RedLeg Disappointment

If you follow me on twitter, you know that last night was a big night for us.

It was Aaron's RedLeg Social. 

In other words, all the guys in his unit [& their significant others] got together, had dinner, and found out their next duty stations.

I've been thinking about it since last week!

On our 'wishlist' we put:

Ft. Carson, CO

Ft. Bragg, NC

Ft. Campbell, KY

Ft. Stewart, GA

Hawaii

I was getting so excited thinking that we'd be closer to home, or in a more interesting place!

We got to the Patriot's Club around 6, & everyone was just waiting around to be let into the main hall.

Everyone else's nervousness/jitters seemed to calm me down, which was weirdly unexpected.

They finally started letting people in, and I got so confused. Everyone raced to the area where they had everyone's place settings displayed. We found out we were sitting at table 12. When we got to table 12, there was a plaque stating our new duty station.

Ft. Sill, OK

When Aaron told me, I just stood there, shocked.

I felt like I had been slapped in the face & I had to try really, really hard not to cry in a room of 150+ people.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Is this a joke?"

"No, this is the Army."

Don't get me wrong, I like it here for the most part. But I always looked at moving here to be a brief trip. We weren't expecting to be here longer than 6 months. I know I need to get used to this, but this is just how I feel right now. I know I'll get over this in a few days & be okay with it all. I know that no matter where we live, I will make the best of it for myself & my family. 

Father's Day

Growing up, we didn't celebrate Father's Day.

I could probably count on my fingers and toes the number of times that my sister and I saw our dad.

He usually showed up for Christmas and our birthdays, and even then, he was always drunk.

So when I found out I was pregnant, I hoped & prayed that Aaron would be the kind of dad that I never had. I'm not going to lie, at first it was rough. And he's still learning [as am I]. But the fact is that he does try and wants to be a good dad. And that is enough for me.

This was our first 'happy' father's day.

[Don't let the face fool you.]

My Time

Last night my husband and I had a 'talk'.

As most of you know, he has started his training. Which means he's gone pretty much all day.

I stay home with Adelei. I clean house & cater to my daughters every need.

I love it.

But I still need some time to myself every once and a while. So when Aaron got home yesterday, I asked him if he would mind watching the baby for a little while so I could have some time to myself. He agreed.

It just so happened that it was time for her last nap of the day, so he should have no problem.

I put her down, grabbed my purse, & headed out the door.

I had some things on my mind, yes. 

I also needed fresh air, and I wanted to get a few things for the house without having to take the baby. So I multitasked.

After I had only been gone a little over an hour I heard my phone ping...I knew it was a text from Aaron, 'What ya doin?'

*sigh* Here we go...

I responded '@ Hobby Lobby' and within seconds 'coming home soon?'

I wanted to scream! Right then & there in the middle of the store. But I kept it together. I finished browsing, and checked out. When I left there, I went home.

After I put the baby to bed, we talked.

Apparently he thought that because I left when I said I needed 'me' time, that I was upset.

That was not the case. Have I been feeling a little morose lately? Yes. But isn't that to be expected when you move 1,000 miles away from anyone you know for the first time? After explaining this to him, he somehow came to the conclusion that I don't want to stay home with Adelei. Read--this is NOT the case!

But after being home for 7 days, unpacking, cleaning, & catering to everyone else [husband, baby, dog] I just wanted a little bit of time for just me.

I don't think that is too much to ask for. 

The Move

I had this really long blog post written about all of the 'fun' stuff that happened to us along the way, but lucky for you folks, when I hit publish it disappeared.

Now, here I am, kind of in shock, and I honestly don't feel like giving another play by play, so here are the highlights:

Monday

*A got a flat tire somewhere in MS.

*While he was in the process of changing it, it started storming...bad.

*Add hail to the rain.

*Our car was packed to the brim, we were stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere & Adelei decides that is the perfect time to relieve herself. This resulted in me having to change her while she stood up in my lap. Awesome.

