Three Years

It's been three years since I made the best decision in my life- I said "I do" to the man I love and my world has been beautiful ever since. I sometimes find it surreal that I'm actually living the life I always dreamed of. I'm the wife of a hard working husband who provides our family with a good life and who is loving and caring beyond belief. I'm the mother of a beautiful, easy-going baby girl with the sunniest disposition I have ever known. Life is good indeed.

We celebrated our first anniversary still feeling like newlyweds and jetsetting to exotic places.

Our second anniversary was filled with equal parts excitement, nervousness, awe and wonder at the prospect of becoming parents and seeing our 6 week old baby through ultrasound.

Today marks our third anniversary and here I am still in love as ever, if not more, with my Baby Daddy. When are you no longer considered newlyweds because I still feel like a newlywed. I still get excited when I see that my hubby is calling. My heart still feels like it's going to burst with happiness at the sight of his face. And I still get tingles when he holds my hand.

And although we had to spend it apart, my sweet husband did not fail me. He planned for his sister to drop off a gift for me on our anniversary. A shiny and sparkly gift that came in a small box. Isn't that the best kind?






One of the gifts my mother-in-law gave me was a Coach key chain. Megan had a matching key chain and Grace just LOVED them! She belly laughed so hard whenever she saw them and tried to grab for them at every opportunity. Watch out, Daddy, this one's got expensive tastes already- at only 5 months of age...



My brothers and I decided to take Grace to the zoo today because the weather was so beautiful. Unfortunately, most of the animals thought it was quite hot because they were in hiding. Luckily for us, the zoo had some replicas of the animals because they were the closest we got to seeing them.






A nice ending to my day, Pasta Milano at Macaroni Grill- my favorite! Thanks, Carl, for the nice treat.

Daddy, We Miss You!

It's been a week since we dropped off Mike at the airport and although we've done plenty to keep ourselves busy and make the time fly by, this past week moved at a snail's pace. We miss our daddy something fierce!

I hate that he's missing out on some of Grace's new accomplishments. I miss having someone to drive me around. I miss sharing the mundane parts of my day with someone, and have them actually enjoy it and find it interesting. I miss my best friend.

I need to print out a picture of Mike and show it to Grace everyday so she won't forget her daddy. If seven weeks is a long time for me, I can't imagine what that feels like to an infant. I meant to take a video of Mike reading her bedtime stories so that I could play it for her every night, but things just got so crazy the last few days he was in town that it completely slipped my mind.

I guess I need to just get used to this because this little seven week separation is nothing compared to the seven months we have to be apart next year when he goes on deployment. But I'm still in denial about that. One thing a at a time....

Uncle Josh trying out the Baby Bjorn.


Sweet baby fell asleep trying to get her toes.


Grandpa trying to rock Grace to sleep, but there were too many interesting things to look at in his office.


Outdoor dinner on my parents' deck.


I'm usually the one taking all the pictures so I'm rarely in the pictures myself, but Mike requested more shots of his two girls together, so here it is. Not the best, but the only one I have from the past few days. I will try to do better next time.

5 Months

Time is such a relative thing, but if the saying 'time flies when you're having fun' is true, then we must be having a blast. I can't believe it's already been five months since my precious baby girl was born. Lola made sure we marked the occasion with a Coldstone ice cream cake. The evening was complete with a couple of pizzas and a visit from Jess and Aunt Megan. Lola and Lolo even came home from the restaurant a little early tonight in order to celebrate Grace's 5 month birthday. What a lucky baby girl!

Enjoyed a Mexican lunch with my good friend Jess.

Aunt Megan stopped by to celebrate and have some birthday cake.

Exhausted from all the birthday festivities.

Laid Back Wednesday

Grace and I started off the day by sleeping in. Then as we were getting up for the day, we talked to Mike as he was getting ready to to turn in for the night. I think I'm still in denial about not being able to see him for a month in a half. As much as I'm enjoying not being in Japan, I would readily go back if it meant our family could be together for the summer.

After getting all sad from missing Mike, Grace, Uncle Josh, and I went off for a late lunch at Chick-fil-a and some shopping at Target. There's nothing like my two favorites to lift my mood. And to top it off, Grace was an angel during lunch and shopping.

On the road to my friend Daria's house- now that's a different story. She cried the ENTIRE time. I even stopped at a parking lot to nurse her thinking that would calm her down, but no such luck. My sweet darling screamed for the 30 minutes it took me to drive to Daria's.

Once we got there, she was a little angel again. The little stinker is so used to getting picked up whenever she wants now that she has no patience for her carseat anymore. You'd think she was a newborn again the way she was going on. I thought I had left those days behind me. My well-intentioned family has inadvertently undone all the progress she had made with behaving in her carseat. I knew this was inevitable though so I'm not completely surprised.

