Wil's back from his mission. I'm trying to get him to write a blog post about his experience because I was deeply touched by what he's shared. So far what I've got is "tell them to watch Taking Chance." I'll give him a few more days to rest and play golf before calling it quit on the nudging effort.
Chase was beside herself when she saw him. She woke up at 1 a.m. asking to come to bed with us, and Wil was just too tired to protest. I love that she always calls us "Ma-Pa" when she wants to address the parentals at the same time.
Chase: Ma-Pa, let's read "By the big red barn in the great green field..."
Me: No, Chasey, it's the middle of the night. Go to sleep. And stop kicking me.
15 seconds later as I try to fall back to sleep, I feel a little hand petting my head.
Chase: Momma, are you ok?
Me: Yes, Chasey. Just resting my eyes. You know, in the dark. Go to sleep.
Chase, grabbing my hand and pressing it on her cheek while putting a thumb in her mouth: Yes, Momma.
A long deep breath. Silence at last. Sinking my head into the pillow.
Chase: Ma-Pa, may I please have some warm milk?
Wil: Grrrrr....Z..Z...Z...
Me: Guess that means me. Yes, Chase, stay in bed and I'll be back with your milk.
Chase: Thank you, Momma. I yove you.
Me. You have got to stop being adorable at too-early hours in the morning.
One warm cup of milk later.
Me: Ok, Chasey, let's go to bed.
Chase: I sleep in Ma-Pa's bed.
Me: Clearly, you are not.
Chase: I wanna read the yummy soup book.
Me, checking the clock that says 1:32 A.M.: Would you go back to sleep after this book?
Chase: Ok, Momma (LIAR LIAR!!!)
One yummy soup book read.
Chase: Momma sing Chasey song on a chair? (She wants me to sit on her rocking chair with 25.8 lbs of her wrapping around my stomach and sing "I Will.")
Me: And you go to sleep, ok?
One very long song sung.
Me, tucking her into her own bed: Night night, Baby. Sweet dreams.
Chase: Snug as a bug in a rug.
Me: Yes, snug as a bug in a rug. I love you.
Chase: I yove you, Momma.
Now I'm really awake. Is 2:47 A.M. too late to take Unisome? And just in case anyone still wonders what stay-at-home moms do all day, Mari found a good answer.
I've thought about updating the blog with something other than pictures or video of the Kid, but our summer has been rather hectic. Also, I never remember to do those Tuesday 10's, but here are 5 things that we can share quickly right now before the baby is awake and our Saturday morning at the flea market with the girls starts:
1. Old news to Facebook friends. We're having another baby girl and she will be named Wren Elise! I'm so over the moon about this. For a long time, I'd hoped that I would be able to give Wil a son. I think all his life he's had a life goal that most people would find absolutely generic. A happily married life, a few happy and well-behaved kids, a few dogs, a house with white picket fence. Since we already had the perfect daughter, I thought he would have everything he ever wanted if I could give him a son. Looking back, I realized that this thinking was more for me than him. The relationship that Chase and Wil share is something out of a story book. My friend Michele once remarked "he's so in love with her," and I can tell you that the feeling is mutual. Sure, we'll love #2 just as dearly, but I never wanted Wren to feel like she would always come second to Chase or in competition for her parents' adoration just because of a birth order. When the ultrasound tech found the money shot to confirm what I had known in my heart that morning, I was overcame. I secretly had been hoping for a girl. I wanted Chase to have a sister. Someone, whom she may or may not always like but will always love, to talk to about boys, clothes, life, and their uptight silly parents. Oh, to the be a fly on their wall. When I saw her face on the ultrasound monitor, I knew this was all I ever wanted for my little family. Two happy, healthy, smart girls, who will be the apples of our eyes and keep our house busy with visitors. I talked before about how I didn't really feel all that enthusiastic about this pregnancy or very connected to this baby, but all changed that day. I feel the glow and the joy of pregnancy (mainly because I have stopped throwing up/dry heaving 20 hours/day) like everybody talk about. Sure it sucks to be huge and radiating heat in the warmest German summer with no AC, but this is the last go round for me. The last time my body will be a vehicle to bring our baby into the world, and I'm enjoying every minute of it! Doesn't mean I won't bitch about my cankles and the ferocious heartburn, but I'm determined to mark everyday with positivity and happy thoughts, which is completely unlike my usual sarcastic/pessimistic self.
