Well, we are 2 1/2 months into our deployment! This deployment has sucked so much worse than last time. I think the fact that I was expecting Man-Puppy made it a little easier. I had a major life event to plan and then the newborn haze started and time sped up. I also had people to visit out of state which broke up the monotony.
This time I am keeping up with three kiddos, two of whom have had health concerns and I don't get ot talk to DH very much at all. Everyone keeps asking if I have family coming to visit and I have to tell them no. Everyone is surprised, but they are happy to hear that I have a good Bible study group and church for support. I keep trying to entice my second mom to come visit me, but she is in the middle of her own life changing time. She is hoping to come out in October for a birth seminar on island and I hope to attend with her. It will be great! I really miss having her around!
Man-Puppy just went in for his nutritionist follow up. The appointment was at 8:30am and I had to take all three kids to the Army hospital. I left the house an hour and a half early to make sure I didn't show up late due to traffic. Half way to the hosptial I smell poop. I look back into Man-Puppy's carseat and see poopy legs (he is rear facing, so I could only see his legs). I debated turning back, but I saw the traffic back into our town and knew i would never make it. So I got to the hospital, stalked a soldier to his great parking spot and took it when he backed out of it. I then went to work. It took HALF a package of wipes to clean him up, but Man-Puppy handled it like a trooper. I didn't have any extra clothes, so he just wore a cloth diaper. So me and the two girls were dressed nicely and Man-Puppy was half naked like a little heathen. He thought it was great! lol The nutritionist has a kid, so she completely understood and commented that he looked very comfortable. At the appointment she told me that his bloodwork was fine and commended me for asking questions of the pediatrician and told me it was nice to meet a mom who didn't blindly follow someone just because they are a Dr. I really liked her. I wish she was a pediatrician, I would make her the kids' pcm in a heartbeat. After dealing with some jerks for Drs, it is nice to meet someone in the medical profession who treats me like a human worth respecting. If only the pediatricians (and other people in life) I have dealt with could understand that you have to give respect to get it. If you treat me like I am a capable adult with legitimate concerns, then you get the respect. I treat everyone with respect, but I communicate with Drs who reciprocate and more gets DONE.
Man-Puppy is doing so well! He is learning to warm up to people a little faster. He is quite the charmer and loves on his peers like crazy. His Puggles teachers (AWANAS for toddlers) love him. They always rave about how caring he is to other children and how he picks out toys and takes them to children for them to play with. He doesn't actually play with them, but he serves them. I really think he has a servant's heart, sometimes to a fault. I think that is how Miss Tornado's Cubbies vest went missing. He loves to throw everything in the trash, and now the vest is missing. oops... He is walking very well now and people just love to listen to him talk. Communication is his strong point, even without words. He just has this way of reading people and expressing himself.
Miss Tornado went in for a behavioral evaluation last week. We were thinking sensory processing disorder, but the Dr said that she is testing right at the cutoff for an autism diagnosis, so she is going in for so much more evaluation. So in July we will be going in for a child group study once a week for a month so she can be evaluated around her peers by speech therapists etc. She is also supposedt o meet with an Occupational Therapist as well for a separate evaluation. This summer is going to be a summer of Dr appointments. Of course this all happens when DH is gone. Why wouldn't it? UGH But it will be nice to get some answers and some help for her. Watching her struggle with peer interactions breaks my heart and I hope to help her integrate better so she doesn't have to deal with too many struggles as she grows. Growing up is hard enough without these kinds of issues!
Baby Bird is doing well. We went to the zoo this last weekend for military appreciation day (free entrance, free food and live entertainment). I let her crawl around on the ground for a while, but apparently she is allergic to something here. At 3am I woke up to her gasping for air. I almost took her to the ER, but I was able to get her to breath easier with some massage. So now I am keeping the kids away from "monkey pods" until spring is over. Monkey pods are sticky pods that are dropping from their trees this time of year and they stick to EVERYTHING. They really are quite disgusting and all four of us react when we are near them. I had to do some acupressure points on myself to clear a bad sinus headache. Other than the allergy, she is doing amazing! The other day I went ot check to see if she was awake from her nap and she looked at me and WAVED! She is several months ahead of where her two older siblings were at this age. She is also pushing up onto her hands and knees. Actual crawling is just around the corner! She is just so advanced! As a mom I have a pretty good idea what my kids' personalities are and Baby Bird is "complex". She isn't a really smiley baby, but she isn't exactly introverted either. The whole "still waters run deep" phrase describes her. I have a feeling she will be a VERY analytic person.
DH is doing ok. He stays busy at work. He does have a good Men's Bible Study Group there that he fellowships with. He even has them pray for me. That man is everything I could have wanted in a husband and father for my children. We get to talk about once a week and even that is spotty. He misses home, but he is doing better with his coworkers. It is like he has gone from a work environment like the movie "Office Space" to some kind of war movie. He has his frustrations, but it is good to know that he is doing well at his job. He is also working on JuJitzu on this deployment.
I am doing... ok. The stress of health issues with the kids plus anemia haven't been exactly good for my health, but I am dealing. I'm trying to work out regularly and I have started taking iron again. I miss my hubby, a lot. Knowing how much he misses us and how much he is missing with the kids' development is a tough place to be in. I miss having pillowtalk at night and a friend to joke around with during the day. He is my very bestest friend and life without him is colorless and dull. Even though the kids keep me busy, things seem two dimensional without him here. I am glad he told me to take the summer off from my college courses. I would be going insane trying to keep up with classes while dealing with all this crap. I am happy to get some reading in though. It is nice to read for pleasure instead of school. I've read a SEAL sniper autobiography, all three books of the Hunger Games, and a book called "Obama's Wars". I am working on another SEAL sniper autobiography and then I have a Beverly Lewis book to work on.
So that's life in a nutshell right now.
