A ride on the crazy train -- that is the best description I have for what this deployment has been for me. From the start, I've had strange compulsions and aversions. I haven't really drank since he left (seems wrong somehow to sit and enjoy a glass of wine without him), the commissary often makes me cry (I've actually talked to other women who had issues with this -- how dare people be happy while you're having a moment of "my husband would really like this, but he's not here to enjoy it and won't be home before it expires"? -- or just the fact that I can't escape the soldiers in uniform there), happy couples actually totally infuriate me, and I don't like to take evening walks anymore (because that is something we did often together)...you get the gist, right? Crazy...things I can logically convince myself don't make sense, but can't stop the compulsion anyway.
The end is in sight -- he could be home in as little as a week -- and my nervous crazy energy is turning into a cleaning spree. And no, not regular cleaning -- cleaning as in today I scrubbed the fridge out from top to bottom. Shampooing carpets and washing windows have been done (though I still need to finish shampooing carpets). I've been working on these projects for a while, but in the last few days I've really kicked it into overdrive. So the question is now, will I run out of dirty things to clean before he gets home? And if I do, what on EARTH will I do with myself to keep my mind occupied?
I'm SO looking forward to getting off of this train!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Because it has been a while...
...and because they are so cute, here are a few recent photos of the little ones. Unfortunately, I couldn't fit my camera in my suitcase when I visited Ohio a few weeks ago, so I don't have any new ones of Hannah.
Reid, staunchly refusing to cooperate for me:
Ross, happily cooperating:
And Lucy, after she learned to say "cheese". Now she hams it up with a huge smile and says "cheeee" for me.
Reid, staunchly refusing to cooperate for me:
Ross, happily cooperating:
And Lucy, after she learned to say "cheese". Now she hams it up with a huge smile and says "cheeee" for me.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Eleven!
Has it really been a month since I posted on here? Er, sorry about that. I'm afraid I must admit that my patience with this deployment has been completely exhausted and my mental status is sketchy. I'm grumpy, moody, distracted and useless most of the time. The good news is, I only need to survive a few more weeks of this as today marks eleven months. November 17th should be a worst case scenario for Jeremy's return. I'm trying not to get my hopes up that he'll be home much before that, as I'd rather have a pleasant surprise at the end instead of disappointment when it takes all 365 days for him to get home.
We've had a busy month around here. Lucy has been completely weaned for several weeks now(yeah!). Ross has had a sudden burst of success with potty training -- in fact, an amazing burst of success. About two weeks ago I decided it was time to get serious and after about two days of constant supervision he just seemed to get it. He already is telling us when he needs to go on his own (I rarely prompt him to use the potty anymore, except before we leave the house or bedtime). In fact, he's only had one accident (which was luckily at night when he was already wearing a diaper) in the last five or so days. Jeremy had told me to have them all potty trained by the time he got home...at least I'm 1/2 way to that goal. I'm thinking he should be responsible for potty training Lucy, since he missed out completely on potty training Ross.
I seem to be "nesting" in anticipation of Jeremy's return. In the last 2 weeks I tore apart, cleaned, organized and painted the master bedroom closet and the pantry. I've re-organized both the boys and Lucy's closets in the last several weeks. I re-did some of the shrubs in front of the house. John power washed the house and I cleaned all the windows inside and out. The kitchen cabinets have been scrubbed. I shampooed the carpet in the upstairs of the house (downstairs is still on the to-do list). I still have a few more things on my list, but I have plenty of time to get them done (I think). The nesting seems to be a result of my restlessness and a desire to have the house perfect when he gets home. Though at this point, the restlessness seems to be the driving factor. I just HAVE to keep myself busy all the time or I feel like I'll go crazy. I seriously think I might end up pacing around the house waiting for him to walk in the door if I don't keep myself occupied.
To top it all off, I seem to have developed a case of insomnia in the last month. I'm tired ALL THE TIME. I just cannot fall asleep at night and when I wake up I can't fall back asleep easily, no matter how exhausted I am. I know this will all get better when Jeremy gets home, so I just keep telling myself I only need to survive a few more weeks of this.
So I'm off to the next thing to keep myself busy, which will probably be assembling the kids Halloween costumes.
