Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

Well folks, summer is over :( Definitely... so... over. At least here in the Pacific Northwest it is. Kellee, you shush about your summery weather in Colorado.

Today we braved the rain and went to the Pumpkin Fest in Orting, Washington (Details HERE). Orting is a cute little town. And the Fest was cute too. Definitely doesn't compare to the Pumpkin show in Circleville, Ohio. But it was a nice way to spend the day. Rain boots and jackets in tow, we listened to some local bands, ate at a "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant called Route 66 Pizza, and bought me my first cowgirl hat :) We had planned on picking up some pumpkins from a pumpkin patch on the way home, but Jack had other plans. He was testing us big time today, and we decided that we will wait 'til tomorrow to go pumpkin pickin'. There is a family farm thats on our way home from church, hopefully the weather will be a bit better tomorrow as well.

On Jack's list of new talents, he can say "OWWW". His uncle Jeremy has been working hard to teach him "OW" and "MINE" before he has to move home to Arizona. One down, one to go, Jeremy. Not only does he say "ow" for things that hurt. But he says it when he's mad, when we discipline him, and when he's playing. Anyone else lucky enough to have a 1 year old that knows only the words "daddy", "mama", "nana", "huh?", and "OWWW"? It's a good time, let me tell ya.

After Jeff and the boys are done watching some boy movie.. I think it's called Last Man Standing? And after we put Jack to sleep... My wonderfull hubby is taking me to see Life As We Know It.

I've been excited about this movie since I saw the trailer the first time. Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel star as two single people that are named in a mutual friend's will as guardians for the baby. Should be funny. I'm all about humor, and this film looks promising!

One last question, does anyone else have a 1 year old human garbage disposal?

I can cosmically feel the mean faces

Somehow all of you have managed to get inside my head and nag me until my clicking and typing magically delivered me to my blog. All I can say, is EPIC FAIL on my part. I know I said (I'm BACK!) once before, but I lied that time and my nose grew too long so I have some making up to do. 'Cause I just don't look right with a Pinocchio nose...

You know what I love? I love when I come back from a 3 month hiatus to find that one of my bloggy friends has awarded me not only one, but TWO blog awards. Katelyn (yes, we are name twins) over at Life Is a Beautiful Mess I heart you :) I promise I won't let you down again

Katelyn awarded me the:

Versatile Blogger Award

And the:

One Lovely Blog Award:

Lately things have been pretty chill around the Davis house. We have two of Jack's "uncles" staying with us right now. Uncle Dan Dan and uncle Jeremy. It's been an adjustment getting used to adding two more people to our family but I will be sad when they are gone. Oh, and no they are not the gay kind of uncles :) One is happily married to a dear friend of mine, Marcy. And the other is happily straight. hehe.

Jack is one! O-N-E, one! It's crazy. And let me tell you that kid is walking all over the place. He is 1 going on 15. He can effectively and adorably say "huh?" when we say his name. He waves hi, and occasionally says "hi" He knows Da da, and ma ma, and dog dog. He loves to eat anything and everything, as long as it doesn't have a weird texture (like jello, or green beans, or cottage cheese). Aside from getting into everything, he loves to be outdoors, playing xbox with daddy (daddy gives him the unplugged controller), and dances and cleans with mommy.

Daddy is back on a somewhat regular work schedule, he is squadleader now, which comes with a little more work and responsibility, but he's handling it well. He is still trying to pull some strings and jump through some hoops to get us stationed closer to Ohio, but no word yet. Stay tuned for more info on that later. Good news! Things are starting to align that have lead us to suspect Jeff might be promoted sometime in November. This would be great for him and great for our family, so, fingers crossed everybody!

I've come to the point in my life where I feel I can be honest about my ongoing fight with depression. And I'm just going to say it, I've been having a hard time lately. Everyone has good days and bad, but lordy, I've had my fair share of bad days and then some lately. I can't say enough about how great my husband has been. Thanks hunny :) For a change of subject, I've began job hunting! Yep, after two years being unemployed, I am getting the feeling it's time to at least start looking. I have found a couple daycares as well that I really like. If I get a call about a job, I will tour them and interview the provider. Nothing is set in stone yet, and we are not so desperate for money that I need to work right now. But something part time would be beneficial to my self-health I think.

One more piece of news before I head out to try and fix the crazy background mess that has been goin' on here.

VOTE FOR JACK! in the Baby Gap Casting Call 2010

YOU CAN VOTE ONCE EVERY DAY

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Sigh, it's good to be back

I think I'll end by sharing this super cute picture of my two favorite men

CIAO!

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.

