It Ended With A Bowl of Cereal- Photo Dump

On our great trek across the lower states we made a full pit-stop in Texas to see our favorite family, the Hamiltons. It seems like yesterday Megan was moving into a room in my little college house. Then, in a blink of an eye and countless moves between the two of us, here we were with our own little families... her's quickly expanding with the addition of a baby girl coming any minute now (!!). Mila and Hayden played as best can be expected from a 4 (!) year old and 4 month old. Cory and Megan took us to our first BBQ experience. Boy, they did not disappoint! Salt Lick- we WILL be back... one day. 

After stuffing our manly/ pregnant/ nursing faces we retired back to their home, where they graciously put us up for the night. We ended our night with bowls of cereal and gabbed late into the night, just as we used to back in the day. It was a perfect day in Texas.

On Your Marks, Get Set... GO! Photo Dump

Bits and pieces from our big move from California to Alabama...

1. a jump for joy in arizona
2. lone tee-pee in new mexico
3. bearded hubs and his baby girl
4. my inner firework pyro rejoices
5. had the pleasure of sitting next to this little lady for the ride
6. dog-dogs waiting for a quick play sesh
7. monument in texas
8. driving over swamps in louisiana
9. a peek at mexico from over a beige wall

Stuck in Transition

Since moving to Alabama our mental and emotional states have been on a wild roller coaster with only teeny tiny glimpses of the end. We don't know when the roller coaster will end but we know that the end is somewhere out there. Moving is always stressful and that's a fact.

Our first week here was filled with hotel rooms, house hunting, the flu, pent up dogs, humidity and eating out for every meal. We had a boost in our morale when we got the keys to the house that we'll call home for the next 4-ish years. Then the reality set in that we moved here with what we had in our car. The basics of living and feeding a family of three were not included. Thanks to the aid of lovely new friends we were set up with basic kitchen necessities, air mattresses, bedding and towels. "You love camping!" Devin keeps enthusiastically convincing reminding me. Heh. Sure.

Then the second week hits. Our morale... well, more so mine, is running low. At times it's tanking fast. We've had a heck of a time with a certain refrigerator, still camping in our house because our stuff just barely left Oregon, have to continue to rely on some friends for just about everything, wondering who took our outdoor trashcan and why (seriously), and a baby that's in the beginning stages of teething. All this on top of the daily life stresses.

I'm completely over being stuck in transition. I desperately want our stuff here. I feel like crap typing that sentence because I know that stuff isn't important. (Which I was reminded of earlier this week seconds after running over a squirrel with our car. "Well, our stuff taking forever really isn't important now that I know that squirrel's family is now missing a member," I thought. Being humbled comes in many forms.) But I can't deny how desperately I want to nest our home, hang up clothes in their closets, put rugs down on our floors and wrap Birdie's booty back in her cloth diapers. (I didn't know it was possible to get a headache from the fake baby powder smell that Pampers radiate.) I want to stop waiting and start moving forward. With every thought of frustration I have there's always one that follows that reminds me that things could be worse. It's true... it could be. I know that. I know that we're tried and tested in this world and, lately, we've been the recipients of a lot of pop-quizzes.

One of the great things about the blog world is you get to post only certain things and emotions that you want people to see. There are those blogs out there where the family is always put together, the house is always gorgeous and their life seems pretty fun all around. This isn't one of those blogs. I'm currently without makeup, hair not done, and jeans and a pajama top count as being dressed today. Mila is still in her pj's and I'm loathing the fact that my dogs are in the living room whining loudly to inform me that they need to go out. I know our fridge is leaking water onto the floor but have no desire to go clean it up. There's a bag of clean clothes that need to be put away and a pile of dirty diapers that need to go out. The dust on our window blinds are starting to form their own colonies. Also, I'm starving.

Hey Mr. Roller Coaster Operator- we're ready to get off this ride. Let someone else have a-go. One day we'll smile at this transition phase just like we've done with other tough situations we've been in. Just not today.

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Our Birdie smiles in her sleep... so we got that going for us. 

Moving: It's What We Do

Literally.

I feel like it's ALL we do. Especially lately. Granted that last move was one of those thing life throws at you.

And here we are, two months post- last move, in the middle of packing up our house to place in storage for the remainder of the year. (For the record I just unpacked the last box from the last move about a week ago... *she says through gritted teeth*) Military orders are not something you can argue with so away we go into a whirlwind of boxes, closing up loose ends and figuring out logistics. 

