This and that

So, we're down to the final week. Every moment seems precious, but I ache to keep them mundane--normal, so that I don't feel that some impending doom is on its way. We're going about life...errands, work, chores, catching some Netflix here and there, and getting the house in order, but the deployment looms on the horizon and you can't help but count the minutes we have left together on the same continent.

We had a busy week with two birthdays. We celebrated Evie's on Thursday with just the three of us, and then again Saturday with a group of friends. I attempted to make Cookie Monster cupcakes, and was grateful to have years of practice before Evie gets more discriminating in her assessment of my cupcake-decorating skills.

She's been a real hoot lately. I know I've completely fallen off the wagon for my monthly letters. This time I didn't even bother to go back and see how long it's been. In any case, she's grown and changed so much it is impossible to try and communicate it properly, and I really do kick myself for not keeping track of some of the funnier things she'll say. She's speaking in more or less complete sentences now, although she will often get frustrated when we can't quite understand a new (or invented) word. Her speech is charmingly and purposefully enunciated, like she's trying to communicate with someone who speaks another language and may misunderstand her. Lately, she's taken to announcing, "It's...too...hot!" when we go outside (it's been in the 90s...).

This morning, when it was a pleasant 70 (hallelujah!), she already was making her forecast as I opened the door, "It's...too...hot...Mommy!"

I replied, "Actually, I think it's quite nice out Evie!"

"It's...too...nice...Mommy!" she corrected.

Having a two year old will certainly alert you to some of your bad habits, as I also learned this morning. As we left the Super Target, passing by the Starbucks, Evie exclaimed, "I...need...Starbucks...right...now...Mommy!" Oy vey.

She also is enjoying rhymes and songs at a new level. "This Little Piggy" and "Little Bunny Foo Foo" top the charts, along with the ABC song. She will request them in the car and gets no end of entertainment from listening and participating in their recitation.

Another random anecdote: We went to Texas Roadhouse last night for dinner, a favorite in the Watson household for many reasons. Personally, I like their ribs and cinnamon butter, but Evelyn is most fond of the "Piggy"--the costumed mascot armadillo that sometimes makes rounds at the restaurant. He of course is not always there, but when we go, she is instantly on the lookout for the Piggy, craning her neck and inquiring as to his whereabouts. I didn't hold out much hope that he'd be around last night, but sure enough, he appeared out of nowhere (a little frightening to me, but thrilling to E) and proceeded to mime some interactions with Evelyn, who was completely in awe. When he left we postulated on his activities...most likely he was hungry too, and needed to sit down and eat his macaroni and cheese, not unlike someone at our table.

Today, again in the car, Evie chimed in from the back, "Mommy? Piggy...not...here. Piggy...hungry...eat...macandcheese!"

Sunday was my 27th birthday. Twenty-seven, for me, is/was possibly the scariest of ages thus to date. I know this must sound silly to many of you, but somehow it feels more like turning a corner than I think 30 does. I don't really know how to explain it beyond that, but I find myself reflecting on the past year and where I want to be by 28, and I have a lot of ideas...

Hi again...

Hmmm, it's me! I haven't updated my header since April, posted since May...what is this June? July? I think it's safe to say we've been living a bit of a whirlwind these past few weeks/months, and although the dust is starting to settle, that never lasts long around here.

We closed on the house on June 30th without complications and moved in to our new home after 42 days in an extended stay hotel (I'm sure the cleaning staff was as glad to see Chokydar leave as we were glad to go!) Our belongings arrived the following two days, as well as my parents to help us unpack and begin settling in. I've taken shamefully few pictures, but hope to remedy that. Here are a couple from our Independence Day cookout, celebrating our new digs with my mom, dad, aunt and uncle:

We're far from being completely unpacked, but most things are at least out of the moving box at this point. With me, things often get a lot worse before they get better; cleaning is a messy process. We've had help installing ceiling fans and fixtures, and I'm adding hardware to our cabinets and drawers (only one or two disaster moments so far). Again, pictures to come...

