I've been putting off updating for a few days and now Mike has been gone about sixty hours. A lot of you have talked to him on facebook since he left and will already know everything I'm going to say. But for those of you who don't use facebook that often as well my friends who read this but don't generally talk to Mike directly, I'll give you the run down of what's been going on...
Mike is in Bahrain now after stops in Spain and Sicily. He'll be going out to his ship sometime soon. He's excited and we're excited for him to finally get to do the job he signed up for after a year and a half in the Navy. We still expect him back sometime in July and haven't heard otherwise yet. That's really all there is to tell about that now, plain and simple.
Isabel and I are going to be in Virginia Beach for a few weeks until my glasses come in, then we're driving up to New York for Alyssa's wedding and will be there hopefully for a few weeks too. Probably until around Memorial Day weekend. After that, we expect visitors to come down, so set aside a weekend everyone, no excuses ;p . Being here alone hasn't been a lot of fun, but we're trying to make the best of it. Today we're going to Isabel's favorite playground. There isn't ever going to be a lot I can tell you about Mike's deployment, he's just going to be gone until he isn't, so I wouldn't expect a lot of updates during the next few months. At least not about that. I will keep everyone posted on any information I do happen to get and am allowed to share, as well as anything notable that goes on with Isabel.
Talk to you all....sometime.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Well, here we are.
There's not a lot to post about that you haven't already learned either from facebook or from actually seeing us this weekend. Just thought I should make it clear to anyone who still wasn't sure that yes, we HAVE arrived safely in Virginia Beach. We spent five days in a hotel when we got here and explored the area....we went to the zoo...had picnics...visited malls and playgrounds....and then chose a cute little townhouse that challenges our budget at the moment, but being safe and comfortable in our home is worth the price at which it comes. After a week on the floor of said townhouse, our stuff arrived. I had us fully unpacked and settled by the end of that day and then we quickly hurried off, eager to take another long car trip and sleep on the floor for a few more days in New York. But we are home at last and it finally feels and looks that way, so schedule all your summer vacations for RIGHT HERE, guys! I'm gonna need the company!
Mike is in his second week of C school now. He'll be done Friday. As far as we know at the moment, he's supposed to be leaving us on the 27th of this month to join his ship on deployment and he will be gone for around two and a half months.
I had a lot of people this weekend ask me what I'll be doing with my boring old self during that time or how I'll handle it or what have you....the answer is that I'm just going to go ahead with life as usual. Get up every morning, take care of my child and keep her on her regular schedule, cook and clean my house, go to the park, buy groceries, do laundry....just as every brave and strong military wife I know has done, and usually for a whole lot longer than I will be doing it. My project for the time Mike is gone is to decorate our apartment to my liking, and he has okayed and even encouraged me to do this, so I'm very excited about that. I have also joined a meetup group for me and Isabel and am looking for a babysitting gig. I have a few connections in the area already and I hope to get together with those people soon and solidify those friendships, in addition to making more. So the short answer is that I will adjust and I will go ahead and learn the area and break in our new home the same way I would have done if Mike were here, just a little more independently (which will be a really good thing for me!) and with my ever loyal companion Isabel by my side. So don't worry about us, we're stronger than you think. Keep Mike in your thoughts though of course, and pray for a safe and fast return of his ship.
Should anything change or any new information become available to us about his deployment, I will let you know. See you all soon!
Mike is in his second week of C school now. He'll be done Friday. As far as we know at the moment, he's supposed to be leaving us on the 27th of this month to join his ship on deployment and he will be gone for around two and a half months.
I had a lot of people this weekend ask me what I'll be doing with my boring old self during that time or how I'll handle it or what have you....the answer is that I'm just going to go ahead with life as usual. Get up every morning, take care of my child and keep her on her regular schedule, cook and clean my house, go to the park, buy groceries, do laundry....just as every brave and strong military wife I know has done, and usually for a whole lot longer than I will be doing it. My project for the time Mike is gone is to decorate our apartment to my liking, and he has okayed and even encouraged me to do this, so I'm very excited about that. I have also joined a meetup group for me and Isabel and am looking for a babysitting gig. I have a few connections in the area already and I hope to get together with those people soon and solidify those friendships, in addition to making more. So the short answer is that I will adjust and I will go ahead and learn the area and break in our new home the same way I would have done if Mike were here, just a little more independently (which will be a really good thing for me!) and with my ever loyal companion Isabel by my side. So don't worry about us, we're stronger than you think. Keep Mike in your thoughts though of course, and pray for a safe and fast return of his ship.
Should anything change or any new information become available to us about his deployment, I will let you know. See you all soon!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
PCS time
Hello family.
Since our move is FAST approaching now, I thought I'd update you on that as much as I can.
