A New Beginning

Pardon the absence! Life has been crazy and while I have had the urge to write, I didn't want to keep writing about the only thing that was swimming through my mind - a temporary life without Trey. Thoughts around him.. or the lack of him... were constantly swimming through my head and it wouldn't have made for any fresh blog posts. I had talked about it so much already and there's only so many ways you can say the same thing.

Jaci Greggs Photography

  Anyways - The day I'd been dreading has come and gone. Trey is still in the states. Of course, very shortly after I bought our plane tickets home, they pushed his date out a good bit further. He'll still be gone before Christmas, but we could have gotten more QT with him. No sense in focusing on that though.
Yesterday, I gathered up all the courage I could possibly muster and got on a plane to SC. I'm pretty sure it was the hardest thing I've had to do thus far in life. I'm going to miss him something fierce, but to see the man you love say goodbye to your son with tears in his eyes... heart wrenching. I chickened out and made my brother take us to the airport instead of Trey. I'm convinced that was for the best. I couldn't handle it. When you can't hold it together in front of your baby and he's asking Daddy why Mama looks so sad... not good. This way I was able to have that 5 minutes or so to pull myself together before having to travel all day with him.

Jaci Greggs Photography

 It was awful and I'll never forget Trey's face as we were pulling away, but we're here now and we're getting used to our new normal. I was able to hold it together until seeing my parents at the airport. I'm guessing it was my strength as a mama shining through that got us here, but we did really well!

Andrew's having a good time playing, but he does keep asking to go back to his own house. Not really sure how we're handling that yet and I'm really NOT looking forward to when he realizes he misses his Daddy. Until Trey actually leaves, I'm not sure that it will truly sink in for me. Right now, it just feels like any other visit home. We can text all day and call each other whenever we want. I think this will be a good transition though.

In the meantime, we'll just be settling in! I'll be busy getting Andrew used to the fact that he lives here, meeting my OB and transferring over to Tricare South, learning which cabinets the strainers go in and getting used to our new normal. I finally feel like I can respond to texts and emails without crying, so if I've ignored you at all, I promise I won't for long!

Jaci Greggs Photography

I'm bringing sexy back

Welp - I survived day one of hubs in the field. Kidding, I never doubted I could handle a week on my own. I do miss his crazy self, but I also don't mind a few days/nights of alone time. It's good for the soul says I.

Last night, however, was not one of those nights. GIRLS NIGHT. and it was the ultimate girls night let me tell you...  nail polish galore, hand and foot scrubs and creams, face masks and the N'Sync channel on Pandora to top it all off. I had more fun than I've had in a long time. It was great to be able to just let go and be silly girls for a night. No making dinner for the men, no watching them do homework in our peripheral vision. Just the 5 of us blasting the music and being complete girls. Much needed!

Some other things that have went on or will go on that I feel is worthy of your knowledge:

My sweet, amazing brother got a little confused when he was buying Andrew's shower gift and had it sent to our apartment instead of my mum's house. Imagine my thrill yesterday when the UPS man delivered our STROLLER!! (Jeep Liberty Sport jogger stroller) and Andrew's very first dump truck. I can't wait to see my son *that still sounds sweetly strange rolling of the tongue* crawling on the floor, rolling his truck around and making vrrooom vroomm sounds. I'll make sure he knows his Uncle Charlie gave that to him! I really wanted to open the stroller immediately and find something to push around, but I surpressed that urge...

Today I plan to pack away all of my winter clothes for the movers. I bought a plastic tub for them yesterday. That way when we get to El Paso, I can just store them away without even having to look at them.

I'm going to be cutting up my first real, live pineapple today. I've always been too intimidated... I'm going for it today!

It's been really cool... I can feel Drew's body usually after I eat. He was a little further up last night and I could feel little body parts and feel them moving when I'd press on them. I'm assuming feet. I then insisted all the girls feel as well.

