Catching Up

Well, I think that was the longest stretch of blog absence yet! I wish I had something momentous to share to compensate for the neglect, but, alas, we were just chucking along as the shortest summer sped past. There were so many places in Europe we wanted to visit, but our pockets were only so deep and Wil could only take so much time off of work (the man had over 90 days of leave that he never used, so, no, he was not at all a workaholic). Plus, you know, there was that matter of the burgeoning bump. Traveling with a 2-year-old proved to be an equal part of fun and challenge. Everything was so new to her that her curiosity and joy became incredibly infectious to both of her jaded parents. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

We spent most of July enjoying the warm weather and the daily company of our friends, who would be pcsing too quickly. Wil was occupied by his unfortunate mission to the States, but the dark cloud and fog that seemed to hang around him quickly lifted once he returned. My girlfriends and I spent every Saturday morning flea market hopping around town, while our husbands got their fair share of time on the green. The kids were in heaven because they had the perfect built-in playgroup nearly everyday and during every cookout/dinner party/birthday bash we had. Everyday Chase woke up asking "where are my kids? What are we doing today, Momma?" It was bliss. Sticky hot, no-A/C, kind of bliss.

August started with us heavy-heartedly sending the first group of our friends back to the States. Being stationed overseas changed our family dynamic. Both Wil and I have been gypsies most of our lives and moving was second nature to us. But this one is different, because everybody who was uprooted here was in the same boat, too. Most family visits are very far and few in between, so our friends become our surrogate brothers, sisters, and aunts and uncles to our kids. I didn't have this kind of support system when we were in NC, and Wil was gone to the desert. Here it really feels like we are making the kind of family we can choose (not that there's anything wrong with the ones we were born into, Parents). See-you-later's were said and tears were shed as I tried to memorize all the babies' chubby rolls and sweetness, because they might be towering over me the next time we bump into each other again. These last 3-4 years have gone by in a flash.

The rest of August was thankfully much more lively. We did the touristy thing with our friends, finally doing the Rhine River Cruise to see all the castles. People come from all over the world to see the thing that we live 40 minutes away from. I'm glad we had our buddies to goof around with all day because after the first 10 castles, the next 20 started to look like giant piles of pretty bricks. Then we packed our bags and headed to Bavaria. There are no words to describe how majestic that place really is. We walked absolutely everywhere and I felt a lot like death lugging around my then-27-week-pregnant body all over town and up Germany's highest point, the Zugspitz. Chase got to splash around in Eibsee, fed the ducks, and even went under for her very first solo water incident. The weather couldn't have been better nor the view more stunning. It's etched in my brain as one of my most memorable trips to date. We came home for a few days to do laundry and for me to nap before heading out again to see Belgium and Amsterdam. Our friends, the Lazares' were kind enough to host us on our way to/back from Brugge. It was amazing! What a charming little town! I logged in the longest walking/picture taking day yet (7 consecutive hours!). Although it felt like we just glided through this UNESCO World Heritage Site at the time, my bones ached as we made our way to the Netherlands the following day. My mother always had odd posters of the tulips and windmills plastered around the house, so it was a must-see for me. Well, disappointing is the first word that came to mind. I was prepared for the windmill village, the wooden shoe factory, and the cheese farm to be rather touristy, but the whole thing was largely underwhelming and not entirely well-kept. I've been spoiled by the Germans and their immaculate attention to every last detail, but we pushed on through Amsterdam. At this point in our lives, I must say that it was a colossal waste of time and energy that we didn't have. Amsterdam is chaos and noise rolled up into a ball of mess, and I spent the first 17 years of my life in the city of 12 million, just to give you some perspective. It was the first city in Europe that I genuinely felt very much disregarded as a pedestrian, and we couldn't find a single garbage can in the 3-block radius. We recognized a lost cause when we saw one, grabbed dinner, and headed out after spending less than 4 hours there. At least we checked it off our list and now know that we'll never have to try to come back again when we're empty nesters.

September has been hectic. I honestly don't remember exactly what went on since the whole month has just been one big blur. After coming back from our vacation, I was informed that I failed my glucose test and had to do a 3-hour one. To make a long story short, the result from that test showed that I was growing resistance to insulin, although I was not quite considered a gestational diabetic yet. I wasn't too concerned about it and just chalked it up to yet another pregnancy crazy. The nurse advised me to immediately get on a diabetic diet and set up an appointment with a dietitian for me the following week. I became very sick the following couple of days. Lethargic, nauseated, fainting spells. Something was not quite right, and I knew it was my blood sugar. I was perfectly fine before the diet started, so I decided to listen to my body and just started eating like I normally did before the crazy week. I skipped occasional sweet treats, which weren't hard to give up, and kept up with the amount of food intake and the fruits, which were the first thing I parted with during my short stint as a diabetic diet follower. And what do you know? I felt immediately better after eating a peach. I learned later during the appointment with the dietitian that my one irregular reading (out of three) that came back during the 3-hour glucose test was actually reading low, which would be consistent with my being boarder-line hypoglycemic all my life. By strictly following the diabetic diet, I was depriving my body of what I needed to function normally, not to mention growing a healthy baby. Do you know how much I look forward to my next appointment with the OB? My midwife, whom I saw on a regular basis, was not available for my last appointment when my result was reviewed, and I had to see a new young doctor, whom I will unfortunately see again next week. Momma got some ass-chewing to do.

Wil has been working like a dog in September. 16-18 hours/day everyday nearly 7 days a week kind of month. It's one thing if he was deployed or gearing up for a big inspection--you would never hear me bitch about it. But this was his new "normal" schedule, because they were operating with less than half the staffing they were supposed to have and there is no relief in sight anytime soon. Then there was another quick trip to the States, and now we have him for a week before he heads out to that damn bike trip, which will forever be known as "the damn bike trip" under my roof. Because of OPSEC, I'm not sharing too much but will as he wraps up the trip. The reason I'm so ticked off about it is because it's not an essential kind of mission. It started out because my husband pondered out loud to his superior that the trip was "feasible" knowing that I would be in the middle of my third trimester while he biked through California FOR FUN. When he came home with the news, I was all "what was feasible about leaving me to volunteer on the damn bike trip when you have hardly seen your daughter and might possibly miss the birth of your baby?" Now the matter is out of his hand and the trip changed from voluntary to "Git R Done!" If you want to see an irate pregnant woman, I will gladly send you an 8"x10" photo of myself for your viewing displeasure. My last two best buds will be heading back to the States during the same time he's gone and I'm scared out of my wits that Wren will make her debut early as I've had more than a few episodes of strong real contractions throughout this pregnancy. If I were a betting woman, I would say this kid won't stay put for much longer. Wil's better be praying hard while he's coasting through the shoreline of California she stays where she needs to be, otherwise he will come home to find all his belongings in the front yard in cardboard boxes and an armed guard post in front of my hospital room.

Last but not least, you may have noticed that I no longer post pictures or videos on our blog. The reason I have yet to make it private is because we have learned that some of our relatives, whom we otherwise have no regular contact, keep up with our lives through this blog. Pics and videos are now on Facebook instead. Anyway, I have to feed Wren before she gets any more mad. Sorry for the disappearing act. I would have promised to do better, but, you know, I'm looking at preparing our house for a transatlantic move and another baby in the next few months. How about we be friends on Facebook? Much easier.

A Bedtime Conversation

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.

5

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.

Sunday Funnies, Video Edition

*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.

"Danku Everyone" from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

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.

Hanging Out w/ the Boys from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

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.

It's Hot! from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

Pictures

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!

Sunday Funnies

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 :).

Vacation!

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!