Its been quite a while since I updated the blog. Sure, I could say there were a million reasons why including my progressing pregnancy coupled with trying to entertain a toddler, but that would just be an excuse. Really? I was lazy and quite honestly forgot all about the blog!

So, now I'm back and ready to catch up. As silly as this sounds, not much in the way of new has been going on. When I last posted, V and I had just returned from our trip to Gettysburg for the Angelovich reunion and I was getting over a cold. Since then, really the only things that have happened are J.E.B.'s trip to Okinawa, the start of the fall WTI class on base (which means long, busy days for J.E.B. at work) and V is going to day care for two half-days a week.

I had an incredible amount of Mommy-Guilt (and still do to a point) for sending her to day care when my only job right now is to be Mom. However, 8 hours a week will give her a chance to get some more socialization with kids and adults who aren't Mommy or Dad and give me some time to go to doctor appointments minus a toddler! I have high hopes that after Baby #2 is born, day care will become even more special for her since that will be a time away from the crying intrusion into her life. We'll see how that all turns out.

Speaking of Baby #2, everything is still coming along nicely. We don't know the sex, nor will we until the day of the birth. People repeatedly tell me "Oh wow! I couldn't do that" or "I don't know how you can stand to wait. I sure couldn't" but really, for us it wasn't all that hard. I will admit that initially deciding to wait to find out the sex was tougher for me with this pregnancy, since I wanted to know if I needed to buy boy things or if our girl things in the closet would suffice. However, that urge was nothing more than curiosity and I can keep that curiosity until Thanksgiving. Besides, we still have plenty of neutral newborn things in case it is a boy!

I know people always say that each pregnancy is different just like each person is different, but I never really paid attention to them. I figured, you're still pregnant, how different can it be? Well my friends, let me tell you....they (whoever they are) are correct! Baby #2 has been a fireball from the start compared to the placid, nice pregnancy of Victoria. Currently, Baby #2 is still performing somersaults and back flips in an area that is much, much too small for him. And heartburn is a regular friend of mine, showing up daily between 2-3pm and lasting through the night. Oh what joys! :)  I don't mind being pregnant though. I am not like some women who completely dislike being pregnant. Sure, I would rather not look like a fat cow (or think I look like one) and not have swollen feet, etc, but overall I don't mind the pregnancy thing. That said, I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving when this pregnancy thing is done!

She has discovered that books are good for more than just chewing on...this has become a nightly ritual: sitting in Dad's lap for 1 - 3 stories. (you can see all her cardboard books on the end table next to them)

She likes her books so much in fact, that when its really quiet in the house I can find her here instead of getting into mischief. At least some of the time!

I love the crossed ankles in this one!

V loves to help out Dad during his workouts!

A little loving motivation! She actually gave him about a dozen kisses but the camera was too slow to catch them all!



She loves it when he lays on the floor. He becomes her desk! She had fun looking through the Richard Scarry book I got her

So enough about the babies. In August, J.E.B. went to Okinawa for work and I was super duper jealous! I tried to make a list of things that I would like as a souvenir but really the things I miss the most from our time there is the food and the drinks. Not really into eating sushi after its made a trip across the world in some luggage! However, J.E.B. did come through for me and brought home some of our favorite drinks from when we were in Okinawa. In fact, he stashed so many that he actually purchased a foot locker specifically to hold the cases of Milk Tea, Garden Lemon Tea and Georgia Coffee! He even found some instant Okinawa Soba. I love the real version -- fresh noodles in a delicious broth with chopped green onions, some kind of meat (usually pork I think) and some pink things (I think those are pickled ginger). The soba restaurants are missed as much as the sushi restaurants!!! The instant version turned out not that bad actually. The instructions were all in Japanese, so we had to rely on pictures to tell us what to do which was very reminiscent of 4 years worth of dining out in Japan -- point to a picture on a menu and say, "I want that, please." Sure, it wasn't the same as real Soba but it was pretty close for coming out of a box.

Here are some more pictures from the reunion.

When I woke up from my nap, I found the boys like this...although Grampa was passed out in the middle of them too!

