Happy Homecoming!!!

He's finally home! The homecoming was so great. It was an unforgettable moment.

The boys have their daddy back!

We were interviewed for the local news channel.

We're down to hours!

Its surreal.  I cannot believe that in only a couple of hours my husband will be back from his 7 month long deployment.  

I have stayed very busy so far today which is perfect.  I bathed and dressed the boys.  Mason is taking a nap and the big boys are watching cartoons.  I showered, did my hair and makeup.  We hung the "Welcome Home" banner outside on the porch.  Now we just wait...only a little while longer and I will have my husband back.  I'm so excited, I could burst!

2 More Days!!!!!

My baby is comin' home!  I'm so excited and that doesn't even begin to describe how I really feel.

Dominic and the rest of the guys went on lock-down today.  They won't have access to anything and they can't leave their designated area.  Its all for security and customs.  I got one last email from him this morning.

Tomorrow they will fly out and I should hear from him sometime really early in the morning on Saturday.

I can't believe its finally here.  Its been way too long.  So much has happened since December 1st.  Many people said that it would go fast and in some ways it probably did.  Overall, I would say that it did not go fast.  When I think back about that time I realize how much I accomplished.

Sylvan twice per week

after school math tutoring

LOTS of doctors appointments and immunizations

getting the house painted

having some electrical issues fixed

having the washing machine fixed

Dad replacing lighting, electrical sockets and switches and a new toilet

starting and trying new medications for Christian

dealing with Christians teacher this year

staying on track with my weight loss

getting the cars in for service, oil changes and inspections

finding a dependable person to mow the lawn for me

finding a babysitter then losing her :(

holidays and birthdays

family drama

meals, naps, baths, bedtime stories

crying, yelling, screaming

smiles, laughs and special memories

Its been a rewarding time for me because I learned that I can live without Dominic if I have to.  I hope I never have to again, at least not for this long.  I did gain some much needed independence.  I also know that I couldn't have made it through this without so many people.  My sister has always been there, online, all day for me to talk to or vent if the need was there.  She has helped me find confidence in myself.  My dad was always a phone call away if I needed help and boy did I need help :)  Thanks dad!  Jim and Patty (my in-laws) have called lots of times to check in on us.  They helped make birthdays special.  My friends, you know who you are, have been amazing support.  Two of them have done this before and offered lots of encouragement and understanding.  I love you guys!

Its almost over :)

He's Coming Home!

Dominic got his itinerary today.  He'll be home Saturday afternoon.  I just can't believe how amazing it feels to know that he's really about to be home again.  The boys will have their daddy back and I will have my best friend back.  I cannot wait to see him.  I know there will be a lot of tears but it will be a joyous day.  I don't even have the words to describe my happiness.  

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day babe.  We wish you were home.  We love you and we'll see you soon.

Happy Father's Day dad!  We love you and miss you very much.

Sucky Day

Every morning I wake up and check my email hoping to see some type of definite flight arrangements for Dominic and his team to come home.  Every morning there's nothing.  I emailed Dominic and received one back from him later in the morning.  He said that there was bad news.  GREAT!

They were not scheduled to fly out on the 21st.  Instead they MIGHT fly out on the 24th or 26th.  Dominic said that their 1st Sgt. had to step in because the travel rep. wasn't doing his job...AGAIN!  

I don't even have words to describe the sadness and disappointment I felt this morning.  I was just deflated.  How can they keep getting our hopes up just to be crushed in a matter of days before they were due to be home?  

Another issue is that there has been no communication from this end (Dominic's squadron) to any of us spouses.  It amazed me to find out today that they didn't even know that the new team had arrived and have taken over for our guys.  There is a major lack of communication and organization and the people who pay for it are the guys and their families.  Its a huge disappointment.  

I am pissed off, angry, sad, disappointed and depressed.  That is probably only a speck of what Dominic is feeling.  

Happy Appointment

I had another appointment today.  I couldn't take the boys to the hourly daycare because that's only available on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I wish I had known about that when I made this appointment.  We went loaded down with drawing stuff, toys and snacks.  Ayden and I colored, Christian drew and Mason sat in his stroller eating goldfish.  We only sat for about 5 minutes before we were called back.  Thank goodness.  We were out of there within 30 minutes.  I couldn't ask for much better than that.  I made my next appt. for a Thursday ;)

The boys have been pretty good today.  Mason took a good nap (not 4 hours, but good anyway).  I laid down while he napped which was nice.  The big boys watched cartoons and were fine.  I'm not sure why I was so tired but it felt good to sleep a little bit extra.

