Our time in Montgomery

Our time together in the States has been priceless.  We’ve gotten to spend more time as a family in the past 6 weeks than we have in the past year combined.  It is so nice to have Mark home before 5pm every. single. night. and to be able to meet him for lunch 2-4 times a week because he has 1.5 – 2 hours for lunch.  He’s not constantly stressed out by work, or feeling guilty that he’s not at work when he’s home with us.  It has just been really, really nice and I’m sad that we only have a few weeks left in the States.  I think going back to Italy is going to be a rough transition for us all.  We’ve gotten accustomed to Mark working 3-6 hour days so going back to the 12-14 hour days is going to be hard on all of us.

Besides all the time we’ve been able to spend together, just being back in the States has been really nice.  The convenience of everything here is something I don’t think I’ll ever take for granted again.  I could go out and buy anything I could ever wish for within a 20 mile radius of where I live.  Businesses don’t close on random days at random hours.  There’s every type of food imaginable available, along with FAST food, which is basically non-existent in Italy, with the exception of a few McDonald’s and Burger Kings.  Restaurants are kid friendly and have changing tables and kids menu's and high chairs.  (Nine times out of 10 that doesn’t happen in Italy, and more than once we’ve gone to restaurants where their toilet is a hole in the ground – literally.)  I can listen to the radio and it’s all in English and there are a variety of genre’s to listen to, and they’re all in English.  I don’t have to download TV shows or wait for them to buffer to watch them.  We’re in the same time zone as our parents and the majority of our families.  I can watch HGTV and the Food Network as much as I want!!  It doesn’t take 3 hours to do one load of laundry.

However, the apartment we’re staying at here in Montgomery is HORRIBLE.  It has been the one downfall to our time in the States.  We’re staying at Azalea Hill Apartments in Montgomery, and we’ve had one thing after another go wrong with this place.  From the carpet being FILTHY, and them refusing to replace it, to the appliances all being from the 1970’s (no joke), to the washing machine leaking, to the water heater in the apartment above ours breaking and flooding part of our apartment, to our air conditioner breaking… twice, to the beds being so old and making so much noise when you move on them that it wakes up Ben every. single. time…  It’s just not been fun.  And it says a lot about a place when we can go out of town for the weekend and stay in a hotel and Ben slept 10 hours straight both nights.  This place just sucks and I’m excited to get out of here.  It is nice because it’s so small and there’s not much stuff in it so it’s super easy to clean.

We have two weeks left in Montgomery before we head up to IL for a bit to visit our families and then we head back to Italy.  I really miss my weina dogs and not being woken up 3 – 10 times a night, so I’m looking forward to getting home and putting Ben in his own room so we all sleep better!!

The final countdown

I remember very vividly the week before Mark left.  I was more upset about him having to leave Abbie than anything else.  I knew it was going to be hard for him to leave her, and I knew she’d change a lot while he was gone.
Now that we leave here in two days, I’m again finding the hardest part to be knowing that my parents won’t be around Abbie anymore, and I know how hard that will be for them.  They absolutely LOVE having Abbie here, and she enjoys her time with them just as much as they do with her.  I know it will be a huge adjustment for her to not have them around anymore, and to not be the center of three adults attention.  She wakes up and asks for “gammy and gampy” right away (if I beat them to getting her out of bed in the morning that is), and every time they leave she asks where they’re going and when they’re coming back and if she can go with them, and every time they come home, she goes running to greet them and jumps into their arms.  I would imagine it’s pretty much any grandparents dream.

Our visit hasn’t been all rainbows and puppies and there has been more than once where I was ready to pack up and head back to Italy early.  But overall, we’ve had a fun summer here and I’m glad my parents had this bonding time with Abbie.  They really got to know her better than they ever would have if Mark hadn’t deployed and we hadn’t come home.  It’s kind of a blessing in disguise with this whole deployment thing.  I know my parents and Abbie gained a lot from our time here and it is amazing to me the difference I see in my parents and how they handle and react to Abbie now verses when we first got here.  And Abbie is infinitely different as well since she has matured a BUNCH in the 6 months we’ve been home.  And I think she’s grown 4 inches as well..

