She's 6!

Six years ago yesterday, Genevieve Marie was introduced to the world. It was a long, stressful labor which resulted in an emergency c-section because her head was tilted in the birth canal. She was born 8 lbs 12 oz and measured 19.5 inches. Genie is definitely a bundle of energy and the love of my life.


On her last day as a five year old, I took some pictures of her while Dan went to the gym to work out. It was a nice day out in the area with the sun shining and making it a gorgeous 64°.

Towards the end of the mini photo shoot, she befriended a roly poly which she promptly named Marissa. She has a lot of girl names that she is fond of. :) We had a bottle in the truck to put her in until we find a "suitable" home for her in Genie's room. It's been since Sunday and the lil sucker is still hanging on.


With my sudden craving for ice cream cake, Dan and I picked out a small one at Baskin Robbins to celebrate after dinner. Schools have really cracked down on bringing sweets and with feeling the fatigue now, I was not in the mood to bake anything for the class. :( She loved the ice cream cake of course, and was excited about going to Fenton's on her actual birthday.

Yesterday, the Siruno kids came to Fenton's Creamery with us to help celebrate her birthday. The kids all had a great time together and were so silly with the little favors we gave them for coming.

I still can't believe it's been six years. Happy birthday, baby bear. We love you so much!

I didn't realize how much it would affect her...

Monday was the 1 week mark of Dan being gone. It was also the first time Genie showed how much she missed Dan.

When we were at the airport the morning he left on the 10th, she was so tired when we finally got through the security checkpoint that she didn't realize that he was leaving.




When they were finally boarding, she thought she could sleep on the plane.

"Genevieve, c'mon, daddy's leaving now you have to wake up."
"No, I am tired. I want to go to sleep."
"We have to say bye now."
"We can just sleep on the plane."
"Huh? We're not going on the plane."
"Why not? We'll fly back."

:/

She realized he was really gone the next day. Dan is usually the one that wakes her up in the morning for daycare and when he didn't, she said that she wanted him to come back. During the week when we'd take a shower or while we're getting ready for bed, she'd ask if I missed him and she would say she missed him too.

Monday after I picked her up from daycare, we were at a stoplight listening to music. She had just finished telling me about a story that happened today when she suddenly got quiet. I looked in the child mirror and she was in tears, balling.

"Baby bear! What's wrong?"
"I miss my daddy!"
"I know, baby bear, I do too!"
"I want my daddy. I want my papa bear!"

It broke my heart to see her like that.

Thusday on the way to the AMC hosted Travis Icon competition, I was practicing the song I was going to sing.

"Mommy, sing the song, OK? Practice."
"OK. *starts singing No One*"

I get to the second verse: When the rain is pourin down and my heart is hurtin'....

"I'm sad now."
"Why baby bear?"
"Because my heart is broken."
"Why? What happened??"
"I miss my daddy."

I never thought I'd hear her talk about a broken heart at this age. She started crying on the spot and it took so much to hold back my own tears.

This is already the toughest deployment to date.