Pack and load day is March 17th. The movers will be packing for us which is a huge convenience, but also means that we'll be waking up here on moving day with practically nothing packed. This makes me nervous, but I can definitely live with it. Better than having to pack myself! In the next week, I'll just be working on getting everything organized for them. Since the 17th is also the last day we can be in this apartment, we'll be giving up our keys as soon as the movers are gone and setting out on the 17 hour journey to Virginia. Not expecting to get too far that night, but we aim to be in Norfolk by the end of the day on the 18th. Isabel has been on two long car trips in her life and it's never fun or easy, so send us your good thoughts and positive energy that day.
We have a number of days in Virginia before Mike has to report to work. We'll be staying in a hotel, viewing a few apartments in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, and hopefully we'll have a lease signed by the time he's due to report. If you're wondering, our stuff will go into storage somewhere once it reaches Virginia and will be delivered to us as soon as we have a permanent address. It might sound like a crazy, scary thing to you guys, but it's pretty common in the military to move without knowing where you're moving to.
He has a 14 day school to attend in Norfolk before he attaches to his ship. which, as you know, is in the middle of a deployment. There isn't much chance that we'll be visiting home before he deploys, but he'll be back mid-summer.
I don't know how long it will take us to have the internet again, so it could be a while before I come back with an update about our new place, but you can count on getting small updates here and there via facebook. Talk to you guys soon!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
and a brand new car!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Just a quick update...
Well, I don't have much to update on in regards to the move. The good news is that we're getting a decent chunk of money back on our taxes and that's taking a lot of the stress out of this whole process. We're almost definitely not getting base housing right off the bat. I'm disappointed but I can't say I'm surprised, we knew from the get-go that the housing in Norfolk was very limited. What I'm hoping now is that we can move into housing somewhere down the road, even if we have to rent out in town for a few months first. Mike detaches from Great Lakes on March 16th and we'll be headed to VA to view in person some of the apartments we've been looking at online. He doesn't have to actually report to the base there until the 27th so it gives us some time to find a place and get settled. I also recently learned that he doesn't attach to his ship until April 27th, so that means we have at least a month in Virginia before he heads out to join them on their deployment. He also won't miss Easter or my 25th birthday, yay!
On the Isabel front, her new favorite activity is twirling. It's pretty cute. She's a tornado, like any toddler, but definitely a very funny and sweet little girl. I've taken up yoga and she loves to mimic my poses. Her downward facing dog puts mine to shame. I sometimes catch her reading books to herself and doing all the hand motions I usually do when I read them. She's also very attached to her baby dolls and I find her cradling them and cooing to them. I had hoped to skip the undressing herself milestone, but the last few days have proven that that's not going to happen. She's so far only figured out how to take off her pants and diaper, which means a naked baby butt runs through my living room at least once a day.
That's really all that's been going on here. At this point, most of the things left to do before we move (like packing) are still a few weeks in the future. We've just been living out a stomach bug, watching the snow fall, and delighting in the fact that we'll likely never have to endure another Chicago winter.
On the Isabel front, her new favorite activity is twirling. It's pretty cute. She's a tornado, like any toddler, but definitely a very funny and sweet little girl. I've taken up yoga and she loves to mimic my poses. Her downward facing dog puts mine to shame. I sometimes catch her reading books to herself and doing all the hand motions I usually do when I read them. She's also very attached to her baby dolls and I find her cradling them and cooing to them. I had hoped to skip the undressing herself milestone, but the last few days have proven that that's not going to happen. She's so far only figured out how to take off her pants and diaper, which means a naked baby butt runs through my living room at least once a day.
That's really all that's been going on here. At this point, most of the things left to do before we move (like packing) are still a few weeks in the future. We've just been living out a stomach bug, watching the snow fall, and delighting in the fact that we'll likely never have to endure another Chicago winter.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Isabel's checkup
This morning we went for Isabel's final doctor's appointment here at Great Lakes. She won't need to be seen again for another six months and by then, we'll be in Virginia. And since they recently combined Naval Health Clinic Great Lakes with the North Chicago VA Medical Center and moved it all to a new building, we got to experience the country's first federal health care center. It's a bit of a pain to go through re-registering in a new place for just one appointment but hey, it's historic.
So I thought I'd give you a little update on Isabel. She's weighed in today at 23 lb and 12oz, 31 inches long. This is a gain of 3 lbs and 6 oz from our last appointment two months ago, which is awesome! Her height and weight are both in the 62nd percentile right now. Her height has been around there all along but her weight dropped all the way to the 17th this past summer and is up now from being in the 30th in November. So her doctor and I were both pretty excited about that. Developmentally, she's right on track. She does all the things on the 15 month checklist and several of the ones on the 18 month as well. My only concern was that I'm worried she doesn't say enough real words yet, but the doctor said she's actually completely average for her age, as far as talking. She understands me, so we know there isn't a hearing problem, and she babbles to herself pretty consistently, so we know she gets the concept of language (she also reads and sings to herself). So there aren't any concerns with her right now, we have a normal and healthy little girl, which is great to hear. The doctor did say she was "intense" with her emotions, but she thought I handle it pretty well. Like mother, like daughter, I guess.
