Funny Jeff

We had an ophthalmology (that word always trips me up, even as an MT) appointment today for Jack. The doctors we take the boys to are at the clinic where my dad also works, so we stopped in the Urgent Care Center to see my dad before we went up another floor to the Ophthalmology Clinic. We got off of the elvator on the 4th floor and went to wait in the short line at the Ophthalmology desk (getting lots of practice with that word). This is how the conversation with Jeff went as we stood in line:

Jeff: That's 'scusting!
Me(Mom): What's disgusting, Jeff?
Jeff: A fart.
Me(trying to stifle my laughter): Jeff, we don't talk about that here.
Glenn (taking Jeff by his sleeve) We don't talk about that stuff.
Jeff (VERY loudly): BUT I FARTED!
Glenn: Jeff, that is not funny!
Jeff: But mom is laughing!

I was trying to stifle my laughter during this whole conversation, but wasn't doing well with it. I was standing there as Glenn told our 3-year-old how it wasn't at all funny that he was advertising to all the people in the waiting room the fact that he farted, and there I was, covering my mouth and trying to hide the fact that I was laughing hysterically. Yeah, yeah, I know. Pure unadulterated immaturity, and I got a stern look from Glenn, who commented on the fact that he was like a "single father" in trying to teach our son that it's not polite to yell about farting in public.

Happy Birthday Glennie

It is a little past midnight on September 16. I know that I will be thinking of Glennie constantly today. I keep thinking about how he would be 6 years old today. It is so easy to fall into the trap....the trap of "If only he were alive today...." Yet I know that he was never meant to live to be 6, or even 2. He was born to us on September 16, 2002, as he was supposed to be, as he was meant to be by God. As devastating as it was to watch him live with this disease, and in essence, watch him die, it was God's plan all along. I remember when Glennie was first diagnosed, I couldn't stop thinking about how he would look at a toy and never be able to reach out and play with it. I always wondered if he longed to reach out and grab it but couldn't, or if his limitations were normal to him and he believed the toy was just something to look at. That was one of those "if only's." "If only he were normal and we could watch him grow and develop and play like a normal baby." If only we could be able to watch him learn how to sit up, then stand, and later celebrate his first steps. If only Spinal Muscular Atrophy weren't going to rob our son of all these perfectly normal, exciting new moments in a child's life. If only he would get old enough for us to send him off to his first day of kidnergarten, or to play with friends and toys, or to grow up into a handsome man and get married and have a family of his own. I remember thinking of all these things when he was diagnosed.

Then I came to realize that none of this was ever meant to happen. Glennie was born with a special purpose all his own in a body that would fail him. In a body with muscles that would deteriorate and would leave him mostly unable to move and swallow and struggling to breathe. I have heard of people with sick children being angry with God, not being able to comprehend why their children are so sick and being taken away from them. I know we don't fully comprehend it either, and someday I hope that I am able to know all that was accomplished through Glennie's life. I already do know that he taught us tremendous things about love, faith, hope, patience, and strength. I know that good things were accomplished through Glennie, even though the story of his life was accompanied by so much despair and grief. I will always have faith in the good things that came out of Glennie's short, difficult life; those things that are known and those that are unknown. I will always have faith that he was created just as he was for very special reasons.

I remember the day that he died. I remember being in the waiting room at the Emergency Room with Keva, the social worker, waiting with me and praying with me while Glenn and his parents rushed to the hospital. I remember silently, privately, offering up a prayer to God that he wouldn't let Glennie be scared, and that he would take away Glennie's pain. I know Glennie isn't scared right now, and I know that he has not felt any pain since that day. I also know that we think about him every single day, and miss him more than words could ever express, every single day. And even though I know he was never meant to live past the age of 20 months, I always think about what he would be like if he were alive today, what he would look like. I guess it can't be helped.

