See Ya February!!

February has been a crazy month for us, and blogging has been the absolute last thing on my mind. It had got to that point where I would sit down to blog and it would feel like shoveling 6 feet of snow. So, in light of that I decided to take a bloggy break. Except for the random Music Sunday posts that were already previously scheduled, but hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things now. While being a crazy busy month February was also a good month. We celebrated having completed one full month of deployment!!! A few more months and I will actually be able to count these deployment months down without having to use my toes. Yay! These past two weekends were spent visiting family and enjoying my youngest sister's high school pageant. I also managed to put over 1,500 miles on my vehicle traveling between my home on post and my home back home, but it was well worth it and lots of fun! Pictures and more post about our crazy month of February coming soon!! 

Deployed; We are officially a Blue Star Family.

 November

 *Nov 2nd, By the time this posts he will already be gone and we will have officially started the Big D; our first deployment. Right now its November, 2nd to be exact and the word deployment is still leaving a sour taste in my mouth. I think it should considering I have only had 24 hours to really let it sink in that he is going to be gone for a year. When he comes home I will soon turn 27, Kiale will be 8 and a half, Colin will be soon to turn 7, and our precious Cayleigh-Grace will be 3 and a half years old. We will have spent our entire 10th year together and 70% of our 8th year of marriage apart. Welcome to the Army folks! Right now I am  handling the news better then I imagined I would. Probably because I knew what was coming and I had prepared myself to say goodbye to him before Christmas even got here, so January feels like a blessing to me right now. With two months to go before this giant year long roller coaster begins I am feeling confident, proud, and scared out of my wits. Confident, because I know that he will do great over there and because I know I can handle things back home. Proud, because of what my husband is doing; helping to protect our family, friends, and our country's way of life. Scared... yea that is an understatement, what if someone breaks a bone on my watch or what if the unthinkable happens... or what if we drift apart instead of becoming closer through the distance and time. All of the what ifs are a waste of time even thinking about at this point. I am confident that we will become closer and that everyone will be okay once this year comes to a close, even if someone breaks something along the way. If you wouldn't mind keeping the 5 of us in your prayers, and hopefully this year will pass quickly and uneventfully.

*Nov 5th, I just woke up. KS is at PT and all I can think about is him being gone for a year. KS is fixing to hit his 1 year anniversary with the Army in just a couple of weeks and I was laying in bed thinking about all that has happened within this past year.... it just makes being able to wrap my head around him missing from our lives for that same amount of time unfathomable. I just cant wrap my head around it... We still haven't told the kids yet, I don't think either of us are ready for it to be quite that final.

*Nov 12th, We told the kids and KS's Mom last night. She took the news better then I had expected, but we both think she lost it on the way home. The kids just don't get it, they have no idea whats coming. I think it has been too long since KS was away at BCT and they don't remember what it was like to be away from him with no contact for so long. I was really hoping to be able to prepare them for this but its obvious now that they are still too young and cannot grasp the concept of a year away from their Daddy.

*Nov 14th, I asked Kiale why he wasn't upset that KS was leaving for so long. He said "Its so far away I'm not going to worry about it right now. I will be sad when it gets closer and when he is gone." That is so my son, glad to know at least one of the kids has adopted my way of thinking.

*Nov  27th, lost it at the hunting club tonight. Our buddy Scott was ragging on me for pouting, I just couldn't help it. It is so hard not telling any of our family and friends what is going on. No one except for our parents, and our sisters know about this deployment... I have a feeling it is going to hit the rest of my family like a ton of bricks when they find out, and I know for sure certain people are going to be livid with us for not telling them but we had no real choice. So, if this is how you are finding out sorry.

December

*Dec 1st, I hate to see it be December, because I know that January is right around the corner and so few days of January will be spent together... I just hope we can make it though Christmas without letting the cat out of the bag so to speak.... It is so hard having so much I want to talk about and share through this blog and not being able to sucks.

*Dec 27nd, woke up crying this morning. KS will only be gone on a 5 day hunting trip and it is already affecting me. It just made everything that is going to happen within the next month seem so real. I guess it was a wake up call so to speak. I have decided one thing, we are going to be staying BUSY during the length of this deployment. The first thing I need to do after the new year is find out what sports I can get the boys into and if the indoor swimming pool is opened back up again so the kids can restart their swimming lessons. Not to mention I STILL have to get all three of them setup with CYS so I can take advantage of those 16 free daycare hours per kid once this deployment actually begins.

