Goodbye Summer!

Whew. The first 6 weeks of J being gone have both flown by in a blink of an eye and been agonizing at the same time. But, we are all alive, happy and dare I say thriving? Baby sister is literally days from her arrival. Isaac is absolutely loving school. Soccer has begun (more on that in another post...) and fall has been showing up in the early mornings and late evenings. It has been the best 6 weeks I could have asked for, given the fact that my husband is on the other side of the world.

I've said it before but, the resilience shown by young children just blows me away. We have made every effort to keep the adjustment of a big move, a new sibling on the way, Daddy having to go do his job elsewhere for a year, new school, starting team sports, etc as seamless as possible. I know there are things we could have done better but I can honestly say this transition went better than we could have hoped. We still have yet to welcome Sister, however, Isaac has shown no anxiety or apprehension about welcoming her to our wild little family. He is so ready for her to be here. We all are!

However, I think I have been trying to avoid the fact that her arrival means I finally have to face the fact that I have to give birth without my husband's physical presence. Part of me wants to just fast forward through the whole thing and be back home skyping with J while life carries on. However, I know I would regret not fully taking in the entire experience. Not that skipping over it is even an option. I'm just worried that my resolve and decision to just HANDLE and DO this will all disappear once it is actually time. But, I think I'll just continue with my "fake it until you make it" attitude and hope to come out gracefully without ugly crying for 48 hours in the hospital.

I realize this post isn't exactly reader-friendly, or well written but I just needed to get these things out. Hopefully I will be able to start writing more coherent and focused posts in the next few months. :)

Just thinking.

It has been just over one month since we completed the big move from Louisiana to Michigan. We are settling in quite well. Although, I'll admit, the thought of being in the place J and I both grew up, dated, got married, etc without him for a year...it gives me anxiety if I really stop and dwell on it. So, I try to avoid it. Much like everything else right now. :)

J's leave is going by entirely too fast. Soon he'll be on his way to his new "home" for the year. Just one short month after that IJC will be starting school and roughly 2 weeks after that, Little Miss will be making her appearance! IJC was 9 lbs 6 oz when he was born, my BP had been giving me problems the last 3 weeks of the pregnancy, the list goes on. I was induced about a week after his due date and while it was long (21 or 22 hours), it was a successful vaginal delivery. Definitely did an alarming amount of damage to my nether bits and the uterus itself but it was a smooth-ish recovery. Aside from the popped stitches that were never properly addressed. Thankfully, new baby doc said she is going to see what she can do since it isn't just an aesthetic issue. The scar tissue is actually a painful annoyance. All of this to say, the doctor (with my approval) set a tentative induction date at around 39 weeks to try to avoid the BP stress and another large baby from doing much more damage.

I've already heard everything under the sun about letting babies come when they are ready, why inductions are bad, etc, etc, etc. I just don't have the patience for the mommy war bull shit this time around. I don't need the thoughts of other people who hang their self confidence on all of the mommy awards they've won for super crunchy green all natural birth, feeding, living, etc. Period. It just blows my mind that women everywhere feel so comfortable telling other women what they are doing/going to do wrong. It must be a supreme feeling to actually think that your opinion supercedes all others and should be taken as gospel.

So, other than that...we are just spending our time relaxing as a family these last few days! Enjoying summer. IJC and J have been getting loads of fishing time in. If IJC could go fishing every day, he'd never ask for anything else. Other than maybe hotdogs and water. The kid would survive on these 2 things only if we'd let him. Eek.

I'm trying to enjoy each day as much as we can but I find myself obsessing and planning for the routine we will be in once J leaves. Once the baby is here. Trying to focus on how I can make days easier for all of us. Planning a few activities to look forward to each month. Just being a control freak about encouraging the year to pass quickly while trying to enjoy it and not just wish an entire year away. Especially considering it is going to be nearly the entire first year for baby sister. Not an easy task...

Leavin' the Deep South.

This move might literally drive me over the edge before we even leave Louisiana.