We're still waiting to hear from Dominic about travel plans.  No news as of yet.

I know my man!

Dominic called me today.  Just as I suspected he was checking my myspace and blog for pictures of my new hair.  That is exactly why I didn't post any pictures :)  Sneaky bugger!

We had a fairly productive day today.  I took the boys to get haircuts then a run to Sam's Club.  Gotta love Sams!  We came home and Mason took a 4 hour nap!  Whoa!  That was great.  The big boys were very irritable today though.  They just couldn't get along at all.  These kind of days are exhausting.

We are hoping to hear tomorrow what the definite flight plans are.  Its getting very ridiculous.  There are a lot of people who are waiting.  

I have another doctors appointment tomorrow.  I hate these appointments because I have to take the boys.  I hope it goes fast.  Sure wish I hadn't lost my babysitter!

Interesting weekend

It was quite an eventful weekend...both good and bad.

Friday was Christian's last day at camp.  I got a phone call at 4:30 from the camp nurse saying that Christian was not feeling well.  He complained of a bad headache and was really hot.  The nurse wanted to know if I wanted to come get him so that he could ride home in an A/C car instead of the bus.  Well it would take me 30 minutes or more to get out to the camp site which would be just after 5 pm which is when the bus arrives at the pick up spot.  I asked her to give him a cold bottle of water and put him on the bus.  When I picked him up they had arrived in a 15 passenger van with A/C.  I don't know if that was just for him or not.  He was fine.  They had spent most of the day in the pool and he was tired and hot and most likely dehydrated.  He fell right to sleep at bedtime and was fine the next day.

Saturday morning I had a hair appointment at 8 am.  My friend, Leslyn made me an appointment with her hair stylist with the help of my sister.  It was my birthday present from my sister.  I dropped off the boys with Leslyn and went to get my hair done.  It had been 6 months since I last had a hair cut and I was about to the point where I wanted to shave my head.  My hair was dry and brittle and so unhealthy.  I was pulling it back into a ponytail every chance I got.  

I had been waiting for this hair appt. for so long.  I wanted to do something VERY different.  Another opportunity for me to step outside my box.  And boy did I step out!  I love...no LOVE my hair!  It's everything that I had hoped for.  I'm not posting a picture or placing a description because I don't want Dominic to know what I did.  He knows that I got my hair done and he was hoping I would do something drastic.  He just doesn't know what I did.  He doesn't know if its dark or light or blue!   Hahaha.  I'm excited that I might actually be able to pull off this surprise.  We'll see.

On Saturday night we had a huge thunder and lightening storm go right over us.  It was the second most intense storm that I have seen since we've been here.  It did a lot of damage to trees and fences.  We lost power at 9:30 pm.  That was right about the time that Christian came to me to let me know that there was something in his hair.  I figured it was probably a piece of clay or something.  Nope!  It was a tick!  Gross!  It hadn't been there for long by the looks of it.  I did manage to get it out (head and all) in candlelight.  I didn't want Christian to know what it was until I got it out.  I didn't know if he would freak out or not.  Better to not find out I figured.  He was fine.  

We went to bed and in the morning the power still hadn't come back on.  I messed with the breaker box a little and no luck.  Around 12:30 in the afternoon I went outside to find out if my neighbors had power or not.  Our next door neighbor didn't but the ones across the street did.  I was glad that it wasn't just me.  By about 3:30 I was going insane.  It was so hot and SO humid!  It was so bad that we left the house at one point just so we could be in the A/C car.  I finally called my dad because I thought maybe I had messed something up when I messed with the breaker box.  He saved my butt once again.  I  had turned off power to the whole house and I tried several times throughout the day to switch it back but the switch wouldn't budge.  Anyway, dad walked me through it and I could have done a cartwheel (something I never mastered....even as a kid) when all the lights started coming on.  I couldn't get the A/C on fast enough.  My dad has saved my a** so many times while Dominic has been gone.  There's no way I could thank him enough!

That was my weekend!  Now its Monday and I'm hoping that by about this time next Monday I will be seeing my husband.  Life can't get much better than that.  Dominic is hoping to hear the definite travel plans by tomorrow.  I hope so.

