Oh my goodness, what a month!
Earlier this month, David went back out to sea. I handled it a lot better this time, now that I knew what to expect. It helped that I had a MOPS meeting the day before and a book club meeting the day after, so I didn’t have a lot of time to be sad. MJ loved having his daddy home. It’s heartwarming and hard to watch when I see them together. When David walks in, the baby-sized growth that attaches itself to his leg doesn’t come off until it’s time to say goodbye again. I still don’t think MJ understands what it means when David waves goodbye at the pier, but honestly that makes it easier. He figures out slowly that it’s just the two of us again and there isn’t any real anxiety to speak of. The first night is usually hard and we don’t sleep much, but after that he does okay.
When I first got to Spain, I was introduced to MOPS. I only went to two meetings because it was the end of the year for them, but I decided to jump in and join the leadership team anyway! We have our kickoff party this month at a beautiful park on base. I tried out a new recipe for pumpkin spice donuts that blew my mind. They turned out way better than I thought they would and I didn’t have to take any of them home with me. MJ loved all of the other kids running around and kept me busy chasing him most of the morning. I turned around once to find him elbow deep in a casserole dish of sausage rolls. When he saw me looking at him he grabbed two handfuls of them and tried to run away, haha! That’s my boy! Anyway, I volunteered to be a table leader, but was asked to step up and take on the treasurer role as well. I got to sit down with the rest of the team and brainstorm with them for a while, and I’m really excited about this year and the theme we’re working with.
David’s ship has a relatively new FSG (Family Support Group) so it’s still command sponsored. That means his CMC has to appoint all of the board members. I initially contacted him to volunteer for the secretary position, since I have a little experience with that. But, lo and behold, they needed a treasurer too, so I ended up agreeing to that instead. I figured with the two groups, I’ll be a pro by the end of the year. I haven’t met with the rest of the board members yet, but I’ve emailed a few of them and they seem like a great group. I can’t wait to get involved.
Did I mention, MJ TURNED ONE. My baby is officially a toddler. He’s walking and running and climbing all over the furniture. No talking yet, but lots of babbling and screaming. David and I decided we would wait until we were all together to have a cake and open presents, so I let Marshall have a “pancake smash” instead of the usual cake smash. He loved it, ate the whole thing. We spent the rest of the day playing and hanging out. It was low key, and part of me felt bad that I didn’t have something more exciting planned, but we don’t know that many people here yet. Really though, he’s a year old. He won’t even remember it, right? It’s probably just the mom guilt talking.
I got my Cricut Explore in the mail and hooked up and moved everything I needed to David’s Macbook, plus we switched the office and the nursery so I’m closer to the router. I’m still trying to fit designing and printing into my schedule though. I don’t know how to work it into the hours that MJ is awake because he doesn’t like me being in a different room than him. He’s struggling with some serious separation anxiety right now and that’s making it nearly impossible to work while he’s awake. I’m trying not to stress about it too much, though. It’s new, there are some kinks to work out, but that’s to be expected. We’ll get there.
October is looking full already too. I officially enter my mid-twenties (ugh) and I have a halloween party to plan. The Navy Ball is coming up soon too, and I have a huge surprise to share with you all soon about my hair! I’m debating giving it away right now, but the smarter side of me knows I should wait in case it all goes terribly wrong, haha!
Hope you all had beautiful Septembers. It’s FALL!
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