Bittersweetness

I woke up this morning and realized that this is the last Wednesday that I will be waking up in Kansas.  As much as I have wanted to get out of Kansas for a while now, I can't help but be sad about it.  This was our first home together... starting just a few days after we got married.  This was where I went through Caleb's first deployment, we had our first miscarriage, and I worked at the best job anyone could ever have!  This was also where we welcomed our beautiful baby girl!  We have SO many great friends here, too!!  This week, I have to say goodbye.  I don't want to be sad, because I'm excited for what the future has for us.  I also know that in the Army, it is never goodbye, only see you later.  But, in the end, I know that I will miss Kansas.  Thank you all for making Kansas such a GREAT three years!!

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Since leaving is so bittersweet, I am adding a few other bittersweet things to this post.

The first is a video that a friend from high school posted this morning.  You may have already seen it on my Facebook, but here it is if you haven't.

The next one, is a little more sad than bittersweet.  It is a link to a little girl named Avery's blog.  I meant to share her blog a while ago now, but I've been so caught up in packing that I hadn't done it yet.  At just barely five months old, she was diagnosed with Spinal Muscle Atrophy (SMA).  SMA is an incurable genetic disease that causes babies to lose the ability to move their extremities, and kills them within 18 months to two years.  Her amazing parents took a devastating diagnosis, and made it a light-hearted bucket list written from Avery's perspective.  She has sadly died at almost six months old, but her parents are hoping that her short life will help make others aware of SMA.  Please read her blog, donate to the research groups, and talk to your OB about the genetic test!    

http://averycan.blogspot.com/

Even though bittersweet, I hope you are inspired!

Updates!

Wow!  Again, it has been a while since I've posted.  I have been a packing fool lately.  Two weeks until I leave for Georgia!!  Trying to pack, yet trying to make sure there is enough in the house to live is even more difficult than actually packing everything at once!  There are still toys EVERYWHERE in the living room, and there are still LOTS of empty boxes in the garage.  This move is so bittersweet!  I'm hoping to be able to take some pictures of post before I leave so I have something to remember.  I think Sookie knows that something is up... she is even more clingy to me than usual!

My living room...

A box that is about as tall as me!!

 
Caleb is usually working half days at work.  Then he will leave work and run errands around post to be able to turn in his paperwork... NEXT WEEK!!!  It has been nice for me to be able to get out of the house and run errands by myself since he has been home quite a bit in the afternoons! 

In other news, I went to the doctor yesterday about my hives, shoulder pain, and wrist pain.  If you remember, I got hives twice back in March, but I have been good since.  The doctor wasn't too worried about them, and he said we will probably never know why I got them.  My shoulder has been hurting since Clara was a few months old.  I would hold her with my left arm, and it just really took a toll on my shoulder.  I am getting an MRI on that on Friday morning.  Since my left shoulder was hurting, I started holding Clara with my right arm.  This started hurting my wrist.  The doctor wants to get me a brace to wear on that, but that referral hasn't gone through yet.  Caleb still wants to trade me in for a new model since that is what you do for a phone or a car if it starts falling apart!

Clara is becoming more of a little kid and less of a baby.  She does a lot more walking now.  She is also getting some top teeth.  (I think that that is the reason for her snotty nose and cough since she has had that for a while.)  The only problem with that is that her teeth make it hurt while I breastfeed her.  She has been starting to pick things up and hand them to me.  It is very cute, but it makes her even more like a big kid!  She also has been really clingy to me lately, too.  If I'm holding her and need to put her down (for a diaper change, nap, or bedtime especially) she will literally cling to me.  It is really nice sometimes because it's like she is hugging me.  Other times, though, I really do need to change her diaper!!  She will be a year old in less than two weeks!!  Craziness!!! 

Look at those big kid jeans!!

I LOVE that she's so curious about everything!

My Lovely Weekend!!

Caleb is home!  He got home on Saturday evening.  Clara knew who he was and walked to him right at the airport... just how I had imagined!  It has been nice to have him home... but then again, after three weeks of doing things my way, it is a little difficult having him around at times!

We are moving Fort Benning, Georgia in a little less than a month (AHHHHHH!!!) where Caleb will be going to the Maneuver Captain's Career Course.  (We should get an RFO - Request For Orders - today or tomorrow, and that's when we will know for sure about when his school will start.)   Mom and Dad are pretty excited that both of their children will be within two hours of each other!