We followed our visit with dinner at the restaurant with my parents. Most of the time when they come home after working, Grace is already sleeping, so they had a great time playing with her during dinner.







My mom even got Grace to sleep by singing Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On'- karaoke style.

Cereal, Toes, and a Bumbo

At Grace's 4 month well baby appointment, her pediatrician said we could start her on some rice cereal. But I wanted to wait until she was 6 months old. Or so I thought. Then I realized that Mike wouldn't be around when she turns 6 months this summer and I knew I wanted him to be able to witness her first attempts at solid food. Grace is days away from her 5 month birthday so we decided to give her some cereal before Mike left for Japan.


She was a little unsure in the beginning and most of it ended up on her bib, but at least she was still smiling at the end of the experience. Ever since that first experience with the spoon, she has been fascinated with watching us eat. Hopefully this is a good sign.


For several weeks now, Grace's best 'toys' have been her hands and anything else she can stuff in her mouth- rattle, burp cloth, bib, the hem of her dress, etc. This past weekend, she discovered her toes and now will do anything to get them in her mouth. I have not been able to keep socks on the girl because she'll pull them off in an effort to get to her toes!




We've had friends rave about the Bumbo so we got one for Grace to see if she'd like it. She hasn't had much use out of it lately since there is always someone who wants to hold her, but here's a rare moment of her using the little seat. She was keeping me company as I did my hair.




Tonight we had dinner with my dearest friend, Michelle. We went to Atlas Diner, our old standby restaurant we frequented from before, and although the decor of the place has changed, I'm glad to say that our friendship has not.

Weekend Whirlwind

This picture of Grace and her wild and crazy hair will give you a clue as to how busy this weekend was. Poor baby's sleep was so messed up with all the partying. Three parties, one graduation, and Father's Day meant lots of getting passed around from person to person. Thankfully, my sweet girl was a good sport through it all.


FRIDAY
My parents hosted a 'Come Meet Grace/Baptism Reception' at their restaurant. The grandparents were finally willing to share their grandbaby with other people and it was nice to see old friends.
A few of my junior high and high school friends with all of our babies.

Grandma holding Grace while Lolo does his "Boom, boom, BOOM!" that never fails in getting a smile.



SATURDAY
Saturday was all about Megan's high school graduation and reception. I still find it hard to believe that she is eighteen and a high school graduate. Who knew ten years ago that the shy little girl at my baby brother's birthday party that I tried to get to play the children's games would one day become my beautiful sister-in-law? We are so proud of Megan and can't wait to see what the future has in store for her.





Megan will be going to Old Dominion University, my Alma Mater (Go Monarchs!). Here is Grace's Daddy trying to tell her she will go to Virginia Tech and become a Hokie. We shall see...

The theme for Saturday's party was Italian- yummy...my favorite! I'm so glad I married into an Italian/Filipino family- my two favorite kinds of cuisine. Now if I can just get my father-in-law to teach me how to make all that, I'll be in heaven.

SUNDAY
While Saturday was Megan's graduation reception for family, Sunday was the big bash for her friends. The weather was perfect and the food fantastic. The theme for this party was Filipino. (Can you see why it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for me to lose any baby weight this summer?)

Of course, it was also Mike's first Father's Day. I think he really enjoyed being able to share it with his own dad and his uncles who were visiting.



Grace was just so tickled with her cousin Sarah. Every time Grace saw her, she would squeal and giggle with delight.

The Augustine dads- I'm so glad that Mike is able to join these fine men on the journey of fatherhood.

Although Mike is just starting out, he is already proving to be a perfect father. Thank you, Honey, for loving and taking such good care of your girls. We love you with all our hearts.

MONDAY
The weekend left all of us exhausted, but poor Mike had no time to rest and recover. First thing Monday morning, we drove to Richmond so he could catch a flight back to Japan. I wish he could've stayed a little longer, but duty calls. Grace and I are going to miss him terribly, but I suppose this is good practice for when he goes on deployment next year for months at a time. Being back home is nice, but it's a little bittersweet if we're not together as a family. Hopefully the rest of the summer will go by just as quickly as these past couple weeks.

Busy Bees

We are back online and I finally have a moment to update the blog. We've had a busy week of hanging out with family, visiting with friends, and of course, eating at all the places we've missed while in Japan.

We ran into Uncle Carl at Buffalo Wild Wings

Enjoyed some Rita's Italian Ice

Visited Lolo at the restaurant

With Lola at Uncle Josh's academic ceremony

Good job, Uncle Josh, for maintaining honor roll all year!

Hanging out with Laura at Baker's Crust- right before a huge diaper blowout.

Great Grandma and her two great grandchildren.

Grandpa- the master of getting Grace to sleep.

Playing with Grandma

With my BFF, Daria.

Hanging out with Daddy

First time in Daddy's Camaro