I have a long shopping list most days when we go out, including everything from potted plants (several of which I've already managed to kill...), bath mats, screws, charcoal, and rugs. Today I added another item, to be picked up in the coming week: Gobstoppers. If you've followed the blog for over a year, you may know what that means. Justin is getting ready to deploy again, this time (the third) to Afghanistan, rather than Iraq. As a means of visually passing the days, I count out 365 Gobstoppers and put them in a jar, to be eaten once daily beginning the day he leaves. Sadly, that day is quickly approaching, although for you, dear reader, it could actually be a good thing, because I think I tend to update the blog about 11 times as much when he's away as when he's here.

I'm going to have a lot to share, because Evie is growing like a weed, I've got a household to set up, a new community to explore, friends to make, projects to tackle (and complete), and, oh yeah, a new arrival in October that should keep things lively.

Stay tuned, loved ones, and while you're at it, send a prayer my way.

It's Whirlwind Time

Top row: Dover white, Nuance, Useful Gray, Analytical Gray

Bottom row: Ice Cube, Big Chill, Light French Gray

Those are paint colors from Sherwin-Williams as pictured above. The sad part is I made that picture myself for comparison and that I recalled the color names by memory.

Why, you ask, am I memorizing and obsessing over shades of gray paint? Because we're in the process of buying a house.

Yep. You heard that right.

Buying a house.

Two weeks ago we thought we would rent while living in Colorado Springs, but a handful of reasons avalanched on us and caused up abruptly to change our minds. In the span of about 3 days we went from thinking buying a house wasn't for us at this time to negotiating a contract. Crazy doesn't even begin to describe this whole ordeal, and while I am confident that this is a good decision, I can't help but be scared out of my mind by the whole thing.

Because of our schedules and the short time frame we're working in, we are not able to actually go and see the house. So yeah, we're buying a new house, sight unseen. Still crazy. Still a good idea. We're really excited about it and it feels both a bit overwhelming and also surprisingly normal. Sometimes I think it's not the big life decisions that stress me most, but rather little ones which I agonize over. The home is under construction and we'll be able to pick many of the design elements (limited by our budget) by looking at samples via e-mail mostly.

If all goes well we should close by June 30.

In the mean time, Justin will graduate from career course, we'll have another baby2 check up, we've got to pack up and move in the coming week, drive 8 hours to Houston, have family and business time in a matter of days, and road trip back up to Colorado through San Antonio, Carlsbad (NM), and Santa Fe for a total of about 1700 miles.

Did I mention we don't know where we will live in Colorado Springs until the house is completed?

I feel surprisingly good.

Oh, and my favorite color is Big Chill, although I just found out, it's not one of my options. Sigh. Now I'm thinking Nuance.

Day Seven.

t's been a full week since my last post, and miraculously I have woken every single day for an entire week at 5 am to workout! I am really proud of myself and I also can tell that there is a great improvement in my energy; although I do have a pretty nasty midday slump. If I'm able to take a nap when Evie does I feel better, but I hate loosing that time in which I could be doing something else and often I find I'm not ready for bed by 9 if I've had an afternoon nap. If I don't take a nap I'm MORE than ready for bed at 9 pm.

I'm also starting the second trimester of this pregnancy. Where did the first one go? I remember with Evie it seemed to take forever for the days and weeks to pass because I'd sit counting days and reading about fingernail growth and what size fruit she currently most resembled. I guess mostly because of her now I just don't have the time to do that, plus of course having been through a pregnancy before it's not quite as disorienting. I plan to start taking bi-monthly pictures or so to chart tummy growth; I did that last time, although I wasn't keeping the blog at the time. I've heard that women often "show" sooner in subsequent pregnancies, and I'm interested to see if that holds true for me. I really didn't look pregnant until about 32 weeks or so. Until then I just looked bloated, and I was endlessly amused by the number of people who were obviously confused by the question of whether I was pregnant or just overweight. My favorite time was when the optometrist I saw somewhere around 7 or 8 months pregnant asked if I were taking any supplements or special vitamins, hoping to get me to admit to taking prenatal vitamins and thus settle the question of my status. Poor man, I can only assume he'd wrongly guessed that a woman was pregnant before and was desperate to avoid the mistake again. He was so relieved when I said, "Why yes, I am taking prenatal vitamins," but was quite surprised to know how soon I was supposed to deliver.

