The best laid plans...

So, we had big plans this year for our Christmas holiday. As most of you know we were stationed at Ft. Lewis for 3 years before our short Missouri adventure and now we are back here in the wonderful gray PNW. Before Nora arrived on the scene, we had always planned to do all kinds of things that are specific to this area. Hike in the Olympic National Forest, camp on the Oregon coast, take a trip north to Victoria, BC. But when the time came to do it we ended up backing out or changing plans or choosing to just cuddle on the couch instead. Well, this time was going to be different. We moved back here and we were going to do all those things. "Were" being the key word in that sentence.

Our Christmas weekend was supposed to be spent in Victoria BC this year, however we ended up cuddling on the couch once more. Early in the week both Phil and Nora were sick and it seemed inevitable that I would get sick too. In light of the money that was going to be spent, the energy we would exhaust trying to pack Nora around Victoria in the winter, and especially considering it was likely that all three of us would be sick for at least part of the trip; we canceled. And in true Ambrose family fashion we cuddled on the couch instead.

As it turned out, I did get sick. Thankfully, Nora is better, so it is only Phil and I battling our colds together. It was a cozy Christmas just the three of us. Someday we will follow through with our plans....someday.

We are loving homeownership!

Really? No, not lately. A few weeks ago, we decided to finally paint the laundry room and put up all the fantastic storage that we planned to put up months ago. However, as soon as Phil moved the washer out, we found black mold growing in the baseboard behind the machine. Thankfully, the moisture and mold were contained to a small area! Of course, small area doesn't mean it didn't turn into a home improvement black hole. Now, 3 weeks later, we have came to the conclusion that the problem is our washing machine! So, this weekend we are off to find a new one!

If that were our only recent stumble, things would be fine, but part of the reason resolving the laundry room issue has taken so long, is that we had a roof leak last weekend! Thankfully, that was also a fairly quick fix, only taking one day and the help of a couple really good friends.

Needless to say, the last few weeks our house has been causing us more stress than we would like . However, I am extremely thankful that all of this is happening while Phil is home.

Besides desperately trying to keep our house together, we are preparing for a fun Grandparent filled Thanksgiving! We are hosting all 4 of Nora's grandparents this year for a weekend of good food and "Nora-spoiling". It will be an adventure!

Nora had a few friends over for Halloween trick or treating last month....she surprisingly, really got into it! By the end of the night she was really attached to the pretty candy :) here is the photo evidence:

Busy weekends

September is already off to a very busy start! Labor Day weekend was spent in Spokane visiting friends and family and this past weekend Grandpa Warner (Phil's Dad) came to visit! During our time with Grandpa Warner we made it out to the Puyallup Fair-a first for Phil, Nora and I. What a blast Nora had!

We have all kinds of other adventures planned for the rest of the month! In fact, for the rest of the fall. Very soon I will have caught up on the pictures and upload them to our family albulm (maybe another week or so). Once that happens I will let you all know. Until then, here are a few from the most recent activities :)

Mommy and Nora petting the goats at the Puyallup Fair

Grandpa Warner, Nora, and Daddy checking out the booths at the Puyallup Fair

Grandpa Warner reading on of Nora's favorite Helen Oxenbury books

Nora and Grandma Ellen reading "David Gets in Trouble"

The day we knew was coming, but secretly hoped wouldn't...

So it is official, or as official as things get for us. Phil will be deploying. He is on his way to Louisiana as I type this to check out the place they will do their big training exercise in a few months. As of right now, the unit will be gone all (or most) of October, and the head over to Afghanistan this coming spring. Though it is not surprising at all, it is still a bit of a bummer.

Nora and I will hang out here. No plans to go home or anything like that. Hopefully, we can get involved in some great activities and have a good solid routine before Phil leaves. I am so very relieved that we will be around for all the training and have plenty of time to prepare ourselves.

still looking!

Norabear in the park-Photo by Terry Ortiz

Sisters at Camas Days!-Photo by Terry Ortiz

While almost all of our boxes are unpacked there are still many key items I am searching for. For example: my camera cable. Of course, it is not like I have had time or desire to start work again on our family photo album, but even if I did I still do not have the ability. New pictures will be posted soon, and once they are I will alert you all! In the meantime, there are TONS of family photos on my sister's photography website, that I would love you all to check out! I am so grateful that we have such a talented photographer in the family to capture all the special moments.

http://www.terrys-photography.com/


If you want to know the password to any of the locked albums, email ter, or email me! carmanambrose@gmail.com

We made it!

We made it back to Washington! Nora and I arrived July 1st and Phil drove in July 4th just in time to celebrate with us. We spent just under a week at my good friend Becky's house, frantically waiting to close on our house. And after just a couple bumps in the road, we were able to move in July 7th (without our household good, of course. Those came 3 days later). Now finally, we are getting to the bottom of the piles of boxes, and I am able to take a breath and look around.

