I guess I should start fresh....

So it has been way too long since my last post. Since my last post Thomas has finished kindergarten, I worked for an urgent care clinic doing graveyard shifts on the weekends just a few blocks from the Las Vegas strip, we had another baby, Norah Claire born on May 15, 2012, and the hubs is on a tdy until the end of the month. Plus we are patiently ( not so much) waiting to find out where we will be moving to in the fall. The fourth of July is this week and hubby will be gone yet again. I cant believe how much has changed since the last time I blogged. I think I need to do this more often. I don't really have much to write tonight, too tired. I hope to do this again soon.

Life...

can be taken away in an instant.


So the last few weeks have been very eventful, and not all in a good way. We drove out to Austin in 2 days and had no problems on the way out. It was a pretty pleasant drive, just 2 very long days on the road. It was a great wedding and a very busy weekend. On the trip back home we ran into some trouble. We ended up running into the tail end of a blizzard that was making it's way across the country. The first day on the road we didn't get as far as I wanted to because I had to pull of the road because the weather had become too bad and ice and snow had begun sticking to the roads. So I pulled off at the first hotel we came to in order to get everyone settled and to get us off the road. The next morning we woke up and I checked out of the hotel. It had snowed, a LOT more. I drove up one exit to just test how the roads were and to get some breakfast and fill the car up with gas. The roads were pretty good as long as you took it slow, which I was. Driving during the winter in Abilene has taught me the slower you go the better. So I got back on the road behind a NMDOT truck. We were going slow and had no problems at all. Then out of no where I was hit around the driver side rear tire and started fishtailing. I had no idea what had happened. When I finally realized that the curtain airbags had deployed and that we had been hit I just lost it. I couldn't help it. Another car that was going to fast hit ice and started sliding and hit me. The first thing on my mind was to turn around and look at my kids. They were both a little shaken up, but we were all still breathing and fine for the most part. Thomas walked away with a mark across his neck from his seat belt and I walked away with a numb left ear that didn't stop ringing for almost a week due to the airbag deploying right in my ear.Abby was perfectly fine, except she did not like the ride to the hospital in her car seat strapped to the gurney. Long story short, we ended up flying home the next day after spending the night with a friend of my uncle's. All I can say is that him and his wife truly are a blessing and some great people. So after getting home and waiting a week to hear from the insurance company, all the while driving my husband's car that is a stick shift, I found out that my car had been deemed a total loss. :-( So now I no longer have my cute little Mazda 5. After going back and forth on what type of car to get (i knew i wanted a big car, possibly a full size suv) I finally ended up with a 2010 GMC Terrain. I wanted to put as much car between my family and stupid drivers on the road.
Thank God that my husbands deployment is coming to an end very soon and that our family will be back together again. A lot has happened since the time he left. From all of us being sick, to stiches in my thumb to a car accident, I am ready to get my family back together and for life to get back to some sort of normal. I am wanting to drive out to Florida and see my family, but part of me is scared to get back on the road again.

I hope everyone is doing better than I was these last few week. Until next time...

2011

It's finally mid January....Hooray! We've passed a mid point but it's too soon to start a count down. I've been cleaning like crazy thru this house. I think I have finally gotten a second wind when it comes to putting our house together. I have a lot to do over the next week before we leave for BJ's wedding in Texas, but i'd rather do it now instead of coming home to a crazy disorganized house. So tomorrow is dedicated to cleaning the downstairs and possibly getting to the upstairs bathrooms. But it's weird because as I sit here trying to type out a blog, I really don't have anything to blog about. Nothing has really changed in my life besides getting everything together to start school again. So life goes on...

Until Next Time My Friends...

The End Of The Year...

So this will be my last blog of the year :-) It has been a long crazy year, but when I stop to think about it I wonder where the time has gone! We have been in Las Vegas for almost a year now (we finally arrived on January 8th I think). With 2 moves (3 if you count the move from Abilene to Austin for about 3 weeks), a TDY, a 4th deployment, a new puppy, the celebrating of a 1st birthday and a 4th birthday, and FINALLY closing on a house :-) There are a lot more things that happened throughout the year as well, but those are just some of the highlights. This is the farthest I have ever lived away from Florida. The farthest I have been away from family, and I am happy that I am surviving. I have a second family in my friends that I have made thru our air force connections. Being in the military really does provide you with "another family" as we do support and count on each other just like a family does.

