Home Sick Part 5,348

Thanks for all the encouragement on my last post. It means a lot 😉

Today was a fairly good day until the bottom dropped out a couple of hours ago. I don’t really want to talk about it. My head hurts, I’m frustrated, and exhausted so I’ll probably just go to bed or lay on the couch and half-heartedly cheer on Bama. Perhaps the source of my annoyance is J’s job. He’s in the field. I never enjoy when he leaves, but now I really don’t like it because I have no break from little man. Seriously, props to the single moms…I have no idea how you do this full time. I think the difference is that if you’re raising a child alone, you hopefully have a support system around you. I suppose I have that, too- with all of my TWO friends in the area. I’m so thankful for Jen and Melissa…seriously. I’d go nuts without someone to talk to.

I just really miss home when J leaves. I know he’s my home now, but when he is gone, no matter how short of a time, I long for Tennessee. My family is one of those Leave It To Beaver families. There’s no drama, everyone likes one another, and everyone lives within short driving distance to one another. Everyone except me. And tonight- that really sucks. Most days that really sucks. I miss them all so much.

I’ll quit complaining now. I AM thankful for Captain J’s job because it allows me to stay home with my sweet young un, but tonight I dream of the day he’s a civilian again because I can hear Rocky Top calling my name…

No Place Like Home

Hello, blog. It’s me again.

It’s late and I can’t sleep. My brain won’t stop. There’s too much on my mind. Too much to do. But all I want is to have my mom, or sister, or step-mom beside me to cry on talk to. They are all about 13 hours away so you will have to do. Don’t worry…you’ll get a shorter, edited version.

This Army life is hard, ya know? I am just not cut out for it. I was a mess during deployment- a shell of myself half the time, wondering around Walmart with my bestie with my computer and skype attached to my hip just in case. Who does that? I complained in Alaska because I was so far away from my family. It took money to get back in their neck of the woods, something we don’t really have that much of. Now, here we are…in Louisiana. Still, we’re a plane ticket away from family and I’m complaining yet again. Maybe I just thought I wanted adventure. Maybe my adventure was in raising this child, not moving from place to place. In the past year, we’ve lived in Alaska, Georgia, and Louisiana. One year. Three homes. I’m tired.

If only I had a pair of these to click together:

Roadtrip!

May I start by thanking you? Thank you oh so much to all of you who read my last post and commented, texted, sent emails, or facebooked me with encouragement on the matter. It warms my heart to hear that you all care about what’s going on in our little world and it reminds me that I’m not alone. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

I promised some happy things, didn’t I?

How ’bout I tell you about our quick weekend in Home Sweet Tennessee?

We hopped in the car on Wednesday and set out on Baby K’s first ever roadtrip. We had a 12 hour drive ahead of us and that’s not counting stopping to feed/burp/change little man along the way. I was pretty sure we dropped our marbles somewhere when we set out on this adventure, but Baby K was such a little gentleman. He is a good little traveler. His grumpy moments were few and far between on our drive. In fact, his daddy was much more irritated than he was.

Captain J was in a poopy mood. At one point, I asked him if he needed me to help drive. His response? Without even the slightest tilt of his head, he said, “That’d be a death sentence.” Still trying to lighten the mood, I told him I would sing to him to keep him awake if he’d like. For some reason, he declined that, too. What’s up with my boys not adoring my singing voice? Earlier today Baby K puked after I sang him a song. I digress.

Anyway, we eventually pulled into my parents’ house in my small, sleepy little East TN town at around six in the morning. Our arrival coincided with my step-dad leaving for work, my brother getting up for school, and my mom anxiously waiting to get her hands on her newest grandson. Within an hour, they looked like this:

I’m so glad they’ve had some precious moments to bond.

Yaya had to go pick up another cute grandson of hers to take him to preschool so Baby K and I hung out while Daddy slept. We posed…

and made funny faces…

and had a grand ole time! It felt so good to be home and finally be able to show off my little bundle of joy to friends and family who hadn’t met him yet. While we were in town, we went to my former high school’s football game. My sweet boy must be athletic–he caught his first football!

Just before the game, Baby K was overloaded with a host of new (and old) admirers. He met his extended family and my very best friends. Here is my little man with his great-grandmother, aka “Mimi”:

Perhaps he got spoiled with all that attention and that’s why he has been acting totally insane the last couple of days?!

Anyway, we had a ball. We visited “JuJu and Pap” at their boat. We hung out with “Lolly and Pop” at their yacht club party. We I ate at Carl’s a lot. And by the end of the weekend, we decided it just wasn’t enough. Captain J started to re-think his whole military career, but that is another post for another time…

We drove home with a blanket of sadness over us. It’s hard to drive 12 ish hours in the opposite direction of the ones you love when you know you won’t be returning for awhile.