There's not much else to report on right now. My camera recently gave up the fight, which is why you're not seeing any new pictures of the princess right now. We've already ordered another though, so don't worry. There's a long list of things to consider, do, and buy before we move, so we're working on sorting through all of that but no final decisions have been made on anything. The life of a military wife will drive a natural-born planner nuts, it really will. :)
I hope everyone is well, miss you guys!
So I thought I'd give you a little update on Isabel. She's weighed in today at 23 lb and 12oz, 31 inches long. This is a gain of 3 lbs and 6 oz from our last appointment two months ago, which is awesome! Her height and weight are both in the 62nd percentile right now. Her height has been around there all along but her weight dropped all the way to the 17th this past summer and is up now from being in the 30th in November. So her doctor and I were both pretty excited about that. Developmentally, she's right on track. She does all the things on the 15 month checklist and several of the ones on the 18 month as well. My only concern was that I'm worried she doesn't say enough real words yet, but the doctor said she's actually completely average for her age, as far as talking. She understands me, so we know there isn't a hearing problem, and she babbles to herself pretty consistently, so we know she gets the concept of language (she also reads and sings to herself). So there aren't any concerns with her right now, we have a normal and healthy little girl, which is great to hear. The doctor did say she was "intense" with her emotions, but she thought I handle it pretty well. Like mother, like daughter, I guess.
There's not much else to report on right now. My camera recently gave up the fight, which is why you're not seeing any new pictures of the princess right now. We've already ordered another though, so don't worry. There's a long list of things to consider, do, and buy before we move, so we're working on sorting through all of that but no final decisions have been made on anything. The life of a military wife will drive a natural-born planner nuts, it really will. :)
I hope everyone is well, miss you guys!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
See, that's Mike's ship!
After we move, Mike is supposed to be flown out to join them, even though the deployment will be winding down by then and he'll only be gone two or three months. Not bad for a first deployment, huh?
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Some people might think this is too much information...
..I, however, think it deserves a mention. In the past year I've come to not be shy about this and I think that's a trend that needs to catch on. If breastfeeding were allowed to be talked about and not treated as such a taboo, maybe more women would be successful at it.
So I'm proud to say that after one year, two months, and four weeks exactly, we are done nursing. We used child-led weaning and it really was the best thing for us. I'm very proud of myself for surpassing my goals and thankful for my mother's advice and my husband's support, without which I would not have made it that far.
So I'm proud to say that after one year, two months, and four weeks exactly, we are done nursing. We used child-led weaning and it really was the best thing for us. I'm very proud of myself for surpassing my goals and thankful for my mother's advice and my husband's support, without which I would not have made it that far.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
This might be stupid.
Perhaps it's egotistical of me to think anyone cares to read about our lives, but in this case I don't think it is. Being away from the general area where most of our family resides and having something as big as the military in our lives, I think it might be a good idea to have a way of keeping everyone updated with what's going on with Isabel and with Mike and the Navy. Facebook doesn't allow for too many details and phone calls can be challenging, so what I seek to do here is cut back on the use of secondary sources, messengers, mixed up stories, misinformation, grapevines, and little birdies to keep everyone informed.
The blog will be public, PG, and free of incriminating photos, addresses, phone numbers, and any and all credit information. As such, if there is a family member or friend of ours that you think will be interested in getting updates but hasn't been told about the blog, feel free to share the link (though as soon as I'm done typing this I will likely share it on facebook, then email it to my mother and mother-in-law, so I think I pretty much covered it).
With the big stuff, like our upcoming move, I promise to share the facts as I learn them. With things like Isabel's going-ons and life in general...well, I promise not to go into too much detail about trips to the laundromat or what we're having for dinner. All in all, it's a good idea for you to read this blog, you won't regret it, it's super exciting. Bookmark me.
Now that I've thoroughly explained why I'm doing this, it might be a good idea to give a quick rundown of where we're at right now, to make sure everyone is up to speed...
Mike's time at Great Lakes is winding down now. He's back to work now, after two wonderful weeks of leave. He received orders in December and learned that we'll be moving to Norfolk, VA on March 27th. He's planning to take leave for several days before then, so that we can get moved and settled. (So if anyone wants to drive down to VA to help us move in then you'd be our favorite person, I'd bake you delicious treats, and you'd get the pleasure of saying you saw our new place before anyone else). Aside from the small bit of nerves that come with any big change, he's excited and we're all very happy to be leaving Illinois and moving a bit closer to home. We're very interested in having people come down to visit us this summer, though I can only promise myself and Isabel. Mike will be on the ship for part of the spring and summer. We don't have any details on that matter right now. No decisions have been made yet on where we'll be living. There's a lot to be sorted out yet and a lot that needs to be done before we leave here, so we're glad we have the rest of the winter to work it all out (though not too glad that we have the rest of the winter to live in Illinois, in particular).