Hopefully it won’t be too long before my parents can come visit us (and the new baby) in Italy.  I’m hoping they can come to Italy once or twice next year to get their Abbie fix.  And vice versa.

My hometown

As I’ve said a few times recently, I absolutely LOVE fall.  This year I’m extra lucky because I get to experience fall in IL and then most likely again when we go back to Italy.  It’s much cooler in IL than it is in Italy, which definitely works in my favor.
My in-laws were visiting and these are a few pictures I took as we walked around town.  I’m still trying to figure out full manual mode on my camera and I was using my 50mm lens.  Northern IL is GORGEOUS this time of year will all the leaves changing color.  I cannot get enough of the fall colors.  Should be perfect for our homecoming pictures!  =)

Feeling overwhelmed.

Moving is always somewhat stressful, and even though this isn’t an official PCS move for me, I’m still moving back to Italy after living with my parents for 6 months.  And I seem to have accumulated a TON of stuff.  This was planned though.  I knew I was going to buy baby boy’s wardrobe through size 2T if we found out he was a boy, which he obviously is.  And I also stocked up on clothes for Abbie for the next year and a half since it’s much more fun to shop in person than it is online.  So the majority of these boxes are clothes.  But I also bought quite a bit of fabric to use over the next 2 years since buying fabric in Italy is very expensive and the selection is extremely slim, so again, I’d end up buying it online anyway.  And since I didn’t bring any maternity clothes with me, I’ve bought quite a few of those also, so I’m sending back my non-maternity clothes in boxes.
I’ve shipped 2 (huge) boxes home, one of them was the double stroller, the other full of baby clothes.  I have 12 more boxes (pictured above) that I need to get to the post office asap so they will be there by the time we get to Italy.  And the stressful part is that I have quite a few boxes left to pack and get ready to send.  I’m numbering them all and writing down what I have in each of them so I’ll know what I’m missing if any of them don’t show up in Italy.
The stressful part is that I am SUPER busy from now until the weekend before we leave.  Between OB appointments, dentist appointments, vet appointments, hair appointments, dinners with friends, taking pictures for people, finishing a quilt, etc, I have something going on every. single. day.  Which is good!  It’s great really, because the time will fly by, but it’s stressful because it’s a lot to do in a short amount of time.  We fly out in 18 days.  So I’m trying to visit with family and friends as much as possible before I leave, and also get everything ready to go.
I’m also stressed about everything I have to do after we get to Italy, but I’ll save that for another post.  =)  On the brighter side, it’s looking like fall here and I absolutely love it!  The cooler weather, the changing leaves, the wearing warm clothes.  I can’t get enough of it and it definitely helps my mood!

In the front yard

I’ve been wanting to practice using my camera on full manual mode with my 50mm lens, so a few weeks ago I took Abbie and the dogs out in the front yard and tried to take a few pictures of them running around.  Let me tell you, it’s much easier to practice on stationary objects, that’s for sure.  But I still had fun and got a few alright shots.

I just love her (not so) little feet. 

Since Ollie is usually “sitting like a pig”, as Abbie puts it, he’s much easier to take photos of.  All my shots of Sadie were just a ball of blurry fur since Sadie has two speeds – asleep or running like a bat out of hell and when she’s outside, she’s usually in the later mode.

Abbie just loves Maddie and Maddie is a really good sport about Abbie getting all up in her grill.

Oliver, however, is not at all a good sport.  I happened to snap this picture during the half a second that he didn’t have his nose all wrinkled up at her.  Abbie is completely oblivious to Ollie’s warning signs though and she’s still all over him more than any other dog.

I like how this photo turned out.

