See You Soon

Waverly and I said "see you soon" to Joshua yesterday.

But before that dreaded moment, we started the day off with Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It is so funny now to watch Waverly HAVE to get her hands on EVERYTHING within her reach. Menus, straw wrappers, syrup bottles, orange slices. She kept us entertained and happy while we had a good last big meal out. We headed home for her nap, and Josh and I were able to watch some our favorite shows we'd DVR'd from the night before. I had to wake her up to feed her before we left, and Josh started getting ready while I got baby ready. I didn't know how hard it was for him before we even left the house - she was watching him put on his boots with apparently a "what are you doing" look on her face. So sad!

We had to run a few errands before we arrived at the company area; Josh needed some patches for his uniform - thankfully that kept us occupied as we had to try about 4 different stores to find the ones he needed! We grabbed Arby's drive thru and ate in the parking lot before going in to see what was going on. Thankfully, this time around, there wasn't a huge hoopla. We aren't huge fans of hundreds of families all crying in a gym. Makes it 100 times worse in my opinion. We were able to take a few pictures and then say goodbye at the car, relatively privately. It was so hard. It was hard for Josh to say goodbye to Waverly especially. They are such buddies...but I am thankful she is too young to realize or remember any of this. I got my hugs and kisses, but when I thought I had my last one, I just broke down and had to get one last last one. We didn't prolong it - why would you want to do that - and Waverly and I headed back home.

I expected to be a wreck all day. I believe all the prayers from family and friends helped this not to be the case. I wasn't looking forward to crying my eyes out while trying to take care of the baby...fortunately she took a great nap once we got home and I had about 2 hours to myself to curl up in bed and try to get my mind in the place it needs to be. I definitely had some teary moments, especially when we said our prayer for Daddy at bedtime. We pray angels surround him and keep him safe and bring him home to us soon.

Today we got to Skype and chat on Facebook, and it was so great to see Josh and for him to see the baby. She even clapped her hands for him for the first time (on her own ;). Praying we get much more of those opportunities and that the rest of his travels go well. I've made my to-do list for the next week, and it is full of packing, errands, purging stuff we don't need, and hopefully some time with friends before my parents and Mark arrive and we head out to California. I'm so thankful I have that to look forward to, otherwise I'd really be dreading staying in Clarksville while many of my friends here are traveling with their kids. We should be back in the area hopefully before or after Christmas, depending on how long Josh's deployment is.

I'm so thankful for everyone's support - the kind words and prayers have been such an encouragement. I hope the rest of the deployment goes quickly and smoothly and that Josh's experience is rather dull. ;) We can only hope and pray!

times they are a changin...

Well, it's about that time again. Josh leaves in a little over 2 weeks for Afghanistan. This will be his third deployment, the first to that region. It'll definitely be a different experience for him - he's been areas of Baghdad for the first two deployments so this will be a bit more remote. It will also be a different experience for me - I had work to keep me busy previously, but now I have a munchkin! We've decided Waverly and I are going to move out to California to live with my parents for the majority of the deployment. It will give us a chance to spend some quality time with family as well as save some moolah....oh, and did I mention get out of our lease and AWAY from our very annoying neighbors? Even though I know us moving out there means Josh has left, I am really excited about the chance to spend a good chunk of time in Temecula and with my family. So, we are taking the good with the bad.

I'm going to think about the positives instead of dwelling on the fact that our little family will be separated for 6-9 months (so thankful it's not scheduled to be longer). Here's some of the things I can't wait to do once we get out to Cali:

~Saturday mornings at the Farmer's Market, Starbucks in hand.
~Enjoying my parents' pool and seeing Waverly become a little water bug
~Being housekeeper for my mom and letting her enjoy her weekends
~Using my family as guinea pigs for all my new Pinterest recipe experiments
~Focusing on my fitness again...there's a nice YMCA in Temecula
~Enjoying all the fun things to do in the area (SD Zoo, Sea World, Disney, snow in the mountains,   shopping with Grammie....;)
~Having a few extra hands around just in case I start to pull out my hair or come down with a mommy-duty-threatening illness
~Spending more than just 3-4 days at a time with my family


There's probably more but dinner's almost ready and Waverly needs her sweet potatoes.

Temecula

I LOVE going to visit my parents in California. They relocated to Temecula (see map below) almost two years ago from Michigan, and I believe my last trip out was my 4th since they've moved. The weather, the scenery, what the city and California in general have to offer makes for VERY fun vacations. Temecula is great because it's away from the insanity of LA, but close enough to it and other attractions that it makes for easy day trips. I can't wait to explore more of the area as time goes by!

 These are a few of my favorite things about visiting Temecula...

Winter Blues

As Joshua and I drove up to Atlanta for my birthday hoopla last weekend, Joshua made a "good and bad" observation about me ...that I get restless with things after a few months and am always wanting to move on to something new and different. How true. The good part about this characteristic? It fits perfectly with the Army life. I always look forward to moving to a new place, meeting new people and seeing new things, which is good, since we move every year or 3 for the past 5, and have another coming up this summer. The bad? I have a hard time being consistent with gym or workout rountines and it is especially annoying with jobs. It is interesting for the first few months, then the monotony reeeeeaaaally gets to me and I have a hard time staying motivated. I like my current job for the most part, and the money helps. I've never really thought about WHY I get like this with work and things I'll do for a few months, but thanks to my dear husband who knows me so well, his observation has helped me at least recognize why I get that way.

