HES HOME

I cant really explain how happy I am to have Joey home. He is already back to work and I miss him like crazy through the days but am so happy to have him home with us at night! Khloe is in love with him and already has cast me to the side for her daddy.. ;)

The night before I did not sleep at all and Joey got back into the states at around 3 am he had called me so there was no way I was going back to sleep! So I just started getting stuff ready to go. After what felt like days we were ready to head to the airport. We left way too early but I couldn't stay in the house any longer. I was meeting a few of the other girls there and thank goodness if my friend Amy wouldnt have been there I probably would have went crazy. I was so anxious and ready for him. I was about to burst into tears at any moment. At one point I really thought I was going to pass out HA. Then we started to see more families showing up and cameras?! I wasnt sure what was going on then a reporter came over and told us the news was going to film it and that there would be a welcoming line as we left the building. O GEEZ talk about making things worse ... now while im about to break down I have to worry about the camera! About and and hour and 1/2 or so after I go to the airport the flight people were announcing that the plane had just landed and told EVERYONE with ear shot what was going on. I am actually tearing up just remembering the feeling of him being so close after all this time. the door came open and the guys started running to there familes . There was one guy who was seeing his baby girl for the first time and it was so awesome to see that. I t was all kind of a blur at this point because it was just a lot of chaos. I kept watching and watching for him but he still hadnt come out. All around us people were cheering for the guys and at one point I was thinking he wasnt on the plane.. BUT THEN I saw him coming and I couldnt just stand there so we ran to him. The words to explain how I was feeling at that time are really just not there. I was in shock and overwhelmed. we kissed and hugged and kissed again. Khloe just stared at him then he scooped her up and she was all smiles. Seeing him hold her again was amazing. My family was back together and it was really one of the best days of my life. We started walking out and he had ordered roses for me that some of his squadron were there with signs and handing them out and I thought that was it.. NOPE! We are walking down and there are Veterans with flags and families with signs. All cheering.. I never realized how proud I am of Joey for sacrificed so much for our country. Khloe was enjoying the ride bouncing around while Joey held her. I dont think she is used to being so high up:). We finally made it to the car and after a scary ride (since Joey hadn't drove in so long hehe) we were finally home as a family again!

This is the video that was on the news and of course they got me crying but o well. It gives you the feeling of how it was!

Sailors return home from Kuwait

Is this normal?!?!

I am SOOOO excited to have Joey home but I cant let myself think about it too much. I am in shock that it is actually happening. I feel like I have pushed all my emotions aside while he has been gone and now that its so close I am EXTREMELY emotional!! I have been crying over everything I am so anxious for him to come home but feel like after all this time its all catching up to me and im just emotionally exhausted! This last little bit is hard but we dont have much longer and if it takes me crying over everything then so be it I guess....

This may have something to do with the time going by fast!!!

Check out my wedding progress

Well my countdown is officially on! I am down to days, really?! This has been so fast yet so very slow. I feel like I dont even remember what it is like to be with him home.. I honestly cant wait :D

I have been working on losing weight and have made some progress but I have come to the conclusion I have a problem. I know I can lose weight but I have no self control. I do so well and then blow it?! WHY!! Then my self hate comes into play and I get down on myself. Even though I have come so far I still think I am so gross. I wish I could just think good things about myself its something I really need to work on, Joey is so supportive and encourages me and always tells me how great I look I just wish I could believe him,

I just got traveling for the last time till he is home so now its a scramble to get everything done! I am redoing my dressers and would like to have them done before he gets home but trying to do them in an apartment upstairs with a baby is a lot harder than I thought! I am going to be spring cleaning this week and I'm not going to lie i'm excited ( how weird am I right)

Now off to bed i'm delirious from a week and a half of no sleep but it was well worth being with my family!!

Is it May yet????

Well it is now April and I cant really explain how excited I am to be able to say I will be in Joeys arms next month.

I shouldn't be down or sad but I cant shake the lonely feeling. I have no one here and it just gets hard being alone all the time. I miss him so much. I am starting to get anxious and realized I have SOOO much to do before he is home! Hopefully it will all keep be super busy so the time will fly!!

Going Ons....

Well we have about two months left! Time is flying...

I have been dieting trying to lose the baby weight. So far I have lost 20lbs I have a ways to go  gained so much! Today I am starting the 30 day shred so hopefully we will see some results!!!

Joey is staying busy and has been moved to days so we dont get to talk much anymore. Khloe and I are staying busy with the wedding stuff and just everyday life! I thought I would update this weekly but I just cant seem to get myself to do it. Rather than wishing my days away I am trying to make the most of them and it going pretty well! We cant wait till Joey is home so hopefully my next post I will have made some progress on my weight loss and I can post some pictures:)

WE ARE OVER THE HUMP!!!