Wow. How lucky we are! Someday soon I will start posting pics (once I find the usb cable for the camera). The house is everything we need. Location, yard, and just enough space. There are so many little things we plan to do to make it really really work for our family, but we are fortunate enough to not HAVE to really do anything right away.

This weekend we will be taking a break from setting up the house and traveling down south for Camas days with my family. Grandma and Grandpa Reale will follow us home to get a look at the new house and help with some projects. It should be a WONDERFUL weekend.

Phil will go back to work the following week, and Nora and I have already found a Mom's group to hang out with! We are settling in nicely and can't wait to really start enjoying our surroundings!

On the move again...

Well it is down to our last week in Missouri! Nora and I will be on our way July 1st and Phil will follow us up the next day. Hopefully we will all be able to meet up for the Fourth of July celebration on Ft. Lewis.

Our trip Memorial Day weekend was an outstanding success! My friend Becky took excellent care of all three of us, and we were able to go through the house with the inspector and on our own later as well. We are completely in love with it and so excited to spend the next chapter of our lives there.

In other news, as it turns out Phil won't be attending Sapper school this go around. After going through all the PT testing and medical checks, he finds himself in need of physical therapy for some hip issues. It isn't anything super serious; however, it will limit his ability to become the PT stud he wants to be. It is a big bummer for Phil, but we are so happy to have our family all settling into the new house together.

As always, we welcome house guests! We should have a guest room ready for visitors by the middle of August. So plan your trips our way! We would love to have you!

So many changes, so very fast!

First, we received orders to Fort Riley, KS. That news was upsetting to us for many reasons, primary the medical care available for Nora and I is unacceptable in that area. Second, we found out our orders were being changed to Fort Lewis, WA (our first choice!). As it turned out the unit in KS that Phil was supposed to go to was a new unit and the Army decided not to create it. Thankfully that meant we HAD to go somewhere else and we were at the top of the list for new assignments.

Our next big change, once we found out we were heading back to Lewis, was where we were going to live and when we would arrive there. We decided to purchase a home in Dupont, WA- a wonderful little community right next to Fort Lewis.

We had planned not to move until the end of them summer and spend sometime in July house hunting; however, we found a home that met all our needs about 2 weeks ago and put in an offer. We fly out to go through the home with the inspector next weekend!!! It has been an extremely stressful but exciting adventure for us, especially considering we still haven't seen the home in person.

If all goes as planned, we will close on the house July 15. We will move out of our house here in MO June 30, and Nora and I will be at Grandma and Grandpa Reale's house for the first 2 weeks in July (a trip that was planned before all these changes, things really do work out for the best!). Phil will be attending Sapper School here in MO until the end of July and will join us in August, leave the setting up of our new home to me and Nora :)

It is amazing how things turn out, and how flexible we have to be in the Army. Nothing seems to be for certain until it is happening and even then it could change! No one could have convinced me that getting Fort Riley would have been a blessing that put us exactly where we wanted to be, but that is just what it turned out to be!

We have to constantly remind ourselves that our "bad luck" might turn out to be "good luck" if we just wait long enough.

Family Outings

Now that the weather is nicer and Nora is a bit easier to pack up, we are trying to take one day out of every weekend for a family outing. Sometimes that means the necessary shopping we need to do, but I am hoping more and more that means fun stuff! This weekend we are taking advantage of an activity already planned for us.

As some of you know, we are participating in the March of Dimes March for Babies fundraising event this year. We feel we were so lucky to have the care and information that was available to us when Nora was born. The March of Dimes supports so much research that helped Nora (and me) in the hospital last year. Well, this weekend they are hosting a Family Fun Day at the Butterfly House in St. Louis. We are so excited to get out and meet other parents of preemies and enjoy the Butterfly House.

The March for Babies is an event that is so important to me. I hope someday to have the time to offer more to this wonderful organization. There are no words to describe how difficult Nora's first few months were because of her prematurity. If the research they do can prevent one family from going through that, it is worth it to me. Nora will have forever lasting effects due to her prematurity, but because of the constant research in preemie care done by the March of Dimes and other organizations, those effects are far less than they could have been.

If you want to sponser Nora's Team or Walk with us please please do! The website to donate or sign up is: http://www.marchforbabies.org/norabear

movin' and grovin'

Nora is movin' and grovin'! Now choosing to walk instead of crawl pretty much all the time, she is tough to keep up with. She dislikes pretty much everything that keeps her from exploring everything in sight. We have started to go to playgroup and will be adding even more to our schedule in the coming weeks.

Phil is keeping busy in the Captain's Career Course. PT and class everyday, plus he took on the responsibility of being team leader for his small group. I think it was a bit of an adjustment for him to go back to shaving everyday and putting on his uniform, but he is enjoying most of his classes and the people he is working with.

I am trying to get the wives in his team together for regular lunches and other outings over the next few months that we are here. Of course, the bulk of my days are filled with chasing, dancing, singing, reading, and playing with Nora.