We arrived in South Carolina yesterday afternoon. Chris came to the hotel and just seeing his handsome face was so wonderful. Having him there in the bed next to me last night was so great. I just don't feel like a full person unless he is with me. It was so precious to hug him and kiss him!

We went to have our 4D ultrasound last night and see Owen, our third gift from God. A 4D ultrasound lets you see them in their full form, not just a black screen. You get to see them do everything they normally do in the womb, just in actual view. He smiled at us, it even looked like he was laughing. He yawned and put on a big show. He is so handsome. He looks a little like Evan to me. Full lips and pudgy nose! He weighs about 2.25 pounds right now and is measuring right on time for a late October birth! I am going to show a few pictures.

Although my kids physically and mentally exhaust me most of the time, they are such gifts. I love them so much! They are so precious to me, even if I don't always show it. It is very difficult to be a mother, or a father. As difficult as it may be, God has trusted me with them and I thank Him for that. It is the best job on earth!

Here is some pictures of our little guy!

The first one is his face, the second is of him yawning, the third is him laughing and the last one is him with his face in his hands.

Busy Days

The last few days have been eventful.

Wednesday I had to go shopping for a new formal gown to wear to the wife formal a couple of days before Chris graduates. I had a beautiful dress that looked like it would grow with me through the pregnancy but because of the way the beads were set, it did not work. I went out to David’s Bridal and found a new dress. It is very pretty and I believe it will do a better job of expanding because it has no beading. Even better, it was on clearance.

Thursday, my handsome husband’s birthday, I had a doctor’s appointment. Owen is looking good. I asked about the 4D ultrasound and unfortunately you have to get it done by 28 weeks to guarantee a good picture of the baby. Chris will not be back until I am 32 weeks. I was so upset. Either I would have to do it without him or wait until he gets back and risk not getting a good picture. Of course I am not doing it without him. He is the Daddy and this is a very special event. Of course for those of you who know me, you know I will not be satisfied with those kinds of options. I got on the internet and found a 4D ultrasound place in South Carolina and when we go see Chris next week, we will have it done there. I already made the appointment! So this Thursday night, I will get to see the face of my beautiful baby boy. I will be sure and post some pictures.

Also on Thursday I got the shoes to go with my new dress and took the old dress back for a refund. Thank God I didn’t take the tags off. I also now have to send the shoes back that I got for the first dress.

Anyway, only 6 more days until I leave to go to South Carolina to see my handsome soldier again! I can hardly wait! I have a lot to do to get ready.

Thank you all for your prayers. We definitely need them!





Oh, and I finally figured out how to put pictures on my blog so here is one of the kids playing outside a few days ago.

Special Day

I want to say something to my wonderful husband. Chris, I love you and I wanted to be there for this special day but I want to tell you

Happy Birthday!

I love you and I hope you have a wonderful birthday! Next week when I come we can celebrate! Until then, I thank God for you and I love you so much!

PT TEST #2 RESULTS

Thanks to everyone who prayed for Chris! As usual, God has been good to us and Chris passed his PT test with flying colors. I couldn’t be more proud to have such a great, hard working and dedicated husband! He is truly the man of my dreams. What woman wouldn’t want all those features in a man along with him being handsome and wearing a hot uniform!?

Tomorrow I go dress shopping. This dress thing is frustrating. But it’s alright. I will find one. I will find a very pretty one and we will have a blast at the formal. Just being with Chris is the best part.

Thursday I have a doctor’s appointment to check on Owen. I love hearing his little heartbeat. He is getting big. His feet have already made it to my ribs and I still have 14 more weeks til due date. I would love to know how much he weighs right now.

Just 9 more days until we get to see Chris again!

Thanks for all your prayers. Love you all!

PT Test #2

Today I decided to try on my dress for the wife formal because I hadn’t yet tried the shoes and dress on together. It was tough to zip it up, but then when I looked in the mirror, I was horrified. The dress doesn’t fall into the right place. It doesn’t fit. It zips but because of the way it is designed, it doesn’t rest where it needs to accommodate my expanding belly. Ugh! I was so disappointed. We tried to figure a way out of it, but just couldn’t. So, I am now in the market for a new dress. I believe we have found one that we like so I just have to go try it on. So, I am starting over. New dress, new shoes. This is a mess.

