Now that we have finally made some progress on our Deployment Countdown and the homecoming date "seems" to be as certain as Navy-certain gets, I think the kids and I have finally gotten into the deployment groove. We all still miss Paul every day, but maybe the missing him is starting to be the norm. We know that each night we go to bed is one less night of blowing kisses to him in the air, and every morning we wake up is one morning closer to the morning we get to put on our homecoming outfits and go pick him up at the squadron. So we are groovin'; I feel like I am growing through this experience. Groovin' and growing is good for this Momma's soul.
Perhaps the groove is feeling pretty good since we just had two very special visitors in the last month. Paul's mom was out here for a week and when I say "Paul's mom" I mean "The Laundry Queen." No kidding. First time since Paul left in December that ALL of our clothes were clean. Dishes were cleaned and unloaded from the dishwasher BEFORE a whole other load of dirty dishes piled up on the counter. I kind of forgot those things were possible. In fact, Paul's mom did something even more impossible... or even more important... she gave me room to breathe, to play with the kids, and brought my enthusiasm for motherhood way way WAY up. Enthusiasm is good for this Momma's soul.
Our other special visitor was my childhood neighbor. We've known eachother since I was 6 1/2. We played Barbies, kick-the-can, and volleyball together. We lived nextdoor to each other and, for one summer, in the same apartment together. Her visit was a bunch of fun and totally, completely comfortable. Stacy helped the kids and I plant one of our neighborhood's garden boxes. We planted a bunch of herbs, strawberries (per Matthew's request), and wild flowers. We also planted a few flower boxes for our backyard - "red flowers" (per Grace's request). We watched a terrible movie and laughed all the way through it. We went to the gym two mornings in a row and laughed all the way through both of those mornings. Laughter is definitely good for this Momma's soul.
To top off all my soul nourishment, I got to spend this afternoon with a dear friend, her husband, and their tiny, perfect, completely adorable 2-day-old baby boy. Oh sweet Heaven, is he cute! Sweet baby smell, tiny little teeney diaper butt, cute little baby yawns, and those wonderous eyes peaking out and blinking and blinking are good for this Momma(who will not be having another tiny miracle of her own)'s soul.
So here we are on a Saturday night, watching a movie, and having a "camp out" in the family room. The kids and I are groovin' and I am feeling like my soul is ready for the next 4 months... or at least 4 weeks, when my mom visits!
Showing posts with label Navy wife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navy wife. Show all posts
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
It Is What It Is... and It Won't Be What It Was Supposed To Be
I really really don't like the saying "It is what it is." My dad says it a lot. My husband says it a lot. It seems to be the man's verbal version of a shoulder shrug. I would prefer if we could discuss "it." What is "it"? How does "it" make you feel? Why is "it" happening? What can we do to change "it"? If "it" isn't going to go away, how can we best deal with "it?" See..... there's soooooo much to talk about! It is what it is.... and then some, thank you very much.
BUT.... alas, it is what it is. Paul's 4 1/2 month deployment has been extended (again) to 8 months. WHAT?! Remember, how I wrote before he left that this deployment was a "short" one? Yeah, not really anymore. "It" is shorter than some... but now kind of longer than most. Lame.
So here I am, 9 days after finding out that we have not 2 months left, but 6 months. (It's weird to be 2 1/2 months into a 4 month deployment and know that you have 6 months left... "it" is odd math.) Nevertheless, I'm sitting here telling myself it is what it is. I've been sad, very very sad; I've been mad; I've been lonely and frustrated and defeated. Now it is time to accept it, embrace it, and move on.
In order to accept "it" I've had very little work to do. When the Navy has your husband out in the middle of an ocean on a great big gray boat and then tells you they aren't letting him come home until they are good and ready, there's not much for a girl to do. You can't really say "No! I do not accept this information." So, I accepted it. Begrudgingly. It is what it is and it won't be what it was supposed to be.
Next came the task of embracing "it." This one has taken about a week or so. I'm not sure I've exactly embraced it fully, but I'm getting there. I have a pretty solid faith in God and His plan for me and my family. I know that God knows what is going on and I know He knows how I feel about it. I know that there are many people at our church praying for our family during this deployment and I know those prayers are making a difference. I can feel them making a difference! A lot of people say that everything happens for a reason, but I'm not sure how I feel about that in this situation. I can see this situation for what "it" is... other aircraft carriers are needing maintenance, other countries are acting goofy, my husband is in the military. So I'm not sure if God has a bigger, deeper reason for this, but I do know that "it" will strengthen my relationship with Him because I absolutely cannot get through the tough days and nights without a good amount of prayers. This one is so much bigger than me. It is what it is and it won't be what it was supposed to be.
Lastly, the time has come to move on. I have taken down our countdown calendar. I have (sort of) stopped looking for my homecoming outfit. Sitting around and thinking about what the countdown should be is not helpful and won't make my real countdown go any faster, so I had to stop doing that. I'm moving on. I bought myself tickets to see Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw (WOOOOHOOOO)... which I thought would be a fun concert to see with Paul, but now know it will be a fun concert to see with friends. I am planning a weekend escape to Vegas with some of my Navy friends... we will be coming from California, Washington, Maryland, and Virginia. You know you're a Navy wife when. I broke the news to the kids that Daddy won't be home until after the summer is over. It is what it is and it won't be what it was supposed to be.
Accepting "it" required me to mentally be okay with the information; embracing "it" required me to find some emotional and spiritual peace with the information; and moving on is still requiring me to be active and physically make the choice to not sit around and mope or worry or feel defeated.
I'm pretty sure my husband and my dad can just say "it is what it is," and they don't need to blog about all of it, but what can I say..... it is what it is.
BUT.... alas, it is what it is. Paul's 4 1/2 month deployment has been extended (again) to 8 months. WHAT?! Remember, how I wrote before he left that this deployment was a "short" one? Yeah, not really anymore. "It" is shorter than some... but now kind of longer than most. Lame.
So here I am, 9 days after finding out that we have not 2 months left, but 6 months. (It's weird to be 2 1/2 months into a 4 month deployment and know that you have 6 months left... "it" is odd math.) Nevertheless, I'm sitting here telling myself it is what it is. I've been sad, very very sad; I've been mad; I've been lonely and frustrated and defeated. Now it is time to accept it, embrace it, and move on.
In order to accept "it" I've had very little work to do. When the Navy has your husband out in the middle of an ocean on a great big gray boat and then tells you they aren't letting him come home until they are good and ready, there's not much for a girl to do. You can't really say "No! I do not accept this information." So, I accepted it. Begrudgingly. It is what it is and it won't be what it was supposed to be.
Next came the task of embracing "it." This one has taken about a week or so. I'm not sure I've exactly embraced it fully, but I'm getting there. I have a pretty solid faith in God and His plan for me and my family. I know that God knows what is going on and I know He knows how I feel about it. I know that there are many people at our church praying for our family during this deployment and I know those prayers are making a difference. I can feel them making a difference! A lot of people say that everything happens for a reason, but I'm not sure how I feel about that in this situation. I can see this situation for what "it" is... other aircraft carriers are needing maintenance, other countries are acting goofy, my husband is in the military. So I'm not sure if God has a bigger, deeper reason for this, but I do know that "it" will strengthen my relationship with Him because I absolutely cannot get through the tough days and nights without a good amount of prayers. This one is so much bigger than me. It is what it is and it won't be what it was supposed to be.
Lastly, the time has come to move on. I have taken down our countdown calendar. I have (sort of) stopped looking for my homecoming outfit. Sitting around and thinking about what the countdown should be is not helpful and won't make my real countdown go any faster, so I had to stop doing that. I'm moving on. I bought myself tickets to see Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw (WOOOOHOOOO)... which I thought would be a fun concert to see with Paul, but now know it will be a fun concert to see with friends. I am planning a weekend escape to Vegas with some of my Navy friends... we will be coming from California, Washington, Maryland, and Virginia. You know you're a Navy wife when. I broke the news to the kids that Daddy won't be home until after the summer is over. It is what it is and it won't be what it was supposed to be.
Accepting "it" required me to mentally be okay with the information; embracing "it" required me to find some emotional and spiritual peace with the information; and moving on is still requiring me to be active and physically make the choice to not sit around and mope or worry or feel defeated.
I'm pretty sure my husband and my dad can just say "it is what it is," and they don't need to blog about all of it, but what can I say..... it is what it is.
 |
| Our previous countdown calendar... after the news of the first extention. It's now in the trash (except for the pictures). |
Sunday, February 5, 2012
An Hour to Spare?!
Somehow. I don't know how. I probably couldn't do it again if I tried. I have an HOUR to spare before heading to church this morning!!! Perhaps pigs are flying outside, I don't know.
So I wanted to take a few minutes and catch up on the blog a bit. "Blog a bit." I like that for some reason.
