The Highlights
The obvious highlight of last week was Eloise's first day of preschool on Tuesday. Rather than posting a save it for Sunday I opted to capture some major feelings about it. Read more detail than you ever cared to know about it here.
Grandma Sue has been in the house the past two weeks (hallelujah)! I could not have achieved half the things I did the first week without her help. For example, box up the kids' clothes that are too small and reorganize drawers and closets for fall, pick out and order new glasses, make and deliver dinner for my friend who just had a baby, order new fall clothes for the kids and run around town returning what didn't fit, ship a birthday gift, get my hair done, sleep in, see my baby off to preschool without melting into a puddle of my tears, the list goes on and on. At the top of our success list though ranks a spooktastic playroom transformation. Brad has always loved that his mom decorated their house for Halloween growing up. Mine did too, but Halloween has just never been a favorite holiday of mine so I tend to skip right to the pretty fall and Thanksgiving decor. Not this year! While he was away at training I decided to surprise him and go all out in the playroom. I figured that was a good compromise without covering my house in orange, black, and fake spider webs. It turned out even better than I imagined! The orange, green, and purple lights create the perfect ghostly glow at night. It is cute and appropriately spooky for Eloise and Harvey's age. I love every detail, and I always appreciate the way my mom diligently helps me make my vision come to life no matter what project I drag her into. Maybe this year I will volunteer to stay home on Halloween, cuddle up with the candy basket on the playroom chair, and wait for trick-or-treaters.
Last Saturday was my girlfriend Stephanie's birthday. We had big plans to go to Board & Brush to make some cute wood plank signs together and then to the Principals Office, a coffee shop by day and bar by night built into the old Ivywild school house. About 15 minutes into our projects as we were busy staining our boards, our sweet friend who was 32 weeks pregnant at the time with a diagnosed high risk condition had a huge health scare that really shook us all. Baby boy had other party plans in mind for the evening. I was immediately on the phone with 911, Stephanie was trying to contact her deployed husband, another friend is nursing her newborn, and two others were right by her side keeping her calm. I am still thanking God that we were all together when it happened. We rushed behind the ambulance to the hospital and took shifts by her bedside, contacting both sets of parents, gathering information to process the Red Cross alert necessary to notify her husband overseas, and running to her house to let her pups out and gather overnight items. Baby boy is still safe and snug in her belly, but she will likely be in the hospital on bedrest until he arrives premature in the next few days or weeks. The celebration was far from what we had expected for the night, but I rolled into bed past midnight in awe yet again of the strength of the military community. There is nothing like it. We are all unfortunately or fortunately, whichever way you look at it, so used to operating under chaos solo without our spouses that we did not miss a beat in making sure our girl and her baby were safe and cared for. I have so much gratitude always for our Army family, but it was inspiring and comforting to see it in action under the worst and scariest circumstances. This lifestyle might leave us "alone" way too often, but we are never truly alone.
Happy Birthday from the Birth Center
Bright and early the next morning after celebrating Steph's birthday hospital style, I loaded up and headed east for our old stomping grounds. Months prior my mom had agreed to take care of my kids here at home while I returned to Fort Leonard Wood to meet Blake and Kennedy and to help however I could. As it turns out, Jackie is literally twin super mom! I helped in small ways, cooking dinner every night and keeping the girls so she could escape for a haircut and workout. I spent plenty of time just laying on the ground during tummy time taking in these two miracles and snuggled on the couch staring at their beautiful snoozing faces. There is no better feeling than the rise and fall of a sleeping newborn on your chest and no better sound than their little dream noises. Multiply that by two? Heaven on Earth. Our biggest achievement was moving the twins successfully from the master bedroom to their own room and cribs to sleep at night! Jackie felt ready but was appropriately nervous. The comfort of having the ears of another mama trained to listen for them in the middle of the night helped her take the plunge, and they both did amazing. Jackie is making twin life look like a piece of cake, and I am so proud of her for it. Thank you for sharing your girls with me, Jackie and Chris! I loved every snuggle and every spit up. Every book read and diaper changed. Love you, Blake and Kennedy.