I am always amazed at how quickly my kids are growing up. It feels like Abby just joined our family not too long ago. How is she going to be 2 in February and how is Thomas supposed to be starting Kindergarten next year? My husband proposed to me 5 years ago on Christmas. 2011 will mark our 5 year anniversary. Our lives has changed so much since we said "I Do". With the addition of Kids and Dogs ( our 4 legged kids or fur babies) we have grown our family from just the two of us. Sometime in the future we hope to grow it a little more but there are a few goals to reach first.
Where were you a year ago on new year's eve? I remember I was in Las Vegas doing house hunting with my dad. We had seen a few more houses that day and then I put an offer on a house that evening. Boy was it stressful. Dad and I rushed back to our hotel in order to park the car and have a quick run to make it to our show in time. For people that don't know, the las vegas strip closes at about 6 pm new years eve and remains closed until about 2am i think. People pack the streets to watch the fireworks from a large group of hotels and just have a good time. Well dad and I had to RUN in order to make it to the blue man group show (which was amazing!) Unfortunately by that time I had a killer migraine too. But we made the best of it I guess. After the show we grabbed a bite from the buffet and then went back to our room. Dad and I passed right out. I woke up right at midnight with the fireworks going off. We were staying at the mirage and treasure island was one of the hotels setting fireworks off from their roof. Because they are right next to each other, I had a pretty good show. Maybe next year i'll be down on the street snuggled in my husbands arms as we ring in 2012.

So here's to all the good and bad that has happened this year. To the ones we've lost and the ones that have been welcomed into the world. To the joining of 2 people in marriage or the divorce of 2 people for what ever reason. To life never stopping and always learning to adapt.

To all my family and friends who read this....

Happy New Year! Stay safe and may you always be surrounded by love in this new year.

Are The Holidays Over Yet?

So these last 10 days have been crazy. On the 14th I ended up cutting my left thumb open on a coffee cup that had been soaking in the sink. It decided it didn't want a handle any longer. So at about 4:30 Tuesday evening Tonya drove me to the hospital and stayed with me while I was there. I was hoping they could just glue my thumb back together since it wasn't that deep, unfortunately no such luck :-( The worst part was definitely when they had to clean my thumb and numb it. Tonya told me I changed several colors. I still remember how bad it hurt when I cut my right thumb open in 8th grade. So 4 stitches later we booked it out of there in enough time to pick my kids up at their school and make it back to my house where my sitter had been waiting. Tuesday was also the night of our Christmas Spouse Coffee (social). Tonya and I had both been looking forward to it for over a month and there was no way we were going to miss it. So as Tonya rushed home to change and head to the social I ran around my house getting ready and trying to get the kids settled. Thank heavens our sitter is amazing and totally understanding and helpful! I really love Kara!! So as I'm rushing out the door I can't find my phone. Thank heavens Tonya and I were talking about where it was while we were at the hospital and I have a pretty good memory when it comes to directions and addresses and numbers. So I finally end up making it to the social an hour late, but everyone totally understands. But I still made it in time for the fun! And thank heavens my phone was on the floor in Tonya's car just where I thought it was.
So I have been trying to do the best I can. I am taking the stitches out first thing Friday morning!!! It has been raining since Friday, and has been continuous since Sunday. So we have had some crazy flooding around here. I even kept the kids home today because it was raining sooo bad. It's supposed to clear up by tomorrow. I'm hoping so.
So update on the house: not much new. I finally got the ornaments on the tree and will be putting all the empty boxes into the garage tomorrow. The rest of the house has not budged. I will have a long list of things to do tomorrow and friday. I am having friends over on Saturday for Christmas dinner and this house is no way near ready to have company over.
Well I think i'm gonna cut this post short. It's just been one of those days. I'm sure you all can relate to what i mean.
I hope this finds everyone well.

Until next time my friends...

Just Trying To Survive...

