oh! heeey!

can we take a second and talk about how super, super, super behind i am on this gosh darn blog? obviously it's true. crickets can be heard for miles, tumbleweeds are blowing by and dust is accumulating on this little web space of mine. (and also around my house but we won't get into that.) there's nothing that states, "i'm crazy busy!" better than a blog that hasn't been updated in over a month.

instead of a million different posts all nicely organized by event- with coordinating pictures of course- here's just a teeny, tiny peek at our life as of late. and by late i mean from june-ish until now. yikes.

row 1: family date night / selling mama-made ring slings / a back-roads walk / birdie's room decor- all mama made.

row 2: pink, sparkly toes / post-bath kissies / packers #1 cheerleader / birthday celebration at a baseball game

row 3: grammy visited / mama made mock up of birdie's flower girl attire / it's still hot in 'bama but it's fall in our house / this guy is getting older and handsomer (new word)

row 4: lots of storms but no hurricanes yet / pre-bedtime story time / visit from auntie / sleep issues finally under control

not pictured: countless mosquito bites, prep for our trip to hawaii (!), countless projects that have been started but not finished, d brewing his own kombucha, keeping up with my young women girls, doing cross fit work outs, watching lots and lots of football with friends, cleaning up after a curious, mobile baby, my new part-time job, playgroups, mila is cruising and finally lovin' table foods, fighting bugs, new tires (!) and all the other day to day stuff that requires attention or randomly pops up. whew.

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.

Trio

These last few weeks have been insanely busy and very surreal. In addition to preparing for D's arrival back home there's Christmas shopping, packing, organizing, and tying up loose ends intermixed with soaking up time with family.

D finally made his way home over a week ago. We both don't do very well when separated so there was a slight awkwardness when he arrived. Not only do we sort of have to get to know each other again, but there's a new little girl added to the mix. And, honestly, I'm playing down the awkwardness quite a bit.

We filled our first few days with just the three of us running errands and having lunch together. D is already an amazing, sweet, and fun daddy. He's jumped right in and is extremely hands on. (There are many times where he wants to do everything.) I'm even impressed that he takes on cloth diapering and does very well. Mila-bird recognizes her dad's voice and finds him hilarious.

I love these two together. I love watching them play. I especially love watching them cuddle.

I love being a trio.

This Time

E, C and I in Yosemite around this time last year. 

This time last year... I broke down emotionally during dinner with my mom at a restaurant. It was hard to watch my mom find words of comfort to make everything all better.

This time last year... I had a really fun visit with e and c. (pictured) And was secretly wishing they'd start dating.

This time last year... I had random, crazy reaction to a medication I've taken before.

This time last year... all of the hard work that d did was wiped away in one injury.

This time last year... I kept telling myself over and over and over that everything happens for a reason. (right?)

This time last year... we were getting ready to move back to Oregon.

This time last year... we were surprised (understatement) to learn that a little bird was soon to be on her way.


This time... I am the happiest I've probably ever been.

This time... I'm counting down the days until I get to see e and c again. (11 to go!) And I'm over the moon, tickled, thrilled that they're now married.

This time... all of d's hard work and sacrifice paid off in a huge way.

This time... all I can think about is how things happen for a reason, and someone else knows of a bigger plan than I do.

This time... we're starting to plan our move to our next station in Mobile, Alabama.

This time... I have an almost 3-month-old (what!?!) birdie sitting contently in my lap as I type this, chewing on her soft, chubby hands.


What a difference a year makes.

Halloween

Once October snuck into the picture I started envisioning a trip to the local pumpkin patch with Mila-bird for her first special holiday outing. I was determined to find a cute pumpkin for my little pumpkin. I wanted her festively dressed so I could take 10,000 pictures to mark the occasion (below are a fraction of what I actually took)... because that's what mama's do, right? Well... the pumpkin patch was no longer in business so we settled for a place on a corner. We brought Grandma and cousin Ky along for the fun.

Since D is away I decided to not purchase a costume or carve pumpkins. We'll wait until next year when we can really celebrate together. Instead, Birdie got a couple Halloween outfits to celebrate the day. 

Some doggies were not too happy about having to stay inside while I did a quick Bird-shoot. Since my main subject was completely over her picture being taken for the millionth time I decided to add them into the mix. 

Cousin Ky came over for some trick-or-treating. Mila-bird slept most of the time while Grandma and I went along for the candy to see the decorated houses. 

 Ky dressed as Sally with Zero the Dog. Both from the Nightmare Before Christmas. 

 Snoozin' away

Miss Bird lookin' like her mama when she was a baby!  

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I came across one of our engagement pictures today. 13 weeks of missin' this handsome guy. We're both doing as well as can be, considering. I'm looking forward to being in the count down phase of things but we're not there yet. I can't wait until I can FINALLY get our first picture- together- as a family of three! 

Bird in the Water

Mila-bird and I waited anxiously since the day you were born to get you in the water but mama had to wait for her c-section scar to heal finally joined an infant swim class that meets once a week. Sadly, it's in the afternoons during the work week. This mama was worried that she wouldn't get any pictures of her little birdie dipping in the warm water for her first time.

As luck would have it we ventured back to the pool this evening for a birthday party. I threw on our suits, handed Grammy the camera and gave her strict orders to keep shooting until we were all done. Birdie looooves anything to do with water and enjoys being dragged around the pool. She's even been underwater a few times... D would be proud!

Just like after her bath, Mila-bird gets very, very giggly... 

(umm... could you look anymore like your daddy in this picture?!) 

... Just before she takes a nice, cozy nap from all that swimming.