6months

It has been officially six months since Ted left. wow six months! crazy to think, since from the time Ted and I met to the time we fell in love, got married and were pregnant was only 7 months!
As of today we get to see Ted in Germany in 35 days! that also means 35 days till I turn 30! and 40 days till Harper turns 1 and 42 days till we celebrate our 3year wedding anniversary! November is a busy month!
This last month has gone by pretty quickly although there were days that seemed to DRAG on. With the nicer weather we have been able to spend more time outside again and I've been making an extra effort to go to our favorite park as much as possible. Both Zerrell and Harper LOVE the outdoors, which is good.
This past month, I've tried to keep busy. I finished painting our dinning room and recovering all the dinning room chairs. A few friends and I threw my friend Sandy a baby shower, just in the nick of time too. She ended up having the baby 5 days later(2week early). And our nights have been filled with THE OPOSSUMS!! I haven't seen the mom or dad in awhile but there are baby ones that come almost every night to eat our cat food. I've counted 3 different baby opossums, two even came at once! Zerrell loves seeing them, if she is still awake. My godson Spencer has been BEGGING to come see them too, so last week he came over and praise Jesus, one came while he was here, so he got to see it!
We have our house decorated for Halloween. Zerrell still doesn't know what she wants to be. Whenever I ask her she comes up with a new answer. Although she asks to go trick or treating EVERYDAY! We went to the fair last week and Zerrell was slightly impressed by the animals, but she STILL talks about wanting more cotton candy.
I got to go to the fair ALL BY MYSELF(without my kids). It was a great time, i drank just enough to REALLY enjoy myself. I saw Chris Isaak in concert and got my cinnamon roll and it all by myself, without having to share. It was nice to have time to myself and share it with my close friends.
Zerrell is still talking nonstop! To everyone she meets and knows! She never meets a stranger. She is singing alot too, which is so cute. She has a GREAT imagination and loves playing with all her barbies and princess dolls. She says some very funny things too. "mom, thats a real nice lady"(talking about anyone she meets). "Back off Harper!" "that's gross!" "OH MY GOSH!" and "mom, you are driving the wrong way, you need to go THAT WAY!"
She know all of her colors and like matching colors up. She can usually get dressed by herself and is VERY good at getting UNDRESSED. She missed Ted alot, telling me that she wants him to come home or that she NEEDS him. Her imagination play almost always has a story line about a "dad."
Harper is on the verge of walking by himself. He loves walking while pushing things, walking toys, chairs, stools. He took two steps all by himself the other day and the best part was that Ted got to see it because we were on Skype at the time. Harper is still pretty mellow, he loves the stroller, shopping carts and highchair. He is a climber, just like Zerrell. He loves following Zerrell around the house and trying to play with whatever she has. As he gets older he is putting up more a fight with Zerrell, which is kinda funny to watch. He is a very good eater. He LOVES finger foods he can feed himself, he no longer likes it when I try to feed him with a spoon. He waves Hi, and claps his hands. He also has 5 teeth now, his two front teeth are HUGE!. He lights up every time he sees Ted on the computer or one of the several pictures I have around the house.
Ted is doing OK. Trying to keep busy, he cant talk about too much that is going on where he is. We get to talk almost everyday. He loves the care package is send him, mostly with yummy snacks from Trader Joe's. He is ready to come, as we all are! He is getting excited about his R&R to Germany and I know that is helping him get through. He is anxious to see us but also be apart of a normal society, wearing normal clothes and using real utensils to eat(they use plastic where he is).
I miss ted terribly, even more so now then before. Some days its so overwhelming I feel paralyzed by it. But between Zerrell and Harper I cant stay in bed all day. Zerrell and I still clash alot but I've been trying to be more "in the moment" with her and Harper. When she asks to play with me, I try to drop what I am doing and play with her, as opposed to telling her to hold on because I want to finish cleaning something. When she wants to do something "all my myself" iIbite my tongue and let her pour the Orange juice, even if it spills. I try to be more silly and goofy too, I don't want her to have a mom that is always sad or in a bad mood. Ive noticed that on days I succeed with this "New" attitude, her attitude reflects that. But still we have those oh so terrible days where nothing seems to please either one of us.
Today it is cold and raining, what a wonderful change from all of the HOT weather. We haven't had rain since the beginning of May.
I still have alot to do before we leave for Europe but I'm trying not to stress out too much. Thank you to everyone that continues to pray for us, we still need them, OK I still need them! Love to you all, enjoy our pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/brig.dmb/Stoopsupdate?authkey=Gv1sRgCMTTs-aK9L_gyAE#