Four Years

This is going to be an admittedly mushy post. And it might be long and rambling. Because it's our wedding anniversary, and the second one in a row that Mike and I are apart, I'm going to indulge myself. So if you're not in the mood to read about how I think I have the best husband ever (in sickeningly sweet detail), stop reading now.

Before Mike showed up in my life, my BFF Josyl and I joked that we could write a book entitled “Our Misadventures in Love” because some of our experiences were just so darn comical. Many nights were spent eating ice cream, watching sappy movies, and wondering when the right man was going to come along, if ever.

Then I met Mike and everything became very clear, very quickly. I knew right away he was ‘the one’. I know it sounds so cliché, but it’s true. I heard a saying once that went, “It’s only a cliché until it happens to you.” I completely agree.

When we couldn’t be together, we’d talk for hours on the phone, sacrificing sleep for conversation. He could make me laugh like no other! He was sweet, thoughtful, and romantic. He was a true gentleman, which I didn’t even think existed anymore after all my misadventures in love.

He didn’t mind that I was a bit on the old-fashioned side, and all the things about me that would have driven a normal guy crazy, he actually found endearing. I once told him that before I could go out with him, he had to ask permission from my dad. This coming from a woman who had a career, lived on her own, had a mortgage, and was in her mid-twenties. I was joking, of course, but he didn’t realize that and instead of freaking out, and without skipping a beat, he immediately asked for details on how he should go about doing that properly.

I loved that he was passionate about his work, was ambitious, and had a plan for his life. And thankfully, his plan eventually evolved to include me. I think we both knew pretty early on that we were headed in that direction, but to prevent scaring my family to death, he waited a respectable time before asking for my hand.

Our wedding day was filled with so many things that didn’t go as smoothly as planned. But I didn’t even care. I went into that day expecting things to veer off the path of perfection. As long as Mike was standing there waiting for me at the altar, there was a priest present so we could exchange our vows, and we left the church as husband and wife- that would be enough for me. Now that I had found the guy of my dreams, I couldn’t wait to become his bride and start our future together.

So here I am four years later and all those hopes I had on our wedding day are being realized. He still makes me feel like a new bride. My heart still skips a beat when I see his name in my email inbox or his number pops up on my cell. He spoils me every chance he gets. He works hard to provide a good life for his family where I can stay home with our baby. He knows how to keep the romance alive, even when we're apart (His love letter writing skills are phenomenal).

I could go on and on and on, but I’ll stop now before anyone gets sick. I’ll just end with this- I am truly blessed to be living the life of my dreams, with a great man by my side.

Story Time, Take 2

We had a full day planned today starting with musical story time at the library. Last week, Grace was a little unsure about all the chaos, but she got over that today and was more than willing to join in. I had to pull her back a couple times to stop her from heading straight to the storyteller. And she shook her little bootie whenever the music came on.

After nap time, we had plans to meet up with our friends, Liezel and her husband, at the beach, but wouldn't you know it, a thunderstorm rolled in. So we headed to the mall instead where Grace decided she wasn't in the mood to stay in the stroller and shop (surprise, surprise). After just a couple of stores, we went into the kiddie play area and let the child run around like a maniac. There were a few moments of intervention- Grace found somebody else's diaper bag and dug out a juice box, she grabbed a Chick-fil-A drink out of some other kid's stroller and nearly drank out of it (twice), she kept trying to go up the slide when other kids were trying to slide down, and she tried to climb up to the changing area to 'investigate' the diaper genie. I spent a lot of time apologizing to parents for my rambunctious child. Despite all that, Liezel and I still managed to catch up with each other.

The good thing about all that craziness was Grace being ready for bed by the time we got home, no convincing necessary.

Bib

She found my bathing suit, called it a bib, and put it around her neck.

Today was pool day. We didn't stay very long because another darn thunderstorm started rolling in. Hello, summer in Florida! Apparently, I better get used to these thunderstorms since they seem to be a pretty common thing here. At least we actually made it to the pool today and the kids had a blast.

