New Tricks

Dannika now does patty cake on her own when you sing it to her and when you tell her no, she shakes her head. Nick tells me I need to stop telling her "no" cause it's gonna become her favorite word, but she just looks so cute when she does it!

Dia De Los Merlot

I really enjoy dinner with the Gilbert family. I have officially adopted them as my third set of parents (my own, Nick's parents, and them). Dannika especially loves going over there cause of all the attention she gets and the yummy graham crackers they feed her! They invited us over tonight for dinner and to celebrate their son, Jake's 27th birthday. Gloria made the most delicious pulled pork sandwiches (and it was her first time making it!!!!). Their daughter Melissa made a birthday cake that looked like a fire hydrant (Jake is a firefighter)...it was great! I wish I took my camera over to take a picture of it! It's kind of become a tradition that I take a bottle of wine over. I try and take a different kind of merlot every time since my collection of wine keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I just don't really like drinking wine alone at home sometimes! Tonight I took "Dia De Los Merlot", and I must say, it is up there on my list of favorite merlots. Dinner is always delicious, there is ALWAYS good conversation, and their family makes me feel like being part of a family again. Once again...I'm excited for Nick to get home so that we can all enjoy sunday dinners together.  

                                                                                            weight loss to date since Nick left...15lbs!

Dannika sittin on mommy's stove

This is Dannika trying an ICEE for the first time...she actually liked it...even though her face may say otherwise.

Zenko's

One of my first few months on recruiting duty, the recruiters in my office introduced me to this sushi place right down the road from my office called Zenko's. They have some of the best all you can eat sushi in South Orange County, and have some of the most reasonable prices. I have two favorite rolls there...the jalapeno roll and the lobster roll. The jalapeno roll consists of a fried jalapeno stuffed with spicy tuna, and something else (no clue what it is)...it is SUPERB. The lobster roll is basically a california roll with lobster and some special sauce baked on top of it....again...SO DELICIOUS!!! Tonight, I went there with the Praxedes family and the Yubeta family. Kim's husband Sunny (Yubeta), just got back from a 6 1/2 month deployment last week, so it was our first time meeting up with him since his return. I love both of their families!!! It was good to just be with good friends, have good sushi, and have a glass of (not so good) merlot. Dannika is now at the age where it's not really all that much fun to take her out to eat anywhere. I decided to plan accordingly, and packed a few graham crackers in her diaper bag. She DEVOURED them, and in the meanwhile, gave me a chance to eat my own food while she was distracted. I also missed Nick's phone call tonight cause I didn't hear my phone ring. I had a slight heart attack when I got home and realized I had like 7 missed calls on my cell phone!!!! I did get to talk to him this morning for a brief moment, so I'm not TOO worried about it. We are almost at our halfway point in this deployment. As far as Nick goes, ever since the "incident" at the beginning of his deployment with his unit, they haven't really utilized his unit for anything, so he's been pretty bored. Every time I talk to him, it breaks my heart to hear his voice when he hears Dannika cause I know he misses her a lot. I'm already ready for this to be over!!!

Dannika and I right before goin out for some SUSHI!

Slacker!

Yes...I have been slacking on this blog...my bad. Things have been crazy at work, and Dannika is an 'official crawler'. She is ALL over the place. I can't sit still for one minute without her getting into something. I kinda wish she would just stay a sitter for a bit longer. Dieting has been going good for me. I have hit my plateau though, so it is time to change my routine at the gym. I've been running like CRAZY, and with Nick being gone, I don't eat as much. I feel great, but I still don't feel like my body is post pregnancy yet. For those of you who know me, you know what a weight conscious health freak I was...so I'm slowly getting back to that obnoxious girl that would literally ask the waiter at restaurants for a list of calories in the the food!!!!! Other than that, Nick and I are almost at the halfway point. As of tomorrow, we will have roughly 16 weeks left of this deployment. 16 weeks doesn't sound like very much, but in reality, it's like 4 months!!! I've done some thinking lately about our marriage. Nick and I have an extremely unique marriage. There are plenty of dual active duty spouses out there in the Marine Corps, but rarely will you ever find dual active duty spouses with a child, one deployed, and one on a special duty assignment (meaning demanding hours and scheduling). It made me smile to know that WE are making it through this as a team. I'm very blessed with the guys I work with in my office. Without them, I would be a hot mess! Another unique thing about military marriages is the fact that no other marriage in the world will experience the type of anxiety and separation of a deployment. No other marriage in the world will know the feeling of a homecoming...when the love of your life has been away in a dangerous place for over half a year...and seeing them step off that bus and reuniting as a family again...it's an exhilarating feeling just to think about...I can't wait to feel it! Other than that, Dannika and I are just living life. She crawls, eats table food now, and she loves loves loves the Gerber Graduates Banana Puffs. She is obsessed with them!!!!! Nick says she's gonna turn into a banana puff if I keep feeding them to her!!!!!

Blessed.

