Surprises Never Get Old

Joe surprised the kids again with his presence :)

He finally left NM last week and arrived here yesterday. This is still only another visit for us...he'll be on his way to Charleston, SC next week to inprocess at our new base. We'll follow him at the end of June - when Kayla finishes the school year.

The kids are going to think all Joe does is visit us anymore!

Of course we are all loving having him here, even if it is for a short time. Kayla was a little sad to go to school this morning, I think she worried he might not be here when she gets home.

Lucas was a little shy and hesitant about Joe yesterday, but I think some of that had to do with him just waking up from a nap...and that Kayla wasn't here. If she was, then Lucas would have seen Kayla's excitement and copied her. It didn't take too long for Lucas to wake up though. And now everything is all about "daddy!"

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Surprise!

When Joe and I arrived home yesterday, my mom and the kids were out at lunch. When I heard them come home I had Joe hide (so I could get the camera all ready and everything).

I went outside and when Kayla saw me she just kind of looked at me like something wasn't right. I held my arms out for a hug and said, "Kayla!" and she said "Daddy home?" I said "no" and she still had a confused and sad look on her face. Finally she ran up to give me a hug and then asked "pick Daddy up?" I said, "oh no, not yet."

Lucas wanted nothing to do with me...when he saw me he shook his head "no" at me and turned the other way. Little stinker. Guess he was mad at me for leaving for 2 days!

We came in the house and I told Kayla to open the door to the basement:

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I thought Lucas would be a little hesitant, shy, and unsure around Joe. I didn't think he would go to him right away.

I'm sure it helped that he sees him on the computer, but also seeing Kayla's reaction to Joe. Lucas didn't seem quite sure of what was going on, or who was suddenly in the house, but because Kayla was happy and excited about it, he was cool with it too; because Lucas is nothing if not a copy cat of all the things Kayla does!

Suffice it to say both kids haven't left his side, they both want to hold his hand, show him things, have him play with them, be held, sit by him etc...it's been wonderful having him back home!

Life? Is Good

For the next 2 weeks anyway...

Anticipation

I can count on one hand the number of days left until I see Joe again!!

Excited much?

I can't even explain how much I'm anticipating just seeing his face in that airport.

I smile every time I think about it...which is multiple times a day.

I feel giddy.

I feel like a silly teenage girl waiting to see her crush walk by.

I feel like each day can't pass quickly enough.

I keep imagining what it'll feel like to get that first big hug from him; to be wrapped up in his arms.

I imagine I'll start crying as soon as I know his plane has landed.

I've got our room booked for a couple of nights at a hotel at the National Harbor.

I'm thinking we might check out Bobby McKey's while we're there.

I gave myself a mini pedicure with some new nail polish.

I had my hair cut and highlighted (not recently, but since he's been gone.)

I'm praying for safe travels and no delays.

Did I mention I'm excited to be seeing my husband again?

I think it's a good thing he doesn't know his exact itinerary yet, or else I would be counting down the hours instead of the days!

tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

2 Weeks

We've now hit the half-way point of Joe's deployment. He's been gone 6 months, so that means this month he'll be here for his 2-week R&R.

Oh how I wish his deployment was only 6 months. Because that would mean this was over, we were done, he was coming home ... instead of just visiting with us for 2 weeks.

2 weeks of having my husband here.
2 weeks of the kids having their father.
2 weeks of holding his hand as we're driving somewhere.
2 weeks of Joe making chicken quesadillas or breakfast burritos.
2 weeks of hearing his voice every day, in person and not over the computer.
2 weeks of watching the kids interact with him.
2 weeks of Lucas getting to know his Daddy.
2 weeks of linking my arm through his as we go for a walk with our kids.
2 weeks of Joe dealing with Kayla's attitude and Lucas's tantrums.
2 weeks of not having the bed all to myself.
2 weeks of laughing together.
2 weeks of parenting together.
2 weeks of letting Joe get up during the night to take Kayla back to her bed.
2 weeks of letting Joe do the bath and bedtime routine.
2 weeks of feeling his arms around me whenever I want a hug.
2 weeks of getting back- and foot-rubs.
2 weeks of seeing his toiletries in the bathroom along side of mine.
2 weeks of being able to touch his face instead of looking at it over the computer screen.
2 weeks of waking up to my husband next to me.
2 weeks of falling asleep in his arms.
2 weeks of watching Kayla read her books to her Daddy.
2 weeks of watching Lucas rough-house with his Daddy.
2 weeks of seeing the kids excited about having their Daddy home.
2 weeks of being a family again.

As much as I'm so looking forward to seeing Joe again, I know it'll be bittersweet because we have to say goodbye again.