The last two weeks have not been the best. The kids and I were visited by the stomach bug over a six day period. There's nothing like being woken in the night to crying and walking into the kid's room to be hit with "that smell." The smell of throw-ups. Y.U.C.K. And then comes the joyful task of cleaning up the child, cleaning up the sheets... what do you do with those dirty dirty sheets? we don't have a utility sink that is handy for rinsing such business in this house. Yuck.... then re-making the beds, getting a bucket for the next throw-ups, getting the child tucked back into bed, and finally getting yourself tucked back into bed. Perhaps the best part of the whole night is getting back into bed (alone... since the hubby is somewhere on the other side of the world) and trying to get that smell out of your nose and THEN wondering if your stomach is swirling because you just cleaned up someone else's throw-ups or because you, yourself, are going to be having throw-ups. Joy. Luckily my mom was also visiting, luckili-er (I'm sure that's a word) she managed to leave WITHOUT suffering from the bug. So the day that I was suffering, she had the kids downstairs or out of the house and I was able to rest.
Then last week, just after we were fully recovered and my mom was safely back in the Midwest, we all got a stuffy-nosed, sore-throated cold. The kids are fully recovered after missing a few days of school... and a friend's birthday party (boo.).. and I am finally on the mend. I have a red nose that would make Rudolph envious from all of my nose-blowing. Speaking of nose-blowing... has anyone used the Kleenex Cool Touch tissues?? I picked them up by accident at the store and am totally amazed by these things. When you pull them out of the box, they are COOL... to the touch. I don't know how they make them cold, but they are! So strange. I do wish they had a little more soothiness when you use them, but the coolness is pretty nice.
So here we are... finally turning the corner towards health, I hope. And we are also facing... drum roll please.... a TWO MONTH EXTENSION to the deployment. Boo. With a capital "B." Absolutely Boo. The ironic part was that we found out about our 8-ish week extension when we had just completed 7 weeks. So... the past 7 weeks have gotten us absolutely NO closer to our homecoming date. I spent one day being mad and one day being very sad. But now it has sunk in, my expectations for the next few months have adjusted... remember my Timeless Wonder post... this is the epitome of a Timeless Wonder. I will blog more about my feelings of the extension another day. Stay tuned, I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats!
Despite the sicks, colds, and extension, things are still going pretty well. I give a huge amount of credit to my church and the small group that I am part of. We go to an awesome non-denominational Christian Church called Catalyst in Ventura. They are the most down-to-earth group of people I have ever attended church with. They are kind, welcoming, and caring... without being cheesy. My small group is bringing me dinner once a week, they pray for me and the kids, they pray for Paul without me having to ask for it. Say what you want... those prayers really really work. Every week when I go to church people ask how Paul is doing, other moms offer to help with the kids if I need it, I'm invited to play dates. The church is sending Paul some thank-you notes, two or three months of weekly messages on a flash drive, the info for a financial study we are doing with our small group, and a phone card so he can call home. How cool is that?! It's so nice to have other people acknowledge that Paul is away... and it's not just me thinking of him every day, others are too. Today... in thirty minutes now... I get to say "Thank you" to our church by sharing a little bit of our deployment story and I'm grateful to have the chance to let them know I appreciate all they do!
Well, it's been thirty minutes with a few interruptions from the kiddos, so it's time to finish getting ready and pack up a diaper bag... and try to add a photo to this post. It's been nice chatting with you and catching you up on the latest. Enjoy your Sunday!
Here's a photographic representation of life today:
So I wanted to take a few minutes and catch up on the blog a bit. "Blog a bit." I like that for some reason.
The last two weeks have not been the best. The kids and I were visited by the stomach bug over a six day period. There's nothing like being woken in the night to crying and walking into the kid's room to be hit with "that smell." The smell of throw-ups. Y.U.C.K. And then comes the joyful task of cleaning up the child, cleaning up the sheets... what do you do with those dirty dirty sheets? we don't have a utility sink that is handy for rinsing such business in this house. Yuck.... then re-making the beds, getting a bucket for the next throw-ups, getting the child tucked back into bed, and finally getting yourself tucked back into bed. Perhaps the best part of the whole night is getting back into bed (alone... since the hubby is somewhere on the other side of the world) and trying to get that smell out of your nose and THEN wondering if your stomach is swirling because you just cleaned up someone else's throw-ups or because you, yourself, are going to be having throw-ups. Joy. Luckily my mom was also visiting, luckili-er (I'm sure that's a word) she managed to leave WITHOUT suffering from the bug. So the day that I was suffering, she had the kids downstairs or out of the house and I was able to rest.
Then last week, just after we were fully recovered and my mom was safely back in the Midwest, we all got a stuffy-nosed, sore-throated cold. The kids are fully recovered after missing a few days of school... and a friend's birthday party (boo.).. and I am finally on the mend. I have a red nose that would make Rudolph envious from all of my nose-blowing. Speaking of nose-blowing... has anyone used the Kleenex Cool Touch tissues?? I picked them up by accident at the store and am totally amazed by these things. When you pull them out of the box, they are COOL... to the touch. I don't know how they make them cold, but they are! So strange. I do wish they had a little more soothiness when you use them, but the coolness is pretty nice.
So here we are... finally turning the corner towards health, I hope. And we are also facing... drum roll please.... a TWO MONTH EXTENSION to the deployment. Boo. With a capital "B." Absolutely Boo. The ironic part was that we found out about our 8-ish week extension when we had just completed 7 weeks. So... the past 7 weeks have gotten us absolutely NO closer to our homecoming date. I spent one day being mad and one day being very sad. But now it has sunk in, my expectations for the next few months have adjusted... remember my Timeless Wonder post... this is the epitome of a Timeless Wonder. I will blog more about my feelings of the extension another day. Stay tuned, I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats!
Despite the sicks, colds, and extension, things are still going pretty well. I give a huge amount of credit to my church and the small group that I am part of. We go to an awesome non-denominational Christian Church called Catalyst in Ventura. They are the most down-to-earth group of people I have ever attended church with. They are kind, welcoming, and caring... without being cheesy. My small group is bringing me dinner once a week, they pray for me and the kids, they pray for Paul without me having to ask for it. Say what you want... those prayers really really work. Every week when I go to church people ask how Paul is doing, other moms offer to help with the kids if I need it, I'm invited to play dates. The church is sending Paul some thank-you notes, two or three months of weekly messages on a flash drive, the info for a financial study we are doing with our small group, and a phone card so he can call home. How cool is that?! It's so nice to have other people acknowledge that Paul is away... and it's not just me thinking of him every day, others are too. Today... in thirty minutes now... I get to say "Thank you" to our church by sharing a little bit of our deployment story and I'm grateful to have the chance to let them know I appreciate all they do!
Well, it's been thirty minutes with a few interruptions from the kiddos, so it's time to finish getting ready and pack up a diaper bag... and try to add a photo to this post. It's been nice chatting with you and catching you up on the latest. Enjoy your Sunday!
Here's a photographic representation of life today:
 |
| Kleenex Cool Touch, Clorox Wipes, Hand Sanitizer, Theraflu (I swear by their nighttime one in particular), Keurig Folgers French Vanilla coffee, and my Bible |
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Timeless Wonder: Deployment
So it's been a month since the last time I found time to write. A month? A month! How is that even possible?! Oh, wait, I know.... I'm living with the Timeless Wonder. Essentially, during deployment, "time" means NOTHING.
On one hand, it seems like time is going so s.l.o.w.l.y. It hasn't even been 7 weeks since we started this big, bad adventure of deployment. I feel like I haven't seen my husband in-person for AGES. I haven't had a dinner with him in EONS. I haven't snuggled up and watched a movie with him in SUCH A LONG TIME.
How is it possible we've only been doing this for 7 weeks and we have sooooooo many more weeks left?!
Time must be slowing down. I mean, really, it must be. Like, the Earth is rotating at a slower pace making every day stretch on forever. Is this possible? I've checked the news blogs and all, but no one else is commenting on longer days, weeks, or months... so I guess it must be the Timeless Wonder.
Then on the other hand, there NEVER seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.
Let's do a little daily run-through, shall we:
A Day in the Life of Momma B with the Three
wake up
give "get dressed" instructions to the bigger kids
get self dressed/brush teeth/brush hair
get littlest up/diapered/dressed
downstairs
make coffee (am considering moving the Keurig into my bedroom...is that weird?)
sip coffee
make kid breakfast x 3
give "set table" instructions
repeat "set table" instructions
sip coffee
check FB and email hoping for message from the hubby
make self breakfast
nibble breakfast while refilling kid breakfast/juice x 3
give "find shoes and socks" instructions
get littlest shoes and socks on
dump breakfast plates into sink if dishwasher is clean (probably is, see end of day cleaning)
grab items needed for school/gym towel/water bottle
grab diaper bag
help find random missing shoe
grab cell phone
check email one more time to see if husband happened to send an email since last time it was checked
herd three to the van
buckle up
go to school/drop off at school
go to gym/drop off at child care/work out
pick up kid(s) from child care/back to van
one quick errand
pick up kid(s) from school
head back home
give "put coats and shoes away" instructions
repeat instructions
make lunch
help find missing toy of some sort
littlest up for nap
insist on quiet time for two biggers
try to clean up kitchen
sweep mound of crumbs from littlest's breakfast which is now fairly cemented to the floor
assess toy mess situation/consider picking up or holding biggers accountable
check email again (just in case)
think about blogging
decide to take care of household business (making dr. appts./paying bills/etc.)
check email again (might as well since I'm on the computer)
biggers are done with quiet time... no blogging today
throw laundry in wash
oops, realized washer still had clothes in it... re-wash those to get musty smell out
spend some time with two biggers playing/reading
get littlest up
snack time
head to afternoon activity or playground
two hours (approx.) of playtime at activity or playground
check snail mail
home for dinner
make dinner
give "set table" instructions
try to pry littlest off my leg while finishing dinner... seems to be his favorite perch at 6pm
sit down to dinner
get up for re-fills several times
clean up kitchen while supervising toy clean up
upstairs for bath
1-2-3 into the tub
1-2-3 shampooed
1-2-3 rinsed
1-2-3 dried off
clothes in the hamper/dirty diaper in the trash
supervise "tidying up time" in biggers' bedrooms
stories and song for littlest - good night
stories and song for middlest - good night
stories and song for eldest - good night
downstairs to finish cleaning up from dinner
run dishwasher... wish that it would magically empty itself before the morning
check email
email back husband
sit down
take a breath and watch a show or read a book
oh crap. there are wet clothes in the washing machine!
