The Wandering Drays: Obviously, I Can't Keep Up With My Bloggity Blog. And YO! The Toddler Turns THREE, the Fab Hubby is HOME!, and I Celebrate 29 for the Ninth Time...

He may be a stocky toddler, but he's still my baby.

About every six weeks or so now, I fire up the blog and apologize for my lack of writing. So here I am, yet another MONTH, well, actually TWO MONTHS, have passed. And I'm finally updating my blog.

Truthfully, this bloggy update is a bit overwhelming. Mostly because so much has happened and so much time has elapsed! And even though it's not something huge like an assignment bidding win (The fab hubby doesn't start bidding for next assignment until summer 2014! Woot!) or an exotic trip (although we did take a family vacay to Williamsburg this past weekend!), the kind of stuff that's happened these past two months is normal, regular family stuff. And considering how insanely insane our last almost-year has been --- namely our family split up most of the year on different continents and surviving an evacuation from Cairo --- normal family stuff is greatest kind of stuff to have right now.

FIRST. Our awesomely adorable toddler, Kellen, turned THREE! Three! No longer a baby, and solidly into the toddler years, he is a constant force of energy and fun. And while the big kids and I sang happy birthday to him on his actual birthday (October 20th), we didn't really celebrate until early November when...

THE FAB HUBBY RETURNED HOME FROM HIS TDY IN TEL AVIV. Woot! Having been gone for two full months, he arrived back on Halloween evening and took the kids Trick-Or-Treating that very night. Three days later we invited a bunch of our friends over to celebrate the fab hubby's return and The Toddler's birthday. You know, by the time you get to the third kiddo, you realize that toddlers don't care a bit about the party they have. Except they want cake, some attention, and the chance to open up gifts.

Abby's gift for her dad's return home.

Honestly, we know that kid birthday parties suck the life out of adults. So instead of going kid-crazy at someplace like Chuck E Cheese (although that can be fun, sometimes…) we simply invited our friends and family over to our home and hired a sitter to keep all the kids out of trouble. The fab hubby fired up the grill, our friends brought wine (for the adults, of course), and I stopped at the dollar store for two balloons and a pirate birthday sign. A pirate-themed birthday cake, pirate eye patches for all (including the adults) and The Toddler dressed up as Jake the Pirate made for a perfect night as we all sang Kellen's birthday song. Friends with kids and friends without kids alike came and celebrated with us. The birthday was a fabulous excuse for a get-together. But really, we all knew we were also celebrating a transition back to regular, normal, day-to-day family time.

You know, the kind of days that start with breakfast and getting the kids on the bus. Of kissing the fab hubby goodbye as he heads out the door to work, and I drop the toddler off at preschool. Of grocery shopping, and vacuuming the house and doing laundry. Of afternoon shifts in the ER (I started at a small stand-alone community ER in October) and late nights of coming home to the fab hubby waiting up for me so we can chat about our day. Dinners sitting around the table and evenings listening to Owen practice his trumpet and Abby practice her violin. All good stuff. Very, very good stuff.

Just as we were getting in the swing of normalcy, I was offered a great opportunity at a pediatric office for a two-month nurse contract. Two nurses had recently left the practice and they needed a nurse to fill in immediately through January 2014. Now, I love working in the ER - it's been my career 'home' since graduating from nursing school seven years ago. But I really miss all the pediatric work I had the opportunity to do when I worked at the Embassy Health Unit in Cairo. Plus, I've been trying to expand my nursing comfort zone and beef up the resume. So despite the cray cray that would certainly ensue, the fab hubby and I decided that it was worth it, despite the time demands on us and our kiddos. I accepted the contract and I've been working there (in addition to my ER position) since mid-November. It's a bit insane working the equivalent of two full-time jobs, especially when trying to find that ever-elusive work-family-life balance. But we keep in mind that it's short term -- only two months; you know, basically a "TDY"! -- and with the support of the fab hubby and the kids, it's been going quite well.

Of course, the end of November rolled around, and with it, a gentle reminder that it was time to celebrate my 29th birthday. For the 9th time. One more year and I will have been celebrating it for an entire decade.

A nearly-decade old birthday deserves recognition, and amazingly, we managed to snag four days of family time, planning a trip to Colonial Williamsburg (a mere two hour drive from our home in NoVA). We booked a four bedroom timeshare and intended to leave early the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving itself was spent with the fab in-laws at the fab bro-and-sis-in-laws' house. We personally made mac and cheese and homemade mashed potatoes for the big turkey day.

Kids are ruthless when it comes to the mashed
potato beaters. Daddy never had a chance.

Unfortunately, during all the Thanksgiving craziness, Owen's rescue cat from Egypt, "Boots", escaped our house. Now, Boots is deaf and partly-blind. She's had multiple seizures and walks with a wonky sort of stumbling gait. But she's a sweet cat and Owen adores her and that's really all that matters. Anyway, Boots escaped. And even more unfortunate, no one noticed for at least a day because she's a quiet cat (and it's not like she comes out when we call for her -- she's deaf). On the Saturday morning when we were supposed to travel to Williamsburg, we realized she was missing. Poor Owen. He was so upset. We searched the entire house. And then did it again. Owen went outside and looked all over the neighborhood. No Boots. We sadly came to the conclusion that she was probably gone for good.

We left late that morning and with heavy hearts. What a horrid way to start a vacation. And because we had left so late in the AM, we were stuck in traffic on I-95. Grrrr. East Coast traffic. But all I have to do is remind myself THAT IT'S NOT CAIRO -- and suddenly I'm not irritated with the traffic anymore. Because traffic here is absolutely nothing like what we experienced in Cairo. I really should never complain about 'traffic' here in the U.S. again. But, you know, sometimes I just can't help myself. Especially when we're on vacation and I just want to get to our destination.

We stopped for a late lunch, and Owen was still really upset, but hiding it quite well.

Yes. This. Complete love.

Well, wouldn't you know it? Neighbors of ours (who are also friends from Cairo - they evacuated here at the same time as us) called just as we were finishing our lunch. BOOTS HAD BEEN FOUND! In fact, they sent photos as proof of life. It was a great way to head into our Williamsburg vacation.

The weekend was fabulous (see the following photos!) and relaxing and exactly the family time we needed. And we ultimately retuned home to a safe and (relatively) healthy cat. Perfect.

So here we are. Riding out the normal. And loving it as much as we can. Because life for us can change so quickly. Who knows what we'll be doing in just a few months?!?! Sure, I'm finishing out the last month of my "TDY" at the pediatric office/double jobs, but we're surviving. In fact, the fab hubby took the kids to Ohio this weekend since I'm working the next eight days straight. He knew they'd love to catch up with the grandparents and it allows me to pretty much just work and sleep (and blog!).

And me? I'm enjoying the current quiet of our home, surrounded by the crazy clutter the kids left behind in their whirlwind to get out the door for their car trip to Ohio. You know. A normal family home with three kids…legos, an etch-a-sketch, a single sock, some gloves and lone toys strewn on the floor. And I love it, all of it. I desperately missed this kind of stuff when I was away from my family in California earlier this year.

Normal has never felt so good.