We've had a busy month around here. Lucy has been completely weaned for several weeks now(yeah!). Ross has had a sudden burst of success with potty training -- in fact, an amazing burst of success. About two weeks ago I decided it was time to get serious and after about two days of constant supervision he just seemed to get it. He already is telling us when he needs to go on his own (I rarely prompt him to use the potty anymore, except before we leave the house or bedtime). In fact, he's only had one accident (which was luckily at night when he was already wearing a diaper) in the last five or so days. Jeremy had told me to have them all potty trained by the time he got home...at least I'm 1/2 way to that goal. I'm thinking he should be responsible for potty training Lucy, since he missed out completely on potty training Ross.
I seem to be "nesting" in anticipation of Jeremy's return. In the last 2 weeks I tore apart, cleaned, organized and painted the master bedroom closet and the pantry. I've re-organized both the boys and Lucy's closets in the last several weeks. I re-did some of the shrubs in front of the house. John power washed the house and I cleaned all the windows inside and out. The kitchen cabinets have been scrubbed. I shampooed the carpet in the upstairs of the house (downstairs is still on the to-do list). I still have a few more things on my list, but I have plenty of time to get them done (I think). The nesting seems to be a result of my restlessness and a desire to have the house perfect when he gets home. Though at this point, the restlessness seems to be the driving factor. I just HAVE to keep myself busy all the time or I feel like I'll go crazy. I seriously think I might end up pacing around the house waiting for him to walk in the door if I don't keep myself occupied.
To top it all off, I seem to have developed a case of insomnia in the last month. I'm tired ALL THE TIME. I just cannot fall asleep at night and when I wake up I can't fall back asleep easily, no matter how exhausted I am. I know this will all get better when Jeremy gets home, so I just keep telling myself I only need to survive a few more weeks of this.
So I'm off to the next thing to keep myself busy, which will probably be assembling the kids Halloween costumes.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Ten!
Today marks ten months down on this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad deployment! I'm starting to get antsy at the thought of Jeremy coming home, so I'm trying not to think about it. It gets harder the closer we get, though. I've already started to "nest" -- I want the house in perfect order when he comes home (not that he cares, but I do -- don't want him to think I didn't do my share of the work for the last year). So, I painted the laundry room last weekend. Next on my list is to finish scrubbing the pool fence (can't power wash the darn thing without spraying the cleaners into the pool), then reorganize and clean our closet (perhaps paint it, too) and then on to power washing the house and washing the windows. I'm thinking I'll be dead exhausted by the time he gets home, if I get everything done that I want to. Hopefully keeping busy will keep me from being too antsy...
Two more months (at the most) to go....I can't wait to put this behind us!
Two more months (at the most) to go....I can't wait to put this behind us!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Day off?
So, Tuesday is our "day off" around here. This is what we've done so far today:
- Put laundry room back together after painting, which included scrubbing the cupboards and floor, remounting wall hardware (hook for ironing board, brooms, etc), mounting the dust buster to the wall (finally, after two years!), and touching up the trim paint
- Mopped all the hard floors in the house
- Swept all the carpet downstairs
- Did four loads of laundry
- Dusted entire downstairs (well, except my room, which is where I'm headed next)
- Swam in the pool with the kids for a 1/2 hour
- Made dinner while kids clambered around me screaming that they were starving (all the while they were shoving oranges in their mouths -- yes, I clearly hadn't provided them with food today)
- Read 4 books to the kids
- Had a battle of the wills with Reid over whether or not we were going to practice his speech homework (I won, by the way)
- Had a battle of the wills with Reid over whether or not he was going to take a nap today (I lost, by the way)
- Danced to "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountaint" a dozen too many times
- Set the boys to timeout three times for not keeping their hands to themselves and twice for rampaging through my flower beds and trampling my plants
- Changed at least 6 poopy diapers
- And everything else I've already forgotten...
Uggghhh...I don't think I've sat for more than 5 minutes today. I'm pooped. So, really, I'm wondering exactly how this is a day off!?!? When did I start viewing a DAY OFF as an excellent opportunity to accomplish a million things, instead of relaxing and recuperating? Those pregnancy hormones must damage the brain a bit...
