Thankful

Wil and I were hanging out in bed together a few days ago after he put Chase down for the night. Wren was with us, dozing off. He said "I love my life right now. It's everything I ever wanted." Couldn't have said it better myself. There are so much to be grateful and thankful for this year. Exactly a year and 5 days ago, my husband was wheeled into a surgery that would last 10 hours. It was the longest day following an even longer month of home care and pain management waiting for the OR schedule to open up. That WAS hell on earth. The uncertainty of his recovery and our future weighed heavily on our minds, which led us to a few important decisions, like trying for our second baby earlier than we had planned, that brought us here this year. And what difference a year make! Wil is healthy and fully recovered. His back will never be perfect and because of that his career path will change, but it's the kind of change we're happy about. Our family is blessed with yet another healthy, happy, and beautiful girl, whom we're all madly in love with. Chase was made to be the most adoring big sister and I can't be more proud of how she has handled this huge shift in her life. My mother being here to lavish my big girl with all the attention certainly makes the transition that much easier. Chase has Yai to go to whenever she likes and they are just the best of friends. I honestly dread the day we have to drop her off at the airport and already feel a heartbreak coming on for the both of them.

Having a baby and moving within weeks of each other is not exactly ideal, but such is a military life. Wren has made this whole process as easy as possible on us by being the sweetest and calmest baby. She worried me at first because she would rather sleep 4-5 hours at a stretch at night instead of waking up to eat constantly (or in Chase's case, about 23 hours/day). Her pediatrician assured me that she was doing well and putting on weight quite nicely, and that we should thank our lucky star before we went to bed for this perfect little angel. I'm just not accustomed to having a baby who wants to nurse a lot on schedule, sleep soundly on her own in her bassinet, and is generally the most relaxed little creature on earth. We're getting more sleep now than we ever did with Chase when she was 4-5 months old. Both of their personalities in utero have held true since we welcomed our girls into the world. I fought for the name Chase because she felt like a hunter, a go-getter the whole pregnancy, and Wren always felt like a delicate little bird from the beginning. I'm honored and proud to have these two babies call me momma and watch them grow up into wonderfully tough and smart broads with kind and humble hearts, who always strive to better their world.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE being a mother of two?!? It's such an incredible ride. Chase loves her sister so very dearly and is so caring. She constantly wants to hold and kiss Wren and will check on her just about every other minute if her baby is down for a nap in her bassinet. Wil and I put both kids down for a nap today and looked at each other like "now what do we do?" This just seems a little too easy, and therefore a little like some kind of a trick. I'm sure the hard part is coming in a few short weeks, so we should just be more thankful for our free time right now.

Hope your Thanksgiving is bountiful and full of love from friends and family. Ours will undoubtedly be since we'll be introducing my mother to our family Thanksgiving tradition of joining the crowd at a DFAC (Dining Facility for those of you non-military). I'm sure she'll be mortified :).

P.S. One last, but never least, person that I'm most thankful for: an incredible Husband. I've said it numerous times before, there's no one else I would rather go on this crazy journey with. To see Wil hold our babies just melts me into a mushy puddle of love. Thank you, Honey, for letting me dupe you into marrying me! I yoveeee you!

Nuts!

In my head I feel a little like a hamster spinning a wheel, although my body is anything but in motion. I'm sure the only reason I haven't gone into a panic attack about this move yet is because the last trip to the bathroom/kitchen sucks all the energy out of me. We picked up two more luggage this weekend to pack up the clothes that we'll be using for the next two months and have lined them all up in the hallway. So far we'll be traveling with 5 30"+ luggage, 4 carry on's, 2 car seats, 1 double stroller, and 2 giant dog kennels, plus the six of us. I'm not sure how we're going to transport everything and everyone (we could barely fit everything in a German rental van when I first got here--two fewer children ago), but that's another worry for another time. The movers are coming next week and hopefully the baby will be coming this week. My mom is flying in to help out, and no one is more excited about it than Chase. I ask her what she has planned for Yai, and the list she gives me includes things I haven't been able to do with her much like playing tag and chasing pigeons. Makes me a little sad, but I know we'll get over this horribly challenging hump in some kind of fashion.