*Dec 31st, The kids Daddy Dolls came in!! I cannot for KS to give them to them. We are waiting until the day he leaves. It will be their present to make the day go a little easier. I even got the recordable inserts for them, I hope they love them.

January

*Time A- Well we told the last of our family today, well the family we are telling at least. Hopefully everyone will keep their mouths shut and not spread the news around until after he is out of the country. Everyone took the news well and I swear some people could care less, although I think they never really cared about KS anyway. Not that it matters its just more annoying to me then anything else.
 

*Time B- KS is on night shift and I found myself just staring at his picture on my computer. It is going to be so hard not seeing his face around here anymore. Sure we will have pictures, but that is nothing compared to the living breathing version that I love so much. I am going to be bored out of my mind with no one to pick on me and drive me crazy. I know I have the kids, but that just isn't the same. I cant play fight and wrestle with them the way KS and I do on a regular basis, who am I gone to spar with? Its going to be a long hard year without my husband and love here.

*Time C- Went to bed before KS last night, which is nothing new. I swear the man must be part owl, but as I laid down without him an overwhelming feeling of loneliness swept over me. It was a feeling I have never experienced to that depth before, but I guess it is one that I will grow accustomed to feeling very soon. Every time I think about how close we are to his departure date I feel like I just got the wind knocked out of me. Literally my stomach lurches and I loose my breath for a couple of seconds, not to mention the tears that I fight back if I let the thought linger in my head for more then 30 seconds.

*Time D- Well it finally hit Colin last night. KS was repacking all of the bags that have been taking up my dinning room for the past month and Colin asked him where he was going. We explained where and when again and Colin just ran up the stairs crying. I guess it finally hit him when we said KS was leaving in a week for a year.

*Time E- It is so close now, and I feel like the walls are literally closing in on me. I haven't had a total breakdown yet, but it is coming. It is getting harder and harder to fight them off and my stomach feels like it has found a new permanent home in my throat. I don't want him to see me cry, and I don't want him to see the hole that is forming within me, but it is going to happen. Hopefully I can make it through these next couple of days and I can let the emotions of the past three months take over and I can loose it alone. Without him  going through the pain of seeing me in the condition I know I will be in.

*Time F- Totally lost it this morning, you know the cry. The ugly one where you are hyperventilating and shaking so bad you can barely stand. Yea, that was me first thing this morning. Mornings are the hardest for me now that we are so close. By 11 o'clock I was fine, but before that I was a mess... in fact I don't think mess accurately describes it.  Just a little over 48 hours now. God give us the strength to get through these next couple of days. I will need it and so will the kids. There is no amount of preparing that we can do to really get prepared for this. It is what it is, and it is hard.

*Time G-  Less then 18 hours now... I am just ready to get the goodbyes over with and start marking the days off until I see him again. I think both of us are very much ready to begin this journey. 

2010 in 12

I am in awe that the final day of 2010 is tomorrow. In many ways this year has flown by, but it has been filled with so many amazing things that it seems like it has lasted an eternity. Here is the summary of the year 2010 in 12 pictures...

January

 In January we had to return Daddy to basic training after his amazing Christmas Exodus break.
 February

In February we were able to celebrate KS's graduation from BCT. He then moved out west for AIT and the kids and I began to throw together a move three weeks later that no one was prepared for. We decided to join KS at his AIT location on a whim in March rather then June. 

 March

 In March with the help and hours of labor from family and friends we succeeded in getting us moved out west within three weeks of KS's BCT graduation date. We had never been farther west then Alabama so this two day drive out west was a sight to see!! We also got the kids enrolled in their new school a week after we arrived out west, I had planned the move so we would arrive out west on the day their new school's spring break would begin. We signed the lease for our house on the base on Colin's 5th birthday.

 April

 In April KS was finally moved to stage five in his AIT training and was allowed to live with us once again. IT was so nice to be family of five again and not have to worry about getting him back to the barracks on time or having to worry about formations on the weekends anymore. We also got to celebrate Easter at their school and with the housing office, both threw wonderful Easter egg hunts and parties for the children.

