Memorial Day 2010

This Memorial Day is extra special to me. Memorial Day to me is not a day of celebrations, beer, and bbq's. I think people often forget why the holiday even exists. If it weren't for our men and women in uniform, there would be no day off from work today. The fact that Nick is currently over in Afghanistan right now, it makes today a little more somber for me. I was watching the memorial at Arlington National Cemetery this morning, and got a little choked up. I could not imagine how I could go on with my life if anything happened to Nick. I can't begin to imagine the families out there that have lost loved ones in war. Today is a special day for me. A day to reflect on everyone who has sacrificed their lives and on everyone who puts their lives on the line in order for us be free.

Semper fidelis. You Are Never Forgotten...

To cure my loneliness, Dannika and I went to lunch in San Clemente with Dulce and Christopher.

Check out her new Converse kicks!

If Love Kept Us Alive...We Would Live Forever...

Dear Nicholas Mark...

The Love of my Life

I don't even know how to begin to tell you and express into words how I feel about you. The last two years have been nothing but complete bliss. I feel like we've gone through more in the last 2 years than some couples go through in their entire marriages. We jumped in with our eyes closed not knowing what to expect. The long hours that you worked as a drill instructor and the lonely nights I spent while you were training recruits...the long hours I put into my first year of recruiting duty...and even after working a straight 72 hour shift down at the depot...you still managed to make the hour drive home and sit in my office till the late hours of the night with me while I made my evening "TC's". You never complain.

I thought the first year of our marriage was the toughest with both of us on demanding assignments. Was I ever wrong! But your love for me has kept me going every day.

Thank you for being so patient.

Thank you for not being the "typical guy".

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to know what love feels like.

Thank you for giving me the gift of life...our chunky cheeked, Dannika Jane.

Thank you for letting me come into your life and become Mrs. Nicholas Mark Romer (afterall, that's what it says on all my checks :-)

Thank you for being my voice of reason.

Thank you for always "having my back".

Thank you for being such a hard worker.

Thank you for all the wonderful (and even the no-so-wonderful) memories.

Thank you...Thank you...Thank you...

I don't think I could say it enough...

I love you more than Bert loves Ernie...and more than Big Bird loves Snuffy...

I love you as big as the sky...times infinity...

I can't wait till you're back home in my arms again...I never stop thinking about you

One of the first pictures I ever took of Nick...wearing that darn Alabama hat that he loves so much...

One of our first dates...in his truck...there's that hat again

Pick up week...I used to meet him when the recruits were in class or something and just sit in the parking lot in my car with him and talk....well he'd fall asleep...but I just liked having him close...even if it was only 15 minutes...

Always a crazy fun time together...that hat again...

Recruiters' school....(hat)

Right before we were off to get married....just the two of us...no one else...And yes...he wore that darn hat when we got married...he calls it his "lucky hat"

Right afterwards...Can you tell he's tired??? He was on lights...(meaning he had to be at work by 0430 and didn't get off until 10 in the evening)...we literally flew to Vegas as soon as he got off work...got married like 3 hours later (courthouses there never close)...left the next morning...just in time for him to go back to work :-)

Our first Jack-O-Lantern

2 kEwL 4 SkOoL

Dannika has been long overdue for a new carseat...a big girl carseat.

I've just been lazy, but recently...

she's been getting super cranky and fussy in her old carseat cause she's outgrown it and it's just not as comfy as it was when she was 10 lbs!

I went to Babies R Us today to get her the Britax Riviera CS Convertible carseat.

Cause my daughter deserves the *BEST*

I hate that I waited so long to finally get one cause...

When I finally put her in it to try it...She was in LOVE with it.

She was kicking her legs and smiling...

Hard to believe that less than a year ago...she was in this carseat...

And here she is in her NEW one!!! She's as happy as a lark!

What's Better Than 1 Little Box Tied With White Satin Ribbon?

SIX OF THEM OF COURSE!

According to Wikipedia, it states that the modern day 2nd Wedding Anniversary gift is china. Nick went all out and got me Tiffany's China.

Cause every girl loves Tiffany's...

This is hand painted Italian china...

Am I one lucky girl or what?!?!

11 Weeks = Family

I have never thought for a minute that this deployment has flown by. It hasn't. It's been the longest 4 months of my life...literally. My life changed drastically when Nick went back to being a "cannon cocker" after the drill field. I thought life married to a DI was bad...but it got worse when he went to the fleet...I had forgotten that "real Marines" go to the field...and that "real Marines" deploy. I honestly forgot that word..."deploy". I mean...the last time I deployed was 2007...and Nick and I got married in 2008...while he had been on the drill field for 2 years already,  and I was beginning recruiting duty. It is now 2010...not only am I a "single mom", a Marine, and a wife to a deployed Marine...I am also dealing with life. It's tough. I've lost a lot of drive for...well...a lot...the Marine Corps being one of them. I never ever ever thought I could find something that would be more important to me than the Corps...or my career...until now. My daughter comes before the Corps...and my husband comes before my career. It's the nature of the beast. There are a lot of days when Dannika drives me absolutely insane, but it's funny...when I drop her off at daycare in the morning...my heart sinks...SINKS...to the pit of my stomach...to hell. While I think daycare has been GREAT for her (she's not a total pansy mama's girl...and she can survive without me being around...no offense to SAHM's...but in my opinion...daycare is the reason for my daughter's "socialability". It drives me nuts that I can't see her all day everyday. 