Anyway, I will be pretty excited if this time around I look more gradually pregnant, and less like I've indulged in too many coffee cakes until weeks before delivery.

What's going on:

1. I'm pregnant. 13 weeks tomorrow. Due Oct. 14.
2. I have a cold. Again.
3. I get nauseous at night; so far no sick-making.
4. This baby's name will be Mudd.
5. No, but seriously, this kid is kicking my butt in a way that Evie did not.
6. Justin thinks it's a boy.
7. I don't know one way or the other.
8. Evie likes going outside now that the weather is nice.
9. I worked out for the first time today in over a week.
10. I'm having a really hard time working out.
11. I have very low energy and motivation to do much.
12. I've just realized that we will be moving in about a month and there's a lot to do.
13. I made bunny finger puppets for Evie for Easter.
14. She wasn't that impressed.
15. Evie asked for "Thomas??" meaning Thomas the tank engine, whom she desperately wanted to watch. Unfortunately it was not time for Thomas the tank engine to come on tv. After finding some video clips online, we discovered that wasn't good enough--or perhaps only fueled her unquenchable desire for Thomas, and we were left to endure the repeated request for "THOMAS??!??" for about 15 minutes despite multiple explanations of why watching Thomas on television was impossible at the moment and the implementation of brilliant distraction techniques. Curse you, Thomas, all of your train friends, and Sir Topham Hatt too!
16. I'm itching to redesign the blog again.
17. I drew outside yesterday with Evie.
18. It felt good.
19. I have an exciting project in the works.
20. I miss Julia.
21. I woke today at 5 am to try (again) to establish a morning workout routine. The plan this time: For 10 days I will go to bed at 9 pm and wake at 5 am to do 30 minutes on the spinning bike, or some other equivalent cardio. Internets, you will help keep me honest.

No way

I've been trying (once again) to do the whole "get up at 5:30 am to work out thing," but some mornings (like this morning) I don't manage it. On mornings like this one, I only get out of bed when Evie wakes and groggily calls to me. She's not much of a morning person. I get some milk for her and bring her back to bed with me where I pathetically lie in bed, both of us awake (Justin out being hooah at PT), trying to eek out a few more horizontal minutes.

One of my tactics to lengthen this time has been to let Evie play with the ringtones on my phone. (Insert that pathetic part again...) She has thus began calling the phone "Bah bah bah bah bah!" after her favorite ringtone entitled "Sunny Day." The rhythm is something like three eighth notes, a dotted quarter, then another eighth, to give you the full context--E says the 'bah bahs' in rhythm. This is usually a very innocent activity in the early hours of the morning, but on occasion she has accidentally exited out of the ringtone menu and, before I have noticed, activated my speed dial (sorry Momma, Denise, and an apology in advance to Julia...it's bound to happen to you one of these days...).

Well, today, while excitedly dancing to the "bah bah bah bah bahs" Evie lost grip on the phone and it fell between the mattress and the wall behind the bed. In the dead center. I tried reaching for it, but it was no good, so I simply abandoned it there for most of the morning. (Suddenly it's WAY less cool since I got my ipod touch.)

Mid afternoon or so I decided I really needed to make an effort to get it back out. This was going to involve me finding something long to reach and poke with, and a lot of wiggling on my stomach, face in the carpet. So what did I do? I told Chokydar to go get it.