All in all, this day isn't about Glennie's death, but about his birth, and about celebrating his life, even though he is not here with us. To my Glennie: Happy Birthday to my precious oldest boy, my warrior who amazed us every day you were with us, and still do every day. To my boy who always had a sparkle in his great big, bright, beautiful blue eyes, and now I know they have so much more to sparkle about.

I know some of you reading this may find this surprising, but I have not set foot in a Starbucks for at least a few weeks now. Why, you ask? No, it's not because I'm jumping on the corporate-greed bandwagon, or even the burnt-coffee-taste bandwagon. After going to Starbucks nearly every day for about 5 years, it hit me one day that I was just sick of drinking the same drinks. I needed a different taste. So, for anyone that has a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf nearby, they have quite possibly the best drink ever made, a White Chocolate Dream Ice Blended. It's basically a white chocolate blended coffee drink, with swirls of chocolate syrup throughout. I have had one every single day for about 2 weeks, since my discovery of it, and I don't know if I can live without it. I'm sure I will get sick of it someday, and then get something else every day until I get sick of that, and so on and so on. But for now, I need it. I have a problem.

Episode 24 by Glenn Sinclair

Ok, I know I'm not a Marine wife, but I just had to post this one cause i didn't believe Amanda would do it justice. Does everyone remember the Cosby Show episode where Cliff got a new Juicer? Well inevitably, the youngest child, Rudy, get's into the juicer trying to make jelly for her sandwich. She puts the grapes into the juicer and grape juice starts flying out the top of the juicer and Rudy and her friend run away. Well, later on in the episode, Cliff gives Rudy her punishment for the juicer incident, and you think the show is over. But no, Claire brings up an excellent point. "Who was it that left the juicer plugged in for the child to get into it?" she says. Of course, it was her husband. Well, as the boy walked into my room this morning to tell me the story of the powder, and when i asked him why he's not telling his mother, "cause Mom will yell at me". I assured him that his mother would not yell at him, and that he needed to go tell his mother. Then afterwards asked my dear wife what is so hard abot putting the powder away? So, like Cliff in the juicer episode of the Cosby Show, Amanda, I find you guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a 3 year old.

Ok, so I still haven't posted photos of our trip to Oregon. I promise, I will get to it. I just wanted to post this little story before I go to bed.

Tonight, I signed onto my transcription platform to start working as Glenn took Jeff in to brush his teeth and then go to bed. Jeff came into the office to give me a hug and a kiss goodnight, and then Glenn tucked him into bed and went downstairs to watch TV. After about 5 minutes, I thought I heard Jeff cry out or say something, so I removed my headphones to get a better listen. I heard nothing except the TV downstairs, so I figured that is what I had heard. After debating for several seconds, I decided to go check in on Jeff anyway. I went into his room and asked if he was ok, and he said yes. I turned to leave when I heard him quietly say something. I went and knelt by the side of his little toddler bed to hear what he had to say and noticed he was looking up at the ceiling. He kept pointing at something "up there." I asked him what was up there, and he said, "He's dead." I wasn't sure if that is actually what I had heard Jeff say, so I asked him again what he was looking at up by the ceiling. Again, Jeff replied, "He's dead." I began to get a little freaked out but pressed for more information. I looked up at the ceiling and the only thing there was an AC vent. I said, "Who's dead?" I thought that he replied, "The guy." I asked him again, because I couldn't believe what I was hearing and was becoming increasingly spooked thinking my 3 year old was seeing dead people or something. This time he said something that sounded like "Elmo." "Elmo's dead?" I asked? "No," Jeff replied, still looking up at the ceiling and waving his little finger in the air. By now I got up and headed downstairs to get Glenn, because it was all getting way to creepy. Maybe Glenn could get some answers. Glenn came up and knelt by Jeff's bed and asked him what was going on, and Jeff told us once again that "He' dead." "Who is dead?" asked my DH. "The animal," said Jeff. At that point, it began to click. "What animal?" we asked. "The tiger." This whole time that I was getting freaked out, wondering if my toddler had a special power to see corpses a la Sixth Sense, and here he is talking about World of Warcraft, which he watches Glenn play somtimes. In the game, Glenn's character can morph into a big cat and kill creatures, and can also get "killed" himself. I know I am old enough and smart enought to know that you probably won't see a dead person floating around your bedroom ceiling, but it still is a little disconcerting to hear your kid talking about something dead in the sky and watching it and following it with his finger. As I type this, I am still jumping at every little noise (sissy), so I think it's time to go to bed. It's extremely late, and it's dark, ok. I don't need to be thinking about freaky movies.