Ipod in Singin' T.Swift

That's how Avery walked in my house this morning. Blarin' out her little lungs. If there was a cuter word than cute, that would be her. She spent the next half hour singing to Jack and booy dancing all over my living room. Next on the playlist were, "Flat Top Box", that song that plays while the vampires are playing baseball in Twilight (in her words), and Veggie Tales. She has quite a taste for music, just like her sister! Thanks mama, for passing on the gene!

Jack is finally back to his normal sleeping pattern 2030-0700. It's wonderful. For about a month, he was waking up around 1am to eat. So mommy is relieved to be able to enjoy some sleep. However, my sleeping has been quite a mess. Hopefully I can get back on track soon as well.

The best news I have recieved recently is that my grant for college has been RESTORED! I will be able to continue my education! Phew, it's a big relief for sure. I've been so busy this quarter, my classes have required much more work than the ones I took in the first quarter. I think I will try to schedule some easier classes for next quarter, as I will be making the big move across the country towards the end of it.

There's just over 100 days left of Jeff's "vacation." Just kidding hunny! But really I can't explain how excited I am to see those numbers going down. I've yet to find a house in Washington that I feel good about but it's a work-in-progress. I'm sure everything will work out, I just have to calm done and focus on one thing at a time. Breath in. Breathe Out. Simple as that.

So much to do so little time

I have been avoiding writing lately because I have so much on my mind, but so little that it blog-worthy. Let the rambling begin!

Jeff was finally able to get me the Power of Attorney that I need to apply for on-post housing at Fort Lewis. We are looking forward to less of a commute for him and more room and a yard for our family. He emailed me the P.O.A., and now I've just got to start the long (and confusing I'm sure) process of applying for housing without him here. Only for it to be even more complicated by the fact that I'm currently in Ohio. Oh, how I love jumping through the Army's hoops!

Unsure if all of you have heard or not, I recently found out that the grant I was recieving to fund my schooling has been halted. They are taking two months to review the program and decide whether to continue it. I have been very unmotivated when it comes to my classes lately because of this. I'm just devestated. I'm thinking of taking next semester off. To see if they will continue the program and also because I will be very busy with moving.  We will see, but that's what's going on with that.

Jack and I are getting over the little bug that we had last week. We both went to the doctor and they determined it was just a routine cold, mine was just associated more with my asthma allergies. Jack weighed 14 pounds and 9 ounces at his appointment. Big thank you to my mama, Rick, Avery, and Mackie, for letting us stay at their house and taking care of us. I don't know what I would do without Jeff and I's wonderful families. They are such a big part of our life and such a great support system for us. We love you, all!

Lastly, I have some pictures to share! Here's our favorite American soldier during one of their recent missions:

Cold = Unhappy Kate

I hate the cold weather we've been having so much that my detest for it was worthy of the title today. I'm finding myself missing Washington more than ever, soley because it's 45 degrees there today. It's sunny there today too! Mother nature is taunting me. You know what the temperature here in Ohio is today? 28. Yep, 28 degrees. But oh wait, let's not forget that the "feels like" temperature is 15 degrees. The worst part is that it looks warm outside. (Another example of mother nature's despise for me).

I'm shocked to report that at 4 and a half months old, our little Jack is wearing 6 month clothing. He's actually almost to tall for it. We might have a basketball player on our hands here folks! But, he does have those "catcher" genes in him somewhere so I'm sure he'll just be a tall baseball player. Or hey, maybe even both.

After talking to Jeff while I was feeding Jack lunch today, we are both at a loss as to how to get our son to swallow some cereal (or anything for that matter) from a spoon. I know it takes time, and I know he doesn't have to start just yet. But we've been at it for a week now, and he wants no part of it. I've also tried applesauce, and that's obviously not hitting the spot either. I guess he will get it eventually. He's just so darn stubborn. I think he takes after his daddy! Or better yet, he takes after Jackie James #1!  :)

I start back to school on Monday. I can already tell that this quarter is going to be harder than the first. In a way, I'm sort of happy about that. I feel like my fall quarter classes didn't really challenge me much. I haven't looked at my Nutrition class page yet, but I did look at my Sociology page and our final paper topic will be analyzing an event that happened the year we were born. So get those brains a-thinking for me!

In other and finals Davis family news, I got an email from the FRG today. They have met with LTC about redeployment and and post-deployment leave. Right now we are still looking at a 12 month deployment. We will know more when the replacements for Jeff's unit arrive in theater. The word is that about 3 weeks after they get there, our guys will be able to redeploy! When they come home they will have a couple days off work completely, and then they will do half days in order to get paperwork, shots, counseling, etc. done. After those two weeks are over, block leave will start! Our block leave will be 3 weeks long.

All this talk about reployment makes me so happy! It means that it's happening pretty soon! Alright, my mom is yelling at me because I'm going to be late for my chiropractor appointment so I better go before I get my butt whooped. That's all for now.

