echooooooo

Did anyone notice I haven't posted in like 2+ weeks?

So we are back. Part of me really misses St. Thomas and the other part of me feels like that our time there was just a really vivid dream. But I'm awake now and starting to forget it already. Make sense? It just feels like a million years ago that I was driving all over the island, taking Piper to Coral World to look at the sea turtles and awesome reef fish and baby sharks and sea horses! Oh man that last month was a freaking blast. Once I was done with classes I had the BEST time there. As cheesy as it sounds, I felt really present and blissfully happy each day. I took walks with Piper and smelled the flowers, looked for birds in the sky to point out and get all giddy over (she loves birds), swam in the pool, read books together, drank rum drinks with Patrick every night while we watched Deadliest Catch, woke up early to do my exercise video, tried to sear the incredible down-island views into my mind, drove down to Red Hook in the evenings with Patrick to watch the million $$ fishing boats come in, enjoyed a few fun date nights with Patrick, volunteered on a Wednesday night sailing race, went to St. John for the weekends and lounged on the beach and walked around Cruz Bay and drove around the island while Piper napped in the back seat. The last month felt really carefree. Our last day on island I took Piper to Magen's Bay and we played in the sand and I plucked her out of the water every 30 seconds. Then I stripped her down, dried her off and then put her little naked butt in the carseat and we drove to the top of a section called Peterborg to see the beautiful view of Magen's Bay. It was a beautiful day and there were vibrant red hibiscus and flamboyants blooming everywhere. I rolled the windows down and there was a run of like 3 awesome songs on Pirate Radio 96.1. It was just a wonderful, awesome day (would have been a ton better if Patrick was with us and not at work).

And so now we are back. And I'm feeling all the worldly stresses creeping back in. Social obligations, buying textbooks, groceries, unpacked bags, cars that need to be fixed, doctors appointments, bills, trips to wal-mart and trying to tame the JUNGLE that our yard looks like after 3 months of no TLC but lots and lots of summer rain storms.

I just feel a off. Frustrated, twitchy and just a tad annoyed. I'm hoping it's just me coming down from St. Thomas and from all the wonderful, uninterrupted bonding time I had with Patrick and Piper. I didn't think I would, but I really miss the little island home we had there. This home, our real home, welcomed us back with open arms. It smelled like home and was clean and bright and had lots of mail and our comfy bed with soft sheets and the beautiful park view out of family room and our sweet little Sammie. We missed it here, no doubt. But I still miss it there too.

mama bear?

Saturday night we stayed at The St. John Inn to celebrate our last weekend in the islands. It's a really cute and comfy mom & pop motel, but had definitely gone down hill since we last stayed there the night of our wedding.
We had Piper's pack n play set up in the corner of the room, right next to a sofa. She was climbing on the sofa and we kept asking her to "put her hiney on the seat" or else she was going to fall off the seat and onto the cement floor. Of course she wasn't paying attention to us and kept standing up on the sofa. Patrick was standing behind the sofa, over by the bed, putting some of our clothes away while I was standing across from her in the bathroom. We both were asking her to please sit down when she lost her balance and started to fall backwards. It was a slow fall and we both reacted as soon as she started to fall. Patrick called out "I've got her" but we were both running towards her at the same time when I did it...

I pushed Patrick out of the way.

Just like a baseball player calls out to his team member that he's got the ball so that they won't go smashing into each other at full speed, Patrick let me know he was gonna get her in time. And I know he would have. But the Mama Bear in me put her arm out and full-on shoved my sweet, wonderful, caring and patient husband out of the way so that I could get to Piper first. I don't even remember thinking to put my arm out to push him, I just did. I felt horrible. Actually, I started crying. I'm not sure why, I just felt so horrible that I would be so controlling to actually push Patrick out of the way to get to her first. It felt selfish on my part, like I was taking Patrick's chance at comforting her away from him. That was Saturday afternoon and I still feel badly about it. Was it my mother's intuition that I knew I would have gotten to her first, or was it the mama bear in me that thinks that I take the best care of Piper? Not sure, but I'm thinking that it is mostly a sign that the week I spend away from Piper when we are in Atlanta will be good for me.

Oh yea, and Piper was fine. She didn't even hit the floor. She did a slow fall down the sofa and then tumbled into the side of the pack n play that broke her fall.

jost van dyke

Look at this cute little body!

Like my new sandals? Patrick got them for me for my birthday, they aren't as bright as they seem in this shot. I love them, they are SO comfy. Cute

song

I love this song. It just came on the Ipod and Piper and I had the sweetest dance to it.

another weird thing...

#4 Brilliant green and yellow parrots sitting on telephone lines down here instead of pigeons. I love it.