Shopping is a Girl's Best Friend

The title pretty much says it all. My laptop has officially died. I don't know what is wrong with and I have a good friend that works with computers everyday that can't even tell me what is wrong with it. So tomorrow I am buying this-

It is a mini laptop. It has a webcam so I can talk to Jon. I will get it in black. I am so excited about it.

In about a month I am going to be buying this from IKEA - my most favorite place in the whole world.


I LOVE THIS LOVESEAT!!!! Jon will hate it but it is completely me. He complains about some of the shorts that I buy. I will buy Jack this bed -


I of course will buy other things than those two things but I just wanted to share those. This weekend, my grandmother is giving me her dresser and bed that her and my grandfather bought 50 years ago. They are both made out of solid wood. The dresser is huge and has a beautiful mirror and the bed is a 4 poster bed. Once I get them all set up and everything arranged I will take some pictures and post them.

A Diagnosis

So yesterday morning was full of doctor's appointments (see previous post for why). Report number 1 - Jack's ears are all clear. That is such good news. Report number 2 - I have been diagnosed with strees induced migraines. Hmm I wonder why?! My doctor put me on Topomax - which is a daily migraine prevention medicine. Side note - he got real serious when we were talking about this drug and he looked at me and said "Now there is one important side effect that I like to tell my patients about." I was sitting there thinking "Oh great he is going to tell me that if I take this that I am going to turn green" or something horrible like that. He then proceeds to tell me the side effect - (pause for dramatic effect) weight loss. I looked at him and told him that he would not be getting any complaints from this patient if I came down with that side effect. Back to report - he also gave me samples of 2 other meds to take for breakthrough pain. I am so happy to know what was causing the headaches and even happier that there is a medicine I can take for it.

This has nothing to do with all of that but I thought I would share anyway - my laptop has officially died. I have been putting off buying another one but it seems that I must now make that purchase. I am going to get a Dell mini.

Again this has nothing to do with either one of those things but tomorrow night my bestest friend Jess and I are taking a night off from our children. Her husband is a police officer in St. Johns County and works all the time so she is in the same boat as me (kind of). We are going to the Kenny Chesney concert tomorrow night and we are both so excited we can barely stand it.

That is all for now.

a quick prayer request

I promise a longer post tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I have to take Jack to let the doctor look at his ears. A few weeks ago, he came down with a really high fever for no apparent reason. I know that many of you don't know this but around his first birthday, he was at the end of a cold and one day spiked a really high fever. I'm talking 101 and higher. That day both Jon and I stayed home with him and boy am I glad we did. I called his doctor to schedule an appointment for that day. We gave him the standard Tylenol and Motrin and waited out the morning until his appointment. We had lunch with my mom at her work before we went to the doctor. On our way to the doctor, he got real quiet in his car seat and I turned around and realized why. He was having a siezure - it was brought on by a sudden spike of his fever. We pulled over and called 911 - when the ambulance got there his fever was 104. Needless to say he had another that night and we spent 4 hours in the ER. He had what is called a febrial siezure. Dr. Chally can't tell us if he will ever have another one so anytime he gets a fever we immediately call the doctor and she usually works us in. Anyway I got him in to see the doctor when he came down with this last fever and he had the beginnings of an ear infection. 10 days worth of medicine and now a recheck. He keeps getting ear infections in this same ear. Pray for a good outcome.

Also, please pray for me. I am going to the doctor at 11:30 tomorrow morning. For the past few weeks I have been having migraines - really bad ones at that. I had one a week ago Saturday that had me curled up in the bathroom floor in tears. Pray that the doctor can figure out what is wrong.

One phone call makes all the difference

The past few weeks have been really tough for me. I am still adjusting to being home alone with Jack pretty much all of the time. My mom lives right down the street but it is not the same as having Jon here. Being a military wife is a solitary life - I know that most of you will say that I should have known what I was getting myself into when I married Jon. I will say that I did know what I was getting myself into when we got married but until you experience a deployment, especially one during war time, you don't fully understand what military wives and families go through.

The last time I spoke with Jon on the phone was 2 days before he left for Kuwait. He called to wish Jack a happy birthday and to talk to all of my family for the 4th of July. That was until Sunday morning. I was cooking breakfast and the house telephone rang. I looked at the caller id and it was the privacy director so I answered thinking it was my sister from work. To my surprise it was Jon telling me to answer the phone. He was able to get a good internet signal and he and his bunkmate are sharing the cost of Skype. I talked to him for almost 20 minutes before we both had to go for the fear of him losing his connection in the middle of our call. He said that the internet service in Kuwait is horrible - it comes and goes. It was so good to hear his voice and it made my day much better. I haven't heard from him since but that is okay.