The other day, I found out how old my Wii thinks I am. I thought I was kicking ass the whole time. Not so says the Wii. It told me I was 46 years old. Isn't 40's the new 30's??

Also, 9 days before I'm home for a blissful 8 days!

If You Can't Beat Them...

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend :)

Trey found out Friday afternoon that BOLC II would not be starting Nov. 1st, it will be starting Monday. Yup. This Monday. He had to report at 10:30 this morning. So here starts 7 more weeks of training. He can come home on Fridays at whoknowswhat time and has to be back Sunday mornings (I believe.. I'm hoping for afternoons though). I'm giving myself today to sit around and be a lazy, sad bum but that's all! I really am actually glad he's starting early. He'll be done that much sooner (is that a word?), we may get to go home earlier for Christmas, and it's giving me the opportunity to get out there on my own and figure things out. When that turned into a positive thing for me? I'm not sure...

The only thing I accomplished today was getting my kitchen in order. I did the best I could. Really. It's very small. I didn't realize how small it was until I tried to put all my stuff in it. The movers came at 7:30 Saturday morning. I was pretty sure my neighbors were going to murder us. Good news - NOTHING was messed up. So far. I still have one room to unpack. More good news - my vodka DID in fact make it to me!! Man I was pretty sure mover man #2 drank it before he left my driveway in Columbia. Trey and I were both surprised when I opened the box and saw it staring up at me. Bad news - Mover Man #1 blew up my bathroom AGAIN. Can you believe that? I mean if you gotta go, you gotta go, but really??? This man is pretty regular! At least there were no tools necessary after he left this time!

So where was I.. if you can't beat them, join em right? Ehhh.. I broke down and finally signed up for Twitter. I've been fighting it for so long. Another website to be addicted to is the LAST thing I need. But seriously? A website fully dedicated to Facebook like status updates.. I couldn't resist one minute longer. I have no friends though! I'm not sure how to find them either. So come over and follow me ~ janorton07

Back Again

Another weekend flown by and done with. This one was all too great, but went by waayyy too fast. I've about had it with this whole visiting thing with my husband. I'd really love to live together again. I know I'm lucky in the fact that I get to see him about once a month and he is coming home soon. I know that we'll be living together again shortly, but for some reason, that just didn't help with this goodbye. I cried more than I ever have and my heart still hurts. :(

The fact that I'll see him again in about 2 weeks is doing nothing for me. I think I am really just so overwhelmed (you know... hoping against hope and praying my heart out that we can get rid of this house, my grandmother, training a new person at work, attempting but failing greatly at training a puppy... blah blah blah) that I just can't deal with being without him right now. Just to have a big bear hug when I need it or have him here to talk to whenever, or help train this puppy!!!

They were adorable together over the weekend. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. All I can say is... she without a doubt has him wrapped and God help me if we ever have a *real* daughter...

yes they really slept like that....

Our first family portrait

Don't let these sweet pictures fool you. She is officially a hellion and have entertained the thought of bringing her right back where she came from. Just kidding. Kind of. Please tell me it's going to get better. Please tell me I'll stop saying "NO" 1500 times a day. That I'll be able to watch a TV show and not have her get into something every 2 seconds. Any advice is more than welcome!

Another Weekend Recap

I had a good time at the beach, but it feels GREAT to be home! I am really looking forward to next weekend which will involve no long car rides and sleeping in my own bed. Some things went perfectly: got just the right amount of sun (more tan, less burn) and it was good to be with some of my best friends after going a little too long without seeing each other. Some things went not so perfectly: fridge that was verrrrry slow to make things cold (heaven forbid we have to wait too long for our beer to chill), no extra toilet paper stashed in the bathrooms, no bath towels, and a hot tub that was colder than the fridge.