Trip to OR and WA

We went to Oregon to visit Glenn's sister and her family, and then drove from there to Seattle for my sister's wedding. The Oregon coast was beautiful, and we had a good time visiting Becky and Thane and the boys. Jeff had a fabulous time with the boys. Seattle was beautiful too, and I am still kicking myself for not bringing my camera with me on the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. It was a great few from the bay of the whole city of Seattle. When we got to the wedding reception, Jeff could hardly stop dancing. He did stop for a little while, but only to run around with the cute little girls as they wrapped the decorative ribbons from the tables around various wedding guests, including Glenn. He sure had a good time dancing with the ladies that night. I think we are in trouble with that kid. Here are some pics from the wedding, tomorrow I will post some Oregon pics.

Haven't blogged in a while, so I guess while I am taking a break from working, I will catch up. Actually, there is no work in my primary account right now, and only stat reports in my secondary. I am not supposed to do stat reports unless it is during business hours(which it is not, since it is 11:33 pm), soooooo....I am waiting a bit for some more reports to pop up.

I love this job. I really do. I like that I can work after the boys go to bed. I like that I was able to choose how many hours a day to work and which days, and that I can put in those hours at anytime during the day. I find that being an MT is very interesting and challenging as well. Even though I am pretty much making peanuts right now (I have worked about 2 hours tonight and done about 28 lines due to the fact that it was an ESL doctor), and I have made about $2 tonight. It's ok though, because I know I will get faster and learn more as I go along. I just wish I had some money for a good text expander. The only thing I have a hard time with while doing this job is the fact that I make mistakes. I know making mistakes is a given for any new MT, but I have always had a hard time with doing new things which I am not perfect at. I always think about how after Glenn and I met, he tried to teach me to drive stick shift with his truck. It wasn't long before I gave up, because I was getting so upset that it was so hard. Honestly though, I feel that driving a car should be easy, and you can't get easier than automatic, so there you go. You just put the car in Drive, hit the pedal, and go; there is no need to keep switching gears all the time. I also hated using that other pedal when I was trying to drive stick. What a pain in the rear end. All you need is a gas pedal and a brake pedal and that's it, as far as I'm concerened, and I am happy to leave the stick-shift driving to Glenn.

Anyway, on a different note, I took some funny pictures of Jeff while we were all watching American Gladiators tonight, and I will post them soon. That kid is a riot. He really likes to watch American Gladiators when it is on, and one of his other favorite non-cartoon shows is America's Funniest Home Videos. After every video, he will say, "Mom, what happened??" And (most of the time) I say, "He/She fell down." As Glenn said once, it always "somebody falling down or somebody getting hit in the junk."

Funnies

It is just hilarious listening to the things that come out of my 3-year-old's mouth sometimes. For instance, one thing I love to ask him about is how he plays "Frumpin." Out of the blue one day he told us how he played this game, Frumpin. It seems to me that he plays it when I take him to Glenn's softball games. He will jump around on the bleachers, and when I ask him what he is doing, he responds, "I'm playin' frumpin." I also ask him continually throughout the day how he plays frumpin, and he always says, "I play frumpin....." and then begins to speak in gibberish, the exact same phrase each time. I really have to wonder if it makes sense to him or if it is just gibberish to him. I cannot even explain how funny I think it is when he tells me how he plays Frumpin.

