Back on the Wedding Bandwagon

We do not fight or argue much about big things. Now do not get me wrong, we have our fair share of bickering and eye rolling, but the tone of our relationship is laughter.

Our upcoming "wedding" in August might be the death of us. So much so that at the dinner table at Christmas, I told his family it was not happening.

We share our opinions on everything. We discuss everything.

When I ask him about invitiations or pretty much anything, his response, "I do not want to talk about it now". When I told him our wedding budget would run around $12,000, he almost fell off his chair. And actually did fall off his chair when I told him they consider this "cheap" these days.

After telling his family and my family that I didn't want a wedding because I do not want to either 1) kill him or 2) divorce him, I become convinced it would not happen.

His mom took the afternoon off of work and asked me to run a few errands. She took me to a bridal boutique to try on dresses and a stationary place to look through invitations. She told me she wanted to help out anyway she could money wise, decoration wise, anything wise.

She said, "I wanted your heart to smile again in regards to your wedding day".

I am beginning to realize he will not have much of an opinion in regards to our wedding and I am ok with it. However, tonight I mentioned no need for a honeymoon and he chimed in that he wanted to go somewhere and he would want to take care of that.

Looks like the show will go on afterall, but it will be a long seven months.

Grateful.

Christmas shopping is done....bouncing back and forth between the families is also done. And today as a result of the chaos of the past two weeks, I did not get out of my PJs until 5pm, only to put my workout clothes on for a quick workout.

Why the chaos? Well two weeks ago, I found out my job is promoting me to manager. More money, more hours, and more responsibility after only 11 weeks of working there. And the icing on the cake...I still get to workout and train my women, just more paperwork.

I feel so incredibly blessed this holiday. I absolutely love being with him, love my job, and love our families. Who could ask for more?

Gifts from Afghanistan

We received all of his tough boxes from Afghanistan yesterday. This morning he bribed me with donuts to help him sort through it all. I even allowed this ACU bomb to explode in my kitchen.

He kept repeating to the girls, "Who is suprised mommy is not freaking out yet? I am, I am"

I think I am surprised too.

My Life in Pictures

If the past three weeks went as fast as any three weeks during the year long deployment...let's just say time would fly by a lot faster. I do not know where the time has gone. Its been three weeks since his homecoming ceremony. I've neglected my blog and figured the only way for me to catch up would be through pictures.


I still have been doing a lot of this since his return, actually probably more of it:



They added quite a bit of responsibility in the past month, which means I open a lot more. Waking up at 4:45am most mornings results in a lot of this:

Since I was a "good little wife", he bought me one of these. And let's just say my life has not been the same. Best buy ever:

And you would think he would be sick of his company, after spending a year with just them, but oh no, we do everything together. Including picking up some of them at their 2am Homecoming Ceremony:

On Wednesday we celebrated one year of martial bliss. Of course the first year gift is paper and my hubby knows me better than anyone. Nashville Predators hockey tickets. Three rows back, center ice and not to mention the game ended in a shootout. The most exciting thing in sports:

I've been so tired lately and might have been a little careless with the pill. So a few days ago, I swore up and down I was with child. This morning, I saw this:

Life is good, but so busy. The funny thing is, if you asked me what I've been busy with, I would answer besides work, spending almost every waking moment with him. Its a good kind of busy, a wonderful kind actually.

My Reintegration.

His family joked with me the day after his arrival that I should create a powerpoint slide with my OWN reintegration brief for him. After a week of having him back in my life, I am beginning to think its a great idea.

Slide 1: Dog Poop

Just because I did not pick it up every week while you were gone does not mean you do not have to pick it up every week. I had a lot on my plate with taking care of the house all by my lonesome. There are now two of us which means we can now do twice as much so you will now pick up the dog poop at least once a week

Slide 2: Feeding the Dogs

Our third dinner at home, we were all sitting at the kitchen table together. I glanced over at him and saw him handing big pieces of chicken to Daisy and Dakota. I almost fell off my chair.

WE DO NOT FEED THE DOGS TABLE FOOD! But if we do, we place it in their bowl, not hand it to them from the kitchen table. This creates bad habits.

Slide 3: Dishes

Once you are done eating your food, we place whatever dishware in the sink. I do not like playing "Guess where your cereal bowl is" every morning. One morning, no joke, found it on top of his dresser.

Slide 4: Cooking

I cooked for myself for one year. It might take me awhile to start cooking again for two, let alone cook anything besides in the microwave. Be patient, I am trying.

Slide 5: The Sheets

I did get use to sleeping diagonal in our bed and having all of the sheets. I might (will most definitely) steal the sheets for at least the first month. Again, be patient, I am trying.

Slide 6: Dirty Clothes

Nothing drives me crazy like dirty clothes all over our bedroom floor. Since you are being so patient with me, I will be patient with you. I will allow you to throw your clothes wherever you like for the next few weeks. You were in a war zone and you are my hero, therefore I will ignore the clothes...for a little while then its Laundry Nazi time.

Slide 7: Survial

You might find a few, or many, things you do not or will not approve of that I did to either 1) fix things for the time being or 2) get by. I am apologizing for those now. It will simply my means of survial.

Slide 8: You

I absolutely love having you home. I love waking up to my best friend and love being able to talk to you about anything and everything every single day. I just wanted to remind you in case I sounded a little crazy in the previous 7 slides :)

Best Deployment Advice

"These deployments actually do come to an end"- MG

If I wrote down every emotion I felt before and after I saw him, I could fill pages. When we walked in the door of our home and enjoyed time with our wonderful family and friends (including CLR), I felt incredibly blissful.

At 3am, I felt a large arm wrap around me, I kind of gasped in fear, then realized as he pulled me in a little closer this is my new normal. And even though he's been asleep for the past 5 hours and will probably sleep until tomorrow morning when he has to report for Day Two of reintegration, I am still so happy to have him back.

Surreal...

Tonight I am going to bed by myself (well my girls, as always, will be with me) for the last time this deployment. You know when people say, someone pinch me? I think I need something a little more painful because I am trying to comprehend the whole reality of this.

I am in a much better place compared to my pouting days earlier this week. My family is here...my parents, his parents, his sister, his grandmother, and his brother and new fiance. Right now I am loving life, but really do not believe its true.

I love that my ladies I train counted down the days with me and when they saw me today, their energy and genuine excitement put me in such a great place, but still do not think he is REALLY coming home to me.

One last step tomorrow. I am hoping for smooth sailing, I know those two words contradict the Army, but one can hope and keep hoping.