Back from R&R...sort of.

R & R has come and gone. Joshua has returned to his FOB and the kids and I are back at my aunt's house. We're not home yet and although I'm heart broken that we'll miss a good friend's wedding, getting back in time for it just wasn't possible. I feel like I need to get back up on my feet before we do this whole deployment at home alone with two kids thing again. In some ways it was harder to say goodbye to Joshua because I knew what was ahead but I also feel like it was easier because this time, I'm not pregnant (unless R&R left us with a special souvenir-please God, no special souvenirs).

So here's our vacation as condensed as possible...

Our first picture as a family of 4. Please excuse the quality. It was a phone pic the night we picked Joshua up from the airport. We all just piled in the bed and cuddled until the kids fell asleep.

The next day, we checked into our Disney resort. The All-Star Movies. We picked it because the boy is in love with all things Toy Story so we opted for the preferred rooms in the Toy Story building. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much because the All-Stars are the older value resorts and not to sound like a snob but we really think of the mansions at Port Orleans Riverside as our home away from home. But, much to my surprise, it was great. The boy loved it. We were super close to the main building. The pool was fun and the cast members (Disney's name for employees) were wonderful-especially Bob at the arcade. We loved Bob. I wish I had more pics of the resort but as always upon check-in, 

I said "Babe, let's go take some pics of the kids at the resort"

Joshua, as always replied, "No, we'll do it later. I promise. You'll get pics of the resort this year"

And then, as always, it didn't happen. 

So, moving on. Our first park visit was Seaworld. It was a first for all of us and thanks to their military discount, it was free. To be honest, I would have been disappointed if we had paid the $200something to get in because although we had a good time, we discovered it's not a very small child-friendly place. You are not permitted to bring strollers into any of the aquarium buildings. At. All. Fabulous. So, we won't be returning until the kids are out of strollers totally but then I'm sure we'll go back.

One of our favorite things was the Shamu show, One Ocean, but fair warning when Seaworld says it's a soak zone, it's a soak zone. The baby was not a fan of the soak zone. Ooops. Parenting fail.

I had the pleasure of feeding the dolphins. Joshua and boy both got to touch them earlier but stayed with the baby while I fed Flipper(s).

 

Seaworld has a few kiddie coaster type rides. This one was the boy's favorite. It's the kind that goes straight up and then just drops. Not. My. Idea. Of. Fun. But the boy loved it.

After we went to Seaworld but before we hit the main four Disney theme parks, we went to Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. 

Me and the hubs at the water park. He's so cute.

Swimming with the sharks at Typhoon Lagoon.

 

Joshua and the kids at the Wave Pool. The girl was good with it...but the boy in his elder wisdom was a bit terrified. The wave that pool produces are pretty impressive. I was told the waves are 6 feet...since I'm 5'2" and a terrible swimmer, I didn't go out much past my hips and even then, I had to fight to stay on my feet with each wave.

Normally we laugh at people who leave water parks because it's raining but about an hour before the park closed, what can only be described as a monsoon hit. So this is us, running to the truck. Btw, we bought a Kodak water proof camera before the trip and it was great! We used it at Seaworld, Typhoon Lagoon, the resort pool and all the water rides at Disney. I highly recommend it. It takes great shots under water and even really great video with audio. For the price, you really can't beat it.

Our next big event was the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. We went with a big group (my family)  and all dressed as characters from Peter Pan.

From left to right...Tinker Bell (our baby girl), Capt Hook (Joshua), a pirate (me), Peter Pan (our son), Nana (my Aunt who is aka Nana), Wendy (my cousin's daughter), Smee (my grandmother GG), Tiger Lily (my cousin), the crocodile complete with a clock (my cousin's son), and an Indian (my cousin's husband).

 I'm proud to say that I made both the Peter Pan and Capt Hook costumes (GG helped me with the Capt Hook but Pan was all me...it was also my first time with putting a zipper in).

Our favorite things of the night were the Halloween parade (which opened with the headless horseman above), the Villains Show (a musical show with almost all the Disney villains held on a stage in front of the castle) and HalloWishes (the special Halloween fireworks). It was great and we had a wonderful time but it's not something which I think we'll "have" to do every year.