Isabel is coming up on 15 months now. She is still unemployed and not dating anyone. Her and I are excited about the idea of finding a mommy and baby class for the spring in Virginia, now that she's a bit older (not a lot was available out here for her age group). She walks exclusively now, recently scored two shiny new teeth, and says four or five words regularly. She loves to sing, loves playing with other kids, and is a lot of fun to watch lately because she's learning so much everyday and she amazes me with how perceptive she is. We'll be taking her for a check up soon, so I'm excited to see how big she's gotten. The blip we had with her weight gain last summer is now completely behind us.
As for me, don't expect many updates. I just enjoy being a stay-at-home mom and I'm grateful that I'm able to do so. To me, there is nothing more valuable I could be doing with my time, and so I have no plans to rejoin the workforce in the foreseeable future. Illinois has been a learning experience for us and I think we're coming away with knowledge that will make Virginia much more enjoyable.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that 2011 is a great year for all of us. We spent all our holidays here at home, so it was much more quiet than I'm used to and I had to work hard to make the special days seem different from every other weekend, but I think I did well and we had a nice season. I don't like the trend of not making resolutions, so I have a few. I want to stick with weight watchers, be organized, break less dishes, start driving again, and add to our family in 2011 (perhaps a puppy!) ;)
That's it for now. You must be relieved. Good job, reading all that, I'm impressed with your stamina. Stay tuned. I'll talk to you all soon. <3
The blog will be public, PG, and free of incriminating photos, addresses, phone numbers, and any and all credit information. As such, if there is a family member or friend of ours that you think will be interested in getting updates but hasn't been told about the blog, feel free to share the link (though as soon as I'm done typing this I will likely share it on facebook, then email it to my mother and mother-in-law, so I think I pretty much covered it).
With the big stuff, like our upcoming move, I promise to share the facts as I learn them. With things like Isabel's going-ons and life in general...well, I promise not to go into too much detail about trips to the laundromat or what we're having for dinner. All in all, it's a good idea for you to read this blog, you won't regret it, it's super exciting. Bookmark me.
Now that I've thoroughly explained why I'm doing this, it might be a good idea to give a quick rundown of where we're at right now, to make sure everyone is up to speed...
Mike's time at Great Lakes is winding down now. He's back to work now, after two wonderful weeks of leave. He received orders in December and learned that we'll be moving to Norfolk, VA on March 27th. He's planning to take leave for several days before then, so that we can get moved and settled. (So if anyone wants to drive down to VA to help us move in then you'd be our favorite person, I'd bake you delicious treats, and you'd get the pleasure of saying you saw our new place before anyone else). Aside from the small bit of nerves that come with any big change, he's excited and we're all very happy to be leaving Illinois and moving a bit closer to home. We're very interested in having people come down to visit us this summer, though I can only promise myself and Isabel. Mike will be on the ship for part of the spring and summer. We don't have any details on that matter right now. No decisions have been made yet on where we'll be living. There's a lot to be sorted out yet and a lot that needs to be done before we leave here, so we're glad we have the rest of the winter to work it all out (though not too glad that we have the rest of the winter to live in Illinois, in particular).
Isabel is coming up on 15 months now. She is still unemployed and not dating anyone. Her and I are excited about the idea of finding a mommy and baby class for the spring in Virginia, now that she's a bit older (not a lot was available out here for her age group). She walks exclusively now, recently scored two shiny new teeth, and says four or five words regularly. She loves to sing, loves playing with other kids, and is a lot of fun to watch lately because she's learning so much everyday and she amazes me with how perceptive she is. We'll be taking her for a check up soon, so I'm excited to see how big she's gotten. The blip we had with her weight gain last summer is now completely behind us.
As for me, don't expect many updates. I just enjoy being a stay-at-home mom and I'm grateful that I'm able to do so. To me, there is nothing more valuable I could be doing with my time, and so I have no plans to rejoin the workforce in the foreseeable future. Illinois has been a learning experience for us and I think we're coming away with knowledge that will make Virginia much more enjoyable.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that 2011 is a great year for all of us. We spent all our holidays here at home, so it was much more quiet than I'm used to and I had to work hard to make the special days seem different from every other weekend, but I think I did well and we had a nice season. I don't like the trend of not making resolutions, so I have a few. I want to stick with weight watchers, be organized, break less dishes, start driving again, and add to our family in 2011 (perhaps a puppy!) ;)
That's it for now. You must be relieved. Good job, reading all that, I'm impressed with your stamina. Stay tuned. I'll talk to you all soon. <3
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