Prepare Yourself...this is a long post!!!

Okay so our lives have been absolutely crazy around here lately. We started the month off nice with a visit down to Florida to visit my brother-in-law, then it got rough with one of our dogs passing away, then cheered up some with Thanksgiving and being with family, and now we prepare as Christmas is approaching with the quickness.

Kaydence has become quite the little artist these days. She is always doing projects to send her daddy! Here she is working on Christmas gifts for the grandparents...what would they love better than something handmade from there sweet little granddaughter?

Getting ready...

Working very diligently...

Yes, that is blue paint on her forehead-nice huh?


This is a project that I have been wanting to do forever, but never got around too. But I have been slowly re-decorating K's room and it inspired me to do this project. It is definitely a reflection of what her room will look like. Can you guess the theme?


Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! Okay and since I have been on this creative kick lately I decided to make K's Thanksgiving outfit too! Don't you just love it? I think it is absolutely adorable! I was so proud of myself and there will be many more to come!


This is K before church. We like to get there a little early so that K can listen to the music rehearsal. She loves to hear them sing, but she stays in the nursery during the service so this is the only way that she is able to listen to the music! and of course she loves playing in the water! What little girl in nice Sunday clothes wouldn't?!


I just though K looked so adorable that I had to stop and take a few pictures! This is her before we went to lunch with Ms. Lauren!




GO GATORS!!!!
(cutest Gator cheerleader I've ever seen!)


These pictures are from our weekend in FL. We went down with my MIL and 2 BIL's to visit my BIL and to help him finish a few projects around his house. Well to say the least K and I didn't really do much. We spent our time shopping and playing at the park! On the last day of our visit K was not feeling well at all and the only thing she wanted to do was sit in the truck ha! She ended up with a 103 fever and I soon discovered that it was just a tooth coming in, but we have never had that high of a fever with a tooth! It made me so nervous. I was ready to just go to the ER! (that's a first time mother for you ha!) Her fever was down and she was back to normal within 24 hours so that was good!




I think K looks like such a big girl in this picture!


K and her 2 uncles. She loves these guys so much!!!


She even does dishes!! I have such a wonderful daughter! haha! Okay and i promise these dishes are clean! K has found a new obsession other than shoes-taking a bath in the sink. We never really did it when she was younger, maybe once or twice, but she is in love with it now!!



We also had a fun filled day at the museum one day this month! K absolutely loves that place!
Here she is sitting in one of the many chairs! In addition to her shoe and sink baths obsessions she also loves chairs-or anything she can sit on or in!


Playing with the magnet wall!


Drawing a lovely picture in the chalkboard room! (such a neat idea!)


They also have a room with a mirror wall and a ton or enormous blocks! She always seems overwhelmed in this room! Ha!


After the museum we headed to Chick-fil-a for a quick lunch. And of course she just had to get in some playtime considering she had not had any all day! HaHa!


This was the result of our day before we even pulled out of the Chick-fil-a parking lot!

A Foundation of Love!

Things for me to remember and live by:

There are a few areas in my life that I would like to work on improving. We should always be trying to improve ourselves, and I do try to, but there are three areas in my life right now that just need that extra oomph! And that would be my marriage-living the first year of your marriage pretty much apart while raising a newborn then throw in a deployment; things can get rough. Another thing I am struggling with lately is getting mad at Kaydence. I feel like I have so much anger from other areas of my life that builds up inside of me that when she does the least little thing I just snap. I can say that this area of my life has already improved tremendously and Kaydence and I are closer than ever and I absolutely love it and I am enjoying every moment that I have with her. The last thing is kind of two in one. This deployment has taken it out of me, emotionally and physically, and its only been two and a half months. But I have to realize that I have to be the 'Rock' for my family right now not only in the physical and emotional sense, but in the spiritual sense as well. So these are three quotes and thoughts of my own that I put together to live by. These are posted in my kitchen as a reminder and that really helps.

"And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are tight now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there." 1 Corinthians 7:17


If I can be nice and polite to strangers then I can do the same with my child.


