Tomorrow E & I are off to Florida!  We’re going to Fort Meyers to see Jim’s family.  We were supposed to go to Atlanta today to meet up with some friends for a park day and then do shopping & stay the night at a hotel.  I struggled to get packed & everything for the house done yesterday, so we decided to not go.  I am HOPING to head to Atlanta early tomorrow and do some shopping prior to flying out but we’ll see.  We get back next Tuesday.

Friday I am meeting up with a friend I haven’t seen in almost two years.   Her husband is also in the army.  I am so excited to see her and her little girl.

So I tried to post before we went to IN last week but I couldn’t get it to go through.  I didn’t disappear off the face of the planet, just out of touch w/technology.  My mom has dial-up, so I usually don’t get on while I’m there.  Its a nice break, really.  One I wish I could force myself into here.  If the computer is available, it acts like a magnet.  But if I don’t have it available, in whatever way, I’m totally fine.   Its my connection to the “outside world” and I use that too much as an excuse.

Anyway…

We I finally decided on a comforter for Elizabeth’s “big girl bed”.  I’ve been on the hunt for quite awhile.  As I posted a few months back, the ones I was finding I liked were $1100+.   About a $1000 more than my upper limit!!  I got on the hunt again, narrowed it down to 5, Jim narrowed it down to 3, E chose the same 3 (I don’t think she understood that I was asking her to pick ONE LOL) and I made the final decision.  I think it’ll be cute.  Feminine but not overly so.  Once it arrives, I’ll take the fabric to the fabric store and look for something to use for curtains and/or a valance.  I’m looking forward to putting her room together, finally.

It was almost exactly a year ago I posted about everything being packed up for Germany and ready to go!  HA.  What a year it has been!

My mom drove back from IN & flew home Saturday.  It was nice to have her to entertain E on the drive.

Speaking of which….on the way home, E got sick literally 5 minutes from home.  Vomit was everywhere.  I had to pull of the interstate, strip her down on the side of the road (no place else there), clean her up and comfort her.  At 9:30.  On a poorly-lit exit.  Some guy stopped to offer help.  I think he was honest but it still made me nervous.  I was glad my mom was there.  She then had two weird BMs Friday.  And today, she curled up on the dining room floor and then vomited.  She was then fine.  I thought the sickness on the drive home was car sickness but now I’m not sure.  She’s been acting pretty normal though not fully “right”.  I’m not too concerned but I do wonder if something is going on.

Jim is out in the field a couple nights this week.  I’m looking forward to it.   As much as I miss him when he’s gone, I also like my own bedtime routines.  Since he goes to bed early, I don’t get that time when he’s home.  It’ll be a nice change.  This school has him gone several times for a few nights at a time.  A nice variety, good preparation for the next few schools.

Not much time to write but I wanted to do a quick update.

My step-dad started radiation & chemo today.  He was  feeling good after it, so he went back to work.  We’ll see what happens over the next few days.  I *think* my mom said he’ll be having it every week, maybe every other week.

We had a nice Easter.  Quiet.  Ribs for dinner.   Yum.

I’ve added some new pictures to our Picasa site.   The new ones are ‘another photo shoot’ and then all the ones from ‘woodland park zoo’ and older.   Jim has transferred a lot of older pictures onto this computer,  so I’ll be adding more in the coming weeks. 

Elizabeth is just about potty-trained.  And I think it’s going to stick this time.  We’ve attempted several other times and she’ll do great for a couple days and then revert back.  We’ve been at it a week now and she almost always tells me first or goes to the potty herself.  When we go out, she usually wants to wear a diaper.  I figure we’ll work on that this week.  It’s been a pretty easy process, thankfully.

Its been much too long since I’ve written! I just can’t seem to get myself together lately. I feel like I’m going non-stop but yet I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing. Sadly, I don’t even have much to report!!

Jim is in his last week of school #2. One more school and then he can officially serve as an officer. I think #3 ends in July. At that point he can also be called out of his other schools if a unit needs him to serve. We’ve been blessed that we’ve had him home almost two years but the closer we get to the end of schooling, the closer his next trip to Iraq.

My step-dad is doing  well.  He hopes to return to work next week.  He starts chemo April 6 (what a great Good Friday, eh) and will have it weekly.  He’ll also be doing radiation but I’m not sure the schedule on it.  He’s finally able to keep food in his stomach, so I think that has done a great deal in helping him feel better.  He’s barely been able to keep anything in since October.  He’s been losing 5-15 lbs a week!  The doctors would like him to lose more weight but are hoping his body slows it down to a more reasonable rate!!  As my mom said, that rate of loss would be pretty good under normal circumstances.

<mom brag> Elizabeth recently got her first jigsaw puzzle.  She has loved puzzles since she was about a year old and has mastered all the wooden puzzles I’ve given her.  So I thought I’d give her a 24 piece jigsaw and that would keep her going for awhile.  Wrong.  She has it almost mastered!  So we got another new one today.  The 24 piece are for 3+!  With her love of puzzles, legos, taking things apart/putting them back together, Jim swears she’s going to be an engineer.</mom brag>

We  put Windows Vista on our computer this weekend.  I really like it so far.  When Jim reformatted the computer, though, he forgot to copy some of the things I asked so I’ve spent the last few days recreating some impt. documents.  Men.

<mama moment> I took E to Kohl’s yesterday to look for some summer clothes and a couple dresses. We went to the dressing rooms to try the dresses on.  She was facing the three-way mirror and when I put the first dress on and looked at her reflection in the mirror, I started crying.  She looked SO grown up.  The dress really flatters her build and the colors looked good.  My little girl is SO big!!  *sigh*  She loves that dress and has worn it yesterday and today.  And we’ve gotten SO many compliments on it!  (And it was just $11! )  Suddenly she seems SO big.  I am loving this age.  But where in the world did my itty bitty baby go??</mama moment>

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers & good thoughts.  They are really appreciated.

He had surgery yesterday.  It was more complex than the doctor expected.  They removed his spleen, gall bladder & half of his pancreas.  They couldn’t get all of the cancer as some of it was wrapped around an artery.  But he got everything else he could see.  They will start chemo in 3 weeks.  They haven’t met with an oncologist yet but will soon.  He has been sitting up today and had a bath.  The nurses are impressed with how well he’s doing.  He should be out of ICU tomorrow and out of the hospital this weekend.