Thanksgiving Weekend in Ft. Hood

I was just saying the other day that November has been the fastest month of my life and probably not for the best of reasons. After Romney got Hand, Foot and Mouth, he then got a stomach bug, and then a double ear infection. He has literally been jumping from one sickness to the next. I'm just so grateful that Olivia has been healthy and I've, for the most part, been healthy as well. Jordan is still on TDY (temorary duty yonder) at Ft. Hood and we've got just a couple weeks left of that, hallelujah! We are so sick of having to say goodbye and none of us can wait til we are all back in the same house again for a good long time! On top of all of this, Jordan graciously came home one weekend to help me out with Romney because he's been so sick, and we ended up getting in a head to head collision with another car that has totaled my car and I now have some whiplash that I'm dealing with. Luckily and blessedly, Jordan and the kids were not hurt one bit.

It's been one of those months where I have seriously contemplated running away. I've had to deal with a sick kid pretty much on my own nonstop for the last month, take care of our house, two birthdays to plan, make sure Olivia keeps up with school, people visiting from out of town, and now losing my car. It has been a heavy load to bear.

I am blessed with many people in my life who I've been able to turn to and rely on for extra strength during these hard times, and I'm not trying to complain here. I guess what I'm saying is that I have a lot of reasons for running away, and in a sense, I kind of did.

For Thanksgiving this year we went to visit Jordan in Ft. Hood and stayed at his hotel. My cousins, who are about 8 years ahead of us in the military medical training life, also live there and so we shared a Texas BBQ Thanksgiving dinner with them on Wednesday night, since my cousin was on call. Olivia loved spending time with her cousins and this Thanksgiving has made me recognize what a treasure my family is. Normally I get really hung up on what kind of food we're eating or what activities we are doing, but this holiday I was just so grateful to be spending the time with my family.

Although I didn't actually run away from home, it was nice to get away from everything and just focus on the holiday and have some time to breathe. On Thanksgiving day we went and saw the movie Wonder and then went to Golden Corral. The movie was really well done, but Golden Corral was a bit of a mess. The food was just fine, but we wandered around for ten minutes trying to find seats and then Romney practically cried and threw a tantrum the whole time. I don't think any of us really relaxed and enjoyed our meal. That night we watched Wonder Woman in our hotel room, which was hard because Romney was having a hard time sleeping in a one bedroom hotel room, and Olivia kept talking. Finally we put Romney in the closet and he fell right to sleep.
We went hiking with my cousins while Jordan worked a 24-hour shift and hung out with them the rest of that day. I'm super grateful for my cousins always being willing to let us come over and being so welcoming. We had such a fun time with them and while this Thanksgiving was very different from any others I've had, my family made it so worth it.

Pumpkin Pie 

Banana Cream Pie

Romney loved Teddy and Teddy loved Romney! 

Our last night together at Ft. Hood we went to BLORA park and drove through their outdoor light exhibit! You can tune your radio to a certain station and listen to Christmas music and it totally put me in the mood for Christmas. 

This mad man let Olivia drive!

Our last activity together was to go to Topsey Ranch safari, where we got to feed animals from our car and visit their petting zoo. We saw buffalo, Texas longhorns, zebra, a camel, llamas, goats, deer, impala, and emu and ostriches. One emu actually attacked Olivia's finger when she was trying to feed it, thinking Olivia's hand was food. She was pretty scared after that and every time we saw an emu, we closed our windows and drove past real quick! The ostriches were also really mean and would try peck at the cars and run after us. It was a crazy last adventure together, but overall fun and Olivia loves telling her emu attack story. 

Goat poop EVERYWHERE! 

But so cute! 

That brown goat was super aggressive and would climb right up on you to get food

So slobbery! 

Driving away from the crazy ostrich

This llama was quite offended that I ran out of food and refused to let me pet it.

Camels are really tall. 

So I drove back home and come to find out our lives were there waiting for us. It's nice to be home and we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas, but most of all I'm looking forward to my family being together again. I have a lot to be thankful for. Through trials we are stretched and learn to grow, through families we learn to love, and through good times we learn to enjoy life and make the most of what we have. 

Romney's First Birthday!

Romney is one! How the days have flown by and how fitting this quote from Peter Pan is that I stole from my sister, "Little boys should never be sent to bed, they always wake up a day older." I couldn't agree more! There are times when bedtime is the worst because I reflect on the day we've had and regret having to let go of my sweet baby a little bit more. I wish I could pick him up without waking him and hold on a little more to this stage of life. Already Romney longs to be independent! He's been walking since 11 months and clearly has his own agenda. He's happy to be with us, but likes playing with his toys and exploring our house. Although he can't always express what he wants, I can tell he longs to make his own choices and be his own master. He doesn't want me telling him what to do! Despite this independent streak, he loves cuddling with me on the couch and loves it even more when we tickle him! He enjoys being chased and playing games, and he is learning more words. Today he learned how to say "uh-oh". His favorite words are da-da, night-night, no-no, and hi. He is the happiest in the morning when I get him up for the day and the grumpiest after his afternoon nap. He's always been willing to go to bed and we've never had any issues with sleep, just like his sister.

I remember life without Romney, and it was a good one. Olivia could have been an only child and we still would have been happy, but now we have more with Romney, and I'm so grateful for that! I love the relationship Olivia and Romney share, I love the growth I have felt in my own heart for both of my children and my husband. Each of these children and relationships teaches us something and I am so grateful for what my children are teaching me, for what I have because of them, and what I can offer them in return. 

Olivia helped me decide on a Cookie Monster theme for Romney's first birthday party and we ran with the idea! My mom was able to come into town and I swear the cake would not have turned out as cute as it did without her. She made the frosting and instructed me on what to do and I'm so grateful for her willingness to come out and take part in Romm's special day. 

In the morning before the party, we had a mini pre-birthday photo shoot: 

I made Jordan stand guard so Romney wouldn't smash the cake before his actual birthday had started! 

Our friends arrived and after the babies played for a bit, we opened presents! Romney was spoiled by his family and his friends loved helping him open his gifts. 

I'm never sure who has more fun the babies or the dads....

Next it was time for cake...........

Olivia no doubt giving her brother some wise cake-eating advice

He loved the eyeballs! 

Getting past that frosting was rough! 

All messy and ready for a bath! 

Thank you to everyone who came and wished Romney a happy birthday! He's such a joy to be around and we love having him in our family! One thing I've learned from being a parent, is that there is such joy in watching your children learn and grow and becoming good people. I would argue that you can never really know someone completely, but our goal in life is to do everything we can to develop those relationships and learn as much as possible about those people in our family and close circles. I love getting to know Romney. Every day he changes and learns a little more and every day I'm discovering something new about his personality. I love every minute of it, the good and the bad, although it's mostly good. This boy is worth celebrating! Happy First Birthday Romney!