I'm Back! This will probably get long. :)

Sorry to be MIA the past month and a half or so.  Life has been so busy, even though I can't say we're doing a whole lot.  I'm just exhausted right now.  I believe everyone that reads this already knows this, but we are expecting another baby to arrive sometime in February! My nausea has been almost as bad as it was while I was pregnant with Kailyn and the exhaustion seems worse this time.  Probably because I'm chasing a toddler around by myself, 24/7! Well technically not 24 hours a day because she sleeps a good 13-14 hours each day.  

My expected due date is February 11th.  This is about two weeks before Brian will be expected home.  We're both hoping they send him home a little early so he does not miss the birth.  Last night I tried getting a photo of some shoes to use as our Facebook announcement.  I want to say something like, "Kailyn is excited to welcome home two loved ones in Febraury".  However, I was unable to get a good shot of just the shoes because a certain little someone kept eyeing them and stealing them before I could get a good angle and a good shot.  See below!

  

Shoe Thief!

I have been keeping myself busy with photo shoots here and there.  I'm pleased with my progression thus far.  I should post a pic from my first photo shoot and my last one I just had.  I'm never 100% pleased with a shoot, but I think that's a good thing because I'm always finding things I want to improve upon.  Okay so top two photos will be from my first photo shoot and the second two will be from my last one I just had yesterday.

Oh man! A little heavy on the vignetting there, Kristen! :)

Kailyn has been doing pretty well.  Again, most that read this have all probably heard about the issues we've been having with her hip.  Luckily it seems to have gone away.  Also, her supposed "psoriasis" that she had underneath her diaper is completely gone.  Turns out it was some sort of fungal infection.  Doc said ring worm, but I thought that was super contagious and spreads pretty quickly.  These red patches have been under her diaper area for MONTHS now and Brian nor myself has gotten the ring worm.  Either way, I'm glad it doesn't appear to be psoriasis.  We are keeping her dermatology appointment in August just to be sure.  

Lastly I will leave you with a video of Kailyn.  She has been picking up on so much lately.  Here is a little taste of the things she knows.  Sorry it's kind of long.  Trying to show her Daddy all that she has learned. :)

Oh and we are working on getting rid of the pacifier.  Once Brian left, she became so addicted to it.  She's slowly going back to only having it for her naps and bedtime.  Which this video was taken right before bed.  I'm also trying to wean her.  So I'll probably continue to let her have her pacifier until that process is over.  I'm proud to say that she's still nursing and I'm not in a huge hurry to wean her completely just yet.  Though, I'd like to get her down to just nursing before bed.  I do want her done by two years old so we have a good three months before the new baby arrives.  If she chooses to wean before then, then that's great.  

Two years old is the recommendation now by the World Health Organization.  I feel I have to say this to some people when they look at me funny when they find out she's still nursing.  Before I had her, I thought I'd be done once she hit a year old.  I thought it'd be weird to have a toddler walk up to you asking for milk.  But it's not weird to me at all.  The only part that stinks is the awkward looks people give me and the comments they make when they find out she's still nursing.  Her pediatrician is the worst! She wanted me to quit when she was 9 months old.  It's frustrating because both Kailyn and I are great with her continuing and it's so beneficial for her.  Especially since she still seems to have an intolerance for cow milk.  Okay, that's the end of my ranting. :)  Hope you all are doing well!

Oh goodness, I almost forgot to update you all on Brian.  He is doing well and for the most part is staying busy every day.  He's making a big difference over there for a lot of his patients.  He's told me many stories of guys that have had pain for a year or more and they walk away from one session with him feeling better than they have in years!  He's doing a lot of dry needling and is liking the results from all of that.  I still won't let him try it on me again though.  

13 Days Down

Well I have made it almost 2 weeks.  Parts have been easier, while others harder than I thought they'd be. I'm loving that Brian and I have been able to skype as much as we have.  Though I wish I could be the one to pick up the phone and call him instead of always waiting by my phone wondering if/when we'll talk.

Kailyn and I just returned from San Antonio.  We had a wonderful time visiting friends.  It was a great distraction, that's for sure.  I absolutely love San Antonio and my friends that live there.  I have so many fond memories and can't wait to go back again.  I will post some pictures on facebook soon.  Last night when we got home, reality really sunk in.  When I first opened our garage door and I saw Brian's car my heart started to race for a very brief second.  For that second I had the hope that he was home waiting for us.  But alas, we came home to an empty house.  Ok, it wasn't completely empty.  Our two cats were there to welcome us home, crying for some attention.  :)

I stumbled across this poem and I feel I can relate to quite a bit that it says.  Though I feel that I have many friends and family members that do know and understand what I'm going through.  And for that I'm very grateful!

You don't know, but I'm the girl who cries every night, and hopes every morning for his safe return. 
I'm the girl who drags herself out of bed every morning so that he will be proud of her when he comes home. 
I'm the girl who lies in bed longing for him to be lying next to me. 
You don't know, but I'm the girl with a million things to say, but not one will come out without the thought of him. 

I'm the girl who stops and stares and wishes for him to return soon each and every time another man in uniform walks by. 
What you don't know is that I know love on an entirely different level from most. 
I know the love that spans time and space; that love that most people are constantly searching for. 
I'm one of the girls who waits months for a single kiss; a kiss that will make the months apart worth every second. 
A kiss where everything in the world stops and for what seems like eternity, you can see into that person's soul and know that without them, life is not worth living. 

