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These last few months have been pretty hectic to say the least! 

First, we had Halloween. This year was a lot more fun because Elsa is finally old enough to acutally enjoy Trick or Treating and we really enjoyed showing her off. We dressed her up in matching pink poncho and pants then painted her face like a pig nose. She HATED the ears and tail till she saw in the mirror that she looked like her most favorite animal. After that the WHOLE night she kept oinking like a little piggy :)

Then came THE NEWS. We were moving. The army like to do that, just randomly move you. This news came the begining of November and we had to report to our new duty station in just over 30 days! That left NO time to sell or rent the house out, not to mention packing and the fact that our report date meant we would not be able to go home for Christmas, the one time a year I get to see my family. I was heart broken. My husband worked tirelessly to try to get his orders changed but was only able to get his report date delayed. Instead of reporting on December 10th, we would be reporting on December 28th. And to make matters worse he would be deploying shortly after reporting. My husband has been in the Army for almost 4 years now and somehow John has never deployed. Its not been by choice, thats just how it has ended up. But with a move and a deployment coming up I was terrified. Not only would I have to adjust to a new town, new people, new places, new everything...but I was also going to have to adjust to being a single parent for a year. But with the delay in report date I was going to be able to go home for Christmas -I literally jumped for joy- and push come to shove John could report to Ft. Campbell without me and stay in the barracks while I stayed with family till our house sold or got rented out. And to add to the 'good' news we would also have time to do a nice Thanksgiving dinner. So we invited some friends and I got started on the preparations. 

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I brined an 18 lb turkey in the crisper drawer and let it soak for a good 4 days. Normally I would have done this in the sink, but with the pre-packing and decluttering I was doing I definitely needed both my sinks, so I had to get creative. Anyway, Thanksgiving was a hit, but our friends flaked out and we ended up with WAY more food than our little family of 3 could eat. Sadly, a lot of that delicious food ended up spoiling and had to be thrown out.

Then it was time to start planning for Christmas, all while scrambling to get the house ready to show. I had friends come over to help with the cleaning but it still felt like I wasnt REALLY getting anything done. You'd be amazed at all the little crap that settles into the corners when you've been in a house for 3 years! I had gotten a lot of it done, but there was still going to be a lot of cleaning that John would have to do before showing the house. I was rediculously stressed out. 

Then, just a few days before I was due to leave for Az we get news that we wont be moving after all! I was both relieved and enraged. I had just jumped through flaming hoops, dangled over shark infested waters to get the house even somewhat presentable and psyching myself up about this move and deployment and suddenly its not happening? None of it? Are you serious?!

Then there was this thing with the tickets for our flight to Az and Elsa ended up having to fly on a different flight with her dad. Oh boy. I was worried. I trust John with her, just... He'd never flown with her before, and the seperation anxiety, plus the stress of flying made Elsa unbearable. Luckily, no one killed anyone and everyone survived intact and without lasting damage. Our trip to Az was actually quite nice! In years past John and I have annoyed eachother to point where by the time he had to return home I was more than glad to see him go. With the changes that we have been able to make with the help of the Real Love books by Dr. Greg Baer, this trip was really nice. I was able to spend as much time at my mom and dad's as I wanted, spend an equally plesant amount of time with John's family, as well as spend some quality time with just John and Elsa. By the time John had to return home we were genuinely not looking forward to being apart. 

That time apart was really good us though. The welcome I received was wonderful and things have been pretty awesome lately. John and I seem to understand eachother better and the fact that my little home buisness is doing well has helped take some of the stress off John. I think he admires how much effort I am putting into this buisness and that I am succeeding at something. Being successful is really important to him.

Elsa developed some awful sleep issues while we were on vacation, and for a while we thought maybe it was a sign of Autism or Asperger's Syndrome. After all, she does have 2 second cousins with Autism, and 2 first cousins with Asperger's, and a dad with ADD. It's entirely likely that she has some sort of sensivity or attention issue going on, and all 3 of those conditions can present with sleep issues, so we have been concerned. We've resolved to have her evaluated just to be certain but since returning home the sleep issues seem to slowly be resolving themselves. But she went 3 weeks where she hardly slept at all, and when she did she either fought going to bed, or woke up with night terrors. Either way she usually spent at least an hour a night screaming bloody murder, no matter what we did. On a few nights she screamed for nearly 3 hours straight. Thankfully she is going to bed easier now and without medications. Hopefully its completely resolved soon, but for now its at least manageable.

Anyway, that's what has been going on with us these last few months. Like I said, its been crazy. 2013 has been pretty interesting so far to say the least!




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    Jacquie Fought

    I am wife, mother, lover, housekeeper and cook. I'm imperfect, so is my husband,
    and so is my marriage. And I wouldn't have it any other way!

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