Grace hanging out with her pal Eli.
Can you tell Grace is teething? She's always got her hand in her mouth. Poor girl has a molar and all four vampire teeth coming in at the same time!

I Take it Back

You know how I said we're not big TV watchers around here? I take it back. That's ALL we've done today. We managed to make it to church on time this morning and stayed out of the baby cry room, but once we got back home, we were couch potatoes all the way.

In my defense, it wasn't supposed to be like that. We had great plans to meet up with friends at the pool after nap time. I don't know what it is about Sundays in Jacksonville, but it seems like that's the day the thunderstorms roll in. I was hoping it would be a quick one that would blow over as soon as it started, but five hours later and it's still rumbling out there.

Grace didn't seem to mind at all that we watched her videos over and over. But if I never watch another Elmo or Barney episode again, I'd really be just fine.

Not a Good Picture Day

Sorry, folks, these were the best pictures I took of Grace today. Not a very eventful Saturday either, other than an impromptu shopping trip late in the afternoon that didn't last very long thanks to a little someone who whined and complained and wanted out of the stroller. She was an angel though when we treated ourselves to a little frozen yogurt to celebrate another week closer to our favorite guy coming home.

Good Times

By the time Grace woke up at 7:30, I had already finished an hour long workout, showered, and dressed for the day. Don't know if I can do the same thing tomorrow, but I have all intentions of trying.

After a laid back morning, we went to the grocery store for just a few things. I was ecstatic when I found Grace's supplemental toddler formula on sale so I bought 5 cans. Even though I truly did just buy a few things, the total on my grocery receipt looked like I had bought a cart full of groceries. There's not much I miss about exclusively nursing, but I did enjoy the fact that Grace's source of nutrition was FREE.

The library emailed me with a message that the four books I had requested and put on hold were available for pick up. I am a complete nerd, I know, but that news made me so happy. It's free entertainment, other than Facebook, and it should last me the whole month of July. I love the library!

We ended the day with a dinner date with a friend at a new restaurant at the beach. Grace enjoyed her lemon appetizer and even had her first taste of a burger.

And finally, as I was getting Grace's bath ready, I thought she was hanging out in her room. When I went to go get her, she wasn't there. This is where I found the little monkey...
...naked on top of the dining table!

Oh No! (You) Broke It!

Grace got this green chair for Christmas and even though it has a removable cover that is washable, it had yet to be washed until today. It needed it badly.

Since I wasn't the one who put this chair together, I had a little bit of trouble when it came time to put the slipcover back on. I didn't realize that the chair was actually four separate pieces that you had to stuff back into place. It was like putting together a puzzle that you know should be super easy, but for whatever reason, you can't seem to figure out. All the while, Grace was literally up in my face and saying over and over again in an accusatory tone, "Oh no! Broke it!"

Never fear, child. In your daddy's temporary absence, your mama has put together an activity gym, dragged a huge TV up a flight of stairs and managed to set it all up correctly, and tackled all other kinds of other household issues- all by herself. I was not about to be defeated by a little Pottery Barn kid's chair slipcover! (Although I very nearly was.)


OK, is it just me or does my baby look like such a big girl in today's pictures? I swear, this last one looks like she's headed off for a day of preschool!

Ice Cream

This is how I know we've been indulging in a lot of ice cream lately:

Me: Baby, what do you want for breakfast? (This is really a rhetorical question because she always answers 'pancakes and eggs')

Grace: Ice cream?

No, she did not eat ice cream for breakfast. She had her usual.

We were on the go all day long, stopping only for a nap and bedtime. In fact, we got home a little late for her usual nap time and it must have thrown her off because she fought me hard to go to sleep. I won that battle. An hour and a half later.

