Tis the Month of March Update

I have about 4 unfinished entries that will never see the light of the internet day. We've finally found our groove with Wil being gone during the week, but it certainly doesn't make me any less tired by the end of the day. It's been a sleepless month here in our house. The baby has learned to roll over from her tummy to back over a month ago and almost mastered the back to tummy routine. She's been inchworming all over the crib and I have to get up a couple of times a night to rescue her when she finds herself stuck at a different corner of the crib. She's normally wide awake and babbling complaining words when I go in to get her. I can almost hear the Baby's Whisperer yelling at me while I nurse Wren down yet again "this is how accidental parenting starts!" If anyone has any idea of how to tame a night-traveling baby, please do share. Other than giving up her 12-hour beauty sleep, Wren is marvelously thriving. At her 4-month check-up, she didn't gain as much weight as I thought she would but grew nearly 2.5 inches since the last time. The pediatrician confirmed that she was, in fact, teething, and it wasn't just the figment of my imagination. He was also very impressed that she was such a talker and a mover. Still the happiest, calmest baby I've ever met and is a pleasure to be around even at 4 a.m. I love how she has the biggest and gummiest smile for us every time our eyes meet.

I can truly appreciate when people say "don't blink" now more than ever, especially when I'm around Chase. She makes me so aware that everyday she wakes up almost a teenager. I realized the other day that she was properly pronouncing my sister's name (my sister's name is Kwan and Chase always had the cutest pronounciation of the hard-K or Q words), and panic set in as I searched through the video library hoping that I had captured the toddler talk. Chase's been talking in full sentences since she was about 22 months, and sometimes I forget that she's only two (almost 3!). I was getting so frustrated with her on a few occasions lately and had to remind myself that she was just acting her age. We're reclaiming our school routine and she's doing so splendidly well with alphabets and numbers. It boggles my mind to see my Little Sponge learn and makes me ever more committed to our structured schedule of school during baby's morning nap and pop quizzes through out the day to reinforce the day's new material even though all I want to do sometimes is to sit on the couch with her and watch Meerkat Manor. Speaking of meerkats, do you know how a male meerkat protectively hovers over, and sometimes just plunks himself on, his fertile mate to show that no other dudes should even think about wooing his lady? That's just about how guarded Chase is with it comes to Wren. When we go out and about, she tries to shoo well-wishers away, which only makes her even more darling to the cooing strangers, which only aggravates her protective instinct even more. She would yell "my baby!" and throw herself to cover the carseat if Wren is in it or grab one of her legs if I'm wearing her (you know, because if she has her hand on one of the baby's legs, then all is taken care of). We had been talking to her about going to a birds of prey show at Georgia Southern University for weeks, and she seemed super excited about it for a long time. When the weekend that permitted the outing came, she flatly refused to go. I was baffled and tried to coax her into it to no avail. Eventually I pried it out of her. "The big birds will come and take Wrennie away because she's so little!" Is that not the cutest, most considerate thing you've ever heard? Every once in a while I catch her staring at Wren and then giving a heaving sigh before proclaiming "the baby is so adorable." I just about die. Cute overload happens just as often as the 2-going-on-16 attitude around here, which is her only saving grace when she tells me "whatever" and rolls her eyes (where DID the child learn this??!?). Life with a toddler, particularly MY toddler, is never dull!

As I mentioned, Wil's away at school during the week. It's only about 3 hours away, so he drives home after class on Friday night and heads back Sunday around noon to do homework and get ready for the week. It's a sucky schedule, but we're grateful for the time that we have together. Chase cries for him pretty much everyday as is, which only makes the thought of a deployment even more heartbreaking (no, don't be alarmed Friends and Fam, he's not going anywhere, yet..). I kind of feel bad because he comes home to cardboard boxes and a drained wife every weekend, but this is just as good as it's going get for a while. Thankfully, I have one very understanding and caring husband, who doesn't mind spending his free time at home unpacking and straightening up the house (when Chase allows him out of her grip, that is).

Ok, time to get going. I'm going to try my best to not let another month pass before updating you on our crazy lives. Until then, be well!