Terrific Twos

I am so blessed by my life. Granted, it has it's hardships and there are some days where I don't think I'll even survive past lunch due to sleep deprivation or sibling rivalry, but overall, it is a joy to be alive. I wake up every morning to my 3 year old's face 2 inches away from my face (between the wretched hour of 4am-5am), saying "Mommy, is it morning yet?" Despite my response to that question, or my best efforts to ignore such a sweet face and go back to sleep, it is time to get up. A few hours later, Little Miss Chubby Cheeks and the Handsomest Prince in the world awaken to the smell of Dunkin Donuts Coffee and then the day has officially begun. We send Drew off to work like an official "goodbye committee" with hugs and kisses and waves and "bye daddy" over and over until we not longer see his car anymore. Our days are filled with laughter and fun as we play the day away and await Drew's arrival home from work. Some of the days include Tristan's Karate Lessons, Park Playdates, Shopping Trips, Moms Group at Church, or even just pajama home days filled with puzzles, block towers and art projects. Well, now I am off to enjoy another day with my beautiful little family ...

Babies Always Grow Up

It's late and I've got a mild case of insomnia. Thanks to blogging, I have something better to do than lying in bed forcing my mind to shut down.

My mind races to the summer so far ... saying goodbye to my family as they left for Spain/Germany for a few months; our trip to the East Coast with Andrew's family; our Palm Springs weekend with my Dad's side of the family; frequent Skype dates with my parents and sisters; playdates; birthday parties; pool days; park days; backyard renovation days ... it's all a whirlwind in my mind ... then I look to the future: baby showers, company coming from Germany, more birthday parties, more playdates, weddings, family flying back in from Europe, and what is occupying my mind most of all, is Kira's upcoming birthday!

My baby girl is turning two years old! It is a milestone and such a joy to prepare for as I am excited to take a day and dedicate it to our Kira Belle (as she is currently nicknamed). As I plan out the order of events for her special day (this coming Sunday), I can picture her face as she smiles when the doorbell rings, and each family member walks in the door. I can hear her laughter as she opens her Elmo Radio gift from Drew's Grandma. I can feel her delight as she gets her first dress up Tinkerbell outfit from Auntie Chris. I can feel the stickiness of her hands as she devours her first homemade birthday cake (thanks to me, ha ha!). And I can picture her excitement as she runs up to my laptop when Yia Yia (my mama) calls via Skype. Just seeing her Yia Yia's face, brightens up Kira's whole countenance! She gets so excited, she doesn't know what to do with herself. Can't wait !!!

I am so thankful that God has blessed me with an incredible husband and two precious children.

And to quote from the soundtrack from "Message In A Bottle" based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks,

"These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive
These are the moments I'll remember all my life
I've got all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more"

We're Back!

After two weeks, vacationing it up on the east coast, we are back home and ready to rock and roll!

We had a marvelous time, with dear friends and family and this is what we did: We stayed in an adorably old 4 story beach house, one block from the beach. We rode surreys on the boardwalk, enjoyed water ice (almost daily!) in 111 degree weather, rode lots of rides at the Wonderland and Playland theme parks on the boardwalk, including the Ferris wheel and Carousel, we had warm pretzels, curly fries, funnel cake, monkey bread, and Mack and Manco Pizza (an Ocean City favorite!), but not all in one day, of course.

We also spent several days at the beach, building sand castles and digging giant holes and working on our tans. The kids loves the water and enjoyed gathering sea shells and rocks, etc. We discovered a nice playground in the area and went there twice. The kids got to experience a water park for the first time, and that was a ton of fun!

Drew went fishing and experienced a feast of crabs, and of course had a famous Philly Cheese Steak. We went to WaWa several times for coffee and tasty cakes and Hoagies. The east coast is so weird, but so cool all at the same time! We got to experience the culture of not being allowed to pump your own gas at the local gas stations. That was fun staying in the car and having a gas attendant take care of it all!

