One of Those Saturdays

this is our first coast guard move that has us living far from the beach. c'mon, we're in the gulf coast- shouldn't we have a little more coast in our lives? you mean we have to pack up our car and travel to the beach? clearly we've been spoiled in the past when we lived thisclose to the ocean. on a side note: we're also in hurricane country and i will never regret living far from the beach whenever a severe storm heads our way. but it's deceiving to be married to a coast guard rescue swimmer- that surfs- who's stationed on the gulf coast and be 40 minutes from the nearest beach. i mean, really. 

we schemed earlier in the week to make the upcoming saturday a family beach day. we woke up early, packed up our car, dressed birdie in her swimsuit, kissed our doggies goodbye and prayed that they didn't destroy anything in our absence. along our way we stopped at a local farmers market. we wandered through isles of fresh produce, flowers and baked goods. d and i left with a power snack and a bag of sweet peaches. 

we had so much fun playing in the waves and body surfing. mila-bird had a blast splashing around in the gulf. it was one of those beach saturdays were even i kept saying over and over, "this is so much fun!" it's been a long time since i've actually played in the waves. it also helps that it was a thousand degrees outside, despite the rain clouds, and the water temperature was into the eighties. 

we cut our beach time a little short as we wore out our little bird. we were also invited to a last minute baseball game, and wanted to have plenty of time to shower, change and tend to our doggies before we left for the game. 

i honestly couldn't tell you who won the baseball game. my hot dog and diet coke did absolutely nothing to take away the heat and humidity (holy. cow.) but we had a blast sharing mila's first baseball game with friends. our day was as much fun as it was busy... and i'm still trying to get the sand out of our beach stuff. 

Park It

summer is rapidly approaching in mobile. our weather has soared into the high 80's and low 90's. insert my central valley friends and family scoffing and rolling their eyes at that last sentence. not so fast. we're in the south where the humidity is constant. it makes our heat index seem comparable to those triple digit california days. evenings are, in my opinion, the best part of the day. the heat lets up just enough to enjoy put up with being outside.

seems like every time i'm driving around town i find a new park that i haven't seen before. there are so many places for our little family to play, including a little park in our subdivision. over memorial weekend we took a break from our various projects we have in the works to take birdie to explore veteran's memorial park. while the playground was large and loads of fun (this mama was really stoked to play on a few things) it was just out of birdie's developmental reach.

we settled for a little hike on the walking trails. when fighting mosquitoes became too much (understatement) we sought the comfort of the air conditioner in our car and headed back home to play at our little park closer to home.

we ended the day as we typically do- a baby birdie playing on a blanket in the grass, exploring whatever she can get her hands on, while the sun begins to set in our backyard. i foresee a lot more days like this in our future.

All Together Again

d has finally made his way back home to us. i'm very proud to say that he passed his training course and is a nationally registered emt. (woo hoo!) the last 18 months have been a non-stop roller coaster ride of moving- 4 to be exact- and separations while trying to maintain some type of normalcy for raising a little.

i'd be lying if i said i haven't been worried about d and birdie's bond. afterall, they didn't get that time after her birth. he came home from school during her fourth month of life and then had to leave again 4 months later. likewise for d- when he left for school the first time i was very, very pregnant. he became a father over skype, video messages, text messages and facetime. when he came back he suddenly had to get to know this little being while finding his own rhythm of parenting.

at times i would panic over it. i'd keep others from holding birdie as a way to "save her" for d as if she had a limited number of times she could be held by others. i would show her pictures of d everyday. it always made me happy, especially during our last separation, that she would break into a large smile and a quiet little giggle when she saw his face. but, then, a thought would creep into my head- is she smiling because she recognizes him or is she smiling because it's a picture of a person smiling?

the first few hours of d arrival back home was a little difficult. birdie screamed when d said hello to her in  our car at the airport. i chalk this reaction up to a few things- she was mad she was in the car seat, she was tired, i suspected the beginnings of a fever (turned out to be right later that night), and i think she thought d was a doctor. (she had been seen by the doctor a couple times that week- all of them male- and was not thrilled either time. thrilled= understatement.)

with a little bit of time, patience and some reassuring loves from mama- these two were peas in a pod in no time.

in the short time he's been home i no longer worry about their bond. she gives him her biggest grins and belly laughs, shouts to get his attention, cuddles, asks for him to hold her and looooves to rough house with him. she remembers the little games they used to play together. yep, their bond is still intact. my mama-heart is so happy when they're together.