May

 In May Kiale graduated for Kindergarten and Colin had his K-4 graduation ceremony. We took the boys bowling for the first time and the boys discovered some wonderful lakes to go fishing with KS's and his friends. We also got a new addition to our family, a little kitten named Casey, and I pulled out the slip-n-slide which proved to be hours of fun the entire summer. One of the best parts about May, the pool opened!!

June

 In June we went to the pool almost every day and began to make lasting friend ships with some amazing people who have become a second family to us. We also began to explore the town around us and enjoyed spending time together as a family. I discovered that Cayleigh-Grace finally had enough hair to pull back into pigtails.

July

 In July we celebrated one of my favorite holidays with our some of our favorite friends, the 4th of July! The boys also began their swimming lessons which would prove to be the best thing for both of them. It really got Colin to come out of his shell. We also had our first visitors in July, my grandparents came out to spend a week with us. KS and his buddy D raced their RC cars almost every weekend together, which continued until we moved in September.

August

 August was spent with even more swimming, also had friends over on a near daily basis. We celebrated Kiale and Cayleigh-Grace's 7th and 2nd birthdays early since everyone had to part ways the following month. I began organizing and cleaning the house to prepare for our move  and we finally found out where we were moving to, about a week before KS's AIT graduation date.

September

 In September KS graduated from AIT and we started to say goodbye to all of our amazing friends that we made out west. I also completed another three week notice move (I think this will just be my thing) and we were successful in moving back to the east coast. Close to home but extremely far from the majority of our closest Army friends. We got the boys enrolled in school and KS started his to actually do his job. Cayleigh-Grace got moved to a big girl bed and we were able to go home and see family for a couple of days. The first time we had seen them in six months.

October

 In October the boys started to make friends and began to finally get good and settled into our new home and post. We celebrated Oktoberfest and the kids rode their first fair rides, and KS found a neat RC track to race his cars on. Halloween got here and instead of two sons and a daughter we ended up with a Gronkle, a NightFurry and a little Ladybug. We also went to the units Halloween bash and the we bought the boys their own rock crawlers.

November

 In November we went home to have Thanksgiving with family and we really enjoyed our time there and had lots of fun decorating my parents house for Christmas with my sisters and their boyfriends. I was able to complete Cayleigh-Grace's duvet cover for her bed and made curtains for some of the rooms in our house.

December

This month we experienced our fist snow and our first Christmas away from family. We also had lots of visitors to our home this month, KS' mom, sister her husband and their son E, my aunt, uncle, cousin, her husband and their son, as well as my grandparents.

Suprise!

We had a lovely surprise on the 23rd, my Aunt and Uncle as well as my cousin her husband and their sweet little boy V stopped by on their way up north. It was wonderful getting a chance to see them again, especially since I had forgot to get a picture of V and Cayleigh-Grace together at Thanksgiving. They are almost 3 months apart.

V Man!

She wanted to help out a bit.

They were only at the house for about an hour but Cayleigh-Grace managed to play with it the entire time.

My three and our Uncle Jimmy

your typical 2 year old picture

She is looking great

Now he is looking great, if only I could get both of them looking great in the same photo...

Visitors

Last Thursday was a big day for our family, we finally got to meet Baby E, our sweet little nephew that lives up north with KS's sister and her husband. We were able to spend five wonderful days with them before they had to fly back home. It was a wonderful weekend complete with Christmas dinner presents, and it was a wonderful few days spending time with family we only get to see one or two times a year.

Baby E

Our week early Christmas dinner.

First Cousins

The whole crew, minus KS's mom; she was taking the picture for us.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Eve, we will be spending the day baking cookies, making rice crispy treats, and enjoying time with our family of 5 today. Tomorrow the real fun begins, presents, Christmas movies, and an overall PJ day, plus Kiale is doing all the cooking its going to be delicious! We actually choose not to go home this holiday season, so this makes our first holiday without having somewhere else to go after opening presents Christmas morning. I will say this though, I am already missing my Mom's awesome egg nog coffee.

Air is good.