Where's the slacker? Right here, here I am!

Woah. What has it been? 22 days since I wrote? Yikes, sorry guys. Things have been pretty normal around here lately. We're keeping up with the same routine, here on the homefront and around the world on the FOB too. I'm just going to break this up into sections today. 

Jack:

He is now just over 4 months old! Crazy, isn't it? I still can't get my mind around it sometimes. He had his well check-up with Dr. Jane-Wit yesterday and recieved his immunizations as well. He weighed in at 13 pounds 15 ounces and he is 26 inches long. His weight is in the 25th percentile for his weight, and the 75th for his length. The doctor gave the okay to start spoon-feeding cereals. She followed by saying we should stick with each one we try for at least a week to see if there's any reaction (such as a food allergy or something along those lines). Jack can now roll over from stomach to his back. And he is holding his head up like he's been doing it for years. His legs are getting stronger and readying for the crawling he'll be starting soon and his favorite thing is probably still his swing. However, he's really got into watching movies with Mama lately. He loved the Transformers movie. (Congratulations Daddy, he is a Optimus Prime fan for sure). He's very ticklish and loves to listen to Mama read him books. Thank you to everyone that gifted him a book for Christmas. It means so much to Jeff and I will have the resources to teach our son to love reading and books as much as we do. The biggest (and cutest) development Jack has achieved recently is... laughing!

Jeff:

Everyone will be happy to know that Jeff has been able to pass out blankets to everyone in his platoon! And not only that but he's been able to supply first platoon with blankets too. Now, almost everyone in the battery is supplied with a blanket. Jeff says that they have nothing but good things to say about them. From the soldiers serving there and from their families here too, we would like to extend our deepest thank you to the family and friends that helped make this possible. And a big thank you to my mama, Beth. She organized this and has been working hard to make sure the blankets get sent and the soldiers are taken care of. On a different note, Jeff has recently had the opportunity to change up his schedule a little bit. He was on a convoy detail for a while. Although convoys aren't really any more fun than gun line shifts, I think he was happy to just get a break from the same old, same old.

Kate:

Ah, where to start. We'll start with the the bad. I've had to start seeing a chiropracctor for some back pain I've been having since I gave birth to Jack. At my first appointment, Dr, Brandon Hanes with Hanes Chiropractic out of Chillicothe, Ohio, did a couple of scans and an xray to see what the problem was. He told me that I have a curved spine, pinched nerves in my lumbar spine, and also osteo-arthritis. We are hoping with many treatments and home exercises that it can be repaired and my pain will go away. Because of the severity, he scheduled me to come in every other day since my first appointment last Saturday. Tomorrow is a week from that appointment and it will be my fourth visit. I am getting re-scanned tomorrow to see if the treatments have helped at all. Prayers please!

On, a lighter note, I'm gearing up to start my second session of class at Coastline College. My first day is February 2nd. I recently got my books in the mail and I'm taking Nutrition and Sociology. I'm pretty excited about the Nutrition class. Hopefully I will learn a thing or two about eating right, or maybe even three! That would definitely help me on my weight-loss journey.

Nothing else is really going on with the Davis family. We are a little over halfway done with deployment and couldn't be happier about that. We love our new addition to the family, Luna. She is fitting in just right and she and Jack are best buddies. We are still waiting on orders to see where we will be stationed when Jeff redeploys home. There is about a 65% chance that we will be staying at Fort Lewis in Washington but you never know! We will find out soon enough I suppose.

Bye for now and Love to all!

Quick Update

Okay I've been a VERY busy woman lately, so here's whatcha get.

Kate:
-has been sick lately, but is feeling much better now. Went to the doctor and got some medicines for the dizzies that have continued since pregnancy. It seem to be working so far. An echocardiogram was run on Monday Dec. 21st and the results came back normal.
-is on winter break from college. Also I'm trying to decide what classes to take in Spring quarter. Any suggestions?
-is depressed because of her failing weight loss mission. All my fault. No one else's. I really need to buckle down.
-is exahausted. Six Christmas celebrations down. Two to go.

Jack:
-is smiling like you wouldn't believe. He is a very happy boy these days.
-laughed out loud for the first time on Christmas Eve. At grandpa Kevin!
-is officially spoiled rotten. The amount of toys this kid has is seriously ridiculous.

Jeff:
-is staying put at his FOB. As far as we know he is NOT moving anymore. So MAIL IS A GO! Send as much as you want and often.
-is absolutely loving all the boxes he has recieved. Thank you to everyone that has helped make this holiday season a little bit more bearable for him.
-has been told that he will have orders by February 5th at the latest. Everyone in the Brigade is supposed to have orders by then. This means that by this date, we will know if we are staying at Fort Lewis, Washington for the next 3 years or if we will be PCSing (moving) to a new post.
-is AMAZING. And his wife loves him very much :)



The end.

