Photo-Op!

A few updates, in photos.

-Weekend-
These pictures are from when we went to the Memorial park in Jacksonville and saw the Beirut, Vietnam, and World Trade Center memorials.

As I said in the last post, our visit was really moving and pretty emotional. It was such a beautiful area. If you're ever in the Jacksonville NC area, I suggest you check it out.


-Yesterday-
We carved our punkins yesterday! Strangely enough, NC punkins are different and kind of fell apart rather easily, there are about 5 toothpicks holding mine together and when I got home from work, her face was basically toast, meaning it had all sunken in...

-Today-
My belly photo shoot. The last week of my second trimester, then I'll be in month 7 and the third and final trimester! She'll be here soooo soon!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Overwhelmed

Woo, what a week. I apologize for the lack of posting this week, but the title sums up my general feelings lately - overwhelmed. I suppose I'll start from the beginning with a little week recap.

I started working this week, working in a whole new sense of working while being pregnant, seeing that I had taken a short hiatus from the paycheck earning world. The first three days were "World Class Community Service" training days that all Marine Corps Community Service (MCCS) employees are required to take. These three days covered everything from safety and security to drugs to being the best service provider ever. It was actually pretty fun, lots of group work type things and really not too too bad at all. Monday was 10-4 and Tue/Wed were 8-4. Much earlier than I'm used to and much longer days. Needless to say I was pretty tired each night and was in bed by 11 (SHOCKER!)

After those days of training, we headed to our places of work for our in-house orientations and trainings. These took place at the Child Development Center at Tarawa Terrace for me, my new place of duty. It was good to finally be back with the children. They were pretty easy days, on Friday we actually "assisted" (aka shadowed) in the rooms and filled in for people who needed breaks or lunches. Thursday was another 10am day and Friday an 8am. They were both pretty short days, but the exhaustion was really making itself known and I was pretty grouchy by the end of the week (sorry hubby!) It felt good to be back in the workplace but I could also tell already that it won't be easy.

This weekend has been pretty eventful. Friday we went and got new tires put on the truck. Since there was an hour wait and I was craving McDs, Hubs and I headed to the McDs down the road on foot - about 3/4 of a mile each way. Go me for getting all that exercise in (even though it was rewarded with bad-for-you food). We then spent some serious and much needed cuddle time in front of the tv.

Saturday we got to work cleaning the house (a total field day in USMC terms - I even cleaned the floor in the kitchen by hand!) then checked out the Onslow County Oktoberfest, which was a big fail (Onslow County fairs, I'm learning, are not too 'happening'). We met up with my friend Caitlin and her hubby and after seeing what a bust Oktoberfest was we came back to the house to devise a plan B. We ended up bowling and having dinner at Hooters (and spending way too much money, another reason I'm overwhelmed) but it was a super fun evening. Came back and watched Land of the Lost which, although pretty funny, I didn't make it through - I was out by 11!

Was up by 9 today (on my OWN! holy cow, this whole early going to sleep early getting up thing is really crazy to me!) and had a pretty typical Sunday. Ran some errands, watched some football. While we were out, we stopped by the Beirut and Vietnam memorials in Jacksonville. There is also a World Trade Center memorial with a piece from one of the centers. It was so humbling and sobering to see all these memorials and be reminded, once again, why we fight (and why we're waiting on those orders...). We then drove around and found a new back road place with a recreational area for picnics on the water! We always like finding new "spots." Although I was a bit put off by the "Beware of American Alligator" sign, it was a pretty awesome spot. When we got home I set out to making dinner, Mom's recipe for her famous home-made Mac n Cheese (I DID IT WOO HOO), pork chops, and peas. While the mac n cheese was in the oven, I also put in the laundry and cleaned the bathroom. Yeah, you can call me super wife.

I think the reason for being overwhelmed is now being in work I'll have less time to get my stuff done and I'm nervous about taking all the time off I need (doc appts, baby classes, holidays, etc) as well as the whole getting up early thing (this week I work from 630-1230 -- yeah, I have to BE there at 630 EEK!) As well as just being a grown up in general.. bill paying, money saving, house maintaining, having responsibility... Sometimes I just stop and think HOLY CRAP am I going to be able to manage all this? Hubs takes a minute to remind me that 1. I'm not managing it alone 2. Yes, we can manage it and 3. We're doing just. Fine.