Blah

Let me preface this by saying I know that I am very blessed and I know there are many people that have it much worse than I do.  (Those of you that have to endure 12+ month deployments, my heart goes out to you.)  With that being said, I try to keep this blog real and not gloss things over, so I tell it like it is.
For the past few days, I’ve been having a rough time.  I’ve been having to deal with things that I just don’t want to deal with, especially by myself.  I’ve heard many times about how you lose your filter when you’re pregnant, and I find myself having the urge to really tell people exactly what I think, no matter what the consequences are.  And I’m letting things that normally wouldn’t bug me as much, bug me a lot, thanks to my crazy hormones.
On top of that, I’ve been in a LOT of pain lately due to my SPD.  I bought a belt to wear when I’m going to be walking a lot and it has helped, but my SPD is still getting worse, and it will continue to do so until after baby boy is born (3.5 months from now..).  I’ve been going to a chiropractor and my hips/pelvis/lower back are out of alignment.  He said that my pelvic ligaments are so loose, all the surrounding muscles are having to work overtime to try to keep things in place.  He did some deep tissue massage on me and it hurt SO bad.  But he basically said that there’s nothing he can do to fix anything that’s going to last long term.  He can keep getting me back in alignment, but it won’t last more than a week or two.  Since he adjusted me on Monday, I’ve been having a lot of lower back pain, along with my pelvic pain.  Sometimes my pelvic pain is so bad, I have a really hard time getting out of bed and it takes me a good 3-5 minutes just to get to a standing position from laying down in bed.  Not exactly my idea of fun.  And being in pain most of the time is exhausting.
I miss my husband.  It’s been almost 5 months since I’ve seen him and quite honestly, I’m just tired of this.  It’s been great being at home and seeing all my friends and having all the help my parents have given me with Abbie.  But this isn’t my home.  I miss my stuff and my house and my comfort zone and my husband.  I’m just over this whole deployment and I’m ready to get back to my life.  I’m tired of writing my husband 1-6 emails a day (yes, sometimes I do actually email him that much).  I want to be able to talk to him at night before we go to sleep instead of email him.  I want to wake up in the middle of the night and know he’s beside me instead of habitually checking my email from my phone to see if he’s emailed me back yet.  (Yes, I do that multiple times a night too.)  I’m tired of sending him pages long emails telling him everything cute (or not so cute) his daughter did that day so he doesn’t feel like he’s completely out of the loop.  I want him to be able to watch her grow up in person, instead of through the emails, photos and videos I send him daily.  I’m just really ready to have my husband back.
I’ve been struggling with the weight I’m gaining with this baby.  I’ve gained about 17lbs so far, and according to my midwife today, that’s perfectly fine and right on track.  However, I feel huge.  I look back on pictures of when I was 8+ months pregnant with Abbie and I am disgusted by what I see, and I’m terrified I’m going to be looking like that again soon.  It doesn’t at all help that our squadron in Italy is basically full of very athletic, in-shape people who run marathons and work out all the time.  I see the girls talking about buying cute homecoming outfits for when the guys get home and I just feel like I’m going to show up looking like the fat girl.  I am very thankful to be pregnant and I obviously wouldn’t change that for all the cute outfits in the world, but it does bother me.  I’d love to be active, by this stupid SPD prevents me from even walking at times.  And if I do go for a walk, I usually pay for it the next day.
The thing that amazes me, is that even though my husband is 7000 miles away from me, he is still able to 100% provide for me the support I need.  He always seems to know exactly what to say to make me feel better and he makes me feel like I’m not in this completely alone, even though he’s not physically around me.  He listens to me vent, and doesn’t just give the typical guy responses, which usually involve a lot of “uh-huh’s” and “yeah’s”.  He asks questions and helps me sort through my emotions and come up with solutions and I usually feel 95% better just by talking things over with him.  I just can’t wait until I can hug him and forget that the rest of the world even exists.