2. Her name. Wren Elise. Sounds like poetry to me. We had our hearts set on William Seree for a boy, to honor our uncle Bill, whom, together with his brother (Wil's grandpa) and loving family, helped raise my husband and molded him to be the man that he is today, and my dad (Seree means freedom in Thai. Wouldn't that be fitting for an Army brat?). When we found out we were having a girl, I could not bring myself to name her Wilamena and set out to find a combo of names that would make W.E.S. initials (uncle Bill's middle name is Edward). While browsing all the W-names, I came across Wren and instantly fell in love with it. Wil came home later that day and we were sitting on our front steps watching Chase draw on the sidewalk with chalks when I asked him about it. "I like it. Sure," he said wearily. It was a long rough day/night at work, and I thought about presenting all of our major life decisions to him when he was too tired to protest from then on. We woke up the next day and she still felt like a Wren. The name stuck. It's just so happen that Chase is going through a bird phase and loves all things cheep-cheep. I bought her a necklace a while ago that has a little silver birdie charm on it, and she practically squealed with delight when I put it around her neck. It's meant to be :).
3. Our summer has been incredibly busy! We found out that we were assigned to GA and were kind of bummed about it for a while. Now that we have sulked and got it out of our system, the new mission is to find a suitable housing. Lemme tell you, Statesboro, GA is not a place one wants to buy a home if he should accidentally find himself there for 3 years. It's home to Georgia Southern University and reminds me a lot of Auburn 10 years ago. Before Target, Super Walmart, or pedestrian-only campus. Yeah, that Auburn. It ain't pretty. Houses for sale are overpriced and ugly. Houses for rent are mostly aimed at college students, and you know we're a little old to be living in something that looks like it belongs on a frat row. But I'm not stressing...yet. We've got 4 more months before I can let loose my blood pressure and then it's on like donkey kong. If you have a Statesboro connection, I would love to hear from you!
4. Such is a military life. It's a summer of exodus for most of our friends. Good friends we'll forever keep close to our hearts but soon enough will be too far for an afternoon playdate. Luckily, I'm the last to leave. Not at all depressing, so we're making the most of our last few months together. We play almost everyday, have girls' night out, and have lots of cookouts. The boys get in their golf time on the weekend together, while the girls get Saturday morning (mostly sans kids) to have leisurely girly breakfast and flea market stroll. Chase now wakes up and asks "where are my kids?!?" We sure will miss our "people."
5. To end on a sad note. Wil is away on a very important mission. He's escorting a body of his soldier back home to the States for a funeral and burial. It was a mission he never wanted but was more than honored to do. I don't think it has completely hit him quite yet, because he's been spending days and nights this past week preparing for this unfortunate trip. It was surreal for me to watch Wil getting his soldier's uniform ready in our bedroom. The green jacket that hung in my closet with all the medals and ribbons he'd earned and with a name tape that didn't spell Steinhauer. Our hearts break everyday when we talk about the soldier and the family he left behind. Our kids have played together. Wil saw him and his family almost on a daily basis because of the nature of his job. As a WTU cadre, it was his duty to look after this soldier and other wounded warriors in his unit. I hope that he, along with family members, friends, and others who will be attending the funeral, will be able to say a final goodbye to this wonderful person and friend and get some kind of closure they each search for. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
*Now a few hours after I first posted this entry, I just realized that today is Monday and not Sunday. Haha. Thank you, USAREUR, for a 4-day weekend.
The first video was shot over a month ago on the day that her fever, which was caused by that crazy infection, broke. Speaking of which, Chase's ultrasound came back clean! I'm so beyond thankful and hope that we'll never have to experience such a horror again. Look at my poor baby. You can tell from her eyes that she had been so sick.
Chase has an incredible memory and loves to sing. I was surprised the first time I heard her sing a whole nursery rhyme without skipping a word, and since she has moved on to other non-children songs she hears around the house or in the car. This is one of my favorites. I sang "I Will" to Chase the whole time she was in utero mainly because my pregnant brain wouldn't allow me to remember words to any other songs and I loved the lyrics so much. I sang her the song at 1 a.m., 3 a.m., 5 a.m., and pretty much at all odd hours of the night when she was a newborn hoping to lull her into a peaceful slumber. Maybe she also loved the song and wanted to hear more or my singing was that bad because the child was always wide awake. I thought it was adorable when she could string words together that one of her first sentences was "Momma sing Chasey song?" This was from a few weeks ago and she has learned a few more verses since.