Now here's the crazy part. She made for going under the bed. I was like WHAAA??? No way!!! We've never trained her to do tricks really and, although I suspect her of speaking English fairly fluently, the response was so immediate and unexpected, it took me completely by surprise. I do this sort of thing all the time now with Evelyn (try new suggestions, not send her under the bed) because she is more and more capable every day. She often will surprise me by being able to do something I wasn't really sure that she could. It's almost as if Choky had been observing this phenomenon and was afraid that Evie was showing her up.

So I got the phone back. But no thanks to Chokydar. Apparently one of her toys was just under the edge of the bed, so she's not a super genius after all. She's still a Super Puli, though.

And I discovered Justin's missing ipod under the bed as well!! It had presumable suffered the same fate as my phone, but no one knew it. We've been looking for that thing for weeks!

Isn't she lovely?

We went home for Thanksgiving and had our first big family gathering in many years. Now that we've been stateside for a few months, I've stopped thinking of everything we do in terms of stateside vs abroad, but events like this stand out in such contrast because we weren't able to take part in the family gatherings for so long.

It struck me how special it was to be in the home where I grew up. Justin and I held Evelyn's hand as she walked around the cul-de-sac where I used to play with my brother and sister. The times we had back then...riding our bikes incessantly around that little concrete circle, imagining ourselves to be cops and robbers, wild animals, you name it. We used the curb as a balance beam to see if we could walk the perimeter of the street without touching the grass or road. So many happy childhood memories flooded back for me, and how special it was to be there again with my husband and daughter (and dog) and the rest of my family.

Even the air at night had that magical "Christmas smell," as I like to call it. Parking in that driveway, letting the dog out at night in that back yard, those trees, that back patio with its particular cracks and crooked benches my parents made so long ago--I soaked it all in and appreciated it in a way I don't think I ever have before.

My mother still has a good deal of my grandmother's things from after her death in 2006, and we took time to go through some of them together. There were pictures, photos, letters, figurines, a curious lockbox no one could open (I'm still dying to know what's in there...part of me hopes we can never get it open...) and it was cathartic for me to see my grandmother's things again. I came back from Germany in May of 2006, when her death seemed imminent, to have a final visit, but was unable to be there for her funeral that June. I was able to say my goodbyes, but I never have felt complete closure. I suppose it is just that way with loved ones who leave us.

Mixed in with these things we came across a set of class pictures of my mother from her school days. I asked her if I could scan them and share them and she said I could. Isn't she completely lovely? I must say my favorite pictures are the first (she tells of having just given herself a haircut secretly in the closet days before), and the last, when she looks so grown up and transformed at age 15. You really must click on the picture and then view it in it's original size on flickr by clicking the "all sizes" button.

Now I need to find my old class pictures as well. I swear I never looked as put together as she did!

When you say medium, do you mean small or large?

We have the amazing fortune to have a drive thru Starbucks here in town. We also have another little cafe style restaurant (similar to, although not quite as good as Panera) called Atlanta Bread Comapny. Well, when we were first settling in and without our cooking supplies, we frequented both of these establishments a bit more than...well, we'll just say 'normal' and leave it at that.

I've heard comedians do routines about Starbucks and their tall, grande, and venti versions of the standard small, medium, and large sizes. Personally I've never had a hard time keeping them straight, but low and behold, at Atlanta Bread their small is called short, their medium is called tall and their large is called grande. Okay, now this actually probably makes more sense than the system at Starbucks, but in reality what it does is get you a larger size than you intended. You go in wanting a small, order a tall out of habit and suddenly you have a medium. Confused yet? Wait for this...

So one day at the Chick-fil-a drive thru window a few weeks back while I was sick, I wanted a chocolate shake. The voice from the box asked what size I wanted. "Small, please," I replied, but then added, "well, what size is your small?" You know how different places have different size cups sometimes, right? This was her response:

"Oh, it's a small size cup."