We are now on the downhill side of this deployment!!!!

I have been so busy planning our wedding and dieting and being a mommy!!

So far I have lost 20 lbs!!!!

I have sent save the dates out, and now im starting on the details.

I am making our backdrops and platters. I have SOOO much to do so I know these next few months are going to fly by! I will be hoping to lose some more weight and stay busy with the wedding!!!

Wow is time flying!

I feel like I just did my post that 2 months were down and now we are a few days short of 3 months down!! I have been busy! Taking care of baby, doing wedding stuff ( mostly SAVE THE DATES) and traveling. We just got back from Pittsburgh! we might be taking a little break from traveling and try to get some wedding stuff done. I also started my diet woot woot!! And we got great news

JOEY GOT CAPPED!!!!!!

He is now E-5 Am2 !!

 I am so proud of him he deserves this! 

This also brings up weird feelings, this means Joey is in for the long hall! which in turn means he will be deployed once again! We are a strong couple and a strong family so I know we are able to get through another one or another 50 ( who knows with the military) Joey is amazing at what he does and If he is happy then we are happy!!! It is also a great career, so we will make whatever life brings us work!!!!

At this moment I am dealing ok with everything, we will see what tomorrow brings!!! 

I am at a point where I have been wishing the time to go fast and of course I do but I look at my daughter and she is already 5 months old and I feel like I am missing things with her because I want time to go by. At this point  I am going to try and be more present for the sake of my baby girl! I dont want to miss a thing!! February is a short month and im hoping a busy one! 

New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign?

Ok so I know this isn't a huge deal but my whole life I have been a Leo and Its always fun to read them every once in a while and now i'm suddenly a Cancer?!?! I have always thought that the cancer descriptions have always fit me.. My daughter is now a Leo , and Joey is now a Pisces.. So now all of the horoscopes in the past have been wrong? All my Love matches were incorrect!!?? And all those people with their signs tattooed on them?! What now???

Someones answer on yahoo answers cracked me up so I am sharing it with you all ( and all of you is realistically probably just my sister who gets this straight to her phone!)

Yes they will change, and Junior mints will turn into Dots and Boston baked Beanswill change into Raisinets, Mallow Cups will taste more like Peeps and flaming Necco wafers will rain from the sky. M&Ms WILL melt in your hands, It will be a bad day for everyone!

HAHA

New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign?: "The New Dates:

Capricorn: Jan. 20 - Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 - March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18 - May 13
Taurus: May 13 - June 21
Gemini: June 21 - July 20
Cancer: July 20 - Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10 - Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16 - Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30 - Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23 - Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 - Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17 - Jan. 20"

Its About Time!!

I havent been keeping up with this as I planned! 

So I will do a little update!!!

Ive been baking, taking care of baby, doing wedding stuff and getting a workout in when I can! I honestly didnt think I would be keeping my self this busy but I do a pretty good job of that! We have been traveling A LOT! Nevada Utah and soon Pittsburgh! 

Ive been sending a bunch of packages, Ok not really packages  just baked goods..  I love to bake and instead of sitting here and eating it all I just send it to the guys! 

So far Ive done:

Suckers

Puppy Chow 

Choc. Chip cookies ... All in his Christmas package 

Rocky road brownie bites

Choc. chip cookie dough in a brownie/ brownie bites ... Didn't get pictures! 

Choc covered  peanut butter filled ritz 

Smore Ice Cream brownies( HUGE HIT and they are so yummy and fun to make!)

 M&M cookies ( dont mind my pan, waiting for our wedding to get good pans)

Carmel Popcorn( I wouldnt recomend sending this it ended up stale and soggy)

and the last one I sent had.. I forgot pictures on this too!

Smore Cookie Bars ( these were a HUGE HIT)

Carrot Cake cookies

Magic Cookies ( I tried to make 7 layer magic cookie bars and it didn't set up so I just made cookie dough and mixed them together! turned out pretty tasty) 

In between all the baking I have had a couple rough days, it gets hard being here with little to no friends and no family! When Khloe gets fussy  I have no help and no time alone and I have been trying to get her to take a bottle ( she hates it) so there has been lots of crying for both pf us!! Some days its gets overwhelming! Joey wishes so much that he could be here to help so I get a knock on the door yesterday and he sent me flowers with a really sweet card! I had been having a really rough week last week and so he sent me them.. I was so surprised and its just what I needed to get me through till.... my next breakdown..:) 

And in between all the baking and breakdown I have been doing lots of wedding stuff!!! Its all coming together and im so excited!! We are getting married August 13th in PA! Im making my own save the dates and  I probably should have thought more about that before I took it on! Speaking of save the dates.. Off to try and finish these dang things!!!

