ummmmm......

I know it has been months since I have posted. Life has been a bit nuts. Derick left and now back, and that was an interesting experience and Olena has grown and turned THREE!! Can you believe it?!?! I cannot! I am going to be posting videos and picture probably for the next three days. But I would like to get all caught up! Here's to a Christmas of blogging and posting!
~Whitney

I keep saying I need to update my blog!

Life happens and the blog does not. I just need to post in here what I post on fb. Life is better than it was but it is still kind of stinking. I guess we are just getting used to it. Derick is loving, as much as you can love boot camp, and kicking butt. That makes it all worth it! Olena and I are having a lot of goo quality time together and I am loving that. I don't feel like a bad parent any more. Other than that- chickens are good- brothers are good- school is stressful- and I get to see my man in a couple of weeks. Really can't complain too much! Just counting down the days until he comes home!!!

Just a little bit longer..please, please, please

You know I have been meaning to update about our lives for a long time now. The fact that it is 10:15 at night and I have just finished my 14th 1,000 word essay for my masters class, still need to write Derick his letter, and get ready for tomorrow (which just happens to be one of the biggest IEP meeting days in my teaching career,) means it is just going to have to wait a little bit longer......

yep

First eggs

Derick found these eggs in the yard. We need to get boxes for the hens, but it is quite exciting! It was funny too because you knew exactly who the mom was. She went right at me, squawking and pecking at my legs, before I got anywhere close!

BIG NEWS!!!

 

Derick has officially joined the Army National Guard on Friday. It has been a long process that some may or may not known that we were going through. We have been meeting with a recruiter for at least 6 months now getting everything together. And as of Friday he passed all his physicals and swore his allegiance to the president and the governor of Florida. 

O'lena, Kevyn and I took the day to go see him perform his swearing in. It took us a long while to get there (we had to turn around at 50 miles out to get more paperwork) and then waited another 2 hours before he was done, but it was all worth it! I am so happy we were there to support him. I didn't even cry...there....

O'lena was being a royal pain in the butt. She had been sitting around way too much by then, but again it was worth it. Derick has been completely excited to start his new endeavor. When is he leaving you might ask? yeah.. July 30th!! yeah in like 27 days!!!!! He has to do some kind of retreat thing before he heads to boot camp Aug 6th. Boot canp is 10 weeks and his job training is another 7. So total he will be gone about 18 weeks. I know..I know... The good thing is that when he is home he is only gone one weekend a month and only 2 weeks in the summer for training. He has signed on to be a Multiple Launch Rocket System Operations/Fire Direction Specialist. Here is the fun and exciting video about his job.

Our current plan though, as soon as he gets back, is to apply for Officer Candidate School. That will take him away again but not for nearly as long. I guess there are some good things about him leaving so soon, at least it is not next year sometime and I am sitting around worrying so much about it, it is like ripping off a band aid, getting it done and over with. Well, really that is the only good thing i can think of for him leaving so quickly. Right now we are trying to get everything in gear for his absence. I have a list a mile long that I would like him to fix or do around the house and we have decided to sell his car. I have asked my 19 year old brothers to come and stay with me, and hopefully one of them will say yes. I am personally trying to decided on what i am going to be able to handle in the new situational single motherhood. The biggest thing in question is my continuation of grad school. I am going to take a break right as he is leaving but...oh i just dont know.... anyways. Everyone has been really great asking to help and take care of things while he is gone. I am sure I will be calling. Oh man, I can't believe this is actually happening. I wasnt going to worry about it unless he passed his medical. Well, Whitney he did. Whacha going to do now?....

First outing with big girl undies

We went to Costco with Olena in big girl undies. She was just fine. She went potty in the store and everything. She had them all day pretty much until mommy and daddy forgot she had them on and forgot to put her back in the potty. Then we had an accident and derick wanted her back in pull ups because we were finishing packing. I we are at the beach and I want to have we just in big girl undies by the end of our trip for good. We will! I know we will.

O'lena's New Bedroom!!!

We spent last week working on O'lena's bed room.  We put her in the toddler bed and I thought it would be a good time to turn it in to a little girls room and not a baby room any more. I found this art work at Target that gave me the concepts and most of the stuff I got from Old Time Pottery, Target, and AC Moore. Oh and the Dollar Tree. It was a lot of fun decorating. I think she really likes it and I do too. She comes in and talks about her butterflies and her princess bed.

The picture that started it all! I fell in love with it!

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The big butterfly I got at Old Time Pottery and added extra colored ribbon. The other little butter lies and birds are from AC Moore and the flower stickers are from the Dollar Tree. Yep, they were a dollar. Best dollar spent! The quilt hanging up is from our friend Linda. It has been hanging there since she was one but it went with it so I kept it there. The pig my roommate from college made it. It just has been a part of the room from the beginning and keeps being part of it. The little scare is made from another friend of the family Susan Webb and the bed was given to us by the Strykowski's.

She has been doing okay with the bed. We have had only one night where she had a hard time going to go to sleep, but every morning we wake up to her asleep on the couch. She doesn't come into our room to wake us up, but just moves out there to sleep. I think she gets scared of the dark. I really need to get her a night light. We have been leaving the hall light on for her but it isn't enough.

This is a video of her going into her room all done. She had helped me with it most of the day, but I put on her new princess bedding and added a few little things. She had also been wearing big girl undies all day. We went though about 10 pairs but she knows when she needs to go now. Most of the time we dont make it but we will keep trying ;)