2019 is already full of surprises.

Well. The new year is officially upon us, and like all good new adventures, it has thrown us for a loop.

Seth has had a couple weeks off. In that time, he's become Mr. Dad. He hangs out with the kids. He has long workouts. He cooks, he cleans, he does laundry. He takes F+F to Chuck E. Cheese

and ballet.

The other day he texted me from the grocery store to ask if there was anything I needed, a communique so rare I nearly fell out of my chair. I've had a rough couple weeks at work, and every night I walk in to happy kids laughing with their Dad, making dinner (instead of racing frantically to daycare only to pick up the kids late and toss the pantry looking for dinner ingredients), I want to fall to my knees.

The stress level of our insane circus of a life has gone through the floor.

The other night, Seth said, "this is great. I'm done. I'm going to medically retire from the Army."

This is a lot to process. It's been a crazy year and a half, and Seth is mentally exhausted from having spent 18 months battling medical uncertainty and crummy care, as well as 6 months at what I'm convinced is the worst unit in the Army -- but being dual military is part of our identity. More importantly, I worry that being in the Army is a huge part of Seth's. I love having him home to help out more, and I love how happy F+F are with more Dad Time. But I also like being able to afford to travel and shop at Whole Foods, and enjoy feeling like both of us are involved in the grind.

There's a lot to puzzle through.

I don't know what to think, really. I do know that Seth is happier than he's been in a long time, and he seems serious about medically retiring and moving onto other things. He certainly deserves the break if he wants it.  

In the meantime, his downtime has meant a terrific January- and yes, a sketchy mustache- for us. (Bolstered by the gift of unseasonably warm weather- it was 60 degrees today!) We've had bocce and BBQ with old friends 

complete with golf cart races,

rediscovered downtown Fayetteville (including weekend train shows) and dragged ourselves to church (which has a playground) with friends,

put together a monthly brunch club which always includes mimosas and kids running wild,

practiced morning yoga (badly),

and discovered the dine-in movie theater with incredible reclining chairs and wine. (Um, if you haven't seen Mary Poppins Returns yet, do so ASAP.)

F+F continue to be the thickest of thieves

and get into everything, including and especially my lipstick,

and continue to be our best (and worst) late night Target dates. Because our wild social life currently looks like this:

At my strident insistence, the whole crew acquiesced to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Cary last weekend. Which was as beautiful as it was, educationally, a little odd (the cultural performance included basketball spinning and hula hooping);

and there was a strange "wheel of fortune" future predicting wheel (results below.)

Plus- the real hit of a 40 degree night in the south- there was hot chocolate.

And, because it was a no-school night, we ruined a fair number of first dates by taking the hoodlums to sushi.

In short, we're having fun, and who knows what 2019 holds? I'm just grateful it includes (so far) an increasing number of nights that look like this: