Holly’s Blog

So here are a few “End of May” photos to enjoy…

Annika went down for a morning nap.  Those have been hit and miss these day, but I was so happy she took one.  It recharged her to make it though all the excitement.  And boy was there excitement.  As soon as I sat her down in front of the pile of gifts, she made her “Whooooaaaa” sound.  She didn’t even wait for me before she started digging into the first bag.  Annika really got into the actual opening, tearing the paper and pulling tissue out of the bags.  Many of the gift “discoveries” were greeted with “Whooooaa!”.  (From looking at the photos, I have absolutely NO idea where she picked that up from!!!)  She got new toys, clothes, books and even some things to ‘grow into’.  Everything was wonderful and everyone was generous.

Well, again… I’m not good at getting photos up as things happen.  So here’s a catch up post.  Random photos from Jan and Feb…

We have been having quite the month of snow.  I think the weather man said we are up to 17″ for the year… and it’s still January!  We had another storm come though early in the week leaving snow on the ground.  Well, the snow continued to fall Tuesday night and all Wednesday morning… to leave us in a winter wonderland.  The temperature was actually above 25 degrees, as compared to our previous sub-zero snow days, so I decided that it was time to introduce Annika to the white stuff!  She wasn’t so sure about it… and was probably more concerned about how bundled up she was over the actual snow.  (Just think Ralphie’s little brother in ‘A Christmas Story’.)  We first tried a sled.  She didn’t like that at all, and had trouble sitting up in it due to all the layers.  So it was back to Mommy’s hip where she learned about eating snow and icicles.   One last try if sitting in the snow wasn’t too successful…. maybe we’ll try again tomorrow…

Oh, but as you can see Baker LOVES the snow.  I think he might be part snow dog.  He loves to chase his dumbbell, run crazy, bury his nose in the fluff, and just sit out there in the snow and watch the yard.

Ginger, Tyler, Annika and I whooped it up on New Year’s Eve.  Well, really Ginger and I had a nice quiet evening after putting the kids to bed… which we throughly enjoyed.  As Ginger and I toasted in the New Year, Baker was pleasently surprised to be able to eat a huge pile of “New Year’s” treats… not typical for him.

So Annika went down for a nap after checking out Santa’s gifts.  What kind of mom, you ask, puts her child down for a nap on Christmas morning?  A mom of a 10 month old, who knows how the rest of the day will go if no nap is taken!

Annika loved opening the rest of her gifts and just generally enjoying the festivities.  I’ll let the photos do the talking…

Here we go again.  It’s still been a battle with the computer.  Things seem to work for a bit then it starts to act up again.  So, hopefully it will hold together for me to get a few more posts up!

Christmas… It was fun with Annika.  But first I have to say the best part of the day was getting to see Daniel/Daddy on video “Skype”.  We weren’t sure we’d even get to talk due to internet issues for the base and the overload of people trying to get online and make calls on Christmas.  So it was a wonderful surprise, and the absolutely best way to start the day.  Annika smiled at Daddy (making his day!), and she bounced up and down in her Santa hat.  It’s hard to be apart from Daniel during the holidays… this is the second time I’ve had to.  But seeing his face that morning, somehow made it a lot easier for me to make it though the day.
I wasn’t sure how much she would be ‘into’ it all considering she’s only 10 months old.  But she genuinely seemed to interetsed in each and every gift that she opened.  She has this sound she makes when she sees something new.  It’s a cross between a “mmm” and “oh”… and she did that with every new gift that we opened.  She even played with the new toy and not the paper or the box!  I was shocked.

Santa came to visit the house and not only filled Annika’s stocking, but Baker’s stocking also. 

Baker is a people dog.  He loves to be around ‘his’ people.  Really that’s all he seems to need in life, to be around us.  Ok, so maybe some breakfast, dinner and treats in between!

Baker has done really well adjusting to having Annika around.  In the beginning, he just sniffed in her general direction but really wasn’t too interested.  Then he started to come and sit as close as he could get next to us when we held her.  As Daniel and I started to play with Annika on the ground, he would go and find one of his toys and come lay right next to where we were playing with Annika… as if to say, “I have my toy here too”.  And now that she is mobile, he puts up with her for a while (pulling on his ear or tail) and then just gets up and walks away.  Just this week, Annika actually rolled over and sat up directly on top of his front legs.  He didn’t move, just stayed there until she moved off… and didn’t even move after that.  He’s a great sport with it all!

Here’s a photo journey of Baker and Annika…

November flew by for us.  Too quickly, as the end of the month brought the beginning of another deployment for Daniel…  (“IA” duty for those Navy types.)

On Nov 5th, Daniel graduated from the Naval War College with a Master’s Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies.  He really loved going back to school again… the discussions, reading, and yes, even the papers!  (Crazy, I know.)  And so closed another chapter of our lives…

I packed up my clothes, Annika’s toys and clothes, and all of my crafting supplies.  Daniel loaded those into a U-haul trailer on Sunday the 9th of November.  The packers showed up the next day and started to get our other belongings into boxes.  They took it to long term storage in New England.  (I’ve had to let go of the worry that we don’t know exactly where our household goods are…)    It was amazing seeing all of our furniture completely wrapped in heavy duty packing paper before being loaded into the truck.  This being our fourth move since we’ve been married, I was nervous about even more nicks and scratches being added to the ones already there.  But this paper wrapping should help keep those to a minimum this time… hopefully!!!