And THAT, my friends, is how time goes by faster than I realize and all of a sudden I find myself saying: "It's been a MONTH since I blogged last?!" "It's been a MONTH since cleaned my bathrooms?" (Seriously, when am I supposed to do that?!) "It's been a MONTH since I cleaned out my fridge?!" (At least we're eating the food in there, so it's sort of getting cleaned out every day... right? Right?!)
Time goes too slowly while it's racing past me. The stupid Timeless Wonder. Makes a girl go crazy.
But no matter how the days go.... slow or fast... whether laundry gets done or not... we're always thinking of Paul and...
On one hand, it seems like time is going so s.l.o.w.l.y. It hasn't even been 7 weeks since we started this big, bad adventure of deployment. I feel like I haven't seen my husband in-person for AGES. I haven't had a dinner with him in EONS. I haven't snuggled up and watched a movie with him in SUCH A LONG TIME.
How is it possible we've only been doing this for 7 weeks and we have sooooooo many more weeks left?!
Time must be slowing down. I mean, really, it must be. Like, the Earth is rotating at a slower pace making every day stretch on forever. Is this possible? I've checked the news blogs and all, but no one else is commenting on longer days, weeks, or months... so I guess it must be the Timeless Wonder.
Then on the other hand, there NEVER seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.
Let's do a little daily run-through, shall we:
A Day in the Life of Momma B with the Three
wake up
give "get dressed" instructions to the bigger kids
get self dressed/brush teeth/brush hair
get littlest up/diapered/dressed
downstairs
make coffee (am considering moving the Keurig into my bedroom...is that weird?)
sip coffee
make kid breakfast x 3
give "set table" instructions
repeat "set table" instructions
sip coffee
check FB and email hoping for message from the hubby
make self breakfast
nibble breakfast while refilling kid breakfast/juice x 3
give "find shoes and socks" instructions
get littlest shoes and socks on
dump breakfast plates into sink if dishwasher is clean (probably is, see end of day cleaning)
grab items needed for school/gym towel/water bottle
grab diaper bag
help find random missing shoe
grab cell phone
check email one more time to see if husband happened to send an email since last time it was checked
herd three to the van
buckle up
go to school/drop off at school
go to gym/drop off at child care/work out
pick up kid(s) from child care/back to van
one quick errand
pick up kid(s) from school
head back home
give "put coats and shoes away" instructions
repeat instructions
make lunch
help find missing toy of some sort
littlest up for nap
insist on quiet time for two biggers
try to clean up kitchen
sweep mound of crumbs from littlest's breakfast which is now fairly cemented to the floor
assess toy mess situation/consider picking up or holding biggers accountable
check email again (just in case)
think about blogging
decide to take care of household business (making dr. appts./paying bills/etc.)
check email again (might as well since I'm on the computer)
biggers are done with quiet time... no blogging today
throw laundry in wash
oops, realized washer still had clothes in it... re-wash those to get musty smell out
spend some time with two biggers playing/reading
get littlest up
snack time
head to afternoon activity or playground
two hours (approx.) of playtime at activity or playground
check snail mail
home for dinner
make dinner
give "set table" instructions
try to pry littlest off my leg while finishing dinner... seems to be his favorite perch at 6pm
sit down to dinner
get up for re-fills several times
clean up kitchen while supervising toy clean up
upstairs for bath
1-2-3 into the tub
1-2-3 shampooed
1-2-3 rinsed
1-2-3 dried off
clothes in the hamper/dirty diaper in the trash
supervise "tidying up time" in biggers' bedrooms
stories and song for littlest - good night
stories and song for middlest - good night
stories and song for eldest - good night
downstairs to finish cleaning up from dinner
run dishwasher... wish that it would magically empty itself before the morning
check email
email back husband
sit down
take a breath and watch a show or read a book
oh crap. there are wet clothes in the washing machine!
And THAT, my friends, is how time goes by faster than I realize and all of a sudden I find myself saying: "It's been a MONTH since I blogged last?!" "It's been a MONTH since cleaned my bathrooms?" (Seriously, when am I supposed to do that?!) "It's been a MONTH since I cleaned out my fridge?!" (At least we're eating the food in there, so it's sort of getting cleaned out every day... right? Right?!)
Time goes too slowly while it's racing past me. The stupid Timeless Wonder. Makes a girl go crazy.
But no matter how the days go.... slow or fast... whether laundry gets done or not... we're always thinking of Paul and...
Sunday, December 25, 2011
WEEK TWO: Another spare moment
***I started this blog yesterday, but didn't have time to finish... it's now 24 hours later, and I'm hoping to get it completed***
Merry Christmas, everyone! I am officially thrilled that this holiday went smoothly at our house but am equally thrilled that it's over. Now I just need to get through an Anniversary, New Year's Eve, and Valentine's Day and all the obvious "Day To Spend With Your Husband" celebrations will be over. One down, three to go. I'm hoping this one will be the most difficult for the following reasons:
Anniversary (this will be second-most-difficult): On our tenth anniversary, I will be hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law, and brand-new niece. I bet it will be sweet and cuddley and that will make me happy!
New Year's Eve: I have pretty much always hated New Year's Eve. I always wanted a movie-like New Year's Eve and it has NEVER happened. Once, in college, we went out to a bar that had a huge cover charge and was trying to be "fancy".... we were downstairs and heard the countdown start upstairs so we tried to run upstairs for the big moment, but missed it.... by the time we got upstairs we realized they were counting down downstairs and we managed to miss that one too. (What establishment hosts a fancy New Year's Eve party and doesn't coordinate the countdown?! Who manages to miss both?!) My best New Year's Eve was '05-'06... Paul and I at a friend's house, playing cards, toasting to "a baby in the New Year" (for them, not us) and we both ended up with new babies by the next New Year's! So.... I don't think this year's will be too difficult, except for the moment of the kiss... but I've been missing kisses for 2 weeks, so that's nothing new.
Valentine's Day: I'm also not a big fan of this "holiday" but still, to have Valentine's Day without the hubster will make it a little less exciting. However.... I will either be celebrating with my Spouse Club for our half-way party OR visiting besties in VA that weekend. Either will be exceptional.
So... now that the presents are opened and Santa is resting, I too can rest in the fact that I made it through Christmas without my favorite guy.
Below... if I can get it to work.... is a link to a bit of a video from Week Two that will be heading out to the boat in a few days. Hopefully a weekly video will help Paul from feeling out of the loop. (It's 10 minutes long... which is long when we aren't your family... and you can hear me sing "Happy Birthday" which isn't very in-tune... but it's really for Paul and he's okay with a long video of bad singing.)
Merry Christmas, everyone! I am officially thrilled that this holiday went smoothly at our house but am equally thrilled that it's over. Now I just need to get through an Anniversary, New Year's Eve, and Valentine's Day and all the obvious "Day To Spend With Your Husband" celebrations will be over. One down, three to go. I'm hoping this one will be the most difficult for the following reasons:
Anniversary (this will be second-most-difficult): On our tenth anniversary, I will be hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law, and brand-new niece. I bet it will be sweet and cuddley and that will make me happy!
New Year's Eve: I have pretty much always hated New Year's Eve. I always wanted a movie-like New Year's Eve and it has NEVER happened. Once, in college, we went out to a bar that had a huge cover charge and was trying to be "fancy".... we were downstairs and heard the countdown start upstairs so we tried to run upstairs for the big moment, but missed it.... by the time we got upstairs we realized they were counting down downstairs and we managed to miss that one too. (What establishment hosts a fancy New Year's Eve party and doesn't coordinate the countdown?! Who manages to miss both?!) My best New Year's Eve was '05-'06... Paul and I at a friend's house, playing cards, toasting to "a baby in the New Year" (for them, not us) and we both ended up with new babies by the next New Year's! So.... I don't think this year's will be too difficult, except for the moment of the kiss... but I've been missing kisses for 2 weeks, so that's nothing new.
