Home for the Holidays.

I promise I will eventually get better with this whole blog thing!

Now, for another much needed update:

We decided to come back to Memphis for the holidays for a rather lengthy visit, for a number of reasons: 1. Our family would have all but disowned us if we did not. 2. Who knows when we will get a chance to come back next. 3. It doubled the price of our flights if we tried to just come for a short visit. 4. We're so close with our family, being around them and our friends during this time (while we can) just makes sense, this being our first holiday season without Nick... :(

Of course, we had to start things out right with Sydney getting sick. Nothing spells home like illness from travel and the change of environment. Ironically, after 3 years of never once having an ear infection (I clearly bragged too much about that;), Sydney had double ear infections upon our arrival.

Our first weekend back to Memphis we had my niece Lillian's 1st birthday, and my 2nd cousins' Scout and Carter's 2nd birthdays. I could not believe how big they all had already gotten just since we left! Next came Thanksgiving. We had our huge Allen Thanksgiving as usual at our Unlce Ira and Aunt Robyns, and it just did not feel the same without Nick there. We were also able to visit with my Aunt Jenny, Uncle Brandon, and the boys, and my Granny and Pip in town from Florida. Then, we had Sydney's 3rd birthday! It was a blast! 41 people came:) She behaved well and was so good at telling everyone thank you for their present. After many had left, she watched Nick's United Through Reading DVD again that he made for her, and we also watched a DVD of Steven and Nick growing up that they made one year for Kim's Christmas present. It was a tear-jerker like no other! :)

Other happenings thus far have included a fun trip to Arkansas to our friend's cabin for some trail riding, a wonderful visit from a friend of Nick and mine, Jared, who is on an adventure around the world it seems, some snow, taking Sydney to see various Christmas lights and to see Santa Claus, taking Sydney to the circus with our friends Tyler and Richard, and of course, going to the Bellevue Singing Christmas Tree. We also had a great time staying over at Papaw, Nana, and Kim's (Nick's grandparents and mom) house for a week, taking Sydney to the carousel and Disney store at the mall, taking her to the movies to see "Tangled", taking her to Starry Nights twice, church with them, more spoiling of Sydney, and just relaxing and having a great time spending some days together.

I've been keeping up with my workouts using our YMCA membership at the Millington Y, helping around my parent's house, getting cards and gifts ready for Christmas, taking care of a testy toddler, and trying to see friends and family when I can, by the time every one gets home from work and I can make the trek from Shelby Forest! I sure miss my 3 to 15 min drives I make in San Diego, these 40 min ones are not fun!
Nick and I have been able to talk every day, and Video Chat a lot as well so that has been great. He goes to Dubai soon and will have a few days of liberty, so I am excited he will finally get to relax and have some fun! As MWR Officer being one of his collateral duties, he's lined up some fun stuff for them to do.
.........Now if I can just cram as MANY more visits with friends and family in these next 2 and a half weeks, then I'd say it's been a pretty great trip! =)

Update.

Since Nick's deployment, Sydney and I have been staying busy with church, Heart2Heart, my physical therapy, the house, occasional Surface Officer Spouse events, and helping and spending time with our friends and their kids.  I am also hosting a church small group at our house once a week, which has been a great way for me to get involved and connected.  

As far as Sydney, our move to California has been the best thing ever for her.  She has grown so much in these past 5 months physically, socially, and intellectually. It is sad to me that she is no longer a baby.. but she is still OUR baby:) She potty-trained as soon as we got here and caught on very quickly, which surprised me since she was in a new environment.  She talks full sentences and conversation, and she is so funny! She plays so good, is really affectionate, and has SO many great friends now that she gets to spend a lot of time with!  She can count to 20, count backwards from 10, identify all shapes and colors, say all her ABC's only messing up 2 or 3 of them, sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Loves Me entirely, and is now dressing herself- panties, pants, and shoes, just not shirts yet:)  We have been COMPLETELY paci-free for 2 weeks now, and although she was a breeze with quitting the bottle cold turkey, and potty-training, THIS was definitely a challenge, as most of you know how she loved her paci. It was literally hell for 7-8 nights, but I knew there would be an end, and there was. She still asks about it at random moments, but is not upset when I tell her we don't have those anymore. 