Not in the same kind of moving news, but I did attempt to induce my own labor by knowingly consuming Taco Bell. I was hoping that it would make me so violently ill, as it always does, that my body will be forced to expel EVERYTHING it's currently holding hostage. No dice. I only gave myself horrible stomachache for 8 hours to add on to the discomfort level. Nice work there, Umer. I have also decided that, since some people view a huge pregnant belly as a form of insensitive comment/cheap shot practice, I am under no obligation to put up a polite front and just "let it roll off my belly." This revelation came to me during this week's unfortunate trip to our BX to buy more stuff for the move.

Me, pushing a cart full of stuff and dragging another luggage behind me and getting stuck behind 3 shopping gal pals and their carts that had no intention of moving after 30 seconds: Excuse me.
Girlfriend #1, who was wider than she was tall and sporting a sassy headband that only made her fat head looked fatter, after looking me up and down a few times: Oh, yeah (barely made room for me to pass).

I didn't made it 5 steps ahead of them and was clearly within an earshot when I heard:

Girlfriend #1 to #2 and #3: Well, she's not THAT fat.

Back in the days before I packed on 40 lbs, I would have taken down the heifer in one fell swoop. I'm less than 2 months out of Germany and can't afford to get banned from the only place nearby that I can buy heaving piles of organizational plastic crap for cheap. Inhale and exhale. Walk on.

After finally tracking down my Husband and Child in a crowd that was as stupid as we were to brave KMCC on a 3-day weekend and feeling an imaginary baby head crowning, I told Wil that I needed to go sit down somewhere STAT. And wouldn't you know it, the only available table I could find was conveniently located in front of a Baskin-Robbins shop. I was too tired to breathe and left the chowing to the other two Stooges. Somehow, I was still an uncomfortable recipient of the glares, stares, and whispers from EVERYONE, and especially from a woman who was sitting a row over and a table behind us. She kept giving me these frightful looks then turned her face in horror to whisper something in very hush hush tone to her husband about every 15 seconds. After about 10 minutes of this I had enough:

Me: Please stop staring. I'm not a freak show.

Her husband thought I was hilarious. The wife? Not so much.

Then a random woman just started yelling at me as I was walking pass her to tell my Husband that he was going to walk home if I had to wait for him 5 more minutes.

Woman, who was about 5 yards away from me: BOY? BOY? BOY?
Me: No. None of your business, but no.

I'm limiting my outings for the next couple of weeks for public safety reasons.

Because He Wants to Die Alone in an Empty House?

Wil had some business to take care of a few days ago in Baumholder, from where we moved nearly two years ago. He called and told me that he was coming home bearing a present. As soon as I saw the wrapping I knew what it was. Our favorite bakery is in Baumholder, and it should give you an idea what kind of valued customers we were when the baker saw Wil's face and asked where he had been all these times. He said she gave an uproarious laughter when he explained that we had moved and that his wife was pregnant again before bagging up a generous portion of my favorite dessert on earth in the most familiar cheerful yellow little wrapper. I must have asked her the name of it in German a million times, but honestly, as soon as I see the thing, all I can hear is angels singing and blowing their trumpets. I've tried this dessert all over Germany and none comes close to the delectable masterpiece from this bakery.

He came home late, and Chase and I had just about finished our dinner. I thought about my weekly weigh-in that was in a few days and an hour of free open bar (read: Halloween candy bowl) the kid and I had earlier, summoned every fiber of strength I had, and graciously thanked my husband before asking him to put it away for tomorrow. My evil Husband grinned. He knew he was going to have a little fun at his wife's expense.

Wil: Chase, this is Momma's present! Would you please take it to her?
Chase, carrying the wrapped tray on both of her open palms: Momma, here's your present! What did Papa bring you, Momma?!?
Wil: It's a dessert!
Chase: May you please share your dessert, Momma? PLEASE?!?
Me: Of course, Honey! Papa can give you a few bites (because I don't want to be in a close physical contact with the thing that has gravitational force of the sun).

A few minutes passed...

Me: Okay, fine, would you please cut me a little sliver of it?
Wil, letting out a mischievous snort: Here, Honey.
Me: Alright, give me another. Oh, forget it, just pass the tray to me.
Chase: Can I please have some more, Momma?
Me: Yes, Honey. You should like this dessert. I had this EVERY DAY when I was pregnant with you.
Chase: I eat this when I was inside of you!
Me: More or less, yes. That's how my butt got really big.
Wil: Well, you haven't had any during this pregnancy and your butt still got really big.

Oh, yes, I ate the whole thing after that. In one sitting. It was as delicious as I remembered.