We had the smallest, cutest Tinker Bell in all of Magic Kingdom. Everyone told us so.

HalloWishes

One of my favorite things about this trip (aside from the obvious-got to see the hubs and he got to meet our baby girl) was that my GG came this year. It was her first visit in over 20 yrs. My aunt and cousin were a bit cruel and convinced my 81 yr old GG who is not a fan of roller coasters to ride Expedition Everest without telling her anything about it. For those of you who don't know what Expedition Everest is...it's one of Disney's fastest roller coasters and without giving the best part away, it does something very few roller coasters in the world do.

 GG and our baby girl.

Instead of an autograph book, this year, we brought a football and had all the characters sign it. The boy loved it and all the characters had a great time. Goofy even played catch with the boy for a few minutes.

We spent a day at Hollywood Studios and the boy (aka Buzz) and the girl (aka Jesse) got to meet the real Buzz and Woody.

We happened to be visiting Walt Disney World on the official 40th anniversary. Magic Kingdom was packed but it was fun to see all the die hard Disney fans.

WDW's 40th Anniversary.

My favorite boys

DINO-BOY

One of the things we were most looking forward to was the appointment we had booked for the boy at The Pirate's League (it's a pirate make-over where little boys and girls get to pick a new pirate name, get one of five different face paint options, take an official pirate oath, and get booty in the treasure room-a sword, sheath, medallion and sash)...but since the boy had never had his face painted before, we thought it would be a  good idea to do a test run first at Animal Kingdom's Dino-land. It turned out we were right because the boy was extremely unsure of the whole face-painting thing. We found out AFTER he became Dino-boy that he thought it was permanent like a tattoo. Once he realized it was temporary, he did everything he could to keep his face paint on and it set us up perfectly for The Pirate's League where the boy picked the scariest face paint Disney offered...

Before.

We brought the costume from home but Disney sold basically the same thing for $65.

After.

This is Jeremiah Sharkstench.

 Our last day at the parks was also OU/Texas. We had lunch at Le Cellier and then walked around World Showcase enjoying the Food and Wine Festival...something we did 3 other days too. We knew the score of the game without even looking at a phone because every time we passed a Texan, they bowed their head in shame.
BOOMER! SOONER!

It was a trip of a lifetime and I'm so glad we got to go (thank you Army for not screwing up the dates). It was horrible to leave Joshua at the airport but we're over halfway through this thing and now we can focus on the fact that the next time we see each other again, it will be because Joshua's home.

R&R

Joshua's R&R is close. Like REALLY close. It's been the most surreal couple of weeks in Florida with family. 

Sometimes I have to remind myself that it is a blessing to spend time with my grandmother, GG when I've spent a little too much time with her. So far, I'm a horrible wife (I didn't know my husband's jacket measurements by heart) and a terrible mother (A-I'm a bad influence-I crossed the street from the fabric store to the parking lot without staying totally within the crosswalk lines and B-she's convinced that I should be bottle feeding because "you can't tell how much the baby gets" by nursing which somehow equals I'm starving my daughter to death...my daughter who, btw, is 80th percentile in length and 78th percentile in weight).

The boy seems to be enjoying his time with the family, although tonight he told me he misses his bed. I miss my bed too. I also really miss not sharing a room with a 3 yr old boy but it's a small price to pay in the end to have a little extra support.

With R&R coming up, I've been overwhelmed with emotions. It's weird but then again, what of this deployment has been anything but overwhelming. I'm excited, obviously, but it's a different sort of excitement...it's a sick-to-my-stomach-wish-it-would-just-get-here excitement. I'm also a little afraid...I'm afraid the Army will screw up and the dates will get bumped...I'm afraid it will go too fast...I'm afraid my son won't be able to handle saying goodbye again...I'm afraid I'll fall apart when it's over...I'm afraid it won't be enough. I miss my husband more than I ever imagined possible.