She misses her daddy and talks of him often. She talks about how he is at work but she will see him "reewy soon." Sometimes she will think of him and whine that she wants to see her daddy, and that she loves him.  She has gotten to talk to Nick on the phone a lot, see him on VideoChat, and see him in the United Through Reading DVD he sent to her of him talking to her and reading her books. 

As far as behavior, she is going through phases, let's be honest. She was doing excellent, sharing easily, and never hitting or touching even when she was hit by another child. The past week, she has been bossy with younger ones, and sharing only when threatened.  The good news is, I stay home with her and am able to discipline her and work with her on these things. The unfortunate news is, I can see she is looked at or reacted at with judgey eyes by children and adults alike around her. She is simply acting out, not all the time, mainly when she hasn't napped, for whatever reason.  Gratefully, she is my number one priority. Being home raising her is my main objective right now, and I am always disciplining her with my very best efforts, with the attitude of her heart as my main concern.  So, this WILL pass. She is a sweet, well-behaved, wonderful, hilarious, beautiful, unique child of God!

As far as Nick, in a nutshell, he is BUSY!  He is learning a brand new job, completing objectives of their mission everyday, and on top of that, has to find time in his "free time" to learn and complete qualifications to ensure he passes boards and gets his SWO pin.  It is overwhelming, but he is doing great, learning a lot, getting a lot of his quals knocked out, and becoming closer with his crew. When they go underway, out to sea, to complete different tasks, he is commonly working 6 hours on, 6 hours off, continuously!  It is extremely hot there, and there isn't much to do. He of course misses home like crazy and is disappointed he will miss Sydney's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, his birthday, and Easter, but he also knows why he is doing it. He is the most selfless, honorable person I've ever met, and he makes me so proud, so unbelievably thankful, and he makes me who I am.  The way he loves and takes care of me and Sydney just blows me away.

As far as me, I'm doing really great, especially considering this is the very first deployment! Being where we are and surrounded by the wonderful people we are makes all the difference. Although I stay at home now, some days I feel busier now than when I was working full-time! I just try to stay busy, probably too busy at times, but I do know (maybe almost too late, though) when I need to stop and say, let's just focus on myself and Sydney, and nothing else today.

I am looking forward to going home for the holidays this Friday! I will certainly miss my friends here and will miss out on a few things going on here, but I'm ready to be at "Momma's house":) and have a little break from responsibilities here. This will certainly be a bittersweet holiday season, missing my husband and my sweet Granddaddy, so.. home for the holidays sounds good. :)

A New Year, a New Page!

Life as we know it took a 360-degree turn at the start of 2010, and we couldn't be more excited about it! To start the story of our new journey, I will backtrack to January, 2010:

After a year and a half of applying, testing, and much waiting, Nick finally started Officer Candidate School for the U.S. Navy in Newport, RI. This 13-week journey made him push boundaries physically and mentally, but he finally made it! He never once thought about giving up, and never rolled back a class, which so many around him were doing. It was definitely an adjustment for me as well, since we had very little communication at all during this time.

The week of his graduation, Sydney and I flew out before other families of the candidates were arriving, in order to surprise Nick. I got a contact number of one of Nick's friends there (thanks, facebook:), which helped me plan the surprise. When we landed at the airport in Newport, Nick called to tell me he had liberty that night. I rushed Sydney and I to a taxi, got us to our hotel, ran to our room and changed our shirts, and then rushed back outside. I was all the while texting his friend who was going out on liberty with Nick that night. He told Nick he had to stop at the hotel to make reservations for family on their way out. 5 minutes later, the car pulls up with Nick at our hotel and Sydney and I were standing outside with our "I Love My Sailor" shirts on, waiting on him! It was an unforgettable reunion!

