Living in a fairy tale...

I’m back, babydolls!! (that is a How I Met Your Mother quote, btw)

I know I kind of fell of the blogosphere for a while. I just ended up being overcome by events and blogging kind of got put on the back burner.

A lot has been going on, but on the other hand not a whole lot at all has been going on. I have gotten into a nice routine with some of the wives from the boat of walking a few mornings a week which is great. Lance has been sleeping in his crib for almost a month now, and I am so very proud of him. I am working on designing cross stitch patterns on my computer, which is really cool. But that is really about it. It just seems like a lot more when you are living it I guess.

So on to the meaning behind the title of this entry—

I have been struggling with the whole pacifier/no pacifier thing since before Lance was born. On the one hand, I knew I absolutely did not want to use a pacifier until breastfeeding was well established. On the other hand, I know that a pacifier is a good tool to have when you have an inconsolable child on your hands. Initially, Lance made the decision for me…he flat out would not take a pacifier. Then one day we tried a Nuk that my friend offered and he liked it. But after that day I could not get him to take it for more than 5 minutes at a time, or if he took it for longer he would then spit up a fountain. So I got rid of all the pacifiers, figuring I had a kid who just would not take one. He has started self soothing by sucking on his fingers, which had been working. Then yesterday I was shopping with my girlfriend and Lance started freaking out. His favorite song was not working, and I was at a loss. Finally I remembered that I had one final binky hiding in the depths of the diaper bag. So in a moment of desperation I fished it out and popped it in his mouth. To my utter astonishment, it worked. It was not a Nuk, but an Avent, one I had picked out before he was born because I liked the little stars on it. He sucked and chomped contentedly away until it was time to head home. (At which point he spit it out and screeched like a banshee all the way home from Westbrook, since he spit it out after the car was moving and there was nothing I could do about it.)

So today I picked up another pack of the Avents, as well as a 2 pack of MAM’s, another brand we had yet to try. When I put him down for his nap he was tired but fighting it. So I popped a MAM into his mouth and he passed right out. It worked again for his second nap as well. He likes to suck to soothe himself to sleep, which I have always known. I had been concerned about establishing the whole breasfeeding him to sleep thing because at some point he will be weaning and I will not be able to nurse him to sleep. So tonight, since he ended up nursing 30 minutes before bedtime, I did his bedtime routine and omitted the nursing, substituting the MAM for that. Much to my surprise, it worked.

So I guess we will see where we go from here. I still think I do not want him to always have a binky in his mouth, but it is nice to know they are a tool I have in my mommy arsenal now.

I think that is it for tonight—I hope that I am able to get back into a routine with this and begin posting more often again.

My baby is three months old today. Wow that happened really fast!! It seems like just yesterday he was born, and now he is smiling and playful and seems more like a real little person each day!!

We went to the hail and farewell last night for the old Nav and for Joel (hailing Joel and farewell to the old Nav, obviously.) and it was a lot of fun. I got to meet many of the other guys in the wardroom, and I also got to meet irl one of the wives, who had already friended me on Facebook. It was a good time. I think we are really going to like this boat a lot. So far I definitely like the wives that I have met. It seems like almost everyone has kids, and many of them are babies. Lance is developing quite the little harem, as a matter of fact. With the exception of my friend Debby, whose son is exactly a year older than Lance, all of my other friends have baby girls. Although our Eng and his wife do have 2 little boys…but I have not met them irl yet. I spoke with the Eng’s wife on the phone yesterday and she seems pretty cool. I think we will get along pretty well…and I think we will work together well also. She called me because she had heard from one of my other friends on the boat that I was interested in being involved with the FRG and the wardroom wives etc…and she does not want to be doing it all by herself, which she had been up to this point. Right now we are the 2 most senior wives in the area (both the CO and the XO are geobaching, and we don’t currently have a Weps) so the responsibility does fall to us. I don’t want to end up doing it all myself, either, so I am hoping I can convince her to continue to help until we are able to designate more people to be in charge. In reality, I am really hoping that we can get one of the Chief’s wives to step up with the FRG…it really should be a Chief’s wife and not an Officer’s wife in charge of that group. We will see how it goes tomorrow night at the meeting. I really want to focus more of my energy on getting the Wardroom wives into a more cohesive group. From what I understand they don’t do a whole lot…there was not a whole lot done for the wives who had babies when the boat was in Virginia, which is sad. We have a few ladies who are pregnant now and it would be nice if we had our acts together in time to do things like baby baskets and a casserole brigade when their babies come. Also, with all the holidays that are coming up it would be neat if we had it together enough to set something up for the Wardroom for them as well. We will see. I am going to get myself a little notebook today so I can write down ideas as they come, that way I am prepared when I sit down with the Eng’s wife eventually.

