Home is Where You Make It

A few days ago, I wrote on my Facebook that I am thankful for Steve Jobs.

If you know me or have followed my blog for long enough, you already know why, but if you don't, I'll just inform you that I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with Apple products.

My parents don't share my obsession, and the iPhone that my father currently owns is about to be replaced with the new Samsung Galaxy.

With that said, I am blogging away on my iPad, because my mom's pc is TERRIBLE.
(With that said, if this post seems a bit unorganized, I apologize. My lack of actual keyboard on my ipad makes it rather difficult to put any sort of organization into this post)

Dannika and I are officially in the Lone Star State!

You know you're in Texas when your mama's fridge has Blue Bell ice cream in it!

It's been an absolutely crazy, crazy week!

My wonderful husband flew out from Boston to help me get our house ready to move out and rent out!
I am soooo grateful that the military paid to have our little life packed and moved to Boston.
We did nothing in the moving department, so that was a humongous blessing!

I can confidently say that I am a "master painter", and I can even more confidently say that it's going to be a really long time when I decide to paint another wall ever again. 

In the words of Tay Swift, never, ever, ever paint a room hot pink and black (D's room was hot pink and zebra).
It took forever to cover up with the boring, neutral color that the walls once were.
After many hours and many glasses of wine and beer, the house was finished!

Here is our lonely and empty living room where our family created enough memories to fill the pages of a novel. (I took it in panorama which is why it looks distorted.)

We spent a few trips back and forth to Home Depot in our quest to restore our home to what it was prior to us moving in and throwing our personality all over the walls. I have lived in the OC for 4 years now, and I had no idea that Home Depot had free arts and crafts for kids on certain Saturdays of the months! I'm glad we got to take advantage of it the last weekend we were in California with Nick. I actually think he enjoyed building the toy helicopter more than D did.

With our busy lives raising children and working all the time, it's hard to truly sit back and think about all the blessings in our lives. I am so grateful that my best friend, Kim let our family crash at her place after our stuff was moved out. I really just enjoyed good ole "girlfran" time with her. It seems like when you move, you realize you didn't spend nearly as much time as you would have liked to with your friends. I am thankful that I got to hang out one last time with her!

We were especially sad to say goodbye to Ms. Kathi. Not only was she Dannika's childcare provider since birth, but she also became her teacher, mentor, manners coach, "other" mama, and so much more. I accredit her to helping us raise our daughter to the little princess that she is today!

We spent one last Halloween in California. Dannika and Kanoa went trick or treating together. This year was so much fun because it was the first year our kids actually "got it", and really had fun with it. Obviously (by the photo below), Dannika was Jessie the Cowgirl from Toy Story, and Kanoa was Ironman!

Me and the kiddos. I'm sure gonna miss my little "No-No" (a nickname Dannika came up with when she was first learning to talk and couldn't pronounce "Kanoa")

The last time D was on a plane, she was almost 2. It was so easy because she was still a "baby" and slept most the plane ride, and had no idea what was going on. Now at 3....OMG. I am traumatized. There's only so many iPad apps you can download to keep a 3 year old busy for 3 hours on an airplane. I was about to pull my hair out by the time I was done.

Once we got to Texas, things settled down. My dad had not seen Dannika in almost a year, so he was beyond THRILLED to see her. Let the spoiling begin from "Gigi" and "Papa"!

I have no idea how we're going to get all this home to Boston!!!!!!!

Of course it would be my luck that D would get sick as soon as we got here! She came down with a horrible fever, congestion, and cough. Three days trying to fight her sickness at home with Tylenol and Motrin, four hours in an ER at Houston's Methodist Research Hospital, D was diagnosed with strep throat. I knew it was coming. She is NEVER sick, so I was expecting it to happen eventually.

My grandma is also at the hospital, and I hadn't seen her since 2009!!!!! It was great to see her. I like to consider myself her favorite grandchild. Afterall, I am her first grandchild born to her first born son, and I gave birth to her first great grandchild. How can I NOT be the favorite!?

We got a little rain in Houston. It was the perfect chance for D to test out her new umbrella from Gigi and Papa.

Reflecting on the last year, as much as I have hated being alone without Nick, I have gotten to bond in ways with Dannika that some mothers don't get a chance to do. I am grateful for that. She really is my BFF. Four years ago, I would have never thought that a 3 year old could be my BFF!

At the hospital with my sick baby. Even at 3 years old, when I saw her so vulnerable and ill, I felt like I was taking care of her as a newborn all over again.

It's insane to think that my life as a Marine is over, and I am just one step closer to beginning my new life in a new home with my entire family under one roof again.

As Kim and I drove away from her house on my last day, I told her that I felt like I never really appreciated the gorgeous view I had in SoCal and the endless miles of beaches in California as much as I should have.

Leaving her house, I looked at the ocean one last time and smiled.

That's when I realized that I probably would have never appreciated the beauty that California has to offer if I would have never left.

Although I was sad to leave my friends (both old and new), sad to leave the house that Nick and I made a home, sad to leave the home that we brought a bouncing, healthy 8lbs baby girl into, I wasn't sad for the experiences I had.

California is where I learned to be an adult, learned to live on my own, learned to be independent, fell in love, found God, and became who I am today as an adult.

You can't ask for much more than that :-)