Even though I am having issues, mine are minor. Chris has a PT test this Tuesday. Please, everyone please take a moment and pray for him to not only do well, but exceed expectations! I know he can do it, but let’s all pray he does great and doesn’t get tired easily.

As of today, we have only 11 more days until we get to go see Chris! We are so excited to get to see him!

I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to call us, pray for us, and help us out. It means so much to have such loving friends and family who care for us so much.

Please continue to pray for us, we need it!

Love you all!

Another Day Down

Chris seems to be doing very well other than the pt hrting him. He is over halfway through this school. Only about 6 more weeks to go and I can bring him home. I can hardly wait to have him next to me again!

Since Chris has been gone I have took up cross-stitching again to stay occupied, but it is getting a little dull so I decided to sew. Every time I am pregnant, I sew the new baby a blanket. I finished Owen’s yesterday. I also sewed Evan a SpongeBob pillowcase and made some pillow covers for the living room. Something about being pregnant makes me sew and do all the old-fashioned girly stuff.

I only have 13 more days until I get to visit Chris again. I am so excited. We keep a jar of marbles in the kitchen and every day we take one out. On the very last day, we take out the last marble and head out on the road to see him. Well, Alana decided she would try to trick me and take out more than one marble at a time. I counted them and explained to her that we can’t do that because it won’t make the time go by any faster. Well, of course she fell apart and started crying and told me she wanted to go see her Daddy. It broke my heart. She is so sweet.

Evan has learned he can open the pantry door now. Can you imagine how many times a day I have to reload the pantry? He also climbs anything and everything. He will climb onto the end tables and stand up and scream MOMMY! He tells on himself.

Anyway, I hear them getting into something so I better go check.

Love you all and thanks for the prayers!

Prayers Please

Even though it is hard because Chris is a couple of states away and we have two children 4 and under and our third on the way, we are one of the more blessed families. I miss Chris so much every day and so do the kids. He is the completion of me. One of the biggest blessings about this school though is I can talk to him every day.

Chris’s cousin Johnathan just deployed to Afghanistan as I have mentioned a couple of times before. Crystal is Johnathan’s wife and just happens to be my best friend. She is also pregnant and they have 3 other children under 8. She is not so blessed to get to talk to him every day. It is only a few minutes at a time and every 2-3 days.

For those of you who have never had a spouse to go away from you for an extended period of time, I will fill you in on how Crystal and I react to our situations. We will plan our entire day around the phone calls we get with our husbands. We know approximately when we will get to talk to them and even try to plan ahead for the unexpected but very welcomed surprise phone calls. Well, this morning Crystal was delivering some food to her Dad’s house because her stepmom has been very ill. She walked into the house and came back out only to see that she had just missed a phone call from Johnathan by 1 minute. Imagine how she felt. She cannot call international on her cell phone and tried to call her provider’s customer service line only to learn they were closed today. Needless to say, she was very upset. I felt so badly for her because I know how I would feel if I missed one of Chris’s calls.

I guess my whole point is to ask everyone to remember this family and all the other military families in your prayers. Think of the husbands, wives, children and even the tiny babies who deal with this situation. They need strength, love, and encouragement. They need your prayers.

Just from my short time being away from Chris, the kids have changed and acted out so much more since he has been gone. They know something is missing and their way of dealing with it is acting out more and being more aggressive. I think Crystal would agree that hers have done the same thing since Johnathan has been gone. This in turn adds more stress to the mothers, especially the worn out and tired pregnant mothers, and makes for a more difficult experience. Crystal and I were just talking today about how God has put the two of us together because He knew we needed each other. Out of a 45 minute phone conversation between the two of us, about 35 minutes of that is the two of us screaming at our kids, but we draw strength from it knowing the other is going through a similar situation.

So please, when you do say your prayers, remember Crystal and Johnathan and their family, Chris and me and our family, and the other military families. We all need it, even if we tell you we are fine.

Love you all!

Tired

Today was such an exhausting day. Evan got a vaccine Thursday and since he got that shot, he has been so cranky. He has literally chased me around the house hitting me. This morning I decided I needed to get away from him for a little while. Thankfully, my Mom kept the kids while Stef and I went to Jasper. We got some groceries and shopped around and by the end of the day my whole body aches. I hurt all over. I guess the pregnancy has weakened me and the extra weight made me ache.