We drove through the neighborhoods where Drew grew up and saw the homes he lived in and school and church he went to. It was fun going down memory lane ...

We celebrated the 4th of July with all of Drew's family and friends and watched the fireworks from the beach. It was one of the best firework shows we've ever seen!

2 weeks of fun and craziness, 4 airplane rides later, 10 lbs heavier, skin alot darker, we are glad to be home, and are hoping to rest up (diet again!) and enjoy the routine of our life back here in San Diego.

T - 3 Days ...

We leave for our New Jersey vacation in 3 days ...

Preparation for a trip like this is nearly impossible. I don't really know how to prepare since I have no idea what it's going to be like. Our first 2 week vacation, with both children, out of state, out of their (and mine!) comfort zone. We will be staying for the first couple of days with friends of Andrew's parents, that live right on the outskirts of Ocean City, NJ (I think). Then when the beach house becomes available, we will be staying there for the remainder of the time with Andrew's parents, grandma, sister and her husband and three kids. 12 people sharing a beach house. I can only imagine the noise level and entertainment involved.

Tristan is really excited to fly on an airplane and find seashells on the beach and Kira, well, I've tried to prepare her, but she really has no idea what's happening. She's such a little delight and I'm sure she will light up the airplane with her big eyes, gorgeous smile, and high pitched squeal! I figure if we just feed her trail mix the whole flight, she should keep relatively quiet. Tristan, on the other hand, will probably press the "Call Flight Attendant" button over and over and then take frequent trips to the potty just to make sure it's still there and not broken.

What I am looking forward to most is, time with my husband (2 whole weeks of no work, woohoo!), making memories with the kids, and getting to know Andrew's family better.

Oh and for those of you readers who only know my husband as "Drew" and are wondering why I am calling him "Andrew", well, ya know, it just seems fitting. Andrew means "strong, manly, and warrior", and I am really seeing that side of him as he works in the yard every day and fixes things around the house!

Healing

It has been an amazing week of preparation for our 1st Housewarming Party (which was this past Saturday) and little God-moments sprinkled throughout.

A dear friend and sister in the Lord came over last Thursday to pray for healing for my condition of Ulcerative Colitis. I was beginning to get anxious as our East Coast Vacation drew near, and we'd be sharing a beach house (and bathrooms!) with Drew's extended family for 2 weeks. Our time of prayer was so powerful and even the kids felt God's presence. When she left, I was so encouraged and at complete peace with my current and upcoming circumstances. The rest of the afternoon, I felt this strange pressure on my colon, almost like a physical presence, which I can only give credit to God's healing hand, wrapping around my colon and giving it a rest, as He begins His healing process for me. Since then, I have had more energy than I've had this entire year, I haven't been worried or fearful for the future, and I keep hearing God whispering to me, "Be at peace, child, I have begin the process of healing". Love it! Already I've been healed of my fears and for the first time, I am at peace.

Our housewarming party was a huge success, and an incredible blessing. We had all of Drew's extended family here, my Grandpa came, our friends from our old neighborhood, and our dear friends from church. The house was full of good food, conversation, laughter and little kids running about. We did a toast and prayer for the house and gave tour after tour, showing all the guests the hard work Drew put in to make this place beautiful. We had a "before" picture album of how this house looked when we bought it, and that was very amusing to everyone. It doesn't even look like the same house! A dear couple from our church prayed over our house as the party came to a close (10pm!), and it was so wonderful to hear their words of encouragement and to be reminded that this is where God has placed us.

I had my Grandpa over for dinner Tuesday night and we had such a great time talking and eating and hanging out with the kids. He even sat down at Tristan's little table and played PlayDoh with him! Tristan was elated.

Now we are preparing for our Ocean City, NJ vacation next week. That must explain my sleepless nights. This will be the first airplane ride with both kids, and the first time our little Kira will be sleeping in a different bed. She's very secure in her room and her crib and it will be interesting to see how she does in a new environment.