I guess that is all I have going on right now. Once the baby wakes up (from his nap in his crib again…he’s been asleep in there for over an hour now, yay!!) I think I will go grocery shopping…other than that, not a whole lot going on. Sometimes that’s a good thing though.

I am so proud of my baby!! This is the fourth day in a row he has napped in his crib for his morning nap. Now I just need to start getting a bead on when he goes down for an afternoon nap (right now I am noticing it is usually about 2ish hours after he wakes up from the morning nap but we will see.) and he will begin taking that nap in the crib as well.

I tried him out today with the new crib soother we got him—my girlfriend in Guam had found us an awesome one before we left but I think I have to wait until Lance is a little older to use it. He is so very music oriented and when his mobile would stop if he was half asleep it would wake him up…so I bought a crib soother that has a remote so I can just push the button from a distance when the music stops. It plays for 25 minutes straight, gradually getting softer. He seems to like it—I put him down still awake after we did our book-swaddle-nurse-book routine, and turned it on. He immediately turned towards it and started watching the lights. (It is the little Einstein baby Neptune aquarium soother so there is a moving underwater scene with lights etc.) He was not happy at first because I accidentally left the wrong arm unswaddled—he seems to like the left arm free for his naps (I know that now anyway) so he did not go to sleep. But then I went in and swaddled the right arm and freed the left and he was out about 5 minutes later. It is truly amazing to me how easy it was to set up this routine, and how much Lance seems to enjoy it. It doesn’t seem to matter what time we do it, either. The past few days he has been letting me sleep in, so he has gone down for his nap a little later, and that doesn’t seem to matter as long as we do the same routine every time. It is good to know that he can be a little flexible with timing since he is a Navy baby and does have to be a little flexible. I think that now that we have a routine set up he will be able to nap anywhere also, as long as we do his routine.

He was in a great mood yesterday…we did some tummy time and he played on his back with some of his toys, and we took some great pictures. I also discovered his “giggle button”…I was playing around with him, making noises against his tummy and all of a sudden he giggled!! It was so cool!! He was also in a great mood this morning. For the last 2 days he has woken up before me and just laid quietly in his bassinette until I woke up. So yesterday I slept until 8:30 and today I slept until 8. When I woke up we played a little bit until it was time for his nap. He spent some more time on his tummy and he rolled over about 3 or 4 times in a row.!!

Joel came home last night with some new onesies for him. It is so cute how much he is enjoying being a father. I guess the Navy Pride section of the NEX had gotten in some new items and Joel could not resist.

I finally got my outfit for Lance’s 3 month pictures. Lance is wearing an orange and brown striped onesie and brown pants from OshKosh, and Joel is wearing a brown collared long sleeve shirt and jeans. I had been unsure about what I wanted to wear because I had been having trouble finding something I liked. I had thought I wanted to wear purple, or some other contrasting color, but then I found an orange sweater that I really liked. I think it is kind of neat that way anyway…Lance is wearing a combination of the colors Joel and I are wearing, just like he is a combination of us. It should be cute.

Tomorrow I am having coffee with our new friend and her baby girl, which should be fun. Lance is definitely at a place where he is noticing other babies, so it will be fun to watch him interact with the baby.

So I got smart this morning and started Lance out with only one arm swaddled for his nap. That was a good thing because he was sleepy but not asleep when I put him in the crib, and he immediately started sucking on his fist and went to sleep. He woke up a few minutes ago but he is still tired—he is crying the “I’m sleepy but I am afraid I will miss something if I go to sleep” cry so I am letting him try to soothe himself back to sleep before I go in there.

Joel said his first day on the boat went well. He met a bunch of the other officers, and it turns out that one of them lives practically right across the street from us—and he and his wife have a little girl who was born 6 days before Lance.


That beginning part of the post was written this morning during Lance’s nap. Then he woke up so I needed to stop. So I will continue now.

So we made friends with some people who have a daughter 6 days older than Lance. It is great that they live so close and that they are also on our boat. It seems like the wardroom on this boat is pretty good—I have liked everyone I have met so far and I am looking forward to meeting everyone else at the hail and farewell this weekend.