While we were packing out, I got a treat… a dear friend came into town to do house hunting.  Rina and I spent many a long day and night together in 2006-2007, when our husbands deployed in the same squadron.  They will be moving up to Newport in the new year, after her husband returns from his “IA” duty.  It was great to see her, and go out to lunch and dinner lots… it worked out well, since we didn’t have a kitchen to cook in (it was being packed) and we wanted to go once more to our favorite places.  As we are on the end of our year in Newport, I’m so excited for them to just begin this great year of together time!  A together time that is much needed and deserved after all the separation they have been though in the past number of years.

We checked out of our ‘base-housing’ on Nov. 13th and hit the road.  Yes, I made Daniel drive the entire way from Rhode Island to Ohio.  I wasn’t interested in maneuvering that trailer on the back of our station wagon.  But don’t feel too bad for him, we split the drive into two days of only about 6-7 hours each day – easy drives right?!  There were are few nervous moments.  The worst was on the Tappen Zee bridge north of New York City.  Daniel will forever call it the “Zippy dee do da” bridge.  The close call involved people in front of us slamming on their breaks, wet roads, no shoulders on the bridge to pull into, and Daniel breaking very, very hard… and praying even harder!  Other than his heart pumping hard enough to clean out any artery build up, it all turned out ok.  We did have rain almost the whole drive, heavy at times… and even snow the last hour.  I hate driving in the snow, and only slightly less dislike riding in the snow.  So as Daniel carefully drove us and the trailer through the heavy flurries, I because very, very involved in reading the atlas.  I learned all about different states and cities… distracting myself from thinking about the snow!!

We arrived in Ohio on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 16th, at my parents house.  After much thought and factoring in many different considerations, we decided that I would go live with my parents in Dayton, Ohio, during this deployment.  They were excited and very gracious to not only take Annika and I, but also Baker – our big black dog!  They even worked extra hard to finish up some remodeling projects, and clean out the basement before I arrived.

The past two weeks we settled Annika and I in here, and spent as much time with Daniel as possible.  It was busy too… completing the list of things before he left.  One weekend we had a little ceremony at my parent’s church for Annika.  Since her godparents, Kelly and Ben Schutt (my sister and her husband) couldn’t be at her baptism in Newport, we wanted to do something with them here.  Then, Thanksgiving brought my Dad’s family to visit, lots of yummy food, games, and laughter.  But in the back of Daniel and my minds the holiday was bittersweet.  We knew that in just a few days he would have to leave for his deployment.

That sad day came this past Sunday, November 30th.  The three of us went out to lunch, and then to the airport.  Daniel asked, and the ticket agents gave Annika and I gate passes so we could go with Daniel through security.  It’s really nice that they do that for departing and arriving service members… for every moment counts when they are gone as much as they are.  For security reasons, I’m not going to post exactly where he is… other than to say his is in the Middle East, but not “in country”.  He will not be flying this time, but working a desk job in a command center.

And now for the photo summary of the month:

As most of you know, we have a dog named Baker.  So what, you ask, is a Bumbo?  Well, it’s a soft molded foam seat designed for infants that are learning to sit up.  It helps support their back before they can hold themselves up on their own.  We had many friends who raved about their Bumbos, and so we purchased one in anticipation of Annika’s arrival.

Well, a couple months ago we got out the Bumbo.  And to our surprise our healthy baby, “chunk of love” as we refer to her, filled up the Bumbo from the first day.  The funniest part of it all (which is hard to show in photos), is that we have to push down and ‘pop’ her legs into the chair!!!  And then we she’s done… we have to ‘pop’ her back side out of it!  Maybe we shouldn’t't laugh at this, but it’s hard not to!

Yesterday, I decided to take some photos of her in it… and Baker decided to get in on the action.   (Really there is a connection as stated in the title of the post!)  Annika has recently been fascinated with Baker.  A couple of weeks ago, I had Annika on my hip and was out in the back yard with Baker.  I started to throw the ball to Baker while still holding Annika.  All of the sudden she started to giggle each time Baker ran back to us with the ball.  She’s watch him, I’d throw the ball again… and she’d squeal as he ran back.  Over and over…  It was the first time she had reacted this way to him.  Then, last week Baker got excited when we came home from being out, and he began to run up and down the stairs… Annika squealed and giggled with laughter each time he ran down toward her.  It was so cute.  She’s now following his every move… reaching out to touch him when he’s close enough.  Baker has been a great sport with her, putting up with her pulling his fur and sneaking in a lick when we aren’t looking!

So here are some photos of Annika squeezed into the Bumbo… and her interacting with Baker.

Enjoy… we sure are!

Happy in the Bumbo-1

Trying to get out

Baker swings by

Friends

Reaching for Baker

Sneaking a lick

Stuck in the Bumbo