It is days like this when I miss Chris so bad I can barely stand it. Even when I am tired, if he is around I somehow manage to pull together more strength. But with him not here, it seems to make me even more tired and sluggish. I miss him so much. Just to see his handsome face would renew my strength.

I guess my point is that in times like these, I really have to rely on God to strengthen me. He knows how tired I get and how much I miss Chris. He provides me more strength and comfort when I need it, even if it isn’t the same strength and comfort I get from Chris.

I am counting the days until I get to see Chris again. Just 19 more days. Even though it will be hard to tell him goodbye when I leave him at the hotel again the second time, I know that the third time I go to see him, I am taking him home.

I hope you all have a wonderful evening. And when you say your prayers, please remember Donna Wynn, a dear friend. She is at UAB and will have surgery Tuesday to remove a mass. Please pray for her.

Love you all!

God is Great

God is so wonderful!

Yesterday evening I spoke to Chris and he was not feeling well. He had been coughing and feeling weak. He told me PT was tough and he was very tired. Well, I have always been there to take care of Chris when he is sick so I felt real bad that I couldn’t take care of him. I said a prayer that night and asked God to help him to be healthy and stay strong. Today I spoke to him and he did not have to do PT because he had to do some other things that were required of him, something called SRPs. He also mentioned that they will not be doing PT the rest of the week. God knew he was not feeling well and took care of PT for him the rest of the week. Isn’t that wonderful! I thank God for taking care of Chris!

I am counting the days until I get to see him! 22 days to be exact. I am sooooo looking forward to it. It will be the weekend of our 7th year wedding anniversary. We have been together 11 years and married for 7. It has been the best years of my life and I cannot wait to give him a giant hug and kiss.

Please pray for Chris. Pray he will feel better and get his school work done. He has a briefing to do tomorrow and his sacred communication on Friday. Please pray for him to do well. I know he will because he does great in everything!

Thank you all for your prayers!

My Handsome Soldier

Well, we are back from South Carolina. We got to spend Thursday night through Sunday morning with Chris and it was so wonderful to be with him. I had put on a sort of hard shell after he left and tried not to allow myself to miss him too much so I wouldn’t get too lonely or upset. But when I opened the door and saw him standing there, the shell shattered. He looked so handsome in his uniform and I wanted to just hold on to him and not let go but I held back so the kids could get their time with him first. He has lost some weight and he looked amazing. He is absolutely the most handsome man on earth!

Chris took us on post and showed us where he does all of his PT and classes. I took some pictures of the chapels he has visited and we bought plenty of Army shirts and gear at the PX for me and the kids. We had dinner out and relaxed in the pool at the hotel. It was so nice to be a functioning family again.

I started packing up last night and cried a lot but never let Chris see me because I know this isn't easy for him either. I am sure he gets so lonely without his family there. This morning I was trying to get ready to go and I just couldn’t hold it back. I cried and cried. I just didn’t want to leave. It broke my heart to have to leave him there. I am trying my best to be strong but I miss him so bad. I cannot even put into words how bad I miss him and want him home. We said our goodbyes in the hotel parking lot and left. I cried for a while. I just didn’t want to be away from him anymore. Alana cried too.

We finally got home to a very lonely and empty house around 6:30 this evening. I pulled into the yard and didn’t even want to go into the house. I walked in and started to unpack and now that the kids are in bed it is quiet and I just want my husband here. I want him here so bad I can barely stand myself. I don’t want to sleep in that bed without him. I don’t want to wake up and not see him there next to me. I want to just get back in the car and drive back to South Carolina to be with him.

I know I sound pitiful but I know it will be alright. I just want him home so bad. I don’t know how wives handle deployment. I want to be with Chris every day. I don’t want to be away from him. When he does get back home, I am not sure how much I will allow him out of my sight for the first few days. I am going to cling to him.

Anyway, I am sure you are all tired of hearing me whine so I will try to stop now. I thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out during this trip. I appreciate everything that all of you have done.

Please continue to pray for us, we need it.

I love you all!