Last but not least, we had a really warm week a few weeks ago. That might have just been our whole summer, since we have had to break out heavy jackets these past few days. Remember that European houses don't come with A/C, and I'm not plugging in our portable one because we just got a refund from the power company and I would like to keep it that way until we have to PCS at the end of the year/beginning of the next. Brutus just knows better than to leave the cool basement, but poor Paddy is just not getting it. As it normally goes in this house, if you are outside, you can expect to have a wet and slimy tennis ball dropped on your foot repeatedly by the most persistent Lab you'll ever meet. He had a mild heat stroke from our long walk last year, and now we have to watch him closely even for a short session of fetch during the German warm spell. I'm not being mean, people. My two older kids are going to hate Georgia.
I'm running a little short on time and energy this week, so here's some new pictures for the grandparents until we can get a real post together. Have a great Father's Day weekend!
Man, I love this funny 2-year-old stage. Chase's been talking for a long time, but now she's really absorbing and repeating back everything she hears around her. We have hilarious conversation all day and I wish I could share everything she says but that post will be really really long since the child is basically a parrot. She's also a sweet little darling and loves to show her affection through both her action and words. Behold:
Whenever I'm out of her field of vision for a minute, even if it's for a short potty break, she will tell me when I return "I'm so happy to see you, Momma!" And it normally comes with a big hug. Oh, yeah, I have it very good.
She's been watching a lot of TV these past couple of months because I didn't feel well and picked up all kinds of funny things from "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" and "Blue's Clues." For example, if I'm being goofy around her, she will say "silly old Momma," and something that requires a bit of thoughts behind it gets "think, think, think" in her Thinking Chair. Oh, we also sing "The Wonder Pets" songs all day long. They are surprisingly very catchy.
I finally caved and let Wil turned her car seat around on the drive home back from Paris. My goal was to keep her rear-facing until 35 lbs, but it proved to be very challenging physically for both Chase and I to accomplish. She's gotten so tall that I had a hard time putting her in her seat without bumping her head on the door frame several times before I could finally cram all of her long limbs into that confined space. Plus with me getting bigger everyday and easily winded, the task of going anywhere in a car was becoming more and more dreadful. Chase didn't really sleep much in the car anymore either, so any long drive with her was increasingly traumatizing for both the screaming kid and stressed out parents, and we thought she might be a touch more cooperative if she could see where she was going and things that were around. The first time she saw her forward-facing seat, her eyes got as big as giant saucers. Wil was still making a few adjustments to the straps and she exclaimed "Papa turned my seat around!" She's still saying that excitedly every time we get into the car, which only adds to Wil's "My Papa is My Hero" points.
The first things she saw in her "new" seat were cows grazing in a pasture. That was it. For the next 4 hours, it was "I Spy" but only with cows. White ones, brown ones, spotted ones, big ones, little ones, momma with babies,...etc. And because the first cows she saw in her seat were from the outskirt of Paris, the first time we saw a herd of cows after our trip, she informed me that we were back in Paris again! A few days ago after an outing with her father that took them through a scenic (cow) route, she came bouncing into the house and could barely contain her excitement telling me that the cows were happy to see her and wagging their tails. Tonight on our way back from dinner, we had to stop and let her say hi to our village cows. "Look at the cows, Baby" she told her baby doll while holding her up to the window. "They are playing and the babies are drinking milk!" We couldn't stay long because a storm was coming through and our boys weren't a big fan. As I was telling her that we had to go, she yelled out "night night Cows. I have to go to the house to check on Brutus and Paddy. Storms make them nervous."
My neighbor has a couple of horses that live across the street from our backyard. Chase loves them and we have to visit them whenever we can. Today we witnessed one of the horses successfully operated something that looked like a water fountain to me (although Wil called it a water trough) and were mighty impressed. Chase told him "good job, Mr. Horse. I'm very proud of you!"
In the car, Chase only wants to hear one song--"Papa Song," which is actually Usher's "U Got It Bad." One day Wil was singing along with the CD and I suppose she just thought that Papa was Usher. It was cute about the first 500 times, but now Papa is desperate to show her that he also sings variety of other songs that she can choose from.
I can go on and on about this amazing little kid, but I think I'm going to head to bed early and upload a video of her singing the Beatles' "I Will," which she has dubbed "Chasey Song" because I had been singing it to her since she was still in utero. It's beyond adorable and worth the wait :).
