Slumber Party

I must admit, that being a "stay at home mommy" for the last week and half has been probably the best week and a half ever!

I absolutely LOVE spending every day with my little peanut.

This weekend was quite an eventful one for Dannika and I, and we are absolutely tired!

It was well worth it though :-)

Last night, Dannika and I went over to aunt Kari's house on base to meet up with all the Marine wives (Becca, Victoria, Lindsay, and Kari) and my friend Lauren...and Kari's friends Wendy and Jessica...whew...hope I didn't miss anyone! (oh oops...of course Jackson).

It's never the same at our get togethers since the Boera's left, but Sarah was there in spirit :-)

We decided we were all in need of a girls night, but since ALL of our husbands are either deployed or freezing their butts off up North, we don't have anyone to watch our children...lol.

We decided to make a slumber party out of it so that we could have some wine and not have to worry about driving home (DRINKING AND DRIVING IS SELFISH AND DANGEROUS!).

The drinks flowed and the conversations were hYsTeRiCaL.

As you can imagine, when you get a buncha Marine wives (well just women in general) together who's husbands all work in the same unit, the stories are just hilarious.

We are a pretty animated bunch too, I must say. 

I also think that Dannika has made it a mission to walk everywhere since spending an entire evening with Jackson.

She has been walking like CRAZY since last night.

Those two are so cute together and watching them play is hilarious.

Today we just spent the day in our jammies lounging around...

We got breakfast and Mickey D's and came home to do nothing.

I didn't even go the gym (insert shocking *gasp* here).

Dannika was pretty tired too so we sat on the couch and watched TV all day and vegged out. 

It was awesome.

Becca has all the pictures from our little party, so I will have to post them later.

Here are some you can enjoy of Dannika from this weekend :-)

This was Saturday morning. She was watching Nick Jr. and cuddling with her blankie on the couch.

This is her singing along with Nick Jr.

Singing and dancing

I heard this little cry coming from her bedroom today, and I ran in to find her sitting in her laundry basket.

And me being the mean mommy that I am went and busted out my camera to take pictures of her.

FACE PLANT!

BUSY MOMMY AND ME DAY!

Today was quite a busy busy day for Dannika and I.

I took Dannika to a Gymboree music and play class today.

I've always wanted to do it with her, but being a working mom, it's hard to take a random day of the week and take her to an hour long 10am class!

Wow...she has never had so much fun in her life!

It was a toddler's heaven there!

Everything was padded, and they had slides, music, dancing, games, and activities.

I never get to see how Dannika interacts with other children because I am at work when she is in daycare, and after watching her today, I realized how independent she is!

She is not intimidated by older and bigger kids.

She doesn't care when someone takes her toy from her (she's just like "whatever", and moves on)

Going there today really made me realize just how much I can't wait to be a stay at home mom so I can take her to things like that and spend time with her everyday.

Here's a short video of our day...

  

ENJOY THE PICS!

Parachute and bubbles game

After our fun time at Gymboree, Dannika and I met up with Becca and Jackson, and Lindsay and her friend Sarah for lunch at Applebee's down in Oceanside.

I enjoyed having some "girl time"...

Being a girly girl in the Marine Corps makes it hard to find "girl time".

I mean...let's face it...I'm surrounded by perverted, loud, gross, and obnoxious boys all day long (but if you need any advice about what guys think and say about you when they are at work...let me know...I know it all!)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my girl time.

and Dannika had fun playing with Jackson.

THHEEENNNNN....

Dannika and I headed the Mission Viejo Mall to meet up with her two "aunts", Melissa and Victoria!

I got to do some shopping (WHICH I hadn't planned) with Victoria.

Dannika got to spend time with her BFFA *Best Friend Forever Aunt*, Melissa.

Dannika is a genuinely a really good baby, but Melissa has a way with her that I don't see often with other women.

Dannika absolutely LOVES LOVES LOVES her!!!!

THIS IS NOT IT!!!

Today is Dannika's "Uncle Sully's" Birthday!!!!

His girlfriend, Fritzie (whom I've never met until today!) contacted me via facebook (thank God for facebook) a week ago inviting us to a surprise birthday for him.

Ryan and Nick have a really cool and special bond.

They were together in the Battle of Fallujah, and have become really close in the years following.

Ryan is the reason that Nick and I are married today!!!!!!!

Ryan is like family to us and is an extremely important part of our lives.

He's been there for me when Nick was deployed, and Nick and him have a mutual give and take relationship.

Ryan's never had a surprise party, and since Nick can't be there, I had the represent the Romers!

Fritzie did an AWESOME job with the surprise, and Dannika was ECSTATIC to get to see her Uncle Sully!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SULLY!!!!!!!!!

So all in all...

Today was a very busy yet productive day for the Romer girls. 

We love you, Nick!!!

Can't wait till you, Steve, and Gavin get home from Bridgeport!!!

Murphy's Law

You know Murphy's Law?

It always happens to me when Nick is gone. 

For instance:

Last year, within a month of him deploying, I backed my brand new Mercedes into a Scion in the parking lot of my work.

Same time...Nick's beloved Chevy that he NEVER had problems with decided to take a shit. Throughout the rest of the deployment, his truck gave me so many problems.

EVERYTIME Nick leaves...whether it be for 7 months, a week, or a month...

Dannika becomes the child from hell.

credit card fraud

friends "borrowing" large amounts of money for totally different reasons than what they tell you.

family drama...

***************

That crap ALWAYS happens when they leave!

Well, Nick left on Tuesday for Bridgeport, and the week seemed to be going pretty smoothly. 

until today...

I walked in our guest bathroom and realized that our bathtub's faucet was totally missing. 

I had totally forgotten that it broke, and Nick didn't fix it before he left.

