Deployment is OVER!

So about 8 days ago my husband came home after being gone for 4 1/2 months to Qatar. I anticipated the C130 to break on their way home so I would not be disappointed when they did not make their arrival time...but as the days got closer I hoped he would arrive on Saturday. Well the plane broke, then the plane bringing them the part broke, then another plane broke, and lastly...another plane broke. That is 4 planes - all broken! My little heart was crushed thinking he would not make it back in time to go to the beach for our family vacation. I finally got the call and was so upset that they would not be home until Monday which meant the trip would be canceled. Then a few hours later I got another call - Sunday at 2:30 PM. My heart flip flopped - we would get to go on our family vacation after all.

That morning we woke up and got ready. I made a sign for Bailey to color and cleaned the house to kill time and then finally it was time to leave. I can still see that plane coming through the sky and landing on the run way in front of me. I held Bailey's hand as we watched our "favorite boy" come back into our lives. We were just steps away from being a family again. We watch the men come out one-by-one and then there he was! My eyes watered as I told Bailey "LOOK! It's Daddy!". He finished shaking hands and we walked closer and Bailey took off running. My SIL did a great job capturing the moments that I hoped would happen. It was amazing!

I am very thankful that they came home safely. Thank you to all our friends and family who were there for me and Bailey during our months apart. I appreciate all the prayers for myself and Blake - who knows what those prayers did for us.

Christmas Shopping has Begun

I love love love Christmas! I love thinking about the perfect gift and finding it -- especially when it is on SALE! I have already began Christmas shopping for many reasons: #1 It spreads out the finances #2 It isn't rushed so you buy exactly what you want for that person #3 Gives plenty of excuses to go shopping. I do have ONE huge problem with buying presents this early: I can't wait to give it to them! I am horrible! If I know it is something they will love and want then I want them to have is ASAP! I mean why wait, right?!? So to keep from giving the gifts I like to wrap them really cute so that it looks decorative and super cute. Also, I love to do gift themes. I like to start with one present and add to it within the price range for each person. I love Christmas so I tend to spend a lot on each sibling, parent, niece, and nephew. Blake and I don't really give each other anything and to be honest we don't get Bailey much either because she gets so much from her grandparents, aunts, and uncles that we just get one of two things to have wrapped under the tree and a fabulously filled stocking for Christmas morning. This year I have already bought her like 3 things for her stocking that she is going to love! I found a princess tin lunchbox/purse, a princess water bottle, and I pre-ordered Beauty and the Beast on DVD. Yay! I will get her one bigger present to wrap and that is it for her besides other nick-knacks for the stocking like chap stick, candy... Having grandparents that spoil your child is nice but she gets so much stuff that we don't want to add to it. Meiko also gets a present - treats, treats, and more treats....maybe even a new frisbee or ball.

Another reason I like to do my Christmas shopping early is so I can soak in the true meaning of Christmas and all the things associated with the season. I love to decorate the tree with Bailey and Blake and hang the special ornaments while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate/apple cider. I love to go to the special Christmas plays, events and parties. I love to throw one or two Christmas parties each year to see my closest friends and eat sugar filled cookies. And if you have all your gift shopping done then you have time to do all these things verses rushing around store to store finding things while dealing with the horrible traffic and scrooges out there. So yes its 95 degrees outside and I am thinking about Christmas but I love it! I am truly blessed to live in the USA and have the freedom to worship God anytime and I get the whole month of December to dwell on the month Jesus was born.

Flu

On the drive home from the beach I was not feeling well at all. I didn't stop for drugs because I had what I needed at home - my fix it all pill CLARITIN. Well I woke up to get ready for work on Tuesday and felt horrible so I took another claritin but still felt woozy. At around 11 am I decided I needed to go home and take a nap to shake off this "sinus infection" that I diagnosed myself with. The satellite installer happened to come while I was napping so I had to act like I wasn't dying for two hours while that was going on and finally at around 4:00 PM my mother had to drive me to Pri-Med. They ran some tests where I tested positive for the FLU! I truly said "Are you kidding me!?! Who has time for the flu?!?" Then I waited for the nurse to leave before I balled my eyes out. Who was going to watch Bailey? Who would take her to school for me? I was going to have to cancel my trip with Blake to use my leave up on the darn FLU! I was so mad and determined that the Flu was not as bad as it seemed and thought it would be over in 24 hours...well that Flu tore me up. Thank goodness my mother and MIL were able to take Bailey while I wallowed in my house for 3 days isolated from the world trying to get better ASAP. Thanks to the friends and family that prayed for me while I was very sick.

Four fabulous things came from the FLU:
#1 I realize now that I have the best boss ever! He donated his leave to me so I could still go on vacation with my husband when he gets back.
#2 I lost 5 pounds and I feel fabulous!
#3 It gave me time to figure out the satellite system that was just installed the day I found out I had the flu - perfect timing! God is so good.
#4 I finished reading a book on Mary - my first book of the summer that I read for pure enjoyment :)

Summer is Almost Over

Bailey and I went to visit my favorite Brother (I only have one:)) and my SIL down in Destin for Labor Day weekend. They live in Niceville and only 5 minutes from their driveway to the mid-bay bridge so they are super close to the beaches and shopping centers. I thought with Blake being gone this summer Bailey and I would go to the beach every other weekend, but this was actually our first trip of the summer going to visit them. I didn't even realize how pale I was or that we hadn't been to the beach until the Summer was almost over. Bailey and I had Friday all to ourselves. We arrived at 5:00 PM and went strait to the beach. Bailey is a beach girl - she loves the sand, the birds, the waves, and everything in between. We walked around and played in the sand for a while and then headed to dinner. We ate at my favorite place and made it just in time for HAPPY HOUR - $1.99 for a dozen oysters. That is my kind of HAPPY HOUR. We also arrived in time to get a balloon made with face painting by Giggles the clown. Bailey was ecstatic and loved every minute of it. Then we went to her stores at the outlet and picked out a few things before going to Keith and Lauren's house. My brother took Bailey and I to the bay to go crab hunting on Saturday. We used retractable nets with raw chicken tied in the center. It was fun to spend half a day with just Keith - he travels a lot and lived in New Mexico before Florida so it was just fun getting to be with him by ourselves. That night we met up with my sister and her boyfriend and went to a sports bar to watch the Tide Roll! The next day we went crab hunting again but this time my SIL was able to come. That night we went to a $2 theater (who knew those still existed!?) and watched "Despicable Me" - that is my new favorite cartoon movie. I loved it! On Monday we hit up the overly crowded outlets, ate a late lunch at "Cheeseburger Paradise" as a big group again, hit up the splash pad and play area at Destin Commons and headed home.

This summer has flown by do to my fabulous over scheduled calendar. I wanted the summer to go by so fast that I wouldn't have time to think about the days and weeks left before Blake's deployment ended. Bailey and I had a fabulous summer filled with lots of fun things but recently I realized that I have put some very good friends and seeing my family on the sidelines during this time. It's like I made this summer all about Bailey which isn't a bad thing but I wish I had taken the time to see my grandmother in Georgia and spent time with my best friend who was going through a hard time. I know you "can't do it all" but I have the mentality of "I can do it all" and to be honest I did everything I wanted to do this summer but looking back I see things that could have been scratched off the list to spent time with people that matter most to me.