Update on Homecoming

Dominic called last night.  We talked again about how much we can't wait to see each other and the boys.  Its so close now!

This morning over email with Dominic something wasn't right.  I could tell that something was not good.  I asked and he said that he had a very bad day.

Dominic was giving the new team a tour and went to see the guy that handles all of the travel arrangements, we'll call him "the travel guy" since I don't know what his official title is.  The travel guy said something to Dominic about leaving on the 25th.  Dominic asked if he had him confused with another team.  Apparently not.  The travel guy never confirmed their seats for the flight on the 19th and now there won't be a plane at all on the 19th.  TSgt B. lost her mind according to Dominic and managed to get them on the flight for the 21st.  So that's how where it stands now.  They will leave on the 21st which of course happens to be Father's Day.  We had hoped for him to be home by then.  

Dominic is PISSED and of course everyone involved is disappointed.  As for myself, I'm disappointed but its only two more days.  It could have been 6 more days!  I'm trying to keep my eye on the prize, so to say.  

I have a hair appointment on Saturday and my friend is going to keep the kids for me.  I'm really looking forward to having a new hair cut and color and some time alone.  Dominic will be home very soon, and I cannot wait!

Giddy like a school-girl

The doorbell rang and look what was there!  Dominic sent me these beautiful flowers.  I was very surprised because I was not expecting flowers!  I love the note too :)
We are nine days away from our long awaited homecoming with Dominic.  I cannot wait to see him.  We have been talking and planning, un-planning and so on.  First Dominic wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse to eat on the way home.  I told him that I would rather come home first then go out if he wants to do that.  Then he said that he would rather come home, stay home and relax, play with the boys and spend time quietly as a family.  I was glad to hear that.  That's what I would like to do also.  We will play it by ear because it will all depend on what time they get here.

I am so excited and those words don't do it any justice.  I am giddy and sometimes get a nervous jump in my stomach when I think about Dominic.  Its almost like when we were dating.  I used to get so nervous about seeing him that my hands would shake uncontrollably.  He still teases me about how I used to shake around him.  I just can't wait to see him, hug and kiss him and have him back!

Sickly

Three of the four of us are sick.  That's how it goes.  It started with Ayden, then Mason and me.  Ayden seemed to be feeling good all weekend until yesterday when he ran a fever.  He took a nap yesterday...that's how I know he's not feeling good.  He woke up this morning not feeling good either.

Mason is feeling much better but still has a runny nose.

I started to feel sick yesterday.  I'm going to do everything I can to keep it under control.  I have been drinking airborne.  I hope it helps.

Dominic called last night.  He picked up their relief from the airport last night.  He said that they will have a couple days of in-processing and he hopes to have them trained and flying missions by Saturday.  He said that the tents are great but they'll do.

We talked a lot about when he gets home.  We both can't wait to be a family again.  We are already getting requests for taco/fajita night from some friends :)  Christian asked me this morning if we can have tacos tonight.  Maybe I will make my version.

Christian's day camp is going well.  He's really enjoying it.  They do lots of crafts and art activities and they get to swim everyday.  He loves that!

I want my baby back!

My poor baby Mason has been very sick this weekend.  He started with a runny nose on Friday morning.  He was very fussy, and crying most of the day.  By afternoon he was running and fever which I was trying to control with Tylenol.  He took three naps.  When he woke up from his last nap, he was burning up and I had given him the Tylenol only an hour and a half before.  I took his temperature and he was running 104.7!  That completely freaked me out.  I took off his clothes and put him in a cold bath.  He screamed and cried the whole time but I had to try to get his fever down.  I called my friend Leslyn.  She's an RN.  I guess I just wanted confirmation that I needed to take him to the ER.  She said yes, absolutely take him.  So I dropped the big boys off with her and went straight to the ER.  We went straight into triage and she gave him some Motrin.  Then we were sent over to Urgent Care.  We got straight into a room and the doc came right in...I guess they weren't busy yet.  So his fever was going down and he was obviously feeling better.  It turns out that he has his first ear infection.  We got a couple of prescriptions and were out of there within 40 minutes.