Finally I am able to breathe again, I know you have no clue what I am referring to and to be honest only two people sans my husband to know... well make that 3, but anyway. Lets just say we almost had our hope and dreams turned inside out and upside down this week. It has been hell week so to speak where my stress level is concerned, and because of that I have been hiding from my computer and even society except for one awesome trip to the pool yesterday. Even though you have no idea what I am talking about I am so glad to say that everything is fine, and as I messaged a friend of my earlier today...

"things are going to be okay now. Although I am sure no matter which way it would have went we would have been fine, just not where we wanted to be. But God puts us where he wants us and thankfully at this moment it is where we want to be."

Things were really and truly almost bad for us. Not a fun feeling to have. We almost had to our ability to get out of debt, well at least have our truck paid off by this time next year washed down the drain, and KS in a different MOS, and then they would have affected once he gets out and what job he will hold then. Like I said it has been a stressful week, but I don't have to worry about that now. Praise the Lord.

I am so behind on reading your blogs it isn't even funny, but to be honest I am not going to get to them, (there are WAY TOO MANY that i have not read yet) if anything important has happened just leave me a comment and let me know.

To be honest I really liked being not so attached to my computer this week... I might start making a habit out of it. Although, I am going to try and start blogging more, makes no sense right, oh well.

... chow!

Welcome!!

I just wanted to say welcome to all of my new followers who have ventured over here from the MilSpouse Blog Hop. If I haven't made it over to your blog yet don't worry I will get there as soon as I get a chance! It has been a long time since I went through and told you all about our crazy life so I figured now was as good of a time as any!

KS and I have been together since I was in 10th grade and he was a senior in high school (15 and 18 years old). We met during our humanities class and within a few months of meeting we started dating, but never "officially". I will get to that in a minute. We spent the next two years joined at the hip, he worked at a local tire shop and went to college while I worked part time at Subway and finished up high school. We had always planned to get engaged on our second anniversary so that is exactly what we did. KS took me out to a wonderful restaurant and we enjoyed an amazing dinner followed by a walk on the riverfront. He purposed there next to the river it was the only "official" thing he ever asked me since he never asked me to "go out" or to be boyfriend and girlfriend we always just were. So on January second of my senior year in high school it was official KS and I were engaged, then things got interesting... Almost a month to the day later we found out the big news, I was pregnant. To me it seemed like the end of the world, I was devastated. I had been on the pill and it had failed. This was not where I wanted my life to take me, I had other things that I wanted to do but this was the hand God had dealt us and I refused to make anything short of the best of it. KS on the other hand was thrilled he had always wanted to become a father and his dream was coming true. Now I am not saying that I didn't want to be a mom, I always did its just that its not what I wanted at that particular time in my life. What came next was no surprise, and shotgun wedding. literally. We were married and living together as husband and wife a month and 3 days after telling our families. My 18th birthday followed my wedding my 20 days and I graduated high school two months after that. We found out that we were going to be blessed with a son right before I graduated. During my 5th month of pregnancy I spent two weeks traveling Europe with some of my class mates, it was a wonderful trip and one I will never forget. So many people said I couldn't go due to my pregnancy but boy did my OB and I prove them wrong. I continued working at Subway until the end of August, I was due September 27 and spending hours and hours on my feet each day was starting to get to me. I then became what I had always wanted to do I became a stay at home mom. Kiale was born September 21st one week to the day before his due date on a beautiful Sunday morning. (Kiale's birth story) Nine months after Kiale's birth we found out we were expecting again, I always wanted my children to be close in age and 18 months apart sounded perfect to KS and I. Thankfully I was able to conceive right away and our second son was born on March 15th via induction 2 weeks before his scheduled due date because of macrosomia. (Colin's birth story) We were happy and content being a family of four until three years ago when we decided to add to our family one more time, KS and I both wanted to have a daughter and the boys wanted a little sister. The craziest things was that before I even became pregnant Kiale would tell us that the baby was going to be a girl. That boy just knew he was going to have a sister, thankfully God decided to grant our prayer and on September 3rd our daughter Cayleigh-Grace was born. (Cayleigh-Grace's birth story) That November following her birth we mentioned to my family that we were considering KS joining the Army. We discussed it over a bonfire and some chili but it never went any further than that until the following August. After fighting the economy and knowing that our family was going no where fast we decided to take the plunge and sign up. KS enlisted in August and left for basic training in November. A month and a half ago I packed up our family and moved out west to rejoin my husband while he completes his AIT. Coming from someone who lived within 15minutes of most of my family this has been quite an adjustment, but thankfully it is all going well and the kids love it here. We will PCS again to our permanent duty station some time this fall. I am just hoping for somewhere warm and closer to home.

