49 Weeks!

 Mmmm.... Feels good to be in the 40's! Only 49 weeks to go. Hard to believe it is Saturday already, I am so glad the week flew by. This has been a very good week overall. Tobias and I have been busy, but really enjoying every minute. We spent a couple evenings at the beginning of the week at my mom's house visiting, talking, and eating of course, with my brother Kyle and his wife Liz. I cannot tell you how exciting it has been to get to know Liz. You have to understand the first time I met her, I had just flown in from an all day flight to California, she was standing in the hall way of the church she was getting married in, in her wedding dress, about to walk down the isle! I gave her a hug, told her I was so glad to meet her and that she looked beautiful and then watched her marry my little brother! It was a crazy day, but I am so glad I did not miss it. The more I see them together, and the more I chat with Liz, the more I am convinced they were made for each other. It makes me very happy!

 The middle of the week Tobias and I spent at my friend Mallory's house. Her precious little girl, Bri, is exactly two weeks older than Toby. We had a lot of fun last year being pregnant together, and we are doing it again this year! (I am telling you there is something in the water on this base!) Mallory is due in October and as you all know I am due in December. It has been fun chasing our little ones, talking about being pregnant again, and laughing about how crazy it will be having two little munchkins. Mallory and her husband Bill had us over for dinner, and we ate Mexican food and watched the "Deadliest Catch" those guys are crazy! (a side note here, my sister in law, Christina, has some amazing photography of the : "Time Bandit" one of the ships on the show. It's awesome! Check out her sight on facebook, nonchalantview.) Tobias and Bri played and played while we ate and watched TV.  It was so nice that Toby had someone to crawl around with while I vegged on the couch. When we got home, Tobias crashed! He was out almost all night (which is a miracle for him) only waking up once for some formula. It was a good night.

  Some very exciting news, I got an e-mail this week from Thomas with an address for him! I have sent the address out in an e-mail to all his family and friends, along with a list of his wants and likes.  Thomas is getting all settled in to his new FOB and he is doing so well. I have been able to talk to him a couple times this week and it has been wonderful. He has sounded so good, which is such an encouragement to me! He said he has internet, his own room and the food is actually good! He was so funny, he said "I had three vegetables, and chicken Florentine last night, it was great!"  It really is the little things that make all the difference for our soldiers. A place to call their own and good food is huge! He told me he and his team had to go out on a mission the other day, but when they got their the Afghanistan EOD had already responded. So they talked to them for a little while and then headed back to the FOB. He said it was a nice change of pace. I laughed, and thought to myself, "That's just fine, let them do the work!" I sent him two boxes the same day I got the address. He had some immediate request so I got those boxes sent out. He said he is really looking forward to getting stuff from home, and from friends and family! We are trying to set up a google chat and video date, so we can see each other and of course let Tobias see daddy! I will let you know how that goes, I am hoping we get to do that with in the next couple of days.

 Thursday was quite exciting! We joined several friends at the Alaska Zoo. We were able to see the baby polar bear and he was adorable! Tobias was quite entertained and waved to the bear. We visited the zoo just in time too, the baby polar bear is heading to his new home in Louisville, on Monday! So glad we did not miss seeing the little guy. I really enjoyed the ladies I was with. We sat around at picnic tables, after we had walked around the zoo, we enjoyed some snacks and chatted about mommy things. It makes me laugh as I think about the juggling we do as moms. Each one of us had to use the rest room, or change a diaper or grab some food; so we all switched off watching each others children. It was great! I really love being a mom, and all the craziness that goes with it. I was e-mailing Thomas the other day and it just hit me, "Oh My, I'm a mom!" It makes me smile, those little moments of reality; thinking back to life without Tobias, and now life with him, I would not change a thing! He has brought me so much joy and fulfillment beyond what I expected. It makes me look forward that much more to having more children.

 Friday was a long day, but wonderful! My mom, Kyle, Liz, Tobias and I piled in my van and headed to Seward for the day! We visited the sea life center, and exit glacier. It was wonderful! My favorite part of the whole trip was watching Tobias experience new things. He marveled at the giant fish tanks in the sea life center, he wrinkled his nose at the sea critters in the "touch and feel tank", he loved being in the back pack and hiking to the glacier. It was great! Life is so new and amazing when one views it through the eyes of a child, especially ones own. I am looking forward to next summer when Tobias is running and talking; we will go to the sea life center with Daddy, and that will be a great day!

Well here we are, Saturday, and it has not been my best day. Tobias and I slept well, but I am not quite caught up from our long day of driving and hiking. I decided to venture out anyway, and found that I should have just stayed under the covers! We joined my family at the mall, (I keep craving lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick) and it all put me in an awful mood. I was exhausted from just getting Tobias ready to go, making sure I remembered diapers, wipes, food, toys, etc., trying to find parking, getting the stroller out and Toby ready. Then the mall was quite busy, people every where, and they were making me crazy! I started feeling myself get that victim feeling or entitled feeling, it goes something like this "Hey people my husband is deployed and I'm tired, so you should get out of my way and quit wasting my time with silly questions! I deserve to be first. You have no idea what I am going through. etc etc...." You get the idea. I knew then it was time to go home! Those poor people, it's not their fault I didn't get enough rest. Not to mention I have no idea what they are facing in life. I hate that feeling, that "sorry for myself you have no idea how I feel" feeling. It's silly and really a waist of my energy. So Tobias and I headed home and napped. I woke up, still tired and still grumpy, but knew we should eat or something. So I fed Toby and let him crawl and play, while I watched a Dick van Dyke on netflix (I needed to laugh!). Right when the show ended my door bell rang, and waiting outside for me was a wonderful friend holding a hot cup of Orange Blossom tea from Starbucks (my favorite!). It made my evening; gave me the energy to snuggle my baby boy to sleep, and sit down and write this blog. (Thanks May, I cannot express how much that meant to me!) 

 Well I am leaving you now, I'm off to snuggle up in bed and say goodbye to this week. Thanks again for reading. Hope you enjoy the pictures, and have a wonderful week! See you Saturday!

 ~Iris

 Wow! Look at that crab!

 He was not so happy after touching that!

 He would rather watch Mommy touch the weird stuff!

 Fun with Nana, watching the seals!

 I love this!

 Uncle Kyle! Tobias wasn't so sure at first, but he LOVED it when we got started!

See you Saturday! :)