Oh man, has it been forever! I have been putting this off and putting it off because there is just SO much to update and I knew it would be a pain. I went ahead and splurged on some software to make it easier, but it certainly didn't make me happy to spend they money. Oh well. It will make my life easier and that is worth a few bucks.
So, we are finally settled in here in Hawaii. It hasn't quite been 2 months yet, though we have officially been in our home for a month, but it feels like we've lived here forever. I think it is a combo of being on an island, which means you can only explore so much and go so far, and it is a little easier to learn how to get around since there are only 3 major freeways (can't call them interstates here…), being use to the move and settle in process, and being dropped right into the sub world immediately. Our house isn't totally put together but we are probably as put together as we are going to be until I have another adult home with me on a regular basis. I'm trying to get us out of the house more and we have a few activities scheduled during the week and I'm looking out for more stuff. Trying to get out and meet new people has been difficult and nerve wrecking, as it always is. In fact, tonight we had planned to go to our first FRG meeting and couldn't make it because Madeline woke up with a fever. I missed the first one because we got lost at night in the rain. Ugh. I feel a little isolated from the boat out here but I am determined to make a community for myself somehow. I have to remind myself that has only been a month since we've moved in and that kind of stuff takes time.
Derek is gone all the time. He was coming in and going out a lot at first but now he is gone for long periods of time and it will be that way for a few months. Hopefully there is a break in the middle of the year where they are home more often, but we don't really know what that schedule will look like yet. I'm use to being alone with Madeline for a long time but I miss the ability to call him or have someone to talk, even if its only for a few minutes a day. It has been isolating to be in such a dramatically different timezone as well, which makes talking to family and friends back east a little less convenient. But we're surviving and no major break downs yet.
Madeline had her first real ER trip last Monday and it was awful. It was Derek's last day before he went out and he thought he was going to get off work in the afternoon, instead of the evening, so we were waiting after one of our classes to pick him up. By the time I realized he wouldn't be getting off and decided to leave, Madeline was going crazy because she hadn't had a nap. In an attempt to get her in the car I let her lay on the bottom of the shopping cart. She put her finger on the ground and it got stuck between the ground and the wheel. It was awful. I took her to Tripler ER, which is the huge Army hospital here, and we waited for over 3 hours and were never seen. We finally left because my phone died and Derek needed to be picked up from work, drove to another ER, and were seen and discharged within an hour and a half. It was an awful all day adventure but I was so thankful to have Derek there that night, even if just for a small part of the whole debacle. Madeline was such an amazing kid during the whole thing. Obviously, she cried and screamed when it happened but by the time we got to the first ER she was done crying and she didn't cry the rest of the day. She sat so still for both sets of X-rays, didn't run or yell in the waiting rooms, and was just an all around rockstar despite the seriously beat up finger that was dripping blood. I'm sure it hurt like crazy too. She is healing ok. The finger is still swollen and the nail is off on one side and half the bottom, so it is painful on occasion, but she handles it like a pro as long as she has on a bandaid (with either a muppet, mickey, or a princess on it, of course). Then she woke up this morning with a fever and it hasn't really gone down all day. It has gone up to 103 and she has been lethargic all day and won't eat or drink. And she fell down part of the stairs yesterday after falling asleep on them because she refused to sleep in her own bed and I refused to sleep with her in my bed at 830 (when I was trying to get her to sleep). Of course, after that, she ended up in my bed. I swear everything goes wrong when Derek is gone. He was also gone for the terrible molluscum/staph debacle. He was also gone when she started getting colicky as an infant. Hmm…suspicious.
So this is just a post to say hello and post will be picking back up soon! I have hours of work ahead of me, that is for sure, but I'm excited to look back on the past few months and chronicle them for posterities sake.
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