MilSpouse Blog Hop!

Hi! Welcome the MilSpouse Blog Hop sponsored by.... 

 

I am Charity. My husband, KS, and I have been married for 7 years now and together for 9. We have been living the Army life for about 6 months now and we just did our first PCS out west to rejoin my husband while he attends school. We have three amazing kids, Kiale who is 6 1/2, Colin who is 5, and Cayleigh-Grace who will be turning 20 months on Monday. We also have two lazy dogs Zoe our Cocker Spaniel, and Emi our Miniature Pinscher. 

If you take a look around my blog you will see a series I have done called "Labor Views," it follows along with my views and aspirations to one day become a Midwife. My husband has chosen this career for the long haul so maybe in 20 years or so I will get a chance to accomplish my goals. Right now all I want to do is enjoy my husband while I have him home and raise my kids right in this crazy world. I also love to sew and read.

Looking Back & House Pictures

 *Okay I am a total slacker, I wrote this on April 1st and then forgot to post/finish it. Sorry!*

Looking back on March I cannot believe everything that I have been able to accomplish... From the time KS graduated to the day we moved was exactly 3 weeks. On family day we were prepared to live at our old home until June and then move but as of Graduation evening we were going to move ASAP and that is exactly what we did. I even threw in Colin's 5th birthday party and MAJOR cleaning into those crazy and hectic 3 weeks. I cannot believe that I was able to get us moved without KS... that is where my AWESOME and AMAZING family came into play. They busted there butts helping me clean and fill up a 20 yard dumpster full of junk as well as patching and fixing up some loose ends around my house. If it wasn't for them we would never have made it here so quick. (Thank you all!!!) We celebrated my 25th birthday on the 27th of March. A bunch of KS's buddies from BCT came over and we watched the UFC fight and enjoyed BBQ chicken and nachos. For me it was a wonderful birthday, nothing like celebrating by having a bunch of friends over to enjoy the day with you. Here we are, its the 1st of April and I still wake up some mornings in disbelief about where our lives have taken us. It is amazing to think that just a year ago the Army was just a thought and a possibility now is our reality and future.

Living Room

Dining Room

I will post more pics as soon as I get the rooms finished.

Life

I must say that life here is really nice and is so much like being back home. The weather and the small town feel are all the same the only thing missing is my big family. Being 12 hours away and today's gas prices doesn't really make going back home to visit an option so I am embracing this new home away from home. I will be honest though the homesickness is starting to sink in, especially when KS isn't able to come home everyday. The days he is gone make it even harder on me. I am used to having some sort of relief with the kids, especially Dixie and Dylan, they were always over at the house keeping me company when KS was away now it is just silence... well as much silence as a house filled with a 6 and a half year old, a 5 year old and a soon to be 19 month old can be. This lifestyle is exactly what we wanted for our children, well minus the frequent single parenting part but that comes with the territory. We can walk to school, the grocery store, the gym, even the arts and craft center, and the security living here is wonderful. We truly don't have to worry about anything. Not that we really did worry at home but when you are here you know there are MP's looking out for you there is just a whole new level of safety that you can feel. Like I was telling my Mema the other night this place is so relaxing for me. I can finally just wind down and sit back and enjoy our life. It is so nice to even have that option. I will be posting some pictures of our house tomorrow. With more to come as we put the finishing touches up.

Fast Forward

So much has changed since graduation on Friday. We have decided to go ahead and move... now. Well really in just a couple of weeks but it might as well be now. So I have been busy cleaning, purging, getting housing setup, and trying to contact transportation to get movers out here in two weeks, but the lady at the transportation office is absolutely no help at all and I cannot figure out the online site to save my life. I am hoping that KS will be able to go by the trans office today and get it all setup. He also has to go by JAG and get a POA made for me since he has yet to do it. I'm taking dogs to the vet today, we decided to keep our Cocker Spaniel Zoe instead our cat. KS didn't want to keep any cats. Which works for me, I was already doubting my decision not to keep her. I will do posts for Family Day and Graduation soon, things here are just CRAZY right now!! I have also been given 4 wonderful blog awards by 4 amazing women and I promise I will get to posting them as soon as possible. I have not forgotten about them!