Valentine's Day: I'm also not a big fan of this "holiday" but still, to have Valentine's Day without the hubster will make it a little less exciting. However.... I will either be celebrating with my Spouse Club for our half-way party OR visiting besties in VA that weekend. Either will be exceptional.
So... now that the presents are opened and Santa is resting, I too can rest in the fact that I made it through Christmas without my favorite guy.
Below... if I can get it to work.... is a link to a bit of a video from Week Two that will be heading out to the boat in a few days. Hopefully a weekly video will help Paul from feeling out of the loop. (It's 10 minutes long... which is long when we aren't your family... and you can hear me sing "Happy Birthday" which isn't very in-tune... but it's really for Paul and he's okay with a long video of bad singing.)
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Week One: I found a spare minute
Week One is complete. We have survived. It's been extremely busy, but we have managed.
We spent Tuesday evening with friends on base and enjoyed seeing Santa touring the neghborhood in a firetruck. I mean really... Santa AND a firetruck?! That's pretty much the best thing ever for my kids! The evening was a huge success in distracting us from Paul's ovbvious absense.
Wednesday was a busy day of Christmas singing at the kids' pre-school classes. They had a great time and were excited by a surprise visit from Santa (again) after the singing was sung. Wednesday afternoon added a little more excitement with their last gymnastics class before the holiday break. Matthew mastered some flips on the rings and he was thrilled with that.
Thursday we had a special playdate with Grace's favorite friend from school. Apparently the playdate was just too much fun and it wore out all their good behavior. Thursday night was a challenge with over-tired kids riding high on emotions, probably from saying good-bye to Dad and seeing Santa two days in a row. The worst of the week came on Thursday evening.... Grace had been complaining that her tummy ached for a little while. She finally came up to me and said, "It's not my tummy Mom... it's my heart. I miss daddy!" OH, GOODNESS ME. How could she come up with that?! Broke my heart. I offered her a hug and as soon as she was cuddle up in my arms she completely burst into tears. "I miss him because I love him." Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Matthew came over and rubbed her back with me. I cried a little too. Fearing that we would all be puddles of tears and runny noses if I didn't do something quickly, I mentioned to them that when Daddy comes home we will meet him when he lands his plane (either one he is flying or one he is flying in with the rest of the squadron) and we get to run out to him and give him the biggest bestest hug we have ever given him. Two sweet little faces looked up at me with big bright eyes. Matthew was smiling the biggest smile and Grace (a little worrier) asked, "What if we aren't at the airport when he lands his plane?" I couldn't help but laugh and promised her we would SO be there.
Friday was a decent day and ended with a fun Pity Party with the other Spouse Club wives. My scheduled sitter was unable to come over as planned after her son had to go to the doctor and was diagnosed with croup (Booooo)... so about 4 hours before the party started, I was looking for a sitter. Talk about Navy wives stepping up and offering babysitter numbers of even offering to babysit themselves. THANK YOU! I had a good time visiting with the other wives and even starting to plan our Halfway Party. You know it's a "short" deployment when you start talking about the Halfway Party at the Pity Party.
I was incredibly not looking forward to the first weekend without Paul. The weekdays are one thing; Paul's usually at work all day long; often has night flights. It's not entirely odd for us to go a few days without him home except for sleeping. But the weekends are another story entirely. That is our family time. That is my alone time. That is my catch-up on chores, errands, running around time. No such luck without Paul Meyer. So I decided we were going to start the weekend off right... we headed over to Eggs N Things for breakfast (the kids devoured their breakfast which is an added bonus). Then I took them up to the Santa Barbara Zoo. I had heard so many good things about the zoo, particularly that it is a great one for small kids and it is! We had a great time. Membership purchased! By the time we came home it was naptime for Sam, followed by a little playtime and dinner, etc.
Today was church and I was so entirely greatful. The kids enjoy time spent in the nursery/preschool class, and I get to spend sometime getting my mind focused on what/who it needs to be focused on. I am blessed with an awesome church that has shown great support to Paul and I in the past few weeks, as well as great friendship in general no matter a looming deployment or not. We came home, Sam napped, the big kids and I worked hard on cleaning up and folding laundry so we could play outside after Sam woke up. Their behavior was awesome, so we headed out in the trusty Odyssey to see some Christmas lights. It was a great end of Week One.
My house is a mess right now. There is stuff - laundry piles, throw pillows, shoes, dolls - everywhere. But I just can't do it all and I'm going to let it go tonight. I got to write and that feels good. I will clean it up tomorrow and late tomorrow night by dad will be here! Hooray for Big Al's visit! Weeks Two-Five are going to be soooo fun.
P.S. Come back tomorrow for an update on my workout results!
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| The kids waiting for Santa on the firetruck. |
We spent Tuesday evening with friends on base and enjoyed seeing Santa touring the neghborhood in a firetruck. I mean really... Santa AND a firetruck?! That's pretty much the best thing ever for my kids! The evening was a huge success in distracting us from Paul's ovbvious absense.
Wednesday was a busy day of Christmas singing at the kids' pre-school classes. They had a great time and were excited by a surprise visit from Santa (again) after the singing was sung. Wednesday afternoon added a little more excitement with their last gymnastics class before the holiday break. Matthew mastered some flips on the rings and he was thrilled with that.
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| Grace's class (She's in the white dress - on the left) |
Friday was a decent day and ended with a fun Pity Party with the other Spouse Club wives. My scheduled sitter was unable to come over as planned after her son had to go to the doctor and was diagnosed with croup (Booooo)... so about 4 hours before the party started, I was looking for a sitter. Talk about Navy wives stepping up and offering babysitter numbers of even offering to babysit themselves. THANK YOU! I had a good time visiting with the other wives and even starting to plan our Halfway Party. You know it's a "short" deployment when you start talking about the Halfway Party at the Pity Party.
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| Standing like flamingos. |
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| Sam trying to climb the sledding hill. |
My house is a mess right now. There is stuff - laundry piles, throw pillows, shoes, dolls - everywhere. But I just can't do it all and I'm going to let it go tonight. I got to write and that feels good. I will clean it up tomorrow and late tomorrow night by dad will be here! Hooray for Big Al's visit! Weeks Two-Five are going to be soooo fun.
P.S. Come back tomorrow for an update on my workout results!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Let the countdown begin!
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| (An old photo of USS Abe Lincoln) See the funny propellor on the left side of the bridge? That's the E2-C |
While we got ready for school, I vascilated between weepy and okay. Grace's teacher gave me a hug and I turned to a pile of mush. I got to the gym and forced myself to run a mile and started to feel a lot better. Luckily today was a training day with Steph and she had planned a heavy workout. For one hour I focused on making my body do what Steph told me I had to do. There is such relief in spending time with my brain turned off and pushing my little muscles to do more than they want to do. By the end of the hour, I felt pretty wiped out with not much more energy to give to weepiness. But then, I talked to my mom, and then there were a few more tears. Eventually, the kids were home from school, lunch had been eaten, Sam was down for a nap, and I could take a nice long shower. I took a short nap and woke up feeling like a million bucks.
Monday nights are Small Group nights, so fortunately I had a babysitter lined up and was able to take a few hours with some wonderful friends from church. When you can't be with your hubby, it is pretty darn good to be with good friends. We even blew off doing the Bible study and played board games! When you can't be with your hubby, it is really darn good to be with good friends and board games! I tucked the kids into bed when I came home, emailed a "good night" to Paul (who did indeed make it safely onboard earlier today) and now have an hour or so to relax. Not a bad ending to a not-so-happy day.
I am feeling relatively confident in our family's ability to make it through this deployment with a minimal amount of tears and stress and frustration. (Knock on wood.) Paul and I have done quite a bit of prep work in getting ourselves "set up for success" and our expectations managed.
Our Deployment Survival Kit:
X Arm pillow for Betsy (picture will be posted on Friday)
X Build-a-Bears with Daddy's voice message for each kiddo (thanks for the idea, Ash!)
X A t-shirt of Paul's for each kid to snuggle with at night
X Jar o'Kisses from Daddy for each kid each night
X Pictures of all of each of us with Paul (for us and for him)
X Digital photo frame loaded with photos for Paul
X Envelopes/paper and color-coded stickers so the kids will see the sticker and know it's a card from Daddy for them.
X Lots of videos of Daddy reading nighttime books to the kids
X New camera for Mommy to take video of kids for Daddy (Merry Christmas, me!)
Deployment Expectations:
We will email every day assuming the email is up and running on the ship.
We will Skype when Paul is in port.
We will get a handwritten note from Paul (hopefully once a month - Paul, are you reading this?!) hee hee.
We will send mail to Paul every week... hopefully the aircraft carrier made a weight allowance for lots of finger-paintings and such from the Meyer kids.
....only 142 days left!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
A little juxtaposition.....
(Tonight's is a deployment post, tomorrow's will be also - I'm sure, then we'll get back to normal life.)
jux·ta·po·si·tion
[juhk-stuh-puh-zish-uh
n] 
Show IPA
noun
1.
an act or instance of placing close together or side by side,especially for comparison or contrast.