Biggest FAIL moment of the weekend for me: while relaxing on the beach, chair down by the water so the waves are crashing on my feet with drink and book in hand, I decide to join some others that are trekking their way into the water. I lean over to get out of my very low chair and what happens then?? Oh.. just my top falling off!!! I was able to save myself and grab it just before my ladies made their grand appearance but the top was a loss. The plastic clip holding the back together broke. That was the end of my beach time. In a bathing suit at least.

I have to say it's times like those (vacationing with friends, not losing my top) that I miss Trey the most. We always hung out together with this group and it's very emotional for me with him not being there. So I'm missing him a little extra tonight. We keep talking a lot about our 4-day visit together during the 4th and I am so so so excited. 25 more days :)

Here are a few pics from our mini photo shoot:

get more than one drink in me and it never fails ~ out comes the tongue

Weekend Wrap Up and Pics for Your Viewing Pleasure

Between my TRAUMATIZING night Friday, spending lots of qt time with my presh husband, meeting an amazing blogger buddy (again.. love her), and having a non-eventful drive home, I would say it turned out to be a pretty damn good weekend.

Trey was supposed to be released at 8 Sunday morning. I got up bright and early and dolled myself up for him. Right in the middle of straightening this hair of mine *no, it is not naturally beautiful trust me* he called to let me know that they had ever so graciously given him CQ duty for the morning until 10:00. He must do a good job at whatever it is they do during CQ because he sho does get it quite often! But alas, he came riding to my hotel in that little gray chariot of his right around 10:15. We had an exciting morning of driving around, doing his laundry together, walking around yet some more together, having lunch at the Infantry Museum, and of course shedding lots of tears on my end. It's the hardest thing ever to get in that car at the end of a visit and drive away from him! Yuck! But what's a girl to do??? Start a new countdown until the next time of course! *which is the 4th of July ~ a whole 4 day pass* I won't know what to do with myself. 4 straight days with him??? Nice! I have to say.. I miss him more and more with every visit. Each time we get a little more freedom together and it reminds me of how awesome we are together and I can't wait to have that back again :)

Now lets get to the fun part.. the pictures! I'll backtrack a tad and show yall some of the gifts I got from him last week:

Not a very good quality picture, but you get the point. This is my favorite thing ever! It's something we'll be able to add to for the rest of our lives.

*Don't judge the messy bed* This little guy makes me smile everytime I walk into my room :) How cute is this??

And here are a few pictures of us from the weekend. Literally only a few. It's hard to get pictures together when it's just the two of you!

He is so so so handsome!!! Love <3>

I just ended this night with a little spaz out. The biggest moth I have ever seen just landed right next to me. After lots of shrieks and jumping around and throwing things at it.. it's finally moved on to a better place.

So Maybe I See Where He's Coming From..

You know it's bad when you start getting on your own nerves!! But can do nothing about it. It's sad really.
I have this cup issue... I know... this may be a freakishly insane slightly weird post.

I cannot bring myself to drink out of the same cup once.. or twice at the most. This would drive hubs insane on a daily basis. Because not only will I not reuse it, but I have a tendency to leave them all over the house as well. I'm constantly drinking something and usually while walking around the house will just take my glass with me. He would walk around huffing and puffing *and maybe cursing me under his breath* while collecting all the glasses always wondering "why can't you just reuse the same damn cup". I don't know why girls.. I really can't explain it. I try to make myself, start to have very illogical thoughts about the Crystal light going bad that was left in it, or what if a bug flew in it (and clearly contaminated it).. spaz out, and just grab a new one. I've given up trying to justify it ok.. it's just my thing.
Wellll now he's not here to collect my scattered cups. I would have cleaned them up myself, but I guess I just never noticed it because there was always a clean one in the cabinet. Now I go to reach for one and there may or may not be a fresh, clean cup waiting on me. So I have to go around the house, cursing myself under my own breath, and load the dishwasher up. It's sad when you have to run the dishwasher with only the top shelf filled.

It's the little things you miss while he's gone. I miss my cup collector!
Stay tuned tomorrow for my strange bedtime rituals...