Zoe

Its Finally Here

Today is the big day! Its finally here!! Today our family will be reunited and we will be together again and I couldn't be happier. Today we get to see KS charge the field with his fellow soldiers running through the woods while colored smoke explodes and lights the tree edge. By the time this post goes live all of the festivities will be done and over with and hopefully our family and the families that we have grown to love during this insane 12 weeks will be enjoying a picnic in the park watching kids run around and just enjoying each others company. I have looked forward to this time for so long now, and its surreal to think that it is finally here. We have done it, we have completed the mission and we are now about to enjoy the rewards. KS has been able to over come ankle problems before exodus and then bad knee problems post exodus to now say that he will graduate and become a full fledged American Soldier in just a few hours. These past 12 weeks have been an amazing journey and I am so excited to be able to say that our journey has just begun. Only God know where this journey will take us, but I do know that as long as we are together. Maybe not physically but always in heart everything will always be okay.

Home Safe

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are all home safe and KS is back in our arms again. I will update once I get a chance and whenever KS is sleeping. I want to spend every possible minute I can with him while he is home.

He Keeps Me Singing

I wanted to put out a big THANK YOU to our wonderful photographer for taking all of these amazing pictures of my family. You can find her website here at He Keeps Me Singing please check out her website, and if you are local contact her. She is a wonderful woman who is full of God's love and uses that inspiration to capture wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. We have already talked to her about doing pictures for us next year after KS completes all of his training.

He's off to BCT

I cannot believe I am finally typing these words but here goes, KS is off to basic training. I am handling it a lot better then I thought I would, but considering that this is just the first morning... I'm sure its going to hit me eventually. The kids handled it pretty well we were all a teary mess, but that is to be expected. Yesterday was a pretty good day considering we had to say goodbye. We went by my parents and said goodbye to all of them. Then we headed to meet the recruiter and pick up all of the paperwork KS needed to take with him. After that we went to dinner... all I have to say is I will NEVER go back to Sushi Rock for the hibachi grill again. They chef almost made Kiale cry. I was so pissed, needless to say he got a $3 tip and he's lucky he got that. All the guy kept doing was shooting insults at everyone, I guess he thought he was funny. Once we got to the hotel things got really hard for Kiale and I. We were able to hang out with KS until he got his room key and then for a few minutes in his room before he walked us back down to the truck to say goodbye. Colin didn't get what was going on until KS shut the door on the truck and walked away. He knew that we were dropping KS of but I don't think he really grasped the entire concept of it until then. Thankfully I have a lot of back blogging to get done and so much sewing and cleaning to do that I know will keep me distracted for the next few days. I know I am going to need it, but at this point I just cannot wait until KS calls me. I'm not expecting it any time soon though.

Time Ticks On...

Had a WONDERFUL day today. We had a photo session with a wonderful local photographer, don't worry I will share pics as soon as I get them! Everyone behaved themselves and overall I think it was the most enjoyable photo sessions we have ever done.

BTW... 8 days... until he leaves for BCT!... wow, do you realize how short that is??? So far since last Monday's complete meltdown I am feeling strong and confident. Lets just pray that this attitude stays in place and doesn't falter.

54 days...

54 days... that is what he told me yesterday.
54 days until he leaves...
54 days until I become a single and yet married mom...
54 days until I have to drop the most important person in my life off at a hotel and spend the remainder of my time with a cell phone attached to me...
54 days until I start jumping every time the phone rings hoping its him...
54 days until I see what "hard" really is...
54 days until I become the proudest wife there is seeing my husband fulfilling his dreams and becoming the person he wants to be...
54 days until I become a stronger wife and mother...
54 days until we become an entirely new family...
54 days until we become who we were always meant to be...
54 days until we put "our" family first and the rest of our family second...
54 days until we become an Army family.

Quick Pic

My Mother in Law got married over the weekend, here is our family picture from the event... many more to follow, as soon as I am able to get them edited.

Complete

According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary this is the definition of "Complete," but to me the word means so much more... what does it mean to you?

