Day 61

Whew. It's hard work keeping up with both of them at the Children's Museum. Not to mention the fact that half of Cincinnati was there! Better luck next time!  I managed to get this picture of J soon after we got there... Sorry its blurry - but it was my phone and Hadley was being a wiggle worm. I didn't dare bring the nice camera.

Little Miss Hadley is on the go non stop and didn't want to sit still for her photo shoot.

Back in Bagram - New Years Eve was spent in IBA. Doesn't look very comfortable. I think there were a few rocket attacks when he was sleeping. Luckily, everyone is safe!

Opening goodies

New Years Eve Meal

And the big celebration... full of non alcoholic beer! I can't believe he shotgunned a non alcoholic beverage! 

And our new years eve party...

Silly girl learned how to crawl up the stairs....

J is in bed. H apparently has a tummy ache and is fighting sleep. Who knows if I will make it til midnight or not. Happy New Year y'all!

Day 60

I think we were all asleep by midnight, 4 hours past Js bedtime. What an awful night. Hadley was up again around 3. I'm not sure what everyones deal was... wonder if it was a full moon?  She has been cranky all day. Flipping a switch for sure, one minute happy, the next screaming in agony. I hate to post pictures of her crying - but it sums up the day.

 She is pulling up on anything and everything - and she found the stairs tonight. Oh no! Jackson was his typical silly self. We watched one of the movies that Fritz and Jess sent... it talked about using your imagination that God gave you. That, he does for sure! 

Back in Bagram, Stu spent the day doing  a whole lot of nothing, as per usual. Work out, eat, take a nap on the couch, watch a movie....  must be nice

Then I think about what he's missing here. Hadley will be 7 months old tomorrow. Stu has missed her learning how to sit, crawl, pull up, grunt and babble (she says dadadadada) , take a bath with her brother, explore the house, her first Thanksgiving and Christmas and the list goes on. That, my friends, is majorly depressing.  When he gets home - he will have missed half of her life. I complain all the time, but I really should be thankful that I get to be here...to witness all of this!

Day 59

The pitter patter of little feet and the rattling sound of lovie.... is never a good sign. Jackson is out of bed, again.  Now he's reading in bed, anything to delay the inevitable. Lets all hope he goes to bed soon. 

Stu said its snowing in Bagram. They have a couple of inches. Crazy. Everytime I think of Afghanistan 120 degree weather comes to mind. 

The kids enjoyed their last day with Grandma and Grandpa.  Hopefully I will remember how to do it all by myself again tomorrow, lol. 

Day 58

I'm not going to lie. It's hard work to blog every day. I feel like its kinda sorta getting old and probably boring to read. I will work on this... promise. I'm on call this weekend and worked this morning. I started taking the Christmas tree down today. It aint easy by yourself. I joked that I would make Stu do it by himself next year.... but then quickly realized that would probably backfire on me in the long run. So, for now, I will look forward to doing things with him when he returns =)

I did a bad job of taking photos today. We enjoyed a yummy mexican dinner and I snapped these of the kids. Hadley survived her first dinner out in a high chair and Jackson.... was Jackson lol.

Stu has returned safely to Bagram. Of course the internet is out there. Awesome. He sent me this picture today of the "Bra" in Qatar. Its the two tents - their recreational facility. I know he's glad to be back in Bagram and looking forward to hanging out with everyone again.

Day 57- 1/3 there!

1/3 down..... 2/3 to go. We got this!!!!!

Stu is enjoying (lol) his last day in Qatar and will be headed back to Bagram tomorrow. I guess it was a false alarm - because he did absolutely nothing there. I know he will be glad to be back.

J and H had another fun day with Grandma and Grandpa. I worked this afternoon and didn't do a very good job of taking pictures! Speaking of work, we are seeing flu and its complications. A healthy 5 year old with Flu A diagnosed on Saturday, now with pneumonia (a very common flu complication) who was very, very sick with sats of 74%. Yucky. Y'all get your flu shots if you haven't already!!!!!

Anyways, better luck tomorrow with the picture taking. Night y'all. 

Day 56

My sister-in-law is amazing. I honestly don't know how she does it. She is a rockstar. She manages to be a stay at home mom, CEO of her own company, runs several other small businesses, is actively involved in her church, and the best coast guard wife around! And I probably left a bunch of stuff out. I'm so thankful to have her guidance when I need it. She recently posted this blog: http://spousebuzz.com/blog/2013/12/long-deployments-sign.html

In it, she writes about the phases of deployment:

1. Pulling away

2. Grief

3. Anger

4. Survival

5. Countdown

Well, we never got to experience the pulling away since our deployment was totally unexpected. I didn't even have time to pull away. If anything, Stuart was the one who pulled away because he was so darn busy getting ready. Ok, well maybe I did get just a little angry. But I really tried to be supportive and go buy anything and everything he needed at the last minute.  The Grief is definitely gone and I'd like to say Anger is gone too. I'm definitely in survival mode... but anger slips out every now and then...when I least expect it. I wish I could say we were in countdown, but tomorrow marks a big day in this deployment - 1/3 down!!

I had to work today so I don't have many pictures to share. Hadley and Jackson had a busy day with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Tyler.