2.
the state of being close together or side by side.
My husband leaves, signaling the beginning of the end of his deployment.
My husband leaves, signaling the beginning of the end of my friend's husband's deployment.
Butterflies in my stomach thinking about him leaving.
Butterfies in my stomach thinking about him coming home.
Not wanting to fall asleep on the night before deployment.
Not being able to fall asleep on the night before homecoming.
The clock ticking by too quickly during our last hours together.
The clock ticking by much too slowly during the last hours apart.
Wondering how I'm going to make it through the months without him.
Wondering how I DID make it through the months without him.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
A Case of PDD - Pre-Deployment Dread
And so begins the countdown clock. Deployment will begin in a month, give or take (please, please give) a day or two. Every military family knows the dates will wibble and wobble based on ship movements and who gets to fly-on or walk-on; but a month is pretty much what we are looking at. It seems like a long time and a short time... all at the same time. With each day, though, the knot in the pit of my stomach grows and is more difficult to ignore. It's a severe case of Pre-Deployment Dread.
If you are unfamiliar with PDD, let me break it down for you*:
Causes: PDD is generally caused by an upcoming military deployment. In most cases, the severity of the dread is directly related to the length of the aforementioned deployment.
Types: PDD can be present in two differing, yet quite similar forms:
A. Actual Pre-Deployment Dread: This form is evident when a deployment date is real and set on the calendar. (A)PDD shows more consistent and long-lasting symptoms. Oftentimes, symptoms are intense and experienced on a daily basis.
B. Rumored/Hypothetical Pre-Deployment Dread: This form of PDD is experienced when military spouses have discussions with other military spouses or their spouse about the possibility of a deployment. At times this dread can show itself when a military spouse is sitting alone and just thinking of possibilities in their spouse's career. (R/H)PDD has symptoms that generally last only as long as the discussion/day-dreaming session. (R/H)PDD can prove to be as intense as (A)PDD.
Symptoms: A person experiencing PDD may experience all or some of the following:
* An undeniable knot in the pit of your stomach making you feel like you may 'toss your cookies' at any moment.
* Always being on the brink of tears and never quite knowing when they are going to get tired of waiting just beneath the surface and erupt.
* An intense need to hang on to your spouse when giving hugs.... just about when a "normal" hug would end, you just need to hang on a little bit longer.
* The inability to complete a chore during the day without thinking of the next stretch of months when you will be doing the chore alone.
* Continually looking at the calendar and doing mental math as to how many more weeks or days you have until D-Day.
* Grumpily picking up supplies to make calendar squares.
* Day-dreaming of holidays and family celebrations that you will celebrate with your 'better half' half a world away... and either feeling super-sad, super-irritated, or super-bold in your determination to make it a fun celebration anyway... or feeling all three emotions at the same time.
* Alternating between a deep sense of pride in the military branch that your family is serving in and a deep sense of hatred; always knowing full well you will circle back around to the pride.
* Making many mental lists of how you are going to improve yourself, organize your house, keep your kids busy, stay in touch with your spouse, and somehow enjoy the deployment.
* Making many metal lists of how you are going to stretch out in the bed at night, watch whatever you want to on television, eat popcorn for dinner if you so feel like it, and not pick up dirty underwears off the floor.
* Snapping at your spouse for no particular reason, while knowing deep down it's just because you don't want him to leave.
Diagnosis: If you answer "yes" to these three questions, you can go ahead an diagnose yourself with PDD:
1. Is/Will your spouse be deployed in the future?
2. Do you feel grumpy, sad, and dread-ful about it?
3. Are you experiencing any of the listed symptoms?
Treatment: Treatment for PDD varies depending on each person's personality. Some treatments include:
* Allow yourself a Day of Dread. Just wallow in it for a bit but tell yourself you're going to have to get over it.
* When suffering the symptom of needing longer hugs from your spouse, go ahead and hug longer. Hug more often.
* Make those mental lists into real lists that you can add to instead of re-hashing them in your mind.
* Talk to another military spouse about how your feeling, but make sure it doesn't turn into a complete complain fest for you both... otherwise symptoms will most likely increase.
* Talk to your spouse about your dread. (I highly recommend beginning this conversation with something along the lines of, "I'm not mad at YOU and I'm not blaming you, I know you would stay home if you could. I just want to tell you how I feel.")
* Pray about it. No one on Earth understands you better than the Big Guy Upstairs.
* Go shopping, but instead of picking up random things, try to come up with something that will be useful during the deployment. (a workout DVD, a long-term craft, cards to mail to the hubster, a bottle of wine for each month of deployment, whatever works for you... )
* Accept that it just sort of SUCKS right now, but before long you'll be experiencing Deployment Daze and then Homecoming Highs.
*PLEASE NOTE: this is completely made up and is just what is floating through my head when I'm not making mental lists of Things I will Hate During Deployment and Things I will Enjoy During Deployment. If you are experiencing real-life symptoms of depression, please please please respect that and go talk to your doctor about it.
And in honor of my PDD, here's a picture of my most-favorite Deployer (from two years & one kid ago... but it's my ultimate favorite photo):
If you are unfamiliar with PDD, let me break it down for you*:
Causes: PDD is generally caused by an upcoming military deployment. In most cases, the severity of the dread is directly related to the length of the aforementioned deployment.
Types: PDD can be present in two differing, yet quite similar forms:
A. Actual Pre-Deployment Dread: This form is evident when a deployment date is real and set on the calendar. (A)PDD shows more consistent and long-lasting symptoms. Oftentimes, symptoms are intense and experienced on a daily basis.
B. Rumored/Hypothetical Pre-Deployment Dread: This form of PDD is experienced when military spouses have discussions with other military spouses or their spouse about the possibility of a deployment. At times this dread can show itself when a military spouse is sitting alone and just thinking of possibilities in their spouse's career. (R/H)PDD has symptoms that generally last only as long as the discussion/day-dreaming session. (R/H)PDD can prove to be as intense as (A)PDD.
Symptoms: A person experiencing PDD may experience all or some of the following:
* An undeniable knot in the pit of your stomach making you feel like you may 'toss your cookies' at any moment.
* Always being on the brink of tears and never quite knowing when they are going to get tired of waiting just beneath the surface and erupt.
* An intense need to hang on to your spouse when giving hugs.... just about when a "normal" hug would end, you just need to hang on a little bit longer.
* The inability to complete a chore during the day without thinking of the next stretch of months when you will be doing the chore alone.
* Continually looking at the calendar and doing mental math as to how many more weeks or days you have until D-Day.
* Grumpily picking up supplies to make calendar squares.
* Day-dreaming of holidays and family celebrations that you will celebrate with your 'better half' half a world away... and either feeling super-sad, super-irritated, or super-bold in your determination to make it a fun celebration anyway... or feeling all three emotions at the same time.
* Alternating between a deep sense of pride in the military branch that your family is serving in and a deep sense of hatred; always knowing full well you will circle back around to the pride.
* Making many mental lists of how you are going to improve yourself, organize your house, keep your kids busy, stay in touch with your spouse, and somehow enjoy the deployment.
* Making many metal lists of how you are going to stretch out in the bed at night, watch whatever you want to on television, eat popcorn for dinner if you so feel like it, and not pick up dirty underwears off the floor.
* Snapping at your spouse for no particular reason, while knowing deep down it's just because you don't want him to leave.
Diagnosis: If you answer "yes" to these three questions, you can go ahead an diagnose yourself with PDD:
1. Is/Will your spouse be deployed in the future?
2. Do you feel grumpy, sad, and dread-ful about it?
3. Are you experiencing any of the listed symptoms?
Treatment: Treatment for PDD varies depending on each person's personality. Some treatments include:
* Allow yourself a Day of Dread. Just wallow in it for a bit but tell yourself you're going to have to get over it.
* When suffering the symptom of needing longer hugs from your spouse, go ahead and hug longer. Hug more often.
* Make those mental lists into real lists that you can add to instead of re-hashing them in your mind.
* Talk to another military spouse about how your feeling, but make sure it doesn't turn into a complete complain fest for you both... otherwise symptoms will most likely increase.
* Talk to your spouse about your dread. (I highly recommend beginning this conversation with something along the lines of, "I'm not mad at YOU and I'm not blaming you, I know you would stay home if you could. I just want to tell you how I feel.")
* Pray about it. No one on Earth understands you better than the Big Guy Upstairs.
* Go shopping, but instead of picking up random things, try to come up with something that will be useful during the deployment. (a workout DVD, a long-term craft, cards to mail to the hubster, a bottle of wine for each month of deployment, whatever works for you... )
* Accept that it just sort of SUCKS right now, but before long you'll be experiencing Deployment Daze and then Homecoming Highs.
*PLEASE NOTE: this is completely made up and is just what is floating through my head when I'm not making mental lists of Things I will Hate During Deployment and Things I will Enjoy During Deployment. If you are experiencing real-life symptoms of depression, please please please respect that and go talk to your doctor about it.
And in honor of my PDD, here's a picture of my most-favorite Deployer (from two years & one kid ago... but it's my ultimate favorite photo):
Sunday, October 30, 2011
TBMAC - "Home Is...