Then right before we left the house for round two of crazy errand running, Mike called. What an unexpected and special treat! When it was time to say goodbye, I bawled like a baby. Again. Poor Mike, I'm afraid he's not going to want to call anymore because I always end up blubbering at goodbyes.

Thankfully, Grace is the best kind of pick-me-up. She kept me laughing all afternoon while we were out. At one point, we were both giggling so hard that she dribbled milk out of her mouth. Which set us off even more. Those people at Michaels must have thought we were the craziest pair.

Story Time

Since I'm now a proud owner of a Jacksonville City Public Library card, I decided to take Grace to the toddler musical story time at the library this morning. It's been a long while since I've been in a room full of toddlers, but it was complete mayhem. It probably didn't help that the lady who normally does the story time was on vacation so the sweet lady who was in charge today was just a sub. There was some crying, a couple of escapees who tried to flee the room, and lots of directions NOT followed. Toddlers are notorious for not listening anyway, but try giving them cool musical instruments and then asking them to give it back again. Hilarious!

I had the best time watching the controlled chaos and Grace was surprisingly shy. I would've thought she'd join in on all the ruckus, but she clung to me and just watched wide eyed. Maybe she'll warm up to it next week. Even though she didn't run around like the rest of the kids, it must have been pretty stimulating for her because she took a two and a half hour nap when we got home. If that's what it takes to get this girl to nap for more than an hour, we're going to be regulars at toddler musical story time.

Smelling the flowers.

Happy Summer!

I had plans of celebrating the first official day of summer by spending time at the beach and then eating watermelon because nothing says summer to me more than a day at the beach and enjoying some sweet watermelon. But the Sunshine State was lacking in it's namesake today. We had dreary weather and an afternoon thunderstorm.

No worries though. Grace and I improvised by drawing all over the driveway in sidewalk chalk before the rain came and eating chocolate ice cream. I'm sure we'll get plenty of sunshine this summer to make up for it's absence today. Happy Summer!

Grace found the Hooter Hider and even though it's been a while, she actually remembered what it was because she brought it up to me and said, "De de," which in Filipino means, well...hooters.

Happy Father's Day

The dreary overcast weather and the random rumblings of thunder kept us in for the rest of the day after church. Grace and I snacked on all kinds of junk food and watched way too much television. Absolutely nothing productive was done. It was fabulous. Sometimes, you just have to take a day and be bad like that.

We miss our daddy very much though and wish him a Happy Father's Day. I emailed him last night, which was the start of his Father's Day, to wish him a Happy Father's Day and he said he was so busy he actually forgot. Poor guy. At least he got his gift package on time. We love you!
Here's Grace looking at her Daddy photo album.

Kisses for Daddy!

The Fun Continues

Tonight I went to a wedding anniversary party. Unfortunately, the groom is on the same ship as Mike so the bride, Angie, decided to make the best of it and invited a bunch of friends over to keep her company. We were all supposed to wear our wedding dresses or a bridesmaid dress since the party was going to be a mock wedding reception complete with live musical entertainment, catered food, champagne, and a cake.

It always kills me that wedding dresses are so beautiful, not to mention expensive, and you only get to wear them for one day, so I was very excited about any excuse to wear mine again. I took it out of the closet, unzipped it from the garment bag and tried it on. It didn't fit! The good news was it was actually too big meaning I'm smaller now than I was on my wedding day. I never thought THAT would happen. The bad news was I had nothing to wear to the party!

After some internal debate- should I run out and try to find a bridesmaid dress on clearance? But then where does one even go to find a bridesmaid dress on clearance at the very last minute? Should I wear the wedding dress anyway and just do my best to hold it up and try not to flash anyone during the course of the party? I finally decided I would just go as a wedding guest instead.