A Little Readjustment

I'm sitting in Jack's room waiting for him to fall asleep right now because of two reasons. One: he has a cough. Two: he has become much too used to sleeping in mommy's bed. Yesterday it took me 2 hours to get him to sleep in his crib. We're only just now going on one hour tonight and he's pretty close to dream land. So this is a big improvement from last night. I am a little worried about his cough and I think if its not better in the morning I will call the pediatrician. Just to be safe.

Daddy is supposed to be calling sometime tonight but we have yet to hear from him so far. Oh well. I know he will call if he can.

Avery and erin are in the living room watching "madeline" through my free trial of netflix. I found the converter box I needed to hook my computer to the tv. So they are watching the movie right from the internet, but they are watching it on the television. Isn't that cool? I am turning in my cable box to time warner either tomorrow or Friday. I just don't watch cable that much at all. (Only for my weekly guilty pleasure of "Bad Girls Club" on the Oxygen channel, but I will survive). Netflix is great for me. And the offer full past seasons of tons of tv shows. And the best part, its MUCH cheaper this way than paying for cable.

Okay this wind is crazy! The rain was comforting, but this wind is insanity. One of my favorite quotes came from a book I got at Hallmark for my soldier. "You look up and find a dark cloud overhead. It makes you feel sad. But then something starts to fall from above. It's rainshine, and it came straight from the silver lining." So in this case I guess the rainshine, err windshine is that I'm pretty sure I won't have to year blush for the next couple days.. wind burn makes a fairly good rouge!

I just tucked Avery in and the house is quiet. Jack is finally resting peacefully and Avery is well on her way to sleep in my room. I'm cuddled up on the couch with a hot cup of tea getting the very last of my Christmas shopping done. Prayers go out to my mama today. She is not feeling very well. May God heal your aches and make you new again. Love to all and goodnight!

Insomnia

It's five in the morning and my sleep cycle is ALL messed up. Jack has been out since about 2300 and I'm still awake. Obviously the fact that my hubby wakes up for his day around midnight our time has something to do with it. I just can't bring myself to go to sleep when A) I'm not really tired and B) I could be talking to him instead of staring at the ceiling in the dark trying to fall asleep. I think my plan for tonight, er, this morning is to just stay up. I might as well. I'll hope that this will make me tired enough to fall asleep around 2100. I'm hoping to get Jack and I on a 2100-0500 sleep schedule because thats what daddy's is when he's working in the states. We will see how this works out.

The past couple days have been filled with reconnecting with friends I hadn't seen in a while. Mainly, Dustie. Dustie and I have been best friends for quite a long time. We kept in contact when we graduated high school but not as much as we should have and wanted to. It's so good to be around him again. I need trustworthy friends that would help me no matter what if I needed it, and friends that are good with Jack. He definitely fits that description. (And I think my mama is glad to see him again too).

Ashley is another friend that I have missed. Of course I was still seeing her every once in a while, but again like with Dustie, not as much as we wanted. Laura and John watched Jack on Saturday so Ashley and I could head to River Valley mall to get some Christmas shopping done. We had a blast and found tons of really good deals, and I can fully say (with the exception of Ashley and Erin) I'm done with Christmas shopping! Woo! Go me! Well I guess I still have to get Jack's walker but other than that, completely done! AND, everything is wrapped! I know, I'm on a Christmas roll. I'm expecting a recruiting call from the North Pole fairly soon actually.

It's deployment update time! Jeff is, as usual, doing very well. He has recieved most of the boxes that you all have sent out so far. And he would like to say thank you. He loves getting mail and boxes. As most of you are aware already Jeff got word that his platoon will be moving locations. This could be a good or bad thing communication wise. We are not sure yet of the amenities that this new FOB will/does have. Only time will tell I suppose.I have been spreading the word to stop all mail going to Jeff until further notice. Well new information says you are now allowed to send mail to his current address until Friday, December 11th. After the 11th, please hold off on sending anything else until further notice to insure that Jeff will recieve your letter/box. Please pass these instructions along. To end our deployment update I would like to let everyone know that this past week Jeff, along with another medic, was named "Hero of the Week" for his unit. He was recognized for his efforts in helping at the aid station a few locals showed up with severe injuries from an IED. Our soldier is doing his job very well over there and even his superiors are noticing. Congratualations Jeff! Here's a picture of Jeff working on a howitzer that he sent me a couple days ago.