And that being said, I've got to go pay some bills and then I'm going to enjoy a movie with the Mr.
Also, there may be pics later, my phone is being a jerk and won't send them online!

Mondizzle

• Got a new job (as you've heard) and the next three days, guarenteed, I'll be making some moneys!!!! After that I get some sort of work schedule (hopefully) and will be working semi-regularly, if all pans out accordingly.
• My husband is home. While we still don't know anything, I cherish each and every day/minute/second I get with him. Although a little word would be fantastic, having him home is basically awesome.
  
• New and expecting moms meeting tomorrow night. Our battalion spouses have lots of fun things (Girls Nights Out I've mentioned before) that we do to get together, and once a month we have a Girls Night for the mommies and mommies-to-be of the group. Since I fell asleep before the first one (oops!) and didn't want to leave husband (not even for a few hours!!) right after he came home from training, this will be my first one. I'm pretty excited, two of my closest friends from the BN are hosting it, so I know it will be a blast.
• 26 weeks pregnant and celebrating the last little bit of the second trimester. I've enjoyed this stage of pregnancy, as it really is the "honey moon phase," but I'm sooo ready to meet my baby that each day closer is more and more exciting. That and I love popping out, watching my body change (and finally not looking lumpy and jiggly and weird and actually pregnant - oh and my belly button change haha), and generally just enjoy being pregnant.
• Thirteen nights of Halloween begins tonight on ABC Family. Ok so, maybe I cheated on this one a little bit (The commercial just came on), but realizing that 13 Nights of Halloween is here really excites me, because I love Halloween and fall time and the movies during the Halloween season :)

Happy New Week Everyone, Hope you all have wonderful things to look forward to this week!!!

Sweet Giveaway

I just wanted everyone in bloggy world to know about this sweet giveaway going on over at Life in the Burbs with the Lenz's.

She is giving away a super cute apron from Flirty Aprons.




Go check it out now!!
And thanks to Ramirez Family for posting about the giveaway!


Headed off to my first day of work - wish me luck!!

What An Excellent Weekend!

Well it has been a pretty awesome weekend.

On Friday and Saturday we continued with our house hunting. We found a home we really really really like. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a lot of fun other things. We decided to check out getting out of our lease and discussed putting in an offer. However, after talking with hubs Staff Sergeant and my parents, we've decided that right now is not the best time for us. It was kind of a bummer and I am a little down about it, but it makes the best sense for us at this stage in our lives. As my mom pointed out, we're not sure how our finances will change once baby girl is here, how long we'll be in NC, or what is going on with deployment. There are too many unknowns in our life right now to do something as solid as purchasing a home. We've got a nice place that we both like, and while it sometimes feels a little tight with just 2 bedrooms it is certainly manageable and it's already all set up. Mr P. was the one who was most reluctant to buy the home and was so worried he'd "crushed my dreams" so while I joke with him and call him the "Dream Crusher" now, I really understand the points against buying and it really does make the most sense for us at this time in our lives. Besides, to me, there's no point in doing it unless both of us are 100%.

So, after being a little bummed about that, we decided to go engage in some sweet fall activities (woo hoo!) We headed over to Mike's Farm which is across from the airport only a few minutes from our house. When we got there we were pretty shocked about the disorganization of the place and the high cost of everything there, but nonetheless we ended up with 3 punkins - 2 big ones and 1 tiny one, kinda like our family.

Mr. P thought he was soooo funny with his preggo punkin belly.

After that we went on base to run some errands and then we headed to Babies R Us to continue to work on our registry. The first time we went, we didn't know the sex of our baby and I was also way over excited and ended up putting about 4 of everything on the list, since I couldn't decide which themes/colors/things in general I liked best. We enjoyed editing things, Mr. P made me delete a few things, and we have it so that there is just about only one of everything. Just about. As we headed home, we discussed what we wanted for dinner and decided that we'd done really well last pay period and we'd reward ourselves with dinner and a date night.

We enjoyed a great dinner at AppleBee's and then headed over to the movies to see ZombieLand which was pretty freakin' funny. I do admit though, for a good portion of the movie I was more concerned with not peeing my pants than having a good laugh out loud. Note to self (and other preggo women) after month 5, get an end seat so you don't have to continuously climb over people (or in my case feel guilty about climbing over people so much that you just sit there trying to ignore the gotta-pee sensation) every 5 minutes.

Today was different than our typical Sunday, as we spent the day running around. While we usually run errands on Sundays, we veg out and watch football a good portion of the day too, but today's agenda didn't include much football (much to Hubby's dismay). We had to put air in my tires, get hubs a haircut, gas up the truck, make our meal plan and grocery list, shop for work clothes for me, pick some things up from base for him, stop at a friend's house, and grocery shop... It was a long day. It was nice though. The humid NC weather has finally dropped enough that it feels like fall, almost like winter today. It was about 50 degrees and and cloudy and, while I do love the sun, it felt great to have a break from the heat. We got 2 pairs of khaki pants (they give us the shirt(s) once we're in the center - I'm just supposed to wear khakis - and I just need to look "work appropriate" the first few days in HR for paperwork/training) for me from Old Navy and a really nice zip-up hoodie for him. We also groceried for way under budget - I'm getting pretty good at this budgeting/saving money/smart shopping thing. Go me!

We came home and put the groceries away and watched the Pats CRUSH the Titans. Sadly the Ravens lost by a field goal, but luckily I didn't watch it to put a damper on my day (because we never get the Ravens games here... grr)

Tomorrow is my first day of work - basically intake type stuff, HR paperwork, training, the norm. I'm a bit nervous for my first day in the center (Mon, Tues, and Wed are all training and that's as far as I know, center will be some time after that) as I'm not sure how different it will be from the center in MD and I'm already used to how things worked there. I just have to take it as a totally individual experience, right?! Wish me luck!!

Happy Week Everyone :-D

The Spirit of Growth

I am such a procrastinator. I've had things I've been wanting to write about for quite some time but I slack. And once again, I missed Wishful Wednesday. I fail at blogging :( Ok, journey of self-pity over, what's been up?

First, fall has hit! Woo hoo!! It's is finally cool in NC. Now of course, the minute I hit "publish post" and this becomes official, the temperature will suddenly increase back to the sweltering 90 degrees it was this weekend. Hopefully not. For real though. I'm starting to get to that "private summers" stage in the pregnancy where I am always Hot (well hotter than usual, because I'm naturally always warm). With the arrival of that good ol' fall feelin, I've been in a more fall-y mood. I have been wanting to just bake. So the other night... I baked! I made muffins with two of my favorite fall ingredients - apples and cinammon! Mmm. They were delicious too. I only made 6 because we only had one apple and it was 11pm and I wasn't about to make a WalMart run. Mr. P. certainly enjoyed them (I left him a note and told him he must take the biggest ones, have one for breakfast and one for lunch because I loved him that much. Aren't I sweet? bahaha).
We have decided to resume our house hunting in full force. We've been doing great at budgeting. In all honesty, our salary isn't anything to write home about, something I was prepared for marrying an enlisted Marine, however, with a little attention not only can we survive but we can thrive (yeah, how cheesy was that?! I'm in a good mood, let me be). Seriously though, we haven't really cut out all that much (ok so I can't buy expensive makeup and bags the way I enjoyed in college) but just paying attention and being conscientious of what you're spending money on makes a big difference. Oh, and turning out the lights when you're not in a room (now who sounds like a mom?) I am very proud of how responsible with finances I have become, especially anyone who knew my spending habits before marriage could tell you I was anything but frugal. That being said, Mr. P assures me that if we continue this budgeting deal, we really can afford our very own house. Something I really, really desire especially with Little Miss Buttons on the way. I want to paint and have a dog and a yard and a swing set and... all the other fun stuff home owners get. Of course, this is all dependent of finding the house, I refuse to settle. Our rental is great now, I just wish it had a bit more space and we could do what we want with it. But it's in a great area and it's livable, so if we don't find our dream home (in our price range) right now, it won't be the end of the world. Wish us luck on our hunt though, we sure could use it!

And the last bit of exciting news I have for the day is...

I GOT A JOB!

A great follow up to the budgeting discussion above, we will soon be pulling in extra money because I will finally be working again. (Maybe only for a few months before time off but working now is better than working never, right?) A few weeks ago, I attended a "career fair" on base for Child Development Center positions, which is the same job I had back in MD before the move. They called literally not even an hour ago and let me know that I was selected for the position and I start with paperwork/training on Mon, Tue and Wed and go from there. It is a flex position, which means I will be working "not set" hours, but at home I was flex as well and after being there a while I was pretty set with my hours, so hopefully it will follow a similar pattern. I'm making about a dollar less an hour than I was at home, but NC is also cheaper than MD so that's not such a big deal either. I'm just really happy to finally contribute. I was starting to feel kind of like a bump on a log. Even though I do volunteer and do things during the day, not bringing in any extra money when we could use it had me feeling a bit guilty and well... useless. Not a feeling I'm very fond of, so I'm really really stoked to be a contributing member of the P family. Hahaha.

And last but certainly not least... baby girl is doing fantastically as far as making mommy grow. I had my doctor's appointment on Wednesday - 25 weeks. I have gained about 20 lbs (EEK!!!) during the whole pregnancy which they say is good (I'd hate too see what too much looks like, I feel like a cow) and my belly is measuring at a perfect 25cm. Her heart sounded great and she was a brat as usual, kicking at the doppler and moving away so we had to keep hunting her down to listen. She's so awesome :)

I still don't think it looks that large in person...

Mr. P loves "his" belly

Happy Monday (It's Monday, Right?)

I know, I know, I've been slacking in my posts. First, our router died, then I had company, and then... well I've been lazy. So I haven't really been having that much internet time at all (crazy, right?) I will begin this post with a short recap of the weekend (sans pictures, gotta wait til the ladies post them!) and then will finish up with the outlook of the upcoming week!


This weekend...
Friday, two of my favoritest Sorority sisters came for a visit. My little, Theresa, and Shan W. We had a really chill weekend. As the hubby and I are working on our whole budgeting strategy, we didn't do anything wild, but it was nice getting time to catch up with my friends that I've missed so much and just generally have some girl time. When they got here Friday at 3, hubs and I were still at the grocery getting food for dinner. We'd gotten delayed a bit as traffic coming off base for the upcoming long weekend was horrendous. We met them at the house and gave them the brief tour of our home. We headed over to the house we're thinking about purchasing (maybe... it's still up in the air...) because I wanted a second opinion, and then gave them a quick tour of the base. When that was done everyone was starving and I set off to make homemade lasagna. Everyone was tuckered out from a long drive (for them) and a day of running around/working (me and the hubs) so we headed to bed.

Saturday we headed to the Onslow County Fair. We were really looking forward to funnel cakes and other junky fair foods, as well as maybe some rides and games. When we got there, we were sadly let down. It was $5 admission and then everything inside was really expensive. We did get some delicious funnel cake, though, and played a couple games. It was super hot out and most the rides I couldn't go on (and it was extremely expensive for just the ones I could go on...) so we decided to blow that popsicle stand and try something else. We enjoyed a scrumptious steak sub dinner at Andy's, my favorite restaurant on base. Then we went back to the house and watched Juno and hung out while recuperating from a day in the sun and decided what to do next. The decision for what to do next was torn, we wanted to do something but no one wanted to speak up on what that something would be, so when we passed the Texas Roadhouse and Theresa shouted about it, we stopped in there. We (they all) enjoyed a few drinks, some shots, and watched the Roadhouse girls dance, and we headed out. We stopped by Walmart for some snacks and vegged out watching movies when we got home. It was actually a nice relaxing weekend with some of my favorite people, made me happy. I really miss my home friends and sisters being this far away, it was great to be with them again!!

The girls headed out around 11 the next day and hubs and I were left to a lazy day. I took a nice nap and then we enjoyed some serious football where every team we were rooting for lost (Ravens and Patriots on my part, Tampa Bay Buccs and Patriots for hubs). We ran a few errands and then called it a night, as Mr. P. did not have the luxury of an extended weekend and had to be back in school on Monday.

