Where do I begin?
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| Love is in the air! February 2013, MJ (6 months old) and KJ (2 yrs old) at dinner. |
I can't believe my last post was February of 2013!
Ok, I am going to try and catch you up! In March 2013 I started to get the hang of my husband being deployed. I knew who to call when I needed help, my mother was figuring out how to use the washing machine, the remote control, how to assist at the potty and how to calm a crying baby. I was working on running a 5K, freelancing part-time as a graphic designer, taking KJ to gymnastic class and making it to my Diva Dance class once a week. My husband was managing his deployment and always made time to talk to the family each and every day.
Then late in the month seasonal allergies and illness seemed to overtake my home. By the end of April, I had taken everyone to the doctor at least once. April also was the month that I delivered my husbands birthday gift. A video of friends and family wishing him happy bday. His care package included a DVD I made of over 30 videos, cake in a jar, balloons, candy and Avengers party favors for his new buddies. By the way, the 5K training ended and my Diva Dance teacher started working at a new gym, so that stopped too.
The end of the month was the much anticipated 3 year old Princess and Pirate party for my KJ. The night before the party, was one of those infamous trips to the ER. KJ got into my medicine cabinet and thought the Tylenol was candy. After trying to unsuccessfully ingest charcoal, we had to wait in the ER until 1am to make sure there wasn't anything in her system. With an all clear from the doctors, it was back home for me to try and set up for this party. I began to arrange party favors, hang banners, streamers and a little princess and pirate dress up table with booty for the little party goers to take home. I went to sleep at about 6am. The baby woke up at 6:30am. Needless to say, I was exhausted, but thanks to some great family friends we pulled it off and had a wonderful time. This party included a bouncy house, the Fairy Godmother and Princess Tiana (who read stories, turned our guests into offical princesses/priates, did face painting, make up and helped us sing the bday song)! Yes it was total overkill, but as one of my good friends said on her daughters birthday when she received an expensive gift, "hey her daddy is deployed!" It did end up being a great time for us all.
In May, I continued to have a runny nosed little boy, which kept causing infections. More trips to the doctor, a trip to the ER due to a high fever and more antibiotics. (Did I mention that my husband is a doctor and all of this medical stuff is happening while he is in another country?) Any-who, we took a road trip for our upcoming move. Sorry this is so out of order, but at some point we learned that we were going to be moving to Georgia. We would be closer to home, but leaving our new family in Louisiana. It was bitter sweet. So I took the family on a two week East Coast tour. I packed up Grandma and the kiddos in the backseat and drove 9.5 hours to Georgia. We stopped at children's museums and took our time getting there spending the night in hotels to break up the trip. KJ fell in love with her family and was so excited about moving to Georgia. I interviewed schools for the kids and found a good part of town for us to look for a home.
June was full of excitement. We could really start to countdown Daddy's homecoming. The jelly bean count down jar, the daddy deployment doll and anticipation all came back out too. It was time to prepare for our move, look for homes and think about the future. I started to nest like my husband was a new baby coming home. I cleaned the attic, our closets, the pantry, the playroom and any other area I could get my hands on. Grandma was preparing for her trip home as well. We couldn't believe that she had been there almost an entire year. And we tried to take time to reflect on the great experiences that we shared.
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| Home sweet home. July 15, 2013 reunion after 7 months away from the family. |
My mother went home the next weekend and it was another bittersweet time. The kids love their "Ga-ma" and I really learned so much about her and got closer to her during our time. I think she found an independence that she forgotten she had. She went home with a great report from the doctor and a new sense of pride at how well she had taken care of herself. I am really proud of her.
In August, we took at two week family vacation. We spent a week looking for a house, which we found and were so happy to check that off our list and to do it together as husband and wife. Then we went to the beach! That trip was full of great times and laughter. We celebrated MJ's first birthday, enjoyed the beach, played games, went to a nature museum, rode a ferry, had pool time and didn't want the vacation to end. So, we went to New Orleans for two days too! We walk through the french quarter, had beignets at Cafe Du Monde and finally made the drive back home. We got back just in time for the movers to pack us up and move to Georgia.
That is where I am writing from tonight. We are in temporary housing as we finish unpacking our boxes in the rental house. It's just too crazy in there for our toddlers, so we are still living out of our vacation luggage and feeling a little bit like gypsies. But I do see how gypsies have a care free life. We really don't need that much stuff. We have lived for a month off of two suitcases, food coolers and lots of love. We have had time to "reintegrate" my husband into the family and today we celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on the road after visiting Mark's mom in SC.
Well, that was a seriously watered down overview of the last 6 months. I left out lots of tears, therapy, the details of my "deployment diet" and my spiritual/creative struggles. I will try to fill in those gaps in the coming months.
Thank you for all of the prayers and posts on Facebook.
Be blessed,
Kristye
kristye.com
dorilam.com
kdudley@dorilam.com
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