"Sir! Step Away From the Pump!"

Dear Brett,

I am so thrilled that you are coming home tomorrow! I am so ready to have you home with me and not leave for so long again. I miss you like crazy. I'm so glad that we had a week with you before you had to leave again, but a week with you is not enough. I love you so much and can't wait to give you a huge hug tomorrow night!

Your favorite wife

Dear Body,

Please heal. You have too many things wrong with you right now and I really need you to work well for me for the next few weeks. I'll try to take it easy, but I don't know how much of an opportunity I will have for that.

Girl on too many meds

Dear Noah,

Please get on a sleeping schedule. Fast. I know, I know, you're only 3 weeks old, but could you help your mommy out?

Tired mommy

Dear Kennedy,

I can't believe that you're going to be 2 years old on Saturday! I don't remember you ever being as small as Noah is now, although I have pictures that tell me otherwise. You are such a big girl now!

The one who gave birth to you

Dear Oregon,

I can't wait to come and meet you! I waited 8 months to find out that you were the place for us, and now I've been waiting more than a month to move. I'm so excited it's finally here! One thing though, why is it illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon? Lame.

Girl who is more than ready to move

The Best Birthday Present Ever

My birthday was last Monday. Happy 25th to me! Unfortunately, Brett had to leave the day before to go back to New Jersey, so he gave me my presents early. He walked in the door with two HUGE Williams-Sonoma boxes. He got me a pizza stone, a pizza peel, a calzone maker, and a pizza cookbook. It was awesome! I'm so excited to use them when we get to Oregon. And on top of all of that, he let me get tickets to go and meet Giada de Laurentiis! I have seen lots of famous people on accident (Jason Alexander, John Lithgow, Dustin Hoffman, Jodi Benson, etc) and lots because I paid to go see them or knew where they would be (Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell, etc), but I honestly don't think I have ever been as star struck as I was to see Giada. I know, I'm dorky, my big moment is to meet a famous chef. But I just love Giada.

She was so small and cute! She really is a tiny little thing. And she is sweet as can be. She fawned over Noah and asked if he was about a month old. When I told her he was only 2 weeks old she was surprised that I was out of the house. Then she asked, "Is this your second?" "Yes." "That's why." Then she gave us big smiles and thanked us for coming. I stood around like a goof afterwards and took a bunch of pictures. Unfortunately, these were the ones that turned out the best. Needless to say, I got some awesome birthday presents this year.

Today is Brett's birthday and we got an awesome surprise for him today too. He had a second to last dentist appointment today to see if his gums have healed enough for his last appointment. They gave him the ok and then told him to schedule his last appointment which would probably be on Thursday or Friday (which means he can't come home until at least Monday and possibly not until next Friday). But when he talked to the scheduler she said, "Do you have time right now?" He said, "Are you kidding?" and sat right back down in the chair. So he's done! And he has a flight scheduled for Friday night. He'll even be home in time for Kennedy's birthday on Saturday.

So we'll officially be leaving Texas next Tuesday, a week from today, and heading to Oregon to start our life with the Coast Guard. We are so excited! We have definitely gotten some wonderful birthday presents this year.

Bless Alexander Graham Bell

love that both kids are sleeping for so long at the same time!

hate that that probably means that Noah will wake up every 2 hours tonight and Kennedy will go to bed late

love that Brett can call me as much as he wants and I can call him too

hate that he still has to be away from us

love that we get to start a new adventure soon

hate that it has been delayed

love that all of our birthdays are so close together

hate that in later years this will mean spending a lot of money all at the same time

love that I am getting around almost like normal again

hate that my incision is still not entirely healed

love that I'm not pregnant anymore and have a sweet baby boy

hate that Noah doesn't have a schedule and won't for a little while yet

love that Kennedy is a sweet and helpful big sister

hate that she's not a baby or even a toddler anymore, but a little girl

love watching Lost

hate that it will be over soon

I Can Has Star Muffin?

Something I have noticed since I brought Noah home from the hospital is that it would be impossible to ignore older children when you have more than one. They definitely have ways of getting your attention. We went to a mall in Dallas which happens to be right by Sprinkles Cupcakes, and Brett surprised me by taking me there. I was so excited when I realized that they had flourless chocolate cupcakes for Passover. When we got inside, Kennedy also wanted one of these "muffins" which she called a star muffin due to the Star of David that was atop it. We got in the car and all we heard was, "Star Muffin! Star Muffin!" But we told her to be patient and that she could have it after dinner. A little while later, she stopped talking about it.

We went out to dinner, and she didn't say a word about the muffin. As soon as Brett had paid the bill and said, "Are you ready to go?" she yelled out, "Star Muffin!" That's all she talked about on the way home. So we let her have it. That may have been a mistake.

I don't know how she managed to make such a huge mess. It was all over the floor, the chair, and plastered on the table. Miraculously, none of it got on her clothes. Thanks to Brett, we now have pretty much the cutest picture of her I've ever seen.

Brett left for New Jersey again bright and early this morning. We still don't have a return date for him, but I have already been able to talk to him, and will be able to everyday. He says that it is weird to be back and not have people following him around yelling at him. He also says that it's a relief. :) His first dentist appointment is tomorrow morning, so hopefully all goes well! Day 1 by myself with two kids has turned out ok - here's hoping that tomorrow will be ok too.