"I am the rock, a foundation of love, solid and true, with strength from above. I keep this family going; I stand beside my man, I live without knowing, but I am the Rock."

So whats been going on around here? Kaydence has gone from this:

to this:

And she is keeping me very busy these days. Daily posts to come...

My child gets Me...

Kaydence and I have an awesome relationship! I saw last night just how well my daughter...gets me. Well it had been a rough night making Halloween costumes, babysitting, etc. And not to mention Kaydence was not at all interested in taking a nap. So needless to say she was exhausted and so was I. So when we finally made it home I was just ready for her to go on to bed and for me to get some house work done and go on to bed myself. But that did not happen! Kaydence was wide awake when we got home and my patience was wearing thin...I was just getting so irritated. I finally put Kaydence in the bed with me (which I'm trying not to do) and we laid there and snuggled and she looked into my eyes with her big blue eyes and softly put her little hand on my cheek and stroked my face! It was the sweetest gesture from such a sweet child. It may sound corney, but she made everything better with that little stroke! She soon turned over and fell asleep in my arms. And though I do not want her to get used to sleeping with me, I love for her to fall asleep with me and for us to have our cuddle times! I need those and so does she!

So this is, and has already been a long week of working and preparation for Halloween. Hopefully when this week is over I can get Kaydence back to a normal routine!! These late nights are killing us! She is doing well though...she adapts to change well, which is very much welcome and appreciated in this house hold considering our lives are constantly changing!

So today I am starting all over!!! I feel like this blog will be a nice outlet for me during the next 5 months and hopefully there after. I thought that it was pointless to write this blog once we moved home because we were home and now everyone could keep up with us face to face. But I've realized over the past two months that I need an outlet. This deployment is really getting to me and is a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I'm sure that there are other women out there that feel the same as I do.

Okay so over the past two months:
I have started working, and I thought that it would be horrible to be away from Kaydence considering I've stayed home with her for the past 11 months, but it turned out to be a nice and needed break for the both of us. Kaydence has gotten to get closer to other members of the family and mommy has been able to get out of the house for some grown up time and not to mention make some extra money, which is always a good thing.

I have gotten to talk to Miles a whole lot more than I ever thought would be possible, which is amazing. I love him so much and just hearing is voice or even getting a message on facebook makes my day so much better! He is doing well and just trying to get through the next 5 months. I can't wait for him to get home! We are missing him so much. One of my biggest fears was that Kaydence wouldn't know who Miles was when he got home, but I really don't have that fear anymore. Miles made here a video before he left and Kaydence watches it almost every day and she will even kiss the t.v. screen and say dada. Her eyes just light up whenever I turn the video on; its wonderful to me to see her so happy to see her daddy!

I have also been feeling the effects of being the only parent! I have a new found respect for single mothers...because it is really hard and just tiring. I also have a new respect for Miles, not that I didn't respect him before, but now I realize just how much he did. I would always complain that he didn't do enough or how I wanted him to do more, but now I realize that he did so much! Sometimes you don't truly apperciate someone or something until its gone!

So today is my birthday and I am so excited to celebrate with my family and friends, but it is really hard to go through today without Miles! Now I did get to talk to him via facebook (thank goodness for modern technology) so that just made my day that much better!!! But now I am going to enjoy a nice dinner with my family and friends!

Okay so today was a good day! We pretty much kept busy all day, which was good for me and Kaydence. We spent the morning around the house just having some nice mommy daughter time, which is always nice! It just makes me sad that Kaydence isn't having the same opportunity to spend time with Miles, but I do make a conscious effort to talk about him all day every day. I do not want her to forget who he is or what he looks like or anything like that. I also talk to her about what daddy is doing and why he is not here. She may only be ten months old, but I talk to her just like I would another adult. We met Miles' mom for lunch at the Mexican restaurant; my favorite!!! We had a very nice lunch. We talked as my child stuck her nose into everyone around us' conversations. I have no idea where she get that from...lol! Afterward I took Kaydence to the Columbus Museum. They have an area on the first floor that is just for children and it is all interactive. Kaydence had the best time. Even though she was not fully able to play with everything or do all of the activities they have set up she just had fun being in a new place around new people. She made her daddy a little piece of artwork. I try to let her do a little something every day so that we can send it in the letters that I send him. After the museum we ran a few more errands and headed home. We played, ate dinner, played some more, took a bath and went to bed. Its nice having Kaydence go through all this with me. That may sound weird, but it is. She always keeps me on my toes. There really isn't ever a dull moment in our house except when she is asleep, and still our three dogs keep me pretty entertained. Its more like I have four children.

