Deployment Countdown

Last time the hubby got deployed I made a big countdown calendar to hang on the door to help the boys get a sense of how long Daddy would be gone.  Noah turned 4 while he was away, and Jonah was just a year and a half.  I added all the special events so that they could have things to look forward to and make the time pass.
Then when the hubby got sent to FLETC in 2010 for four months I made another one.  It's sort of become a tradition when he leaves for more than two months at a time.
I finally got the calendar made for this tour and man-oh-man is it big.  The biggest I've ever made. 

It's three posterboards tall and had to be hung on the wall instead of the door this time.  We don't have a return date this far out, just a projected homecoming day.  I went about a week and a half past that and I'm praying I don't have to add more paper.

Remember.

To those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, and also to their families who find the strength to go on afterwards, this military wife gives you her sincere thanks and appreciation. Because of you and those who continue to fight for our great nation we can enjoy the freedoms we have come to take for granted.  God bless our troops and the ones they leave behind.

I can smile.

Friday morning I woke up to a quick email from the hubby telling me that he arrived safely.  I hadn't heard from him since Wednesday afternoon between flights and I was trying to keep calm.  I know from previous deployments that I have to be patient, but just because I know that doesn't mean it was easy.  I kept reminding myself that no news is good news.

Then, Friday afternoon my phone rang with a number I didn't recognize and I almost didn't answer.  Boy, am I glad I did!  It was my hero on the other end and it was so great to hear his voice.  I wasn't expecting a phone call because in the craziness of pre-deployment, we forgot to buy calling cards.  All three of the kids happened to be in the house at the time and I put the hubby on speaker but didn't tell the them who it was.  I said "Okay, say hi" and when he did, you should've seen the way their faces lit up! 

He called again late last night (his early morning) and I went to bed for the first time all week with a smile on my face.

And again this afternoon my phone rang (I don't think twice now when that number shows up on my caller I.D.) and the kids all got to say hello.  We can't wait for his internet to get hooked up so that we can Skype.  But until then I will soak up every second of every phone call and replay it in my head until the next time my phone rings.

Mixed emotions.

Alot has happened again.  We moved into a newer house on base (which is AMAZING.)  I still hate Oklahoma but at least I love my house.  Noah's finger is completely healed and will not need surgery.  Hallelujah!   The kids are out of school for the summer.  I hope I can keep them busy over the next 3 months!!

Today is the day that we've been dreading since late last year.  My hubby left for deployment.  We were able to get family gate passes so that we could wait with him there until he boarded.  It was very emotional.  He flew in civilian clothes so when we started hugging and crying we got alot of side glances and I even saw a few people roll their eyes.  It made it that much harder for me.  I don't wear my emotions on my sleeve and for people to just assume I'm overreacting to a business trip really made me upset. 

The kids had a hard time with it...especially Noah and Sophia.  Noah's old enough to understand it more than the other two.  And Sophia is so in love with her daddy that she didn't want to let go.  It was rough.

My heart is so full of love and pride for my husband, yet it is empty because he is not here.  I am fighting within myself to stay strong for my kids who need me now more than ever, but all I want to do is go to bed and not get up until these six months are over. 

Now we try to dry our eyes and hike up our boot straps and move on. Not every day will be this hard and we'll get into a routine. Soon our lives will look normal on the outside but to us each day will be anything but.  Life must go on and I pray it does so quickly!

Update on Jonah

Today was Jonah's neurologist visit. For those who don't remember, back in February Jonah started twitching and it progressively got worse. I ended up taking him to the ER for fear of seizures and it was thought that he had Tourette's Syndrome. It took us until today to be able to be seen by a pediatric neurologist.
The doc we saw was great. He put me at ease immediately when he actually took detailed notes on what I was describing. Our own pediatrician didn't even do that. Then he told me that his oldest daughter had Tourette's as a child/preteen, and his youngest daughter had a tic disorder as well. It was so comforting to be seen by a provider who knew EXACTLY what I was going through as a parent.
He ran through a battery of neurological tests with Jo, and said that since he did so well he didn't feel the need to have an EEG or MRI done afterall. He is convinced that there is no seizures occuring and that he does in fact have a tic disorder. (It can't be classified as Tourette's until the symptoms have persisted for a year). The doc said that he did not feel the need to put Jonah on any meds, and that he didn't even need to have a follow-up appointment scheduled right now because his case is so mild. We always have the option to call them and schedule another one if the symptoms worsen but right now we just have to let it run its course.
And the best part for Jonah is that the doc said there's nothing keeping him from playing baseball, so he would send a note to our pediatrician that he was cleared for sports. So for now we just continue life as normal.
Well, as normal as life can get in a military house.

I. Am. Tired.

I know I promised to keep this blog up better and I really intended to do just that. But then life got in the way. We were in Nashville for 4 days for a hockey tournament and we had just somewhat gotten back into a routine (as much as you can when it's Spring Break and rainy everyday), when Noah decided it was his turn for an ER visit.
Yesterday while roller blading out front, he bit it HARD and broke his finger. He has road rash from head to knee on his left side and did quite the number on his pinky finger. Thank you Jesus that he rememebered to wear his helmet or things could've been much, much worse. He's all splinted up right now and we have an appointment with an orthopedic doc on Monday for a cast. There's a chance he may need surgery to have a pin put in, but I'm praying hard that's not going to be necessary.
And wouldn't you know it, the hubby is leaving for yet another TDY this weekend so he won't get to be there for the fun of casting and, if needed, the surgery.
God bless whoever invented colored dry erase markers...there's no way in this great wide world that I'd be able to keep all of our upcoming doctor visits straight if it weren't for color-coding each family member!
We are barely 1/4 of the way through 2012 and I'm already spent! I really hope that I have the stamina to get through this deployment when it rolls around in a couple months!

Get back on track.

Wow.
I can't believe it's been a full month since I last posted. SO MUCH has happened since I last updated. I will go more in-depth throughout the week but here's a quick recap:

Hubby came home from TDY number one. The next day we celebrated Jonah's 8th birthday with a great party at the hockey rink. Day after that we headed down to Dallas for our only family vacation this year- a tour of Cowboys Stadium and an overnight stay at Great Wolf Lodge. Expensive, but so much fun! Pictures to follow soon!

Hubby left again about a week later and was gone for 5 days. In that time we realized that Jonah's minor twitches that he'd been having were getting much more severe. I ended up taking him into the ER fearing he was having a seizure. We were given a preliminary diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome and have an appointment in April with a pediatric neurologist.

Hubby got back about a week and a half ago from TDY number 2 and things have slowed down some. We're getting back into somewhat of a normal routine (which will fly out the window come 25 March when he leaves, yet again, for another two weeks).

Oh, and we also found out last week that four days after hubby gets back from his third TDY, we are being moved into another home on base so that our current home can get remodeled. Pain in the hiney: yes. But a very welcome one! Our current house is around 60 years old and I honestly don't know how it's survived the winds we have here in Oklahoma. We have had nothing but headaches and problems since we moved in last year. Our new house was built in '09 and has a TON more square footage than our current place. Noah is thrilled because our backyard in the new house will back up to the yard of his best friend. And we also realized that one of Sophia's buddies from school lives on the same street so she'll have a friend right away too. (I also really like his momma so I'm relieved as well, since I'm not a huge fan of most of the neighbors we have now).

So that's where we're at right now. Lots to take in and deal with, but we're doing it. I promise to come back and add recipes on Mondays (I've got a load of goodies tried out from Pinterest!), upload pics from Dallas and our upcoming trip to Nashville, and keep you up-to-date with Jonah's diagnosis once we've seen the Neuro.