Inevitably, car issues popped up. For a moment there it looked like we were going to have to throw a few GRAND at the problem, which would have seriously derailed all financial progress we've made towards savings. Not to mention the few thousand it is taking to move across the country voluntarily. The Air Force would either move us up to Michigan or from Michigan to Alaska, but not both. No brainer! Thankfully we got that all taken care of and Daddy, the knight in shining armor, was able to solve the issue by doing a full tune up himself. So we saved hundreds on that also. Yay for having a super capable and manly husband who is awesome with his hands!

Now we are about less than 72 hours from officially leaving the dirty south and I am a giant ball of emotions. Happy that we can get the move over with which means we can get the year apart-business going so we can have J back and get to Alaska! Sad that we are leaving friends who have become family in every sense of the word. We have been so blessed to find a few other couples who we've connected with and who love our son just as much as his biological aunts and uncles do. I'm just treating these goodbyes as the "see you laters" we all come to know and dread with the military life. Why does it seem like we are always saying good bye? To family in our home state. To each other. To friends. To houses. On and on. Such is the life.

Back to my crazy pregnancy hormone induced ball of emotion. I'm nervous that we are making a mistake by leaving 2 weeks ahead of J. We don't really have an option because I HAVE to be in Michigan for my 28 week appointment to meet the new baby doctor. J HAS to stay here for all of the testing, training, outprocessing jazz I mentioned before. I just keep focusing on the fact that we will have a few weeks of uninterrupted QT before he heads for the pacific. And I need to remind myself that, we made these decisions before the real stress of moving and leaving our base set in so we need to have confidence in the decisions we made while we were calm and rational. And by we I mean I. Because, as always, Joe is 100% steady and 100% calm. He is ever my rock. I am so blessed to have him to help fill in the cracks when I start to bend and break under pressure. And he does it with such grace. No frustration or moments of patience loss. Total opposite of me. I know I must wear him completely thin with my worrying, what-ifs, anxiety, etc. But he doesn't let it show. God bless that sexy man of mine!

The house has to be done tonight, and it mostly is. But there are stragglers in every room, of course. This is how boxes of random junk get tossed together. I dream of the day that we do a full TMO move. Next summer, it will be bliss!

We've left IJC's room for last, as he has been struggling with the move. Even though he LOVES being in Michigan when we visit family, he is just not looking forward to moving. And I don't blame him with all of the changes he has going on in the next few months. Daddy going away, new baby sister on the way shortly after...not easy for the little man of the house! But tonight we finally have to get his room boxed up and in the garage with everything else. Monday this will ALL be over and we will be unpacking and awaiting Daddy's arrival in the Mitten!

C'mon, Monday!

Keeping the crazy to a minimum.

With the big move up north just days away, I'm still surprised that I am actually holding it together. I've had one meltdown and that wasn't over J's upcoming year long short tour. It was over switching insurance regions mid pregnancy. It seemed like this huge hill that I couldn't possibly climb after talking to our current region and the region we're about to switch to. After hours of googling and phone calls, I realized the answer was simple. It will cost us a bit out of pocket over the next year but it is worth the price of not having to deal with non-military PCM, authorizations, etc. Once I settled down and realized that it is just another task on the list of inevitable moving chaos and not the huge uphill battle I was making it out to be...the day went along much smoother. Or maybe it was the giant cry I had in the bathroom.

J has to stay at our current base for about 2 weeks longer than the kiddo and I, due to some training, PT test and other pre-Korea things. I would certainly be staying here if I didn't have a new OB to see 1,000 miles away. We, obviously, want to soak up all of the extra time that we can before he heads off. Good news is, he is taking a few weeks off before he heads out so we will have plenty of uninterupted time to have some summer fun! We are definitely planning on doing some camping and heading to Lake Michigan for day trips to the beach. The boys will no doubt spend a few days a week fishing on the pond at the farm.