Jack is just over a week away from being 3 months old! I cannot believe my eyes sometimes when I look at him and see how much he's grown. He is now wearing Pampers #2 diapers for infants 12-18 pounds. Just little things like that make me realize how much time is flying. I need to enjoy and document every little moment. The precious moments I experience with him now will be replaced by others soon and I don't ever want to forget them. He is getting very strong, holding his head up to investigate his surroundings constantly. He still is a fan of his swing but usually only when he's sleepy. He loves the new mobile mommy got him as an early Christmas present. It runs on batteries so mommy doesn't have to keep re-winding it. It plays classical music, nature sounds, or a heart beat and has the traditional mobile hanging animals as well as a projector that provides circulating images on the mobile's underneath.

In closing, I'm offering big thanks to everyone that has been in contact with my mama and is donating a blanket to Jeff's unit. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such loving and caring support group. My prayer request for today is for all those military spouses going through the Christmas traditions alone right now. As civilians, most of my readers would never think something as small as putting out your snowman cookie tin would upset you. But the truth is holidays hurt for us and there's no way around it. My prayer is just that God will help you all to find peace this holiday season and love with friends and family. Love to all!

MOVED!

I've (once again) been MIA for quite a few days now. Good reason ahead I promise! I first want to say just how happy I am to be a mommy right now. Jack is asleep on my chest right now and he's just so peaceful. His hand wrapped tightly around his daddy's dogtags like they always are make this is bitterly sweet sight for mommy. Today we have 8 months and 10 days left of this deployment. While most days it seems it's going by fast, today it is lagging. I wish so badly that Jeff were here to share Jack's special moments. Every time he smiles I get tears in my eyes because I know how badly his daddy wishes he was here to witness it. I wish I could stop time for Jeff. I wish I could fix this for him. But I can't and I'm having a really hard time dealing with that today.

In other news, I have moved! Jack and I are now residing in our own apartment. I must say that I did not realize how much I missed having my own place until I got into my own place again. It's so nice to just relax and not feel like a guest. My mama and I love each other until the very end and it's not that I was unhappy living in her house. I just prefer my own space, especially with the new arrival of little man. I look forward to having many dinners and get togethers here with family and friends. I'm in the process of decorating now. When I it mostly finished I will post pictures. In the meantime, call and let's arrange a time for you to come visit Jack and I in our new home.

Jack news:

I am a very proud mama these past few days. My baby boy is sleeping through the night, in his own crib, in his own room for 3 nights running now. He loves the mobile that Grandma Beth bought for him before he arrived and it usually assists in his falling to sleep. He is also (not surprisingly I'm sure) growing like a weed! Eating 6 ounces per feeding now, sometimes more. He absolutely loves his swing, and will spend hours in it if I let him. And a new activity that has become part of our daily routine is kick time. He just loves to lay by himself on the floor and kick. Sometimes that's all he wants, is to be put down for a while and not cooped up in someone's arms. At six weeks old, I couldn't ask for a better little boy.

Daddy news:

From what I hear, Jeff has been able to call a lot of you lately! I'm so glad you've all been able to enjoy hearing his voice. I think it makes the distance a little more bearable to say the least. In our conversation tonight, Jeff told me that they have just opened up the new MWR facility on the FOB today. There are EIGHTEEN computers inside and he says it's set up very nicely with many more amenities. The gym is supposed to open very soon and he is quite excited about that as well. He also said that they are working on laying foundation for three more rows of CHU's (their living quarters). And when those are done, they will probably be living 1 person per CHU as opposed to the 2 per CHU they are living now. It will be very nice for the soldiers to be able to have that complete privacy that I'm sure they've been missing since July.

Overall today has been a pretty laid back day for Jack and I. We watched the Buckeyes kick some Aggie butt at Michelle's house today, picked up a few things on the way home, and have really just relaxed the rest of the day. Mommy probably should have been working on hanging some pictures or folding some laundry but oh well. A break every now and then doesn't hurt anyone. I'm about to lay this 10 pounds of sleeping baby down in his crib, have a cup of hot tea with some cookies, and then head to bed myself. Goodnight and love to all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDDAD!

In response to the title, I'd like to first off wish a happy birthday one of the most amazing men I know. Little Jack has big shoes to fill. Jeff wishes he could be here to celebrate with you, Granddad. May you have a wonderful rest of your birthday week (since today is over) and may God bless you with many more birthdays! I love you. And so does #2! :)

Jack has his 1 month check-up yesterday morning. After mommy (9 lbs 15 oz) and daddy (9lbs 2 oz) both took bets on his weight the winner is...... neither of us! Jack weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs 2 oz! The doctor said thats right on track for his age. He is a little ahead in the length department, measuring at 22 1/4 inches. He definitely didn't get his height from me or Jeff. Jack was such a good boy. Didn't cry at all, just squirmed around and grunted and cooed like he always does. After the doctor's appointment we had lunch with Grandpa Kevin at his work. He was more than ready to show of his grandson to his co-workers. And of course everyone was more than ready to admire my handsome little man. Mommy even got lunch out of the visit! My favorite lunch was ready for me, baked chicken breast, green beans, and mashed potatoes, yum! The rest of the day was filled with a trip to walmart for formula, a trip to Hobby Lobby for polymer clay tools, and dinner with Ashley at Steak & Shake.

