A Mother's Love

This little boy is my whole world. He keeps me going through even the toughest, darkest days (which I've seemed to have more than a handful of lately). I am so blessed to have him as my son and it is truly a privilege to be his mother.

I will write an update after our company leaves Wednesday, but we're having a wonderful time with Monica and Luke here! Seeing Shane with Luke makes me confident he'll be a great big brother... someday.

Couch to 5K Challenge

I have recently been inspired to take this challenge! For those of you who've never heard of it, its a 10 week program that takes you from being a non-runner to running a 5K non-stop! Those 10 weeks put me at right around the time Matt will be home for R&R so I'll be able to take runs with him! Today was day 1 and I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't nearly as out of shape as I thought I was. I guess chasing after a very busy 14-month old and carrying him around has helped out my fit factor!

I also started using Mederma's Stretch Mark cream. Thanks to my little boy, I have a few stretch marks on my stomach that have faded quite a bit since I had him but not nearly to where I'd like them to be. So I caved in and paid $35 for a lotion. Yes, $35. Another blogger bravely put her before and after pictures up and that really pushed me to buy the lotion. She looks INCREDIBLE.

I am so excited for Matt's Father's Day gift which I will share with everyone once he has seen it!

Memorial Day

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun weekend! I hope you all take a minute to really remember the reason why the majority of us have tomorrow off. Men and women have served our country and died serving our country. We owe our freedom and liberties to them and in my eyes every day should be memorial day. For those who have lost loved ones, I'm sure this holiday is so bittersweet. Even for me, having a husband deployed, this holiday is a tough one.

As most of you by now, Obama will not be attending the wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery this year. He is trying to defend his actions because he is not "pro-military" yet he laid the wreath last year (I was there to see that). Now I know that it is not a mandatory event, but it needs to be. Whether or not you are "pro-military" doesn't have anything to do with the respect you should show our troops. ANC is the most sacred place in our country and it represents everything that Memorial Day stands for. Why on Earth would the President of the United States and the Commander in Chief of our armed services be anywhere else?

I am extremely opinionated in my political views but I am open to every one elses as well. I will not write you off because you beliefs are different than mine, just make sure if you're going to argue with me, you have valid points and your facts straight. Nothing makes me madder that a "just because" answer.

Anyway, sorry for my mini-rant. I was able to voice my opinion on a local radio station yesterday and man did that feel GREAT.

Sympathy

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the word sympathy. Mr. Webster defines sympathy as the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another. I don't ask for much in life and sympathy sure isn't one of them. There is a select group that can do what this word means and that is my fellow milspouse. Being away from a loved one is hard, period. But being away from your husband, your other half, the father to your child, and knowing that there are people out there who want to hurt him, now that is a feeling I can't even begin to describe. On top of that, knowing that he's missing all these major milestones in our son's life eats away at my heart. I do my very best to video tape everything he does and send those off in my packages but I know that it hurts him to. Being away from each other has been a true test of our commitment to our marriage, family, and our love.

I don't want sympathy from anyone. Sympathy means you know what I'm going through and honestly the majority doesn't. I'd just ask for patience and support. Help to keep me busy and my mind off the other side of the world.

So for those of you that have kept me sane, thank you. You don't know how much your friendship and support means to me.

VACATION!

Hey everyone! Just writing you from my “vacation”! Here’s how a typical day goes! I get up around 6:30-7 AM to a crying child who wants his momma. I then feed him, change him, play with him for about 2 hours until its time for a nap which most of the time he fights by screaming for 10 minutes. While he’s napping, I do about an hour of homework while juggling laundry, cleaning up after him, and maybe catching my deployed husband online for a few minutes. The peace is broken usually about 2 hours later and we start the routine all over again! Food, diaper change, and lots of playing! Somewhere in there, I might get to eat myself.
My afternoon consists of running errands and trying to wrangle a very busy 1 year old that has just learned to walk. All of this while constantly worrying about my husband’s safety and well-being. Around 3 o’clock, little one takes a nap and I’ll do another hour or so of school work and get ready for work that evening. Around 5 PM I head up to work where I try to sell expensive handbags to people for 3 hours. I get home around 10 PM and work on school work for another hour before I get some alone time where I can go onto Facebook and chat with friends. Then comes the most FUN part of my vacation: insomnia.
So as you can tell, my “vacation” is so relaxing and rejuvenating. I suggest every one try being a temporary single parent, full time student, and working part-time all while having a husband deployed to a war zone AND living with your parents! It’s a BLAST!

Deployment Survival

Being a military spouse is probably one of the hardest titles to hold. Trying to manage a household budget that never seems to go as far as you’d like it to, being a single parent during deployments, listening to AND understanding the “jargon” of the military are all tasks you are expected to do on top of being a human being. But the lowest of lows also come with the highest of highs. I still get goose bumps thinking of watching my husband and his fellow soldiers march into a ceremony hall after a fifteen-month deployment, the tears just pouring down my face in pure joy. Having been a military wife for over 4 years now and currently enduring our 2nd deployment, I have learned so much about my true inner strength and determination. I always have people come up to me and say “I could never do it” and my answer is always “You’d do it if you had to.”
I’d like to think I have a very positive outlook on things. Bad things happen, things completely out of your control. So why sit there and wallow in self pity? Either do something about it or shut up. Lately I’ve been extremely annoyed with all the negativity I’ve seen. Yes, some days I’d like to whine and complain all day about my husband being gone, but what is that going to get me? It’s certainly not going to bring him home so why waste precious moments and energy on a situation I cannot change. And while I can’t change it, I can make the best of it. I can stay busy and focus on being a mother to my son and keeping my husband’s spirits and morale up. The LAST thing he needs is to have to worry about me and my well-being. Focusing on the mission at hand and coming home to me is all he should have to worry about.
Just because he’s not here doesn’t mean our lives need to stop. They’ll just be different. Learn to be independent, learn how to mow the lawn and change your car’s oil. Use this time as an opportunity and growth period, not as a time to sit and cry. I can guarantee that at the end of these long 12 months, you’ll be a stronger person and better off and when you’re husband gets off that plane he’s going to be prouder of you than he’s ever been.

Apple Blossom Parade

The Apple Blossom parade is an annual event in my hometown. I haven't been in probably 8 or 9 years though. Now that I have this bundle of joy in my life, it's time to enjoy all the little things in life again. He loved everything about the parade. He was completely enthralled with the music and all the people. He was so excited to see the firetrucks and bagpipe players. I got to enjoy seeing him experience something new and being out on such a gorgeous day really helped my mood. The only thing that could have made it better was having Matt with us.