In other news, I have already started looking at new ways to introduce even cleaner eating habits into our daily lives. And fitness plans that will help me meet my goals of losing the pregnancy lbs. I've only gained 9 lbs thus far. Which, compared to the 20 something I had already gained by 26 weeks with Isaac...makes me feel like a goddess. Even if I do feel larger than I did at this point with him. I've been scouring clean eating/lifestyle blogs. Some of them make it look so easy and everything looks so tasty! I know it isn't easy to get into a routine but I ALSO know that once you hit your stride in that routine, staying fit and clean FEELS amazing. I just need to remember that when it's -20 degrees in Michigan this year and the house is packed with Holiday goodies. Hopefully I'll have managed to get into enough of a routine (without being derailed by college football saturdays, apple cider mills, etc) that it won't be 'no 'thang. I'll have mid tour to be looking forward to and I'm going to want to be smokin' hot for my man!

I realize this post has no photos but I mostly just needed to write out what is going on so that I can continue to tell myself things are going fine, the move will soon be overwith, the year will be on a roll and the kids and I have so much to look forward to even if Daddy can't be with us. I refuse to dwell in the self pity that can so easily take hold when you're dealt some not so awesome cards in the military lifestyle. But the bottom line is families can choose to let the year get the best of them while they lock themselves in the house and refuse to get out and live their lives (That are going on whether you actively participate in it or not. Time is passing.) or they can embrace all of the possibilities that an entire year holds! All of the growing you can do, learning, exploring your area, exploring yourself, finding new ways to communicate with your spouse and creative ways to keep things romantic and exciting, having the opportunity to share precious one on one time with your children if you have them...the list goes on and on. It doesn't have to be a pity party for one for a year, 6 months, 4 months...whatever boat you're in. It is a choice. A simple one, really. And why would anyone choose to break down and lay in bed waiting for their live to return to "normal". There is no normal, here. Having a spouse who sometimes has to come in and out of your family's daily life is simply the reality of life in the military. Best to find a way to make it work for you instead of against you! Now, I will just come and re-read this whenever I start to feel sorry for myself.

9 days and counting! Time to get crackin' on some packin'!


I didnt mean to be that cheezy. :)

Can it be?

Has it seriously been 3ish weeks since I last posted? Has it seriously been that long that we've known about the big move to Alaska? Holy.Shit. Moving on.

Things are going swimmingly in our (extremely hot) neck of the woods. The house is coming along nicely. I went through each room and decluttered, hauled out things I've been holding onto for years but KNOW I'll never wear, use, make, etc. We packed up things we won't be needing here for the next 3 weeks. Cleaned out the garage and got it organized. So all that will be left is load up the weekend before our final-out inspection and then hit the road to The Mitten!

It hit 100 here today so, as I near the 3rd trimester, I want to sing Hallelujah and all of the praises I know that we are heading north before I get much bigger! Phew!

What else? We survived the first buzz cut of the summer, courtesy of Daddy.

I love Instagram. Seriously. So easy and fun!

We've had lots of morning park time, afternoon pool time and some fishing in the evenings when it isn't too hot. Which means little man is all tuckered out and (mostly) behaving famously as he has plenty of outlets for the gobs of energy he is hoarding and refuses to share.

IJC and Stella are bonding quite nicely and she generally enjoys his presence. Now that she weighs more than him and can lick him nearly to death when he starts to push her buttons.

Goal for the week: POST atleast twice more. I will not let this blog flounder as the others that have come before it!

The Last Frontier

The last month has been QUITE the anxiety ridden roller coaster. Actually, this entire year has been. I think about the amount of plans that have been made, then changed, then changed again...and it is overwhelming to sort it all out! But, one thing I CAN say is that life sure isn't boring!

First, we found out that we get to welcome a new addition to our family in the fall! Then immediately after that we found out we'd be moving to Guam about 6 weeks after that baby (which we now know is a baby girl!) was born. We started planning for that. I had to work pretty hard at moving myself from fear, uncertainty, anxiety, etc to excitement about the move to a 30 mile long island. But I managed to get there! Only to find out that it was no longer happening.

Fast Forward to April, when we found out that Joe would be going to Korea for a year. The short of it is that he will miss the birth of baby girl, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Isaac's 5th birthday, Christmas, New Year...then he will come home for a WHOLE MONTH which will fall  around our 6 year wedding anniversary. Then head back to Korea for 6ish months. It will be a wild ride! But we know we'll handle it like the team that we are. Focusing on the fact that we have the skills as a family to "survive and thrive" over this year apart is key. I'll be making a list of goals, destinations I'd like to take the kids, etc and documenting the whole year here. It will be great to look back at and see how much we all learned and the growth we made!