Once the outfit issue was resolved, my next concern was finding a babysitter for Grace. I had heard about this drop in babysitting service that had night and weekend hours, but was a little nervous about using it because it would be the first time Grace would be in the care of someone who was not related to her or a good friend of mine. But because it would only be for a couple of hours and I would only be a 10 minute drive away, I decided to go ahead and try it. I had toured the day care a couple of weeks ago and the staff was friendly and the place was clean and organized. Also, if this worked out, Mike and I could have a date night every once in a while!

Grace could have cared less when I dropped her off. I didn't even get a 'bye bye' from her. She just wanted to go play with the toys. Nevertheless, while all the ladies at the party had a champagne glass in their hand, I clutched my cell phone. Thankfully, I didn't get a phone call about Grace crying inconsolably like I was fearing. Instead, when I picked her up, she ran up to me and said, "Mama, fun! Fun!" The babysitter said she did great except she didn't want to go to sleep. But I already knew she wouldn't be able to sleep in that environment- too many new toys and she didn't have her crib. Good thing she took an extra long nap earlier in the afternoon.

All in all, a fantastic Saturday. I'm hoping the end of the weekend tomorrow will continue the trend of fun.

Alicia, me, Angie, and Bridget- all of our husbands are on the same ship.

Fun Friday

We had a lazy morning in. We tried out a new frozen yogurt place that had mango, honeydew, and coconut flavors- can you get any more summer than that? Yum! Grace let me browse at a store for 10 whole minutes before she started whining to be let out of her stroller. I got baby proofing locks for the fridge and the oven. I got myself a library card and checked out a couple of Elmo DVD's for Grace. I didn't get a chance to check out any books though because Grace couldn't understand the concept of 'silence is golden' at the library, no matter how hard I tried to convince her. I checked out the DVD's and ran out of there before they had a chance to revoke my privileges because of my unruly child.

We finished the evening with watching the Elmo DVD's and eating chocolate ice cream for dessert. Even though we just had a frozen treat a few hours before. A fabulous start to our weekend!

Another Botched ID Photo

I never take decent ID photos. Actually, I take that back. I did once. Right after I got married, I had to get a military ID card and I took great care in doing my hair, make up, and even made sure to accessorize because I was determined to take a good picture since this was my first ID card as a married woman. And to my surprise, it actually came out pretty darn good. My first decent ID card picture- I was so happy!

Until a few days later when Mike noticed a mistake on the card. We went back to the ID card place. This time I wasn't wearing any make up, my hair was up in a bun, and I was in bumming around clothes, but I wasn't concerned because I thought they would just fix whatever needed fixing in the computer and I would get to keep my lovely ID card picture. To my horror, they made me retake the picture that day! I still cringe whenever I have to pull it out and show it to base security or go to the commissary. I once even had the pharmacist comment, "Is this you?!?" Thanks a lot, guy.

Today I had to renew my driver's license. I haven't had an easy time with the Florida DMV (took almost 5 months to get Florida tags on Ruby), so I didn't have high hopes that the process would go smoothly. Just in case though, I did my hair and put on some make up. I shouldn't have bothered. First of all, trying to get your picture taken while holding on to your toddler, who is screaming and running away from you, pretty much guarantees you're not going to get a good picture. Then add the fact that the lady was about 30 feet away so I couldn't tell when she was going to actually take the picture. Finally, she snapped it as I was blinking. And didn't tell me that my eyes were half closed so I could at least retake the picture. Unless she thought that's the way they normally look. I know my eyes are quite Asian looking, but they're not THAT Asian!

So here's my new Florida driver's license photo. I look like I'm on drugs or something. Fantastic.
A fridge update- I didn't get the chance to go out and look for fridge locks/latches, so Grace's damage today was two broken eggs and a spilled container of blackberries. And this happened while I was in the kitchen washing the dishes! She's so quick and stealthy. First thing on my agenda tomorrow- baby proof that fridge for real.