So it has been almost 2 months since my last post. Sorry!! The hubbs left on 1 November and it hasen't really been the same around here. The one constant is that the kids are still in school. I have been busy working on getting the house unpacked and readjusting to being a "single" parent again. And this time it has not been easy. Because both of the kids are old enough now to realize that daddy is gone for an extended period of time, they have both voiced their dislike of the separation. The last time Richard was gone Abby was almost 4 months old and Thomas was just turning 3. Thomas understood as much as he could that daddy was gone but didn't really act out. Abby of course didn't really have a clue. This time it has been especially hard for both of them. Thomas is constantly having little breakdowns where he cries and expresses how much he misses his daddy. Abby says one full sentence. And that is " I want my daddy!". I hear it all the time. She is either throwing temper tantrums and crying or cranky or she only wants me to hold her and cuddle with her. It's a 50/50 split and it's starting to ware on me. This also makes it hard to get anything done when the kids are home. We are able to skype with daddy and play some online games with him which helps, but of course it is no replacement.
I've been busy getting the house unpacked since I'm not working any more right now. My flu shot gig is up for the season, and I haven't been able to find other work yet. The garage was the first thing to get done. It is all organized and things are finally stored away in the cabinets in the garage. Once we get rid of the grill and the broken patio table we'll be able to park the cars in the garage again!! YEA! The front room has been unpacked as well. I still need to pick up another bookshelf to finish unpacking most of the books we have. The area rug is down in the front room, and I plan on adding some seating and a coffee table or something in there. That is a project for my mom and I to do when my parents come out next month, hopefully. I was able to get the Christmas tree up. I already got the lights on it, now it's just time to get the ornaments on. The next project on my list is to get the guest room/office finally organized and put together. Hopefully I will have that done this next week and then it will be on to finishing up the master bedroom. One thing that has been holding me back has been my legs. I have had awful pain in my shins since September. First I was told it was tendinitis. Now it turns out to be plantar fasciitis. I'll be seeing sports medicine on thursday at base to see if i'll ever be able to run and work out without pain again. It is just so frustrating beyond words.
I have been in a very bad "funk" since the end of November. I am just not in the holiday spirit this year. In all honesty I wish I could just go to sleep and wake up at some point in January. But I'm gonna pull it together and be as "merry" as I can for my kids. We started a tradition this year of having a little "guest" in our house until Christmas eve. His name is Zander the Elf :-) If you have little kids, I would definitely recommend Elf On The Shelf. It really is great.
Pictures of kiddos will come later. I think I need to get to bed. In my next post I'll also put a link to my 365 project that I have been doing. But I have to update it first.
I hope this finds everyone well.

Until Next Time My Friends...

What's The Date Again?....

So I can't believe how fast these months are flying by. Catch up time:
So these last two months a bunch of my friends have been popping out their gorgeous little babies left and right. I am sooo excited for each and every one of them. Some are expanding their families while others are just starting theirs. At the same time it has given me baby fever, worse than ever before. But I am torn. Part of me wants to have another baby or start trying for another baby while another part of me (i think the sane part of me) wants to go back to school to finish my RN and work for a while before adding another little one to the mix. For now I am trying to focus on getting my health issues under control and loving on my two kiddos.

My sister-in-law got married last week so we made the trek out to Austin for the week for the big event and to spend some time with family. The house is still not near to being completely unpacked. I have been working a lot and the hubs is now on a different shift so he's only home part of the day. We make little dents in it weekly, but I am excited for the day when I am not looking at stacks of boxes in the house.

Abby at the wedding Thomas trying on his tux

As this month starts to wind down (where the heck did it go?!?!?!?) our family is preparing for yet another deployment. The hubs will be gone until Marchish which means he will be missing quite a lot. I know the kiddos will have a tough time with this deployment, especially him not being home for the holidays. But these are the things you deal with when your married to someone in the military. So even though I hate it, he knows I support him in everything he does.
So while he is gone I have started on some projects around the house to make time pass quicker. One of my major goals will to be getting the house completely unpacked, the garage all organized and use able again. Once I get everything unpacked I am treating myself to a weekend in California shopping at Ikea!! Let me know if you wanna come along.

Tonight was another milestone in our house. Abby is currently sleeping in her big girl bed!!! Kyle transitioned her crib to the toddler bed today after the kids went to school. He got all the boxes out of her room and I put the last few things in her closet so that her room was completely safe and she couldn't get into anything. After I picked the kiddos up from school we went to Target to pick out a pillow and toddler bedding for her bed. She chose some really cute Tinkerbell bedding and kept getting in and out of her bed while I was making it. She was very excited about her big girl bed, so much so she didn't want to come down for dinner! So after her bath and rocking for a few minutes I asked her if she was ready for night night. She jumped off my lap and walked to her room and she got in bed. I tucked her in like I always do and then walked out of the room, closed the door and put the baby gate up outside. Hahaha, i should have known better. While I was reading Thomas his bed time story all I heard was her screaming for mommy at the door. So after I put Thomas down I went back in her room, climbed over the gate, put Abby back in bed and sat beside her while I pat her back. After about 5 minutes and her rubbing her eyes and settling down I left. She got up and cried for another 10 minutes. Now it is quiet. I'll check in on her when I go to bed, but I think tonight was a success. Hopefully it will get a little easier each night.

I will try and post a bunch of pics once I get everything downloaded to the computer. Hopefully my next post wont be 2 months away. Time for me to call it a night.

I hope this finds everyone well.

Till next time my friends....