I am REALLY excited about moving and living somewhere new!  I have started to organize and clean around the house to make it easier to pack later.  (For Earth Day, I recycled a TON of papers we no longer needed.)  We have decided to do a DITY (do it yourself) move this time, although Caleb has insisted that he will NOT be driving a UHaul this time (which means we are looking into moving with something like a POD).  With a DITY move, the Army will pay us to move ourselves instead of having their movers move us.  They pay us according to weight, so the other day as I'm organizing and cleaning out stuff that needs to be thrown away, Caleb says to me, "I should just make you organize and clean after we move so that we have more weight."  Very funny, honey!!

Yesterday, Caleb and I went for a walk around our neighborhood.  When we got the stroller out of the garage, I told him that we probably would need more boxes for packing.  Once we got back from our walk, I checked my Facebook.  My friend, Jean, had posted that her neighbor had a TON of boxes out by the curb for trash/recycling pick up day.  When she said a TON, she meant a TON!!  I asked the people who lived in the house if I could take some, and of course they said YES.  The man even loaded quite a few in the bed (and extended cab) of his truck for me!  When I left, it barely even looked like I had put a dent into their collection of boxes.  Caleb is pretty disappointed that we can no longer park in the garage.  Thanks again for posting about the boxes, Jean!!

This is before I took any boxes.  Unfortunately, I didn't take an after picture.

So now, to back track.  Before Caleb got home, on Friday night, I went to the 1-4 CAV ball.  Yes, I went to the ball by myself.  I got to the hotel where the ball was being held a little late.  Once I parked, I saw a woman in a dress, so I assumed that she was there for the ball as well.  I asked her where to go for it, and she pointed me in the right direction.  When I got to the conference center, I looked for my name on the seating chart outside.  My name was not there!  I had only decided to go to the ball two weeks prior to the ball, and they had told me that they had a spot for me, but I didn't know where that spot was.  At that point, the woman I saw in the parking lot saw me again.  Luckily, she said that her table had two empty seats and I could sit by her.  She and her husband, along with the other people at the table, were very nice to me, so I am very thankful for that!

This ball was the best that I have gone to yet... and I've only gone to two!  The food was GREAT!!  And, there was a DJ (the last one I went to had a random soldier with a computer playing the music off of computer speakers).  I really enjoyed dancing and talking to people.  It was a good night!

My friend Amy and I at the ball.

 
Saturday morning, I went to the Salina Zoo with my friend Jessy and her her three kids.  It was a lot of fun, and it kept my mind off of Caleb coming home later that day.  I really like how close you can get to some of the animals at that zoo, and it is small enough to see everything in just a few hours!  Thanks so much for going with me and driving, Jessy!!

It's SO cool that the Salina Zoo has a giraffe feeding station!!

 

BLOOPER Videos and Funny Pictures!

Some videos I took while I was at home were just funny... at least to me!

In the video below, my mom had an egg staked out because she thought that there would be so many kids gathering up all the eggs that Clara would be lucky to only get one.  So as soon as they let the kids free to hunt the eggs, my mom started yelling for Clara to come towards her... she forgot that she was VERY close to the camera (which you hear me telling her).   

It took a few tries to get Clara taking steps on video.  Take a look:

I also have a few pictures.  These are of my parents' make shift baby proofing.  I wish that I had handles on my cabinets so that I could do this!  (My mom also put rubber bands from a drawer to a cabinet.  That didn't quite work as well as the other did since you could still open them, and when one opened so did the other.)

 
I hope you had a nice laugh!!  And, I hope you have a GREAT weekend!

Life is Good, God is Good!!

CALEB GOT SELECTED!!!!!!!

I am SO happy, proud, excited... did I mention PROUD?!

Thanks to all for the prayers and encouragement!

Tomorrow, I promise, there will be a longer post.

Goodnight!

Just Imagine the Jeopardy Theme...

I will be calm.  I will think positively.  I will make it through today... without driving myself COMPLETELY crazy!!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7.

Seriously though, I find out tomorrow whether or not Caleb has gotten selected!!  PLEASE pray for us!  We know what we want, but obviously it's all in God's hands.  I just have to keep reminding myself of that all day!

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In other news, we went to PWOC yesterday.  It was a lot of fun!  I realized four hours later that we must have left Clara's jacket in the childcare room that she was in.  So, we went back to the chapel and luckily it was there!  Right outside the chapel is a really nice playground, so we stayed and played for about an hour.  Clara LOVED the swing and the rubber chips!  We will definitely be going back again sometime!

Here are some rubber chips for you, Mom.

 

Playing with a pine cone.

 

We finally were able to go for a walk last night!!  It was great!  We went on our usual route through the neighborhood.  I could tell we hadn't walked in a while because I noticed that they had put in new sidewalk in some places that weren't there last time.  On the way home, we met a husky puppy (and their owners Natalie and Kevin).  All three of them were very nice.  Clara thought that the puppy, Boss, was really funny!  We also met Kristin and her daughter Ellenie (not really sure on the spelling for either of those names) on our street.  It turns out that Kristin goes to PWOC, and is in the Bible study with many of my friends!  Ellenie is 14 months old, so she and Clara had fun playing outside for a few minutes while Kristin and I were talking.  I'm looking forward to future play dates with them!