.... WHERE THE NAVY SENDS YOU."
So way back when we came out to California for house-hunting, we signed a lease on an almost-perfect home in the off-base military housing. It wasn't quite our 1st choice, but after taking a look at the location and lay-out we were happy with it and signed a lease. It was where the Navy sent us. Then, on the night before our packers were to arrive we recieved a phone call from the Housing Office telling us that they were going to break our lease because the home was no longer available (long story short). After about 24 hours of pitching a bit of a fit/panic attack/freak out, I came to grips with the fact that our 2nd choice for a home was not going to be a choice any longer. On to our 3rd choice, it's where the Navy sent us.
... WHERE YOUR HEART IS."
So the Navy Housing assigned us to this home, the Personal Property worked to get our household goods delivered (a bit late, but delivered none-the-less), and it is our job to grow our family here.
Although this home was not our first choice, I am really quite pleased with it. It is smaller than our previous home in Maryland so we have a bit of a "Lots of Furniture in Every Room" motif going on. You want a place to sit?! You can sit here or here or here or here or here or here! Anywhere! However, that will be good for entertaining, right? Hosting spouse club meetings, playgroups, parties, visitors from the East Coast (hint hint, you know who you are) will all be easy in this home. That is where my heart is. I love having people in my home; I am an extrovert and can't deny it.
Our home has four bedrooms, and we are blessed to be able to give each of our kiddos their own room. Grace gets a frilly girl room with a fuzzy pink toile bedspread, Matthew got a new bunk bed and gets to choose if he wants to sleep on top or bottom every single night, and Sam will get to sleep in a big boy twin bed as soon as he's ready (we tried last night... we found him under his crib... he's not ready). I have really enjoyed making each room a special place for each kid, and they loved helping put things in their new places. That is where my heart is. I love embracing each child's unique personality and flare.
My husband has been on leave for two weeks and we got to set-up our home TOGETHER. We have one more month and a few days before he heads out on deployment and I am grateful for the time we get to spend with him. He is where my heart is.
...HOME SWEET HOME."
I'm so happy that the Navy has sent us here, that it is an "accompanied" tour and our family gets to be together, and Paul is home for a few more weeks!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Big Move Across Country (TBMAC): The Load Up
Did you know I lived in a TOWN called California in Maryland? Weird. Well, now I live in the STATE of California. Navy life is awesome.
Where do we begin? Well, at the very beginning... it's a very good place to start. (Thank you, Maria from Sound of Music.)
Packers arrive on Wednesday. A guy and two ladies. Very nice, hardworking, and quiet. All is well. They work for about 5 hours and leave. Day One - complete! Success.
Packers return on Thursday. Same guy and two ladies. They finish all the packing, but leave a whole bunch of stuff out... like rugs and pillows, etc. Day Two - 1/2 way completed. 1/2 way success.
Truck arrives on Friday. "How do I get my truck down your street?" -Uh, drive it????? Hmmm.... takes a few tries, but he manages to back it down the street to our house. (In the driver's defense, our street is more of an alley than a street and people park their cars on the two streets that intersect with ours, so it was a bit of a tight fit.)
Loading begins. The workers work hard, but notice there are some miss-tagged boxes. [For any non-frequent movers out there, the packers packed up boxes and then stuck stickers with numbers on them.... then we get a form with corresponding numbers and they write what item/box/furniture goes with that number. When we unload, we mark off each number when it is brought into our new house... essentially it is our inventory.] So driver is tagging some stuff, and trying to organize the items already tagged by the packers. I'm a little worried... I've never experienced confusion at this stage of the moving game before. Sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Loading continues. The truck our driver brought was already 2/3 full of other people's stuff when he showed up at our house. P and I both thought... wow, all of our stuff is going to fit in that little space?! Hmmmm. Well at least the truck will be ready to head out to CA right away. Should have known better...
...around noon, the driver comes over to me, nonchalantly, and mentions "yeah... so... you know, there isn't enough room in this truck... so I'm going to call dispatch.... they'll send another truck." I think my eyes bugged out a little and my eyebrows raised - I'd like to think I raised one eyebrow in a very dramatic way, but I don't think I can even do that - so he quickly added, "I'll stay here the whole time and make sure they show up." Hmmmmmm..... sinking feeling increasing depth.
Hallelujah - My mom shows up from the airport to help occupy the kids while all of their belongings disappear out of the house by a handful of strangers and go onto a big huge truck.
I run errands (returning cable boxes, etc.), come back, and the second truck has arrived... and a whole bunch of our furniture is sitting in our neighbor's driveway. I wonder how we are supposed to know which stuff/furniture/boxes is
on which truck. Is there any way they are keeping track of this? Nope. Sinking feeling reaches even deeper depths.
Oh, and did I mention the second truck didn't happen to bring those big packing quilts that they wrap your furniture in to make sure it doesn't get dinged and banged up??? Nice. "Well, we don't have time to go get some," they told my husband, "but if you want we can come back on Monday to finish, [mind you it is Friday evening and our furniture is sitting outside at this moment] oh wait, Monday is a holiday... we could come back on Tuesday and finish." Yeah, that won't work. P is leaving TOMORROW to drive our van across the country and I fly out with the kids on Tuesday. Go ahead; pack up our stuff uncovered. Feeling.... SUNK.
The driver of truck #1 assures us that he "thinks" he's heading straight out to California... he should be there in about a week.... but of course, remember, the contract with the Navy says they have until the 24th. SURELY it won't take 17 days to get there, right? Riiiiiiight.
The driver of truck #2 assures us he will unload all of our stuff as soon as he gets to the wharehouse, cover all the furniture and re-pack it. Hmmmmm. Hope so.
And there goes most of our earthly possessions.... (today is October 19th and we haven't seen them since.)
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| G & M enjoying the excitement. |
Packers arrive on Wednesday. A guy and two ladies. Very nice, hardworking, and quiet. All is well. They work for about 5 hours and leave. Day One - complete! Success.
Packers return on Thursday. Same guy and two ladies. They finish all the packing, but leave a whole bunch of stuff out... like rugs and pillows, etc. Day Two - 1/2 way completed. 1/2 way success.
 |
| M supervising the Move... note: moving truck trying to back down our street. |
Loading begins. The workers work hard, but notice there are some miss-tagged boxes. [For any non-frequent movers out there, the packers packed up boxes and then stuck stickers with numbers on them.... then we get a form with corresponding numbers and they write what item/box/furniture goes with that number. When we unload, we mark off each number when it is brought into our new house... essentially it is our inventory.] So driver is tagging some stuff, and trying to organize the items already tagged by the packers. I'm a little worried... I've never experienced confusion at this stage of the moving game before. Sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Loading continues. The truck our driver brought was already 2/3 full of other people's stuff when he showed up at our house. P and I both thought... wow, all of our stuff is going to fit in that little space?! Hmmmm. Well at least the truck will be ready to head out to CA right away. Should have known better......around noon, the driver comes over to me, nonchalantly, and mentions "yeah... so... you know, there isn't enough room in this truck... so I'm going to call dispatch.... they'll send another truck." I think my eyes bugged out a little and my eyebrows raised - I'd like to think I raised one eyebrow in a very dramatic way, but I don't think I can even do that - so he quickly added, "I'll stay here the whole time and make sure they show up." Hmmmmmm..... sinking feeling increasing depth.
Hallelujah - My mom shows up from the airport to help occupy the kids while all of their belongings disappear out of the house by a handful of strangers and go onto a big huge truck.I run errands (returning cable boxes, etc.), come back, and the second truck has arrived... and a whole bunch of our furniture is sitting in our neighbor's driveway. I wonder how we are supposed to know which stuff/furniture/boxes is
on which truck. Is there any way they are keeping track of this? Nope. Sinking feeling reaches even deeper depths.
Oh, and did I mention the second truck didn't happen to bring those big packing quilts that they wrap your furniture in to make sure it doesn't get dinged and banged up??? Nice. "Well, we don't have time to go get some," they told my husband, "but if you want we can come back on Monday to finish, [mind you it is Friday evening and our furniture is sitting outside at this moment] oh wait, Monday is a holiday... we could come back on Tuesday and finish." Yeah, that won't work. P is leaving TOMORROW to drive our van across the country and I fly out with the kids on Tuesday. Go ahead; pack up our stuff uncovered. Feeling.... SUNK.
The driver of truck #1 assures us that he "thinks" he's heading straight out to California... he should be there in about a week.... but of course, remember, the contract with the Navy says they have until the 24th. SURELY it won't take 17 days to get there, right? Riiiiiiight.
The driver of truck #2 assures us he will unload all of our stuff as soon as he gets to the wharehouse, cover all the furniture and re-pack it. Hmmmmm. Hope so.
And there goes most of our earthly possessions.... (today is October 19th and we haven't seen them since.)
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Reunion-Farewell-ER-PICU-Houshunting-Baby Shower
It has been a loooo-oooong while since the last time I wrote. There's a lot to catch you up on... so be prepared for a looooo-oooooong post...
Labor Day Weekend
* Went to the hubby's USNA Class Reunion.