The chaos of gift-giving

Completely enthralled with the water dripping out of the duck!

Saying hello to Sally, the mascot of the 11th PA Infantry who stayed with her wounded and killed men until the rest of her unit could return to her after having to retreat.

Angelovich Reunion 2011

For the first time in about 6 years (since my wedding to be exact), my parents and brother and sister and I, complete with our families got together at one time, under one roof! Only J.E.B. was missing from the bunch and while I was sad not to have him here, V and I still had a ton of fun with everyone else.

My parent's house was the meeting point and we were all there at different times, but about one week was overlap for everyone. My brother and his family got there about a week or so before my sister and I arrived and then I had planned to stay a few extra days after everyone left. (side note--I'm still here in Gettysburg since I came down with a nasty head and chest cold and decided that flying for about 7 hours to get back to Yuma was just NOT gonna happen. So now I have a new departure date and am desperately hoping that my head cold will have cleared by then)

So the house was full, eleven people to be exact, and it was a chaotic madhouse but in a good way. My sister's boys, who are 5 and 3, were loud and rambunctious and adorable and playful. Their energy quickly enticed my brother's son, who is 2, to join them as well as get V, who just turned 1, to branch out of her shell and start to socialize. Ethan (the 3 year old) and V became fast friends and you could regularly see the two of them together, with Ethan explaining the ways of the world to her. It was just too darn cute!

The kids could regularly be found in the living room amid scattered toys and all the couch cushions on the floor in a pile onto which they, naturally, kept jumping! Meals were fun and between grabbing chairs and food, it was great to see my family all together and to catch up with them. And since there were so many adults here, it seemed as though at least 2 people each day took a nap (adults included) while the others watched the kids. Very relaxing I have to say. Although somehow with all that relaxing I caught a head cold. Hmmm.

We didn't have a lot planned other than hanging out at the house, although a neighbor has property which has a creek on it and we all trooped over there one afternoon to enjoy the water. It was V's first time in such a large body of water (she was in a pool at a friends' house when she was a few months old) and she took to it like a fish. While the boys made mud mountains and played with the trucks, she wandered around getting her feet wet and playing in the mud. She also was a HUGE fan of the grass here in Gettysburg. Its the nice soft green grass that I grew up with. The kind that makes you want to walk around barefoot. Not at all like the rough, prickly "grass" we have in our backyard.

Jen's boys love to dance to Lady Gaga (?!) and we had an impromptu dance party one night. We all laughed and clapped as the boys danced their hearts out but everyone was surprised when V got out there too! She started off twirling in the middle of them all, then seemed to get a little intimidated so she just continued to dance/twirl right around me. There were some great videos taken of the whole to-do.

For some reason V took to everyone except for my brother. Try as he might (and he did try) Jeff couldn't get close to her. She would look at him, in fact she couldn't take her eyes off him, however when he got close to her or talked to her she immediately ran to find me. If she was already in my arms she nestled in closer. It became a big joke throughout the week.

I love the faces in this pic

A silly-face picture, what else? And my daughter giving her "I'm too cool to do a silly face" face

The fam, minus Ethan and V. Where they are...who knows!

Nate hard at work making BeBe a crispy marshmallow

What a great expression, Ethan!

I love Sage's expression here. He's got a mouth full of marshmallow but is still contemplating another one!

Lovin' the muddy water

Everyone enjoying the creek

Ethan and V

We had a photographer come and this is the to-do required to get a 1-yr-old to look at the camera and perhaps even smile!

Ethan pretending to be shy

What a cutie!

As of today we are a family without cable television. Yup, I said it. We no longer have cable tv. I am a little scared of this coming week and how I am going to do. Watching tv has been a sort of hobby of mine for years. I love tv. Its a way for me to literally shut off my mind and relax.

So why did we get rid of it then you ask? Well, J.E.B. is not a tv watcher at all. Sometimes I can convince him to watch a tv show with me, but only sometimes and that tv show will generally be Man Vs. Wild or Dirty Jobs. And lately, I've been watching Netflix through our Wii much more than the actual cable. So we figured, why pay for cable and internet each month when we are really only using the internet?