Tonight, we were flicking through the channels on TV, and my husband found Star Wars. He quickly changed it, as it was about Jeff's bedtime and we knew that if Jeff knew it was on that he would want to watch it. Even though Luke Skywalker was on the tube for about 2 seconds before Glenn changed the channel, Jeff immediately said in a borderline whiny voice, "I want to watch Star Wars!" I told him it was over and that he needed to go to bed soon, and then Glenn engaged Jeff in a conversation about the movie. He asked Jeff what his favorite movie was, and Jeff replied, "My favorite movie is Star Whores." After we laughed for a bit, we tried to get Jeff to say "wars" and "war" and he succeeded at it once, but went right back to calling it "Star Whores."

Working woman

Yay! I am happy to say that I got a job! I am now officially a work-at-home medical transcriptionist. I actually prefer medical language specialist, since "medical transcriptionist" pretty much means "typist" to a lot of people. I worked hard for 2 years at an exceptional school and graduated with a 96% folks; I am certainly not just a "typist." :) Ok, so maybe I am sounding like a dork, but hey, I freely admit it. I'm not proud. Anyway, even though I love being a SAHM, it can drive you nuts sometimes. Especially with a baby who poops about 5 times a day and always has to reach "down there" when you take his poopy diaper off, and who refuses to lay still for 30 seconds to allow a decently fast diaper or clothing change. And a 3-year-old who, half the time, doesn't quite make it to the potty to go pee. I have gone through a lot of Clorox Ready-Mop pads lately. It'll be nice to use my smarts for a little while each day and get paid for it.

Jeff

For the past couple days, Jeff would say things to me, like, "Are you my mommy?" and I would say, "Yes, are you my Jeffrey?" and he would say, "Yes." He also would say, "You are my Mommy." Simply a statment, an observation. Today, I was having a pretty hard time getting him to listen. I would give him one chance to do something and then put him in the corner if he didn't comply. After about 4 trips to the corner, I was getting pretty frustrated, wondering what on earth I could do to make him listen to me. Glenn got home and was upstairs using the restroom when Jeff started upstairs. I told Jeff to come down, that Daddy was busy and would be down in a minute, but he still maintained that he wanted to go upstairs. I reitereated that Dad was busy and told Jeff to come downstairs, again. After telling him about 3 times, I threatened to put him in the corner again, as I continued getting dinner ready. From the stairs, I hear a 3-year-old voice say, "You're not my Mommy." Say WHAT?? "What?" I asked. He said it again: "You're not my Mommy." This time, I abandoned my task and went to the stairs, where Jeff was still sitting. "What did you say?" I demanded. This time, I got in respone a sheepish, little-boy grin. "Nofing." he replied. But it was too late. Into the corner yet again, and by this time, Glenn was heading down the steps. He had a man-to-boy talk with Jeff as I went back to the kitchen to continue making dinner, shaking my head at the things that come out of this kid's mouth. It was less than a minute when in came Jeff, and he wrapped his arms around my legs and said, "I'm sorry for saying NO!" Close enough, I guess. Is this going to get easier as they get older, or harder? I guess we get to find out.

What happens when Mom is not home

Soooo....my best friend had a baby today. She went into the hospital last night in labor, and when I called this morning she was still in labor. So I waited anxiously to hear an update, which came at about 4 pm. I packed up the presents I bought for the baby and for big sister Sierra and headed to the hospital, leaving DH at home with the boys. As soon as I got to the hospital, I received word from DH that Jeff had found my Clorox toilet cleaning stick and and the cleaning pads that go with it, had put the two together, and was "making his pee purple."

The pictures don't do the scene justice, but in the boys' bedroom there is baby powder and diaper rash cream everywhere; on both beds, the floor, the dresser, toys, etc. Jeff even put some cream and powder in his hair and in Jack's hair, too. You can see the white spot on Jack's head in a few of these. Ahhh, a taste of being a stay-at-home parent...

