Checkin' In

Feels like I never stop moving, except to go to sleep. Setting up this house and shopping for the furniture and decor items has kept me really busy. As well as helping out and hanging out with great friends! Just wanted to check in and make sure everyone knew I was still alive and bloggin', the Today Kellee and I went to Ikea (my second time going this week!). I bought our dining table, a bedside table for Jeff and I, and a crib mattress for Jack, a tent for Jack's room, a moose hanging rack thingy for Jack's room (pictures soon), and kitchen dishtowels. I bought lots of other stuff there earlier this week too. I still need to get our guest bed, a crib for Jack, lots of curtains for all the windows in this house, and a bookshelf or two. Then everything after that will be optional. I am not used to having this big of a place to decorate. There is so much wall space. I've bought a few things to hang on the walls but it still looks so empty. My dad shipped all my framed pictures and other wall things to me, and they should be arriving Wednesday, so hopefully once I get that stuff up it will be better too.

Happy Birthday Kellee!

My cupcake-lovin' friend Kellee turned 26 today. We went to Hello, Cupcake in Tacoma to celebrate and eat some amazing treats! In the 8 months I lived in Washington before, I had never been to Tacoma before today. I didn't get to see much but I think I will go back and visit the waterfront another day when we have warmer temperatures.

Jack also had his first taste of cupcake today...

He was equally pleases with his few bites as we were with our (more than a few) bites.

I also got to see Kelle's adorably girly kitchen today. Her husband told her that she could do whatever she wanted decor-wise in the kitche, that it was her space and she could have as much pink as she wanted as well! (Pink is another of her obsessions!) I hope that I can personalize my kitchen as much as she did. Maybe, not with the cupcakes and the color pink, but I would still like it to be cute like Kellee's!

 

Long Overdue Update

Holy moley, where do I even start...

Apologizing for being absent so long sounds like a good beginning. Business has been wholey surrounding the Davis family lately. Jeff is doing convoys almost every day, so we aren't getting as much communication as we're used to. But we know that this deployment will soon be over. Redeployment is on the horizon and it's so close, it almost doesn't feel real. But the truth is, Jeff will be home in less than two months!

Jack, Luna, and I made it safely to Washington on Saturday May 15. We traveled the 2500 miles in 3 days! I can't say enough about how amazing both my babies behaved.

After a trip as well as the one we had, I had a feeling something was going to go wrong, and boy was I right. As we pulled into the parking lot of Harbor Oaks Apartments, I started to get a bad feeling. I just told myself I was being paranoid and parked the car to get out and look around. In my 20 years of life, I've never witnessed a drug deal... until that day. Right there in plain sight in the honda accord next to me a very shady guy (around thirty) sold pot to a teenager. I jumped back in my car and made the decision to get us the heck out of there. I saw three cop cruisers pulling in as I was pulling out onto the street. It was not a good neighborhood, that was evident. And in all honesty, the pictures of the place were very misleading, it was a dump. Needless to say, I did not sign the lease.

I called my (AWE-SOME) friends Jeremy and Marcy in tears and they housed Jack, Luna, and I for a few days and helped tremendously in the house hunt. We ended up signing a lease for the house that is the other half of the duplex they live in! Jeremy and Marcy - I don't know what I would do without you! Thanks doen't seem like enough of a word but I don't think any other word would do either.

It's in Yelm, which is the city we lived in before. It's a little further from post than we ideally wanted to be but you can't beat a safe neighborhood, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a fenced backyard, and great neighbors :) It feels very ... like home, here (for lack of a better way to explain it).

We have been striving to settle in and it's definitely a slow process. There are many things we still need but we are purchasing the big (expensive) items one thing at a time. We want to avoid financing at all costs (no pun intended). We still need a mower, a convertible crib for Jack, a dining table/chairs set, a guest bed,  and possible new living room furniture. Then of course, all the decor items need to be found as well. So it'll be a while until we are fully settled and not adding things to our house. But we have the essentials and that's all we really need. P.S. BIG thanks to Kellee from You + Me = Wiiiiii for helping me move all the stuff from my storage unit. Kellee's husband is deployed with Jeff and she drove from North Carolina to Washington around the same time made made our trek, so she and I have been doing our best to support each other since we're going through the same thing! She's an awesome blogger as well :)

Last and the most exciting news for today, Jack is CRAWLING! He started really going while we were staying with Jeremy and Marcy. He is quick! And nothing is safe. He really likes cords. So we've had to be extra careful about keeping track of where he is and what he's got his hands on. I only have a short clip right now, but I promise I'll have a better video soon.

Until daddy gets home, we are going to keep busy and hopefully as the weather gets warmer, we can get out and explore the Pacific Northwest a little more too. We can't wait to see aunt Erin in June and then the rest of our Ohio family in July/August! Love you all, keep us in your hearts and keep looking for updates.

Steilacoom, Washington

Because I'm feeling a little BLUE :( today about leaving Ohio, I decided to look up some pictures of the town I will call home. It's a pretty small town so lots of stuff is withing walking distance, which is one of the things I love about this town.

Da Da Da Daaaaaaaaaaaa... Introducing.... Steeeeilacoom, Washington! (That was my cool, WWE announcer voice, in case you were wondering)

A view of Sunnyside Beach (13 minute walk)

with some of the town behind it.

Pioneer Orchard Park (20 minute walk or 3 minutes by car)

In July and August, a concert series takes places here. Every Wednesday there is a free concert at this bandstand.

They hold a big 4th of July celebration every year, it begins with a Fun Run really early in the morning, and concludes with a Gala Fireworks Display over Puget Sound. There is a Street Fair, Street Dance, Beer Garden, and, of course, a Parade.