After spending time with our new friends last night and seeing how they arranged their furniture in their living room (which is identical to ours.) Joel and I talked a little bit about rearranging our furniture. My mother had brought it up the last time she visited but he had not wanted to at the time. Joel thought that it might be ok now, though, and suggested we do it this evening when he gets home from work. That just struck me as a really bad idea—I know he would get frustrated because it would involve a lot of putting stuff in one place and then moving it again when I changed my mind. So I thought I would try to do it myself. We have “wood” (and I use that term loosely) floors so everything slides easily. I tried a couple of configurations and found something that I think looks pretty good. We will see what Joel thinks when he gets home. I hope he will be happy that I saved him the frustration. And if he does not like it, well, it is pretty easy to put everything back, too.

Today was Joel’s first day wearing the “new” Navy Working Uniform—you know, that stupid blue camouflage that all the guys are wearing now. He had avoided wearing it thus far because they wore khakis for school. He will continue to wear khakis any time he has an office type job (ie if he were to work at squadron for a shore tour or whatever) but as long as he is attached to a boat he will be wearing these blue digicams. I guess I am old school Navy, but I just plain don’t like them. Don’t get me wrong, Joel looks good in them (but then again he looks good in all the uniforms) but this is the Navy for crying out loud!! They wear khakis, whites, service dress Blue, or poopy suits (coveralls), not camouflage!! I am also amused by the fact that it is BLUE camo…because if the ship goes down we certainly don’t want our sailors to be seen in the water or anything. Lol. But, just like him going back to sea duty early, I am just going to have to suck it up and deal…its all part of being a Navy wife. And he does look darn good in the uniform, after all.

In other news, I started a morning nap routine with Lance today that I am hoping to be able to keep up because it appears to have worked. Around 8am I took him into his room and read him a book. Then I swaddled him and read him another book. Then I nursed him and he fell asleep, so I put him in his crib. That was about 815. He slept until about 9, when he woke up crying. I let him cry a little bit and then I went in and calmed him down. He was still crying that “I’m tired but I don’t want to go to sleep” cry so I unswaddled one arm so that he could suck on his fist. Most babies like to suck on a binky or their thumb…not my child. He likes his whole fist. So with his arm free he was able to soothe himself back to sleep. It is now 10am and he is still napping. I guess we will see if this becomes a consistent thing as the week progresses…but I am so proud of him for sleeping so long in his crib…and for falling back to sleep in it!!

In his….wait for it…CRIB!! That’s right, Lance is napping in his crib right now as I type. I don’t know how long it is going to last today but we are giving it a try. I decided to try and get him used to the crib at naptimes before putting him in it for bed times because it is going to be a challenge and I would rather take that challenge on during the day first. It was definitely hard…he was ok at first but then he started freaking out. So I did what the “Baby 411” book recommends and went in after 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, and so on…and he would calm down while I was in there but then start freaking out as soon as I left. Then I decided to try swaddling him—I think part of the problem is that he is used to sleeping in his bassinette or his swing, both of which are small. The crib is big and so he is not used to having all that extra space to move around…and since he still has a little of that newborn startle reflex, when he jerks a little in his sleep it freaks him out in a big space. So I went in and swaddled him, and then put him back in the crib…and he almost immediately dropped off. Poor little baby was very tired, that’s for sure. I am watching him on the monitor right now and he just woke up for a minute, and looked around…I was bracing myself for him to start screaming again but he just closed his eyes and went back to sleep. I don’t know why this swaddling thing didn’t occur to me sooner. I am going to take this one nap at a time and see how it goes, but I think this is a good start!!

Joel graduated from SOAC yesterday…but they forgot to print up his graduation certificate which is kind of needs in order to move on to his next command. Luckily he does not officially report on board until September 1st, so they have a little time. They said they would get him his certificate next week. I am experiencing some mixed emotions…on one hand I am really happy about everything that is happening with his job etc. On the other hand I am still kind of bummed that it is happening so fast. I know I just need a little time…and I recognize that it could be way worse. All things considered this is the best deal he could have gotten…I just need a little more time to be there emotionally. It will come.