So, what's the point of making new year's resolutions? I never keep them. Not all of them, at least, more than a few months. And considering that I'm in my gym rut, thanks in part to the bitterly cold weather that's swept through the past few weeks, and my almost-overwhelming workload, I'm in a bit of a slump all around. However, once it does warm up past the point of freezing, I would like to get back to running in the park after work and doing yoga because I want to feel in great shape for our trip to New York City/NJ in March. I'm counting on the fact that I'll snap out of it shortly...after all, I have to look my best in my cute new BCBG dress for a night out on the town with my hubby in NYC! ;)

What will the next one bring?

This time last year I was sitting, alone, in our house in Texas, counting down the 17 days until Josh came home from a yearlong deployment in Iraq. I was also, at this time, coming up with my new year's resolutions. It was easy to stay committed back then to working out, eating right, and being healthy since it was just me and I could eat Special K for dinner. These were my resolutions for 2010 (let's see how I did):

1) Most importantly, have the best year ever with my husband, who will be returning from a year-long deployment in Iraq in 3 weeks!
CHECK! We've had an amazing year...mostly because we've spent most of it uninterrupted from any training, field exercises or any other such Army nonsense. We've seen a sibling get married and bring another great friend to the family, moved from Texas to Georgia, welcomed another neice into the world, and had lots of relaxing, enjoyable weekends together.

2) Make the most of our time visiting family and our vacations!
CHECK! We haven't gotten to take many vacations together this year besides the occasional trip to Lynchburg. I have, however, had the amazing opportunity to take a trip to Twil-land with my dear sister-in-law, and that ranks the highest on my list of vacations this year, and one of my favorites of all time!

3) Continue to frequent the gym and add miles to my runs (and I'll have my workout buddy back!)
At this time, no check. I've slacked off the past few months and that's part of the reason I'm writing this blog now...to track my progress and keep myself accountable ;) I do love the gym we go to and will be spurred on by the new year - and the fact all my pants are a little snug - to get back to working out.

4) Try more healthy recipes so Josh and I can eat better at home---fewer trips to Chili's, Plucker's and Panda Express ;)
An epic fail. I've eaten more pizza, Chinese, cheesecake and M&M's than a person really should these past few months. We've traded our Texas hangouts for Georgia ones and it's not been a healthier switch. Additionally, I have little to zero motivation at the end of a long workday to make a fancy, healthy meal....shall have to come up with a solution to this in 2011. I'd eat cereal for dinner, but I don't think Joshua can get on board with that.

5) Try to find a job I enjoy...
OOOO...hmm. First let me say I am entirely grateful to have such a well-paying job, provided the Lord is with me and I work my booty off and make/exceed my monthly goals. I love the people I work with and I'll miss them when the time comes for us to relocate. However, sales is completely exhausting and the thing I am most looking forward to in the world is being able to stop working, stay home and take care of my hopefully growing family :)

All that said, I think only a few revisions need to be made for 2011's resolutions, and here's my new 5:

1) Trust the Lord will work out things in His timing
There's a few unknowns in the coming year, one we do know is that we will be moving to Ft. Campbell/Clarksville, Tennesee. When---who knows! After Joshua finishes Ranger school, but we aren't exactly sure when he'll get to go or finish. I'm hoping we'll be able to find a nice rental home. I'm also hoping, as I turn 27 on January 9, that this will be the year of a Joshua and Jamie baby, but I am reminding myself to not get anxious about this, and trust it will happen for us when it's supposed to.

2) Pay off credit cards!
Yep, evil credit cards need to go away in 2011 so I CAN stop working and have little to no debt to worry about.

3) Continue to frequent the gym and add miles to my runs (and I'll have my workout buddy back!)
Uh, yeah, this will be a repeat, except I should probably rephrase it to read "add MILE to my runs" to start off with ;) I also want to do more yoga and pilates---I've found those, with a combination of running and eating right, really works for me.

4) LESS PIZZA! LESS CANDY! MORE MUSCLE MILK!
As I bought two tubs of Muscle Milk light protein yesterday...I am determind to actually use it all, eat less crap, and more clean, wholesome foods. Not really excited about that though...borrrring. Also need to remember to take my vitamins!

5) Hang in there...you can DO it!
Knowing the end of my working days are hopefully within sight....it's hard to stay motivated, but the more I make, and the better I do, the better off we'll be when the time comes for us to move and if we are expecting (Lord willing!) I will pray the Lord allows me to do my best and to spend the next 6-7 months or so blowing it out of the water.

This has become a long post...I'm excited about what 2011 will bring - it's been a year we've been looking forward to for awhile and knowing Josh will be home for all of it is super exciting. I hope it brings good things for all of you!