Today I woke up feeling pretty crappy. Had some horrible dreams through the night and was up every two hours to pee (pregnancy, oh, pregnancy...). Around 11 I called my friend Jackie who is down here and moving to the area. Turns out her and her daughter will be staying with us tonight, as well as her hubby whenever he gets here (didn't leave MD til around 530pm, silly goose). I'm pretty excited to have company again. And Mr. P has found a new friend in Kayla (Jackie's daughter) as she's been stuck to him like glue since he walked in the door around 2pm. We went and had ice cream, got our new router (woo hoo) and are now just chilling out.

And there ya have it, my weekend recap! On to the future...

• Jackie and her family are visiting! More homies from... home... to spend time with!!
• Hubs is still in school, which means days are still late for him (doesn't have to be there til 7am!) and early for me (he's home by 4 at the latest, usually!!)
• I'll be 25 weeks on Wednesday, and have my 25 week checkup. I always look forward to check ups, a chance to ask questions and be reassured that everything is going swimmingly. Baby girl's growing so much and kicking the crap out of me and I love that and always look forward to it!
• House hunting resumes on Thursday. I was supposed to go today but just felt too icky in the morning. So Thursday I will go and look at some more prospective residencies for the P family!
• Punkin Pickin'! I think we're going tomorrow after Mr. P gets home from school. The weather is starting to cool down, fall is starting to finally feel realistic, and we need some punkins!!
• AND last but certainly not least, PAY DAY is Thursday! WOO HOO!!!!

And now, I've got a hungry little guest and husband so I'm off to make some foods! Happy new week everyone!

A Bushy Haircut (Lawn Maitenance)

One of the perks of where we live is lawn care is included. Therefore, my pregnant self will not be stuck mowing our grass if (when) hubs deploys. A downfall of this perk, however, is that the lawn maintenance is not always the... errr greatest.

Our landlords are somewhere in their late 60s, early 70s. For being that, excuse the term, old, they really are still kickin'. They've got a huge garden in front of their house that I often see them outside tending, and Mrs. Landlord is always out riding her fancy little tractor cutting ours and the neighbors' grass. What could be the problem with this? You ask. Well, they never cut our hedges and if you ask my husband they do a not-so-great job at cutting the grass.

I try to refrain from complaining about the not-so-greatness of all of this because, well, it's free (and free is definitely something we take advantage of these days...). However, when the bushes start over growing into the walkway it's time to take action. As we have no tools for lawn maintenance (or really any tools in general) I had hubby head next door to our Landlords to see if they wouldn't mind giving our weeds a lil wacking. Unfortunately they were not home. Yesterday or today.

So, today we took the matter into our own hands! It was definitely an adventure, to say the least. We set out with scissors and Hubby's work knife and had at it. And while our bush now may be a little lopsided, at least he's not creepin into the walkway or in my porch view any more.

We forgot to get a "before" picture, but here is a picture of our neighbors, whose bush wasn't quite as wild as ours had gotten. It's the purplish colored one on the far left side.

And our newly groomed bush at our house

Not bad for a scissors and pocket knife deal, eh?

Makes me feel so happy that it is now nice and neat. It was making me feel a bit clausterphobic before as it had begun to creep up onto the porch and the walkway, slowly taking over our house!

Also, don't let the picture make you think that's the extent of our house, looking at it makes it seem so small, but there's a-whole-nother window and some more wall over to the left haha.

In other news:
We have been enjoying getting our home cleaned up for our guests this weekend. Having guests come always makes me a little psychotic when it comes to my house, but Mr. P goes along with it well and helps clean up. It's just fun for me to have someone to present our house to, we live so far away that barely anyone comes over!

We still do not have a deployment date, the Battalion Commander told us to be prepared for a tasking this month, but it is not definite and we are still waiting for word. It is now at a presidential level (this made me laugh at the meeting... oops) and whether or not my husband goes off to war is basically in the hands of Mr. Obama now... (Very weird to think the president's decision directly affects my family... wow)

Baby P is doing great as far as I know. My next appointment is next Wednesday. But she continues to kick the poop out of me everyday so I can only assume that things are going swimmingly. I just have to work on getting my water intake (A GALLON DAY?!)