It's not a big deal since I don't use that bathroom, but it IS a big deal because my mom is coming out here in a week, and she'll be the one using that bathroom!

That's not all...

I noticed this morning that the water in the toilet of my guest bathroom was super low...but I didn't think anything of it.

I was showering today after my workout and realized that my shower drain was backing up as well.

I took Nick's advice and poured baking soda and vinegar down the drain.

It seemed to help until I realized the toilet in the guest bathroom was bubbling and the drain in my shower was NOT draining properly.

I tried plunging the toilet and it did nothing so....

I flushed the toilet in the guest bathroom...annnnnd....

it flooded my bathroom....

FML, right???!!!

AND, I had a clogged drain in my shower...the ONLY shower that works in our house since the guest shower has no faucet (thanks to my husband...whom I love with all my heart no matter what).

I called a plumber...

250 bucks later...

he unclogged my mainline. 

You know what's embarrassing??!!

I had to hear from a somewhat goodlooking plumber that it was "female products" that clogged everything.

OMG

it wouldn't have been embarrassing cause I probably wouldn't have even seen what the plumber looked like...Nick deals with all that crap...BUT I had to do all the talking...and he really was a pretty good looking guy (NOT as hot as my husband)...so I was like oh great. I wanted to tell him...oh I don't use tampons...but I'm sure he's heard that excuse...so embarrassing.

If it were some big heinous ugly guy telling me about the "female products" clogging my drain, I really wouldn't have cared.

ahhhhh.

Don't you just love my life?

I hope y'all got a great laugh out of this cause I'm laughing now.

And I won't leave ya hangin'...here's a pic of Dannika and Nick...

One of my favorite of them. He just looks so happy to be a father and Dannika's expression is PRICELESS.

She was only 3 months old in this picture!

Photo credit goes to:

Erin Dietrich Photography

(now located in South Carolina)

GiGi [{aKa}] Grandma and Date Night

Just about every night, Dannika has a "Skype date" with her Gigi (my mom).

She LOVES seeing her on the computer.

I wish we lived in Texas so that we could see her more often in person, but until now...

Skype it is!

Today, my friend Julie Palka posted a blog on her facebook page.

It was about a mother who's 4 month old daughter passed away suddenly without notice a few days ago.

You can read about here.

It totally broke my heart and I felt so helpless just reading it.

I don't even know her!

It made me realize just how precious life is and how in an instant in can be gone.

I get frustrated a lot with Dannika...

She's at an age where she wants to be independent but not old enough to be as independent as she thinks she is.

I get agitated and irritated with her sometimes.

After reading what this mother is going through right now...

I know my life isn't as bad as it seems sometimes...

And no matter what kind of day I have with Dannika...

I can always be worse...

My heart goes out to this family as they mourn and pick up the pieces to their lives....

I couldn't even imagine having to bury my child.

I really think I would just want to die if anything happened to Dannika.

After reading the blog, I felt compelled to do something special with Dannika.

She was in daycare today cause I had a lot to do at home...

I picked her up as soon as I was done with everything, and we did a "mommy and me" dinner date at my favorite restaurant..."Sundried Tomato".

She was the BEST date ever...

She is just such a lady...so poised...so elegant...

man, I love her so much :-)

Even When They're Home, They're Always Gone...USMC

Nick left for Bridgeport, CA today for cold weather and mountain warfare training.

He's only gone for a month, but for a military couple who spends every other year apart for more than half the year from each other because of deployments, a month is a big chunk out of time.

Time is precious in a military family....

Fortunately, my mom is coming out in 2 weeks to visit us for about a week and a half, and I'm hoping that makes the time go by faster. 

This last weekend, we just spent spending as much time together as possible before our separation.

There's nothing I cherish more than family time.

Dannika and Daddy paying bills...well Dannika isn't paying bills. Nick is so awesome cause he made sure ALL the bills were taken care of so I wouldn't have to worry about them before he left.

My beautiful angel

Ladies, 

you an be jealous.

When I got home from dropping Nick off at the airport this morning, I was feeling really down in the dumps (missing him)...

And coming home to this note that he secretly slipped onto the dining room table totally made my day.

I love how he thinks of the little things. 

What a guy, what a guy!

Deep Sea Fishing aDvEnTuRe!

One of Nick's favorite hobbies in the entire world is to fish...

to be specific, freshwater bass fishing.

This Valentine's Day, I decided to plan a half day deep sea fishing trip right off the coast of Dana Point for him.

He sacrifices so much to be a great father and husband (not to mention the most badass Marine), that when he told me that he couldn't remember the last time he went fishing, I knew I hit the jackpot with this one!

As much complaining I do about California sometimes, I CAN NOT complain about living a 5 minute drive away from one of America's most beautiful coastline.

We had some heavy rainfall this week and we were expecting today to be a wet and rainy fishing trip.

Thank the Lord!

He blessed us with clear sunny skies with 70 degree temps. 

The water was extremely choppy due to the weather the past few days which caused some serious sea sickness for Nick (including a Snickers bar he threw up).

I guess being a Marine and being considered amphibious didn't really apply to Nick today.

We also did not catch a single fish....although our little fishing boat caught about 12 sea bass. 

Either way, we had a blast.

It didn't start getting windy, cold, and rainy again until the very end on our way back to shore.

I'm married to a former drill instructor...why would you be so surprised he's doing sword manual with a fishing pole???

It was rainy when we first got there.

the weather cleared up right be before we left

Beautiful Southern California in February

I live here!!!!!!! In fact, I'm living a dream owning a townhouse here...this is the REAL OC!

Getting live bait

a little seal we saw...

So cool how the water turns this crystal aqua color when you get past the drop off in the ocean

My poor sea sick husband.