No more little dogs

I grew up with Golden Retrievers.  My parents had 2 when I was born and we’ve owned 5 more since those.  (They usually had 2 dogs at all times.)  I love Golden’s.  They’re such kind, gentle animals and are easily trainable.
Before we were married, Mark bought me Oliver, a long-hair Dachshund, for my 25th birthday.  Although, it might have been more for him since he’d always wanted a weiner dog.  When we got Ollie, I was looking for a job, which meant I was home all day searching the internet and mailing out resumes.  We got Ollie when he was 9 or 10 weeks old, and yet he still seemed to imprint on me.  I thought that only much younger animals imprint, but Ollie, almost immediately, thought I was his mother.  He followed me EVERYWHERE.  He was not happy unless he was touching me.  He was so bad that for the first few weeks we had him, he would jump into the SHOWER with me and sit in the back of the tub so he could see me.  And then for a few weeks after that he’d sit on the bath mat outside the shower and whine/howl.  We had planned for him to sleep in a crate in our room and after a full week of trying to get him to sleep in a crate, we finally gave up.  If you’re familiar with Dachshunds, you know that most of them are very strong-willed, tenacious little animals, and Oliver definitely fits that description.  He barked ALL. NIGHT. LONG every single night.  He would scratch at the cage door, and try to chew his way out of it.  We’d go in there 2 hours after we’d tried to go to bed, and he’d be breathing super fast and be covered in his own slobber.  None of us slept and we finally gave up and brought him to bed with us, and what do you know, he slept for like 10 hours straight regularly.  I’m fairly certain his breeder had him sleeping with her, so that’s what he was accustom to.

At first, I really didn’t like Ollie all that much.  He was needy and clingy and I just wasn’t used to that from an animal at all.  But he eventually grew on me after a couple weeks and he very much was our first kid.  I’m fairly certain that he doesn’t realize he’s a dog half the time.  I sleep with him wrapped in my arms like my little stuffed animal, and he’s very snuggly.  He definitely keeps me company when Mark is away.

We got Sadie, our wire-haired Dachshund,  from a farmer who was selling puppies on the side of the road.  She’s our little fireball.  Full of spunk and energy, but afraid of her own shadow half the time.  She’ll preemptively yelp if she thinks anything bad is going to happen, even if nothing even touches her.  My parents big cat looks at her the wrong way and she makes so much noise you’d think someone cut off her leg.
Sadie is great with Abbie.  She’s very patient with her and lets Abbie pretty much maul her.  And Abbie loves Sadie too.  Ollie is terrible with Abbie.  He mostly views her as competition and he growls at her any time she gets near him.  And he’s bitten her a few times.  Not good.
My parents have an 11 year old Golden Retriever, Maddy, who’s never really been around little kids, and she is EXCELLENT with Abbie.  Abbie gets in her face and gives her “hugs”, and crawls all over Maddy when she’s laying on the floor, and Maddy doesn’t mind in the least.  I’ve been wishing we had bigger dogs for a while now, but seeing the way Maddy is with Abbie has just confirmed the fact that our next dog will be a large breed.

I love my little weina dogs and they are like kids to me, but I don’t think I’ll ever have little dogs again. 
Sidenote: The weinas are lots of fun to photograph, particularly when they’re running.  Ollie is fairly lazy and prefers to stay in one place for long periods of time.  Sadie, however, is either standing still or she’s running flat out.  I’m still trying to get good pictures of her in motion since she’s MUCH faster.

Abbie’s first hibachi experience

My parents and I took Abbie and my grandma to a hibachi restaurant in Dubuque tonight.  My grandma had been to one a long time ago, and this was Abbie’s first time.  She was pretty fascinated with all the action and seemed to like to food too.

The fire scared her a little bit.  She was checking to make sure I was right behind her and she wanted to sit closer to me, but she liked it.

She really liked when he did the train thing with the onions.  She made the train noise with him.
On the way home we spotted some deer, so we stopped so Abbie and my grandma could see them.  I’m not sure who enjoyed seeing them more!