Brilliant. Very informative and helpful. Being sick and guessing that was as good an answer as I was going to get, I just went with the mystery sized small and moved on.

Now today I was back at Chick-fil-a again (please, no judging...), this time to get the seasonally offered peppermint chocolate chip shake (oh. yes.) When I asked for a medium (I'm judging myself) the girl came back over the box and said that they only come in large or small. Really? Okay. She proceeds to follow that statement up with, "But the large comes in the medium size cup, so do you want that?" I was so confused that I just said "yes" and got a milkshake the size of a small cat.

So to sum up, small is either short or tall, medium is non-existent, tall or grande, and large is one of three: venti, grande, or a small cat.

Let me e'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

I haven't had a chance to sit down at a computer for more than 10 minutes now for nearly a month, so please forgive me for the long absence! There is too much that has happened to capture, but I will try to give you a highlight reel:

The flight back home had some memorable moments--including 1) the moment when we thought we'd forgotten the bolts to secure Chokydar's kennel for the flight after having to split it in half to fit in the rental car; they were in Justin's pocket after all. WHEW. 2)A Chuck Norris look alike who played peek a boo with Evie on the flight for at least 10 minutes 3)the realization that Evie's "sleepy noises," a guttural grunt "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuungh" which we know and love is, in fact, annoying to some fellow passengers 4)getting 9 hours in to the flight and resorting to choreographing "Surrey With the Fringe on the Top" from Oklahoma for Evelyn's entertainment.

All in all, it was as good of a trip as we could have expected. Upon landing, we creeped everyone out by how happy we were by completely mundane things. "Oh look! ENGLISH!...traffic signs...etc, etc."

We flew into Dallas, rented a car and drove to Houston the next day to visit family. We went to church at St. Paul's on Sunday and bought our new car, a 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan on Monday. I'd done TONS of research and we had such a pleasant car buying experience, it kind of unnerved me. Ours is silver with black cloth and the panoramic sunroof. I couldn't be happier with it so far!

We did lots of visiting and a good deal of window shopping in Houston. We made it to the zoo and the terracotta figure exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science. And we ate a LOT of good food...Starbucks, Panera, Le Peep, Ruggles, Coldstone, Chick-fil-a, Saltgrass Steakhouse, BJ's Brewery, Outback, Blue Bell ice cream, and Brown Sugar's BBQ just to name a few. Now we are fat and making our recovery.

We got to visit with some good friends, including the beautiful Jennifer Gilbert, and The Boy and family. SOOO good to spend time together!!

We drove up to Oklahoma on Wednesday--the 8+ hour drive was maybe even more exhausting than our transatlantic flight. We left around 6:30 am from Houston and didn't arrive in Lawton until nearly 4 pm.

We're in guest housing now (aka a rather crummy hotel), but it does have a (barely) passable kitchenette, so at least we've been able to start weaning ourselves from fast food. We're hunting for a home to rent now, and have a likely prospect that we hope to secure in the coming days.

I can't get over how excited I am to be back in America, how overjoyed I am by little pleasures, seeing family and friends, and by having a drive-thru Starbucks that's new in Lawton since the last time we were here.

Life is so good.

Walking through the windmills

Speaking purely of the weather, today was perhaps the most beautiful day I've experienced here in Baumholder over the past (nearly) four years. It was not only sunny, but cloudless and the colors seemed brighter, more vibrant. Ever since stumbling across a user map on Google for a path through the windmills outside town I've been itching to go walk up there. It's easy to have reasons "not to go" in Baumholder--usually involving the weather, so when today was just about completely perfect, we hopped in the car and drove up to the path.

It's maybe slightly possible I'm feeling slightly sentimental about our leaving here. Don't get me wrong--I can't wait--but for all of the valleys we experienced here, it also has been a good time, and I don't regret the choice we made when we decided to come to Germany.