And that is about all I have to share on this lovely Thursday. O crap it's THURSDAY I missed Wishful Wednesday AGAIN!! I'll have to go back and do one later tonight, so be on the lookout for that! I've got such pregnant brain these days (at least pregnant brain isn't as bad as the dumb... a long story for a totally separate post).

Maxwell's Story

I have recently been following the story of Whitney at The Glamorous Life of a Housewife's nephew Maxwell. He was born at 26w5d gestation and although tiny and fragile, was complete and his lungs were/are working on their own. I believe this is a true miracle story and urge you to head over to Whitney's blog to read about this awe-inspiring little man and the great God who made us all. Please remember to say a little prayer for him and his family, that he continues to do well, whether or not you visit the blog.

Thanks everyone.

Manic? Monday (A Reason To Look Forward)

Because Mondays are usually kind of stressful, I have chosen to steal this positive way to look at Mondays from the lovely Heather at Live.Love.Laugh. Such a good way to get over having a case of the Mondays. So now I present to you...


Why I love the week of October 5, 2009:

• My husband will be in training but will be able to come home each day (I was really worried he'd have to stay out there which is no fun) and it may be early days.
• Fall weather is finally starting to creep into the depths of North Carolina. And while it is still warm enough to wear flip flops and short sleeves, I got to wear long pants without sweating today. Woo hoo!
• I will be 6 months pregnant on Wednesday. 24 whole weeks I've been at this baby growing stuff! Only 4 short weeks from entering into the third and final trimester!
• I created and am adhering to a meal plan! We made it Saturday and bought all of our groceries on Sunday. It helped us save so much money and we shopped in complete meals so I won't have to run back to WalMart every single day.
• I will be getting my flu shot some time this week. I went today but was confused and given the wrong instructions so did not get it, but I found out they are there all week. I've never gotten a flu shot in my life, but it's the best for baby girl so it's what I'm doing.
  
• Tomorrow night is the Meet the Spouses night with the Batallion CO. Maybe, just maybe, we'll be given a clue as to what is going on within the unit. If not, I get to see some of my favoritest Marine Wives tomorrow, to say the least!
• And last but not least, TWO of my favoritest (yes, I know favoritest is a made-up word and yes, I know I used it twice, there's no other word to use there though, really!) Phi Mu ladies are coming to visit me this very weekend!!!!! I'm sooo excited! Shan W and my little Theresa are making the trek down here to the (not-so) dirty south. I am really really REALLY excited for them to visit, and know we will have a blast (and I am determined to have the best time ever without going over budget, wish me luck!) They were planning a surprise but they (thankfully) let me know so I can prepare. Which, thank God they did, because we had a lazy weekend and the house was a disaster (and now I have time and a reason to clean, woo hoo!)

I am actually pretty freakin' stoked about this coming week. I'm just sayin'...

Award and Name Game (How Do You Pick One??)

I have nominated myself for the Over The Top Award from Ashley at Kiwis and Cocktails. She said anyone that read her blog could play and well, I feel like doing a questionnaire and I want a new Award, so there.

That being said, in order to accept the award I must answer the following questionnaire using one word answers. Oo, these are always a little challenging for someone as uh... verbose... as me! Here goes nothin...

1. where is your cell phone? Table
2. your hair? Wet
3. your mother? Amazing
4. your father? Fantastic
5. your favorite food? Macaroni
6. your dream last night? Bills!!
7. your favorite drink? Orange
8. your dream/goal? Momma
9. what room are you in? Living
10. your hobby? Undefined?
11. your fear? Long
12. where do you want to be in 6 years? Higher
13. where were you last night? Home
14. something that you aren’t? Rich
15. muffins? Chocolate
16. wish list item? House
17. where did you grow up? Maryland
18. last thing you did? Walked
19. what are you wearing? Undies
20. your tv? Large
21. your pets? Fish
22. friends? New
23. your life? Ever-changing
24. your mood? Relaxed
25. missing someone? Always
26. vehicle? Mustang
27. something you’re not wearing? Pants (LOL)
28. your favorite store? Crafts
29. your favorite color? Purple
30. when was the last time you laughed? Earlier
31. last time you cried? Yesterday?
32. your best friend? Hubs :)
33. one place that you go to over and over? POTTY!
34. one person who emails me regularly? Emilie
35. favorite place to eat? Home

