The Highlights
Some of the happiest memories we have had as a family this winter have come from playing outside in the snow together. Harvey finally thinks it is fun instead of pouting and struggling to move in his snow pants the whole time. At the beginning of the week we had a beautiful snow fall, but life got busy and we did not get outside to play in it. I had been kicking myself all week for the missed opportunity. In true Colorado fashion, it melted by the next day. With 0% chance of snow in the forecast I had no choice but to get over it. Saturday morning we woke up to...surprise! A respectable covering of sparkling snow! I could not help but smile knowing mother nature had graciously delivered a second chance just for us. I am so hard on myself in these final days of anticipation. I want everything to be as perfect as possible. I want Brad to eat all of his favorite home cooked meals. I want to capitalize on as many opportunities for family fun as possible. I want all the smiley pictures of my crew together in one frame. I want Brad to have as many comforts of home packed to take with him as possible. As silly as it may seem, this last frolic in the snow really felt like a gift.
Dadford is an expert snowman builder
After Eloise's 892 dates, Harvey finally got his moment in the spotlight! Donuts with Dadford and a brand new set of wheels. It does not get any better than that in Harvey land. Our favorite local donut shop has a little donut mobile for sale that Harvey is always swooning over. Move over Lulu the school bus as the fan favorite. Guess what is now zooming around our house? One can never have too many cars. And thanks to Grandma Sue, I got to enjoy one last date night with my best friend too. I ate my feelings in carbs. Brad ate two cannolis. Success.
During our last deployment, I started my own little hashtag and posted a picture a day on my Instagram account. They were numbered with what day it was all the way to the happiest day when Brad returned home safely and met Eloise for the first time. I have to admit, capturing and posting them became kind of daunting. I made a mental note to maybe skip it next time around. But fast forward a few years as we started prepping for Brad's departure this time. He asked me if I was going to do the picture a day thing again because he loved it so much. UGH. As I grumbled on about how I didn't want to, he encouraged me to go back and look through those days now as a history. It was THE BEST. So good in fact, that I ordered a Chatbooks flip book composed of all 266 days right away. Chatbooks is worth checking out if you are looking for a quick and easy way to turn your Instagram pictures into high quality photo books. When it arrived in the mail this week, I immediately knew #wittdeploymentdays would be making it's grand return soon. I am still debating how to go about it this time since I am usually off of social media for the most part until Sundays. Do I take and label my seven pictures and post them all on Sunday? Allow myself a set amount of time on Instagram each night after bedtime to do a catch up scroll and post that day's picture? What do you think?
The Small Moments
Eloise is big into her doctor's kit Aunt Whitney gave to her for her first Christmas again. It comes and goes in waves, and when the wave hit, no one is safe from her frequent check ups. Naturally, Harvey is her favorite patient as of lately. He is actually such a professional actor now that I caught him earlier this week bouncing his leg up into the air and exclaiming, "oh!" every time she pretended to check his knee reflexes. It was the cutest thing and had Brad and me rolling on the ground laughing.
My best childhood girlfriend Aura gave me my first piece of Brian Andreas artwork probably over a decade ago. My collection has since grown with both Aura and Brad contributing pieces from time to time. A few weeks ago I finally got three of my favorites hung on our entryway wall, and ever since then they are constantly making me smile. I found out that the artist does "A Story Every Day" email each morning. You all know I have been trying to step back from social media and set boundaries for myself, and this email subscription has become one of my favorite new morning rituals instead of immediately scrolling. There is always a piece of his art attached with a motivational paragraph or two about it's origin or what it means to the artist. His words somehow always hit home in some way and motivate me to start the day with a positive attitude.
Newest addition and favorite from Brad
The Ways We Grew
Eloise is unbelievably close to earning her starfish badge at swimming. Mark my words, one of the next save it for Sunday posts will have a picture of our proud little fish with a medal around her neck. I am a little bit heartbroken that Brad won't be here to see her earn it, but it was so fun to watch him geeking out on Saturday watching her do her flips, dives, and floats so successfully. We are hoping to FaceTime him in for her award ceremony. Eloise's lab work came back and is still off. The goal is to get her TSH between 0.5 and 4.0. It is now up to 0.14 from 0.04, so we are moving in the right direction at least. They dropped her dose again and we will be back for more blood work in a month. In other Eloise news, her ballet teacher announced that they will be dancing to "You'll Be In My Heart" from Tarzan for their recital in June. You can imagine how that song news hit my heart. I will need five boxes of tissues at a minimum nearby for the actual performance.
The Witt-isms
"Hear the bells?" -Harvey
His way of asking me to roll the windows down as we pull into the parking lot at Eloise's preschool so he can hear the bells. They play Amazing Grace every morning right at nine as all of the preschool families are arriving. It is one of my favorite little moments of the day and apparently one of Harvey's too.
"We live on Mercury." -Eloise
"No, we don't. Can you think of what our planet is called?" -me
"Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. It is VERY hot during the day and BBRRR FREEZING COLD at night!" -E
"Wow! That is so cool that you know that. But is our planet called?" -me
"We will definitely need sunglasses when we visit Mercury." -E
"We would need more than sunglasses. We'd burn up!" -me
"Oh yea, true mom! We'd be like POOF and turn into a poof ball!" -E
Looking Ahead
The Oscars | 0 days --- The Oscars are on tonight! Every year Brad and I make it our mission to watch as many of the films nominated for best picture as we can together before it airs. Even with everything going on, this year has been no different. We watched Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is Born, BlacKkKlansman, Roma, and Black Panther. The other three are either still in theaters or not available to rent yet. It makes it so much more fun to watch the awards when you are rooting for someone.
Family dinners | 3 days --- A few of my friends here have husbands deployed on the same timeline as ours. We all agreed it is when evening arrives that we usually miss our spouses the most. Beginning Wednesday, once a week we are going to rotate cooking/hosting responsibilities and share our own twist on family dinners together. There are so many things I am looking forward to about these nights. A few less dinners to cook for one is a huge perk, but being together with strong women and mamas who are feeling and going through all the same things as me is simply the best.
DiBiases visit | 7 days --- More visitors on the calendar! The more the merrier. Who is booking their trip next? One of the best things to come from our time at Fort Campbell was my friendship with Lauren. She has a genuine heart of gold, and her husband's school event in Denver has impeccable timing. I am so glad they will be in town for a major mood boost.
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