You know how as a mom when your whole family gets sick...hubby, kids, somehow even the dog but you hold it together, you're strong until you get them to stop throwing up and back on their feet and only then do you fall apart and end up with the worst of it? That's how I feel now. I feel like I've struggled and faked the strong Army wife thing for so long and I've succeeded...our daughter was born safe and sound and our son is managing the deployment like a champ but I'm done. I haven't seen my husband, in person, in over six months. This tiny respite is beyond necessary. Joshua needs to meet our daughter, the boy needs to be thrown and wrestled and I need my husband to hold me...and now I'm crying...again. I'm so tired of being overly emotional. 

Deployment sucks.

Dear Army, Don't Screw This Up!

I just got a call from Joshua...he had to submit two alternate R&R dates. As it stands now, we have an awesome vacation planned for the current dates which includes Sea World, Universal Studios and Disney World. None of us have been to Sea World. I'm the only one who's been to Universal Studios but it's been about 20 years and I'm super excited about the Wizarding World. As for Disney...it's just what we do...not necessarily every year but lately that's how it's worked out.


When we first thought about what to do for R&R it was a bit overwhelming. There were so many options...go abroad...stay home and cuddle for two weeks...go to Disney...bring Joshua home for baby girl's birth but in the end we went with the annual trip to Disney because...

going abroad would mean going somewhere totally new with two small children and having to deal with passports/visas and the inevitable last minute change in plans thanks to the Army

staying home was never an option...we knew this would be when Joshua would meet our daughter and staying home would be too difficult for all of us...especially the boy. I can't imagine the heartbreak of having Daddy actually at home for two weeks and then having to say goodbye again...when Joshua comes home, it's going to be for good

if Joshua came home for our daughter's birth, it would mean that we wouldn't see him again afterwards for at least 8 months...we would spend a great deal of "our" time together in the hospital...the boy would have to deal with having Daddy home, a new sister and then Daddy gone again all in a very short time frame so as much as I'm going to miss my husband and he's going to hate missing our daughter's birth, in the end, it's not what's best for us or our kids

which left us with Disney. We know Disney...we know how to make it work even if the Army throws a wrench in the plans. Plus, with Disney, we can be sure that the boy will have a good time because it won't all be about Joshua meeting baby girl...it'll be more like, "hey look it's Mickey Mouse...go say hi to Mickey little buddy...by the way Joshua, here's your daughter" ...ok, maybe not that cavalier but you get the idea.

For the record, of course I purchase travel insurance and we're a fairly flexible family...so why the title to this post?

Because anyone who's done the Disney World thing as often and as long as we have knows that all the best dining experiences...restaurants and shows start booking up 6 months out. To be exact, 180 days before your reservation date at 7am est. We have a ton of great restaurants and shows booked for the current R&R dates. We have family coming at the same time so from time to time Joshua and I will have the option to be kid free...at least for a couple hours (I'll be nursing). It would just be really great (and shocking) if the Army didn't make us scramble at the last moment for new restaurant and show reservations.

(a couple of my favorite pics from our 2010 trip)

Leave Update

This might be a bit long because we've done so much over this mini-leave. Joshua's on his way to the furniture store to pick up our new kitchen table set (yay!) so I have a couple hours to catch up on the week's activities because we live in the middle of nowhere so it'll be at least two hours before he's home again.

First of all, I'm home blogging instead of with Joshua to pick up the table set because the boy is still asleep...it's 2:00 in the afternoon. Yesterday morning, we drove about 3 hours to my parent's house because my Aunt came into town for her annual "beef pickup." Basically, my family lives in the middle of nowhere and has a couple cows slaughtered every year at which time my Aunt makes the 12 hour drive to fill her freezer with organic beef in various forms. This is the same Aunt who has in many ways adopted Joshua...I say that partly because she's more like a mother-in-law than an Aunt to me now-she always agrees with my husband and they enjoy ganging up to make fun of me and because she's now officially seen the boy more times than my real mother-in-law but that's a post for another day. We had a great day planning our next family vacation, holiday plans (requires a bit more planning when everyone is spread so far out) and getting excited about the new babies that are about to join the family (4 infants in about 3 months). After dinner with the family and the boy's Godparents, we went back to my parent's and played games until about midnight at which time we had to leave because we hadn't brought the dog with us. To our surprise, the boy stayed awake the ENTIRE three hours back to the house. Oh joy. So today I see him waking up, hopefully soon, and we'll obviously skip any nap and hope to get him back on track tomorrow.