With some free time on our hands and not a lot of things around the house to distract, I've been working out a lot more lately. Today on our walk I had too much energy to just keep walking, so I traded Justin the stroller for the leash and took off with Choky down the path. Evie started to get concerned that I was running away, so I doubled back, which she thought was hilarious. After a time or two of this game--run away for 50 meters or so, sprint back--I could have stopped, but then Justin began spurring me on, so for about 20 minutes of the return "walk" I ran up and down hill with Chokydar.

Choky was having the time of her life, although it was clear from the run that she's a touch out of shape. She ventured into the weeds at one point and came out covered in burrs, which stuck to her fur like glue. Evie watched in awe as Justin picked them out, one by one before we got back in the car to come home.

It was a good day.

One Big Step Closer

For weeks now we've been making preparations for our move back to the states. This week, however, was a frenzied hurricane of activity as we got ready for most of our belongings to be packed and moved. You would think how complicated could it be? as we don't actually have to pack or move anything ourselves, and I'm sure for some (less anal) people, it may not be such an event. I figure the more organized we can be on this end, the smoother the packing will go, and likewise, the easier the unpacking will be on the other side.

When Thursday rolled around this week I could be found running around the house, making piles of our possessions based on room or function, or whatever other wacky way of classification that makes sense only to me. Things needed to be sorted into two very broad categories: staying or going. We have two packing dates, and the bulk of our items, including all major pieces of furniture were required to go this week. Our next pack date will be at the end of August, about a week and a half before we go ourselves, and at that time, all we'll be left with is what we'll carry with us on the plane. As I decided what things were necessary to our existence and pared things down to a reasonably small group of objects, I couldn't help but wonder how many of our belongings we could do without altogether. The task of disassembling, sorting, and grouping things was especially arduous because Evie was either napping (requiring QUIET organization) or wanting to "help," which, while very cute, isn't actually that helpful. She was very amused by the feather duster in particular.

The morning of the move, she and I were up and making final preparations by 6am. She then took a nap before they arrived around 8:30am. I did not nap. I paced around muttering to myself, unplugging appliances, making coffee for the packers. We had an especially fun moment that morning when Justin attempted to secure the front door behind him on his way out to pick up breakfast for everyone and the key snapped off in the lock.

This looks organized to you, right? Yeah...

We marked Evie's room as off-limits to the movers and filled it with everything that wasn't going with this shipment. It was filled with everything from tools to cleaning supplies to things to be mailed, clothes, things to be donated or sold, Chokydar's toys and kennel, diapering supplies, books, luggage...you get the idea.

The bathroom too was off-limits. We are not able to send any liquids, including lotion, perfume, detergent or cleaning supplies, so all of that was sent to stay in the bathroom. Oh, and a giant basket of laundry I hadn't gotten around to doing.

The packers were really quick about their work and did a good job. Thankfully the weather cooperated as well. Come lunch time everyone took a break and Justin went out to get lunch for everyone. When asked what they'd like (pizza, fried chicken, deli sandwiches, Taco Bell...) the movers responded excitedly "Taco Bell!" That amuses me rather a lot for some reason.

Originally we had scheduled the movers to come on Thursday and then to have the government owned furniture (the same stuff we had when we first got here--affectionately deemed the "Barney syphilis couches" because of their awful spotty purple upholstery) brought in on Friday, but the movers had to push back our date to Friday, which bumped our furniture delivery to Monday. This weekend then we're making due with impromtu horizontal surfaces on which to eat (i.e. boxes) and have two folding chairs in which to sit. To closer watch Evie while she played, I moved to the floor while I was messing on the computer. She proceeded to crawl over and create a new game--Mommy Is A Pony. She straddled the small of my back as I lay on the ground and giggled insanely as I called for help. Justin instead went for the camera. ;)

That's all for now. The typing is echoing in our cave of a place now and it's time for bed! It's been an exciting and exhausting couple of days, and more than ever it's hitting home that the move is real and that we're finally on our way.