Back to normal

Well, here we are. It is Glenn's first day back at work since we moved into our new house. Once he got back from deployment, he went back to work for a few days while we still lived at my parents house, then took off for a few weeks to move and for his parents visit from NJ. We had an enjoyable visit with his parents, and now the fun is over and everybody is back to work. I love being in our house. Although now that Glenn is back and we are all settled in, I do need to start looking for a job. I graduated from my medical transcription course a little over a month before Glenn left, and I realized it would be too difficult to get a job while he was away. Now it's been almost 9 months since I graduated, and I'm hoping I'm not any less marketable than I was when everything was still fresh in my mind. I'm very excited to start working from home but am nervous about interviews and all that junk. I hate interviews, but what're you gonna do?

Well, I'm off to make Jeff's Spongebob macaroni n' cheese, then to do some housework. Yes, that includes vacuuming, to those of you who like to make fun. I love to vacuum, and I love my new house (did I say that already?) And, after dinner, it's off to Target once again for a toy organizer, maybe a desk, and a mixer so I can make my DH and DS some carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I really feel like I am back to being a stay-at-home mom now, which is definitley exhausting, but I really do love it. Now, if only I could wean the hubby off of World of Warcraft......

These are more of my favorite pics. He is just too cute for words.

Happy Birthday Jeffrey!!

I love this picture. I love how excited and happy and innocent he is.

Wow, we have a 3-year-old boy. He is getting so old, but is still so little. He amazes me every day. It was a fun day. While Daddy worked, we went to Starbucks, where Jeff always wants to sit down with his drink at one of the tables. We did just that with my iced caramel macchiato and his chocolate milk with whipped cream and chocolate syrup, his "brown and white," as he called it. He also asked me, regarding his drink, "Mom, is this sugar?"

After lunch we went for a walk and then I took him to the park, where he ran around with a couple of kids that were there as well. For dinner we had pizza and then cake and ice cream for dessert and then opened up his presents after he had his bath.

About a half hour after we put him to bed, I walked into the bedroom after my shower to hear his little 3-year-old voice singing, "Happy Birfday. Happy Birfday to Jeffrey." He talked to himself for quite a while before he went to sleep, and when I put Jack down in his crib and turned on his crib toy, I heard Jeff singing along to the music.

The only downside to the day occurred sometime after Jeff fell asleep. I had finally gotten Jack to sleep by putting him in our bed, and awoke only to hear Jeff crying. He had thrown up everywhere, so much so that I had to wake up Glenn to help me get Jeff in the tub again so I could wash out the sheets. Poor baby. Thankfully, he seems to have forgotten all about that part.

It's been a week since Glenn has gotten home, and it feels like every day is truly a blessing. Things are getting back to normal; Glenn is back at work for a few more days and then he is taking leave so we can move into our house.

The day Glenn came home seemed pretty surreal. I had a hard time believing he was actually coming home. He was coming in late Wednesday night or very early Thursday morning, after flying from Iraq to Kuwait to Europe then finally to the US, and then taking a bus from LA, where they were flying in, down to MCAS Miramar. By 11 pm Wednesday night I was ready to go, but I was still waiting for the call from Glenn to tell me to get in the car and head to Miramar. Long story short: The next 90+ minutes of waiting were among the most tedious of my life, but he finally called, and I headed out into the cold, foggy early morning. As I drove I thought about how I had always pictured picking him up in the sunshine with our boys beside me. But the end result was still the same; after 6 months, Glenn was coming home, and nothing else mattered.

I got to the base and after a little trouble found where I was supposed to go. I found a parking spot and followed a group of people through a set of doors into a room that was set up with folding chairs and tables. People were milling about; solo wives and girlfriends, wives holding small children, and a few tots toddling around. I thought about how maybe I should have brought the boys after all, but then figured Jeff would probably either be asleep in the stroller or cranky because he was tired.

