Expect the Unexpected

When Hubby left a couple of months ago it was with the expectation that we'd see him in approximately 7 months.  Two months later I get the news that his arrival date was pushed back a few weeks.  I believe our conversation went something like this:

Me: Mr. R has been talking about how you'll be home for his birthday and he's really excited.

Hubby:  Yeah, I'll only miss it by a little bit.

Me:  What are you talking about?

Hubby: Well, I'll only be a week or so late.

Me:  WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??? I thought you'd be home before his birthday.

Hubby:  Oh, didn't I tell you I got pushed back?

Me:  Do you take me for a complete idiot?  I think I would remember that!

So that's how I got the incredibly hard job of informing our six-year-old that his daddy would not be there for his birthday like he originally thought.  I've got to say that I think we all did a great job in handling in the news.  My only moment of anger was because I was never told about it and found out by pure chance.

Just when I got used to the idea of his new arrival date, the Navy threw us another curve ball.  I found out from another source that the ship had been pushed back again and not by a few weeks, we're talking months.  I immediately called Hubby wanting to know why he failed to mention this little tidbit to me after the last incident.  Apparently he was as surprised to hear it as I was.  Turns out my source was correct though.  Arrival date has been pushed back again.  IF he comes home when planned he'll have been gone approximately 9 months.  Again, we took it in stride.  The kids didn't seem to be too upset, although their sense of time is horrible.  Sadly when Boo asked if daddy would be home in time for her birthday I honestly didn't know what to tell her besides hopefully.

Two days later I came home to find a basket of flowers on our door.  Hubby never sends me flowers.  He has some weird idea that I hate them even though I've repeatedly told him I don't.  In addition to the flowers, which I loved because they made me think of fall, he bought me the new Kathy Reichs book.  She is one of my favorite authors and I have to own all of her books in hardback.  Have to.  As soon as they are released.  Oh Hubby knows me well.  Buy me flowers and a new book and I'll forgive and forget just about anything...

Hiccup's BFF

Hiccup has a special friend who comforts her, sleeps with her, and basically takes all kinds of abuse that is heaped upon it.  This friend has been with her since day one.  It's her giraffe and it never fails to get her excited when she sees it.  Grandma bought Hiccup the cutest shirt while we were in Texas that says "My BFF is a Giraffe".  So true!  She can't completely say giraffe yet so she simply refers to it as "raff". She's not supposed to have it all the time, so if I forgot to baby-gate the stairs and I turn my back it's less than a minute before I hear her on the baby monitor making her "retrieval laugh".  That's the giddy laugh she makes when she discovers that she made it up to her room to retrieve the giraffe without being caught.

Being silly with her BFF

 Unfortunately we only have the one giraffe, no backups.  No matter how hard I look I can't find the stupid thing.  They have apparently stopped making it and since I cut the tags off when I gave it to her as an infant, trying to do the whole good mother thing, I don't know who made it and can't find it anywhere!  I really need some backups.  So if you see this giraffe PLEASE let me know!  It has to be this exact one, Hiccup can tell the difference, trust me.

Mug shots of Hiccup's giraffe:

Front view

His face, note the bead eyes (probably recalled because of them)

Side view

Casts - The Finale

The casts are off!  Finally!  The doctor was very impressed with the amount of movement his ankles now show.  You can easily bend his feet upwards.  Now he just needs to relearn to walk.  His ankles are so stiff and weak from not moving for six weeks that he now waddles more like a duck.  The doctor said that he may continue to "duck-walk" for several weeks.  He has to be very careful to not twist his ankles while they are so weak.  Mr. R couldn't believe how long his feet looked after his casts were removed.  His feet had essentially flattened out while in his casts so that he has no arch, making his feet appear longer.  I can't wait until he's walking normal.  We just have to recheck with the doctor in six weeks to make sure he hasn't reverted back to toe-walking and then he'll be good to go.

First Day of School

It's that time again, the happiest day of the year!  The first day of school!!  The excitement causes you to wake up early and you quickly get ready because you don't want to be late, not for the first day!  You rush around making sure everything is packed and ready to go.  Grab the backpacks and lunch boxes and rush out the door absolutely giddy with excitement!  Then you realize that your kids haven't followed you and you have to turn around and practically force them out the door.  After taking the obligatory first day pictures, you happily skip down to the bus stop barely listening to your children grumbling about how they are still tired.  

Mr. R getting on the bus

A happy wave as Mr. R gets on the bus and it's time to skip back home to take Boo to school.  At least she shows a little more of my excitement!  She was very happy to get to see all her old friends again and can't wait to learn how to read.  What a happy day!

Boo ready to start her first day

Don't get me wrong.  I love my kids, but it's always nice to see them go off for the day to further their education and to give me a break.  Dropping Boo off at her preschool, where she'll attend class every day this year, left me with a slightly odd sensation as Hiccup and I got in the van to go home.  Yes, the overwhelming  feeling of relief from having two kids at school everyday was definitely there.  But going from three kids down to one, at least for part of the day, left me feeling slightly lonely too.  The rest of the day I had the feeling like I was forgetting something, like a kid, or two.  I also spent the entire morning stressed out about Mr. R because this is his first year of all day school.  Virginia has it completely messed up with half-day Kindergarten!  Last year was supposed to be my anxiety year.  Instead they just prolong it with 1st grade being the first full-day year.  I was so nervous about lunch time.  I had envisioned lunchroom bullies taking away his lunch or him not knowing where to go or what to do.  P.E. was another nightmare.  Since he still has his casts on I saw children taunting him and him feeling left out on the sidelines.  Hubby tells me I worry too much, but he's not here to help me is he?

Once Boo gets out of school today we'll be immediately rushing across town to pick Mr. R up early from school to get his casts removed.  At least that gives us all something to look forward to.  I can't wait to hear about the kids' first day.  I better get a complete report and not just the standard "Good" answer that I got last year.

Time to Rock 'n Roll

In a moment of insanity I let my neighbor, AC, talk me into signing up for a race.  She, thankfully, agreed to start small with a 5k.  We chose to run in the Rock 'n Roll Mini Marathon, which sounds so much better than calling it a 5k.

Waiting for the race to start

AC convinced several of her friends and another neighbor of ours to run with us as a group.  My only stipulation?  I wanted cool shirts.  The group got together to work on the shirts while I was visiting Sarah, so when I got back AC helped me paint mine.  We also made five tutus for our group before we ran out of material and time.

Hard at work making tutus

Our group name for the shirts was the Real Housewives of Virginia Beach or RHWOVB.  Only we used a heart instead of an "O" because Virginia is the state for lovers (whatever that means).  On the back of our shirts it said "Save the drama 4 your momma".

Pre-race: All smiles

We got lots of compliments on our shirts and tutus.  It almost made up for the fact that I was about to run 3.1 miles when I had never in my life run 2 miles.  And that's saying something since I was on the cross-country team in junior high and high school!  My track coaches would be so proud of me now!  It only took around 15 years!  I'm happy to report I survived the race,which actually surprises me since it was hot and humid that morning.  I felt like I had a blanket wrapped around me while I ran.  Thank goodness for my audiobook that I listened to while I ran, it kept my mind off of dying.

Post-race:  Still smiling!

When I got home and showed the kids my medal they got very excited and asked if I won the race.  Then Mr. R wanted to know if I ran so fast that I made fire with my feet.  Ahh, they make me laugh!  I actually think I'll sign up for some more races.  I might wait until Hubby gets back home though so I don't have to worry about a babysitter for the kids again.  That will also give me time to train for the race instead of winging it like I did today.