You tell me I don't even understand what love is, I tell you, I know more love in one homecoming, than most know in a life time. 
You don't know that every time he leaves, part of me goes with him and part of him stays with me. 
You tell me that people change and I tell you, true love will always remain constant and steady. 
You tell me you know how I feel and that you understand what I'm going through; you have no idea. 
What you don't realize is that I understand the true meaning of not only love, but of longing and anticipation. 
You don't see, but I'm one of the few who gets goose bumps as my heart fills with pride every time the National Anthem is played. 
I'm one of the girls who will stand tall and stay strong on the outside, but be dying on the inside. 

I am one of those girls who will make friends with complete strangers for only they can even begin to understand what I am going through. 
You don't understand that I picture his face everywhere I go and that he is with me in everything I do. 
You think I don't cry anymore, that I have gotten over it, but what you don't know is that I just hide it better. 
You don't know the feeling the first time you hear the word deployment or the feeling of his hands as it slides out of yours for what could be the last time. 
You don't know what that last hug or kiss means and how important that goodbye truly is. 

I'm the girl you see walking by with a disheartened face staring silently at the ground. 
What you don't know is, that I know true love and that no matter what obstacles we have to face, our love will live forever, that only we know. 
You tell me that you support the troops; I tell you, I'm in love with one. 
I'm one of the silent, but outgoing; weak, but strong; scared, but grateful. 
What you don't see is that without me, he is nothing and without him, I am nothing. 
I'm one of those girls; the girl who stands tall behind her Soldier, stands proud behind her Hero, stands strong behind her man, watching silently as he serves and defends our country. 


--Author Unknown

Almost Finished!

This will probably be short and sweet.  I'm hoping to blog more once school is finished.  I'll probably do it a lot while Brian is deployed so he can see pictures and videos since he doesn't do Facebook.

I'm almost done with school.  Two more regular weeks left and then finals week.  I have two homework assignments, two major projects and two finals and I'm DONE!  FOR GOOD!  Yep, I really don't see myself going back to get a doctorate or anything of that nature.  I'm so excited to be finished but that also means Brian will be leaving shortly after that.  So I want to the time to be here but I don't.

Kailyn is doing well.  She's starting to get a little attitude and definitely knows what she wants.  She's talking so much more now and seems to be doing better with tubes in her ears.  She has 6 teeth all the way in (two on bottom & four on top) but her back molar on the bottom is almost all the way through with another little one on the bottom just breaking through up by her two front teeth.  It's definitely strange how they are deciding to come in.

She's keeping us busy and making us laugh daily.  She likes to call for Daddy in the mornings when she wakes up.  This is so sweet!  She's also really good at saying and signing "please" when she wants something.  She's even tilting her head a bit and smiling a sneaky smile.  It's so cute and SOOO hard to say no sometimes if we don't want her to have or do something she's asking please for.

She's loving her popcicle in this last picture.  It feels good on her gums. 

Hello again!

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been very busy with school, my photography and just life with Brian away right now. I'm losing motivation to do my school work. I'm ready to be done. Just a few more months. It's difficult because I just want to do photography, especially when there's no job opportunities around here using my Operations Research degree. I know it'll be worth it in the end. And I'm sure I'll snap out of this feeling of no motivation soon.

The month hasn't been too terrible with Brian gone, it just stinks that I can't even talk to him!! I've had some pretty huge things happen these past few days and I just wish we could talk about it together. I've had to make some decisions on my own involving our house in San Antonio. Luckily I have some wonderful friends and family that I had no problems calling to discuss those scenarios with. Our current renter needs to break the lease early (she's been there almost 2 years) and we had an offer from some new renters that they would like to sign a 2 year lease but wants us to decrease the rent by $45 a month. Anyway, I countered with saving them $20 a month for a 2 year lease and I'm still waiting to hear back. The other thing that I really want to discuss with him is what's going on with my Dad's case right now. I went up to Lincoln this last weekend to meet with family to go over the case. It's hard going through all of this with Brian gone. I find myself laying awake at night a lot just crying and going over things in my head. Just having Brian by my side helps so much, even if it's him snoring in bed next to me. Enough with all of that! Let's talk about Kailyn!

Kailyn is doing great. She's sleeping so well at night for me. I think we're finally through her waking up once at night to nurse. She's been going 10-12 hours straight for almost a month now. It really started once she went to daycare and she decreased the number of nursing sessions each day. She's eating so much more now too so I know she's not hungry in the middle of the night. She's such a happy little girl and she's definitely made this month go by quicker. She picks up new things daily. She still doesn't say too much verbally, but she's signing to me pretty well. We go to the doctor April 2nd to have tubes put in her ears and they're also going to cut the frenulum on her upper lip. It's causing a huge gap on her two top teeth and they might as well take care of it now while she's under getting her tubes put in. I'll leave you with some pictures I took today of her in the shower. Normally she's fine playing in the bathroom while I shower. But the last few times she feels like she needs to be in the shower with me. She LOVES it! She's definitely a water baby!

Video

Kailyn provides us with so much entertainment and even more laughter. We love this little girl!