Good to be "home" on Frizell Street
The icing on the Fort Leonard Wood cake was reuniting with the few remaining friends from our time there. You better believe we found time for a donut walk together.
The Small Moments
Dance class is really starting to pay off. Eloise hopped up from her spot at dinner and nailed an exercise Miss Debi does with the girls. She held her ballet arms out in front of her as if she was wrapping them around a giant marshmellow, then above her head like a rainbow, and then slowly lowered them down to her sides with the daintiest little ballerina wrist roll in the middle. All the while saying, "marshmellow, rainbow, ahhh." I will have to figure out a way to upload a video because it had my mom and I dying.
I put a motion activated sound machine in the playroom as part of the Halloween decorations. It is high enough on the book shelf that only adults set it off during the day, but at night it is the off and on of the light that sets it off. It's actually perfect and pretty spectacularly spooky. Before I even took it out of the packaging I let Eloise and Harvey play with it to make sure it was not going to result in terrified tears every time someone set it off. Our fearless Eloise obviously took to it immediately and decided it was fun to click through the 27 sounds until she got to the shrieking cats. Oliver and Lola thought that was big fun (not). The first couple of clicks sent Harvey flying into my arms. He never cried. He just looked very cautiously at it and quietly muttered, "Oh no." I did not hate the snuggles, and I could tell he wanted to brave like his big sister. The first time he ran toward it instead of away the packaging came off and it found it's current home hidden behind Vampirina Ballerina on our bookshelf. Last night on our way up to bed Brad turned off the front entryway light and triggered it. The moans of ghouls made him jump. It made me giggle. Maybe I could learn to love Halloween after all.
The Ways We Grew
New Harvey words: pookie pookie (spooky), I got it, big boy, funny, too! too! (when he wants to do what Eloise is doing too), dropped it. I left for five days and came home to find my baby can count to five! Well, sort of. He forgets "one" every time, insistently beginning at "two" no matter how many times you try to restart. He also can climb onto the couch without help and is pretty proud of himself...until he falls off almost every time. Ai yi yi.
Ever since the first day of school Eloise has been telling us about her classmate with one eye. She is usually very spot on with her observations, but you just never know what to believe about the recollections of a day in the life of a preschooler. My mom texted while I was in Missouri to say there is in fact a girl in her class with an eye patch, and she was waiting specifically for Eloise to play one day during drop off. I talked to Eloise via FaceTime that night and reminded her to ask her new friend what her name was. It was a good teaching moment to talk about focusing not just on what made her different but on what made her a good friend too. As she skipped out of school the next day, she said, "ABIGAIL. My friend's name is Abigail!" So far school is proving to be a positive experience in all of the ways I hoped it would.
My homecoming was full of mixed and unexpected emotions. I got home just in time to give Eloise good night kisses. Her surprise and thrill was amazing. I don't even have perfect words to describe it or the happy noises she made. She'd pull back to look at my face to confirm it really was me and then resume with the cling hugging and squealing. Harvey, on the other hand, held a big grudge that really took me by surprise. I thought he would run to me in the morning, but it was clear I made my mama's boy very angry by leaving. He hid from me for a while, and it just about broke my heart. We realized this trip was easily the longest I have ever been away from him. Not to worry, after a short play time he was back to his usual mama mama mama. Safe to say I am never leaving again.
The Eloise-isms
"Look! I'm winking with both eyes."
"I have to drink all my milk so I can grow big and strong. I will have big muffles." *flexes biceps and grunts* "Daddy, show me your muffles!"
"Mom, make me some privacy." -- As I tried to follow her into the bathroom to help
I cannot say this week is a wrap without a HUGE thank you to my mom and dad. My mom came out to save the day just as I was approaching my breaking point. My dad came out a week later to lend a hand during my week in Missouri. Thank you for maintaining the flow of our routine in my absence and for every picture sent to ease my homesick heart. I am thankful for the effort and time you both put in to build a close bond with the kids despite the long distance. They clearly had no fun at all with you. I will be holding the memories of our family game of hide and seek close until we see you again. Love you!
Everything Eloise knows about hide and seek she clearly learned from Papa Mark.
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