In the past 2 months, my relationship with Christ has become a lot stronger. I am praying daily that He keep Jon and his unit safe and to bring them ALL home. I have also started reading the Word on an almost daily basis and the Lord shows me new things everyday. I can feel the Lord's hand over Jack and I during this time that Jon is away. I have just had this on my mind for the past few days.

Please pray for one of my closest friends, Jessica. Her grandfather passed away Thursday afternoon at age 86. He was a WWII pilot and a God-loving, God-fearing man. This has been really hard on her because her grandparents pratically raised her. She has moved to North Carolina to try and have a relationship with her mom. Her mom left when Jessica was just a baby. Things are not going well in North Carolina and she wants to come home. Pray that God will show her what direction He wants her life to go in. Pray that I will be a good friend and have the strength and courage to just be her friend and that God will give me the words to say to her.

Here are a few of the pictures we had taken for Jack's birthday. Enjoy!

A change

So I made a few changes to my blog. Jon is finally in Kuwait. He said that it took them about 30 hours to get there. They had a 9 hour layover in Shannon, Ireland. He said it was beautiful. We miss him very much.

Chicago, 4th of July and a birthday

OK so I had a whole post typed out about Chicago and Jack magically hit the delete button and the whole thing disappeared. This is going to be an all encompassing post about Chicago, the 4th and Jack's 2nd birthday.

Chicago -

We had such a great time and the weather was beautiful. As you read, I left at 5:25 Friday morning. I left my house around 2:30 in the morning so that I could park, get to the airport and check in. By the time I made it to the Delta terminal it was about 3:30 am and there were already people waiting to check in. The terminals for self check in didn't open until 4:10. So we sat and waited. Once I checked in I made my way to security and then to my gate. Of course the day before Michael Jackson died so that is all that was on the TVs - I proceeded to put my ipod in my ears and patiently wait to board the plane. The flight to Atlanta was short and uneventful. Once in Atlanta, I saw the sunrise, got some breakfast and watched an episode of Bones (still more Michael Jackson on the TVs). The flight to Chicago was longer - watched more Bones. Jon met me at the airport - we were so excited to see each other. He had to wear his uniform b/c he has no civilan clothes (they are all in Iraq). We took the train to downtown and then walked over the Michigan Avenue bridge and then to our hotel. When we checked into the hotel, the guy working the front desk upgraded our room b/c Jon was in his uniform. The room was great! Once we got into the room I took a nap (a much deserved nap). For the rest of the day we just walked around downtown Chicago and the Magnificant Mile. On Saturday, we got up and went to the Sears Tower, Shedd Aquarium and the Navy Pier. The only thing that Jon wanted to do the whole time we were there was to go see Transformers 2 - so we went. On Sunday, we went and took the tour of Wrigley Field. It is the second oldest field still being used today. It was built in 1914. I was like a kid in a candy store b/c I am a HUGE history nerd and I LOVE the Cubs. It was so neat to see everything - the bleachers, visitors club house, press box and especially the field. That night we went to have a last dinner together at Weber Grill - man was the food amazing! Monday we had to get up early so I could make it to the airport on time. I was doing great until we got to the airport and I got all checked in. I cried for like 10 minutes and so did Jon. It was the hardest thing that I ever had to do. Once I left Chicago I was anxious to get home so that I could see Jack. I really missed him the whole time I was gone.

Here are some pictures-


Atlanta Sunrise


View from our hotel - Sears Tower


The Field Museum and Soldier Field


Corner of Waveland and Sheffield - best place to catch homerun baseballs


Statue of Mr. Cub - Ernie Banks


The scoreboard - it is still operated by hand


The beautiful ivy on the outfield brick wall


The famous red Cubs marqee

4th of July -

We spent all of the past weekend with my family and had a great time. My aunt and uncle and cousins came over from Pensacola for the weekend. We spent almost 2 days in a swimming pool somewhere. We ate more food than people are supposed to eat at one time - let's just say we ate so much that I wasn't hungry again until dinner on Sunday.