Today, I'm feeling so very accomplished, having cleaned the entire basement, getting all my laundry done, finishing 20 more charms, working on spanish homework, and still having time to do my daily duties as a mother! Just wanted to share about my superwoman day! Tonight, Jack and I had dinner at Aunt Chris's house for Granddad's birthday. The house was filled with the intoxicating smell of Nanny's cooking as soon as I opened the door. I told her she really should include a warning label on her food, "This product is addicting and could cause you too consume too much, resulting in the immediate gain of 5-10 pounds." Because I know I gained at least 2 tonight! Oh well, it was well worth it! Thank you Nanny for the wonderful meal. I think I will have to get the recipe from you for that chicken. I loved the breading or whatever you call it (please skip over my lack of culinary knowledge).

Too tired to concentrate enough to start some charms tonight, I am heading to bed. Jack is already there and I'm not far behind. Love to all!

Just can't get enough Jack

"Daddy is my super hero"

Getting into the Halloween spirit!

Hanging out with great-grandma Bouillion

Nothing too exciting today. Jack slept midnight to 6am then 7am to 10am. Which obviously means I got the same resting hours. Gosh, I love my little boy. I didn't hear from my other love today. I think the communications are out maybe. I'm hopeful for a phone call tomorrow. Upon waking up at ten, I fed Jack and then he enjoyed his swing for a while during mommy's shower. Following, we went for a walk around the corral. Jack fell back to sleep thanks to the rocky, bumpy ride. At 2pm we met Great-grandma Bouillion and Great-Aunt Kathy for lunch at Charley's. Grandma and Aunt Kat tried everything they could muster to awaken the zombie baby. They mostly failed, only succeeding when Jack decided he was hungry enough to open eyes to eat. We sat in the dining room of Charley's Steakery for THREE HOURS! Of course we weren't actually eating for that long, mostly just visiting, catching up with each other, and etc. It was nice. We, hopefully, will do it again soon. We picked up some more formula on the way out of town and headed to grandpa Kevin's house for a visit. Grandpa was, as always, completely elated by his grandson. The smile on his face just lights up my day. I'm glad that he is having such a great relationship with his grandson already. It's so cute! :)

Now we are home and relaxing for the rest of the night. Long day makes mommy a baby tired! Goodnight and love to all!

Splish Splash

Jack had his first real bath last night. Up until this point he's had sponge bathes while we were waiting for his umbilical cord stump to disconnect. But before bedtime last night, he actually got to sit is his infant tub in the water. He didn't cry at all! In fact, I think he sort of enjoyed it. I gave him his pacifier and he just sat contently while I proceeded to wash him up. Just wanted to share! Here's some pictures.

"Ooooo.. why am I in water?"

"Thanks mama, that feels good"

Washin' the hair

All done!

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!

3 weeks and counting

Our baby boy is three weeks old! NO WAY! He is growing extremely too fast. Seems like just yesterday I was heading to the hospital to have him. His face has changed so much since just 21 days ago. He looks less like a newborn and more like a chubby-cheeked baby every single day. Also, to me at least, I see his daddy in him more and more each day as well. (Which I'm completely okay with!). I think that I'm falling into my role as a mother pretty well, and a single mother at that. Avery has been sick since Monday and mom has been caring for her. Since I have such a low immune system and because Jack is so little, we've been strictly confining ourselves to our basement apartment. Only climbing the stairs to the next floor when we have to. As a result, I have been thrown into the single-mothering lifestyle fairly quickly. I went from having a daddy to help and lots of visitors to help to it just being me 24/7. But really, it hasn't been all that bad. Jack is definitely cooperative in the effort. I wouldn't be half as happy with our routine if he wasn't such a good little boy. He sleeps mostly through the night (11pm-8am), only waking up once around 3-4am to eat. He sits peaceful in his swing (which I set in the bathroom) and allows me to shower and dry my hair, do my makeup, etc. Most time he is just content as long as he's close to me. He even does well on our outings, just chilling out and looking around from his stroller. I'm so appreciative of all these things. I think daddy must have maybe had a talk with him before he left about being good for mommy ;) So here's to you Jack, mommy's little man!