* Had a great time visiting with friends I hadn't seen in a looooong time.
* Missed one particular friend IMMENSELY when I ran into her husband and not her. Too bad she was off traveling in Europe.
* Enjoyed a little alone time with the hubby. So wonderful.
Weekend Trip to VA
* Sadly went down to Virginia to say "So long, Farewell, Alfeeterzane (phonetically spelled, of course), Good Bye" or in the language of the Navy "See you next time we're stationed together" to many good good good good great friends.
* It was sad and difficult to say the least.
* The trip began a good three days of me spontaneously crying and begrudging the Navy.
Birthday Celebration for G
* Planned to take G and her good buddy (and buddy's mom, who is my good buddy) up to Annapolis to do a little pottery painting and lunching in honor of G's 5th birthday.
* Excited to do a little something special for her for her birthday AND a good way for her to make one last good memory with her buddy.
Birthday Celebration Cancelled for Trip to the ER which led to trip to PICU
* The evening before we were planning on the Big 5 Celebration, S got a runny nose and started to sound congested. We've seen this before and it requires a trip to the ER.
* Hoped and hoped he wouldn't get worse through the night, but at 330am and 530am I had to give him a nebulizer treatment at home.
* At 7am, he was up again sounding much worse.
* My Buddy, who was planning on being with us that day, was kind and flexible and understanding and everything "friend" means, and came over to take G & M while I took S to the local ER.
* About two hours at the ER and we had S hooked up to an IV; he had received two intense breathing treatments and was not improving at a rate that pleased the local docs. The ER doc told me, "if he doesn't get better, we're going to have to transfer him to a hospital up in DC with a pediatric ICU." My thoughts were "oh, yikes. okay. but surely he'll get better."
* Overheard Doc on the phone saying, "patient shows high pulse rate. patient's retracting with every breath... blah blah blah... yeah. we'll fly him up to you."
* Honestly thought, "'fly him up to you'? wow, i bet we're gonna get in an ambulance with the lights on an 'fly' up there."
* Doc came to our little ER room and said "did you hear?" "yeah" "so we're gonna fly him up to Georgetown University Hospital. You can go in the helicopter too if you want." "whoah! you mean, fly-fly?!"
* Okay, so it was pretty serious. I didn't realize how scared I was at the time until after things got better and then thought back to everything and realized how dream-like it all felt. I got into a helicopter that they pointed me to (the view was pretty amazing... and the fact that I wasn't scared to death of flying shows that I was so scared about S, I couldn't muster up any more 'scared'), I heard what the docs were saying, but didn't comprehend much of it. And the most obvious sign that I was kind of freaked out was that the Resident doc didn't recognize me the next morning... she re-introduced herself to me the next morning, then said "oh my. I didn't even recognize you! you were so worried yesterday."
* P was out on the boat doing some carrier qual flights with a squadron out of Norfolk at the time. I was never able to get in touch with the duty officer at that squadron to get word to him that S and I were heading to DC.... but amazingly he got word on the ship and by the time I landed at Georgetown, he had already be scheduled on a flight off the ship for a few hours later. I am soooo grateful to all the Navy folks who stepped up and got that done for me.
* P showed up at the hospital later that evening. S was doing better, but still had a very fast heart rate and his breathing rate was concerning the Docs. He was up to 150 breaths per minute.
* Stayed at a local Holiday Inn for the night so I could get some sleep (after not sleeping the night before) and take a shower and have a moment to wrap my head around everything.
* S had a slower recovery than we hoped and had to do a breathing treatment constantly for 24 hours. By late Sunday night he was finally released from the PICU and admitted to general pediatrics. He was released from the hospital 36 hours later for a grand total of 3 and a half days at Georgetown University Hospital.
* It has been decided that he has asthma that is triggered by congestion. We are giving him daily allergy meds and a preventative nebulizer every day. We also have some steroid nebulizer treatments to give him if the retraction starts again.
**** I KNOW there are many many many parents who deal with much much much worse conditions and sicknesses with their kids. I do not, by any means, want to imply that this was the "worst thing ever" because I know we are very very blessed. My heart goes out to all those parents who have to spend long stays in the PICU.****
And On To CA
* The day after S was released from the hospital, P and I were supposed to be heading to CA for a conference and househunting.
* Postponed the departure date (a few $$ later) and stayed home until our local pediatrician checked him out and said he was doing fine. This postponement also let us be at home for G's actual birthday, which was an extra special treat since I thought we were going to miss it and I was having immense Mommy-Guilt about that.
* Arrived in CA two days late, but were there in time for my aformentioned size 8 dress. (Read back a post or two for more on that.)
* After the conference, we headed up to Ventura County to surprise some great friends at church who we hadn't seen for 4 years!
* Two days of house-hunting later, we signed a lease in a community we were really excited about living in.
Baby Shower in Chi-Town
* Two days after returning from CA, I headed back to the airport and flew to Chicago.
* Evening One in Chicago = worst nail salon experience ever (I'll write about that another day) and tapas dinner with Dad, my brother-in-law "R", and my most-fabulous sister "K"
* Morning One in Chicago = Hair Salon with K for a chic blow-out, Baby Shower at Tribute Restaurant (WON-DER-FUL) for my sister and my soon-to-be new niece "E" and getting to see lots of great people whom I haven't seen in quite a while.
* Afternoon One in Chicago = Drive up to my hometown to see my bestest high school friend "J" and her brand new baby girl!!! Precious, sweet, cute, loveable, snuggable, darling!!! (my friend's baby is all those things.... not my friend herself, that would be weird!)
* Evening Two in Chicago = Delicious Italian dinner with Mom and K, followed by a sleepover for the three of us at K's city apartment. If only we had Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea to watch!
* Morning Two in Chicago = Photo shoot of my sister and her baby bump, head to O'Hare and fly back to Baltimore.
And that, my friends, is what I did from September 2-October 2.
Which leads us nicely to The Big Move Across Country.... TBMAC....
Labor Day Weekend
* Went to the hubby's USNA Class Reunion.
* Had a great time visiting with friends I hadn't seen in a looooong time.
* Missed one particular friend IMMENSELY when I ran into her husband and not her. Too bad she was off traveling in Europe.
* Enjoyed a little alone time with the hubby. So wonderful.
Weekend Trip to VA
* Sadly went down to Virginia to say "So long, Farewell, Alfeeterzane (phonetically spelled, of course), Good Bye" or in the language of the Navy "See you next time we're stationed together" to many good good good good great friends.
* It was sad and difficult to say the least.
* The trip began a good three days of me spontaneously crying and begrudging the Navy.
Birthday Celebration for G
* Planned to take G and her good buddy (and buddy's mom, who is my good buddy) up to Annapolis to do a little pottery painting and lunching in honor of G's 5th birthday.
* Excited to do a little something special for her for her birthday AND a good way for her to make one last good memory with her buddy.
Birthday Celebration Cancelled for Trip to the ER which led to trip to PICU
* The evening before we were planning on the Big 5 Celebration, S got a runny nose and started to sound congested. We've seen this before and it requires a trip to the ER.
* Hoped and hoped he wouldn't get worse through the night, but at 330am and 530am I had to give him a nebulizer treatment at home.
* At 7am, he was up again sounding much worse.
* My Buddy, who was planning on being with us that day, was kind and flexible and understanding and everything "friend" means, and came over to take G & M while I took S to the local ER.
* About two hours at the ER and we had S hooked up to an IV; he had received two intense breathing treatments and was not improving at a rate that pleased the local docs. The ER doc told me, "if he doesn't get better, we're going to have to transfer him to a hospital up in DC with a pediatric ICU." My thoughts were "oh, yikes. okay. but surely he'll get better."
* Overheard Doc on the phone saying, "patient shows high pulse rate. patient's retracting with every breath... blah blah blah... yeah. we'll fly him up to you."
* Honestly thought, "'fly him up to you'? wow, i bet we're gonna get in an ambulance with the lights on an 'fly' up there."
* Doc came to our little ER room and said "did you hear?" "yeah" "so we're gonna fly him up to Georgetown University Hospital. You can go in the helicopter too if you want." "whoah! you mean, fly-fly?!"
* Okay, so it was pretty serious. I didn't realize how scared I was at the time until after things got better and then thought back to everything and realized how dream-like it all felt. I got into a helicopter that they pointed me to (the view was pretty amazing... and the fact that I wasn't scared to death of flying shows that I was so scared about S, I couldn't muster up any more 'scared'), I heard what the docs were saying, but didn't comprehend much of it. And the most obvious sign that I was kind of freaked out was that the Resident doc didn't recognize me the next morning... she re-introduced herself to me the next morning, then said "oh my. I didn't even recognize you! you were so worried yesterday."
* P was out on the boat doing some carrier qual flights with a squadron out of Norfolk at the time. I was never able to get in touch with the duty officer at that squadron to get word to him that S and I were heading to DC.... but amazingly he got word on the ship and by the time I landed at Georgetown, he had already be scheduled on a flight off the ship for a few hours later. I am soooo grateful to all the Navy folks who stepped up and got that done for me.