Yesterday was Jack's second birthday. I can't believe that he is 2 already. On Friday morning I took him to have pictures taken for his birthday and so we could send Jon once he got overseas. Jon leaves late tonight for Kuwait. It's really real now. I hope that everyone had a great 4th and has a great rest of the week.

leaving on a jet plane

Well tomorrow is the day. I am headed to Chicago and to Jon at 5:25 am tomorrow. I know that's really early - I didn't think about the time until I started to think about what time I would have to leave my house to get to the airport. I am so excited and so is Jon. This is a short post because I am going to bed. Here is a picture of a very cute boy with some awesome dimples (I guess you can say that I am biased because I am his mom). It is from about a month ago but still too cute.

Counting down the days

I am a week and a half away from making my very first trip to Chicago. I am so excited especially because I get to spend it with my amazing husband. The only thing that will be missing is our little guy - who I am sure will not be missing me because he will be spending that time with his grandmother getting completely spoiled (thanks in advance mom). I am so excited to see that city and to hopefully get away from the scorching heat of Florida - if even for a few days. The downside to this trip is that I have to leave my house for the airport at 3:15 in the morning. Yes, you read that right. I have to leave that early so I can park my car, get on the shuttle to the airport, check my bag, pay Delta for my ONE bag, go through security and then patiently wait to leave for Atlanta. I will be making the trip from the westside of Jacksonville to JIA with a large Red Bull and something to eat from whatever restaurant is open at that time of morning. I don't think that I will be sleeping on the way to Atlanta - seeing how it is only an hour flight. I am forseeing a snooze in the Atlanta airport (layover 1 hour 25 min) of course that all depends if everyone and their brother is not at the Atlanta airport at 6 am next Friday. The flight to Midway is at least 2 hours so there will be napping on that plane. Random question - why do airlines like to fly the biggest planes on the shorter trips and the smaller planes on the longer trips?

Well I am off to bed. Tomorrow after I take Jack to daycare I am headed to the gym and then to work.

For now~

Pictures....and a wedding

This is going to be mostly a post of pictures as I am on limited vision right now. Not an hour ago my loving 2 year old son decided that mommy needed her glasses just not in that state that he found them. He bent the left ear piece and it snapped off. Thankfully I still have Jon's great federal employee benefits and they will repair or replace my glasses at no charge. Praise the Lord!!!! Friday I went to the wedding of my friends and coworkers Paul & Sarah (now Orgunov). Their wedding was beautiful and simple - just like them. I had a great time out by myself. Jack spent the night at my mom's - so it was a relatively peaceful night. Here are some pictures from the wedding and some pictures of Jack and his new found love of hats. Yesterday it was pouring outside (go figure) and we went to Sam's. Jack would look out the window and then look at me and say hat. I guess because it was raining he thought he needed a hat. Once we got in the car or into Sam's the hat came off. He is so funny.



These are his sunglasses from the $1 bin at Target. He was wearing them in the bathtub.

Lonely.....and CHICAGO!!!!!

Well it has been a week since Jon left and I can definitely say that it has been a long week. Jack has had a rough week which means that I had a rough week. For some strange reason he decided that he did not need his bottle/cup anymore at nap/bed time but this also meant that he had a harder time sleeping. - that lasted for a few days. Those few days felt lik I had been hiy by a bus. It is all better now. This past Friday night Jack stayed at my mom's. I didn't know what to do - I was all by myself for the night. I went to the mall and got dinner and then went to see a movie. I ended up seeing Night at the Museum 2. It was a really good movie. I then went home and watched the Gator softball game and then I went to bed. That night made me realize how lonely I really am. I am able to talk to Jon quite regularly but most times it is only for a minute or two because he has to go. It is just hard and I know that it will be even harder when he leaves for Iraq. It is going to take some time to get use to that's all.

On to happier news...

It is actually looking like the Army is going to stick by their leave dates for Jon and his unit. Those dates are Jue 26-29. And here is even better news - he will get to meet me in Chicago. I thought for sure that I was going to have to spend those 4 days at Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin. Let's just say that I wasn't exactly thrilled to be going to the middle-of-nowhere Wisconsin (again Google it). Now I can't wait for June 26th to get here - #1 because I want to see Jon and #2 because I have wanted to go to Chicago since I was like 7 and watched my first Cubs game on TV. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!! We are going to stay in downtown Chicago and do all of the touristy things (I'm good at it because I went to college in St. Augustine). The only thing that we are not going to be able to do is go to a Cubs game. :( They are playing the White Sox at Cellular Field and the series is sold out. So we will be doing the next best thing - taking a tour of Wrigley Field!

Well I have to go b/c I have a very cranky boy that is in serious need of bed.

For now~