Introducing.. the poop-face

My mom has always joked about how, when I was a baby, I used to make this specific face when I was pooping. I laughed it off every time she reminded me of this.. until these past couple days. Jack definitely gets this face from me. While this face is cute, you have NO idea what kind of mess is lurking about 10 inches south from this decieving adorableness. I truly belief that God made babies cute because otherwise people wouldn't like them. Don't mistake my words for meaning I don't like my son, I love my son dearly and wholey. But my lord is he stinky sometimes! I had no idea his little body could even produce such a "show". We have been lucky enough to only get a few of the dreaded explosive "gifts" so far. But I have heard that the TNT gets worse and more frequent with age. I guess we will find out. For all of you out there with children, why didn't you warn me? hello? And for all of my family/friends without children, I'm more than happy to be your poop-face warning liason to the parenting world.

Past couple days have been nothing out of the ordinary. Jeff and I are enjoying our time together and trying not to think about him leaving. We've mostly just stayed home lately. The UPS man brought me my books for school yesterday! I'm so excited to start at the end of this month and seeing the books, the physical evidence that I'm really re-entering the education world, that just made me even more excited. Last night, my husband and I enjoyed a "date night" at Olive Garden, just the two of us. My mom offered to watch the baby for us so we could have some time out of the house alone for the first time since he's been home (and last time most likely). I achieved a big accomplishment just in leaving the house without Jack. I have been very emotionally unstable in that area thanks to post-partum hormones. But last night, I did it. I was able to put my worries aside and enjoy my husband (and the breadsticks! yum!). Just wanted to congratulate myself, so thanks for letting me gloat.

Currently this morning, the boys are out "huntin' squirrel." By boys I mean Steven and Jeff. Steven has been a staple here at the Hartshorn/Krebs/Davis household lately. He and Jeff are so funny together. They have one of the most genuine friendships I've ever known. Living proof that some people in this chaotic world we call life really can be fully trustworthy and good-hearted friends. Sometimes I tend to look for the bad in the world and forget the good. Bad often overshadows good, but the good will always overcome the bad.

14 day old night owl

Jack is 2 weeks old today, well he will be at 15:37. He has changed so much since he was born. He is awake a lot more these days. Unfortunately, its mostly been during the nighttime recently. He was doing so good, and now it seems that his days and nights are confused. I guess it is to be expected with infants, especially newborns. Daddy and I are just hanging in there, and so are the bags under our eyes.

Good news for today: Jack had his 2 week check up and he is healthy as can be! He weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces, which is 10 ounces up from last week, and 6 ounces up from his birth weight. Go Jack! Somehow I'm not surprised considering he loves his bottle. Sometimes we have to take it from him because it seems he is trying to suck that thing inside out! He's eating about 4 ounces every four hours now, sometimes less, often more. We've started to recieve the oh so pleasant blessing of formula fed, horribly smelly diapers. Who would have thought that such a little person can make such a big mess?

Blogs have been few and far between lately, I know. I'm enjoying my family for this short amount of time I have them both together in one place. Everything else is negotiable right now. I promise the updates will pick back up soon. I'm not looking forward to Jeff leaving (obviously). I get kind of panicky when I think about it right now. Could be the hormones, could just be that I'm more in love with him right now than ever. Seeing him with our baby boy, its just amazing. He's such a good daddy already. You can tell that he loves his "little man" as he's come to call him, more than anything. Andddddd..... he loves me! And I'm going to miss him. I know, I know.. Right now you're saying "It'll be okay Kate, he'll be home soon, and you have Jack now, and blah blah blah." I don't mean to offend anyone trying to encourage me, but you can never understand until you've been there. It's a different kind of hurt, a different kind of worry. One you can't prevent and can't turn off, ever. My husband is the only one that I want to talk to about it, when he's gone. I'm going to miss his arms around me. That's my safe zone. I feel like nothing can hurt me there. When I look into his eyes right now, I see that he doesn't want to leave either. But we don't talk about it much. As much as it hurts to admit it, we've kind of fallen into a routine for him leaving out of habit. And we've done it without ever discussing it. We don't talk about it or plans for the day he leaves until we absolutely have to. We almost act like its not happening soon. Sometimes of course, I have breakdowns, and I cry, and I tell him I don't want him to leave. I feel so badly when I do that, because I don't ever want him to feel guilty for the huge, courageous sacrifice he's making in fighting for his country. But he never fails to make everything better when I have those breakdowns. He just sits with me and holds me until I've calmed down, and thats exactly what I need at those times. Amazing, how he knows exactly what I need huh? I couldn't ask for anything more/better. He's my only need. He and Jack are everything in this world to me. I try to always tell myself that when he's gone, he's gone for good reason. He's helping protect other people's families... Other people's everything.

:)

Its been 9 whole days since I last wrote but as many of you know, I have much good reasoning for that. My baby boy is HERE! and my husband is HERE! I do not even have words to explain how happy I am (notice the title). It feels like everything is right again. My life is together and nothing can touch me right now, nothing can break me.