The good news was that we only crossed the Mississippi once on the way back…

I can’t say that’s true for the way there. SOMEbody made a few wrong turns. I won’t mention any names, but it might be the one who claims to be “a master of land navigation”. Maybe.

Anyway, all went well so long as the paci was firmly in place-

and our little Louisiana town never looked so good as it did when we pulled in our driveway. “Home” at last.

Goodbye weekend, hello Monday

As I’m stuffing down way old macaroni and chugging copious amounts of water, I’m reflecting on the whirlwind that was the past few days. In a somewhat last minute decision, Captain J and I decided to drive to Tennessee for the weekend. Clearly, we weren’t thinking.

I’m kidding, but really it was insane.

13 hours one way with a 7 week old

We survived and we had fun to boot! The weather was crisp and cool, a much needed reprieve for us. Baby K got to visit and meet more of his family. We got to watch my brother play a little football. We got to watch Alabama kick Florida’s butt on the football field. We got to hang out on boats with the fam. And believe it or not, we got to relax a little bit. It was nice.

And it was really nice to drive back into our sleepy little town here. We’re exhausted so I’ll have to share pictures from this weekend a little later.

If I don’t talk to you before– Have a great Monday!

XOXO,

Mrs. K

And A Vol Was Born

With Fall brings football and this makes for a very happy Mrs. K.

Adios, summer and your 100+ temps!

Let’s play some football (and sip pumpkin spice lattes and play in a big pile of leaves)!

When I’m away from Neyland Stadium on game day, I always feel a little sad. Before the Army came into my life, I was at just about every home game. There’s nothing like wandaring around campus with 100,000 other fans in a sea of orange. Tailgating with family and friends, listening to the band play Rocky Top, and watching the Vols throw around a football makes me happy inside. But as you know, the past few years I haven’t been able to go to many games. For some reason, Captain J wouldn’t let me fly from Alaska to Tennessee just to watch young men throw around a football. Although, I did make it to one game last year.

Anyway…

Here we are- Ft. Polk, LA. Hours and hours away from Knoxville, yet again.

We’re still celebrating, though. And now a UT fan is born.

And boy does he get mad at the thought of the Vols losing.

Good thing he won’t have to think much of that 😉

He was even sporting an orange diaper. Super fan in the making!

We were all settled in around the t.v. with our favorite vices-

Beer and Paci.

Oh my, how things have changed.

Good game, boys! We’ll see ya next week. 🙂

Favorite Days

“Describe your favorite day.”

Every form of this question has left me feeling baffled and slightly sad when I heard it asked. Am I supposed to have a very favorite day that sticks out in my mind? Furthermore, should I be answering these questions like a good little lady by saying “my wedding day”? Or as a Christian, “the day I was saved”… Or when I’m a mother, will I say “the day K was born”?

I can’t imagine the latter. Maybe the day after K is born. I’m no masochist.

Still, I can’t imagine choosing one day in my entire life that is the most special to me. Perhaps this is a good thing because it may insinuate that I have many wonderful days, which I do. I’m not sure I could even choose a favorite day this year, but there are many runners-up. Walk down memory lane with me?

Captain J (pictured above) and I were in a small town in Alaska just beginning our journey across America. We were bordering Canada while our friends back in Fairbanks were experiencing an ice storm that debilitated the city for a while. Meanwhile, we were enjoying a mostly snow free experience in Alaska in November, which is almost unheard of for this area. The wind was fierce in that little town. It whipped our faces and watered our eyes as we fought against it with a vengeance. Who else would walk our pups? This day was beautiful to me because we were together, experiencing a quaint town, and marveling in our last taste of Alaska for a long time. It’s one of my favorite days because we were headed to the lower 48 on a journey that had no time constraints. I cherish uninterrupted time with my soldier when I come across it.

Or maybe my favorite day is this one- when we felt warmth on our faces in sunny California for the first time in a long time. We drove the scenic route that meandered along the ocean for miles. Huge crashing waves provided our picture perfect views, waves we just aren’t accustomed to as East Coasters. There was a man in front of us on our drive riding his motorcycle. We got a chance to talk with him; he was discovering our great country with little more than the clothes on his back and the gas in his tank. As we walked away, we day dreamed about having few responsibilities and the freedom to just simply go.

It might have been this day as my brother, sister, and I snuck off to take pictures for my mom as a surprise Christmas gift. Ever terrible liars, Jake and I dodged phone calls from my mom who was questioning the original lie that “we really wanted to try out the new restaurant in Tellico”. Paige didn’t have service that night or if she did it was sketchy at best. Again, I love uninterrupted time with people I love. We took photos, ate, and boy, did we laugh. It was a great day (Note: No, we did not give the above photo as a gift. ha)

Or perhaps it was the day we got to finally announce that a baby would be making his way into the world to my family.

