You know you always have that one thing on your to-do that you're like, I really want to do it, but it's not a necessity at the moment? Yeah, that's kind of what the state of the blog is these days. I've had things to share, but I justhaven't gotten around to it. I've even hauled my computer to Corpus twice with the intent of posting something but decided to do other things instead. BUT, at the moment we're all caught up, and so I thought I'd share a little bit about what's been going on in our lives since Kevin shipped off to Corpus Christi in January.
Going away lunch at Jimmy Changas
LIFE IN CORPUS CHRISTI After a nice going away lunch with his co-workers at Mustang, Kevin officially moved down to Corpus on January 8th and started work on the 11th. Luckily, my brother Stephen was still home from Winter Break to help us move everything that Kevin needed down there, and my parents kept Emma and Lizzy for the weekend so that we could get everything set up without extra "helpers" underfoot. It is a fairly decent drive down to Corpus, but kind of boring because it's mostly small towns and flat land. The drive takes anywhere from 3.5 to 4 hours depending on how many times you have to stop.
Our moving crew
It's just miles and miles of this view
Assembling the important things
Backseat buddies
Traveling down with Emma and Lizzy has actually been pretty easy. Usually, Lizzy and I pick Emma up straight from school on Thursday afternoon and head down, and then we return on Monday at some point. She gets to watch one movie on the iPad before I tell her it's got to take a break and so she'll take a bit of a nap. Lizzy alternates between napping and looking for livestock out the window. We've made a total of four trips down here now, and I think everyone understands the routine. We've experimented with stopping in different places on the way down with differing degrees of success, but now if we stop we shoot for either the Bucees in Wharton or somewhere in Edna. A common sight on our way down is cars "in tow" - I like to keep track of how many we pass on the way down - it helps pass the time.
Cars "in tow"
Since Kevin's assignment in Corpus is for 23 months, we decided to go ahead and get a 2 bedroom - 2 bathroom apartment. While it's more space than Kevin needs, there was no reason for us all to be miserable living on top of each other whenever we come down here. As it is, four days together in this apartment seems to be our limit (or maybe it's just the toddler with no volume control), and we get a little stir crazy if we can't get out and about. There's been some things we've had to adjust to - like having to take Lizzy out on a leash (Emma loves it; I hate it), but for the most part we're making it work.
Emma's room
Our room
Living room with sunroom that we use for Emma's play area
Entry and view to the kitchen
Celebrating Kevin's birthday
We've done a little bit of exploring here in Corpus. Usually, we take one day of the weekend for an activity and spend the other day just relaxing and hanging out at home. We've celebrated Kevin's birthday down here, and even managed to squeeze in a date night since my future sister-in-law Emily's sister Hannah goes to school down here at Texas A&M Corpus Christi and was able to babysit for us. Just down the road there's a nice little park with a nature trail that goes out towards the water. Emma had quite a blast playing at the park and is always asking to go back. There's an even larger park further down the road and closer to downtown, but it's always been pretty full whenever we visit. For the most part, Emma is pretty content to play at home, mainly because she has new and different toys down here in Corpus. She has a little kitchen, a castle tent, different stuffed animals and puzzles, and she's always good to take every blanket in the apartment and build a fort. It's just another day and another adventure for her.
Playing at the park by the apartment
View along the nature trail in the park
Playing in the big park
Just making her normal toddler tornado mess
Video: Hula hooping
Helping daddy with his puzzle
Really, I think the thing that all of us enjoy the most is just getting to spend time with Kevin. After not getting to spend many days or sometimes weeks with him, it's just nice to have him around - even if we are just doing something as mundane as sitting around watching TV together. It provides a much needed break for me, especially since Kevin almost always lets me sleep in (hallelujah!), and it lets Emma get to make some unique memories with her daddy. She understands that Corpus is far away, but I think it's finally starting to dawn on her that daddy doesn't always get to come home every weekend or we don't get to go to Corpus every weekend. We do use FaceTime a lot, but that just doesn't replace actually getting to see and be with her daddy.
Since this is our last visit down here until after Henry is born, we decided that this was the weekend we'd finally make it out to the beach. We grabbed a few supplies from Walmart on Friday night, and Saturday we set out to find a spot on Mustang Island. We spent a good 2+ hours playing around on the beach and in the water, and this mama even donned a bathing suit at 31 weeks pregnant! It was wonderful - just enough sun to be warm, 79 degrees, a wonderful breeze, and we all came home worn out and a little sun kissed. It was such a perfect day for all of us!
Life back at home has been pretty routine. Emma heads off to school two days a week, and on those days, you can either find me doing one of two things: (1) at home resting or (2) at any one of a thousand different doctor appointments. With Kevin being gone, it has meant that I've had to take over all his duties - some of which I don't mind, like bath time, and some which I loathe, like cooking dinner. People, I am not a cook. It doesn't mean I can't cook or follow a recipe; I just find no joy in doing it. Plus, when you're basically cooking for 1.5 people, it makes it hard to find inspiration when your meal buddy thinks meat sticks, cheese, and a banana for every meal is heaven. But I've tried to keep a good balance between making stuff at home for us and eating out.
Getting her nails done
I find on the days we don't have school or anywhere to be, we keep odd hours. We're late sleepers, which means we eat lunch late, nap late, and go to bed late. But it works for us! I feel like since Kevin's been gone though, Emma has wanted me to play with her a lot more. We do a lot of dress up days, watch movies, and have even started doing at-home manicures and pedicures. Emma can definitely be a girly girl when she wants to be! But by the end of the day, I am worn out, and some days, I think the two of us have just had enough of each other that we just want to retreat to our own separate corners for alone time. Every now and then I do get a breather when Emma goes for a sleepover at either her Mimi or Grandmother's house. It's a much appreciated break for both of us. Emma loves packing her backpack and heading out the door for a new adventure, but she's always happy to come back home too. I'm definitely blessed to have family who can help me out!
Party ready!
Here recently, we've been pretty busy. Between school parties for Valentine's and Easter and birthdays, we're always on the go. Also with two brothers about to get married, we've been to a lot of bridal showers lately. Emma's always one who likes to put on a pretty dress and get to open presents, even if they aren't hers, and no one seems to be able to say no to her cuteness. She's a pretty good con artist!
I've definitely been in nesting mode around the house. It seems that you never realize how much you've tucked away here and there until you have to clean it out to make room for other things. We ordered Henry's furniture back in February, and it should arrive next month. We're doing his room in a lodge theme with moose, deer, and bears. We've been through what seems like a thousand different paint samples, but I think we've finally settled on a color. In addition to getting Henry's room ready, I decided it was time to rearrange the upstairs a bit to have my own crafting space instead of just leaving everything out in the loft. Quilting and crafting tools plus curious toddler minds don't mix very well. So, we moved the guest room into the old office, and now I have a nice big craft room that I'm slowly organizing and decorating. Now, I just need to find some time to sew and craft!!
I won't say that being all on our own at home has been all rainbows, puppies, and unicorns, but we've adapted, and having a pretty easy going toddler is part of that. It's definitely been good for us to keep our routine and familiar surroundings, but we've had to adjust to a new "normal."
