The Maziarka Family Blog
We're a little family, living our life wherever the Army sends us. This is our blog to keep family and friends updated on Brian, while he is in Iraq and Danielle as she's growing.
Three airplane trips in 13 months, Danielle is a pro at flying. For a toddler, she did pretty well. Sitting still for hours was hard but we'd get up and walk to the bathroom and explore that area. Nasty yes, but we washed hands afterward.
I was able to get some beautiful pictures of trees and grass, I missed pictures near my moms, of the mountains and water. Oh it was so pretty! I'm an East Coast girl, through and through. I'm meant to be in the mountains.
Danielle had a blast, especially since every house we stayed at, there was a dog. I love that my kiddo isn't afraid of animals, no matter how big they are. She learned the word Cat, too, I have no idea where she picked that up from. Now she has a stuffed cat from Gammie Liz. I still can't believe I fit everything in my suitcase.
Now it's back here in El Paso, I can't even say back home, because this is so not home for us. We're on the final months countdown for Daddy's return. This month is so busy for Halloween and activities that it'll be November and we'll only have 2 months left.
Over a year has gone by, since Danielle was born. I still can't believe how much she's grown, and developed. She is a little person now. My little girl. At her 1 year appointment, she was 19 lbs 7oz. Funny she was 7lb 9oz at birth. I think she was 28 inches tall, forgive me, I didn't write it down.
Danielle is a walker! For some reason, she'll crawl towards her blanket, though. It was a rough transition from baby to toddler, but after some lessons learned, we have a better handle on things. I can tell her "Come on" and hold out my hand and she'll walk toward me. She'll stand up in her highchair/shopping cart/stroller, etc. and she knows what it means when I say sit down.
I'm starting a collection of funny and embarrassing stories to tell her when she gets older. This is the first one:
Johanna and I were shopping with the kids at Old Navy. I look over and see Adonis swinging his arms in the cart like he's dancing. So I start trying to bust out some moves, in my white girl kind of way. The next thing is this employee turns the corner and calls me out on dancing! It felt like high school again, ha ha.
Like mother, like daughter.
There must have been another good song on because I'm looking at shirts, and I hear "Aww" and giggles. I look down, Danielle's dancing in the cart, and a group of girls are watching her, and this lady has her head poked around the rack! She got embarrassed, it was adorable.
Danielle is about 20 pounds. I won't know for sure until she has her 9 month appointment next month. She is pulling herself up on anything she can, and laughs because she can do it. Tyson and Danielle play keep away with each other with the dog toys. It's really funny to watch. I think she might be working on getting her top two teeth in, but hell, she's been "teething" for months now so I'm not holding my breath.
Is it odd that my weekends go so much faster than the week? Ok it's odd for me because I don't have an out of the house job. The days are all the same, it just varies who I hang out with because of their work schedules. I'm just saying...the last month has gone very, very slowly. HAHA A friend said I emphasize something by repeating it twice. April drug on and on. And on. I keep telling myself that we can wait until August, but I should say September since Brian is coming home the end of August. Just keep busy, right?
Just when I get used to the idea of her crawling, and keeping the baby gates up, Danielle goes and tries to pull herself up to standing. TWICE! I am not ready for her to be walking, and the dogs definitely aren't ready for it. I mean, she just turned 7 months and doesn't have any teeth yet!! I feel like she should have some kind of teeth before she tries to walk. I'm trying to rationalize somehow.
Today is Brian's birthday, and I wonder what we would have done if he was home. Would he want a few guys over to play the Wii? Just chill out with the baby and me? This is now two birthdays that he's spent in Iraq, I hate that for him. It's crap.
It's also crap that the electronics are failing me. I swear it's a conspiracy to prove Brian right. First my desktop now my laptop is dying on me. I'm truly bummed out that I somehow disconnected the computer from the Xbox network. How am I supposed to catch up on my tv shows now??? Conspiracy I tell you!
Danielle and her Daddy Doll
It has been a crazy busy week but I've been trying to keep up. Danielle is crawling like a champ now, she started about Saturday. Now she goes about with a mission to get the dogs toys. Evie stays out of her way, which I knew she would. Tyson has a game where he taunts her with his rope or some other toy. Wednesday we went to a playdate Easter Egg Hunt. It was really cute watching the kids run around looking for eggs, I can't wait until next year when Danielle is walking and can do it. Plus Brian will be able to see her run around the yard.
Basically we are keeping busy with the Mommies group and friends around here. She is getting so big, I just can't believe it. My baby girl...I'm afraid she will be walking before too long. That I won't be able to handle, its going way too fast.
