For the first time since Chris left for training and Afghanistan we have received a "bad" report from Audrey's school. She is an amazing kid...she really is. We rarely have behavioral issues. I am not saying she is a saint because of course we have our 3 year old meltdowns, tantrums or bad days. But overall she is really good. There are never any issues at school and when I am home with her she is generally very well behaved. Until the last few days. I noticed a change over the weekend.. a few extra meltdown but I chalked it up to coming down with a cold (her nose had been running for a day or so) and her shots at the doctor last weekend. But Tuesday and Wednesday this week she had a meltdown on the way out of school. This never happens. And then her teachers noticed. It was brought to my attention by her teacher that she had to go to "time out" at school (again, this is a first) Just being aggressive and not playing nicely. This is totally out of character for Audrey and now I have realized that time is starting to wear on her too. She told me the other night," Dad is not proud of me" as she hysterically cried. I do not understand where she gets this stuff from or why she would say this. I guess in a 3 years old mind if her dad is not home that in turn means he is proud of her. I was trying to hold it together and explain that of course he is very proud of her for everything that she does. A hard day.
Then today when I picked her up from school as she went to grab her coat in the other room her teacher told me that Audrey told them and tried to convince them that her dad was picking her up from school today. And when I got there she was very disappointed that it was me and not Chris. Where did she get the idea that her dad was picking her up? This has all just happened within the last few days. We are 3 months into this deployment and I beginning to realize that she is getting as frustrated as me. I could never imagine having older kids and trying to deal with deployment... a 3 year old gives me a run for my money every day. God bless our military families!
Audrey absolutely loves school and they love her there! They have been so compassionate with all of the transitions in the last 8 months. The schedule and routine Audrey has there is so important for her! The administrator at the Toddler School asked me to bring pictures of Chris in so they could make a board for him. And had Audrey help with the process. Now she can see her dad even while she is in school!
Almost 1/3 of the way through this deployment and we couldn't be happier! I am so sorry to everyone who has been following the blog but updating on her has taken a back seat to life. Seems like the last few weeks have been so busy (as I knew they would) that I have been barely able to sit down for a few minutes let alone get this updated as much as usual. As the school semester gets rolling here I have been trying to use my "down time" on school work rather than on Facebook, Pinterest, or on here. All those guilty pleasures of mine sure do take up a lot of time. On a school note, it is going pretty well except for a research paper I put off because I thought "it was going to be easy, so I can whip it out in a day" story... eh, not so much. Note why I am updating our weekly post today rather than Monday... it was a long few days. With the weather so amazing lately we have spent most of our time outside. Both Audrey and I would rather be outside any day! I guess we get that from my mom... Thanks! Last week was hectic busy between Miranda Lambert concert, the zoo, work and school but week 12 is over! Got an email staying Chris will be home no later than September 30th. So the first 1/3 of this deployment is over. April, May, June is the next chunk of time we concentrate on. And again we will keep so very busy! Baby Carter will be here in April, Glass City Marathon, Sugarland concert and Easter will keep us all busy in April! Then we head right into Summer :) Our favorite time!
Quick updates on all the "projects" I have going on:
Training for the Glass City Marathon: Sadly, I have not been able to run for 12 days now. I feel like I am dying. This stems back to when I fell down a set of stairs 10 days ago and severely hurt my backside. I have not went to the doctors, A. because I do not have a day to go and B. they will probably just tell me to rest it. From the research I have done online I think I may have torn the muscle... there is no way I can run anytime soon. So with the Glass City Marathon less than a month away I have some serious decision making to do. I think as long as my butt doesn't hurt I will suffer through the marathon but I will not be fully trained by any means. I will run it merely for completion and definitely not for time. It will be ugly but I have to run the full for Team Miller and our troops. So hopefully a few more days of rest and I will be able to get back out and at least get a few miles in. April 22nd may be the death of me.
Becoming More Domestic: Audrey and I have really been trying a lot of new ideas. And I feel like I am becoming much more comfortable in the kitchen. I made my first homemade pizza last week and it was a success! And a heck of a lot cheaper than ordering pizza... especially when it is just Audrey and I. I think we ate that left over pizza for days! I made my first roast last week as well. I finally feel like I can just "throw dinner" together (to some extent) now. We keep the pantry stocked much differently now than I ever did. It is much easier to throw something together when everything is there rather than just throwing chicken nuggets in the oven. I am getting this domestic thing down! One thing I really want to learn how to do is cook on the grill. I think I will go to the master, my mother for this one. Chris always cooked on the grill in the summer! Probably 3-4 times a week he would make dinner on the grill... that is something I will definitely miss this summer. So I must learn how to do it for myself.