Jackie James Davis II was born on September 17th, 2009 at 3:37pm. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. And if I do say so myself, he was the cutest baby in the nursery. Getting him here was not the easiest task in the world, but it was definitely worth the prize. I woke my mom up at 1:30am on Wednesday the 18th because my contractions were 5 minutes apart and getting stronger rapidly. She called the doctor and we headed for the hospital. Upon getting there, I was 7cm dilated already, so they took me straight to the birthing room. They were thinking I would be delivering fairly soon. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I cried through contractions for the first 2 hours, and then my savior came! Mr. Epidural came to stay with me starting at around 4am and I was able to get some sleep for a couple hours. Around 8am, they checked me and I was at 9cm! With the baby coming soon obviously, Dr. Parks had me start to push for practice. Everything was going well, and then the monitor said otherwise. Jack's heartrate dropped. And it didn't come back up. Dr. Parks gave the word for an emergency C-section and the room turned to a chaotic, scary mess. People running everywhere unhooking me from monitors, syringes shooting meds into my IV and epidural tubes, doctors and anesthesiologists frantically explaining risks to me. I just started crying, I was so scared. I didn't know what was happening, and most of all I just wanted to know that Jack was okay and no one would tell me that he was. They wheeled me towards the door and Dr. Parks stopped and said "wait, lets hook him back up and see, I think he's okay" And sure enough, Jack's heartrate was a strong 130's on average. I was still really scared, but nothing was more comforting than that constant, stron beat on the monitor. So, I got to continue with my labor. A couple hours after the mess of frantic people cleared out, I started to feel my contractions. Dr. Parks came in  and checked me around 2pm and I was 9cm still and miserable. Because I had been stuck at this dilation for SO long, he offered a C-section and regardless of my want to deliver him naturally, I knew that at this point a C-section was what was best for us. I would deal with the recovery if it meant this pain would go away and I would have him safely in my arms sooner. Dr. Parks said that the anesthesiologist would be coming in to make me more comfortable and after he delivered some other women that couldn't wait, I would be having my C-section. Well, he left and the contractions got worse, and worse, and worse. I couldn't speak really, I just cried to my mom to make it stop. I can remember her leaving the room a couple times to ask where the anesthesiologist was. The anesthesiologist never came. I labored, stuck at 9cm, with contractions every 1-2 minutes for 1 1/2 hours with NO relief of meds. My nurse came in and mom told her I was still hurting and she said that sometimes the meds don't work. Mom told her the anesthesiologist never came, and the nurse looked up and said "I am going to kill someone." Obviously she had no idea of this. I was wheeled straight into the operating room after that because I was in so much pain. My little boy was delivered with my mama by my side. I got to see him for about a minute and kiss his forehead before they took him. I told my mom to go with him. He needed to get an IV for meds, and be put under oxygen because of a fluid in his lungs. I didn't get to see him again until the next morning (Friday) after I was allowed to get up from my bed and go to the nursery. After two successful feedings that were anything but easy to achieve, he was able to get the IV removed and be sent to my room to be with me! We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday bonding and seeing visitors, and were able to go home Saturday morning!

I must say that even with finally being happily at home, Saturday felt like it was NEVER going to end. Why? Because we were impatiently waiting for daddy to arrive that evening. Nanny and Granddad picked him up from the Columbus airport at 5pm after hours and hours of flying to get home to his wife and son. He got to my mom's house a little before 7pm. I've never been so nervous in my life. I'm not sure why, but I was so anxious to see my own husband this time. We've said goodbye and said hello again many many times, but this time was different, someone else was saying hello too! I walked outside with my mom's help with Jack in my arms and Jeff's eyes lit up immediately I could feel him getting closer as he was walking but I couldn't take my eyes off his eyes. I could see every emotion through them. I could feel how close he was, and as he got closer it felt like every step took an hour. Finally I felt his arms around me! Finally, my family was together. Finally, Jeff was looking at our son smiling and tearing up just like I had imagined. It was almost a surreal experience, I can't explain it any other way. Jeff had said before that he didnt want to touch Jack until he had showered for fear of spreading some kind of weird Afghanistan germ onto him. And he held himself to that, showering so fast I thought his skin might fall off. He took his son into his arms and couldn't even move. He looked like he thought if he did, everything would disappear. I think until he held Jack, it was all just a thought to him until he actually felt him. My husband and I welcomed our son together on his first night in his crib. My family in the mirror is the greatest sight I've ever seen. I'm sitting here with my husband holding me, and my son sleeping peacefully by the bay window and I want to stay here forever. Someone please hand me the remote so I can push pause. Whoever you are that hands it to me, will have given me the greatest gift in the world.