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~

Tears and a goodbye

Well as of about 7 pm eastern time yesterday, Jon is officially gone on deployment. Right now he and his unit are at Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin (AKA the middle of no where - seriously google it). At 10 am yesterday morning, the city of Tallahassee held a departure ceremony for the nearly 200 men and women of the 779th engineering batallion. It was a very nice ceremony - the governor spoke as well as the lt. governor and the adjutant general of the Florida National Guard. We were able to spend time with Jon after the ceremony (about an hour) until they had to get on the buses to go to the airport. Let's just say that about 10 minutes after the ceremony ended the black looming clouds that had held off opened up. We even got to go to the airport to see them get on the planes. Jon was on the second plane that left around 3 pm so we said goodbye at the airport. I did very well and didn't cry as much as I thought I would. The hardest part of the day was when Jon went to tell Jack goodbye and Jack wouldn't let Jon put him down. I am posting some pictures from the ceremony, our time together and the airport (as well as one from the Tallahassee Democrat of Jon on the bus). If you go on youtube and type in 779th engineer batallion a video of the ceremony will come up. Jon is in it quite a bit.

A New Normal

Well Saturday is the first day of a new normal for Jack and I - and Jon as well. For the next year Jon is going to be spending every waking hour with someone from the Army in a place that is not home. For the next year Jack and I are going to be spending that same time together in our home - without Jon. A new normal is in store for us all. For me, I am becoming a single parent for at least 365 days. I guess one of the hardest parts of this is that Jon is going to miss so much with Jack. When Jon gets home, Jack will almost be 3. By then he is going to be a completely different child. For Jack, he is going to be with his mommy all the time (with the occasional rescuing from grandma). For Jon, he is going to the desert to do Lord only knows what and will be missing out on things at home. I know that I can email him everyday and I can send him video messages but it is just not the same.

I am going to miss him more than words. For the past 2 days with every breath I take I ask the Lord to take care of him and to bring him home to me. In the past few months I have not tried to think about the dreaded elephant in the room. When it comes to a war, I guess everyone tries not to think about the unthinkable. We all want them to come home the exact way they left here. Now that thme is here for him to leave I seem to be thinking a lot more "what if". Every time those thoughts pop up I have to remind myself that Jon will take good care of himself and that he has the Great Protector with him at all times.

A new kind of normal - it is going to be hard to adjust but thankfully I have a lot of family and friends here. A new normal that is only temporary - if you can call 365 days temporary. A new normal....a new normal

Is anything really normal?

One week left

One week from tomorrow I will be taking Jon to Tallahassee with all of his stuff for his deployment. For the past few weeks I have been in denial about his leaving but now it is here. I will be spending the next week finishing packing up his stuff and making sure that he has everything he will need for a while. Jack knows that something is going on but he just can't figure out what it is.

The Tuesday after Memorial Day is the day that Jon leaves for Wisconsin. There is going to be a ceremony at the state capital. Once the ceremony is over Jon and his unit will get on a bus and they will take them to the airport. I will get to see him at the ceremony and then not again until the end of June. As of right now they are leaving Wisconsin at the first part of July to head to Kuwait. Jon told me that once they are in Kuwait they will possibly be there for a month before heading to Iraq. I have dedicded to go back to part time at the church while he is gone. For the most part I am doing this for my sanity and to be able to get things done instead of trying to do everything on the weekend. I will be able to spend the weekends with Jack.

Well that is about all for now. Bones is on and this is the episode to set up the season finale where Booth and Bones decide to make a baby. :o)

Disney, surprise party and an anniversary

I know, I know I have been slacking on the posting. With a vacation, birthday, surprise party, anniversary, Mother's Day and an impending deployment things have been how shall I put it crazy.

For a recap of the past couple of weeks:

DISNEY

We spent 5 days and 4 nights in Orlando. On Thursday, we spent the day at SeaWorld. This is the second time that Jack has been to SeaWorld. We had a really good time. We saw all of the animals and a show - we missed Shamu because Jack missed his nap and was getting really cranky. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get back. Thursday afternoon we checked into our hotel at Downtown Disney - it was a great hotel and the best part was that we didn't have to drive to any of the Disney parks. On Friday, we got up early and got on the first bus for the Magic Kingdom. Jon had to get his ticket at the gate so that was the reason for leaving early. After tickets were in hand we made the ride over to the park on the monorail - Jack thought that was pretty cool. We made it to the gate of the Magic Kingdom right as it was opening and it was neat to see everything from the eyes of an almost 2 year old. He was so excited. We spent the whole day at the Magic Kingdom (about 3 pm we made a trip back to the hotel for a few hours and then back to the park). Jack did so good. He loved seeing all of the characters - never cried, unlike my sister when she was 3 on a trip to the park she was terrified of them (especially the big bear from the Country Bear Jamboree - yes I have proof). He rode some rides and just had a good time - he even took a nap in the park. On Saturday, we went to Animal Kingdom. Jon had never been to Animal Kingdom and to Jack it was like a big zoo. This was the day that Jack got to see Donald Duck - I have never seen a child more excited than he was on that morning. We took him on the safari ride and he thought that was so cool. He pointed to all of the animals and even made the sound of the elephant when we pointed it out to him. On Sunday, we went to Epcot. Sunday was the day of days. The first ride we went on was Finding Nemo. Jack absolutely loves Nemo. After Nemo we walked around all of the countries and Jack fell asleep. After he woke up we were walking from one part to the next and all of a sudden he starts crying. We thought it was because of the noise of the Test Track ride but Jon looked at him and saw that he threw up everywhere. Thus began the longest 3 hours of our lives - after 2 outfits, a few more times of throwing up, a trip to Disney first aid and then a trip to the Urgent Care Center and then back to Epcot. All in all a rough day. When we got back to Epcot, Jack kept saying Nemo mama Nemo. So back to Nemo we went. By this time Jon and I were pooped so the last ride we went on was Spaceship Earth (in the big Epcot ball) and 3/4 of the way through it Jack went quiet and I looked down and he was out cold. It was so cute and funny at the same time. Monday was our last day in town. We ended our vacation with a trip to IKEA! I was a happy, happy girl that day. It was the most fun that we have had. It was good to spend that time together as a family.

On May 1 was my 26th birthday. Jon cooked me a fantastic dinner. The next day I threw him a surprise going away party at the pool/clubhouse of our apartments. There were 50 people there. His 82 year old dad flew in from Kentucky and his sister and brother-in-law came in from North Carolina. All of my mom's family was there - even my aunt and a cousin from Pensacola. We had such a good time with friends and family. Jon was happy to see everyone before he left. This past Thursday was our 4th anniversary - we went on a date on Friday night. He got me 2 dozen multi-colored roses for my birthday, our anniversary, and Mother's Day - they are beautiful.

We have about a week and a half until Jon leaves. We are focusing on getting all of his stuff packed and any important documents that the Army needs. I am not ready for him to go but I know that I have to be strong for him and for Jack. I know that the Lord has him in His hands and that he will be fine. Yesterday they recognized him in church and had him stand up for everyone to see. He was mad at me for a little while for doing that but I think once it was all done he was happy about all of the support the people were giving him after the service.

Now for some pictures!

T-Minus 4 days

In 4 days we will be in Orlando on our first official family vacation. I am so excited. We got a nice hotel at a cheap price and I am the only one that had to buy a ticket to Disney World (thanks Disney). Jack seems to understand where we are going next week. I often ask him who we are going to see next week and instead of saying Dad he says Don Duck (just like that). It is so funny.

Jon comes home Monday!!!! I am so thankful that he is going to be back for a month and 3 days before leaving for a year. It will be especially nice to have an extra pair of hands around the house and helping with the crazy monster - I mean Jack.

I finally got back into the swing of things last week. The week before I was still really sick and really tired from the Passion Play and then there was Easter. It was so nice to be back on schedule last week and even this week coming up.

Today, Jack, my mom, my stepdad and my grandma went and spent the afternoon in St. Augustine. We walked on St. George Street and then went to the Lighthouse but the main reason we were there was for my best friend's little boy's FIRST birthday party. Jack had so much fun. Jack and Will are buddies. Will got so excited when he saw Jack and vice versa. It was a great day. I enjoying spending time with my family especially my grandma. Now Jack is sleeping because he did not get his full nap today so hopefully he will. Here is one from today.

Yes, I'm Alive

It definitely has been too long since I posted anything. Things are going well. We have less than 2 weeks before Jon comes home for a month. I am just going to post some pictures of Jack and the Passion Play. I have a longer post in the makings - I will try to get it up sometime today.



Getting his hair cut "A Cool Dude"



Our matching Chuck Taylors



What was really going on backstage during the invitation (before finale)



Luke and I after the last performance