Nick got me a day at the spa package for Mother's Day. I finally got to use it this weekend. Lucky me...a young man that Sgt Ellis recruited last year, has a girlfriend (Lorin) who is great with kids. She came over to keep Dannika company while I went to Burke Williams for my spa treatment. Nick really outdid himself. I had a 75 minute back and lower back massage, foot massage, hot stone treatment, scalp massage, and a eucalyptus detox body wrap. It was HEAVEN. If you're a guy reading this...I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it for your loved one. The 75 minutes that I was in heaven, I got to think a lot about life, and the only thing I could think about was how much God has blessed me and how I have a husband that women should be jealous of (I'll go into detail on my facebook blog). 

 These next 11 weeks can not go by fast enough for me...I keep fantasizing about that moment when I can run up to Nick and hug and kiss him......

Check out the pics from my weekend...

Dannika has Nick's narrow feet so I can never find shoes that stay on her feet...but I found some Nike sandals with adjustable EVERYTHING that fit on her feet. 

Whoa...cleavage...

They stayed on her feet for 25 minutes until she figured out how to undo the velcro...

Chillin on the couch with mommy while the maids clean the house.

She was intrigued by my Sally Hansen "rose amore" nail polish

"Is this color trendy?"

/

She crawls...which means...

She gets into EVERYTHING...

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

The last time I wore these jeans was when I was 23 years old...

Thanks to my excessive training for 5K's. 10's. and now...triathlons...

I can wear them, again...WOO HOO

I am working on toning now...I am back to the ab routine I used to do back in the day when I was in INSANE shape...My abs will be back to where they were 5 years ago before Nick comes home...but these jeans are SIZE 2~!~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should I "TRI" it?

For those of you who have known for a while, you know how big I have been into distance running. Distance running to me is not your typical "Marine Corps PFT" of 3 miles. For those of you who went on UDP with me when I was a LCpl to Japan know that I ran an average of 6-12 miles a day there....in the summer...with 90 percent humidity...rain or shine....and 90-100 degree heat. I am obsessed with running. I love how I feel when I'm done, and I love what it does to my body (it makes me look super fit and toned). I slowed down a lot after a groin and hip injury I developed in Japan...and eventually..."Life" took over...met the love of my life...married him...went on recruiting duty...PREGNANCY....this all meant less time for running and less motivation for running. People at the gym thought I was crazy that I was running on a treadmill 2 weeks prior to my due date....I just love everything about running...the rush, the feel...it's just the pavement and me...the world can "screw off". Since Nick left on deployment in January, I started getting back into it. I invested in a top of the line, light weight jogging stroller so that I could train without having to worry about what I was gonna do with Dannika. I put about 50-60 miles a week on that stroller. I can honestly say that I am excited about beach season cause I am comfortable with my body. I am looking for my next "high". 

I decided it is to do a triathlon...not a full IRONMAN (that's for crazy people...haha)...but I plan on starting with a mini tri. I plan on purchasing a bike in the next month and getting into the pool (or ocean) to swim. It's the first time in a while I've been excited about something and the first time in a while that I feel like this is something that can get my mind off Nick being gone and being a "single mom". I'm just worried about this darn hip and groin injury that has already started to bother me again...

Oh well...I'm to stubborn to stop running and training...

The beach today...after my 8 mile run...

Dannika loves watching the waves...

This is her angry look..."you stink mom...and your sweat is dripping all over my stroller..."

And this has nothing to do with running or triathlons, but I have decided...I am officially a "Cougar in training".

Daily Dose of Dannika Jane

Just a few of her favorite things...Gerber puffs and her pink rubber ducky.

She likes to crawl up to the TV and watch Nick Jr. in the mornings before daycare...yes that is her sippy cup that she threw.

"Tryin' to watch TV here mom. Can you leave me alone?" The crumbs on her face are from her Gerber cookies...she loves those things!

Running, Life, and Dannika Jane :-)

I like to run...I take that back...I don't really like to run, but my body loves it. I dread thinking about running, but the funny thing is...once I lace up my Asics and I can feel my heel hit that pavement...life is just simple. I can run 10 miles and not even realize it. I've always been a "runner" though, so I guess it's my form of escaping the world. I enjoy running by the beach in San Clemente, and I try and go everyday after work. I am blessed to live literally 5 minutes away from the Pacific Ocean. Dannika loves the ride and I get my work out, my head cleared, and my stress relieved. I invested in the top of the line Jeep brand jogging stroller for that purpose. On average, I put 50 miles on that stroller...yes...I said fifty...in turn...an old hip injury (from running a lot) has started to bother me a little, but I'm stubborn, and refuse to take a break to let it heal again. Today...I didn't run. I decided on going to a spin class this morning at 24 hour fitness, but I didn't want to be cooped up in the house all day, so I took Dannika to the beach for a nice like 3 mile walk. The weather was cool and cloudy. It was beautiful and peaceful... 

It's hard to believe that Dannika will be turning 1 in July...that is a short two months away! She's just been such a joy in my life...(most of the time...haha). 

I don't know how I would have made it this far in this deployment without her though! She keeps me on my toes...she keeps me alive...

She's my little "deployment buddy". We do everything together...EVERYTHING. I can't wait till Nick comes home so I can go to the bathroom alone...without having this cute little bald baby sitting in there staring at me...awkward, huh?

When Nick left...Dannika was barely learning to sit up on her own...and was babbling "dada"...she now "low crawls everywhere", when she sees a picture of Nick, she babbles at it, smile really big, and says "dada", she LOVES to do pattycake, she throws her arms up in the air and flails them around when Dora the Explorer sings on Nick Jr., she's infatuated with the Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba, when I show up at Mrs. Kathi's house to pick her up after work, she has this HUGE smile on her face...

she does so much, and it's hard to believe that this time last year...she wasn't even born yet!

I love you Dannika Jane....