What Happened To May?!

The month of May went by entirely too fast! It seems like one day Henry came home with his orders sending us back to Norfolk...and then BAM May was over! Not to mention in just 10 more days, Little Henry will be 9 months!!! Time is a funny thing. Sometimes a day can feel like a week, and other times I find myself wishing there were 36 hours in a day and 8 days in a week! At this particular point in time, I'd like the latter choice of longer days and weeks =).

You would think I'd be thrilled to get back to Virginia, the place I've grown to call "home" in the past few years. I am. Partially. Henry will more than likely be getting sent right out for deployment not long after we get there. Yes, I'm that Navy wife who isn't ready for this and apparently, wasn't expecting it to happen so quickly.  I know what we "signed up for." That doesn't mean I like it! Can I handle it? I definitely can.  But I'll be counting down the days until my husband gets home SAFELY to us once again....with a heavy heart and more pride than some people could imagine!

Every night before we go to sleep I have all these thoughts and images flashing through my mind. I picture Little Henry's first birthday party with all our family and friends who can come there....but one important person can't attend- Henry. Why? Because he is out in the middle of some ocean, with thousands of other Sailors....protecting our country. He is doing what he swore was his duty to do. He is making sacrifices I cannot imagine.....for our family. There is no greater thing he could do, but that doesn't take away the pain of knowing he can't be around for every important day that comes around. Treasuring every day we DO get is the only thing to accept.

Changes are on the horizon. We're moving in just 7 more days.
 

Sleep, missing it!

It's been a tough week. I'm really feeling the effects of lack of sleep, and at this point I can't help but feel like I'm losing my mind. We made it through 4 months of colic, and I thought that was probably the worst of it. Now we're in the middle of teething (I think) and boy, it's just as tough! Little Squirt no longer sleeps through the night and has cut 2 hours off of his sleep each night, plus naps are almost non-existent. This makes for a ZOMBIE of a mommy! I feel guilty because I don't have much energy to play and I'll be laying on the floor with the little guy as my eyes get too heavy and start to drift off.


Wouldn't it be soooo much easier to be a mom if sleep just was optional, and not something you physically need?! That would be amazing. I find myself having extreme sleep envy, as I've named it. While I'm awake with Little Henry feeding, soothing, changing diapers, and playing as my husband is laying in bed...I have the strong urge to sound an airhorn, bang pots and pans together, or maybe even bop him upside the head with a pillow! Okay, that probably sounds mean but I can't help but get annoyed and feel jealous of his sleep!


Alright, alright. I won't make this entire post about my lack of sleep and surplus of frustration! Little pumpkin butt has done some really cool things this week! He started to try crawling in reverse, it was SO FUNNY! When I tried to record him doing it, he decided to be camera shy. Yesterday he finally did it again, so I got a short video, but it wasn't as much as the first time :(. He also has became obsessed with playing with his feet/toes. This makes for interesting diaper changes, let me tell you! His new favorite sound is a zipper unzipping. I've never seen him laugh so hard as he does when he hears that, it is the best sound in the whole world to hear him laugh!!


Time for me to sign off. Little grumpers has decided mommy must join him in play time! Let's see if my eyes will stay open!

About me, I've changed.

^This was me in April 2009.

I went to get a few things from the store today and my driving/grocery store time is sometimes my "thinking time" these days. The little guy was at home with daddy, so for the first time in a while I decided to listen to my beloved Avenged Sevenfold album. Loud! It got me thinking, wow...I have changed. A lot. In unexpected ways.

Many of these changes are highly positive! I am a mommy now, and a wife. The mommy in me is such a powerful thing. Lots of people tell you how much becoming a mom changes you, and how there is nothing like it. I used to not really grasp that concept. It was like I heard them say it, but didn't give it a second thought really. Well, they were right! It truly is the most amazing, overwhelming at times, strongest, most powerful form of love I've ever experienced. Love on another level you cannot understand until that baby arrives, looking up at you, his mommy....with such wonder and amazement at his new world you've delivered him into.

Anyway, I've recently realized how different I am when it comes to myself. Taking care of myself these days is last on my list. I would much rather do things for Little Henry or my husband. That said, I think I need to do a little better. I'm looking at the pic of me taken 2 years ago and I am completely unrecognizable. I even LOOK like a mommy now! Not that this is a bad thing, but it just shocked me a little. Maybe I should wear a little makeup every now and then. Possibly shave my legs more often then bi-weekly hahaha, gross but true. Oh and use the foot spa my husband bought 2 weeks ago for me. He jokes about using my rough heels to cut things with or do wood sanding. He means well =). 

Alright, I blogged again. I'm going to do better, or at least TRY. I'm leaving this with some lyrics I love from Avenged Sevenfold, Radiant Eclipse.

~I'll watch you call, calling for me

You can't bring back time

Close your eyes and look away

Fate exposed and won't let me stay

Hope will fall tonight with broken wings

Descending entity in me~

Has 6 months REALLY gone by?!

I feel like I should start by admitting how bad I've been at blogging! This is my 3rd attempt, and I WILL succeed this time =). I want to be able to look back at this blog and remember all the little things that happen along the way...our baby boy is growing up SO fast! It doesn't seem possible for him to already be 6.5 months old.


Most of our time these days is spent playing, playing, oh and...playing! He is becoming much more mobile and has always been ready to go places =). The little guy is trying his hardest to crawl, and he is almost there! Just has to figure out how to coordinate that cute little booty with his upper body. One or the other he can get up in the air, just not both at once yet lol. He finally loves his jumperoo, and that's how I can cook or do dishes these days! Well, sometimes =).


Solids are also one of our current adventures. Little squirt still prefers his formula to anything else. He is a fan of peas and green beans....especially the green beans! He also thinks it is hilarious to do the trick daddy taught him.....making fart noises, while he eats! Mommy gets a shower of baby slobber/food when this happens =) and he giggles. I think he might just be anti-fruit like his mom. Hopefully he'll change his mind eventually.


This has been Week 3 in the Doc Band, aka the cranial "helmet" you see in the first picture on Little Henry. It is to treat his plagiocephaly, or flat spot. He has done well with it after the first week, but I still can't wait to be finished with it! Should be only 6 more weeks to go. I guess overall it is a short time to wear it now while he is young and won't remember. Doesn't mean seeing him in it is really any easier, because it does interfere with his play sometimes. Hurry up Doc Band graduation!


There has also been a lot going on with my mom. It is hard to be 12 hours away from her knowing she is mostly alone...and now she has been sick. Her pulmonary doctor feels she has a partial blockage of her aorta, so I have found her a cardiologist in Charleston, WV. She will probably have a cardiac cath done and then we will go from there. She is incredibly strong and has already beaten colon cancer and the beginning stage of breast cancer. She has had a partial colectomy and the cancerous area of her breast removed a few years ago, along with radiation. She did extremely well and I know she can handle this too. I just wish I could be there. Grandma misses her little guy too...and has only been able to meet him one time so far. That's Navy life for you, it can be hard. We have only had Little Henry around family and friends at Christmas when we got to go visit.


My husband turned the big 2-8 this month =). Gotta love my old sailor, lol! Found Cadillac sneakers for his birthday (they are super cool) and Little Henry got him an engraved box. He has been working allll the time and is getting ready to finish up his "A" school. He graduates April 15th! I'm proud of him, he's been one of the top students in his class and we're crossing our fingers for good orders. Hopefully soon we are on to the next one, and never coming back to Chicago haha. The weather here is not my type! 20 degrees at the end of March with snow, um no thanks. Where is my beautiful ocean?!


I think I've done pretty well with this post. My little guy is over his mini nap and would like me to play!