Happy New Year!

Well, on of my New Year's resolutions (which I don't make many of because let's face it, resolutions fall by the wayside about two weeks after I make them) was to be better about my correspondence.  I used to go into Hallmark at the beginning of every month and buy all of the cards that I would need for the month.  Somehow, through moves and having Archer around, I have gotten so far away from that.  And, if you know me, you know that I love to get and send mail just about as much as anything!  Anyhow, I figured that along with correspondence, I should start keeping up with my blog again.  I do enjoy writing it.  I find it very therapeutic.  So, here are some quick updates about us in the new year:

1.  We have moved...yet again.  This was not something that was planned or something I wanted to do AT ALL.  However, our land lord from our former home on Faxon Court proved to be anything but helpful.  I could go on and on about the list of things that he wouldn't fix.  These were not trivial things like a leaky faucet or a finicky stove.  Or water heater kept going out, the ac and heating units would work at random and finally, our back fence was falling down.  With Nick headed out on deployment, I just knew that I couldn't face any time alone without knowing that I could trust that someone would come help me fix things.  Alas, we moved.  Loving this house so far, it is quite a bit smaller, but that means less to clean!

2.  You heard right, Nick is deployed again.  Of course I cannot get into specifics on the internet, but we are missing him VERY much.  Luckily we have wonderful friends who are an amazing support group for me and Archer.  My plan is to stay as busy as possible, travel a little bit and continue with school.  Time should just fly by.  BLAH!

3.  Baby Diz #2 is on his or her way!  We found out in late October that we would be welcoming another little one in early July.  We are ecstatic.  I am more pleased that we will NOT have to move in the middle of this pregnancy and that I can have one doctor the entire time who I absolutely adore.  We will find out on February 27th who we can expect to join our family.  Archer is so excited, even though I do not fully think he understands the magnitude of what is about to happen to his little world!  Oh well, he will be a fantastic big brother!!

4.  My sister-in-law is coming to visit in a few days.  Couldn't be happier about this.  She is coming for an extended period of time to help me out and just be with us.  I cannot and will not ever be able to thank her enough for this!!

I think that is about all of the important stuff for 2013 so far!  We had a wonderful Christmas and look forward to the year ahead.  I am hoping that I can stick to my goal of getting better about writing on this blog and sending my beloved cards to friends and family.  Oh, and here is the Christmas card we sent out this year.  Please ignore my face.  I was having a miserably sick day and kind of over exaggerated my expression!!

             

Dealing with Deployment #2

So, Nick has now been deployed for one full week.  Only about a zillion more to go, and he will be home!  I always feel a little better after the deployment actually begins.  That means that the clock has started and we are closer to the end then we were a week ago.  I know it is not the best form of thinking, but it certainly helps me.  We did a lot of things last deployment to help us through it.  This time around, we have copied some of the same ideas as well as added a few more.  Here's a look into what we are doing:
-Kisses from Daddyman Countdown:  We have loaded enough kisses into a candy jar for Archer and I to have one every day to countdown until Daddyman arrives.  It is a sweet little treat that we have at the end of the day, and as the amount of kisses gets lower, the closer we are to Daddyman getting home!

-Build a Bear:  Last deployment, we visited build a bear.  Nick and Archer picked out a bear and Nick recorded a special message for Archer to listen to every night.  We repeated this, so now Archer has two bears with a special message.  He plays the messages each night and makes me tuck them in around him.
-Recordable Story Book:  This is also something we did from last deployment.  We bought a new recordable book from Hallmark and Nick recorded himself telling the story.  I truly believe that this is one of the most helpful things.  Archer gets to hear his daddy's voice every night, whether or not we get to talk to him on the phone that day or not.
-Daddydoll:  Last deployment, I had a daddy doll made from a picture of Nick in his flight suit.  We only take the daddy doll out when Nick is gone, and it has a nice place in Archer's bed.  He also makes me tuck the daddydoll in every night.
-Mr. Trunks Travels:  Nick asked Archer if there was a stuffed animal he could take with him on his trip.  Archer carefully selected his elephant, Mr. Trunks.  Nick carefully packed him among his one million other things.  Since Nick has been gone, Archer has received several pictures of Daddyman and Mr. Trunks on their adventure together.  Archer LOVES this.  He thinks that it is so cool that Mr. Trunks goes on daddyman's plane and he uses the map in this picture to track were daddyman goes:

 

Soooo...we have a VERY long four months ahead of us, but hopefully all of the "tools" we have made up help us through it.  We are already missing Daddyman VERY much, but each day is one day closer to when he will get home!