We are jumping right into being a part of this boat, which is a good thing. Joel and I made a commitment to each other to be more involved and more present with this boat than we were with our last one. Neither one of us wants to march in and take over or anything like that, but it is important to both of us that we be present. We don’t want to be in a situation where no one outside the department knows who the Nav is, or who his wife is. So today we are going to make an appearance at a Navigation department party. Then, at the end of the month is the Hail and Farewell for the guy Joel is relieving, as well as the first FRG meeting since the boat got here from Virginia. Obviously we will be attending the Hail and Farewell—while it is primarily to say goodbye to the old Nav, it is also to welcome Joel and I—so it is important that we be there. I am also planning on attending the FRG meeting—I am looking forward to meeting some of the other wives and to getting to know how things are done with this boat.

I had a great time with my mother and my grandmother this week. Lance gets a big kick out of his Great Gram—she had him giggling and everything. It was pretty cool. When they went back to Maryland I thought I was not going to be seeing my mother again until her usual 8 week trip in September—but then I got a phone call from my dad yesterday asking if they could visit on Labor Day weekend…which is in like 2 weeks. I knew it was only a matter of time before my dad found a way to make a trip here to see the baby. He has not seen him since he was 2 weeks old and, if he did not find the time to make a trip before thanksgiving, he probably would not have seen him until he was almost 6 months old. I am really happy that he was able to work this out. I mean we videochat with my parents all the time but it is not the same as seeing the baby in person. Lance changes so much on a daily basis…it is amazing to me how different he is now than he was at the beginning of the week!!

My mother and grandmother are coming to visit on Monday!! I am very excited. It was a little sad for all of us that my Gram was not going to get to see Lance until November—and the last time she saw him was at his bris, when he was 2 weeks old—so my mother worked it out so that she and Gram could come and visit for a few days. It is so great—Gram is so excited and happy to be a great grandmother—every time she sees Lance or talks to him over video chat she just lights up, so I am really looking forward to her getting to spend some time with him in person. He is so much fun now…I am really looking forward to seeing him grow and change and display even more of his adorable personality.

I guess the biggest news here for us is that Joel is returning to sea duty next month. In some ways it is very frustrating because we had hoped to have a little more time before he went back to a hectic, unpredictable boat schedule…on the other hand, he is getting all three of his top choices (class of submarine, job, and homeport) which almost never happens. Also, this is sort of an emergency situation—one of his current classmates was supposed to fill the billet but there was a problem with his security clearance, and the guy who is going to be relieved needs to be relieved ASAP due to the fact that his 4 month old son is sick and needs to be in Virginia where his doctors are…so how can that even compare to us wanting Joel to have a little more down time, you know? Plus, we do not have to move—Joel’s first choice of homeport was here—so we are definitely going to be here for the next 3 years which is AWESOME. There are so many great things about being here. I am surrounded by friends, we get to see my mother every 8 weeks when she makes the trip to CT that she has been making for the last 10 years, I am in a familiar area, and I get to experience all 4 seasons which I love. (Ok I could live without spring and summer, but I am SO excited for my first real New England fall in over 10 years.) Also, the boat that Joel is going to is the second newest one in the fleet. She was commissioned in March of 2010, and she will be in the shipyard for some kind of post-commissioning maintenance period for at least the next year. That means that Joel will not be going out to sea for at least a year, with the exception of a 2 week period where he will ride another boat so that he can qualify as Navigator. (That is the job he will be doing.) So he will be around for both of our 30th birthdays as well as Lance’s first birthday. And even when the boat goes back to sea they will not be doing a major 6 month deployment for at least another 6 months or so since they have to test out everything that was worked on. So he will not do a 6 month deployment until at least 2012. So all things considered this is a pretty sweet deal. Plus, the sooner he gets on sea duty now the sooner he will get done with it and get on a real 3 year shore tour. Which means that Lance will be about 3 when Joel is on shore tour next…which is such a great age. Overall this is the best possible situation. It is just a little sudden, is all…so it took some mental adjustments.

The hardest thing is not being able to plan for sure on some things. Our original plans for this fall were to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Maryland--Thanksgiving is my mother's favorite holiday, and last year was the first year EVER I was not with them for it. It is also always right around my mother AND grandmothers birthdays (Gram had been 19 for three days when mom was born.) and this year is Gram's 75th which is a big deal. Originally Joel was going to be attached to Sub School which would not have been a problem to travel. But now with him being attached to a boat it might be more of a challenge. He is going to talk to them and try to take some leave around that time--especially since he never took his Daddy leave when Lance was born. I hope we can make that work out because it would be sad for me if we cant. I know my family will understand an make it work out but it would be nice if we could still make the trip...that way I can see all my friends in MD and they can meet Lance, too!!

