Seriously?

When Don returned to work on Tuesday, he had an email soliciting a volunteer in his career field to move to Guam for a 3 year assignment. He sent the email to me and my response was,
"Seriously?"

He knew I had no desire to uproot our lives and move to Guam (can you tell where this is going?). We didn't even discuss it on Tuesday when he came home, but as if I had a feeling, we talked about it briefly before falling asleep last night. I asked him if it was something he would really want to do and he said if he knew I was on board, yes. But knowing how I had no desire to move halfway across the world he said it wasn't something he was interested in. I then said, "Well, the deadline to volunteer has already passed so it doesn't matter anyway," and rolled over and went to sleep.

So, imagine my suprise when Don called as I was feeding Price lunch and asked, " Remember our talk about Guam?" And I knew without him saying anything, we would be heading to Guam. My instinct was correct! So, now our world is upside down with plans to make, parents/friends to alert. It's all soooo crazy- it doesn't even feel real! And it is apparently all going to happen very quickly!

This has taught me several things (or at least reminded me of them):

1. When you make plans, God and the USAF laugh!

2. My prayers need to be more specific- I have always wanted to live on a beach and I want Price to be a beach baby, but I always thought it would be Florida or the Carolinas, never did I imagine GUAM (even as I type it continuouosly, it still hasn't completely sunk in).

3. I am no longer going to say where I don't want to go next. I didn't want to come Ohio- here we are, I have told Don numerous times that Asia, and other places in that region of the world helpd no interest for me and they were too far and I didn't want to go- and guess where we are headed (however, I have loved our time in Ohio, so if Guam is even half as good we will be very blessed and enjoy our time there).

Rain, rain go away

So, our little clan of 3 recently took a psuedo vacation to the land of Mickey Mouse. Don attended a conference while Price and I spent long, glorious days out by the pool enjoying the Florida sunshine. Oh wait, that was some body else's trip... Don attended a conference while Price and I hung out in our hotel room trying to stay out of the liquid sunshine that fell pretty much non-stop while we were in Florida. Yes, 6 days straight of rain. Everytime it looked like it might stop, we would head out to enjoy the break in the weather- only to have the skies open up. We sloshed around City Walk, Downtown Disney and SeaWorld. But it was ok, because we knew we'd be going back for our real Disney trip this fall.

However, what we didn't know that waiting for Don in his inbox was an email that would quickly change our plans...

9 Months

Happy 9 month birthday baby boy! You are the most amazing gift that your father and I have ever received. we both love every minute we get to spend with you. I am amazed at how much you are growing and changing every day. Yesterday, you realized you could get around by crawling. Although you are still doing an Army crawl, you are all over the place. You also have a new fondness for shoes, not yours but other people's. They fascinate you, I have to take them away from you though because you apparently like the taste.

You are such a happy, pleasant baby. You are silly and serious. You are a joy! I can't believe how quickly the past 9 months have gone by and shortly you will have been in this world longer than you were in my belly. I thank God for you everyday

Love, Mommy

Naptime

After a few weeks of struggling to get Price to nap consistently, I have finally won the war (at least this week). Children really do like routine, I typically do not. However, in my effort to be a good mom, I have become more routine oriented and have tried to be consistent with routines for Price's sake. Our recent trip to Texas followed by a cold and teething got that off track, but I think we really have overcome the naping issue, the morning nap anyway, but I'm ok with that for now.

So, now I wake up everyday between 6 and 6:30 regardless if Price is awake and wake him up. He eats breakfst around 7:30 and then we play until about 8:40, come upstairs read a book and then it's naptime. Lately, he's been sleeping for 2- 2 1/2 hours- it's wonderful!! The problem I face is what should I do. Several days this week, I've also taken a nap. While I feel that's good for me mentally (since Don has been keeping me awake coughing and Price has decided this would be a fun time to wake up at 1 am), I feel a little guilty about it, because I know there are other more productive things I could be doing.

I was good today and even though I've been up since 5, I didn't take a nap and tried to get some things done while Price has been sleeping. I must admit, I think I like the naps better...

The Little Things

It's amazing to me the changes Price goes through on a daily basis. It seems like just about every day he does something that he didn't do the day before. Being able to witness these changes is one of the joys of being a stay at home mom. For instance, yesterday when I was feeding Price his breakfast, which consisted of homemade, organic baby food carrots, peas and green beans with a side of oatmeal, he was gumming/chewing his food. When we first started feeding him, the fod went in, but it came back out on his tongue as he figured out how it all worked. I had never noticed him using his jaws to work on his food until yesterday. He also really loves to help us feed him. This is ok, as long as we're not in a hurry and don't really care if he ends up with his food in his hair, on his face and stuck in the creases under his neck and between his fingers. It's so funny because when he first started eating, I thought we had somehow gotten a kid who wasn't going to be a messy eater (which I couldn't understand since at 34 I can hardly manage a meal without spilling anything on myself or those sitting near me). His first attempt at cereal was documented, but somewhat disappointing because of the lack of mess. He's making up for it now! (Pictures to follow soon).

The Big Dance

We really enjoy living in Dayton (I never expected to feel that way when we found out we were moving here 3 years ago). We are close to several major cities, there are lots of things to do around Dayton itself and this year as a special bonus, the first 2 rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament was played here. For some reason, both Don and I were initially oblivious to this fact. We were also oblivious to the fact that if Pitt (Don's alma mater) had a top seed in the tourney, they would be playing here.

Anyway, we found out and Pitt ended up coming to Dayton to play, so we secured tickets and took Price to his first Pitt game (if you don't count the game we went to last year when he was in my belly). It was a lot of fun even though poor Don was sick with some random virus. He came home early from work, looked like crap and went to bed. When he woke up to get ready for the game,he had a fever and we almost gave the tickets away. However, being the true fan that he is, he pushed through, told himself he wasn't sick and away we went! It was a true success story of mind over matter, because other than a lingering cough he really did seem better. The fact that Pitt won and advanced to round 2 may have helped.

Happiness...

Tonight I was standing in the kitchen and I was happy. I wasn't elated or excited, but contentedly happy. We are so blessed... we have good friends; we have an amazing family, enhanced by Price's arrival 7 months ago; and we are having a nice time in life right now. This realization came to me as I was cooking dinner, making baby food and relishing the fact that we had purchased tickets to the first round of the NCAA tourney to see Pitt (Don's alma mater) play Eastern Tennessee State. A verse of an Eagles' song popped into my head as I realized this, "I have a peaceful, easy feeling..." It's a nice place to be.