*Made it to the tire store only to find out they had 1 tire to fit his car, not 2.

*Got to our hotel at 10 instead of 5.

Tuesday

*A went to the Firestone close to our hotel to get another tire.

*He got lost & drove around for an hour trying to find our hotel. [aka wasted an hour of precious travel time!]

*Dallas/Ft.Worth is a beast! But I conquered it.

*The townhouse we reserved a month ago was nothing like what we were expecting. [aka another night in a hotel & search continued for a place to live.]

Proud Wife

And now, folks, the moment we've been waiting for....

Our little ham, keeping us entertained

Not only did my husband graduate on Friday, but he also commissioned as a 2LT.

I was so, so proud as he walked across that stage to get his diploma, and even MORE proud as he stood on the stage and took his oath of office!

Here is a short [and VERY blurry] video of him and the other cadets giving their FIRST salutes! My hubby is on the very left!

So, it's official. We have closed the college chapter of our lives & we're moving on to the 'real world' section. Wish us luck!!

Mini Vacay

This week was the very last spring break ever for my hubby.So of course we had to say good bye to the last of our college days in style.

Monday morning we dropped Adelei off with her grandmother [it was very hard for me to do]

and then headed to Destin for a few days.

Highlights of the trip:

*shopping

*ridiculous waves

*half price FRESH oysters

*hotel on the beach

*John Carter IMAX 3D

*Hard Rock Cafe

*more shopping :)

*the best shake ever, at Johnny Rocket's

*being competitive at putt putt golf w. the hubby

*Joe's Crab Shack hot crab dip

*holding hands, walking on the beach with the love of my life

*feeling 18 again

It's Official

T-3 months & we're out of here!

Or, this apartment at least.

Aaron found out that he is leaving June 1st for BOLC [Basic Officers Leader Course] in Ft. Sill, OK.

What we don't know yet is if Adelei & I will be able to go with him, or if we will have to stay here.

In March, we should find out what our first duty station will be.

If it isn't Ft. Sill, we will stay here, hopefully rent a town house until October & wait for him to come home & to move us where ever!

If it is Ft. Sill we will be able to move with him at that time.

I'm so excited.

And nervous.

But this is definitely going to be an adventure!

Wake Me Up When September Ends

For months we have known that September is the month that we would find out what's in store for our future.
National Guard or Active Duty Army.
Here we are, 18 days in, and I'm constantly thinking about it, wondering when the big day is.
My head has been going crazy with 'what if's'.
Of course there are pro's & con's to both.
Active Duty means moving out of Alabama, seeing the world, financial/job security, ability to be a stay at home mom, health insurance, housing, having to move away from family.
National Guard means staying close to family, being able to 'put roots' down/buying a home, having to get a full time job.
Either one could possibly mean deployment.
I wonder if they're going to wait until the end of the month to tell us, or if we'll find out tomorrow.
For a planner, this is torture. I just need the peace of mind.
Luckily, once we find out, we'll still have 7 months to plan for our life as a National Guard family...deciding where we want to live, applying for jobs, etc. If it's Active Duty, it's another waiting game. We won't find out details about his BOLC or first duty station until Spring 2012.
*sigh*
This is definitely a test of patience.

Lesson Learned

I love my husband, but...
I hate it when he goes with me to the grocery store.
& he's probably the only man in the world that likes to go grocery shopping.