I sat down in one of the chairs, and after about 30 seconds, a woman carrying a baby in a baby carrier across her chest came through the door leading from the flightline and announced that the bus was at Miramar's front gate. Finally, they were here, after 6+ months away from their families and everything they know and love, after 3 days of nothing but travel in dirty cammies, they were home. We filed outside, waiting to see the headlights of the buses. I stood and side-stepped back and forth, trying to keep warm in the chilly early morning, looking around at all the wives and friends and other Marines who had come to welcome our heroes home. I watched people taking pictures and wished I had brought my camera.

Finally, we saw headlights approaching. Three buses roared up and parked on the other side of the barricade as people cheered. It seemed like it took a while for the Marines to start getting off the bus, but when they starting filing off I peered over the crowd's heads looking for Glenn. Everybody looked the same! I watched until the last person got off the bus, but did not see him. I finally saw him a few minutes later as he was about to walk right by me on the way to the bathroom. We hugged for a long time, and then he had to take off again, lost in the crowd of Marines again, to sign in, participate in the "96 brief," and then to get his bags. While waiting, I watched as a truck pulled up and then as a few Marines opened up the back and started to place all the lookalike seabags into neat rows on the ground.

I have to say, one of the greatest feelings of my life was seeing those buses pull up and being there with all of the eager and excited family members and friends. It was like the anticipation of waiting for a celebrity to pull up, but a million times better. These were our own celebrities. They were our husbands and sons and friends and fathers, who left the comfort of their home and family to live and work in a foreign place to fight for our freedom. There is no job on earth more noble than this.

Waiting

Now I am just waiting for the phone call. Glenn's flight should just be landing at LAX, and then they have about a 2-hour bus ride here to San Diego. He is going to call me once they get on the bus to head home. I have showered, put gel in and blow dried my hair (which I never do), and have my best fitting jeans on. After he calls I am going to put on the rest of my makeup and probably try on several different shirts to find the cutest one. Then before I go I will finish off my outfit with the boots Glenn got me for Christmas. I am telling this to anyone who cares. Haha. I am just excited to actually have an excuse to look good again and wear something in lieu of yoga pants and t-shirts (which really isn't all that bad, they are cute yoga pants).

I am still trying to decide what to do about Jeffrey. I was going to come home and, with Glenn waiting downstairs, come and wake up Jeff and tell him he had a surprise downstairs. Before he went to bed, he had a nice snack and a cup of what he calls "yucky water" but is really club soda. I brushed his teeth, and as I was doing that he began to have a meltdown. I still don't know what all the fuss was about. Anyway, I got him in bed and he pretty much fell asleep right away after letting out a few tired-sounding squeaky sounds. I'm a little wary of waking him up in the middle of the night because I don't think he will handle it very well. But our other problem is that he has been geting up lately very, very early in the morning and will climb into bed with me. If he pulls that at 4 or 5 am tomorrow and sees his Dad in bed, I think he will get too giddy to go back to sleep. I know I don't want to wake up for the day at 4 or 5 am.

Still waiting for that call. Get on the bus already guys!! It's kind of hard for me to believe this deployment is over. Up until now it felt long, but now it doesn't seem like it was that bad. Anyways, who cares?? It's over!! Now I just gotta wait for that call and for an ETA at the base, then it's off into the dark of the late night to go get my husband. It will be one of the best nights ever!!

We made it (almost!)

Well, here it is. We made it through our first deployment. Glenn is on his way home and should be coming in late tomorrow. I can't even begin to describe excitement like this. Our family is going to be together again, and I can't wait. I can't wait to see him and for the boys to see him, and I can't wait for him to be able to eat good food and to do all the things and go all the places that we love. He says that even if I mess up on dinner, it will taste like a piece of heaven to him after eating the chowhall food for 6 months. The first things we are going to do are to pick up our new Jeep (his welcome-home present), go to Starbucks, and have dinner at Outback Steakhouse. I remember having dinner at Outback 2 days before he left, and when he got up to go smoke I couldn't help letting some tears out, knowing that he was leaving. No more of that stuff now!! On a diferent note, I have to mention that he left here as a Staff Sergeant and is coming back a Gunnery Sergeant. What a guy he is to me, I gotta tell ya. What a guy.

