Spc. Martin!

Yes!!! Tyrone was officially pinned a Specialist today! No more being a Private! This is the culmination of so much hard work on Tyrone's part, and I couldn't be prouder!

Congratulations, babe!

bad bailey!

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a long time. And I have stuff to blog about, I promise. It's just that moving is busy work. But I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, promise. I'll be back to blogging normally asap, promise. This time next week, we'll be on our way to New York!!

update on things martin

Shiloh's 1 year appointment was yesterday. I am happy to announce that she is now in the 90th percentile for weight, as opposed to off the charts :) The doctor thought her marvelous, and she
showed off all her newest tricks for him. She did have to get 4 shots and a routine blood draw, not fun at all. She is feeling pretty icky from the shots, and is still recovering.

But, she has suddenly turned into such a big helper! She happily "helps" in whatever room I happen to be doing stuff in. In this pic, she was "sweeping" for me, and then caught sight of herself in the oven and was in love. On a side note, am I imagining this? I could NEVER have handed either of the boys a broom at that age (or now?!)...somebody would be knocked out, stuff would be flying off the counters, magnets knocked off the fridge. Is this a gender difference or just a personality one? Aunt Cherri? Melissa?



And here's my big helper with the dishwasher. She "loaded" her paci into it for me. Ick...the thing probably did need cleaning! lol


AND....it's that time, again. We are moving. It is exciting. and daunting. We are leaving for NY in 2 1/2 weeks. So, in case anybody wonders what I've been doing in my downtime (HA!) with both boys at school, here it is. Packing up all belongings of a family of 5 is NO JOKE...especially with only 1 adult to do all the supervising of children and all the packing. Like, I'm writing this when I should be going through the contents of the upstairs hall closet. But, I needed a break!

I have found us a decent 3 bedroom townhouse in NY close(ish) to base, and it even has a playground on site. Good stuff. So, the long awaited day is finally coming. Of course, I can't say the EXACT day that Tyrone will be home, but let's just say that we celebrated our No More Triple Digits Party (when there were only 99 days left of deployment) more than a couple weeks ago.

BUT...don't think the Martins are getting too settled. I have BIG news, so keep an eye out for it in a post soon! (if you already know the big news, shhhhh.....)

Little Missy turns a year old!

Today is Sweet Shiloh's 1st birthday. She truly is a light in the life of everyone who knows her. Morning 'til night, she has a smile on her face and a ready giggle for anyone. She loves "kitties", which includes anything with fur, and she pats you on the back when she hugs. She'll give kisses, but you have to watch out because they tend to get slobbery, and she'll gleefully say "bubba" when she spots a brother.

We are very grateful to have Shiloh, and right now I am contemplating 1 year to the hour ago, when Shiloh was about 6 hours old and all I could do was hold her and stare, amazed that I had been given such a precious gift. Shiloh Isabelle is pure joy to us. Happy birthday, missy.




On Saturday, we had Shiloh's birthday party. Melissa & Co, Jeanie, Tyler, and Mom came over for the festivities. Shiloh was quite the birthday princess, and the party was just the right size. She had fun at every turn, and nothing was overwhelming, which makes it nice-for her and me :)

Party princess sportin' the UGA sunglasses

The fabulous cake made by Mom!

Shiloh's personal cake!

SOME of the birthday girl's presents!

She was thrilled that everyone was singing to her!

Party in full swing!

The moment that everyone was waiting on finally happened....I let Shiloh have cake! I've kind of been known as the baby food nazi, and so Shiloh has never had any sweets prior to Sat....

Not so sure about this cake thing...

Well...it MIGHT be okay....

Yeah, she likes it!

YUM!

So, after a quick rinse in the kitchen sink and a re-dressing, it was on to the pile of presents! Shiloh got lots of awesome clothes (per my request!), a new babydoll, a ride on hippo thingy (very cool), and a teething bead thing that she likes alot.

New Babydoll!

She has taken to patting the new baby and setting it down and signing "baby" at it :)

Birthday girl, anyone?

Shiloh and Landon...playing near, if not with, each other! Cool hippo, huh?

All wore out, she nearly conked out on Grandma

All the "miniature" party guests!

First Days

Tuesday morning was Big K's first day of First Grade! He is such a little man!! He was happy to be back to school. We met his teacher, and she is genuinely glad to be teaching where she is and obviously likes her job. That's a good thing! I can't believe it, but he has tests this year! His first one will be this coming Friday on his sight words...there are 9 of them, and he has 4 down cold, 3 that he can sound out with only a small effort and 2 that are giving him a little trouble. So, we are going to be working hard, cross your fingers for Kaleb!


AND....here's Gabe Gabe on HIS first day of Pre-K on Thursday. Can you believe it? Gabriel is in school! He is soooo proud. He has a camo bookbag, a cubby in his class, and lots of friends. There are "fishies" in a tank in his classroom, and he is already singing a song from school "learn and do." Needless to say this is a big adjustment for us (me??) but he is loving it.

Labor Day '08

In no particular order, because blogger is being uncooperative, here are a few pics from yesterday. We hadn't gone to Hull Park in a while, so we decided to make use of it before summer is gone!

Gabe trying to plug up the drain to "make a pool!"

Funny faces from Shiloh

Just having fun

As her daddy said, she's a fish! :)

Water baby!

Checking out a locust skin

Trying to get a drink

FINALLY I got some picture taking cooperation from K!!

tonight

Tonight I am missing him. Tonight I have prayed and have given it to God as I have millions of times this deployment, but I have nothing left. Sleep is not coming, and there is no one to wake up and tell. The person that would wake up with me just because is not here. He would sit up with me. And when I would ask him "What about tomorrow? When the kids are awake and we are sleepy?" he would shrug and say "We'll do it together."

The days are slowly being crossed off of our calendar, but, just for tonight, I am tired of thinking and hearing "It's almost here." My Dad told me that almost only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades, and atomic bomb droppings. Homecoming is months away. And I miss him tonight. Thinking about homecoming makes me crazy. It makes me crazy because I have never in my life wanted anything so badly. I picture it....everything about it. And then I realize that it's just another day without him, that there is waiting left to do.

Just for tonight, with the kids in bed and nothing left on my to do list except sleep, I am sad and lonely and angry and tired. I am proud and I believe in what our military is doing and I am honored to be an army wife....but tonight I need him HERE. It's been too many days and too many nights.

I am tired of clogged pipes and of figuring out what size tires the Tahoe needs and of hearing our little boy cry out in his sleep for Daddy. Of finding missing paperwork by myself and being told that no, in fact, our Power of Attorney is NOT on file here and of sitting down with the boys to figure out which holidays Daddy will miss and which ones he will be back in time to not miss again.

I miss my best friend. Wonderful, beloved people have helped me through this. But I really need him back.