My donut says ...Are we there yet?? ( I wish)

2 Months down

2 MONTHS DOWN
2 MONTHS DOWN!!!!

Christmas packages and tutu making

I finally got Joeys package off to him. I wanted to make it special so hopefully he likes it all!!

 First Package

 Candy in the stocking a coffee mug and Starbucks coffee packets. Candy canes and Christmas Peeps, hot coco, gum, Toy Story 3 and Insta Snow 

 I made home made suckers!! They are YUMMY!!!

 Cute bag, right!!

All packed up 

Second Package

 PSP and game, Homemade Chocolate chunk cookies and Muddie Buddies 

 Ready to go!!!!

Now I have to start thinking of my next package!!

In my spare time I made My niece Lilly a tutu for Christmas! They are so easy and soo cute!! 

I made my daughter this Christmas tutu as well...

NAVY FEDERAL ARGGGGGGG

So i got up and all ready today to go Christmas Shopping!! I was super excited. Khloe and I head to Target and shop shop shop. I got SOOOOO much cute stuff on sale and just great deals all around. I had to buy Joeys gift in the electronics area so they rang it up right when I got it. So Khloe is getting super cranky. She is hungry and tired so I decide to go check out finally after no kidding 4 hours of shopping. Khloe is screaming as the cashier is ring things up and so I am hurrying as fast as possible. swipe my card and DECLINED!!! WHAT we just got paid I know there is money in there heck I just bought something we try a few more times finally I ask the lady to hold my stuff while I feed the baby and call the bank. A half hour later things are supposed to be fine. WRONG, still wont work. Call the nicest man back ( I talked to him the first time what are the odds of getting him a second time
?!?) He helps me again says i can get money out of the ATM and it will work so I go back in and WRONG now the effing thing wont give me cash. I finally gave up an hour 1/2 later and headed home with just one thing:( I am so disappointed. I guess everything happens for a reason and I will just have to head on back tomorrow!!! I was pretty lucky to deal with such nice people today though. I am never rude to people if they put me on hold or take a long time helping me.( unless they have wronged me in some way and are rude first) I know how it is to work with people and it can be rough..All the Target people were awesome the electronics guy got me an AWESOME deal and the cashiers were so nice and patient with me and so was Mike at Navy Fed:) it pays off to be nice to people.  Overall today was not that bad. I got out of the house shopped ( I LOVE TO SHOP) even if I didnt bring any of it home. Now off to clean and P90X it up.. maybe ! HA

1. You wear old sweatpants and sweatshirts to bed.

2. You can watch whatever you want on TV without arguing with him first

3. You get up in the middle of the night to check your e-mail.

4. You sleep with your cell phone incase he calls in the middle of the night.

5. You love watching cute love movies because it reminds you of all the cute things he does when he's home.

6. You haven't shaved your legs in weeks.

7. The mailman knows you because you are always out waiting for him to come.

8. You start paying close attention in class when the words "military" or "iraq" are mentioned.


9. You suddenly have an obsession with anything military related.

10. You see someone wearing an army, navy, or usmc shirt and you get this overwhelming urge to talk to them.

11. You make friends with strangers online just because they are in the same situation as you and are the only ones that can truly understand what you are going through.
  
12. You can't decide what to wear when you meet him at the airport because his flight comes in at a ridiculous hour in the morning and you want to look cute, but not too cute, because your cutest outfit you want to save for your first full day together.

13. Your first Christmas together is... apart. .

14. You find yourself checking your e-mail every fifteen minutes.

15. You know all the time differences between where you are and Iraq, Ireland, Kuwait, Italy, Germany, Korea, and every state in the U.S.

16. The highlight of your day is getting a letter that was mailed a month ago.

17. And if you don't get a letter, the highlight of your day is writing him a letter that you know he will be able to read in a month..

18. You realize that HOMECOMING is so much more than a football game.

19. You want to hit any happy couple you see together

20. You get excited about "unknown" phone numbers calling you.

21. You've exhausted every idea a brain could have of what to put in a box.

22. You see a "support our troops" sticker on a car when you are stuck in traffic and you find yourself guessing about who they know that is deployed and thinking about their entire life story.

23. When the clock says 11:11, you find yourself wishing for the same thing every time: a call from your soldier.

24. You get excited when its only 5 months until you see your Soldier instead of 7!

25. You can't stand girls that talk about missing their boyfriends who live a few hours away. You just want to yell "drive and go see them them" because if you had the chance, you would jump on the first plane to go see your soldier no matter how far it is.

