Monday, April 25, 2011

3.5 Years

Tomorrow will be 3.5 years since Sgt D and I moved to WA.  When we first got here I thought I was going to spend the rest of our stay here wearing 15 layers of clothes at all times.  I was constantly wrapped up in a blanket wearing at least two shirts and a sweatshirt at all times!  I was COLD!

It is amazing how things have changed. I still have to wear a house coat to keep warm, but when we go out now I usually just wear a t-shirt and a light polar fleece zip up.  In fact, on the days that it is 50 degrees out and the sun is shinning, I actually run the Air Conditioning!  When I lived in CA I didn't run the AC unless it was over 85 outside.

I only thought about this because we got new neighbors last weekend, and I asked our new neighbor how she liked it up here and she said point blank that she hated it. I asked if it was the weather and she said it was. She is from Arizona and used to a much warmer and DRYER climate.  I could completely understand where she is coming from. At least she arrived in Spring when the weather is just starting to get nice as opposed to the middle of Fall when you have 8 months left to wait before the rain even considers letting up.  She said that she and her husband would do their time here and request a transfer as soon as they were allowed one.  I told her that we originally felt the same way, but now 3.5 years later we are buying a house here and getting ready to call WA home for as long as the army will let us.  She thinks I'm crazy now, but that's ok because I really have come to love it here.

Now that things have changed with Toddler D's health situation, Sgt D and I are going to fight even harder now with the army to make sure that we can stay here. We want to make sure that she receives consistent health care from trained specialists in the pediatric kidney field. We both have realized just how precious her health care is and we certainly do not want to chance ending up stationed somewhere that does not have a local specialist. We can't take any risks anymore.

Toddler D is a trooper and she loved celebrating Easter yesterday. It is her smile and joy that makes everything we and she are going through worth the struggle.

After all, how can you deny her anything!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Getting Brave

I find that the older I get the braver I get. I am also gaining some confidence...at least in certain areas of my life. I have come to the conclusion that I have some talent. I think I am a good photographer - not the best in the world, but maybe better than average.  I also think that I have some creative talent in my sewing and knitting. 

I have started taking risks and trying new things. Just tonight I free-motion quilted a new quilt that I DESIGNED for Toddler D.  There are two major things in that last sentence. I free-motion quilted a quilt AND I designed a quilt. Two things that I don't think I would have done a year ago, heck even six months ago. 

A lot of my new found bravery comes from the deployment I think. During those 10 months I learned a few things about myself. I learned that I can take care of a house and a sick baby by myself (ok, mostly by myself, mom and dad helped out too when they could).  I really did not think that much good was going to come out of this deployment, but I was wrong. Sgt D and I are more open with each other now. With the readjustment period behind us, along with the readjustment arguing, we have learned to really communicate with each other and that is something for which I am very grateful.  Yes we have spats, but we are also quicker to rein in our emotions and have adult conversations now.  The deployment taught me that there are bigger things to fear in life than messing up some craft project, even if I did spend 10 or 15 hours working on said project. If I mess something up now, I either rip it apart and start over or I chalk it up to a good learning experience. 

I am so very grateful for these lessons.  While I am not looking forward to the coming separation AT ALL, at least I know that there is room for growth for both Sgt D and myself. I really do think, now that we have survived a deployment, that we truly can survive just about anything.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Gearing up

Easter is just around the corner, then Mother's Day, then we move into our home, then Father's Day, and before you know it I am going to turn 25! (At least 25 for those of you who can't count or don't know my birthday, for those of you who can count or do know my birthday, I maintain, 25!)

It seems like in the next 2.5 months our family has a lot going on, and then shortly thereafter we are losing Sgt D to the army once again. He will be going to GA for 6 months for AIT to change his job. This is going to be hard for us, but at the same time it will be so much easier than the deployment because this time around we will be able to talk almost every day and we will have access to google video chat and skype. 

I am more concerned about the impact on Toddler D than anything else. She is finally used to her daddy and in complete and total love with him and then he is going to disappear again. How do I explain to her that he is coming back and that he still loves her unconditionally and nothing has changed permanently? These are questions I am worrying about now because I know August is coming fast and I am going to have to face these issues head on.

Father Daughter Bonding
I just don't want to lose what we have worked so hard to build with her since he came home in September.  Help me people, give me ideas on how to hold it together for her, especially as we get closer and closer to the terrible twos?

I don't want to lose this precious smile

Monday, April 11, 2011

It looks like a house...

From the outside anyways!



The inside looks a little more like this...or at least it did last Wednesday when Sgt D went down for our walk through appointment.

View from garage looking into living room

Under the stairs


My kitchen!

My sewing sanctuary
Our front door

Living room

Toddler D's room


Guest room - affectionately known as mom and dad's room

Loft Upstairs
Our Bedroom - if you look closely in the right back corner you can see the tub!
The builder is working on the drywall right now so we can't go back into the house until April 25th, but believe me we will be there with bells on when we are allowed back in with more pictures to follow.

I am so excited I bought a book on decorating and can't wait to plan a shopping trip to IKEA and to my favorite fabric store.