Its been 2 months since Brians left. It's gone by fast, but not without issues. There is a cloud of doom hanging over the unit and the families left behind, it seems. At least I got to talk to Brian on the phone today, for almost an hour. It was so great to hear his voice, I got chills when he spoke. I asked him how much he missed me, because that is what I needed to hear. I've dreamt of him for almost a week now, the same dream every time.
On the other hand, Danielle and I went swimming yesterday. I knew she would do great, she loves her bath time. Sorry I didn't get pictures. I didn't want to chance taking our camera to the pool. Danielle got her shots today, and passed out at 5pm, been sleeping ever since. I'm not sure what is going to happen tonight, if she'll sleep til tomorrow morning or if I'll have to get her tonight sometime.
I'm trying to keep busy...I just miss him.
I can't believe I haven't updated this yet. I'm not pregnant anymore. I lost Baby B a week ago at 7 weeks 5 days. I had an awful feeling something was wrong, that was the reason for fighting with WBAMC to get seen so quickly. I just wanted to hear a hearbeat. That's all.
I'm not going to lie and say I am ok. I'm doing a lot better than when it happened, but I'm still angry and sad. I wish Brian was here to distract me and hold me and snuggle me when I cry. He was so wonderful the first time this happened, he made me watch 2 seasons of Lost. Hell, of course you can't think of anything else when you get entrapped in the secrets of Lost.
Thats the worst part of the miscarriage. This wasn't my first. It has happened twice now. That scares me. One is very sad, but very common, and you are not likely to have another one. Although, if you do, then more miscarriages are more common after the second one. So I have decided that I am not ready to try again until January, when Brian comes home and will be home for at least a year...I hope.
This is the picture that told the world!
I got the blood test results back yesterday. I am pregnant. Danielle is going to be a big sister! Oh, 14 months apart if you are trying to do the math LOL I honestly did not think it would be so easy after trying for 3 years with Danielle. This time only took once, WOW. Brians thrilled, and already talking a boy. I'm happy but kind of scared, nervous, freaking out, anxious. You know me, I stress over everything. It will definitely be interesting, having 2 kids under 2. WOW
On another note, since Brian is gone, I get 16 free hours of daycare a month through the CDC on post. Danielle is adjusting very well to it! Yesterday, she took an hour nap (very rare at home) and fell asleep again right before I came in to pick her up. Which is great, because she needs to get used to being around other babies with a little one on the way. It's also nice to go to a Dr. appt by myself.
I can't believe how fast she is growing. She has an appt the beginning of March for her 6 month well baby check. After that one, I am going to take her off post to an actual pediatrician. I don't have to pay out of pocket for not going on post, appt's will be easier to get and if she gets sick I don't have to fight to get her seen. There's a Peds office right down the road from me so I'll be checking into that one first.
That was her first food, carrots! Danielle loved them, it was great! My mom and I were checking the baby book to check how much we should give her, and how often. I think I gave her a mixture of cereal and carrots, about 2 1/2 tablespoons I think? The book recommended 1 to 3 tablespoonfuls at a time. My little girl was hungry! She almost grabbed the bowl out of my hands when she saw it. Too cute. I bought a whole bunch of Gerber food since it was on sale at Target, and its in the cupboard. Once she has tried them all, I'm going to start making it myself and stocking up on it. I already have some carrots in the freezer for her. I'm so proud of her :)
As for Brian, I've gotten to talk to him a few times now, so he is doing good. I think we can go ahead and send mail to him. I have to get a valentines package ready now, since I know it might just arrive in time. I did get Danielle registered with day care on post and am planning on using it when I can. It'll help her get socialized with other kids and adults, so she be away from Mommy if I need help or something.
Oh my goodness! In all the excitement of Brian leaving, I forgot all about Danielle's doctors appointment on Wednesday. She measured off the charts, my giant baby! Not quite off the charts but almost.
Head - 43cm - 90th percentile
Height- 25 1/2 inch- 80th percentile
Weight-16lb 7oz - 90th percentile
She is laughing now, and trying to talk to the dogs. It's pretty cute actually, she looks at them and squeals to get their attention. She is starting to pet them, but it's more like slapping them on their head. I'm so proud of my puppies, they either move away or stand there and take it.
The previous weekend, we took Danielle to the zoo and I have pictures of the animals on MySpace. I have to put some pictures up on here. This last weekend we had a picnic lunch up on Transmountain. Maryann is going to have a heart attack when she sees the picture of Brian holding Danielle on his shoulders, and the mountain cliff behind him. Sorry!!