Joel went out yesterday afternoon and met with the XO, the current Nav, and a few other officers at the O-club on base and he came home super excited. He said that the wardroom seems really great. He also said that all but 2 of the guys are married, which is awesome. On our last boat there was a large amount of single guys—I think that is because it is easier to get single guys to agree to come to Guam than married guys, So there will be a lot of wives for me to spend time with which is awesome. We have been invited to the home of the communications officer and his wife for dinner tomorrow night. They are expecting their first child in November, and they are friends with one of the guys who was on our last boat. (The guy who Joel is relieving is also friends with 2 of the department heads on our last boat as well…it’s a small Navy.) I am really looking forward to meeting everyone.

I got a new camera a few days ago and I am really loving it. It is a Canon Powershot S90…it is not a DSLR camera, but it is not a regular old point-and-shoot either. It is somewhere in between. I wanted something that had a faster shutter speed because Lance doesn’t hold still too much and I was missing some shots. This camera has a “kids and pets” setting that takes super fast pictures. I am also noticing a huge difference in the quality of the colors in the pictures, which is really great. I am very happy with my purchase.

I also got my hair cut and colored this past Thursday. I took about 3-4 inches off and I got my roots touched up and some highlights put in. I am very happy with it…my hair is hanging better now and it looks nicer. It was getting stringy and kind of listless before…I think the combination of post partum hormones and too much length were not good for it. So I cut a bunch off and am starting over. I like how easy it dried this morning after I washed it and how I was still able to make it look good without professional help.

So this has been an eventful week here…and next week should be a lot of fun as well!!

I am very amused that Facebook is reminding me of my anniversary. Thanks, Facebook…without your help I would have forgotten. I guess it’s a good thing though for those guys (and girls) out there who DO have trouble remembering dates like that…now they have absolutely no excuses, as long as they plugged their wedding date into their profile page!!

I spent some time with my friend Ashley yesterday. Her little girl is exactly one week older than Lance, which is pretty cool. It is nice to have a friend who is experiencing the same things I am at virtually the same time. We have been trading tips and stories since the babies were born, and I have picked up some good things from talking to her. Yesterday was the first time that both of our babies were awake at the same time, so we put them together on her play mat to see how they interacted. Her baby started cooing at Lance and trying to get his attention. He did not vocalize back, but he spent the whole time they were on the mat with his hand touching her arm. It was pretty cute!!



I also had the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with Ashley’s husband. I had met him briefly shortly before the babies were born, when we ran into them at the mall one evening, but I had not really gotten to talk to him very much. He is a really nice guy. He so clearly loves his wife and his daughter and he just seems like a genuinely good man. The time I spent in HR taught me to trust my instincts about people, and I have mostly been right when I get vibes about people, and I just get a really good vibe from him.

Since Joel was working late last night and I knew I was planning to be out of the house for most of the day, I made dinner in the crock pot. I tried a new recipe from my Gooseberry Patch cookbook (I love Gooseberry Patch!!) because it sounded really good. It was a turkey breast cooked in cranberry sauce and onion soup mix, so kind of like a mini Thanksgiving dinner. Man was it good!! I always forget how much I love slow cooked meat—it is always so tender and juicy. I am always a little apprehensive when I try a new recipe but this one is definitely one that we will be having again!!

I finally made appointments for my hair and pedicure…thank goodness!! Now lets just hope that Lance will be good for them. The salon I go to is very understanding about me bringing him which is nice, but I always feel bad when he starts crying in public. I made the appointments for after his usual nap time, which usually works out pretty well. I guess we will see!! I am very excited to finally get this grey out of my hair!!

Lance is passed out in his swing…he ALMOST napped in his crib…it was so close!! But he and I both ultimately were not ready for it.

I got the beginnings of a good routine, though, and I think I am going to keep trying. Around 9am I took him into his room, and sat down in the rocking chair. We read 3 books, and he fell asleep in my arms at the end of the third one. So I decided since he was ready to nap anyway why not try the crib. He woke up as I was putting him in the crib but he was not upset. I turned on his mobile and turned on the baby monitor and walked out of the room. He was great for about 20 minutes—didn’t fall asleep but he played, kicking his legs and waving his arms and making gurgly noises. Then he got a little fussy so I came back in and calmed him down and left. 10 minutes later he got really upset so I came in and rubbed his tummy like I had done before and when that didn’t work I picked him up. He clunked his little head down on my shoulder and closed his eyes. So I put him back in the crib. He was not having anything to do with it, so I caved. I think if I did not have somewhere to go later on I would have persevered, however, I want him to get a good nap in today so we can go run our errands. So tomorrow is another day…plus he is only 10 weeks old. I still have plenty of time to build the nap habit. So I brought him downstairs and put him in his swing and he immediately fell asleep.

