Paradise coming!

Today was an "off schedule" day as pretty much everyday has been for the last three weeks with all my travels to Pensacola and Ohio.  It's nice to be home and know that there is no where I have to be that is going to require more energy than I'm willing to part with.  Last night Jon and I got out and went on our first date since Rudy was just a few days old.  We went to Jon's work's Christmas part on the Spirit of Norfolk.  We cruised down the Elizabeth River for 3 hours while we ate dinner.  I had a fabulous time, I don't know if it was really that great of a party or if I'm just so deprived of adult interaction that anything seems fabulous.  It was really nice though, they always throw good parties.  The food was great and the drinks were even better!  

Speaking of parties, we are celebrating once again  tonight.  We are reaching and getting a taste of the pariadise to come as Ella put her first pee pee in the potty!    I'm so excited I want to tell the world!  I guess a little sad to, my baby is growing up so fast.   She's just so much fun at the age she is, I hate that it is changing so fast.  

Rudy too is growing too fast.  He weighed in at 15lbs 9oz at 10 weeks old!   Ella is just at 25lbs! 

He is HUGE!  Not fat though, chubby and sweet.  

My Happy Place

Last week I put on my big girl panties and took both kids to Pensacola/Ft. Walton Beach alone flying standby to see my friend (and old Pensacola roomie) Kellie for her baby shower.  I fortunately expected the worst for my travels and it was not bad at all.  

I surprised myself at the smart things I had done, #1 taking the car seat for Ella to sit in on the plane.  The car seat worked as good as duct tape and she did awesome!  Minus a couple potty explosions the kids did great.My #2 smart thing was

taking an extra blanket for Rudy, it was much needed after the "explosion" he had!  The hardest part was getting on and off the plane with my hands full but there were always people 

offering to carry something for me.  When we got to Pensacola Kellie met me at the airport as 

I feared not being able to fit my giant double stroller into my $10 a day economy car.  As always they were out of economy cars so I got an "almost SUV" in place of it without paying more. (of course the car agent tried to trick me first)  

We piled everything in to the car and headed down to Pensacola Beach to one of Jon and my favorite restaurants, Pegleg Pete's, for a Blackened Grouper sandwich.   YUM!  I called him to let him know where I was going and also that he could have as much fun as he wanted to that weekend because I was 30 min into my trip and it was fabulous enough to last me forever if it were to end right then. After we ate we headed across the street to 

the beach for a bit.  Ella was in her glory running and running.  Rudy was oblivious to it all but a good sport.

With such a big day behind us we headed from Pensacola to Ft. Walton to my Step Brother house to relax.......RELAX HA HA HA!  Being alone with both kids in someone else's home it's hard to relax.  However it was wonderful.  

One afternoon I went across the street to the beach with both kids in the stroller and when I got there they had both fallen asleep!  I was in heaven.  It was the most perfect day on the beach, not a cloud in the sky, both my babies happy and asleep.  I sat for awhile in the sand soaking it all in and watching the c-130s and f-14s fly overhead.  It wasn't long before I was feeling empty and needing to hold someone so I took turns holding each sleeping child for a bit on the beach.  It was a taste of my heaven, a happy happy happy place for me, the only thing that could have made that time better would have been if Jon could have been with us. 

It was so nice to catch up with my step brother and his family.  Little Emily is now Big, with long brown hair and glasses, looking much like her dad and grandma.  Erin is now big too, a miniature version of her mom in every way.  It's amazing how quickly the time has passed. 

The girls have grown so much but everything is exactly the same.  The beaches are as beautiful as ever, the island was slightly different since the hurricanes, and of course Jeff and Linda's house has had some major renovations but it all still felt like home.  I miss it there so much.  I would live there in a heartbeat if I could.  

Ella had a ball with the girls.  She was exhausted every night.  Having both kids alone for that time certainly was exhausting and I"m glad it's over,  but would do it all again. One trip down, now Ohio to go!  

A Thankful Thanksgiving

It's been quite a while since I've blogged mostly because our old blog site wouldn't allow me to upload pictures directly to the page anymore, so I decided to follow suit and switch sites to the one our cousin Allison and sister Jenny use.  

Speaking of cousins and sisters wow has it been an exciting week!  To start, Jenny (Jon's sister) traveled cross country alone with her new born son Mason to visit a couple extra days with us before the rest of the family got here.  I remember the first time I traveled with Ella I was a nervous wreck but thankfully Jon was with me.  She did it alone with her arms ful

l and a new mom at that!  Our first night we had a 6 week old and an 8 week old screaming and Ella yelling over them.  We told ourselves it was "happy caous" as it was, however, I'd have to say if it were my life every day I would need constant medication or need hit the bottle pretty often.   

Lucky for us only one night did all three scream.  The rest of the time it was just Rudy:-(   As Ella was colicy from 6-14 weeks I have a lot of anxiety when he cries in the evening fearing him following down the sa

me path.  So far only once has he cried for 3 hours and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it was just a fluke of gas from what I ate on Thanksgiving. 

Anyway Two days after Jenny arrived she was followed by her husband Tim and Jon's mom and dad and my "adopted" cousin Tyler.  The week was filled with fun activities mostly involving Jon's aircraft as we got to watch him do field carrier landing practice (FCLP's)  which I have seen before but could watch every day.  We stand in or next to "the shack" just feet from the C-2 as it comes in to touch the ground in front of us and take off again as if they are landing on the aircraft carrier.  We also tra

veled up the Eastern Shore to Cape Charles which is one of Jon and my favorite hidden treasures here in Hampton Roads.  

We had lots of big news and events happen to be thankful for this week.  The first was that my sister Rebekah found out they are having their 3rd BOY!  After two boys she was hoping for a girl this time but certainly elaited at the news of a healthy looking baby no matter what the sex is. Baby Boy #3 is due in late March just in time for Easter and the final snow to be melting in Ohio!  Following suit with baby news , on Wednesday we got word that our cousin Ainsley gave birth to Baby Braxton at 6lbs 5oz and 19 inches long.  Braxton was not expected until early December but at about 3 weeks early he is healthy and perfect.  We can't wait to meet the little guy! Again on the topics of babies we got word today that our other cousin Allison (Ainsley's sister) is expecting as well!  This will be Allison's second pregnancy and 3rd baby as the first two are twins.   She surly will be busy!  

The other event/news was quite trying for Jon and I .  He had a phone call from his skipper on Monday night informing him that he was up of an I.A. deployment in February!  I.A. meaning Individual Augmentation when the Navy gives an officer to the Army, trains them and sends them to war for 12-18 months.  Long story short he was not chosen to go.  It would have been really hard for us because had he been chosen he would have had to leave very very soon to begin training and then be gone for 270 days.  The thought of it made us both sick as he just got home from Bahrain and already missed Rudy's birth and would miss his first birthday too.  As he was passed up this time to go it brought it to our attention how certainly possible it is that he does do an IA period.  It is pretty much gaurenteed that he will do one during his career.  It is a much more dangerous job than the one he has they typically are on the ground in Iraq or Afganastan doing something they have not been training 5 years to do.  It's frustrating that it is a possiblity because it is not what he joined the Navy to do and an extra deployment we had not planned on or intended him to have to do.  However we do what the navy says even if I'm kicking and screaming.........luckily I have not yet been reduced to that!