Hello, it's me again

I've been very very absent from the blog the past few weeks. My pregnancy has zapped all my energy and all my motivation. It takes every ounce of my will to take care of Addie and Bella all day long. By the time they are in bed I am ready to do the same. I think I need to up the iron intake like when I was pregnant with Addi and Bella. I feel like I want to sleep all day long.

Justin has been on other continents for two and half weeks out of the last four or five (I can't recall which now) so I've been flying solo, which isn't entirely solo when Cora is there to help out Monday through Friday, but as any other parent knows; when one parent is gone the children start getting clingy and behavior starts to dip a bit. We've been staying busy for the most part but after awhile the girls just want their Daddy! I think they could tell Mama's patience was wearing thin towards the end of this last trip.

I turned 31 last Thursday, which was marked my the girls and I baking a cake (Bella playing with the egg shells in the photo). Once my children entered my life the excitement of birthdays completely shifts to them. My birthday is hardly party worthy when I have two gorgeous girls to shower with love and excitement on their special days. All I need on my birthday is a homemade card from my daughters and a big hug and a kiss from my husband. Neither of which I received this year but honestly, no big deal. I got lots of love from my friends and family and being with my two favorite little blondies all day was pretty great. I wasn't going to make a cake initially, I thought I would wait until Justin got home but when I asked Addie if she was going to sing me "Happy Birthday" that morning she said she wanted to wait until birthday time later when we had cake. That's when I knew I wasn't going to get a Happy Birthday from her unless we had cake. Off to the kitchen I went. We ended up eating the poorly assembled (but delicious) cake and then had a dance party in the living room. I don't get too sentimental about my own birthdays. I recognize that in the big picture of life, I am still relatively young. Even though at 20 I could hardly picture myself at 30. I knew I would have a family but other than that I couldn't see that far into the future. So far I've only lived a year into my third decade and it's by far better than the previous one. I'm more comfortable in my skin, I am happy, and content and secure in my wonderful marriage. I couldn't be happier or more content in my role as mother to my two little girls. Then there is the third baby on the way. Pregnancy generally makes me feel alive and peaceful; this time is no exception. I'm very lucky and thrilled to be me right at this moment in my life. I'm not wishing to be younger and I'm not wishing away the years to come. This point in life is pretty wonderful. I know that later on down the road I will look back on my 30s as the time when we were growing as a family, moving around the world, cultivating Justin's career, and raising our young children with all our efforts and energy. I have a feeling this decade we will be busy and happy and tired and crazy; but mostly full of life at it's best moments. Normally, I don't give March 31, much thought every year. I probably gave it more thought this year since I was alone.

The great thing is that Justin returned home on Saturday to a very excited household of girls who welcomed him home with hugs and kisses. The girls didn't even let Justin take a shower in peace after his long flights. They literally stood there in the bathroom giggling with excitement as he washed off the earthy spicy smell of Africa and the middle east.
We celebrated my birthday on Sunday by going out to dinner and retrieving a huge stack of boxes that had been collected in Justin's office while he was away. Good things come to those who wait because Justin surprised me with a new camera lens for my Nikon. I am so excited to start learning to use it. My initial attempts are not quite perfect but I think with time I should be able to get some nice portraits of Addie and Bella.We have about 8 weeks left in Manila before we pack up and head back to the States. It's coming up very fast and I am starting to get very anxious about all the things I still need to do before we leave. I had all sorts of things I wanted to get done and most likely they will not all be completed. I guess I need to prioritize.