Editing to clarify: No, I am not pregnant. I'm referring to the fact that with each child I've had I've become seemingly more determined to exhaust myself on a daily basis.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Lucy turns 1!
So, today I wished my baby girl "Happy 1st Birthday"! I can't hardly believe it -- the last year seems to have flown by in so many ways (and slowly in others, but certainly not in respect to Lucy). It hardly seems possible that she is officially a toddler and that our family is saying goodbye to the years of having a baby in the house (and, yes, we absolutely will not be having anymore).
We spent the weekend at the ocean where my parents, sister, aunt, uncle and cousin were vacationing. I made her cake early last week, so that I could have the fun of making her one before we were gone. This is what she got:
And here she is opening presents. Doesn't that look like a painful way to sit?!?!
And then her birthday celebrations were continued at the ocean. Here she is opening her gifts there (decked out in her Buckeye gear because it was game day!):
She got the CUTEST tutu from her Great Aunt Deb, Great Uncle Thomas and cousin Casey! Now, I never in a million years would have thought to buy her something like this, but it is SO STINKING CUTE! Actually, my parents and sister & brother-in-law coordinated with the monkey theme, so she got an entire wardrobe of monkey clothes for the fall -- I can't wait to get this stuff on her!
We spent the weekend at the ocean where my parents, sister, aunt, uncle and cousin were vacationing. I made her cake early last week, so that I could have the fun of making her one before we were gone. This is what she got:
I was totally pleased with the cake. It took FOREVER to make, though. I rolled the fondant strips for the cupcake base out several days in advance, so that they could dry enough to hold their shape. I also made all the confetti pieces from fondant, as I wanted the coloring to match. That alone took 1 1/2 hours. Add to that the 1/2 hour I spent making the fondant several days before that. And then there was the baking the cake and making the buttercream and assembling....I think that cake had about 6 hours of work in it. But it was perfect for my little princess, so I'm not complaining. Oh, yeah, it was lime cake and lime buttercream, which is quickly becoming one of my favorites....mmmmmm!
And here is the little girly enjoying her cake:
And here she is opening presents. Doesn't that look like a painful way to sit?!?!
And then her birthday celebrations were continued at the ocean. Here she is opening her gifts there (decked out in her Buckeye gear because it was game day!):
She got the CUTEST tutu from her Great Aunt Deb, Great Uncle Thomas and cousin Casey! Now, I never in a million years would have thought to buy her something like this, but it is SO STINKING CUTE! Actually, my parents and sister & brother-in-law coordinated with the monkey theme, so she got an entire wardrobe of monkey clothes for the fall -- I can't wait to get this stuff on her!
So, I'd say she had a wonderful time celebrating this week. Happy Birthday, Lucy!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
And we're off!
Reid had his first day of pre-school yesterday! Our schedule is suddenly crazy, but it will be good to get back into a routine. Summer was nice, but random, which isn't the best for the little ones (or me, for that matter).
I was quite amused with him on the way there. It was like he was trying to prove that he was ready to learn (or, I suppose, getting warmed up). The whole way there he was like a little pre-school version of an encyclopedia that was spewing at me from the back seat. "M makes the mmmmm sound, Mommy, like the word marshmallow." "My lunchbox is a square because it has four sides." (Then we had a rather lengthy discussion about the difference between rectangles and squares, which got me absolutely no where.) And there was a peppering of questions, too. "How many sides does a triangle have?" "They have three, Reid." "Oh, I don't like triangles."
He was really excited to go and I'm really excited for him. I'm really impressed with his teacher this year (last year's was a big disappointment). I can't wait to see what he learns!
I was quite amused with him on the way there. It was like he was trying to prove that he was ready to learn (or, I suppose, getting warmed up). The whole way there he was like a little pre-school version of an encyclopedia that was spewing at me from the back seat. "M makes the mmmmm sound, Mommy, like the word marshmallow." "My lunchbox is a square because it has four sides." (Then we had a rather lengthy discussion about the difference between rectangles and squares, which got me absolutely no where.) And there was a peppering of questions, too. "How many sides does a triangle have?" "They have three, Reid." "Oh, I don't like triangles."
He was really excited to go and I'm really excited for him. I'm really impressed with his teacher this year (last year's was a big disappointment). I can't wait to see what he learns!
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