Main Entry: com·plete

Pronunciation: \kəm-ˈplēt\

Function: adjective

Inflected Form(s):com·plet·er; com·plet·est

Etymology:Middle English complet, from Latin completus, from past participle of complēre

Date:14th century

1 a: having all necessary parts, elements, or steps b: having all four sets of floral organs c: of a subject or predicate : including modifiers, complements, or objects
2: brought to an end : concluded
3: highly proficient
4 a: fully carried out : thorough b: total, absolute cof a football pass : legally caught

You see there is one thing that has always puzzled me and that has always kept me wondering. When we were blessed with Kiale we could not have felt farther from "complete" we felt "slightly satisfied," as that is really the only way I can describe it, and then 9 precious months after giving birth to our first born we found ourselves pregnant with Colin, our little "Hunter Bug". It was by no accident I can assure you that I became pregnant so quickly, as we had always planned to have our first two children 18months apart, and thankfully I am Fertile Myrtle have no problems getting pregnant so that is exactly what happened. After the birth of Colin we found ourselves satisfied to a point, that point being that we always knew we would have another child, as our hearts yearned and called for a sweet baby girl to fill our home and hearts with giggles, dancing feet, and hair to twist and braid. I will not lie to you the ride home from the ultrasound tech we very quiet once we found out that Colin was indeed a boy, the thought took some getting used to. All Kiale and I had ever talked about was us having a little girl and here we are with one son and another one on the way. Needless to say 24 hours later we were ecstatic, as I said before the thought just took some getting used to, but I know I am not the only one who has felt that way. Fast forward 33 months, countless hours of discussion between Kiale (Sr) and myself, as well as countless hours of discussion between our boys and we came to the decision. We were going to "try" for our girl. That is exactly what we did after hours on the computer and talking with friends we knew "when" to "try" and what to eat what not to eat while "trying." (Kiale has always said that I killed off all his girls with my acidic food preferences...) Needless to say I was pregnant right away, and due September 3. If you had asked Little Kiale at all during my early pregnancy he would tell you that it was and girl, and sure enough he was right. We had our little princess.

Now rewind back to the beginning of this post and the word Complete. That word when used to describe a family can have so many different definitions. I now know and fully believe that as a family we are complete as we have... 1 a: having all necessary parts, elements, or steps to make our family feel whole, and for the fist time in our lives together that is exactly what Kiale and I feel like we feel like we have all necessary parts we are whole. We have our 2 boys and our little girl. What I am constantly finding myself wondering is how can other people feel whole and complete we have friends that have had 1 child in their family all the way to having 5 children in another family and then everywhere in between. I look onto the families that have 1 and 2 children and I am constantly wondering how they could possibly feel whole since when we had only 1 and 2 children we still felt so empty in ways. I know that they feel the same way I do now, I know that they feel whole and complete it is just hard to imagine since I only know how I felt then.... so I am wondering what is your complete? Is it 1, or 2 children or is it more? When did you realize that your family was complete? I know for me it was once all of the pregnancy and baby hormones left, as I always go baby crazy within the first 5 months postpartum, and all I am able to find myself thinking is when can I have another one... guess it is Gods way of making sure the planet stays populated... :)

This is my definition of complete and whole...
Isn't it perfect... it is for us. What is your perfect?

Too Busy

This has been one of those weeks where time literally flies by. Monday was spent with Colin home sick, well he wasn't really sick he just coughed until he gagged and made himself puke once. He was fine the rest of the day after that, but he still had to come home from school. Monday evening we went out the the lake and the boys and puppies went swimming while Kiale fished and I played with my camera. I LOVE where we live!! Swimming in the middle of March, wonderful!! I am so looking forward to this summer and our almost daily lake trips, they are so much fun!
Tuesday was my fun day in OP while the kids were in school, 2 hours at Joanne's was wonderful!! I was in fabric heaven. Wednesday was spent cleaning and trying to just relax a bit, Thursday Kiale was home from school sick as well as today. Although 90% of the day today has been spent getting ready for Colin's birthday party tomorrow.

I cannot believe that my youngest son is going to be 4 on Sunday, its so sad how quickly time goes by. I really wish there was some way to slow it down a bit.

I did manage to take this awesome pic on Monday while we were riding around the club.