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.)
Dining Out
Posted by happygrl6
At Elizabeth’s speech appointment yesterday, her therapist was thrilled with her progress. She is starting to put two words together on her own and when I prompt it. She gave us more ideas to strengthen her mouth & tongue muscles. The weak muscle tone, which is part of the apraxia, makes it hard for her to make the sounds come out easily.
Jim’s parents arrived shortly after her appointment and we went to lunch. Jim came home early and his parents took Elizabeth home so I could get shoes & hose before my hair appointment. After getting home, we hung out awhile before getting ready. After picking up a couple classmates, we were off to the Dining Out (there’s also a Dining In but I don’t know what the difference is).
The Dining Out was held at the Columbus Trade Center. Dating back over 150 years, the brick & woodwork were beautiful. The evening started with appetizers & drinks. We then proceeded through the receiving line before being seated. After the presentation of the colors (the flags) & introductions of the head table, dinner was served. Prime rib (that was rather tough), mashed potatoes and almond green beans. Dessert was peach cobbler and chocolate raspberry cake. After dinner there was a speech, an announcement that they didn’t have formation until 8:30 (instead of 6:00) and retirement of the colors. We spent a little while more talking before heading home. Overall, it was much better than I expected. I enjoyed meeting & spending time with the people Jim has lived with for the last 14 weeks.
We arrived home about 10 to find everyone asleep. Jim’s parents slept in E’s room and she slept in her bed in there instead of our room. She woke up once around 2:30 and then went back to sleep. And I got 10 glorious hours of sleep!!! I’ve waited three years for that much sleep and it was incredible!!
We forgot our camera, so we only have two pictures and this is the better of the two. And, just our luck, neither of them is a good one of both of us!!
I hate titles
Posted by happygrl6
I always want to come up with catchy titles but my brain isn’t very creative this late at night.
Tomorrow night is Jim’s formal. I’m happy to be going out but not exactly thrilled with the idea of a formal. Still, it will be nice to spend time with the people he’s lived with for the last four months. I decided on dress #2. I really liked #1 but I didn’t like the way it made my arms look. I have my jewelry for #2 but I need to get shoes & hose tomorrow. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. LOL I just want a basic pair of black pumps…that can’t be too hard can it?! Famous last words.
I booked an appointment at a salon to have my hair done. I don’t want any big up-do or anything, just a basic styling by someone who has more patience to do it than I have. The salon called today to cancel on me. Lovely. The stylist is out and they (quite rudely) said they didn’t have anyone else to do it. I will NOT be going back there. So now I need to call around tomorrow and see if I can find someone. I don’t have the patience or the skill to do much with my hair. And I’d like to have it styled at least a bit since I’m getting all dolled up.
I have spent most of the day deep cleaning. I got behind over the last two weeks. Nothing big but lots of little things slipped by. I am exhausted now. But it feels so good to have a (mostly) orderly home.
Tomorrow I’m switching our scents out. Out with the old (pine, etc.) and in with the new (clean cotton, summer holiday, citrus). I usually don’t do that until February or March but I’m not usually wearing short sleeves in January either. LOL I’m ready for spring!!
I’m a little worried about E tomorrow night. Jim’s parents are going to watch her while we’re out. This will be the longest I have been away from her since last spring. And bedtime….it is going pretty smoothly lately but she hasn’t gone to sleep w/o me since the summer and she’s never gone to bed at night w/o Jim or myself. I know she’ll be fine but I’m a worrier. As jim said, “the worst that can happen is that she’s still up when we get home (11ish) and that’s not much later than when she goes down some nights (9:30-10).” True enough. But he’s not the mama!!
Thursday is Jim’s graduation. Yea! I’m looking forward to getting to pin his rank on him. And the great pay raise. LOL
Cast your vote!
Posted by happygrl6
I need help choosing a dress for Jim’s formal. I like both of them but am leaning more towards one of them. They were both on sale for the same price & I liked the size for both of them (HA!), so that hasn’t helped me make a decision.
Dress Album
Ignore the bad hair and the odd looks on my face. I’ll have better hair when I wear it & I’ll be smiling. :D And if you don’t like either, don’t vote! I’ve been searching for three weeks and these are the best I’ve found. LOL
Sick, again
Posted by happygrl6
Elizabeth slept 10-5:30 without ANY wake ups last night!!! I hope this is going to be a new trend!!! OTOH, after she woke up at 5:30, she didn’t go back to sleep! LOL Jim is home for the weekend, so if she’s up that early tomorrow, he’s on duty. 
…….I was interrupted while writing this by a vomiting baby. *sigh* I guess tonight won’t be a good sleep night! She’s already vomited three times in the last 90 minutes. She’s sound asleep now but probably not for much longer……I was interrupted again writing this by vomit. Morning now and she was up about every two hours to vomit. There was nothing left in her stomach after midnight. :( She’s taking a bath right now, so at least she won’t reak of vomit anymore. 
I don’t even remember what else I was going to write about last night. If I remember, I’ll be back.