In October, they have their annual "Apple Squeeze". Which, from what I've read is the Apple equivalant to the "Pumpkin Show" that is held in Circleville, Ohio every October.

There's also a Farmer's Market that takes place every Wednesday afternoon in the downtown!

I've been to Steilacoom before, and it's so very quaint, and quiet, and laid back. I just can't wait to live there. (Although I do wish I could pick up Chillicothe, and move it just a little closer).

Happy Mother's Day

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."

- Washington Irving

I never again, will live for myself. My life belongs to him.

Yes it's 0215, but I have to get this out

I think my heart just broke into a million pieces. My precious baby boy was exhausted when we got home. We had quite a long day today. He went right to sleep in his pack and play when we got home. (We are both sleeping in the living room since all our furniture is moved out, me on an air mattress, him in his pack and play). He's been sound asleep since 10pm, not moved once. All the sudden I hear this painful "Moommmmmmaaaa" kind of cry. So I jump up and immediately pick him up, and his eyes are still closed. He keeps crying, and it's one of the worst kind.. like he is hurting. I check him over and nothing is hurt, nothing's wrong. I'm at a loss. He is squirming, his eyes still shut. So I bring him over to my bed (well, my air mattress) and lay him down beside me. He opens his eyes and looks around, spots my laptop at the end of the bed. Using my arm, he pulls himself to a sitting position and stops crying. I sit up, confused to say the least to see what the heck is going on. He's sitting, staring at the computer. Not even blinking. Just staring... and hoping. At this point thirty or so seconds have gone by and I realize what's going on. When he realizes his daddy isn't coming onto that screen, his eyes slowly start to fill with sadness again. Tears building up and his expression frowning so severely I fear might cry too. He bursts into a sad sob. He wants his daddy. He wants to see his daddy. And talk to his daddy. And he can't, so he's sad. I try to take him away from the computer and he fights me. He just sits there and sobs. I try to close the laptop, knowing that seeing the screen without Jeff there makes it worse for him, as soon as I start to close it, he screams. So I leave it. He starts to calm down, just sniffling now. Now I'm the only one crying. And he turns his little body around and grabs me, holding onto me. I finally pull it together, and we both just sniffle in silence, trying to let the our hearts heal one another. He's asleep now on my lap. It took him a while to get there though, he kept turning his head around just to see if maybe, just maybe daddy was there.

NCO of the Month

After anxiously awaiting to hear from my husband about his day and how the board went, I finally got news this morning that he won! CPL. Jeffrey Davis is 8-1 CAV's NCO of the Month! This board is normally meant for SGTs and SSGs (higher rank than him) and he won anyways! He now has to prepare for the NCO of the Quarter board that will be held next month.

Congratulations Jeff, I am telling you again how proud I am of you because I don't think it can be said enough.

Now, onto much less exciting news from the homefront.

I bought Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days for Jack yesterday at Target. I am just not a big fan of the children's shows they offer on cable these days. Sesame Street is on of my favorite children's shows of all time and buying this DVD set was in hope that he will enjoy it too. Turns out, he loves it! And I'll admit, I like watching it too :) We just watched an episode with the "Lady Bug Picnic" in it. I can remember my mom singing "1,2,3.. 4,5,6.. 7,8,9.. 10,11,12.. and they all played games at the ladybug's picnic" to me when I was younger, and I hear her sing it to Avery now. I have these memories of Sesame Street and I want to share them with Jack, and I'm just really happy I will be able to.

Now I'm off to throw myself deep into this mess of stuff we spoke about yesterday and hopefully get a lot of it taken care of today. My dad called last night and wants to move all the furniture and big stuff out tomorrow evening, so I need to have all of it ready to go and the rest of the stuff out of the way. Anyone able to come and kick me in the butt and and get me in gear?

Tornado, please come again.

Random title, I know. I'm just looking at this mess (okay so mess is an understatement)... I'm looking at this disaster that is my stuff strewn throughout the apartment, and thinking it looks like a tornado came through this place. I've got boxed packed and sealed ready to go to Washington, I've got stuff that I haven't even touched, yard sale stuff that I didn't sell everywhere. My suitcase full of clean clothes from where I washed them all at mom's after coming back from Texas, my tv is sitting in the middle of the room unplugged, ahhhhhh and the list goes on and on. I wish the tornado that I'm blaming for this would make a second visit and just carry all this stuff away.

Despite the fact that I have a week and a half to get all of this stuff out of here and deep clean the place, I'm sitting on my bum. *Proceeds with list of useless excuses*... 1) I don't feel good, my allergies/asthma are at an all-time SUCK level. 2) Jack is napping and so I feel I have the right to do the same, because we had a hard morning of playing (okay, I lied we got up at 11am). 3) It's raining, so today wouldn't be a good day to venture out to take the stuff to goodwill? right? 4) I can't put my dirty laundry in the baskets until I get the goodwill stuff OUT of the baskets. 5) I consider myself a pretty experienced packer, and one that's able to get it done in a couple days if need be. 6) My dad has yet to tell me when he is available to help me move the big stuff. 7) I'm hungry so I should probably eat lunch. 8) Some stuff I am still using, so why try to pack it now? 8) I haven't figured out what to do with some stuff. 9) I can't clean until I move until the stuff out. 10) I don't wanna..

Is ten stupid, useless reasons enough for you? Because I could go on. I've got many floating around in my head up here. But no motivating thoughts? Why is that? Of course the "I need to pack, so I can move, so Jeff can come home" thought is there but it's not doing much for me. He's been gone for so long it seems normal, I haven't let myself get overly excited about it yet because of all the yes and no, changing dates, stop and go teasing that the Army is so famous for.

Sigh... getting off my bum now, wish me luck.