survived?

When ted first got home everyone would say "yeah, its over we survived!" "You did it, you survived!" but lately i have been wondering if we have survived? yeah we got through 11 months of ted being gone but survived? i feel that we havent fully "survived." that we are all different and broken from this past 11 months and that there are ribbles that we havent even experienced yet and may be dealing with for years to come.

Blessed but cant forget

Everyday i read the paper. Everyday i see how more ad more soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan and the fighting is strong and thick exactly where Ted was stationed. I sigh a relief every day i finish reading the articles but i also say a prayer for the Missouri AVCRAD that is currently deployed ad took over for Ted's unit, i also pray for their families that are here in the states struggling without them. I am so grateful that Ted came home when he did, right before this insurgent. I am so grateful that no one in Ted's unit was injured, although his hanger that he worked in everyday, 6 days a week was hit shortly before they left for home, it by the absolute grace of God that one was more injured than some ringing in their ears. It happened about 2 hours before Ted's shift was suppose to start. One guy was saved literally because he had just bent down to repair something lower on the helicopter, and everything just above his head was hit with random shrapnel.

His base in Afghanistan was attacked about 2 months ago, a few people got killed and there was lots of damage. It really hit home how lucky everyone was to be home.

On the 4th of July, after we had come home, we sat up listening to all the booms and whistles of the large illegal fireworks going off in our neighborhood, yet we didn't see anything pretty in the sky and ted was telling he that these were the sounds he heard 24hours a day while he was gone, that you would freeze a for a few moments waiting to see or hear if it landed. He said it was really scary at times.

So when i read the paper everyday, i remember everything that my husband went through, everything that we went through and am so very grateful that he is home, although we are very blessed, neither us will ever really forget this past year.

oh, June

June, June, June... Ted travel most of June, being gone 3 of the four weeks. He was working in southern California repairing helicopter for another unit that will be deploying at the end of this year. While it brought in a little bit more money(which has been very helpful) it was still terrible having him gone so much. Zerrell kept asking if he was in Germany(she still thinks that Ted was living in Germany at the house we rented, the whole time he was deployed), she also asked if we were going to make signs every time he came home for a few days( just like we did he we finally came home in March). Harper always wanted to talk to Ted on the phone but would NEVER hand me back the phone and would scream and cry when I tried to talk to ted on the phone. I felt like crap most of the time, between being a single mom again, morning/all day sickness and it getting hotter. So the kids and I decided to go down and spend about 5 days with Ted. We actually made it down there (5hours) without any meltdowns, from me or the kids and we had a very enjoyable time in the 75degree weather. We hung out on base a bit while Ted was working, we went to the beach a few times, went to an Angle's game and drove down to San Diego and went to Sea World. There was a lot more of Sea World that we could have seen but with a tired dad, a pregnant mom and 2 tired kids, we headed home early, plus we had gotten in for free, so we didn't feel too bad not seeing everything, what we did see was alot of fun. The kids and I drove home from 65 degree weather to 108!

We have spent most of June, growing our garden, we have eaten 12 tomatoes, 3 Armenian cucumbers, one Armenian pepper, 2 yellow squash and hundreds of apricots and plums!

I am getting bigger everyday, not big were people notice that I'm pregnant, just big enough were NONE of my regular clothes fit me, AT ALL. As of today I'm 12 weeks and the sickness is FINALLY starting to ease up a bit, although the exhaustion is setting in. Zerrell knows there is a baby inside my tummy and keeps telling me there is a girl AND boy in there... that's kinda scary.

Ted is really enjoying his job, besides all the time away. He has recently gotten into bike riding. He was ridding to and from work alot and doing some 25mile rides on the weekend. Ted;s work has recently moved to 4 10hours days a week, meaning that he now has every Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. We haven't been able to enjoy it yet since he has been traveling so much but we will next week!

Zerrell is doing well at her swimming lessons and getting more and more daring in Nana's swimming pool. She still will only wear dresses and changes her clothes about 3 times a day. She LOVES to sing, often wanting to sing by herself, not wanting anyone else to sing with her. She is still pretty bossy of Harper but he is starting to make his come back. Zerrell has an amazing memory and still talks constantly. She says some of the funniest things. When we were driving home last week, I told her that once we got out of the mountains we would get out eat something and stretch our legs. We ate lunch and were back in the car driving when she said "mom!! we forgot to stretch our legs!" She is tall for her age and a great jumper. She jumps off our front porch(3 steps high) onto the grass without question.

Harper, while still more mellow is wanting to do EVERYTHING Zerrell does, including jumping off the front porch by himself. He follows Zerrell around copying her every action, good and bad. He is starting to put a fight when Zerrell takes ssomething from him, even hitting her a good one sometimes. He adores my dad, always saying "papa!" the minute we pull up to their house. He will sit on my dads lap and watch baseball with him, making baseball sound effects. He is liking the water, although NOT in his face. He can say just a fews, like moma, papa, keys. but has lots of sound effects for other things and nods his head yes and no very well.

We still have projects we are trying to finish around the house. A few more rooms to paint but our next BIG project will be putting in a new kitchen, laundry room and back bathroom floor in early august when Ted's parents come out to visit. Its hard to believe it been almost 2 years since we first moved in here. We continue to enjoy this house so much and making so many wonderful memories here to add to all of my great childhood memories of this house already.

pictures to enjoy:

http://picasaweb.google.com/brig.dmb/June2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCKnLhufvpe_1xgE#