I knew it was going to be a long night and I couldn't have been more correct.  Mason slept from 9 pm until about 12:30 am.  I went to bed but hadn't fallen asleep by the time he woke up at midnight.  He stayed awake until 3:45 am.  He and I slept on the extra bed in his room for one hour when he woke up at 4:45 am.  Then we went back to sleep together at 6 am until 7:45 am.  That's it.  That is all the sleep that we got and I thought I was going to die!  I was SO tired.  All day yesterday was long and horrible.  Mason didn't feel good and cried almost all day.  He only took one nap.  He went to bed at 7 pm, I put the boys to bed at 8:30 pm and I went to bed at 9 pm.  Mason woke up for the first time at 1:30 am and went back to sleep at about 3:45 and slept until 7:45 this morning.  It wasn't perfect but I finally got some sleep.  I'm not sure what I would have done if I hadn't.

Mason is feeling much better today.  He ate some scrambled eggs with cheese and went back to bed.  I'm hoping that we can get out of the house for a little while today.  The boys were very bored yesterday.  Maybe we can go to the park or something.

Dominic is hearing that they got a flight for the 19th instead of the 17th.  It's not certain...just what he heard.  They will be moving from their dorms to the tents tomorrow.  He says they're junk.  I just hope that the last couple weeks goes quick for him and us.  We have two more weeks to go.  I can't wait to see him!

Christian starts his Scouts Day Camp tomorrow.  He will catch a bus at 8am and be back at 5pm Monday-Friday just for this next week.  He will have a blast and I know he will learn a lot.

The Countdown Begins

Dominic gave me the "all clear" to go ahead and make a countdown chain for Ayden.

Summer: Day One

Today was the first official day of the beginning of Summer for us.  That really just means that Christian is home now.

Ayden woke up and turned the TV on.  He doesn't know how to change the channels so he watched The Daily Show With Jon Stewart on Comedy Central.  I think I will just set the channel to Noggin before I go to bed that way when he wakes up and turns on the TV, its good to go.  Christian slept in again.  He woke up around 10:30 am.  Mason and I were up at 9 am.  Wow!  It's great to sleep in once in a while.

Last night we had a friend and her 11 month old son over.  Her name is Jordan and her son is Cooper.  Her husband is over there with Dominic and they live only a few blocks away.  She is the one I went to the Garage Party with.  Anyhow, I made spaghetti and salad.  She brought over some garlic bread and dessert.  We talked and dreamt about the homecoming :)  Her son Cooper fell and hit his head on one of the wooden chairs (we think).  No one was near him and all the sudden he started screaming.  He split open his eye lid a little bit below his eyebrow.  We discussed stitches but she was okay with just letting it heal.  The cut didn't look very deep.  Hopefully it won't scar.  Aside from that we had a nice relaxing evening.  Ayden wanted to run with Jordan so they went into the front yard and raced across the grass.  That was cute.

We didn't have any plans for the day but I did need to get Mason some milk.  We hung out and I picked up the house a little bit.  Dominic and I emailed a few times and then he called.  He talked to both of the boys.  Ayden mostly likes to talk about camping.  He LOVES to go camping.  That is what he wants to do when daddy gets back.

My lawn guy came by to mow today.  I've only had him mowing the front yard and around to the alley but not the back.  The back yard has lots of sticks and pine cones from our two pine trees and its NOT a nice backyard by any means.  Well the weeds were really starting to get tall and I just figured at this point by the time Dominic gets home and gets around to cleaning it up back there the weeds will be waist high!  So I asked the guy to go around back and let me know how much he would charge me to mow it.  He said 5 bucks!  I pay him $20 to do just the front.  He said that he normally charges $25 for front and back.  What a deal!  So I gave him $10 for the back since it was such a mess then when he comes back I will start paying him $25 to do both front and back.  I paid Christian $3 to pick up all the sticks and pine cones too.  He also discovered a dead bird.  Hmm, I wonder how it got there.  Did it fall out of the sky?  Interesting.

We went to the grocery store to get some milk and fruit, came home and had dinner.

Ayden has a weird cough going today.  Its not constant but its pretty hoarse.  I hope he's okay tomorrow.  If he is, I am going to take Ayden and Mason to day care and Christian and I are going to the movies together.  We are going to see the new Night at the Museum.  Christian has been wanting to see it.  The only bad part is that from what I have seen in the previews, there is a huge computer generated octopus!  I am deathly afraid of them as irrational as that may be.  So we'll see how that goes.  I'm hoping that Ayden is feeling okay.