter?

We don't say that!

Chase: Momma, we don't say pooppy head, doo-doo, what the hell, damn it,...
Momma: No, Chasey, we don't say those because they are bad words.
Chase: So, we don't say "what the hell" and "damn it" anymore.
Momma: It's great that you know that but I wish you would actually stop repeating it.
Chase: We don't repeat "what the hell" and "damn it"?
Momma: Really, Chasey?

My Husband

Chase: I'm mad!
Momma: I'm sorry about that. Why are you mad exactly?
Chase: I'm very very upset.
Momma: Ok, I'm assuming you are going to tell me why you are upset?
Chase: I NEED my father! I want my husband!
Momma: I'm sorry, Honey. Papa is at work but he'll be home soon though.
Chase: At work? Again?!?

Chase: How are you feeling today, Momma?
Momma: I'm great, thank you! How are you doing?
Chase: I'm good. What are we going to do today, Papa?
Papa: Well, we're having dinner together right now, and we can hang out together after dinner?
Chase with a heaving sigh and a slight eye rolling: Anyways, I guess we're not doing anything then.

My Lame List

-I'm a day shy of 36 weeks, which means I was ready to have this baby a month ago. Exhausted, obnoxiously huge, and especially love it when people just yell at me "you haven't popped yet?!? (as if I'm holding the baby hostage). If I'm out and about with Chase more than 6 hours/day, I get real strong painful contractions all night. Her movements are becoming very creepy to whomever that is talking to me, because it really does look like she's trying to bust out. I have pregnant friends who say that their husbands never get to feel the babies, so I should be thankful that both Chase and Wren keep Wil up all hours of the night kicking and punching him showing their father their personalities. Thankfully, I don't think he's going to be sent across the pond again anytime soon until we leave (although he did come home this week starting a sentence with "next week one of my soldiers has to be escorted..." He has enough wits about him to immediately tell me that another coworker would take over that gig. 3 trips in 3 months is enough).

-Spent all of last weekend sorting through ALL of the kids' clothes we had all over the house, cleaned and repacked them according to sizes in those huge RubberMaid tubs. So far I've got 7 plus a few in smaller containers. Now onto packing my own clothes. It's awfully tricky to pack when we have to live out of suitcases for 2 months (and for me in the ever changing post-baby body, no less). Thankfully, this WILL be the last time I'm pcsing across the ocean with a newborn. Crazy husband seems to think that I might want #3 down the road when I start sending Little Mutt #1 to school. Clearly the man is insane. We're only having as many as we can afford to send to college. Post 9/11 GI bill is sponsoring one and we're the other. That's enough for momma.

-The weather sucks. Overnight lows are already way below the freezing point and it's been dreary for days. Snow is in the forecast 3 nights this week. Tears. This, coupling with having sent off all of my besties back to the States, actually makes saying goodbye to Germany much easier to deal with.

-My Wonder Kid finished potty training herself about a month ago, and she would have done it sooner if I just let her do what she wanted. Momma wasn't jazzed about kneeling in front of public toilets during the first trimester, sorry Chaster. Some of my friends' asked what our secret to super quick and painless potty training was, and to be honest I had very little to do with it. She was ready, and I followed her lead. We never used pull-ups like it was intended though. The whole idea seemed a little crazy to me--"you can pee in this big-girl panties but not the others." Pull ups were only for entertainment, but once we were serious about it, we just stuck with her real little undies. I'm telling you, this kid will go far in life if I just stay out of her way. She's my constant source of amusement and we're thoroughly enjoying the last of our alone time together.

-In the Husband news: Wil's work replacement is here (yay!), although his department is still sadly under staffed (boo!), which continues to make for occasional long days and weekend work but it hasn't been nearly as bad as before the Damn Bike Trip. Speaking of the trip, although I was mighty bitchy about it, I have to admit that I am also very proud that he was able to complete 450 miles on his own in 7 days without any kind of training, getting up and biking on after numerous falls and crashes, and keeping his cool when the rich CA people in their Ferrari's and Bentley's gave him the fingers for being in their lanes. Ride 2 Recovery is such a fantastic program, and if I weren't hugely pregnant and pretty much alone away from friends and families, I would have let him go on all the rides around the country. He got to keep his brand-new and expensive 5-lb road bike and is now contemplating the Soldier Ride once we get situated in our new home stateside.

I gotta go get ready for our Saturday Doughnut run and farmer's market visit. Hope your weekend is equally fattening and blissful!

Chase

Sometimes there's not much else I want to do but to sit and marvel at my darling girl. This year has transformed her from a baby into such a little girl, and there's no amount of "don't blink" warning to prepare me for any of it. She's grown into a funny, sweet, considerate little lady, who's testing out her boundaries and independence every single day. It both breaks my heart and makes my chest puff up a little to hear her say "no, Momma, I can do it all by myself!" Lately the weather has been so wet and dreary, and to couple that with her father being gone on yet another work trip and her BFF's PCSing, it's just been a lot of us hanging around the house together. I used to dread days like these when Chase was a tiny baby, because it felt like the days would never end. Now it feels a lot like I'm hanging out with a really cool friend, who can make me laugh all day--just like her father does. It's also a big plus that she gives spontaneous hugs, kisses, "I yove you, Momma," and still lets me cuddle with her whenever I want.

Yesterday she woke up and asked for her father. I choked up a little before reminding her that he was away again. Her eyes said she remembered, although she kept asking and answering her own questions about him all day. I'm sure he's missing her just as terribly, since the only reason he signed up for a Facebook account after barely 8 hours away from home was to have constant access to new pictures of her I might put up. He was born to father our girls.

Later in the day when Chase was serving me food from her kitchen, she also made a plate for Nadia, her best buddy whom just moved away. I really teared up that time because I knew it was the first, and perhaps the easiest, of many goodbyes coming her way as a military brat. I'm pretty sure she thinks that all of her friends are just moving to the same place we are, and we'll soon have daily playdate just like this past summer.

She seems to know when I'm a little down and need some cheering up. After she woke up from her nap and had her snack on the couch with me, she grabbed my hand, dragged me off the couch, and said "come yook at the tree Momma." She took my hand and led me to my bedroom. From the window there, she stood pointing at a maple tree that was turning beautiful golden color. "The yeaves are falling--they are SO beautiful!" I could never hug her tightly enough.

This evening, perhaps sensing that her mother might never ever let her out of her grip unless she fought for it, she uncharacteristically ventured out to a group of older boys that had been playing around our house all day. "Heyo, I'm Chasey--Dr. Steinhauer. Yook at my pretty birdie necklace and dandelion!" Those 4 boys, who alternated between riding their loud bikes up and down the street and a pick-up game of soccer clearly couldn't care less about a little 2-year-old, who was wearing Hello Kitty rainboots with her pink outfit and trying to get their attention from the sidewalk. Again with the heart break/motherly pride combo. She did everything she knew to do to show them that she was cool, too. Her red little balance bike got one of the boys' attention (or perhaps it was pity?), but she quickly grew tired and settled to sit and cuddle with me while watching them make more noise with bikes and soccer ball. If those kids were girls, she would have been the bell of the ball, but neither one of us meant much to a gang of 7-year-old boys. So I sat next to her and swallowed 20 more hard lumps in my throat. My whole traumatic middle school years flashed before my eye and I was almost mad at those poor boys for not lavishing my baby with all of their attention. Then she happily said "cuddle with me, Momma," and all was right with the world again. I couldn't have birthed a more perfect creature.