Ela's Birthday Party

We threw Ela a birthday party last weekend so that her daddy could be there for it.  He left for his big adventure on Sunday, so on Saturday, we got the family together for a low key celebration.   Our intention was to hold it at a park near our house, which would have worked great on Thursday or Friday when it was in the 70's.  Saturday dawned windy and cold, though, so we went over for a little while to let Ela play...

...and then we went back to our house for lunch, cupcakes, and presents.  The cupcakes were decorated by Minjee, who did a super job as usual!

Ela had a great time hanging out with all her grandparents, her aunt Minjee, her great-grandma, and cousin Daniel. We were glad we could put something together for her so that Zack could be a part of it.   This weekend if the weather is more cooperative, we might head out to the zoo on her actual birthday.  I can't believe she's almost three already!  Where did the last three years go?

Sick Day ... Or Two...

I have heard many Navy wives complain that the minute their husbands go on deployment, one of the kids gets sick, or something breaks. In our case, we apparently decided to get those things out of the way before Zack actually left. We took a lovely trip to Winston-Salem last week, and on the way home Wednesday night, I could feel myself getting sick. I don't get sick often, but by the next morning, I had a fever and a serious sore throat. I figured instead of letting one of the kids get sick, I was taking one for the team.

This was especially annoying to me because I had a job interview on Thursday.

I don't like to take medicine even when I'm not breast feeding, it makes me loopy, so I settled for a regular dose of tylenol and a lot of liquids to get me through the interview. I blamed the cold for the fact that I thought thr fridge smelled funky. By evening, I thought I was feeling better. I was on my way home from the interview when Zack called to inform me that the fridge was the same temperature as the living room, and a lot of our food was bad.

Guess it wasn't the cold after all.

We called the landlord that evening, and he gave us the numbers for several appliance services that could help us, but none of them were able to come check it out until at least Monday. We didn't worry too much because we were planning to eat out a good bit over the weekend anyway.

Saturday was our anniversary, and I was determined to be well enough to enjoy it. I spent most of Friday holding very still and trying to feel better, but my body was not willing to work with me. I could do a passing imitation of a well person, but it hurt to swallow and I could barely taste the food anyway. I couldn't even muster the energy to put on make up, but we picked a little Greek place to go to and we went out.

We dropped the girls off at the grandparents' house for a sleepover and had a predinner drink. That's how I discovered that wine all but eliminated the sore throat. Armed with this knowledge, I had a good dinner and a very pleasant rest of the evening.

Sunday, my throat surrendered. I spent all day trying to eat lunch and failing miserably. I was all set to go to the doctor except that I dont't have one here yet. Thankfully, by Monday I was starting to feel better. Then there was just the small matter of living without the fridge, which makes cooking all but impossible. The guys didn't show up to fix it until this afternoon, so we'll be really glad for a real meal tomorrow, and Ela will be happy to have milk again.

Here's hoping the drama is done for awhile!

Snow Play

Last weekend, we headed up to Virginia for what is becoming our yearly skii trip. Due to the crazy warm winter we've had, it was Lily's very first experience with snow (which the resort could barely keep on the ground). 

She was clearly unimpressed.  I think she might like it better when she's able to walk. 
Ela, on the other hand, was delighted to be back in the snow.  She remembered the "green sled" and wanted to go down the hill with Mommy first thing.  I happily obliged.   As it turned out, one trip down the sledding hill was enough for her, and then she was ready to revisit a few of her other favorite parts of the play area:

Making snowballs was her favorite part this year.  I still couldn't talk her into wearing her gloves, though.

We played for a little while, and headed home when a misty rain started falling. We met Zack back at our rooms and tried out the swimming pool. It was quite the popular place to be, since the weather was iffy for skiing. We had a good time watching Ela work up the nerve to play in the water while Lily took an extended nap.

In the evening, I got to leave the girls with their daddy and try out the tubing area, called The Plunge, with my sister, her boyfriend and Mom.  They have a hill set up with lanes for the tubes to slide down, and with the weather so warm and a whole day of tubers come and gone, it was a little icy and a super fast ride when we arrived.  We had a great time flying down the mountain. 

So it was yet another fun trip.  We're already thinking about how it will work next year.  Will Ela be old enough (or evening willing) to try skiing?  Will Lily enjoy the snow?  We can't wait to find out!

Bath time in a Navy house

The other night, Ela took a bath at her Grandma's. When bath time was over, I was patiently instructing her to pick up the bath toys one at a time. I pointed at the little yellow barge that was floating in a corner of the bath.

"Okay, Ela, now pick up the boat."

Ela looked at me with a very serious face and replied, "It's not a boat, Mama, it's a ship."

Zack would be so proud.

Where is Ela's bed?

The move is in progress! My biggest complaint so far with this move is the timing.  We requested two consecutive days for the movers to pack everything, and then a day later in the same week to move it into the new home.  Those days were apparently unavailable, so what we got was three days spread pretty evenly over two weeks.  On the Friday before MLK weekend, some very nice ladies came and put all our stuff in boxes.  Then they left it in the house in DC all weekend long.  No, really.  So us girls hung around to watch the boxes get packed and then left poor Zack to deal with the rest.  The pay off for him is that he won't be around for the day it all arrives at the house.  Lily is about the same age as Ela was last time we moved, so for her, the packing up was something interesting to watch.

