Reunited with Captain Daddy

This past Friday night, Scott returned from the islands.  Lucky for him he just missed the polar vortex that was Chicago, but he still looked very out of place as he stood in shorts, flip flops and a glowing tan in baggage claim among the backdrop of black puffy coats, pale faces and snow encrusted winter boots that signify wintery Chicago.  Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.  Luckily he had some shoes and jeans in his bag to change into as well as the coat and hat I brought him.  While the 30 degree temperatures were positively balmy compared the -20 we had earlier in the week, it was still pretty dang cold out.  Especially for someone who just flew in from the tropics.

We're used to reunions of this sort in our family.  Since getting his job with Island Windjammers, Scott and I have endured many separations ranging from 4 to 8 weeks at a time which - while grateful for the opportunity - has been challenging.  Such is the lot of the captain's wife.   This particular separation was the hardest, particularly for Scott.  He told me that with me being so pregnant and Isla being so aware, interactive and soaking up life lessons like a sponge, he really felt a longing to be with us more than ever.  Not that it wasn't hard before, because it was, but this time was particularly poignant.

He landed at 7pm and Isla was fast asleep so we had to wait until the morning for the big reveal.  Isla and I had been counting down the days till Daddy came home for a week and Skypeing with him regularly, so she knew something was up - but I don't think anything could have prepared her for seeing Scott's smiling face as it hovered over her little tent bed when she awoke sleepily calling, "mama...mama...mama" on Saturday morning.  Scott wanted me to sleep in but I couldn't stand to miss seeing the looks on both of their faces when they registered one another, so I went with - for no other reason than to bear witness to the joy.

To say she was excited would be an understatement.  Her sweet, sleepy eyes immediately lit up at the site of him and almost instantly she threw her arms around his neck in a big hug.  "Daddy!" she exclaimed with a smile.  Scott, obviously, turned to mush in an instant and the three of us cuddled together on the bed with Isla drawing each of us closer together by working her little arms around our necks and saying "group hug!"  She's been so "go with the flow" her whole life that it never really dawned on me that she would feel a void that her daddy was gone or really grasp the fact that our family had been "incomplete" for six weeks, but clearly she did.  She wanted us together, she wanted to be in the middle and she was super happy to have him back.  It was yet another lesson in just how astute a tiny toddler can be.  She literally never ceases to amaze me with her childhood brilliance and innocence.

So we are back together and all is right in the world.

We had a lovely weekend as a family, hanging out together, catching up and, of course, Isla had to show daddy all her new tricks.  At 22 months, this child is talking up a STORM.  There is almost nothing she cannot say and she repeats just about everything we tell her with alarming clarity.  Needless to say we are having to be extra vigilant about "bad words" which is a bit of a challenge for this former potty mouth.  She's singing songs; ABC's, Itsty Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus and Humpty Dumpty are a few of her favorites.  She's grown fiercely independent and the phrase of the month is "Isla do it!" because she wants to do everything on her own.  She continues to be a fearless climber and aside from going "up" - she's running, jumping, and taking all sorts of risks and tumbles which we are happy to oblige.  Her physical prowess and incredible balance (no doubt thanks in part to boat life) has led me to believe she can absolutely handle skis so we're going to take her skiing in the next week or two.  I can't wait.  While it hasn't come up much since this has been a sailing blog - Scott and I are huge into skiing (I started at age 2 and Scott lived in Park City for five years) and both of us have every intention of turning our girls into little rippers on the slopes.  We're so excited to share two of our biggest passions, skiing and sailing, with our girls in the coming years.

So that's where we are right now.  Lots and lots of together time and simply trying to enjoy every moment of these last few weeks before we go from three to five overnight.  Woah.

Catching up on world events....in the comics.

We do a LOT of crafting these days.  Here she is showing Scott her finger paintings.

Fun outing in the sled (Daddy LOVES snow!)

Here I am at 31 weeks!! (I am now a day away from 32!!) Whoo hoo!! On the home stretch.  Pun intended.