With this move we have more control... which I thought I would enjoy more, but alas, it made things SO much harder. D's command, aware of my impending due date, presented us with a few options for D to go back to school: 

1. Report in early August
2. Report in October
3. Report in January

Option number 3 was automatically out for us. I would never want D and Birdie to bond and then rip them apart for months and months when she doesn't understand. Long story short- we decided to go with option number 1. For our family, it's better for us to move asap, get me (and pups) down to family in California, and have D take off and come back while Birdie is still little. D will most likely miss her birth as he reports a week before my official due date. (I don't know why is surprises me that he selflessly sacrificed missing her birth to make sure that she and I were well taken care of... but it does in a way. And makes me fall even more in love with him.)

While this whole situation is not fun for both of us we keep reminding ourselves that both of our families are getting an opportunity to be around Birdie in her very first moments, days, weeks, etc., that they previously would not have had. We're also reminding ourselves that there are many, many other military families that have dealt with this before, and most for longer periods of time.

Our next task is to figure out how to condense our stuff, dog stuff and baby stuff into our subie for the 12 hour drive. Did I mention I'll be pushing 38 weeks, too? True story. We will be saying adieu to Oregon and hello to sunny California by the end of this week!

As of Late & Chaos

This sums up our last couple weeks pretty darn well. Let me back track a little...

Six months ago D suffered a pretty bad shoulder injury while in training across the county. They immediately sent him back home to me and, together, we had a week to find a new place to live back up north near his previous station. I was overwhelmed by the whole situation but promised D that I would immediately calm down once we had secured a place to live. After all- moving is no fun unless you have some type of idea of where you're going. Within a couple hours D found a condo for rent, and five days later we camped- literally- in our new place after signing a lease.

While the town and the condominiums that we lived in were really, really nice the condo that we rented wasn't...err... treated properly... to be nice. But we did the best we could with what we had, and I think we made the best out of the situation. I successfully looked past the white walls, physical imperfections, and the small space and made our condo as homey as possible. We made a verbal agreement with our landlord to extend our lease for another six months.

One day, a couple months ago, I was served papers at our home notifying us that the condo we were renting was heading towards foreclosure. Wait.... what!?! We have never, ever missed or have been late on a rent payment so you can imagine our surprise. I tried my best to read through the legal mumbo jumbo but I could only understand a few things clearly:

1. We were to keep paying our rent.
2. Our landlord was behind a specific amount and had to pay the balance by a certain date. (Which, if paid, could stop the foreclosure proceedings.)
3. If the balance wasn't paid then the condo would be auctioned a week before my due date.
4. If the condo was auctioned off we could either have 24 hours notice, 30 days or 90 days notice to move, depending on the situation.
5. This wasn't a great situation for us.

We mentioned to our landlord that we were aware of the situation and asked him to keep us updated. Weeks went by and there was still no word, let alone a straight answer when we questioned him. A few weeks ago we were really adamant that we HAD to know.... after all- we didn't want to be in a situation where I was popping out Birdie in the midst of house hunting, or moving with an infant that was days or weeks old. D and I made the decision to remove ourselves from the situation and find a new place.

I'll spare the gory details but it was a lot more stressful and anxiety filled than I thought it would be. There were also a couple crying meltdowns on my part. In the end we found a place that's in the next town over, actually saves us money, and has a better use of space. The only down side is it's a single wide... literally... and it's extremely dated in the- ahem- decor department. But, we're making the most of it and the pros of it out weigh the dated wallpaper, wood paneling, linolium flooring and such.

We've spent the past week packing up our things. Fortunately I did a major spring clean shortly after we moved into the condo and most of our stuff was already packed in storage bins. Over the weekend we got permission to start moving our stuff over. D has been a champ at doing all of the actual lifting and moving while I'm heading the sorting and organizing department. Tomorrow is our official move in day. We accomplished so much over the past couple of days that we really only have the major stuff (bed, freezer, etc) to move over.

I'm so, so glad that we're done and out of foreclosure situation as much as I hate that I'm moving while 6 1/2 months pregnant.

........

Of course daily life continues in the midst of chaos. Here's a quick glimpse at ours: 

 D and our friend E hiked Saddle Mountain one morning. I thoroughly enjoyed not going and, instead, spent my time sewing. 

 I finished the bumpers for Birdie's cradle. I know SIDS is a big concern with bumpers so I purposefully did only two sides and made the inner batting super, supper thin. 

These knuckleheads always find a way to steal my heart. I'm glad we've been having unseasonably warm weather lately as it'll get them ready for our trip back to California. (Note the turquoise pillow I made for our couch with leftover cradle fabric.) 

