He's Home!!!

My husband has been home for awhile now and we're working on shifting my schedule around and getting used to him being home again. Its wonderful to be a family again! We went grocery shopping last night and tonight Liam and my husband have appointments to get their hair cut. This will be Liam's first experience getting his hair cut professionally, and I will be armed with my camera and pictures will be sure to follow! I know this is short entry but I have cleaning and laundry calling my name!

Down To The Wire, No, Really!!!

Well folks, I am in my finals days of being a "single mom". I am making welcome home signs for my husband, gonna be setting up the banner really soon. I'm so excited, but at the same time numb, like this feels so surreal, because the pain when I left him at his company all those months ago I thought this point in time wouldn't come. I thought that it was just impossibly too far away. I felt defeated, upset and very alone, now I feel very much connected and a part of my community, I have met some of the sweetest and wonderful friends, found support and myself in this whole mess. Pictures from pasta night :)

Long Time Coming, The New Van And More

Well we are down to the wire for my husband's homecoming from deployment. My excitement is wearing off on the kiddos. Everyone is healthy and doing well, hoping it stays that way. I'm preparing a few meals ahead of time so all I have to do is pop it in the oven. I have shampooed the living room carpet, about to do it again, and I'm spring cleaning a little early to clear some clutter out of here and make it easier to organize things in the house so there's a place for everything. I have really misused my closets in the almost 2 years we have lived here. I want this to feel like a home rather then just an apartment. I am rambling and my thoughts aren't very cohesive because I'm so ecstatic about having our family together again. I am so proud of my husband, he has done a wonderful job providing for this family and I want nothing less then the best for him.

Since my last update I purchased a used van as a replacement second car. The old one blew its transmission literally less then a mile from where I was picking up the newer van, so I incurred an additional towing expense, but I got such a great bargain on the new van it was worth it. Its a 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport, and I love it!!! Handles better then any of the other vans we have had in the past. We've owned a 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE that had a catastrophic computer failure one month after we acquired it from my parents, we then bought a 2005 Ford Focus that has been stuck in our garage for a number of reasons, mainly its in my husband's name and the registration was suspended, and I don't have a power of attorney for that particular VIN. Thats gonna be my husband's full time vehicle. This past July I bought a 1997 Dodge Caravan for $600, drove it 10,000 miles and it died on me from a tranny failure (mentioned above). The new van I bought on the 7th of February and have already packed 1100 miles on it. Yes, I drive, a lot!

On the family side, Freedom is getting very close to walking, he's almost 13 months old, that means if he walks this month he will have walked 2 months earlier then his brother. Liam is being a big helper around the house, he throws out dirty diapers, picks up his toys and now walks alongside the shopping cart at the grocery store! We are all planning trips to family early in the spring, after the weather breaks. A welcome home party will be held at that time for my husband. May each and every one of you have a blessed and wonderful day!!!

New posting should appear late week. 

Day 2

Today was a great day! I found a great bargain on a carpet shampooer (much needed in a house w/ 2 cats, a large dog, a 1 (well almost) year old and a 2 year old), $55 !!! I went hog wild and shampooed all my carpeted surfaces, minus my bedroom, which is a project for another day. I accomplished several loads of wash, mopped all my hard surface floors and I also did 2 loads of dishes (Thank God for dish washers).

Liam had a relatively good day (minus the whole digging in his diaper nonsense). He talked on the phone with his Papa (my dad) and was very good in WalMart and Big Lots. He also ate almost all 3 of his meals and managed to nap for 2 hours! He went off to bed with no trouble.

Freedom had a very good day, he was well behaved, ate everything I put in front of him, managed not to make too much of mess of himself. He also is continuing pulling himself to standing on everything in sight- furniture, toys, the dog. Bed was a bit more of a battle with him as he fussed for 10 minutes after laying him down.

The funny note of the day: Liam, Freedom and I were sitting on the love seat, watching the Ravens/ Steelers game and the boys started wrestling and believe it or not Freedom won! They were tickling each other and acting wild, but Liam quit and asked me to bail him out and take his little brother, whom he affectionately calls "mama", to clarify, Liam calls Freedom "mama" and me "Mommy", off of him because "he's hurting me". All in all it was a great productive day!

These are from my husband's R and R back in October and 1 is from Christmas morning, gotta get to taking new pictures for here, enjoy!

A Start

Well I have decided to document the journey that our family is embarking on in the military lifestyle, this blog won't be just about the Army or what my husband's up to, but more of a journal of how our lives are going, day to day documentation of the goings on in our home. Occasionally a place for our frustrations to be vented and our victories shared. I hope to find that this will be a great way for others to keep up with whats going on in our lives on a deeper, slightly more personal level. My family used to do this, but it was in a journal. I loved doing it with my parents and now I want to share a virtual one, with family and friends all over, not just those using Facebook, which is snip its of our lives, here there will be more space and time to spend giving attention to every member of thee family and we hope you will share in our journey.