BUT...the best news of all...


J's crazy year of exercises and inspections in South Korea ultimately brought us to something we both wanted to experience in this life.

Photo from Google Images

Photo from Google Images

Photo from Google Images

That's right, folks! We are moving to Alaska in 2013! It was J's #1 pick when we put our heads together and came up with a list of places we'd like to go, given the choice.

It was very welcomed news! Especially after J had received word that his entire application for a follow on request had been DENIED. Due to the fact that he will only have a little over a year  left on his enlistment after he gets back from Korea. After some phone calls, "they" got it together and offered him one of the Air Force Bases in AK, after he agreed to sign an extension of his enlistment to stay in AK for 3 years.

People are mostly shocked. Living in a subarctic climate is obviously not on every one's "must do" list. But, we are from Michigan and definitely into Fishing, Hunting, Camping, Exploring...outdoorsy activities galore! Well...I should rephrase that. The boys are VERY into it. J is like super-outdoors man on crack and IJC is certainly following in his footsteps. J is also thinking, since we'll be there, maybe we should just stay there so baby girl can live in parkas and boots until she leaves the nest! Oh, Daddy's are funny.

I, on the other hand, do enjoy the outdoors. The beauty is obviously out of this world. I have been googling Denali National Park for a few hours. There are no words. However, I also like to sit in my house, or by a fire/campfire, and enjoy the scenery with a glass of wine. So, if there will be wine, I will be down for the Alaskan Interior!



The one where I overload you with pointless details and photos. Enjoy!

Our little He-Man has been having too-close-for-comfort near meltdowns all day and looking like he was dangerously close to needing to be put to bed since oh, about, 4:30. Imagine my surprise when we are watching Harry Potter (the one where R.Patz dies) after an early dinner and I look over to see him snoring into the arm of the couch. OK, maybe not so much surprise.

So I decided to settle in and write a real post and sort through a few photos. I'm certainly no editing expert, so judge away. I just enjoy playing around with photographs of my ridiculously adorable child. I am most definitely biased.

Moving on. We took a trip to our home state in March and I just got around to uploading the pictures today. Imagine my husband's surprise at the delay. Again, not so much of a surprise.

This was the first long road trip we've made thus far during this pregnancy. Well, that we knew of. I was pregnant and didn't know it early January during another trip. I was in no shape to try and pilot or co-pilot the long haul in one stretch so we took a break for the evening 3 hours into the trip. Yes. 3 HOURS. The horror. We got started much too late in the day, the dogs weren't having it, IJC's motion sickness meds were doing wonky things and my bladder was costing us some serious time. So we decided to stop in Arkansas and hit 'er hard in the morning.

The last leg of the trip went off without a hitch, as far as I remember. And we made it to the Mitten with lots of hugs waiting to greet us. It was the first time seeing everyone since finding out we were expecting baby #2, so everyone was extra excited. We visited, went fishing, shopped, ate and did all of the textbook home-visit things you do when you spend months away from your loved ones. We love the life the military has provided us and my husband 100% loves his job, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't hard to be away from our families as we raise our child.

He is a champ about it all, of course. Military children are some of the most resilient, well adjusted and well-rounded children I've ever met. Our son is no different and I am so very thankful for that. I'm constantly amazed at how he rolls with the punches of this crazy life. He makes me us proud!

Daddy and IJC enjoying some farm time.

(please ignore the mustache. Mustache March is the bane of my existence)

Fishing on the Pond!

 

And while I am at it, I am going to throw my 17 week belly photo. I am almost 21 weeks now, but I want to at least get it down here! I will post the 21 week photo on Friday and keep doing it bi-weekly until the end from there.

I'm feeling baby girl move late at night/early in the morning while I am laying in bed. It still tickles. IJC can't wait to be able to feel her, and of course neither can J. He will be leaving around the 35-36 week mark and won't officially meet her until she is about 6-7 months old so he has to get the snuggles in when he can. Even if she's still an inside-baby.

Well folks, that's all for now! I hear a big ice cold glass of water calling my name.