Things are starting to wind down at school for Joel—graduation is in about a week and a half, Today is his last evaluated trainer, and from this point on he is basically working half days or having complete full days off until he graduates on the 20th. I am definitely looking forward to getting to spend some more time with him, and I know he is looking forward to spending a little more time with Lance and I as well.

I guess that’s pretty much it for today…kinda boring, I know. But sometimes it’s ok to be boring!!

I took a blogging break yesterday—Lance did not nap as long as he usually does, choosing instead to do several mini-naps…during which I also napped. So I did not get much of a chance to blog, but I got some more sleep which was nice.

He slept for 10 hours last night though, and is on his third nap of the day right now, so I have no excuse today.

I think he is going through a growth spurt—today has been all about nursing and napping, and nursing and napping.

Yesterday we got him to go “aaaaooooooooogah”, but we have not been able to get him to repeat it. It was super cute though. He always makes an “aaaoooooh” sound, and so yesterday morning when he did that Joel looked at him and said “aoooooogah” and Lance looked up at him and went “aaaaooooooooo…..gah” That’s my little Navy baby!! Next we need to make sure his first words are “dive, dive!!” ;)

We had breakfast this morning with our friends Jenny and James and their son Jamie. It was a lot of fun—it was the first time the 4 of us have gotten together. Joel and James went to the Naval Academy together and I met Jenny when we got here and the guys were in school together. They are moving to New Hampshire next week because the boat that James is going to be on will be in the shipyard there for a while—and then they will be back here. Hopefully we are staying here also so that will be really great when they come back. Their son is a little over a year old, and they are expecting their second child in September, so that is 2 playmates for Lance once they come back. It was really nice to spend time with them.

Joel is grilling dinner tonight, which is always very exciting. Tonight’s dinner will be steak in some sort of pineapple marinade, which sounds delicious.

I don’t have a whole lot going on in the next week—school is slowing down for Joel which means he will be home more, which I am always excited about. I really need to try and get my hair done, too—my grey streaks are getting pretty bad. I also want to try to get out to the outlets in Westbrook. Lance’s 3 month portrait session is coming up and I want to go to the OshKosh store and get something for him to wear. Last time I was there they had a really cute orange onesie and khaki pants and I think that would be really cute in the pictures. I also need to figure out what Joel and I are going to wear in case we decide to do a family shot as well. I know Joel wants to do a few shots of him in uniform holding Lance, who will be wearing one of the Navy outfits we have for him, but I need to figure out what to wear for a whole family shot.

Yesterday we planted some flowers in the little garden plot we have in front of our house. I had thought about doing it in the spring, but I was not sure how it would be once Lance came and I did not want to plant flowers that I would end up subsequently neglecting. But now that our life has more of a rhythm it was easier for me to think about having something else to take care of. Unfortunately there were not a lot of options since it is the end of the season, but we were able to get some pretty plants. We got a daylily and 2 types of hibiscus and a small rose bush that was advertised as easy to take care of and nearly impossible to kill (always a plus) and 2 “supertunia” plants, whatever they are. All I knew was they were pink and purple and pretty. So we planted them, and today we got some mulch…but we did not get enough so next weekend we are going to get another bag. I am hoping to be more on my game next year and get some more plants. Actually, some of our neighbors sectioned off a part of their front gardens and started some vegetable plots, which I think sounds like a neat idea also…so maybe I will try that as well.

Our one year wedding anniversary is next Monday, and it sounds like Joel only has a half day of school that day, so we might get to spend quite a bit of our anniversary together. That is very exciting. It is amazing to me how much has happened for us in this last year—we got pregnant, did an overseas move, bought a brand new car, went on vacation, had a baby…it is hard to believe that it has only been a year since we got married, what with everything that has happened in our lives since then!! I don’t know what our plans are for our anniversary yet. Obviously we can’t go out and do a dinner at a fancy restaurant because of the baby, but that’s ok with me. As long as we get to be together and enjoy the day, that’s what really matters.

Lance is still sleeping and I am feeling motivated so I think it is time to go clean or craft or something now.