Ela is old enough now to wonder where her favorite things are.  She kept asking about toys that were already sealed up.  It took her awhile to process that the stuff was in the boxes to go on the truck.  We did find one way to amuse her, though (sorry about the flipped picture, I'm not working on my usual computer).

So we are living with my parents now.  Tuesday, Zack reported that movers came and picked up all our stuff.  The trouble was that they had another load to put into what was left of the truck.  We hoped they might make it to North Carolina anyway, but we're not that lucky.  Instead, our stuff is due to arrive Monday.

In the mean time, we've been working at the new house, though I admit most of the work was done by my family before we arrived.  Mom and Minjee painted everything, and I mean everything, and it looks super.  I helped with the finishing touches, but there was very little left to do.  We've put up curtains and shower curtains and gotten a dryer (the washer was installed by Dad and a friend before we got here).  It's all ready, and now we just wait.

And Ela gets progressively more confused.  I have been calling Mom's house "home", and she got very upset about that.  To her, this house is "the dog house" because that's where she sees all her favorite doggies.  It is NOT home.  I never would have thought that she'd get tired of being here, but she's starting to express a desire to go home.  Whenever we go to our new home, she goes to "Ela's new room" and hangs out.  She's started saying she wants to sleep there.  I keep telling her that she can as soon as her bed gets there.  That led to lots of questions about where Ela's bed is.  I think she gets that it's on a truck, but I'm sure she can't figure out what's taking that truck so long.  It must be the slowest truck ever.  That's what I keep telling her.  We're looking forward to Monday!

Moving Preparations

One of the things I am looking forward to in our next home is the garage. Our current place has one scary spot in the back, with the potential for a nasty run in with the stairs to the basement if you pull in too far. Any additional cars have to find places on the street in two hour parking spots. And if it rains on grocery day, bringing stuff in is cold and wet. Also, it makes finding a spot for a moving van rather hard. In fact, part of the moving process has been reserving parking for the moving van. It took one hour of sitting on hold, a search of a website and fifty bucks, but I got the reservation permit. Today, I went to print off the posters that warn the neighbors not to park on the street. To do that, I had to track down the nearest Police department, where I was assured that there'd be a kiosk to print the posters. Sure enough, the kiosk was there, and I got all set to print, and the copiers jammed. :::sigh::: I had an immediate flashback to teaching at West and the constant copier jams we dealt with there. I was pretty sure I could fix the problem, but breaking the copier in a police station seemed like a bad idea, so I hesitated. I asked the very nice police officers what to do, and they said it wasn't their set up. Great! Feeling I had the green light, I started following the instructions on the machine and, sure enough, it was the same sort of issue we had back at school. It often resulted from overfilling the paper tray. I felt pretty good about fixing the machine, until the next page jammed too. Frustrated, I called the department of traffic, who owns the kiosk. This time I wasn't on hold for an hour, but the only thing they suggested was going to another kiosk. At this point, Ela was laying on the floor crying for no apparent reason and Lily was whining in her car seat. Going elsewhere was not an option. So I opted for a two pronged approach. First, I wrote down all the information that the printer was supposed to put on the posters with the intention of may be just writing it in myself. Then, I took a bunch of blank posters from the paper tray and set the machine up to try again. It worked! Just like our copiers back at West Forsyth! Who knew that unjamming a copier was such a useful skill. Even better, the copier automatically reprinted the posters that had jammed. I was glad to take the finished products and go. So now we've got the parking for the moving van. Now we just have to get the house ready. Six days to go!

New Year's Top Ten

Lots of people have done top tens about the past year. I realized, though, I've already blogged about those things, so here's the top ten things you can look forward to seeing on this blog in the next year, in no particular order.

1) The big move - We're moving to North Carolina in the next month or so. That will almost certainly make for a post or two soon.

2) Ela - She does so much cute stuff, she will certainly be featured here, along with her accomplishments and activities. On the list of potential topics are potty training and preschool.

3) Lily - Her big sister will be going to preschool, so she and I should get a little more quality time. This might lead to me writing more about her. Milestones that are likely to turn up here include walking (she might even crawl, unlike her sister) and turning one.

4) My Waistline - Once we get settled into our new home, I'm planning to throw myself into a new exercise and diet regime to get rid of the last of the baby weight. My secondary goal is to look and feel better than ever by the time Zack gets back from the mid-east. I'll probably share my progress or lack thereof.

5) A Visit from Zack - Zack will be gone for most of the year, so he probably won't feature here much. Writing about him will only make me miss him more. However, he will get to come back for at least one visit, and I will write about that.

6) Creative Activities - I'm still trying to clear out my yarn stash, so I'll probably post a bit about what I make. I'm also hoping to do more crafty stuff with Ela as she gets old enough to participate.

7) Cooking Adventures - With Zack gone, I'll have more range in the kitchen. This is a chance to try some new recipes without fear of him starving if they don't turn out. :)

8) Dory - The dog has actually already moved. She's staying with my family until we join her. I'm sure her name will pop up here from time to time.

9) Family Fun - Being back in NC will mean having more family close by and more chances to hang out with them. We're all looking forward to that.

10) Lots of Outings - We'll miss the plentiful sightseeing opportunities of DC, but we'll still be getting out and doing exciting things from time to time.

It should be an exciting year! Stay tuned!