Thist & That Update
Posted by happygrl6
Here’s an update for you, Vicki! 
Right before we left FL, E got sick. I thought it was a cold but, after going on forever & ever, we decided it was allergies. She was pretty miserable and cranky. She hasn’t had a runny nose in the last four days, so I am hoping its over for now. Poor thing. She kept crawling into my lap and saying, pitifully, “me no feel good”. This child NEVER slows down unless she’s really sick (like when I had to take her to the ER @ 5 months). So for her to just crawl into my lap and sit was a good indication to how bad she really felt.
E has started her new “school”. So far she seems to really like it. She doesn’t talk much while she’s there but, as soon as I come to get her, she asks for more, so I know she’s enjoying it. Starting this week they get to have sprinkler play one day a week.
Jim is out in the field again this week. He’ll be home for the weekend and then gone again for the next two weeks. And that’ll be the last field time for this school!! He graduates at the end of June and then starts Ranger school in July. That will be 2.5ish long months without him. Good prep for the next deployment, I guess.
Florida was good but it was really good to be home. I have some pictures posted here. I have more to put up.
After some investigation, it appears my theme-default issue for my blog is a known problem w/o any known fix. Annoying that there is no fix but I’m glad to know I’m not alone. It is SO irritating when I get a theme set up just the way I want it and then it changes back to the default!!
Time Away, Time Gone By, Time Alone
Posted by happygrl6
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.
15 Months
Posted by happygrl6
(Pardon my language)
This is bullshit. Utter bullshit. My heart aches for every person affected. I can’t believe we’re now being asked to do 15 months with our soldiers at war, 12 (if we’re lucky) at home, and then start it over again. We’ll make the sacrifice, pray that all soldiers come home & come home unharmed. And we’ll do it over & over again. But we shouldn’t have to do it for a war we’re never going to “win”. There’s no ending to a “war against terrorism”. There’s always going to be terrorists. And we can’t police that for the world for the rest of time.
I fully believe that no one is making these decisions lightly. But its not Bush’s daughters going off. Or Gates’ kids (if he has any). Or Cheney’s. Very few Congressman even have a kid in the military. Its just different when you aren’t being the one asked to send your husband off to possibly die. Or your son. Or daughter. Or wife. Or parent.
Conversation from tonight
Elizabeth: “Me sa(d).”
Me: “Why are you sad?”
E: pitiful look
Me: “Do you know why you’re sad?”
E: “aiy (yes)” [long pause] “dad”
Me: “What about dad?”
E: “Mi(ss) dad. Hol(d) me, please.”
And so we cuddled. And cried. Her for the short-term of her dad being away. Me for what I know is to come.
Just a mom
Posted by happygrl6
Just a mom. I heard that today. For the first time. Ironically, it came on a day when I was doing anything BUT eating bon-bons and surfing the internet while my daughter sat on the couch, eating chips & watching mindless TV. My day started with a frantic call from a dear friend who had just received word that her DH (in Iraq) had been injured. We spent the better part of an hour talking & praying. I then got DD & I ready to head to base where I went to the hospital so I could finish my Red Cross volunteer paperwork & get my hospital badge. Then off to a mom’s group where I talked mostly with a pregnant mama about the importance of being confident in you and your body’s ability to give birth. A couple hours there then came home to work on the website for my <a href=”http://mom-2-mom.org”>Mom-2-Mom</a> group, call a friend to do a publication interview about keeping your sense of humor as a military wife (a.k.a. not losing your mind when the army keeps your stuff in Germany for 8 months while keeping you in the States), call friend #1 to ask about her husband and e-mail another friend on my perspective of DH joining the military “late” in life. The evening was spent at a presentation for the local birth network and in prayer over friend’s DH. Amidst all the other things that occupy my day. Not a typical day but not so untypical either.
My life isn’t what I planned. I always knew I’d be a mother. Being a wife isn’t something I seriously considered either way. But I didn’t plan to be a SAHM. Nor did I plan to be a military wife. I wanted to live in a big city, work in a museum’s education dept, raise my kids, blah, blah, blah. Or some other variation that in no way resembles what would actually happen. Fast forward a few years. I’m working on resumes to send to a few museums in Chicago and we’re looking at homes to buy. And then it all changes. Soon enough, I’m on the other side of the country, my husband gets out of the car to hug & kiss me and our newborn babe and then he’s off to Iraq.
Until that night, I was planning to go back to work when DD was a few months older. As we snuggled on the couch that night, clinging to each other, I couldn’t imagine leaving her in day care when she was already “down” one parent. A parent I wasn’t sure would be returning alive.
I’ll take the mundane tasks of almond-butter sandwiches, puzzles, incessant writing of words for DD and laundry. Buckling sandals, trips to the potty, doing the Hokey Pokey 10 times a day, pouring yet another glass of water. Seeing DD’s delight as the cookies bake, watching her concentrate when putting away the silverware being careful to put each piece just so in the drawer, the wide-eyes when she finds Jack (one of her babies) during hide-n-seek, the delightful glees as she runs outside. Pulling out my hair as she asks to hear ‘Its Potty Time, Ernie’ again, putting her new puzzle together again and spending my day conversing with no other adults. Grocery shopping with a 2.5 yo, the meltdowns only a 2yo can grasp, the insane noise of a McDonald’s Playplace. Listening to DD pray before bed, hearing ‘me love you’ and getting covered in hugs.
Glamorous it isn’t but amazing it will always be.
The Newly Commissioned 2LT
Posted by happygrl6
The ceremony yesterday was nice. After the soldiers marched in, they played the national anthem, said the invocation and then showed a short video. The guest speaker was a 3 star general who looked every bit the part of a general. Very commanding presence. He gave a nice speech directed at the graduates. Diplomas were handed out with the Distinguished Military Graduates going first of which Jim was included. The soldiers then said the Soldier’s Creed and sang the OCS Alma Mater & the Army song.
I have more pictures posted here.
(His new rank is referred to as a ‘butter bar’ as it resembles a stick of butter. You can see the gold bar on his beret and on his shoulder.)
