Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

The day after Christmas is as good of a day as any to pick this blog back up, right?  While I did have a pretty good Christmas Day, it certainly wasn't the happiest of days.  Remember that post I shared about six months ago mentioning a possibility of my husband deploying?  He wasn't selected for that mission (which is good, as the hypothetical four-month time frame which was being tossed around turned into one year).  But he was picked up for another one which saw him leave ahead of the holidays for six months.

My daughter and I spent Thanksgiving Day home alone with our pups.  I prepared a scaled-down version of Thanksgiving dinner, complete with usual dishes such as stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, and Abby's great grandmother's sweet potato casserole.

Before we found out about the possibility of my husband deploying, we had planned on traveling to see family for Christmas ahead of the holiday, returning on Christmas Eve in order to have Christmas morning in our own home, so that Abby could see what Santa brought her under her own tree after waking up from her own bed.  While I know she's still too young to remember it at 18-months old, I really wanted to begin our own Christmas traditions as a family.

Once the deployment orders were handed down, I immediately thought about just staying home for Christmas, but my husband insisted that I still follow through with the plans we had laid out to visit with his family in Georgia and Tennessee.

While traveling solo with a toddler was no easy feat, I'm very glad that I stuck to our original plans and made the trip to spend time with my in-laws.  She got to see her great grandparents, great aunts, one set of grandparents, and two of her aunts.

This wasn't my daughter's first time traveling on an airplane, however I was much more nervous about this trip than I was her first.  First off, I was traveling alone, unlike last year when my husband was with me to assist.  Secondly, Abby's first time flying was last Christmas when she was 6-months old, so I was able to count on her passing out shortly after receiving a bottle on take-off.  This time around, she's much more active and strong-willed.  I wasn't sure that I'd be able to contain her in my lap, let alone get her to be calm and quiet for the duration of the flights from Texas and back home.  Thankfully, she slept for half of the flight out of town (and was reasonably well-behaved and quiet for the second half), and she slept like a rock for the entire flight back home.

Christmas morning proved to be very exciting, with the slew of presents Abby received from Santa and all of her grandparents, aunts and uncles.  She is one very loved little girl.  I just hope she doesn't get used to getting so many presents each year!

The only presents under (or around) that tree that weren't for Abby were just a few gift card envelopes.

She had such a fun time opening her presents that she wore herself out pretty quickly, and I actually had to coax her to open her final few gifts, as she just wanted to curl up on the floor and rest.

It really was an enjoyable Christmas.  And thankfully my husband was able to call a couple times during the day, so I got to hear his wonderful voice.  I just wish he could have been home to share the day with us.

I hope everyone else is having a great holiday season and has a terrific New Year!

Expecting the Unexpected

Learning to expect the unexpected has been the hardest lesson for me to learn after my husband joined the Army. I'm a bit of a planner and not a huge fan of surprises, but overall I think I have handled all of the twists and turns fairly well.

In the less than three years my husband has been in, I've made it through basic training, AIT, a 5 month deployment to Afghanistan, a PCS, a 1 month TDY while 8 months pregnant, a 2 month TDY with a 2 month old, and another 2 month TDY which my husband just returned from a month ago.  Did I mention I also have a full-time job in accounting to balance this all with as well?

When my husband returned home last month, he mentioned several times that he does not foresee any travel for work on the radar for at least the next year.  The next big training course he could be slated for requires he get a little more experience under his belt and likely wouldn't be suggested until next year.  And the unit was not looking at any deployments given the draw-down in Afghanistan.

He jinxed it.

First, we were informed last week my husband is now going on a two week TDY next month.  Okay, that's not too bad, especially considering he'll be heading to a base that's within driving distance.  So if he's approved to bring a POV, he'll be able to come home over the weekend that falls in the middle of the course.  And if he cannot bring our car, it's just two weeks.  No biggie.

At the end of the week, he learned that they want to send a group of 10-15 soldiers on a deployment later this year.  Rumor has it, it would likely last for about 4 months.  He didn't think he'd be as likely to be selected, but he told me about it so I could be prepared for the possibility.  He then learned yesterday that he has one of the longest dwell times out of the unit, so there is a really good chance he could be chosen.  Given how much he has been away this past year, he has already said that he will definitely not volunteer to deploy.  However, if not enough people volunteer, there's a good chance he will be deploying again.  Oh and that 4 month time-frame?  Apparently just a rumor and no real length of time has been decided.

While I obviously do not want to deal with another deployment this soon, I really hope they will settle the who & the how long rather soon so we can be prepared.