Playing with her new friend.

Ketchup Potpourri

Haha!  Don't you like the title?  I, of course, mean catch up... but putting ketchup was more fun!

Whoops, forgot Clara's Easter basket!
I forgot to mention in the last post that Clara got an Easter basket full of goodies when we got home from the zoo.  She got a stuffed animal chick that says, "My First Easter," the book The Velveteen Rabbit, bubbles, and socks from my mom.  And, she got a big pink ball and 6 pink balls that have items inside that rattle and do other things.  She really likes everything that she got!

Instead of flowers
I also forgot to mention that on April 3rd I also got "flowers" from Caleb.  I have been having pretty bad allergies last year and this year.  So, this year, when Caleb sent me flowers for Valentines Day, I told him no more flowers.  (What?!  Am I crazy?!)  But, I got a call from a florist in Red Bud right before I left for home saying I had a delivery for when I made it home.  Well, my parents live out in the boonies at least 15 minutes away from Red Bud, so my mom picked it up for me.  I got a basket of fruit and chocolate... he knows me well!! 

Kansas storms
We didn't get blown away!  It was touch and go for a while with two trips to my little half bathroom downstairs for shelter, and I didn't get to sleep until about 1:30am Sunday morning.  Luckily, nothing hit Fort Riley! 

Children's Pre-deployment Event
On Sunday, Clara and I went to 1-4 CAV and 2-32 FA joint Children's Pre-deployment Event.  It was pretty awesome!  We got a backpack full of goodies (including a daddy doll, stuffed animal bear, and a dog tag with 1-4 CAV on it on a chain among many other things) when we first walked in and registered.  Then, we got some more free goodies at their dental/medical station.  I ate a hot dog while Clara ate some of the bun (what are hot dogs made out of, anyway).  And, we watched the police dogs do a demo.  After that, Clara got to get up close and personal with one of the dogs named Bach.  You wouldn't think a dog that just sunk his teeth into a man in a suit would be so nice!!  On the way out to the car, we stopped by the humvees and howitzers which were fun for Clara to play in and around.  Great job to all who planned the event!

Such a good dog in many ways!

"Driving" the humvee.

Beep, beep!!  Watch out!

She liked playing with the levers.

Wish this would have been Caleb's helmet.  But, it was heavy on her head and she didn't like it!

I wanted to have her stand next to the round... obviously that didn't happen!

Two 105mm Howitzers.

It was WINDY!!

I work out... I'm sexy and I know it!!
Clara is STRONG!!  She can lift my three pound weights!

Clara's swimming lessons
They got cancelled!!  I am SO disappointed!  They didn't have enough people signed up, and the next classes aren't until June (I'm hoping not to be in Kansas).

Feeling bad for Sookie
My poor dog sleeps a lot of the day.  I am so busy (yes, I'm a stay-at-home mom and I'm SUPER busy) that I don't do all that I can for/with her every day/week.  It makes me feel bad when she just looks at me with sad eyes.  I'm sorry, girl!  I promise you a W-A-L-K this week!

New foods for Clara
Clara finally tried grapes last night.  She LOVES them!  She was trying to twist around in her high chair before I started giving them to her.  When we got them on her tray, she started humming and shoveling them into her mouth!

Walking update
Clara walks instead of crawls most times if she is already standing from pulling up onto something.  She still can't stand up if she doesn't pull up on something, but I think that that will be soon!

Waiting for Caleb to call
I am getting SO nervous/excited for Caleb's call/text to tell me how he did at Special Forces selection!  He should call on Thursday sometime.  AHHHHH!!  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7.

Plans for the week
Today, I am planning to go for a neighborhood or golf course walk.  We might even hit up a playground.  Wednesday, my friend Amy is going to come hang out with me for the day.  We are going to do a workout with my friends, maybe go to the fish hatchery at Milford Lake, and who knows what else!  Thursday, we have a Parents as Teachers visit, and then after Clara's nap, we have a park play date with friends.  Sometime that day we will find out about Caleb!  On Friday, I have a workout with my trainer (so Clara will be going to hourly care), and Caleb's unit has a ball that I am going to... alone.  Finally on Saturday, my friend Jessy, her kids, and Clara and I are going to the Salina Zoo for their Party for the Planet.  And, Caleb will be home Saturday night regardless of what we find out on Thursday!  I'm excited for the rest of this busy week!!