Going back to this week though, I had two OB appointments. My high risk perinatology appointment on Tuesday (which went GREAT!) and my regular OB on Thursday which also went well.

Tuesday's appointment showed that the echogeneticity of baby girl's bowel is significantly less although not totally gone which is actually the best of both worlds because although it's barely present, I will (oh darn) have to have another 3D ultrasound next month....for free. Insurance rocks. Also, the ultrasound showed that the bleeding I was experiencing has pretty much gone away totally and so certain pelvic restrictions were lifted...8 hours before Joshua came home. Woohoo. That is all I'll say about that.

Here's a couple of my favorite shots from the ultrasound Tuesday.

I think she really looks like her brother and I can't wait to see what the next ultrasound will show because she'll have some more meat on her. For the record, I'm not offended  if you think 3D ultrasounds are a little creepy. A lot of people do...I've noticed it's especially true of men who don't yet have kids of their own. It's a strange fluid environment but as my little girl, I think it's awesome. I loved getting video of our son in utero sucking his thumb and now battling the same bad habit almost three years later.

Serious moment: it struck me, watching my daughter get annoyed with the poking and proding of the ultrasound that legally, because I have a heart condition which with pregnancy can be life-threatening, I have the legal standing for another week (almost two weeks after these pictures were taken) to request an abortion. It's unspeakable. I can't really imagine how anyone could look at those pictures and still tell me that she doesn't have the right to continue living. That somehow my rights outweigh her rights because she's not yet real? not developed enough to have rights?

Ok I need to stop. Serious moment over.

Wednesday we did the swim lesson thing with the boy and just hung out at the house.

Thursday was my 2nd OB appointment of the week and I found out that baby girl is in the 46th percentile for size which is pretty good because I've had a really hard time gaining weight. In fact, in a weird twist, I'm still not gaining enough pounds in general but my stomach is now measuring larger than the normal pregnant belly at this stage. For the record, I wasn't overweight to start with so it's not like the weight is just relocating. My OB said it's most likely because I only have about two inches from my ribs to my hips so what little there is of her, is sticking out, a lot.

That's about it for the leave update...lots of running around and having fun in between OB appointments. Good times.

24 hours

The next 24 hours will be a bit crazy for me.

1st-I have a perinatology (high risk OB) appointment. These appointments are always a difficult combination of stress and excitement. I get 3D ultrasounds every time (YAY!) but they're monitoring me for a few reasons...most importantly right now there are two, baby girl hasn't been gaining as much weight as they would like especially since I have a high chance of premature labor and also, they are checking to see if the echogenic bowel (her kidneys are showing up brighter on the ultrasound than they should) will clear up because otherwise it's a soft marker for a chromosomal defect like Downs or cystic fibrosis. Like I said stress/excitement.

2nd-I get my baby boy back (FINALLY) today. He spent a LONG weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house because I was starting to have too many contractions and not getting enough done around the house. We're not the type of parents that regularly send the kid to his Grandparent's house (not that we couldn't, they're great) but we just don't. This is only his 2nd time away for more than a night. Mom-guilt hit the day he left (he had to say goodbye to Daddy a month ago and now I'm abandoning him too) but overall, I really enjoyed the peace and solitude. I think it might have been the longest I've been alone...other than the dog...since we had the boy. It's strange how having a kid, nursing and the Army converge to never leave you alone-time.

3rd-Joshua will, at some point in the next 24 hours, call me to pick him up. Yup. He will start a VERY short leave and they will be back in the state and able for release soon...I'm really hoping he'll call before midnight since armory where I'll have to pick him up is a little over an hour away and the boy will be with me.

4th-It's my birthday tomorrow. Normally I would never shamelessly promote it because I wouldn't want to seem like I'm just desperate for birthday shout outs ...but last year, Joshua missed my birthday and next year he'll likely miss it again (both courtesy of the US Army) so it's kind of cool that his one mini-leave happens to be on my birthday.