Okay so I just wanted to share some pictures that we took the few days before Miles left. Including Kaydence's first flight and a few from when we returned back home...




This is my sweet child hiding in her closet with my phone! Too CUTE!




This is Kaydence climbing the stairs for the first time. It took a few tries, but she almost made it to the top.



Here is our big girl standing all by herself...next thing I know she'll be running circles around me!






And this was the result after her first spaghetti dinner...NICE!

Surviving His First Deployment

Kaydence laid there squirming all around fighting her sleep because she is having to share a bed with mommy and daddy tonight and that is the last thing that this sweet child wants to do. I lay next to her with tears in my eyes as I watch my husband doing his nightly routine: shaving, brushing his teeth, putting on deodorant, just normal things, but this time it was different because I realized as I laid there that my husband was getting ready to go to war. We've know it was coming for a while, but now that its happening it is so surreal. I guess I was hoping that at the last minute the Marine Corps would call and say no sorry change of plans; were not going the war is over. Nice dream huh? Well i knew that that was not going to happen, but I can hope, right? Miles came over after getting ready and laid down with us. I slipped out of the bed so that Miles could get Kaydence to sleep considering she just wanted to play with me, but she knows that her daddy is serious. I sat on the floor for a few minutes before Miles joined me. Our 10 month old now had a king sized bed all to herself. Nice. I laid my head on miles cheek and felt tears. Now this was a big surprise to me. Miles isn't really the kind of man to cry over anything...he just deals with it. But I guess when it comes to a daddy having to leave his daughter for so long...that does something to a man, and for good reason. We finally managed to get some sleep that night after all of the good-bye phone calls. We woke early in the morning around 1:30 to take Miles onto base where he would soon depart from us all for the next 7 months. It was a hard good bye, but we all got through it. I'm not sure how he took it once we left, but I know that I almost had to pull over because I couldn't stop crying. I really thought that I would be able to keep it together, but I guess not. That is okay though crying is good just as long as you don't let it consume you.

Miles has been gone for four days now and it has not been that terrible considering I have gotten to talk to him everyday so far. Were not too sure when that will end, but I'm sure that it will be sometime soon. I'm thinking that the first two months will be okay as far as being apart because we've been apart for at least that long before; it's just going to be difficult not being able to talk to each other. And I figure that after that its just going to be rough and I'm going to have to have something to keep me and Kaydence busy everyday.

I've found plenty of military wives blogs and people giving a generic outline of what to do and how to deal with deployments, but I just want to give a day to day account of how I am dealing with his first deployment while trying to keep a normal household for our daughter (not letting her forget who daddy is) and keeping strong through friends, family and faith.

So Sunday evening we went over to Gramies house for some yummy lasagna. Kaydence enjoyed seeing her uncles and aunt Michelle and of course Grammy.


She enjoyed playing some football with her Uncle Chann.





I just love this little girl so much. She makes everything so much better; whenever I'm having a rough day just a few minutes with her brightens things up.


Kaydence is too cute she now will open a book and start babbling like she is reading and it is just too precious.


This is after an extremely messy self feeding endeavor
.

Kaydence loves my phone. I have tried to give her one of our old cell phones, but she is not having it she wants mine, and will pick it up and say dada dada dada!

Today we went outside to clean the dogs kennel and when it was time to go inside Kaydence pitched a fit to stay outside. I have never seen this happen, not like this anyways. It was fairly nice outside today so I just took her clothes off and handed her the water hose and she had the best time.









Then we went inside and took a very much needed nap while mommy finished packing for our trip tomorrow.