And anyone who reads and wants to be is tagged, because that's how I came across this :)

Now on for a real post... How on Earth do you choose a child's name?! It is SO hard. We had one that we were really leaning towards but I wasn't 100% sold on it, so now we're back to the drawing board. I've got a few I like but I'm not in LOVE with them. And, I mean, this is going to be her name for her entire life - that's a big deal! Names can sometimes determine whether or not you're made fun of in school and what others may think of you in a profession (for example, a judge named... Flower may not be taken as seriously as one named... Jane.) So the weight of naming my daughter is really weighing on me!

So now, I put it to you, the fine people of the blog world - any girl names that really strike your fancy (that you wouldn't have a conniption if someone "stole")? New ideas are always helpful!

Just Go Already (The PRE Part of PreDeployment)

My husband's unit still doesn't have a date to hit the road and go do some damage abroad. For many people reading this, the thought is relief and joy that they're still here. This, unfortunately, is not the case for many Marine wives...

While yes, we love our husbands home and hate the fact that they go, the reality of the matter is, is that they will go eventually. So when the rumors start going around and the preparations start picking up (are we leaving soon or just keeping everyone on their toes?!) it's hard not to feel that little bit of "I just want it OVER with."

The faster they get out of here, the closer it will be to them coming home.

Sometimes being yanked around (we're going in --- scratch that, now we're going in ---, now we're not going til ---) is rough. We had a "set date" in August, and as you can tell, we haven't left yet, and now we hear a different story just about every week. I know this is in partial due to OpSec (Operational Security), that giving them too many details could lead to the details leaked and therefore put our troops in more danger than they need to be, but it's so hard not knowing. Unfortunately because of OpSec, once we have a date, I won't even be allowed to share it either, or how long until they come home.

It's like all the anxiety of the "upcoming" deployment (upcoming used very lightly, as in no idea how near it really is but knowing it will inevitably get here - remember reality of the matter) has been weighing on us for months. When the rumors start flying, my anxiety levels rise - I begin to think of all the things we need to get done before deployment. Including both serious things that have to be done (Will, Living will, "What do you want to do with my body God forbid something happens to me?" Powers of Attorney...) and those that are not crucial but before a deployment feel like the world will end if they aren't done (Cleaning out the baby's room, making "daddy" tapes, seeing family...) And of course, this being our first deployment (not only together but ever) we're still not sure exactly what to expect (How much notice will we be given? Will be get a predeployment leave? How much contact will we have with each other?) Being around other Marine wives makes it a bit easier, my friends assure me that they've survived through it and I will too, and they give me a little bit of background of what their deployments were like, but it's hard too because every deployment is different and they can't tell me exactly what will happen.

Go with the flow, Go with the flow.
I have got to make that my new mantra. I can do this. And we will be fine. No matter when the time comes, we will get through it!
So for now I'm left to list making and trying not to procrastinate, so when that time comes, we will be ready!

One of my favorite things about living near a deploying base (the Army base I lived near at home was a schooling base and therefore deployments from that base weren't all too common) is the homecomings.
I know it's a bit blurry, but those are WELCOME HOME banners that hang on the fences outside of base.
I love looking at them and sharing in a little bit of someone's excitement about a homecoming. Last week, a few units came home all at once and so the fences were FULL of banners, and some people just got SO creative. Some are pretty risque and funny too, I love those ones ;o)

I already get thinking ahead to what Mr. P's WELCOME HOME banner will say. Thinking of making it reminds me of the sorority days, making big/little tee shirts

My littles, Katy and Theresa, in the shirts I made them.

The backs of mine and Theresa's shirts, I wish I had a shot of the back of Katy's too!

So funny the talents I learned in college and how they are coming handy in "real" life. Haha.But I am sure that I'll have one of the bestest banners out there upon hubs' arrival home ;o) (See, thinking about him coming home makes thinking of him leaving that much easier!)