Risk

On Sunday night a thought popped into my head as I was getting into bed: "Tomorrow is going to be either really good or really bad." Being very tired and realizing that nothing I could do could change the situation, I focused on the upcoming Friends episode on my tv. To my surprise I fell asleep really fast.

Hubs has been gone for two months for specialized training. In a prior phone conversation on Sunday he warned me that he might be coming home sooner than he wanted to. Not because of a failed test, poor performance or anything of that sort. His shoulder was giving out and the the remainder of his training "fate" rested in a military doctor's decision.

Monday morning came fast and his fate was relayed to me via text message- he was coming home. He was not happy. A quick bout of anger on his part, tears on my part and we were quickly reminded that the military moves fast, and we had to keep up. A craigslist search and a dozen phone calls later we secured a new home in a new location.

via

Back to Sunday night. In the moments prior to checking out, mentally, to watch Friends I thought about all of the risks that we've taken this past year. Especially the past couple of months. All of the risks were very calculated, weighed and obessesed thought over: we packed up our entire house and uprooted two states away knowing that he could come home early. We knew that being separated during the holidays would be extremely hard. We knew that me living out of a suitcase, dragging two dogs around and bouncing between two sets of parents would have some pros but a lot of cons. Et cetera, et cetera, etcetera. I didn't prepare myself to risk picking up broken pieces of someone who tried but didn't succeed.

That's a risk I should have prepared for. And I'm very bad at math.

Hubs is my absolute best friend. He reads me and anticipates what's coming before I'm even ready to let it out. He's spent the past two years comforting, reassuring, pushing me forward, pulling me up and positively reinforcing me... sometimes multiple times in an hour. He's also put up with some very crappy side effects- both mentally and physically. I had become so used to it that I'm guilty of forgetting how to return the favor. Apparently it doesn't take that long to remember how to return the favor.

The best part about risk? It's antonyms: secure, safe, shelter, save... to name a few.

Without the risks we've taken in the past couple months I wouldn't have been reminded how safe I feel in my hometown. I was reminded how absolutely secure my marriage is. I wouldn't have been able to save some of my childhood and family items that would have been given away. I wouldn't have had the most stressful two hours priviledge to negoiate a rental agreement for a condo we haven't really seen. I would not have had the chance to rely emotionally on a person who's growing more into family than friend.

Yeah... I guess risk is okay, afterall. Let's hope I still agree with the previous statement after all the risks we plan to take this coming year. My fingers will definitely be crossed. D exposed himself to a ton of risk... but I'm so glad he did.





Bridges for Freeways

Our house has morphed into a state of organized chaos. 

Moving is a military family's constant. It seems like six months after the very last box has been unpacked you're already talking about when you're moving next. It starts out being so vague ("Oh, in a few years.") and whittles down into something more specific. ("May 2012") Then it becomes tangible: "Three more months,"... "A couple weeks,"... "October __." This is where we are... we're in specifics.

It's crazy to think we've been here for two years. It seems like the longest two years ever. So much "life" happened when we were up here, and my list of Things I've Learned has grown. There are definitely somethings that I will miss up here but, at this point, I'm so. ready. to. leave. 


I can't wait to trade rain for sun, isolation for people, bridges for freeways, tourists for locals, mist for fog, lack of options for too many options, 3 bedroom house for a bedroom, Seattle/ Portland for San Fran/ L.A., rivers for pools and porcupines for.... wait I'll keep that last part. I still pee my pants with excitement when I see porcupines. 

And, so, the packing and painting continues.... 

Bright & Sunny

Taking advantage of the sun being out, we headed outside over the weekend to tire out the dogs.

Front of our house. Gotta love dull-looking base housing.

Our backyard

Ruca loves to pick up and carry leaves and small pine cones and parade them in front of us.

A hot day for us: 15 minutes into playing fetch and he's already wimping out and panting.

Adorable picture even though she's chewing a plastic gun leftover from a recent birthday party.

Handsome as ever

Ruca is slowly learning how to play fetch. She's still a peanut so she gets nervous to pick up whatever we're throwing since there's a big chance that Bogey will crash into her.

View from our backyard. (Which makes up for the ugly exterior of our house.)

Blue sky!

D and Bogey playing fetch in the river.

Took Ruca on her first walk with Bogey over to the new boat launch by our house. This is looking back at the base housing.

View of the boats (left) and station (right-ish) from the public boat launch

Sent Bogey fishing again.

Ruca would have loved to play in the water but she has to wait until she's caught up on her shots. But she was very concerned about what Bogey was doing.