Ode to My Husband

Dear Andy,

Thank you for all the things you do just giving us a foundation to rest upon. I know that you are in lots of pain all the time, and I think the thing that hurts me most is that there is nothing I can do about it. I hate the Navy and what they have done and are still continuing to do to you, but they have also given us a great opportunity. Thank you for seeing that opportunity and pushing through even when the going gets tough. I'm going to school right now with the intention of helping out once the kids are old enough to go to school. Emma, Nick, and I love you very much. You are the rock on which we stand. You are so funny and lovable. I love hearing your jokes and just cuddling with you to watch a movie. Thank you for talking with me even when you're tired, and pushing yourself to go out when I've been at home all day just to make me happy. I'm sure there are other things you would rather be doing, like relaxing, but I really appreciate our time together.
You are always on time, you hardly ever complain, and you still manage to keep everyone on the boat laughing and in a good mood. How do you do it when you're feeling so crummy? Even though we don't have a lot of time to spend together, you still took me out for dinner just us on my birthday. It was so nice to not have to worry about Emma the whole time (even though I don't mind at other times) and to just focus on you and enjoying the evening. As soon as you get out of the Navy, we are going to fix whatever is wrong with your hernias and make sure it gets done right. Nobody should have to live with the amount of pain you experience, no one. You deserve to live life to the fullest. You deserve to enjoy yourself. I hope that you can play football at UT when you get out, and I look forward to remodeling a house with you. I hope that we can communicate our ideas and wants and know when to compromise and when something is truly important.
Thank you for being a wonderful father. For filling in for me when you're home so that I can take a shower or cook or get something else done. You do so much already. From Charleston to Virginia and everyone in between I have loved you and continue to love. You mean so much to me. Thank you for staying strong.

<3
Your Wife

Update

We got our Christmas tree a couple of days ago and are putting the finishing touches on it, pictures to come! Andy will be gone for a few days in December, not looking forward to that. :( Looking forward to spending Christmas with his family, still no word on if my family will be able to make it. (?)
Good news! On Wednesday I go in to see if I really am pregnant (pregnancy test cam up positive) and how far along I am. It will be hard to go through this without Andy and I am really not looking forward to it. Hopefully the Navy will let him come home for the birth, but I'm not planning on it.
Listening to Amy Grant Christmas right now. There are few CDs that I really look forward to on Christmas, and this is one of them. It takes me back home to California and reminds me of Christmases past, we played her Home for Christmas album almost every year...
Emma is doing well. She loves walking, so much so that she will not even ride in the cart at Wal Mart any more but insists on walking by herself. It usually ends up with Andy and Nick doing the shopping and me guarding my little 13 mo. old as she traipses down aisles and narrowly misses running into people.

Beautiful Dreamer

Emma is such a beautiful sleeper. One of my favorite blessings is to wake up and see her lying next to me. She really is gorgeous, and it takes my breath away! She sleeps in the most unlikely places, never in her crib. I think that she considers our bed her bed, which is a bad thing, but I will have to wean her before I try to sleep train her. She sleeps in her car seat, her high chair, our bed. It used to be that I could nurse her to sleep and then place her in her crib, but she's too smart for that now. She'll only be nursed to sleep if we're on our bed.
I also want to potty train her. I should have done it sooner, but Andy wouldn't let me. :( He said it was too soon and blah blah blah. Emma is smart! I've heard stories of 7 mo. olds being potty trained... so what if they can't talk? Anyway, just trying to figure out the best way to fit in all this training... She just learned how to walk, plus we just moved. Plus, Daddy's leaving in January and then we'll be traveling and visiting people from Feb - May... doesn't really leave much time for training, plus how will she be open to it with all this external change? I suppose all I can do is try. The main thing with the weaning is that she can't drink cows milk because she is allergic. I tried using goats milk yesterday but she hated it. Maybe almond milk?
Anyway, these are the days of our lives, lol. :)

Halloween

I know that most of you already saw these on Facebook, but I wanted to have a record of them here.

Happy November!

Fall Day

I had a stroke of creativity today and wanted to show you all how beautifully fall is presenting itself on the East Coast!

Emma's birthday/At the park/Feeding the ducks

Ok, I realize I have not posted in a while. It's taken a little while to move up and get situated. Andy goes back to work on Friday :(. I'm finally getting in the place where I can take pictures again and feel satisfied. Here's some of the goings on of late:

Emma's cake! Took wayy longer than I realized and didn't turn out as I expected... Oh well, at least she won't remember it and it's practice for next year! I wanted to put it up just to remember it. Around the cake, it says "Happy Bday Emma."

Birthday kiss!

Unwrapping presents

First pair of Levi's!

Pretty birthday girl in her tutu. Daddy got her a chair to sit on! That Tigger is from Grammy (my mom). We had been looking for a Tigger for*e*ver... Emma loves the Wonderful Thing About Tiggers song!

Reading!

She would not look at the camera... but these are still cute...

Yay! Feeding duckies!

There was only one duck, "Mrs. Duck," today.

She got really close! Emma kept dropping her snacks all over the place.

I hope you enjoyed those. The apartments where we leave now are really nice. As you can see, they have this man-made lake where ducks and geese like to come. Emma loves going to see them, so we go as much as we can. There's also a play place without swings (boo!) but we can still use the slides with my help. We're on the first floor, which is so much better than the second floor, especially with strollers. My mom was able to come up and visit for Emma's first birthday. We went to the Virginia Zoo which was cool. Tomorrow we're going to go to Williamsburg, it's only about an hour away. Other than that, what have you, o faithful readers, been up to? Sorry I haven't posted in so long!

Moving to Virginia!

For those of you who haven't heard (although I don't know many people reading this who haven't heard yet), we are moving to Virginia! Andy got his orders to the USS Newport News stationed in Norfolk, VA. We leave early Tuesday morning. The packers came Friday and we are just waiting around until Monday for them to load it up, and then we can leave!
I will be so glad to be out of here... A week ago I was going through a little emotion where I thought that I would miss this place, but those days are long gone now. I am very ready to be done and in a place with normal people again. A place with sidewalks and crosswalks would be good. Oh, and can we make it not so hot and humid?!! Thanks!
I will miss the friends that we have made. Valerie, our photographer from Richard Bell Photography. I was just looking at our wedding slideshow and was just so thankful that we had such a fun and exciting photographer. She's taken multiple trips to Germany to learn German and she just inspires me!
Our next door neighbors, Ben and Amanda Wade, have been an effervescent blessing. It was so fun to have fun people to hang out with right next door! It reminded me of being a kid again and just going down your neighborhood and knocking on the door to see if your friends could play. And Emma loves Amanda... We probably could have gotten away with her babysitting but I was always too afraid to ask!
Then there's all of Andy's friends from work and their families... Not to mention the friends I met while I was working. Most of them have moved on to other bases and we have already said our goodbyes, but you are always meeting people in this business. I like that, it keeps things fresh.
Even though we didn't get Hawaii like we were hoping, I am looking forward to making my home in Virginia. It seems like such an old-fashioned, colonial place to live! They have this thing for mermaids... Apparently there's a mermaid festival and parade? Fun times! Maybe these Virginians will have a lot to offer!