It was my decision since I am the resident tv-watcher of Team Bolen and it was a hard one for me to make. In the end my curiosity at how I would do without cable overpowered my desire to have it. So I called to cancel it.

Or I should actually say, I tried to cancel it. When I called Time Warner I was first put on the line with a nice woman who accepted my reason for cancelling as logical (we don't use it and don't want to pay for something we aren't using) however, she was new or something and didn't know how to cancel part of an account so she transferred me to someone else. Ok. No problem.

Now, this second person, was not helpful at all. He repeatedly tried to get me to change my mind by asking me in a different way if I was sure I didn't want just a few cable channels (You don't watch Discovery or the History Channel? What if you want to see what's on the news?, etc). After three different questions and three replies of No, just cancel it, I got pissed off. He tried to offer me another plan for cheaper but again, I said no. (Really, how many other ways can I say No? And even though he had a Hispanic accent, No in Spanish is still No in English). He then told me not to get mad at him and when I still said no for a fourth time, he actually asked if I didn't want to check with my husband first? Really? "Check with my husband first?" What am I ten years old and have to ask permission of Dad? Or are we living in some other century/country I'm not aware of where women aren't allowed to make decisions in their homes?

Needless to say, I was more than pissed off and I hung up on him. Poor J.E.B. answered the phone at work to an irate wife who in her irritated excitement rattled off the whole situation in a matter of seconds to him. I do recall him telling me to calm down, but I was too angry/hyper to do so initially. Finally I said that he had to call to cancel since I obviously was not qualified to do so.  Yeah, I may have overreacted a bit.

Anyway, he called, got a nice lady on the phone who was surprised at his story of the jerk I had on the phone and the cable was cancelled by the end of his pleasant conversation.

Oh well. Its over now.

No cable.

Wow.

No cable.

Now what?

Our little spitfire redheaded Victoria turned one year old on 7 June. It was a very fun but strange day for me as I was constantly remembering the day she was born and the week thereafter when she was hooked up "to the Matrix" in the NICU as J.E.B. liked to call it. I have found it humorous that so many sayings about children that you grew up hearing are 1) very, very true and 2) have a deeper, more personal meaning once you have your own kids. So cliche I know!

Well, V turned one year old and she certainly enjoyed herself. We didn't do a huge party (it was just the three of us that night) since we were together in Colorado last month with the Bolen side of the family and celebrated it there and then in one week V and I will be heading to Gettysburg, PA to my parents' house to have the Angelovich reunion.

I did make her a carrot cake and cream cheese frosting though. My, did she like the frosting. I wish I had thought to have the camera ready to snap her picture when I let her lick the spatula. Her tiny mouth opened and very delicately tasted the frosting then a HUGE smile appeared on her face and she opened her mouth to its fullest extent in demand for more. She enjoyed it so much in fact that when I took the spatula away to put it in the sink, she pitched a royal fit. Complete with flinging arms and plopping down at my feet in anger while she wailed her frustration and obscenities at me. But she forgave me a few moments later when I cut her a piece of cake with frosting on it.

This is the Wish-O-Saurus J.E.B. found in Okinawa on his last trip out there. It has spots for up to 10 candles.

Enjoying the carrot cake and cream cheese frosting.

REALLY enjoying the vanilla ice cream!

The gifts were more of an enjoyment for her parents while the birthday girl enjoyed the wrapping paper more than anything. Typical.  It took her a few days and some of Mom's help but she finally figured out how to walk with the corn popper toy. She also got some blocks which so far, again, Mom and Dad are enjoying more than she is!

J.E.B. gave her what I consider her best gift. He made her a height stick as one of his woodworking projects. He carved out the letter V at the top and etched out 1/2 inch increments for 6 feet. We're both pretty excited to keep adding her height to it as she gets older.

Here is a picture taken on 9 June 2010, two days after her birth. She was so small and it was so scary seeing her hooked up to all those wires. Luckily our little girl is doing great and is full of energy and personality!