father's day

in the land of woulda coulda shoulda, i would have sent fly boy a father's day package that should have arrived before today.  his next care package (including his father's day card) is still sitting in neatly stacked piles on top of his dresser.  i also would have sent my dad his father's day card and come up with a thoughtful gift.  neither of which i have done.

i'm thankful both fly boy and my dad will not take it personally that i have procrastinated yet again.

while i didn't get cards or packages sent out, i was able to put together a little video for fly boy.

happy father's day!  we love you and miss you!

happy father's day, my fly boy

*the password is my maiden name

thankful thursdays no. 2

Sitting in the back corner of the local coffee shop, trying to both enjoy the time to myself and be productive with my schoolwork, I find myself distracted.  Charley is happily home playing with a babysitter for the afternoon while I grab a few hours to catch up on grad school homework.  I get through a few paragraphs of my textbook before I am moved to tears.  As I read an excerpt about a mother of little girl with autism depicts her struggle to manage a 45-minute plane ride with the snide remarks from other passengers, I start to think how blessed I am.  Wasn’t it just three days ago, I found myself in a similar, yet vastly different position?  Traveling by myself with my 15-month old, 23 weeks pregnant desperately wishing that my husband were by my side certainly was not my ideal travel circumstance.  Yet, I’m struck, it could have been so much more difficult.  While the travel may have been inconvenient, I am blessed with a wonderful, loving and supportive husband, a healthy daughter, a community of friends, family in Florida, New York and Ohio, and above all else, my God who unconditionally loves and forgives me.   It was a gentle reminder of all I have to be thankful for this week…

-I am thankful for Charley, and the joy she brings to my life everyday.  Today, for instance, she discovered that she could crawl in and sat inside the rolling bins under her play table.  Charley spent a good fifteen minutes climbing in and out, pulling toys out, and then bringing them back in with her.  It was adorable.

-I am thankful for an amazing and supportive family and military family.

-I am thankful for a best friend that I can talk to for over an hour on a Thursday morning. One that my heart aches to live in the same town as, but we still can share the intimate details of life together.

-I am thankful for a loving husband who daily encourages me. 

-I am thankful for the strength of our marriage.  That not only do I miss fly boy, but I notice his absence in the small things each day.  I am better, more complete, person/wife/mom when he is here.  This time apart only continues to affirm our marriage, the merging of two lives to one, that two flesh indeed become one. 
-I am thankful for how sweet fly boy’s homecoming will be.  And that I can look forward to that day as it grows closer with each passing hour. 

one month down

we are one month into the deployment.
that feels like an accomplishment in and of itself.
(i'm choosing not to think about how many more months we have to go.  one more down sounds a lot better.)

while reading through some old posts, i came across this "gem" from one of fly boy's previous deployments describing my different routine when fly boy is gone.  let's be honest, i don't think many of the habits i described are/were particularly heathy.

i giggled reading it, thinking about how different, yet similar  our life is two years later, but also dealing with a deployment.

-two years ago, i proudly left dirty laundry in the hamper just to have some of fly boy's clothes still waiting to be washed.  
-this time, i made sure to do all his laundry before he left, even folded it and put it away for him.  i did, however, leave his two flight suits in the laundry room hamper for several weeks before actually washing them and thus admitting to myself he wouldn't be coming home in the foreseeable future.

-two years ago i tried to replace fly boy with lucy.  she hated cuddling.
-today, i still let lucy sleep on our bed, but she still jumps down after five minutes of non-cuddling.  lucy refuses to let me use her to replace fly boy.

-two years ago i avoided wearing clothes that require ironing as fly boy is the better ironer in our family.
-today, i have gotten better at generally choosing clothes that require no ironing.  making fly boy's absence less obvious.

-two years ago i ate cookie dough ice cream for dinner.
-this time, i eat cookies for dinner.  (only after charley goes to bed, of course.)

-two years ago i frequently fell asleep on the couch while watching tv late at night.
-last night, i woke up at 1am and dragged myself to bed to get some "good sleep."  

to sum up:
two years, one move, one baby and another baby on the way, not much has changed when it comes to deployments.

come home soon fly boy.  you bring much needed structure to my life!  ;)

we will use any excuse to get new family pictures

i'm calling it charley's one year portraits/predeployment/last family pictures with just the three (oops, sorry lucy) four of us.

whatever you want to name it, we had the privilege of our dear friend kelli campbell taking some family pictures before fly boy left for his deployment.

i'm in love.

the 17 week bump...

thanks kelli! 
you are the best!

thankful thursday no.1

it's that time that every military wife dreads.

deployment time.

a time where it is easy to wallow in self-pity, and become completely self-involved.

in an effort to keep the focus off my own sorrows, i'm starting a new series: thankful thursdays. a time where i can reflect the many blessings in my life.

five things i am thankful for today...

no. 5  letter writing and emails.  fly boy and i get to take this time to revive the lost art of writing love letters to each other.  there is something about the anticipation of walkin to the mailbox everyday to see if there is a handwritten letter from my love that cannot be replaced with an inbox or text.  i love his letters.

no. 4 living two miles from my brother and sister-in-law.  being in two different branches of the military, it's got to be a 2% chance that we would not only be stationed at the same base, but at the same time.  huge huge blessing.

no. 3 lucy. those long nights when i can't seem to stop the tears from flowing, i always have a sweet golden retriever's head resting on my lap.  fly boy recently came across a study that concluded dogs are more empathetic to human emotion than other humans.  lucy is proof.  

no. 2 my sweet charlotte.  even in the middle of her first ear infection, she is the joy of my day.  she has never been a cuddly baby, but as she matures into a toddler, she seems to tolerate, even enjoy hugging me or snuggling on the couch.  i love it.

no. 1 wifi and facetime.  charley and i have been able to "see" fly boy almost everyday.  it has made the first few weeks of this deployment so much easier.  charley has loved eating lunch with her daddy.  she even signs for "more" dada after we hang up.  breaks.my.heart.  but at the same time, so good that she recognizes him and misses him.

our last family trip to the beach for a while.

miss you my fly boy!

family

it's been a crazy time of year.
but crazy wonderful.

over the last two months, we have had a lot of company.
all family.
from syracuse and columbus.
and have loved every minute of it.

these are the times that i wish we lived closer to both families.
it's such a blessing to have these sweet visits,
i just wish we could see everyone more often.

charlotte one year

i'm over a month almost two months late getting all of charley's 12 month pictures.
surprise surprise.
this one keeps us busy.
and i'm getting little lazy.
(i think any subsequent children may not have the "ode to ___ blog" that charley has enjoyed this last year...)

i did take a few pictures right around her one year mark.
then some around 13 months.
then a few more this week (at almost 14 months.)

since 11 months charley...
is walking.
eating anything and everything.
reorganizing my once organized end table drawer on an hourly basis.
loves hiding shoes all over the house.
loves hiding everything.
loves turning on the water in our master bathtub, then leaves the room with the water running.
has pretty much moved to one nap a day.
throws embarrassing temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way.
sometimes talking, saying new words, then we don't hear them for another month.
but overall, a true joy to be around.

enjoy!

the line between laughing and screaming 20 minutes before a nap is VERY blurry...

the anatomy of throwing a fit...

my favorite from the bunch...the only one of her really smiling..