26. You don't know what teams are on top for football, basketball, etc.

27. You wouldn't dream of walking out of the house without the cell phone and every number you have is forwarded to that cell.

28. You find yourself randomly crying from just looking at a picture of the two of you together.

29. You find yourself randomly crying and you sometimes have no idea why.

30. You stay on the internet for hours searching for anything and everything about the military.

31. You talk to your friends about him so much that they know his full name, birthday and even his favorite color.

32. You find yourself speaking in acronyms (that no one other than you and he would understand).

 You are reading this and smiling and nodding because you know it's so true 

Thanks for posting this BERNEDETTE

TWO WEEKS DOWN AND COUNTING!!!!!

REALLY TWO FREAKING WEEKS!!!!!

It feels more like 10 weeks, why o why is time going so dang slow. Khloe and I have been keeping busy. We have getting my babes Christmas packages ready and we went home for Thanksgiving. We have got to skype with Joey and that was awesome! It was such a bad connection but I did get to see him so it was really nice. I still have my moments and have a mini breakdown but I pull it together and push through. Thanksgiving was awesome being home but it was so bitter sweet. I really wish Joey was home to spend Khloes first Thanksgiving with us. Christmas will be even harder but once we are through with Christmas its just closer to him coming home to us!!! I am almost done with his Christmas packages so I will be posting pictures soon!!!!

One week down..

Wow its only been a week tomorrow and it already feels like a month. I have tried to keep myself busy. I for the most part have been doing ok. I have a breakdown at least once a day. I miss him terribly and I just want to fast forward to when he is home.

I have talked to him everyday its not for long but its nice to hear from him. I have been really trying to work out all the wedding details and I think its finally starting to come together, now I just have to start with all my projects! Ill be leaving for home in a couple days and that will be nice to see everyone. I also have been trying to work out every night. with a 2 ( almost 3) month old its a lot harder than I thought. Ill be sending out his Christmas care package soon. I wish I had more to say but is all I can think of is I miss him and I would just like this week to end so I can get on with another one...

Christmas Care Package Mailing Deadlines

MILITARY MAILING DEADLINES

USPS News Release: Shipping Out the Holidays to Military Heroes

Express Mail Military Service (EMMS)1/  APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Dec 18 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- N/A APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Dec 18 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Dec 18 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Dec 18 First-Class Mail Letters and Cards APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Dec 10 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Dec 04 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Dec 10 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Dec 10 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Dec 10 Priority Mail APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Dec 10 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Dec 04 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Dec 10 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Dec 10 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Dec 10 Parcel Airlift Mail (PAL) 2/ APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Dec 03 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Dec 01 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Dec 03 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Dec 03 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Dec 03 Space Available Mail (SAM)3/ APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Nov 26 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Nov 20 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Nov 26 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Nov 26 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Nov 26 Parcel Post APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Nov 12 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Nov 12 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Nov 12 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Nov 12 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Nov 12

Donut of Misery..

When you are a military spouse you count things, lots of things.

You count how many days until he leaves, you count how many days until he comes home.  You have to count most of these days in private. You have to be careful about Operational Security or OPSEC (is a process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by adversary intelligence systems, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, and then executes selected measures that eliminate or reduce adversary exploitation of friendly critical information).

AT NO POINT SHOULD YOU EVER SHARE THE % OF WHERE YOUR DONUT IS. THE ONLY THING THAT IS OK TO POST OR SHARE WITH ANYONE IS WHAT YOUR SAYING IS..

I think it was in 2003 when some soldier or Marine who was stationed in Iraq decided to compose what was and is to this day called "The Donut of Misery"

Fresh off the jet

Let the countdown begin

Well the time has come and my love has gone..

Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I have ever done. As he walked away my heart broke. Thankfully my friend Jessica had me over for dinner so I didnt have to sit home and be depressed. I still havent heard from him, I dont think he is even there yet:( As i sit here thinking it will go by fast I get so overwhelmed. its going to be almost 7 months and I dont know how I am going to do it. I already miss him. I am just going to have to stay busy!! I go back and forth, I am fine one minute then start thinking about it and I am a mess the next minute. I am just rambling on now.. I ll be waiting for his call to make sure he made it safe...off to keep my mind occupied!!!!!

...

Joey was away for a week to training, if this was a glimpse into what is coming I am in trouble. I missed him so much and we hardly got to talk at all. I get to see him today and I cant wait! He took a week of leave and then back to work for a couple weeks and then its here:( I am just going to try to enjoy this last little bit as much as possible! He did tell me that they said they want him to go to nights, REALLY!! right before he leaves they are going to put him on nights so I wont see him at all before he leaves Thank you Navy thank you.....