Well, here we are. Almost done with our first deployment. Even though we are not done yet, I am excited that the difficulties of the past several months will be over soon. Even more so, I can't wait to see him, and I can't wait for him to see how the boys have grown. I think it's been a good learning experience for both of us in different ways, although I am happy to see it coming to an end. I think one of the big things I have learned over these past months is how, as a parent, you have to try to control your emotions when it comes to kids. Yeah, I still mess up, and I'm sure I will mess up in the future too, but I think I am better able to understand the importance of keeping your cool and better able to do it as well. Under my stress today, I uttered something under my breath that isn't the greatest example of language (alhtough it's probably not what you're thinking), and Jeff said to me, "Mom, don't say that." I was both amused and embarassed, having my 2-year-old son keep me in check. Boy, oh boy.

Here they are with new hats! I love buying them new hats, they are just too cute. Jeffrey originally wanted a "train hat," but like most 2-year-old pretty much forgot about it, especially when we found this dinosaur hat. Jeff's is a little big yet, but he'll grow into it quickly.

Well, I promised my mother-in-law I would post pictures of the boys and keep the blog updated, and I hate to say I haven't kept my word as of yet. I haven't posted recently because not much has happened. But I guess I can't say that, because when you have young kids there is pretty much something new going on every day. Jack hasn't mastered crawling just yet, though he looks like he is about to take off. Both Glenn and I are hoping he won't learn to crawl until Glenn is home. He should be home in just a few weeks from now. When we got to the base to pick him up, I am not going to tell Jeff where we are going. We will just get in the car and go. I can't wait to see what Jeff is going to do when he realizes we are there to get Dad.

Time seems to be getting a little tedious. For a while, I stopped going to bed thinking, "Another day is over," but I'm back to that again every night. In a way it feels like we are getting down to the wire, but at the same time it also seems like we have a long way to go. I think it is a kind of transition phase; we are transitioning from the middle of the deployment to the beginning of the end. Seven weeks seems like nothing, really, but thinking that we still have almost 2 months left makes it seem like such a long time. I just want it to be over now. I am tired of being a single parent and would love to be in my own house with my own stuff. I would love to leave dishes in the sink and not feel bad, and I would love to be able to vaccuum my own floors in my own house. I would love to be able to go to sleep in my own bed, knowing that it wouldn't be long before Glenn could, too. I would love to stock up the fridge and the cupboard and eat a late-night signature kickin' turkey bagel sandwich and jalapeno chips and know that it wouldn't be long before I could make one for Glenn, too. And no, you're not getting the recipe. :)

I always remember, as I always have throughout this deployment, that we are lucky. If he were gone for 12 or 15 months, he wouldn't even be half done right now.

Now I want some jalapeno chips. So much for my diet.

Exciting!

I haven't been so excited about things in a while, but life has at least had a little excitement over the past couple of days. We are now on the waiting list for base housing, and will hopefully have a house by the time Glenn gets back. Also, our 2-year-old, Jeff, used the potty for the very first time yesterday! I was waiting until I at least got back to San Diego in a few weeks to begin potty training, even though he is almost 3. I just figured that all the changes that would be happening after Glenn was deployed; his Dad being gone, moving, traveling to NJ and back again, and not living in our own house would be too much for him to concentrate on potty training. But it looks like he is figuring it out pretty well.

Jack keeps growing and is definitely ready to start on solids now. He has 2 adorable teeth already as well. I can't wait for Glenn to see our growing boys!