Trouble in the Kitchen

I'm always enthusiastic about Grace's new accomplishments, but today's new feat left a big old mess for me to clean up. She's learned to open the fridge by herself. She's been trying for weeks, but I kept hoping the fridge's seal would be strong enough to hold it shut. No such luck. And now that she's discovered this new ability of hers, I am constantly running into the kitchen to close the fridge to prevent any other major clean ups. (What you can't see is the spilled juice and yogurt that oozed from the top shelf all the way to the very bottom)

Is it possible to baby proof a fridge?



We did manage to have a bit of fun in the kitchen this morning before the fridge incident. She 'helped' me make some pineapple coconut whole wheat muffins.

Hot Pink

If I ever need an instant mood boost again, now I know that matching with my favorite girl in a bright summer hue like hot pink is a fantastic start. Then go out and have lunch at a Thai restaurant, followed by an afternoon at the pool, and finish off with some Hawaiian shaved ice at Ohana's. All done with a good friend and her two fun little boys.

With a day like that, it's impossible to feel anything but happy. Yesterday's blues are just a memory. Here's hoping the rest of the week is as wonderful as today.

Not sure Grace was digging the matchy-matchy today, but I love it. I specifically got this summer dress in order to match her many pink outfits!

Monday Blues

I didn't listen to a single love song. Or watch any Nicholas Sparks movies. Or google 'pictures of Navy homecomings'. Or reread Mike's love letters over and over again. Or do anything that would normally set me off. But I was in a bit of a funk today. The numbers on the deployment countdown are getting smaller, but I think it might be a case of so-close-yet-so-far-away. Intellectually, I know we're almost there and if I've made it this far, then this remaining time should be a piece of cake. But emotionally, I just want my husband back. Like NOW.

Thankfully I have an awesome little sidekick to help me shake the blues. It's pretty darn hard to mope around when you've got this sweet girl to keep you company. She gave me plenty of hucks (hugs), lots of kisses, and even said 'la loo' (love you) without my having to beg her to say it.

I'm off to eat some cherries (we're out of ice cream which is my normal go-to fix for chasing the blues away). Hopefully a happy belly will help with a happier heart. Come to think of it, I missed my weekly treat of a Rita's Italian Ice mango gelati this weekend. Maybe that's what's causing these blues. I just need my gelati fix.


This is how I found her eating her afternoon snack- on her belly eating the edamame she dumped out of her snack bowl.

Sunday Afternoon at the Beach

We started off our day with church. In the main chapel- no baby cry room for us this week. This is due in large part to the sweet Filipino auntie lady who was in the pew behind us who played with Grace. And after Communion, Grace pretty much abandoned me to go hang out with her. I think they were both loving all the attention they gave each other.

Then on the way home, Grace fell asleep in the car. I hate it when this happens near naptime because it's hit or miss whether I can get her in the house and convince her to finish her nap in her crib. It was a miss today. Instead of fighting it, she and I turned into a couple of couch potatoes for a little while and watched a Disney movie. It was way too hot to do anything outdoors. But I did promise a trip to the beach if she napped after the movie.

Miracle of miracles, she decided that she was ready for a nap after the movie. And so we ended our day with some time at the beach. It's been a while since we've been and I forgot how much fun it is to watch all her antics on the beach. She collected shells and did a taste test on each one. And she'd dramatically toss it over her shoulder when she found another shell she thought was more interesting. She chased seagulls and tried to sneak up on them when they landed on the beach. And then got this confused look on her face when they flew away from her. She ran straight into the water and would've fearlessly kept right on going had I not stopped her. She sat at the water's edge and giggled when the waves splashed her.

I wish I could've taken more pictures to document it all, but I was too busy chasing after her and trying to keep her out of deep water. I even brought our new beach cabana tent to shade us. We spent about 5 minutes with the tent. Just long enough for me to set it up and then abandon it for the rest of the afternoon since Grace had no intention of staying in one place. Silly me, what was I thinking? I can't wait until her daddy gets back to do all the chasing and I can just plant myself under that cabana and relax. Beach time has become so exhausting since I've become a mother!