Deployment = Completely Normal

I haven't heard from Jeff since Wednesday night. I'm assuming he is back in Afghanistan. The last time we spoke he had a flight scheduled from Kuwait to Kandahar, so he should be back in theater by now. I'm actually glad he's finally back there, because he has missed his guys so much. I miss him too, but I know that he needs to be there with them right now. For the health of his soldiers, and for the emotional needs of himself. As you can probably tell I am doing okay with the re-deployment. I've done a lot of self-finding in the past couple days. With the help of my son, I've found that I really do have a great life. Everyone says "I can't imagine what you're going through, I couldn't do it." Well, actually yes you COULD do it.. if you had to. You never know what you're fully capable of until you're forced to find out. What kind of life would I have if I walked around moping constantly about how I miss my husband? Of course I miss him, I miss him and worry about him more than you can imagine (like you said). But I refuse to stop my life just because he's not here, I refuse to stop OUR life. He's living his doing his job and I've got to keep things going back here at home. Having Jack has assisted in making me realize just how important completing this task is. Jack needs to know that when his daddy leaves, it doesn't mean anything bad. It just means that Jeff has to work away from home for a while helping other people who really need him. Deployment is going to be a regular part of our lives with a career in the military, so it needs to seem exactly that to our chilren... regular, and normal. I know that I will still have breakdowns, and our kids will too. But thats normal too. As long as 90 percent of the time our life is still our life.

In other discussions for today... Jack slept from 11pm-5am last night. No, you're not seeing things! You read that sentence right, my wonderful baby boy slept 6 hours straight through the night! Gosh, I love him so much. Jack- you are the most considerate little 22 day year old boy that I know :) hehe.

Before his amazing sleeping skills last night, we enjoyed dinner at Papaw John and Grandma Laura's house. Steak, mac&cheese, salad, and chocolate pudding! Yummy. It felt so good to be at their house just hanging out and relaxing. I have gotten a lot closer with my in-laws over the 15 days of R&R Jeff was given, and I'm glad I did. I love them, and I know they would/will do anything for me and Jack that they can. Justin and Lauren are great company as well. Lauren is so very sweet and I'm hoping she and I can enjoy some good girl time within the next 9 months. Justin is always wanting to help with Jack, doing anything and getting me everything I need. Its evident how much he loves his "baby Jack" as he calls him. I'm so very lucky to have such a great ... family-in-law? Is that the correct term?

I would like to clear up what has been going on with Avery. She indeed contracted the H1N1 virus. Doctors diagnosed her without a test and with no offering of any kind of treatment. They said to keep everyone away from her, take tylenol for the fever, and wait it out. I'm happy to report that she is doing much better and will probably be heading back to school Monday. She hasn't run a fever for over 24 hours and is playing and bouncing around like normal Avery today. Jack and I are looking to be in the clear. We've strictly confined ourself to the basement for the past few days as a preventive measure. Both he and I are at a pretty high risk for contracting the virus even without it being in our home. Jack, because he is a newborn, and me because my immune system is low and I have chronic asthma. Mom has played a big part in keeping the two of us healthy, keeping Avery upstairs and cleaning and washing everything she's touched.

In closing, I would like to say how very excited I am for 2pm tomorrow. I will be enjoying an afternoon massage at Looks Unlimited. I chose an hour of a relaxation massage, figuring it was well overdue and will be beneficial to my emotional side to relax a little. Look for results tomorrow! Love to all!