Project Organization: This is another one that I have diligently trying to work on. Audrey's room was in need of a huge makeover! She has entirely to much stuff. I have been using The Fly Lady as a wonderful resource for decluttering our house! Thanks to a recommendation by Aunt Monica this website has helped tremendously. As well as simple projects daily or weekly, I set a timer for 15 minutes a day and let loose on Audrey's room and she helps! This turns into a problem though because she wants to keep EVERYTHING. "Clutter attracts clutter" and I felt like it was to overwhelming to take that on in one day and who has an entire day to spend cleaning... not me. It is really amazing how much you can get done in 15 minutes and sometimes I do 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening! Anyone trying to declutter their house or lives for that matter definitely check out this website. It did not get like this overnight we aren't going to fix it overnight but daily we can hack away at it. Just think, when Chris gets home from deployment he will have a wife that cooks and cleans! Dang, what a concept :)
And our home search as officially begun! How exciting! We wanted to wait until this deployment was over to buy a house. But with less than 6 months until Chris gets home I have started looking now. We are in by no means in a rush but we have begun the process. It will take me 6 months to have this house in order to move! (That's also why the decluttering has begun) And our neighbor Donna is such a tremendous help with Audrey and her school is literally 2 minutes from our house so the convenience of where we are now is amazing while Chris is gone. So I really do not want to be in a new house until at least the end of the summer. I cannot wait to get out of the city and find the perfect country home :)
As for Audrey she is the biggest tomboy ever playing in the dirt, mud, sand, playing with bugs, spending most nights outside until it gets dark. And I love it! Chris bought her a sling shot to send home! I think that is something he should just bring home with him so he can supervise her with it. But she will love it! She is doing very well in school and it is hard to believe that she is 3 and a half already. Where does time go?
And time is starting to wear on both Chris and I. We got into a little issue recently because the communication between him and I was a little tense. Neither of us were communicating effectively when we did get the chance to talk. I mean we could go back and forth for days on who has it worse. But that is like comparing apples to oranges. Emails got a little tense over the weekend but marriage is hard, especially hard when you are on the opposite sides of the world. We figured it out and things couldn't be better! Well, of course they could be better but given the circumstances they are great! I remember writing about March and how it was such a busy month and now it is over! Time is really going fast and although we all have our bad days, we will all get through this as a family :) My new favorite quote:
"Be strong. It may be stormy now, but it can't rain forever."
I truly live by this everyday. Until my husband comes home!
The zoo is where we spend a lot of our free time when it is warm out. Especially as Audrey gets older seems she enjoys it even more and it is amazing how she knows so many specific kinds of animals. We took our first trip to the zoo of the season this week and she told me what a sloth bear was and that it was lazy. There is always something new to do every time we go to the zoo and I had the day off work so Friday we took a trip out there :)
Literally how she rides Hudson at home. Poor dog, her probably wishes he was born into another family :)
Simba!
There was literally no one at the zoo. The weather has been beautiful recently but Friday there was a chance of rain and it must have scared everyone off. Plus kids are still in school so that probably kept the crowds down. The great thing about having a zoo pass! It did start raining and Audrey had a doctors appointment in the afternoon anyways but its great to go for a few hours and leave whenever we want :)
Just thought this tree was pretty :) Also, check out the crowd... or lack there of :)
This turtle stared at Audrey for a long time.
We always went to the zoo together! Chris even if he really didn't want to would always go with us to the zoo because he knows how much Audrey loves it. So we were thinking about him a lot yesterday. We had a lot of fun just the two of us but we both wished he had been there. The aquarium is both Audrey and Chris' favorite part of the zoo and she even said at one point "that is dad's favorite kind of fish!" They would spend hours in there if I let them. We definitely both missed him a lot yesterday.
After the rain began we decided to pack up and head to lunch. Spaghetti and meatballs... Audrey's fav!
Audrey had a doctors appointment that afternoon, just a well check up where they measured her at 40 inches tall! So she will be tall and skinny like her father :) She also did very well on the hearing and vision and I was worried about the vision. Not that she acts like she can't see but Chris and I are both very blind so it is probably inevitable that she will probably be that kindergartner with glasses. Other than that she did great on everything and she is as smart as a whip! But we already knew that :)
Great day with a great kid!
She also had to get a shot at the doctors and I swear it is worse as they get older. She knew it was coming and as any mom would say it is agonizing watching her get a shot. But she was a trooper and ice cream afterwards fixed everything!
Well this is like a world record but I managed to have two nights out in a week. Actually, it was a little to much lol But we have had a girls night planned for months to see Miranda Lambert when she came to Toledo. We had seen her over the summer and she was amazing. And this time she was on tour with Jerrod Nieman and Chris Young so of course we had to go!! I wasn't going to take my camera but decided to last minute and still didn't really get to many pictures. I was afraid to take it out of my purse for fear I would drop it or set it down somewhere. Overall, it was a blast!! And the concert was amazing!
This is the only pre concert picture I have and I am hysterically laughing because no one could figure out my camera!
Jerrod Nieman!