It could have easily been this day when Captain J and I walked hand in hand along Tybee Island in Georgia for Valentine’s Day weekend. We strolled, imagining the next time we took a trip to the beach that we’d have a son or daughter in tow.

This day was so memorable for me, too. Many of my closest friends were in the same place at the same time, a rarity in military life. I prepared a breakfast brunch for them as my mom decorated the back porch to see that everything was perfect! This was to be our last trip back to Tennessee before we moved for the second time in less than a year.

See? These are just a few. I don’t know that I can pick just one special day because God has blessed me with so many.

Do you have a favorite day?

Mind elsewhere

I could really use some of this:

Or one of these:

Or perhaps a porch with friends nearby:

All of which were provided at my third and final baby shower that my mother-in-law put together for Baby K and me. Oh, to be enjoying that day instead of writing papers and reading books (of the not so fun persuasion)! Yes, I’d much rather be lounging around the pool with a plate of good food instead of making plans to eat out…again. Having limited utinsels to cook with is troublesome. LA in ten days!

My mind is elsewhere. Where’s yours?

Let us shower.

Baby shower #2 was well underway by the time I showed up in a tight green little number. Gross, I know. At 7 months pregnant, I can still wear some of my dresses albeit not well, but I do squeeze in. I just don’t want to buy a bunch of stuff I won’t wear again, ya know?

Off topic. Anyway…

My family had a little cookout and showered Baby K with gifts. I got so much great stuff, I can’t even tell you about it. You’d be jealous.

The formal living room looks like a baby twister came through it. There’s no place and no need to put away all of his things since we’re leaving pretty soon.

Here are some photos of the event:

And everyone was just so happy for us. See?

We even had a few clappers.

Such enthusiasm! But let’s be real…It IS an awesome stroller.

Good times. I’m one lucky gal!

mah frands

*sniff, sniff*

But, but….I don’t wanna leave!!! (again)

On Saturday morning, I got up bright and early to prepare a brunch for some of my friends who I will miss dearly when I move farther away from them. Granted, it’s not as far as Alaska, but it’s not the hop, skip, and jump away that I would prefer. When you find good friends, you keep them!

With the help of my mother’s lovely touches on her porch, I threw together a pretty tasty breakfast of eggs, sausage and cream cheese casserole, fruit, cinnamon rolls, and orange juice.

P.S. See that "M"? I totally made that.

My girlfriends and I had a nice breakfast outside before it got too awfully hot. It just didn’t last long enough (the conversation, not the food). I’m going to miss these girls, as I’ve missed them while living here in Georgia. Now, I’ll get to see them a bit less and that just ole plain sucks.

I know, I have such a way with words. Anyway, after we got done eating, we snapped a few photos, all of which I was unhappy with because of my ever growing midsection (but I’ll do anything for sweet Baby K).

Next stop on girls’ day? – The only cold place we could find, the movie theatre. We went to see Bridesmaids which was rather funny but a little risque! We laughed and laughed and this didn’t last long enough either (the fun times, not the movie).

And now here I am, back in Georgia. My loves are in Tennessee and I’ll soon be headed to Louisiana. We must part again.

Boo hoo.

I’ll miss ya, mah frands.

Oh, the places you’ll go

Captain J and I hit up Gatlinburg last weekend, hoping for a reprieve from the heat and humidity. Boy, were we way off base with those hopes and dreams. It was so hot! I think I forget every year how hard it can be to breathe in said conditions or perhaps my shortness of breath can be blamed on the little babe inside my belly. Either way, Tennessee is miserable this time of year.

Worse even is Georgia. Today the thermometer in my car read 104. I’ll not be going back outside this week unless I have to. People keep warning me that Louisiana will be worse. I can’t, nor do I want to, imagine this. It’s funny to think about the various places and extreme temperatures we’ve experienced in the last year and a half. We’ve gone from fifty below zero in Alaska to one hundred and four above in that time period. That’s a 150+ degree difference. Yikes!

Oh, the places you’ll go.

Speaking of, while in G-burg we visited our place of marital oneness for a quick snap of a photo. We pretended to get married at this lovely church with a pretty red door, but in actuality I just admired that church as we passed and made Captain J pull over for a few pictures. Really, we found the cheapest place in town and said our I do’s in under 15 minutes.

So here’s the big reveal. We actually got hitched here:

and have I said lately that I wouldn’t change a thing?! I love that man more and more every day; it doesn’t matter how we made a commitment to God and each other. It just matters that we did it!

P.S.- Have you entered my giveaway yet? As it stands now, you’ve got a pretty remarkable chance of winning!

Later, taters.