Every week I make a meal plan. I write a grocery list & it contains ONLY things that we need for THAT week. This is how I save us money. It generally has things for breakfast, lunch, dinner, & snacks.
Most of the time, if I buy breakfast items one week, it will last for two. Same goes with lunch. But dinner & snacks need to be bought every week.
When I walk in, I grab a cart & am armed with my list, coupons, & have planned everything out mentally. As I am shopping I will keep a running tab in my head so I know I'm not spending too much.
When Aaron comes with me? He grabs things. Things that are NOT on my list. Things that we do not need. This bothers me because a] we end up spending more money than I have planned. b] we have limited storage so there will probably not be any room to put these extra items.
We've talked about this a few times in the past, but it never 'stuck' with him, I guess. But today...I almost lost it in the store.
When I saw him reach for cottage cheese, knowing it wasn't on my list I snapped my fingers at him & said 'get back here'....I didn't even realize what I did until after it happened. & I laughed about it. I was calling him back to me like a dog. OOPS.
I explained to him that we could only get things I put on the list. So from now on, if he wanted anything from the grocery store, he has to write it on the list. [I can't tell you how many times we've had this convo] He agreed, & on we went. Where he promptly picked up bagels...that weren't on the list. I just stared at him with an 'are you freaking kidding me right now' look on my face. I asked him if he had just heard what I said and he replied 'Yes Jamie, but these are the items that are on the list in my head.'
HAHA

Like little orphan Annie

For the past month I've pretty much written non stop about the baby.
What I have refrained to do is go on and on and on about how much I miss my husband.
He's been gone [to Washington State for military training] since the day after we came home from the hospital. I haven't even been able to speak to him since the day after he left.
But that all ends tomorrow.
Tomorrow, I will pick him up from the airport and we will resume our lives like we've been on pause.
It's always been hard [emotionally] when he's gone, but it's the life we chose.
What I am thankful for is that I have someone that I can miss that much. That I have someone to share my little bundle of joy with. That we can pick up the pieces right where we left off.
Tomorrow will be a very happy day.

Random Life Update

Since the last time I blogged I....

• graduated from college.

• started back to work at my minimum wage job until I can [hopefully] get a big girl salary job.
• started my 32nd week of pregnancy.
• came home to 92 unread blog entries. woo wee, I've got a lot to catch up on.
  
• said goodbye to my husband for 2 weeks while he goes to Annual Training for the National Guard.
• made another cute dress for Adelei. [I can't WAIT for her to get here]

What have YOU been up to?

Clever, clever boy.

Yesterday while watching t.v.
Aaron: I don't see why people wear those gladiator sandals. They're so ugly.
Me: Really?
Aaron: Yea...
Me: Because I definitely have two pair that I wear all the time.
Aaron: What I meant was, I don't know why anyone wears them because they only look good on you.

Absolute

Today while I was cleaning, I found this:


Valentine's Day 2008

He had just given me a promise ring.
I was pretty much the happiest girl in the world.

3 years later?
I still am :)

It's a beautiful morning

This weekend has been so simple, yet so fulfilling!
Yesterday started out awesome!
Aaron went to the local donut shop and came home with a few of these for me


Beautiful braided pastries with strawberry syrup and cream cheese drizzle.

I ate the first one so fast, I forgot to take a picture. Thankfully I had another.
I spent the rest of the day putting up a shelf, getting rid of useless stuff we've collected over the years, cleaning & organizing the baby's room [and I finally got a frame for the first ultrasound!].






Only thing missing on the dresser is the T.V.

And since we only have TWO tiny closets, we definitely had to get a dresser for the baby's clothes. I did finally come to terms with the fact that I can no longer fit into my size 5 jeans, so I put them into a space bag, sucked out all the air, and made room for my maternity clothes.

For now, we're set. We're just waiting to find out the sex of the baby [tomorrow!]
Our baby shower is coming up in three weeks, and I couldn't be more excited! Some people have asked me why I am having it so early, and honestly? I'm a planner. I can't stand not having a plan. I feel like if I waited until 30-35 weeks to have a shower, I would feel unprepared. So, early it is! And then I'll still have plenty of time to acquire the rest of the things I need.

Today has been a very peaceful day. I've been making lots of new headbands, so check them out!