When we finally realized that this year would be the last for us in Europe, the panic set in a little. We've had plenty of reasons to postpone traveling (back problem, difficult pregnancy, back surgery, paying off debt, new born, back surgery, saving money, more morning sickness, etc.), but this year was it and we had to get out and see the rest of Europe. We've seen a lot of Germany and a wee bit of France through our day trips and short overnight stays, but that was about it. So I watched airfare sales like a hawk and did all kinds of research to line up our trips. Prague was supposed to be the first stop to coincide with Wil's school stuff near the boarder. He left for school right before I had to have my wisdom teeth pull, and as I mentioned before, I thought the exhaustion I felt while visiting him was a result of an infection. I was infected alright. With a baby. So needless to say, we didn't see Prague unless Prague was located on the back on my eyelids that were tightly closed. No worries, he'll be in school plenty more times this year, so I think Prague is well-covered. Next was Cinque Terre and the third was Rome. I booked both these trips before I realized that I was pregnant and was mighty grateful when I found out that we were indeed pregnant again that I could lounge in the relaxing Cinque Terre during my rough first trimester (it was still rough even with Zofran) and was hoping that I would have more energy to brave Rome as I went into the second trimester. Well, I was half right. Cinque Terre was everything everybody told us it would be and more. The lemon trees were heavy with gorgeous fruits all over the 5 villages, the sun was out, the sea was a captivating shade of blue-green, the food was amazing, and the view everywhere was breathtaking. I don't have enough big words to describe how great the trip was, so let's do it with some pictures. Oh, we also got to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa while waiting for our trip back home, so that was a nice little cherry on top of an already exceptional experience.
We took that trip at the beginning of April, a few weeks before Chase's 2nd birthday. The rest of April was occupied by my all-day sickness and Chase's first ever experience of getting to watch TV everyday. Then came May. If you read our last post, you know how horrendous May was in this household. Hospital visit after hospital visit. I had never been so scared out of my mind--not even when Wil was in the operating room for 10 straight hours. Her first ever sickness that required an aid of antibiotics turned into a 2-week battle with a raging infection and fever that were caused by a virulent bacteria that just wouldn't die. Well, not after the first two antibiotics anyway. I had already abandoned the idea of going to Rome, because there was no way Chase was going to get better in time and I was beyond exhausted. My mind was not anywhere near traveling, but after nearly two weeks of 103˚-104˚F fever that I didn't even know a tiny human body could sustain, antibiotic #3 came through (I LOVE you, Cefdinir) and she slept 8 hours straight without fever or upchucking. It took a few more days before the dreaded temperature finally went away for good, and then the boys got sick. First, it was poor Paddy, our beloved 102-lb big boy, who had explosive diarrhea all over the house. And this was 2 days before Rome was supposed to happen, ok? We cleaned up the mess as much as we could ourselves and called in the professional to finish the job. Now I really wasn't going to Rome, but my husband wouldn't budge. "We needed a break," he said. Yes, we sorely did.
And so, last Friday we made our way to the airport. It was the first time we used Frankfurt International Airport's Holiday Parking, which is basically a long term parking, and I did enough research and asked around to know that I should budget about 30 additional minutes for catching a shuttle back to the airport (Holiday Parking is so far away from the main airport and remote, we actually drove pass a sign that said we were leaving Frankfurt altogether on our way there). We parked our car, dragged our luggage to the shuttle stop, and waited. There were a few people there ahead of us and they said they had already called for a shuttle. We waited some more and more people joined us. About 5 more calls were made through out the hour that we were stranded there (there were no taxis around either) and by the time the airport people sent out a big enough bus to pick up all of us, we knew we were going to miss our check-in time. No problem, I'm sure they can bump us to the next flight with a small penalty, right? No, apparently. Because the tickets I got were on some kind of super sale and came with super strict restriction, no changes could be made at all. But "good news," the ticket agent informed us. There are just enough seats available on the next flight to Rome but it's going to cost 500 Euro for 3 new tickets. I looked at Wil and he looked at me. Of course, this will be happening to us. We tried contacting the airport authority, who were nice enough to tell us that we could file a claim but there was no way in hell we were going to get reimbursed today, if at all, to use the money to buy the new tickets. I wasn't about to fork over more money without a guarantee that a check was on its way to our house. So there we were. 8 o'clock in the morning at Frankfurt airport, all dressed up (except for Slacker Chase, who was still in her PJs), with luggage in tow, and nowhere to go. Mad wasn't quite accurate for my state of mind. While in the car on our way back home, Wil and I quietly discussed what the heck we were going to with our 4-day weekend while Chase asked loudly and repeatedly what happened to the airplane. We couldn't stay home because I would end up killing the first stranger that unfortunately rang my doorbell. A quick trip home to regroup, do research, eat, and we decided to drive to Paris. We would get there by dinner time and the forecast said Paris would have the best weather out of all the cities within our 4-hour drive radius. The drive was boring for about the first 3 until Chase started to come undone. The poor baby had been through so much the last month plus she had been up since 5 a.m. that day for the trip that never was. Rush hour traffic on a Friday turned our 4.5 hour trip to an almost 6 and Chase was losing it by this point. I climbed into the backseat with her to feed her a soggy chicken sandwich that I brought for emergency pregnancy hunger pang. She devoured almost all of it before we reached the hotel. And that's where the ugly May ceased to exist and we were brought back to life by Paris.