Danielle is back on cereal but this time she's eating it from a spoon. If you can call it eating HaHa. Its getting better at going in her mouth than down her chin. I probably won't start her on solids until the end of next month. I want her to get the hang of eating the cereal, and I am making her food so I want to get some batches stocked up on. Then she'll be six months so I know her belly can handle it better than now. My baby is almost 5 months!!!
After a long drawn out process of driving onto post to drop off bags, then hanging around the gym looking around at all the families, we said Goodbye to Brian in 3 short minutes. I tried not to cry, but when he bent down to kiss Danielle, the tears slid down my cheeks. It was so hard to be strong and hold it in, when I'm thinking this isn't fair. This wasn't supposed to happen so soon again. We were supposed to have another year or so before he went back to Iraq. But it's his job, the Army is how we pay our rent and put food on our table and clothes on our back and diapers on Danielles bum.
Then it made me think, which is better: it being a first deployment where you have no idea what to expect, or it being a second, third, fourth deployment where you know exactly what to expect and how freaking hard it's going to be. I still haven't decided yet. Give me a few months to shake the daze I am in.
The hardest thing so far is that Danielle has no idea what's going on. She is too young to wonder where Daddy is, when she wakes up tomorrow. But will she remember him...I have to prepare myself for that. I wanted to play the dvd of Brian reading her a bedtime story but my nerves are too raw tonight. That will start tomorrow as her bedtime ritual. Right after her bath, I'll put the movie on while she's waiting for her bottle. *SIGH* It's the little things you have to do as an Army wife, to keep your family together and united across the country.
But we wait...always waiting...because he is worth the wait.
So being a stay at home mom gives me some extra time on my hands. Idle time, you could say. While I'm waiting for my transcription certificate to come through, I was looking at ways to make some money from home. I found a great blog from a local Army wife here at Bliss with a few sites to earn money from the internet. So I signed up for a few 'get paid to read emails' and such, and I'm curious how much I can earn. I know, I know, it won't be much, but shoot, if I can earn $30 a month, that's gas for my car right there! Yes...I can fill up my gas tank for $15. I love my little Accent.
I'm going to post my earnings, and which sites I got them from at the end of each month. With Brian being gone, I'll have much more time on my hands to do things here at the house.
On another note, I am also working on getting the rest of this baby weight off. All I'm doing is tracking my calorie intake and exercise into a website - www.myfitnesspal.com - and taking Danielle for a 2 mile walk about four times a week. Occasionally, if Brian isn't too busy, I run to the gym for the elliptical and treadmill. I want to get to my good weight before we get pregnant again, in August hopefully!
I know, I know, its been too long since I have updated this. We've been home from PA and Chicago for almost a week now. Danielle and I were gone for 3 weeks flying from here to there back to here again. Of course she did great on the plane, she's a pro at flying. It also helped that flying from PA to Chicago I was surrounded by traveling Grandmas Haha. I think I upset one when I didn't let her hold Danielle when she offered to help. Sorry, you might be a nice Gramma but you are still a stranger.
PA was really good! I was surprised, honestly! Hey, my family+get together=DRAMA. You know I love you guys, but its true. We had a dinner at my mom's house, even Denny chilled out and ate for a bit. Darla and her crew came up from Virginia. The only people missing were Aunt Liz and Steve. I got to meet my niece Jade, sweet kid, very smart. She had me and my mom laughing so hard that we were crying. Little leprechauns and invisible flying birds. You had to be there ;) If I missed seeing you while I was in town, I'm so so sorry. I had no internet and no phone until I got to Chicago.
Then off to Chicago. Danielle did so great when we had Christmas at Grandma's house, despite there being about 20 different people there. Dinner at my mom's was a different story. She didn't even have an afternoon nap really and fell asleep in Gina's arms. Too cute! The annual stair picture was chaos, as usual. Danielle sat straight up though, I will post the pic on here later. She didn't even flinch when Santa came to visit either!! That was shocking most of all. Actually she got kind of bored with him, since she already had gotten her presents Haha. Pics of that later too.
We are still adjusting to being back home and it just being Mommy and Danielle during the day. There's only me to entertain her but we're working it out. I just have to figure out her nap schedule with being back home and it'll be fine.
Brian is leaving for Iraq very soon. I can't give you a date but you'll either hear from him or me when that is. We are just getting things ready for that and once he's gone, it's just another adjustment to deal with.
Danielle's getting fussy, its nap time so I'll post pictures tonight.
Posts