* P showed up at the hospital later that evening. S was doing better, but still had a very fast heart rate and his breathing rate was concerning the Docs. He was up to 150 breaths per minute.
* Stayed at a local Holiday Inn for the night so I could get some sleep (after not sleeping the night before) and take a shower and have a moment to wrap my head around everything.
* S had a slower recovery than we hoped and had to do a breathing treatment constantly for 24 hours. By late Sunday night he was finally released from the PICU and admitted to general pediatrics. He was released from the hospital 36 hours later for a grand total of 3 and a half days at Georgetown University Hospital.
* It has been decided that he has asthma that is triggered by congestion. We are giving him daily allergy meds and a preventative nebulizer every day. We also have some steroid nebulizer treatments to give him if the retraction starts again.
**** I KNOW there are many many many parents who deal with much much much worse conditions and sicknesses with their kids. I do not, by any means, want to imply that this was the "worst thing ever" because I know we are very very blessed. My heart goes out to all those parents who have to spend long stays in the PICU.****
And On To CA
* The day after S was released from the hospital, P and I were supposed to be heading to CA for a conference and househunting.
* Postponed the departure date (a few $$ later) and stayed home until our local pediatrician checked him out and said he was doing fine. This postponement also let us be at home for G's actual birthday, which was an extra special treat since I thought we were going to miss it and I was having immense Mommy-Guilt about that.
* Arrived in CA two days late, but were there in time for my aformentioned size 8 dress. (Read back a post or two for more on that.)
* After the conference, we headed up to Ventura County to surprise some great friends at church who we hadn't seen for 4 years!
* Two days of house-hunting later, we signed a lease in a community we were really excited about living in.
Baby Shower in Chi-Town
* Two days after returning from CA, I headed back to the airport and flew to Chicago.
* Evening One in Chicago = worst nail salon experience ever (I'll write about that another day) and tapas dinner with Dad, my brother-in-law "R", and my most-fabulous sister "K"
* Morning One in Chicago = Hair Salon with K for a chic blow-out, Baby Shower at Tribute Restaurant (WON-DER-FUL) for my sister and my soon-to-be new niece "E" and getting to see lots of great people whom I haven't seen in quite a while.
* Afternoon One in Chicago = Drive up to my hometown to see my bestest high school friend "J" and her brand new baby girl!!! Precious, sweet, cute, loveable, snuggable, darling!!! (my friend's baby is all those things.... not my friend herself, that would be weird!)
* Evening Two in Chicago = Delicious Italian dinner with Mom and K, followed by a sleepover for the three of us at K's city apartment. If only we had Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea to watch!
* Morning Two in Chicago = Photo shoot of my sister and her baby bump, head to O'Hare and fly back to Baltimore.
And that, my friends, is what I did from September 2-October 2.
Which leads us nicely to The Big Move Across Country.... TBMAC....
Monday, August 1, 2011
A List of Lists
We found out last week that we need to be on the other side of the country by November 1. Not too bad, right? That's still a good three months away. Moving is a part of the Navy lifestyle and isn't really unexpected in the least. But now it means it's time to get organized. One thing I know how to do is make a list... and here is my list of lists:
LISTS:
1. Grocery List (always ongoing)
2. Local Activities To Do Before We Move
3. Purge and Organize (basically this is just a list of every room and closet in our house)
4. Things To Do for Renting Our House
5. Things To Do for House-Hunting Trip
6. Things To Do for My Sister's Baby Shower
7. Phone Calls to Make Locally (Utility Companies, Dr's offices, etc.)
8. Phone Calls to Make At Our New House (Housing Office, Pre-Schools, Utilities, etc.)
9. Packing List (Items that need to come with us and NOT get packed by movers)
10. Decisions That Need To Be Made
You know you're making lots of lists when your daughter plays pretend and says, "I'm the Momma and I'm making a list!"
LISTS:
1. Grocery List (always ongoing)
2. Local Activities To Do Before We Move
3. Purge and Organize (basically this is just a list of every room and closet in our house)
4. Things To Do for Renting Our House
5. Things To Do for House-Hunting Trip
6. Things To Do for My Sister's Baby Shower
7. Phone Calls to Make Locally (Utility Companies, Dr's offices, etc.)
8. Phone Calls to Make At Our New House (Housing Office, Pre-Schools, Utilities, etc.)
9. Packing List (Items that need to come with us and NOT get packed by movers)
10. Decisions That Need To Be Made
You know you're making lots of lists when your daughter plays pretend and says, "I'm the Momma and I'm making a list!"
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
A Little Post-Fourth of July Post
So yesterday was the Fourth of July, which is always a great holiday for us Americans. I do think of myself as above-average patriotic. I think I'm patriotic almost to the point of cheesiness. I like me some Americana country songs and even get a little teary-eyed when I hear them. I dress myself, and now my family, in some sort of red, white, and blue, every year on Independence Day. USA! That's me.
This enthusiasm for our country goes back as long as I can remember. When I was 4 or 5 I dressed up as the Statue of Liberty for the town's Fourth of July celebration. For the next decade or so, maybe not quite, I participated in the town's kiddie parade. My sister and I would get up early on the Fourth to intertwine crepe paper in our bicycle spokes. We would don every single piece of red, white, and blue clothing we had. One highlight year, my cousins were visiting and they pulled me in a wagon while I sat on a rocking chair (on the wagon) dressed as Betsy Ross and pretended to sew the American flag. I'm 99% sure we won an award that year.
The patriotism wasn't just a Fourth of July thing for me though. Yearround I took great pride in being in charge of putting our flag out in the morning and taking it down after dinner. I would gasp if I ever saw a flag touch the ground. The Pledge of Allegiance meant a lot to me, and I really did love our country. I grew up with idealistic notions that the rest of the world loved us, that the politicians were always looking out for the common man, and democracy was a smooth-running machine.
Obviously as I got older and wiser, the reality of foreign sentiments towards the US, politicians' creepiness and corruption, and a lesson in government (not in high school but that's a different story) opened my eyes to what was really going on. The vibrancy of the red, white, and blue faded a little, but the underlying pride in our country and what we, as a nation, stand for is still deep in my heart.
I do not believe those who serve in our military automatically love our country more than the civilians. I know there are many servicemembers who joined up for an opportunity to get a free education, see the world, etc., without a single glimmer of patriotism. The military was a means to an end. I also know there are many civilians who are passionate about the USA and are working directly or indirectly to improve the lives of every American.
Being married to a servicemember is one way my patriotism comes through. Granted, I would have married my husband if he was a teacher, a garbage man, or a basket weaver, because I love the man he is. I did not go looking for a Navy guy to marry. However, I'm not sure I could get through deployments, living far distances from my family, saying good-bye to very dear friends every few years if I did not believe in the reason why we do those things. I love our country. I want it to be protected every day, in war or peace. When my husband leaves for weeks or months, I know we are not doing it for a bigger pay check or any other convenience, we are doing it to defend a country that I have loved and continue to love since I was a little girl marching around waving an American flag.
This enthusiasm for our country goes back as long as I can remember. When I was 4 or 5 I dressed up as the Statue of Liberty for the town's Fourth of July celebration. For the next decade or so, maybe not quite, I participated in the town's kiddie parade. My sister and I would get up early on the Fourth to intertwine crepe paper in our bicycle spokes. We would don every single piece of red, white, and blue clothing we had. One highlight year, my cousins were visiting and they pulled me in a wagon while I sat on a rocking chair (on the wagon) dressed as Betsy Ross and pretended to sew the American flag. I'm 99% sure we won an award that year.
The patriotism wasn't just a Fourth of July thing for me though. Yearround I took great pride in being in charge of putting our flag out in the morning and taking it down after dinner. I would gasp if I ever saw a flag touch the ground. The Pledge of Allegiance meant a lot to me, and I really did love our country. I grew up with idealistic notions that the rest of the world loved us, that the politicians were always looking out for the common man, and democracy was a smooth-running machine.
Obviously as I got older and wiser, the reality of foreign sentiments towards the US, politicians' creepiness and corruption, and a lesson in government (not in high school but that's a different story) opened my eyes to what was really going on. The vibrancy of the red, white, and blue faded a little, but the underlying pride in our country and what we, as a nation, stand for is still deep in my heart.
I do not believe those who serve in our military automatically love our country more than the civilians. I know there are many servicemembers who joined up for an opportunity to get a free education, see the world, etc., without a single glimmer of patriotism. The military was a means to an end. I also know there are many civilians who are passionate about the USA and are working directly or indirectly to improve the lives of every American.
Being married to a servicemember is one way my patriotism comes through. Granted, I would have married my husband if he was a teacher, a garbage man, or a basket weaver, because I love the man he is. I did not go looking for a Navy guy to marry. However, I'm not sure I could get through deployments, living far distances from my family, saying good-bye to very dear friends every few years if I did not believe in the reason why we do those things. I love our country. I want it to be protected every day, in war or peace. When my husband leaves for weeks or months, I know we are not doing it for a bigger pay check or any other convenience, we are doing it to defend a country that I have loved and continue to love since I was a little girl marching around waving an American flag.
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