Six Flags, etc.

Saturday we went with Jeremy's family to Six Flags over New England, which is in Hartford about an hour from where we live. Remarkably enough, I never went on a single roller coaster the whole day, and I still had a really fun time. I did get to ride the Cold Spaghetti Ferris Wheel, the something-or-other Helicopters, and the Airplane ride with Reuben. The best part of the day was spent in the water park. They have a playground + water set up in the children's area, but Reuben didn't much care for the playground part, he was fully entertained just running around in the surrounding shallow pool, occasionally throwing himself down face first in the water.

Last week I manged to finish Reuben's quilt (quil-o actually, it folds up into a pocket on the back and becomes a pillow), and I'm a third of the way through making Anna's. I had really wanted to make each of my kids some sort of baby blanket, and finally hit on the idea of making a lap size blanket that can double as a pillow. Hopefully it'll be something they can use for years to come, particularly on road trips and camping trips. I'm using the simplest quilt design known to woman, and it's actually gone pretty quickly. I should have Anna's done in a week or less, now that I've got the bugs worked out of the pattern.

Over the weekend Jeremy's unit was helping with a mass Iraqi Police recruiting mission for the stations they're working with. I forget how many people they processed, including security screening and all that, but the first day alone they processed 200, so I'm thinking it was somewhere between 400-600 by the time it was all over. Those made for some long days, not that they have many short days under normal circumstances of course.

Monday Jeremy had me send him some shaving gel and body wash that the base store was out of, and as soon as I got back from the post office he remembered that he needed razor blades too. Tuesday I didn't have a babysitter available, so it was off to get the razor blades and mail them (with some homemade cookies this time) with two small children in tow. Shopping for the razor blades was simple enough, Reuben in the stroller and Anna in the arm that wasn't pushing the stroller. Our post office was built in the 1800s, beautiful building, but no handicap/stroller ramp. To make matters worse, I don't parallel park too well, so I ended up parking a block away, and then discovered Reuben had fallen asleep. So I was carrying him in one arm, and Anna in her car seat in the other, with the package sitting on top of her for a full city block, plus a full flight of stairs. Reuben weighs around 25 pounds, and Anna in the car seat seemed to weigh about the same, though how that's possible I don't know. On the way back to the car I was pretty sure I was going to collapse right there on the sidewalk before I made it to the car, but I guess all those years of canoeing and the grace of God made up the difference. That's the last time I attempt another trip to the post office with two kids though. ;)

Never a dull moment...

Jeremy found out on Saturday that the Army is going to fly him home for 15 days of leave starting September 20th. We had both been hoping that his leave time, if he got any, could be in January, though anything November or later would have been past the half-way point of the deployment. So at first the news had us both...at a loss. We wanted to be happy, but we just weren't. Right now being apart is miserable, but we've become more or less accustomed to it. Getting two full weeks together will be like heaven on earth, but then we have to say good bye all over again for six whole months, which rather overshadows the heave on earth bit. Up 'till now there's at least been the hope of leave time to look forward to somewhere in the middle of this forever long deployment.

This new development also means that I'm not going to Texas until early October, rather than next week like I had been planning on. It also means that when I go to Texas I will stay there until it's time to come home for good. Basically all major life events for the next eight months were just changed quite suddenly and without warning, and that really threw me for a loop. But, after sleeping on it, I had gotten over my sense of bewilderment and now I'm just thrilled Jeremy's coming home in a month! :)

My Mom used to have a Nancy Reagan quote posted in her kitchen, "You never know how strong a woman is until you put her in hot water."As days and weeks keep passing, I am frequently surprised to find how strong I can be when I have no choice. It takes about 3-4 times as long, is at least twice as difficult, and I end up doing deep breathing exercises before it's all over, but we can do just about anything we need to. However empowering each little achievement is, I am so weary of parenting alone. Though surrounded by people who love us and help out all they can, the care, training, and discipline of our two children ultimately rests on me. It's a burden that would be so much easier if it were shared. It isn't so much that I want Jeremy to take his turn or I want a break, I miss the camaraderie. Beyond parenthood, I just plain miss having a husband around. He makes life so much more fun.

A weekend visit from my friend Beth Anne

Anna Beth & me

Reuben & Anna, enjoying the Washington County Fair in RI

Ah...Motherhood

Whew! What a whirlwind it has been since Anna was born. My Mom was able to stay with us until Anna was a little over a week old. It was really wonderful having her here, and just precious getting to watch her spend time with her two Connecticut grandchildren. She did such a good job taking care of us I was really afraid I wouldn't know how to manage on my own once she left. But manage is exactly what I've done...it just takes a lot longer to do things without her help. ;)

There have been a multitude of precious moments enjoying my two little ones, and a multitude of crazy hours where I was trying to decide if I should scream and pull my hair out, or just sit down and cry. Like the night Reuben covered my entire bedroom floor in pop corn (despite my best efforts to minimize the mess), Anna had a blow out diaper on my bed (soaking through the heirloom quilt my great aunt gave us), Reuben was constantly on the verge of loving Anna to death, and both children were fussy grumps most of the evening. Or the other day when Anna woke up puking everything she ate, and continued throwing up almost everything she ate for most of the day (which happened to be on laundry day, the busiest day of our week). But this morning I managed a full scale supermom moment, when I walked all the way to the post office for stamps, pushing Reuben in the stroller with one hand, and hanging onto Anna in the baby carrier with the other hand (it's about a mile one way, over rather rough terrain for a stroller).

Last week I bought material to make quilts for Reuben & Anna, and since I had planned an extremely simple design, I was quite sure I could finish at least one of them before I leave for Texas the end of August. But...my refrigerator needs to be cleaned, not to mention the baseboards, and the kitchen floor needs a good scrubbing, and I can't manage to fit those things into my already very full day. So, I've revised my goals to finishing off that last bit on Jeremy's quilt (the one I was going to give him as a wedding present), if I have any time for projects at all that is, and otherwise I just plan to survive. ;)