Chris Young
And by now I am crying because I love Chris Young and every song he sings reminds me of Chris. I knew this was going to happen. Thanks Ann for the hand holding lol
I love Easter! I think because it is generally the unofficial start to Spring and warm weather but seems this year we have gotten the warm weather early. Also this year we had to start Easter baskets early as well. We always have Easter baskets as does Audrey on Easter so I figured Audrey and I would send Chris his in Afghanistan. Audrey picked out all the goodies and the candy to put in Dad's basket and with a few cards, crafts, a book and a some snacky stuff we will deliver Easter the best way we can. I hope we gets it before Easter!
Well today is the first day of spring and we have made it through the "winter" of deployment. We will welcome spring with a bang as temperatures reach well into the 80s! I love it! We barely had winter here in Ohio this year and it seems as if we are fast forwarding right into summer... and I am definitely not mad! Today is a milestone because it means we have made it into Spring and soon we will be into the summer and quickly into the fall and welcoming Chris home. September seems so far away but I remember looking forward to today knowing that it was another chapter of the deployment over. See ya later winter!! My mood is very dependent on the weather. If it is nice out I seem to have a much better day and a much better mood. This was exactly the mild winter I needed to have with Chris being gone. Sunshine and Summertime is quickly on its way! Not to say that mother nature couldn't smack us with a snow storm in April but right now I am enjoying this beautiful weather the best I can without Chris home. I have a feeling we are going to have a very warm summer coming our way and I am excited to spend it at the beach with Audrey. Chris was never a huge fan of the beach anyways :)
Picnic time with friends in March! We are not mad :)
I have NO idea where this week went! I woke up Friday morning and could not believe the work and school week were over! I did not have much time to update the blog but Audrey and I mostly played outside and enjoyed the weather this week! So here we are through week 11 heading into 12 weeks of this deployment already.
When the weather is as nice as it has been here the only place we are in the evenings is outside! So every night when Audrey gets home from school we sit outside until it gets dark out. Her new favorite thing to do is catch bugs and worms. We go "hunting" for them nightly and she just loves digging in the dirt. Maybe she should have been a boy! I just love the fact that she likes to play in the dirt and get muddy. So outside every night it is!
This is kind of dark but note the huge earth worm in her hand! This is my life!
All prettied up for school and digging for worms
Adding these videos because I want Chris to see them and have not figured out how to email them to him. Just Audrey playing with Hudson!
Conversations with Audrey!
Since we have been outside so much lately there isn't much time for inside crafts but Sunday night I wanted to sit down and work on something. So we made Spring butterflies...
Audrey said he looked like Rudolph here... she is kind of right
Welcome Spring!
As for Chris and I time is definitely starting to take a toll. It has been 2 and a half months since Chris left for Afghanistan and sometimes it feels like an eternity ago. We stay busy here but for everyone time is starting to wear on us. Chris has his Internet privileges back so I am able to talk to him a bit more which is reassuring. We have also got word that homecoming will be September now. I wish that we would have never known about the July rumor but we all know how the military works and so we will push through the summer here without him. We are almost through March now and time is going by really fast here! I cannot say the same for Chris but we will just chug along as we get through this the best way we know how.
St. Patty's Day came and went this weekend and I was able to finagle an evening out with the ladies! This night took a lot of planning and preparation. Donna offered to have Audrey overnight and the Burkes took Hudson and I was able to stay in BG for the night after work! So I decked Audrey out in her St. Patty's Day attire and I headed to BG.
I had to work during the day which was not a big deal... I mean I am a morning person but I do not think I could ever do that 5:30am kegs and eggs thing on St. Patty's Day. I felt like I was to old to even go out in the evening lol But I am glad I did it was a lot of fun!
The Frickers ladies all decked out for St. Patty's Day!
Frickers Girls!
She makes me feel young again lol
KT!! She definitely helps me get through this deployment! She has the best ears ever! lol
So Alyssa talks me into wearing one of these festive outfits, I agree, go up to change and fell all the way down her stairs. Then come to find out that happens all the time. They have all done it because they are very steep and I had just sox on. I slipped on the first step and slid all the way down on my butt. Most painful thing ever!
This picture explains it all!
I woke up Sunday with a bruise and swollen bottom. I mean it hurts to sit... and this was BEFORE we even went out! It was horrible. I will pay for this one for a couple weeks. It hurts to sit, it hurts to walk, it hurts stand... so needless to say I will not be running for at least a week. This is not good when the marathon is a month away! Well, better to ice it and rest then get back strong in a week or so then over do it now. Because it is really bad!
While everyone was laughing at me I was saying, "No, guys I am really hurt!" After my fall we had a lot of fun! It has been quite a few years since I have been able to make it out for St. Patty's Day. It was also nice to get a bit of a break and have some adult interaction for at least one night! When we woke up Sunday morning I was basically laying on Alyssa with my leg on her trying to snuggle... we all laughed because it had been so long since I had another adult in my bed I must have been taking advantage of it and snuggling in her bed lol Overall, a good night!
Although it was fun to hang out with the ladies I was definitely ready to get home and back to Audrey. We spent most of yesterday outside playing and enjoying the weather! We are definitely outside girls and we are both so excited that summer is within reach! Ready to plow through week 12 of deployment as the temperatures are suppose to reach the 80s!
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