There's not much more I can add to what has already been said about Paris besides that it was fabulous to the infinite power and was exactly what we needed. We took the subway everywhere, which delighted our darling baby, aimed to get lost and wander, and always came upon a gigantic historic structure with a huge surprise. The food, the energy of the city, the street performers, the sites, the crazy people, our hotel, Paris' parks and playgrounds, their surprisingly friendly and eager to help locals, the food, the food, the food!!! We walked 4-5 hours straight everyday and by the time we crawled back to the hotel around dinner time, I felt like I might be giving birth in the bath tub. But by the end of a fantastic breakfast buffet spread the next morning, we were ready to tackle everything all over again. It was the most amazing trip of our lives. Wil and I got a chance to relax and reconnect after having been so stressed and survived the worst 2 weeks of our lives with bare minimum sleep. It also made such an impression that Chase is still talking about it 4 days later, which in toddler time is about 100 years ago. Our second night there before we headed out to dinner, Chase was getting her diaper changed by Wil while I was stroking her hair and we all were sitting on the bed together. She looked up at me with a smile and said "thank you Momma, I had a lot of fun today." Tears. Thank YOU, Paris!
I'm finally beginning to feel like my old self again. Still very tired and getting big, but I don't have to hold my breath anymore when my husband gives me a hug. I don't know what it is about Wil and my pregnancies. The last one it was his deodorant, which I had personally picked out, that sent me running to the bathroom. This time I'm convinced that he smells like a field of wild dirty mushrooms. Thankfully, he never takes my pregnancy crazies seriously and carries his laid back attitude and calm demeanor through everything he has to shoulder on since I practically became a vegetable. Chase and Wil were always inseparable, but I think my being out of commission for a few months had really strengthen their special bond. While we were on vacation, she kept asking if he had to go back to work and I could see a sign of relief and joy washing over her face as he told her that he was going to spend the whole 4 days with her. My feeling was a little hurt when I first got sick that she would ask for him as soon as she opened her eyes in the morning, but I quickly got over it because I knew it was just her way of coping with our changing lifestyle. We used to go to playgroups and story time almost everyday of the week, and suddenly her father coming home from work was the highlight of her day. Seeing them together now only makes my heart grow a little puffier. And if I thought the month on April was terrible, it was only because I didn't know that hell was waiting for us in May. I don't want to rehash everything (I'm sure you had enough of my "puke, AGAIN!" updates on Facebook), but Chase's battle with antibiotic resistant bacteria that first caused a simple UTI that eventually turned into a full fledged kidney infection took a lot out of all of us. All the fear about what if antibiotic #3 also failed and the guilt that I should have acted sooner when she kept complaining still haunt me. I was so grateful that Wil was able to take time off from work to help care for her. As wonderful as it is to have a partner with whom I can share the good times, there is such peace to know that he will always be my rock during the worst and the scariest of times as well. Even baby Chase senses that. Whenever things are not quite right in her world, be it a broken piece of toy or a stain on her shirt, she would say with resolution "Papa fix it!" So it was only natural that all she wanted when she was so sick beyond words was to curl up on his chest and refuse to budge. Because he was going to fix it. Because he was going to take her fever and pain away. As the 4th anniversary of our marriage is approaching, I'm again reminded of how truly blessed we really are to have found each other and to be able to share our wonderful life and children.
I'm working on gathering pictures from the past few months, but for now there's a whole lot of work to be done around the house. Poor Wil can only do so much after work, so I guess I'll see you again after our laundry room no longer looks like a landfill, the dogs are brushed, the meals are prepared, the house is cleaned, and the baby is fed and happy. This might take a while.