Oh the life of a Military wife

Friday night was the Dining Out for Aaron's ROTC program.
So I got all jazzed up for the evening.He introduced me to all his friends and commanding officers like this: "Hey, this is my wife Jamie...she's pregnant."
I was just so awkwardly hilarious.
Our dinner was catered by the school. In case you don't get what I'm trying to say, it was gross. Aaron said he thought they bought a whole bunch of frozen dinners and just heated them up. Even the cake tasted stale.
Even though it was fun to get all made up for the night, I was so glad to get home and get into my pajamas!

In case you were wondering...
I rented my dress from renttherunway.com
I will not be wasting my money on that ever again.
First of all, when it came, there were tiny rips/holes in the dress. Luckily I had gotten a backup from them for free.
As you can see from the picture, it was extremely long on me, even though I was wearing high heels. If I would have just bought a dress, I could have had it altered.
According to their policy, you have to send the dress back the day after your event in this prepaid envelope, which I thought was no big deal.
Except, hey, the post offices around here aren't opened on Saturdays.
Also, when we went to send the dress off today, the 'prepaid' envelope was only prepaid for up to a pound. LIKE a long evening gown is going to weigh less than a pound. So we ended up having to pay extra to even ship it back.
All I'm saying is renting a dress seems nice in theory, but after all is said and done, it wasn't worth it in my opinion.
I would definitely weigh out my pros and cons BEFORE hitting the add to cart button if I were you.

Feels like forever

Happy 1 year anniversary to my sweet, loving husband!


A year ago today, I walked down the aisle, we said our vows, and kissed to make it official.
There have been many ups and downs through this year, but we made it through--still holding hands and smiling.

halloweenie

Aww

Can I tell you guys how amazingly sweet my husband is?

Last night, after a LONG day at work, and an hour long drive back home, I came home to a surprise.

Not only did he make me dinner, but he also bought me some fried green tomatoes! [they're my favorite!]

It really is the little things that count.

Umm, seriously...

My husband bought a blackberry this week. It is the bane of my existence.
He has hardly put it down in the 4 days that he has had it, and I don't know how much longer I can take. Now, he's on it during dinner, while we're watching t.v., laying in bed. I mean, come on! The computer is two feet away, and he'll be on facebook on his phone. Don't get me wrong, I totally get that people use blackberrys for business, and they CAN come in really handy, etc. But OBVIOUSLY this isn't why he got one.
Someone PLEASE tell me you've dealt with this before. Tips/advice with trying to convince him he doesn't need it permanently attached to hand would be greatly appreciated.

Have I told you lately...

that I have an obsessive personality?

Well, I do.
Aaron and I recently started watching Dexter on Netflix.
Although I was a little freaked out at first, I just COULD NOT stop watching it.
There's just something about Michael C. Hall that just draws me in :)
....the stories are good, too. haha
Anyway, we finished season 1 last night after watching it for 4 straight hours. It only took us like 3 days to watch the entire season. So, if that's any indication, you guys should probably check it out.

Besides Dexter, it seems like all our favorite new shows come from either HBO or Showtime. SO, I called the cable company to see how much it would cost to get those channels added, annnnnnnnnnd they wanted $38.80 A MONTH!!! How ridiculous is that? I guess we'll have to just keep waiting until the seasons come on dvd.

And, while I have still had NO luck finding a job, Aaron has landed one through the work study program at school. It's only 20 hours a week, but something is better than nothing, right?

I'm leaving you with an amazing recipe that I tried this week and ABSOLUTELY loved. It's so easy, Matt could probably do it.

FIESTA CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

What You Need

1 small Onion, chopped

1 clove Garlic, minced

1 lb. cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded

1 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa, divided

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed

1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

1 tsp. Ground cumin

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheese, divided

8 Flour tortillas (6 inch)

Make It

HEAT oven to 350°F.

HEAT large skillet spayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Add onions and garlic; cook and stir 2 min. Add chicken, 1/4 cup salsa, cream cheese, cilantro and cumin; mix well. Cook 5 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 cup shredded cheese; mix well.

SPOON about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with remaining salsa and shredded cheese.

BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until heated through.