I've experienced quite a bit when it comes to relationships. When I met Nick, everything changed. I'm not going to go into detail about it...but those that know me, know what I am talking about. Today has been a really rough, lonely day for me...for no reason at all. I guess it is just one of those days that I really really wanted to come home to my 'Knight in Shining Armor' when I got off work. I guess this is just another emotion that is part of a deployment. I don't deserve such a wonderful man to be my husband...how did I get so lucky????? What did I do to make God happy for him to decide that I needed Nick in my life? God works in mysterious ways...yes he does...cause even though I can't figure out why he decided Nick was for me...I am sooooo thankful and so blessed that he decided that WE were meant to be ONE!

This was the day after we got married in Vegas...just the two of us...Nick couldn't afford a diamond at the time for me...and I was just sooo happy to be Mrs. Romer, I didn't even care. He later surprised me and "reproposed" to me in the parking lot of my work with a BEAUTIFUL diamond ring...

Mom to the rEsCuE!!!

I love my mom. We haven't always had the greatest relationship in the past (mostly cause of me), but ever since marrying Nick and having Dannika, it's brought us closer together. She was horrified at the thought of becoming a grandma when I told her I was pregnant. As you can see by the pictures below, my mom does NOT look anything like a grandma! However, after meeting Miss Dannika Jane for the first time the day she was born, my mom has fallen in LOOOOOVE with her. She refuses to be called grandma though, so we call her GiGi. She came out to help me this past week cause I freaked out and almost had a nervous breakdown with Dannika being sick. It was SO nice to have some extra help around the house and with Dannika for a week. I mean, my mom goes ABOVE AND BEYOND when it comes to household duties. Just as an example...she irons my daddy's pajamas!!!!!!! While she spent her short week at my house, she mowed our grass...trimmed the edges (with kitchen scissors cause Nick and I don't own an edger/weed eater), she handpicked all the weeds in my yard, rearranged our backyard patio furniture, cleaned my entire garage, cleaned my front porch, cleaned my entire house from top to bottom, cooked me some DELICIOUS Korean food, and on top of all that, she gave Dannika more attention than she has ever gotten in her whole life!!!!!!! My mom is Supermom and Supergrandma!! The only bad thing was that she spoiled the hell out of Dannika. So now Dannika is soooo needy!!!!!!!!! After dropping her off at the airport today, I felt really sad and lonely. It felt like going back to such an empty home. Having my mom here made my 'house' feel like a 'home' again. She is planning on coming back out here one more time before Nick gets back!!!!! I can hardly wait! Here are some pictures of Dannika with her GiGi this week!

Dannika's first toothbrush! You can't buy it in the states! My aunt in South Korea sent it to me and there's three stages of toothbrushes that grow up with her! She LOVES brushing her teeth!

While I was working, Dannika and her Gigi went on walks around the neighborhood. Gigi didn't want the sun in her eyes, so she made sure Dannika had her shades on...

This is Easter Sunday at the Sundried Tomato Cafe. Dannika is eating a roll...she LOVES their rolls.

She had a hard time keepin the shades on...

Ah screw it...we'll just make her look 'cool' and put them on her head.

Gigi's last night in the OC. We went to Tak-a-O in San Clemente for sushi! Dannika wearin her mama's shades!

I made these for Dannika's new room!

My naked bebe

Gigi's last day in the OC

Come on moooom....another picture?!?

Dannika's First Easter

This last week leading up to Dannika's first Easter has been NuTz!!!! BOTH of us were sick with the stomach flu, and miserable. I missed an entire week of work with Dannika followed by NUMEROUS visits to the ER and to see Dr. Shannon. I finally broke down and called my mama on Thursday morning begging for help. She flew out Thursday evening...in a day's notice. Man...what would I do without mom?! She came to my rescue. It's been REALLY nice finally having a little alone time while Dannika gets to spend time with her Gigi (mom doesn't like the word grandma...lol). It was really really nice having Easter as a "family"...minus Nick. We went to church for Good Friday and Easter and listened to the most inspiring sermon by Pastor Mark. I think it's important to know the true meaning of Easter. It's not about Cadbury eggs, Easter baskets, and Easter egg hunts...it's about Christ being nailed to a cross and slowing suffering and dying so that we can all be free from sin. It's about his resurrection and his undying love for all of us. I want Dannika to grow up knowing the real meaning of why Easter is a Christian holiday. I did buy her a beautiful Easter dress to wear to church (where she got more than enough compliments). I love going to church, and since Nick left, I kinda stopped going for a while cause it felt lonely going alone, but silly me...It must have slipped my mind that you're never lonely in church cause you're surrounded by other christians and of course, the Lord. I took my mom to the Sundried Tomato Cafe for Easter Brunch. Dannika and I went to the Gilbert's house for Easter dinner...delicious ribs and chicken! It felt like a Southern style Easter dinner. Oh yeah...I forgot to mention...Dannika experienced her FIRST EARTHQUAKE!!!! It was a big one too! 7.2 at the epicenter...craziness! 

Dannika's Easter dress

Dannika and her bunnies and her "couture" Easter basket

Dannika and her "Gigi"...my beautiful mom who just turned 50 this year...can you believe it?! She looks like she's in her mid 30's still!!!!!

Watching her Gigi cook dinner on the barstool

Before heading out for a day of shopping with Gigi

'

Easter Sunday after church and brunch