After a fun week of graduation festivities in Newport, we went back home to Memphis for a brief time. Nick was granted OHARP (Officer Hometown Area Recruiting Program), and was able to "work" in the recruiting office in Memphis, instead of having to take leave while waiting to start his next school. After a couple of weeks of OHARP, Nick returned to Newport for SWOS (Surface Warfare Officer School). This was a 3-week course. Sydney and I stayed behind and I got the house ready for movers. The day after Nick returned from SWOS, we had a going-away party with our families, and the very next day, we left Memphis in the rearview for our 4-day trek/vacation to our very first duty station.................. sunny San Diego, California!

We had an awesome time seeing the country as we traveled to California. We stopped and saw Cadillac Ranch, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam, and Vegas. We arrived to our new townhome (that I searched for and found while Nick was at OCS) and it was everything we had hoped for. Great location, great neighborhood, palm trees, and mountains! Our things did not arrive for another 2 weeks, however, so we survived on Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, pre-made protein drinks, cereal, microwave egg whites, etc. and slept on the floor!

We immediately dove in and saw and did as much as we possibly could in the San Diego area within our first month here.  Fortunately, during this time, Nick's workload was very light and we were able to spend great time together as a family, since he was informed he would deploy in August.  We started visiting churches the very first week we were here, and by the second week, we found our new church home- Newbreak.  Newbreak has been such an encouragement and blessing for us!  It is so neat to see God's plans unfold for us, and we believe a big part of our placement here is for further spiritual growth. Isn't that always God's plan though? :)  He always wants us to grow a little bit more like Him and get to know Him a little bit more every day.

Leading up to our very first deployment, we unknowingly made a mistake, naturally.  In efforts for Nick to see everyone before he left, we had our families and friends in and out overlapping visits the entire month that he was leaving.  It is always wonderful to be surrounded by our amazing family, but we now know that the few weeks leading up to, and the few weeks prior to a deployment are precious, precious times for adjustment for a military family. Poor Sydney was also worn out from my San Diego tours every day as well!  I'm sure there will be many more learning experiences for us along the way! 

Nick deployed on August 28, 2010 for a 7-month deployment.  Sydney and I have been holding up great! Being in the most beautiful area and best weather in the country sure helps, though!  There is so much to do here, so thankfully the time is passing pretty quickly thus far.  We have done all the beaches in San Diego, Padres baseball game, Torrey Pines State Reserve, La Jolla Cove to see the seals and caves, Crystal Pier, Mission Beach Boardwalk, Mission Bay Park, Point Loma Lookout and Lighthouse, Rosecrans Cemetary, Coronado Island, Hotel Coronado, the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, the New Children's Museum, Balboa Park, Farmer's Markets, trip to Santa Monica, trips to Vegas, and countless festivals that are always going on around town!  When Nick first left, I immediately jumped in to get myself educated on this new military life. I took a 3-day course called Compass, which is a course for educating Navy spouses on everything from Navy History and Traditions, to reading your spouse's LES (paycheck), to dealing with deployments, to many great resources available for military families! It was WONDERFUL! I also joined the Naval Officer Spouses Club, and the Surface Officer Spouses Club. The Surface Officer Spouses Club is great, I attend different events and get to meet other ladies whose husbands have the same job as Nick. Great thing is, they are further along in their careers, so it is an excellent source for me to be able to obtain information and advice to pass on to him! 

I am so very thankful to say that I have met some amazing friends here, friends for a lifetime- kind of friends! I met them through another group I am involved in called Heart2Heart. Heart2Heart is a branch-off from our Military Ministry at Newbreak. It is a group of military wives who meet once a week for coffee and Bible study, yet we see eachother many other times throughout the week too:) Sydney and I have the privilege of being a part of their lives and their children's lives, and I already feel like they are our "California family":) 

It is SO apparent to Nick and I that God provides, has provided, will continue to provide for us, has blessed us more than we deserve throughout our entire marriage, and has things in store for us that we cannot even imagine. The question is, will we yearn and follow Him to see our story unfold how He wants?    YES!!!!!!!!!!!