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!

I love this picture because it is just Glenn and Jeff relaxing at home.

It seems few and far between that I blog anymore. I guess I feel that there are only so many times and so many ways that you can say that you truly miss somebody. Right now I think about what it will be like to have our own home again being able to make meals for my family, and to watch The Cosby Show with Glenn at night, like we used to. I look forward to having Glenn brush our Jeffrey's teeth again, because I am certainly no good at it. Right now I can only imagine how strange it will be to have him here again, although I have read that once they are back it's almost like they were never gone. I look forward to renting movies from time to time, going to Starbucks on lazy Saturdays, and to hearing his Jeep pulling into the drive at the end of the day. Although we have less than 3 months left, it still seems like it's going to be so long until he is back. I told him today that although I am no fan of the show "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," I flick by it from time to time on the TV and wish he were here to watch it again. It used to drive me nuts when he would watch it in bed because, in my opinion, there are plenty of better shows on to watch, but I will definitely settle for it now. I will settle for him watching Sports Center.

Here are my beautiful boys! Who could ask for anything more?

This is going to sound cheesy, but I realized today that there is not much beauty in things since Glenn has been gone. There are still things that I like, like walking by the creek here in town with it's calm, snowy white banks, but there is just something missing. Maybe it's just that today was kind of a difficult day with the boys, so it's possible that I was just more down than usual.

On a funny note, I have to write this story because it is too funny. I am staying at my in-laws house, and my room is a renovated conference room (they are caretakers of an old mansion that is the community center) with a door leading into the one bathroom in the apartment, which in turn leads into my in-laws bedroom. Almost every morning, my 2-year-old, Jeff, gets up and opens the door that leads into the bathroom, and my MIL puts on cartoons for him while she gets ready for work. This morning, I was dreaming that Jeff opened the door in the dark of the early morning to go see Grandma. I only realized it wasn't a dream when I heard my FIL talking. Apparently, Jeff opened the door, walked into my in-laws bedroom, and said, "Hi, Granddad!" then proceeded to walk out into the living room. He turned around and came back, where my FIL aid, "Go to bed, Jeff." He came back into our bedroom and said, "Mom, wanna turn ona TV." I said no, that it was still sleepytime, and he crawled back into bed and was out as soon as his head hit the pillow, no exaggeration. I wonder if he was sleepwalking? How strange!

3 Months

It has been 3 months since my Glenn left. We are just about half done with this deployment. Most of the time, it seems like it will be such a long time before he gets home, but I know my FIL is right when he says that 3 months is nothing. I guess time seems to be going pretty slowly lately; it seems like we have been stuck at the 3-month mark for a long time. However, I also know that when I go to message boards and read stories of wives whose husbands have left for 12 or 15 months, the relief that I am only a few months away from seeing my love is tremendous. I still can't, and maybe never will, fathom what it would be like to have Glenn away for a year or more. I hope I never have to find out.

I find that being able to see Glenn on the webcam, when he can get his hands on one, is really such a blessing, and there is nothing that makes me happier these days. Of course, there are other things that bring me great joy, like making our 6-month-old son laugh, or listening to (most of) the things our 2-year-old says these days or putting him to bed on the nights where, bless his heart, he is not screaming and crying from having his teeth brushed. But it is a different kind of joy than that which is manifested from being able to see their father and how he still looks the same, and seeing how he still smiles and laughs at the same old jokes I make.

What else can I say other than it's hard to wait for the day that he comes home? At this point I am once again unbelievably thankful that the wait is shorter rather than longer. However, that still doesn't make waiting easy, just a little easier.