I've heard that second goodbye is pretty brutal on the kids. They'll just be getting used to having him around again when he'll be gone before they know it. I can only imagine how confused they'll be and how hard it'll be for them adjust when they just don't understand why he left again.

Then I feel like I have this need to make sure we do all these fun things while he's here and go out and do this and that and not just sit at home. But at the same time I know it's perfectly fine to do just that - sit at home and do nothing but enjoy each others company and being a family. I just don't want to have regrets after he's gone again; thinking oh we should have done this and that and made these memories. It's a balance I have to figure out; I put too much pressure on myself to try and make things perfect for when he's here - when realistically I know that's impossible. Especially considering Kayla will be in school the last week he's here, we really only have one week of being able to go out and sight-see, explore, and do fun family things during the week.

2 weeks will go by way too fast, but we're going to soak up all the time we can with him.

Life Is Good

So, yeah, in case you missed the big news - Joe's home!

He arrived in Maryland on Friday evening. Since the next flight wouldn't get in here until around midnight he stayed overnight there and caught the first flight out Saturday morning. The airport is an hour away from my mom, so she, my step-dad, sister, and her boyfriend surprised Joe at the airport. They met him when he came out of customs and took him out to dinner. I'm glad he was able to see some friendly, familiar faces once he got back to the states!

And as you could tell from the video Kayla didn't want to let go of him once she was in his arms. Even after she gave him a kiss she immediately snuggled back into his neck/shoulder. She made sure he didn't leave her sight! I was surprised she willingly went with me to the bathroom; and when he went she didn't take her eyes off the door until he came back out!

I think it took her a minute to register that it really was Daddy in the flesh and not on the computer or phone! After 4 months of hearing me say "No Kayla, that's not daddy" when we were around base and she spotted some guy in uniform, she wasn't quite sure if she believed it was really him.

Remember when Kayla and I went to Roswell for the Buddy Walk and the adventure in getting there? Yeah our trip to the airport wasn't without it's own adventure too! Nothing compared to what happened going to Roswell though.

Our closest airport is in El Paso, TX (1.5 hrs away) where the population is around 700,000...we live in a town with a population of about 35,000. So El Paso is a huge city (4th largest in TX) and the only place I know how to get to in EP is the airport - anywhere else and Joe has to drive. I've driven to the airport and back by myself plenty of times and it's an easy drive for me. This time we encountered construction where they had a few exits closed on the highway - I had to get off before my exit and couldn't get back on. I figured since I was on the side access road that would take me where I needed to go as if I had just come off the highway anyway...except the left turn I needed to make on Fred Wilson Blvd was also closed off. That's the only way I know how to get to the airport. I was talking out loud and said "oh no, I don't know how to find the airport!" and Kayla pipes up from the back seat, "oh I find it!" If only you COULD help me Kayla!

There was no where to pull over, I just had to follow the flow of traffic, worried that I was getting farther into the city and would have no idea to find my way out! I noticed the yellow "detour Fred Wilson" signs and followed those which turned me around and I thought, "ok this is good, I'll end up on the right road after all" - except somehow I missed a sign or something, I don't know what happened. I passed over Fred Wilson again, but it was a one-way turn and I wasn't facing the right way.

Now I'm heading out of the city back towards the highway going home...not good either. I stay on the access road and finally see a gas station. Then a police motorcycle pulls in front to stop traffic for a funeral procession. That's when I start crying from the stress of it all. I just want to get to the airport and see my husband again! I'm worried about how late I'll be and having no way to get a hold of him. Finally I get to the gas station and ask for directions - thank you God, it's relatively easy from there! I made it to the airport and Joe had only been waiting about 10 min, so that was good. Nothing like a little drama for me though!

Life is definitely good having him back home. He's had some in-processing briefings and appointments to go to this week, and then starting next week he'll be off for 2 wks (so my blogging will probably be sporadic!)

So things are starting to get back to normal around here ... things like ...

- going through a gallon of milk much faster than when it was just Kayla and me
- more laundry piling up
- more dirty dishes in the sink
- less leftovers in the fridge
- less room in the bed for me (I had become used to having the whole bed to myself and being able to sleep from one side or the other!)
- being woken up in the middle of the night by someone snoring
- having someone stay up until 2AM (oh excuse me, 1:50 AM) reading their new book they got for Christmas, in bed, while I'm trying to sleep (ok that only happened last night!)
- finding clothes blocking the closet door so I have to kick them out of the way (each and every day) to get into the closet to put my dirty clothes in the hamper, you know, where dirty clothes actually go!

Yeah things are getting back to normal around here...and life is good :)

Thank you all so much for your support, prayers, and well wishes while Joe was gone and for his safe return home!

Grains of Gratitude - The Homecoming

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