"In The Morning, When I Rise ... Give Me Jesus"

We've been in our new home for two and half months now! We got the keys on Drew's birthday, March 6th, and we moved in on March 27th! God has been so faithful in providing the finances for the repairs the house needed and the time needed to get it all done! It's been a whirlwind of events, including ripping out the old carpet on our own, painting the interior ourselves (with the help of our dear friends!), and dealing with critter infestations and fixing broken things like the heater, sliding glass doors, etc.

We were warmly welcomed into the neighborhood and met all our neighbors within the first week living here! Incredible neighborhood with such sweet people!

We've been blessed by our friends and family's generosity in helping us furnish the place, with new couches, a playhouse for the kids, bookshelves, dressers, a room size rug, lamps, patio furniture, a palm tree, and most recently a train table for the kids.

We're all unpacked and feeling more and more settled each day, as we prepare for our house warming party! The kids are in love with the house, because of all the space they have to run wild and they each get their own rooms for the first time! The first couple of days we were here, they simply ran from one end of the house to the other end over and over and over. Hilarious.

Looking back, the best way to describe the whole process is, "We came, we saw, we conquered"! For those of you that saw this house in it's original state, and persevered with us as we waited 6 months to get our offer accepted, you understand what I'm talking about! But also looking back, and most importantly, none of this could have been accomplished without God giving us the strength and the outpouring of His blessings.

Daily I am reminded how much I need Jesus, that even in the midst of so much good and blessing, there is a spiritual battle going on, as the devil is trying to grab hold of us from every angle. From Tristan's nightmares, to Kira getting wounded around the house regularly, to stress and busyness and sleepless nights. But, as the Bible says in Ephesians, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil". Daily that is my goal to put on God's armor and fight the spiritual battle for family. It's amazing how peaceful and reassuring being in God's word all day long actually is! When I am immersed in the Bible, Tristan's nightmares are gone, Kira doesn't get hurt as much, the stress and busyness burden is lifted, and I sleep like a baby. Thank you God!

Days at the Park

It was so beautiful yesterday that we walked to Discovery Lake Park up the hill by our house and the kids had such a great time! As excited as I am to move into our own home, I will miss our walks to the park. Tristan loves being in nature (picking pinecones, flowers, and rocks on the way), and Kira as happy as a lark, singing and dancing in the stroller. Kira is fascinated with sand (finally, has learned NOT to eat it, thank goodness!), and she just rolls around in it and crawls through it like she owns the place - so much fun! Tristan is finding many new ways to go up and down the slide, and spends most of his time in an imaginary world in the trees and bushes next to the park. He still doesn't understand why the other kids take his sand toys. He's too nice to ask for it back and will follow the kids around waiting for them to drop his shovel, so he can secretly pick it up and run back to me to hold it for safekeeping.

Today we met Auntie Shyra down at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach for a picnic. Both kids love that park. Tristan likes the "tunnel slide" and Kira likes to chase the seagulls that come looking her snacks. It was so awesome to see Kira walking everywhere! She's still wobbly, but doing really good, considering how long it took her to finally try walking on her own! Tristan spent most of his time climbing over the walls and running through the huge grassy lawn, keeping an eye on the "pottys" in the distance and Kira just wobbled around and ended up wherever her feet took her.

We are still waiting to sign our loan docs on our house. It sure is hard to wait! The close of escrow keeps getting delayed, and it is frustrating! We should have closed and had the keys last week, but little obstacles such as the termite work not scheduled yet, and the interest rates dropping that we had to redo all the loan docs. I can't wait to get in and clean the place and witness the transformation my husband has planned for the place. He's been working so hard with estimates of repairs, picking out appliances, etc, scheduling each worker, planning painting parties for him and his friends, and so much more. I couldn't ask for a more diligent and wonderful husband! He has handled everything for this house, and I can't wait to see the product of his labor! If all goes according to schedule, we should be signing the docs Friday and getting the keys Tuesday! Oh please oh please I do hope so!