Summer Months: July--When Daddy's away, the girls will play (not really, it was torture!)

I'm not trying to be a Negative Nancy here, but July was serious torture. We had some awesome moments and I wouldn't have made it through without the help of family, new friends, and dear, sweet Leah (my mission compy's sister from England), but July was a test of FAITH!

In my previous post I said that Daniel received his commission orders only a few days before he had to report to his training in Alabama. This is how it all went down:

He got the orders, Dad Bohman, Daniel and I went to base in Anchorage and tried to get things sorted (by the grace of God and Brian's awesome skills and ranking I was able to get on healthcare before Daniel even left for training). Daniel then flew to Salt Lake, stayed with Christen for a day I think, drove up to Rexburg, filled the car to the max, then drove back to Salt Lake, celebrated his birthday with Christen and her gang, then drove across the country in two and a half days. Meanwhile, Lily and I stayed in Palmer with the fam for a few days, then flew across the country (alone) to Maryland. We stayed with Ben, and his gang for a couple of days. Daniel then drove in to Gaithersburg, unloaded the car, drove to meet up with us and we all lived happily ever after.

We then drove to Maryland (Ben and them only lived about a 30 min drive from us), and the next day, my uncles in Alabama drove a Uhaul up and unloaded a house's worth of stuff into our new pad. Seriously, that was a tender mercy. We were unable to set up the move with the military from Rexburg, so Daniel had to put all that in storage while he was at training (that's why he filled up the car with stuff). If my family hadn't given us so much stuff, we would've had an empty house for 2 months! Besides, this place is a whole lot bigger than we are used to so we would've spent a lot of money just going out to buy furniture, if it wasn't for them. I'm truly grateful for their generosity. 

Daniel flew to Alabama the next day. And he was gone for 5 weeks!

It was my first time away from Daniel for so long, as well as for Lillian. We were both sad that he was gone, but on top of that, we were in a new place, new home, and everything was an adjustment. Lily had the hardest time and would lash out on me for the longest time. She had a hard time sleeping; I spent many nights in her room to try and comfort her. Unfortunately, It wasn't the most comfy since I was 6 months pregnant.

When Leah came (she was in the states for the summer and I told her she could crash at my place for the entire month--we are all glad that she did), it was like a breath of fresh air, and she helped out tremendously. We had fun hanging out, but it was hard for me to show her the ropes of DC area, so we attempted to get her into the singles crowd. I heard that a particular singles ward was good, so we tried to get her going there even though it was an hour commute on public transport. Just by a good little bit of fate, she happened to meet this one guy who would change everything. It's all history from there. They spent all the time they could together and everything is working well for them, even after she went back to England. ;)

Like I said, it was so hard without Daniel. I didn't realize how hard it was to play both the mother and the father role. I also got so depressed at how unruly Lily was becoming and nothing I did seemed to help. She was going through much the same emotions as me and she was having a hard time understanding how to deal with them. I really understood her during those times, but I was so exhausted it was hard for the both of us. Finally, after 2 ish weeks and some terrible humidity, we both started to adjust. One day I even thought, "Wow, Lily hasn't even flipped out on me in two days!" My little girl was back. We got on a routine and set up a "Daddy's-coming-home" calender; we were happy. My family on both sides really helped me out during this time. They offered so much support and really related to what I was experiencing. Daniel was so supportive; even though he was far away, his nightly calls and text messages were such a comfort. 

Meeting new people was a great experience as well. I had so many people from our local ward (church congregation) come to my aid and offer some playtime with their kiddos so Lily and I could stay sane. I even had one of my preggo docs offer to put me in touch with his neighbor who was a Mormon. Now, she keeps me up-to-date on all the cool stuff happening around the area. Such nice people!

As July started to wind down, we began to get more and more excited to see Daniel. I decided Lily and I would fly out to Alabama and see my family and then pick up Daniel in Montgomery and go to his graduation from training. It was so fun to anticipate this, and seeing him for the first time in 5 weeks was wonderful! My grandparents went with Lily and me to Montgomery and they offered to keep Lily that night while I met up with Daniel at a dinner event for the graduates. It was magical. The food was great and seeing my man all dressed up was terrific. We even found out the gender of the baby that night! Nothing too special, we just opened the picture in the car. :) Although, Leah and Sean had put together an extraordinary surprise, but, sadly we didn't get it until we got back from Bama. When Lily saw Daniel the next day, she was so happy and was calling him out in the crowd at an award ceremony. She got pretty upset that she couldn't run to him, so I had to end up missing it while keeping her occupied outside the double doors. The graduation marching was fun, but it was so hot! I got all dressed up but because of miscommunication, we didn't get to take any pictures. At that point, we were all ready to leave.

Thankfully, we all flew back to Maryland together the next day and two days later, Daniel started the first week of orientation at Med School at USUHS. I was sad at first to know this, but come-to-find-out, the first two weeks he had a day or so off plus 4-day weekends each week. It wasn't so bad. :)

Visiting the Bohmans in Virginia. So good to see them and meet new cousins. :)

It was good to go on a tour of the Capital bldg. Because Lily freaked out while we were there, we got a personal tour.

Lily enjoying the new swing set in our new back yard.

Pool time with family! It was so hot during July!

What a great pic to get them all smiling at the same time. ;)

My uncles took us to breakfast. This is Lily's breakfast choice.

Ah, yes! The rain gutter.

This is one of the many pics I sent to Daniel while he was in training. I got her out of the bath and said, "smile for daddy"; this was a good pose, I think.

I love pictures and I just couldn't let the house look bare while Daniel was away. Leah put them all up while I navigated.

Ok, it was "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-fil-A and I couldn't let that go to waste!

Free meals to anyone dressed as a cow! Aren't those aprons lovely?

3 meals for Lily and me and some extra goodies and all for FREE!

Lily did not want to stop painting her face...that face paint only comes off with baby wipes, go figure.

We spent a lot of time in the drive way drawing pictures for Dad.

Lily and Liam copying their elders.

Daniel all dressed up at Officer Training.

I don't remember how far along I was here, 28 weeks, maybe?

Lily sporting Leah's new hat.

We went to an amazing farmer's market Lauren mentioned. They had the best donuts!

We frequented Chick-fil-A for the sole purpose of food for mommy and play for Lily!

Stack those cans!

We went to the National Aquarium with Leah and Sean.

Lily had such a good time! She loves ocean animals. Just like her mamma!

Baby girl!!! This was our ultrasound to find out the gender, but it was almost 30 weeks.

Daniel took a break from training to go to a baseball game with lots of yummy, free food!

Ok, so these are "build-a-bear" glasses! Leah got one from Sean and Lily loved them so much. She is a stylish little lady.

A random, "here, take the left-over face paint and color on this mirror," moment. It turned out fun, but it was hard to get all that mess off her. (Baby wipes)

Lily seeing Daddy for the first time in 5 weeks. My granny and paw paw! Love them.

Daniel receiving his certificate of graduation.

The coolest surprise! An envelope filled with puzzle pieces to create this adorable picture. The scripture is Moroni 10:31 found in the Book of Mormon which says "Daughters" in it. So Cool!!!

Daddy's first week of school!

I love seeing their father-daugther moments.