Life Here in the Wilson Home

My life is so full of happiness lately with my precious, very much missed husband back home again!!! Tomorrow will make 3 weeks since he's returned! I still catch myself telling him as we are together, "I'm so happy to have you here!" Being separated really makes you appreciate the wonderful things about the person you chose to marry. They come to the forefront of your mind, and the silly things I can "care" about (like not picking up clothes and tracking in mud *grins*) just come into realization of what they are: silly! Why should I waste care about preferential things that I am actually happy to do, and more than happy to have him home to do those for?

Likewise, I am so so grateful for the burden Jonathan takes on with our household. For example, our car needed fixing again, and I'd taken it in 4-5 times over the time he was deployed, each time researching and calling for price quotes, etc and having to make judgement calls I wasn't comfortable with. Now that he's home, he took it in twice and made all the decisions and it was absolutely no responsibility of mine. What a sweet burden off me, and something I normally would take for granted. We've also been putting the baby's furniture together, making quite a lot of trash. Friday morning he had a huge pile out there for pick-up. I did not have to take out one bit of it (and it was in the 30's cold!). Driving back to NC twice now, the 8 hour drives each way, he has done 100% of the driving except 2 hours I took over because I asked to. So many more things I haven't even thought of, that he just does, and I wouldn't normally give a thought because it never had been my responsibility. He serves as the husband and leader of our family so humbly, diligently, and faithfully, that I just have reason to thank God every day for him, and I hope I try to convey my thankfulness to Jonathan as well.

We had our 11-day post-deployment "honeymoon" trip to New Bern again, and actually visited our families for a few days at the end too. Those first days back together are amazing! I can't describe them but just to say, if you haven't been separated for your husband for more than a month, you wouldn't be able to relate. It's magical and perfect and a honeymoon is the best way to relate to it. You're just so happy to be together! Nothing can upset you, nothing can go "wrong", and every little thing is fun - running to Wal-Mart, cooking a meal, snuggling midday just because you can, driving, on and on and on. I glance over at Jonathan, and my heart melts to look at that face that I find more handsome than any other, butterflies are in my stomach at hearing his step come near, his voice sends happy quivers through me, and I grin all day long just to have him nearby! It is bliss!!!

Jonathan put up the chair rails for Baby Girl's room, installed the chandelier (*sheepish grin* yes, I said chandelier), we put together her dresser, and the changer will be next. Then I just need to find bedding I like (this has been horrible as I can find nothing), and we need to find a rocker/glider/whatever together. Then it's just a matter of arranging it all, and putting everything where it belongs. Then her room will be ready for her arrival!

Speaking of, we have finally now read Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way together (I read it alone first, then we read it together as we sat in a deer stand hunting!). It was good to have us read something with the basic ideas for how I'd like this birth to go. I have some serious issues with the book's agenda and really ancient "references" to studies/research, but the basic approach to labor and birth agree with me. I want to understand exactly what is or should be happening with my body and the baby, I want to keep intervention at the barest minimum, and I do not want to introduce any drugs into my bloodstream and thus (potentially) the baby's. Now anyone who knows our story will know if we were agaisnt medicine as a practice, we would not be pregnant with this baby! But obviously my initial desire was to do everything we could to conceive naturally. The same is true here. I want to do everything I can to have a natural childbirth experience. But it is not my hill to die on! My safety and the baby's are the utmost priority. So, I will blog later about my birth plan, about issues I do not want to "give" on and issues I would, etc.

I could begin another whole post now with all that, but I'll save it for my next update. I know you seasoned mommies out there will have lots of good advise and input for me, which I am Very Happy to receive (even if it's not along my lines of natural childbirth, I welcome your stories).

So, I know most my readers are not military, so a separation from your husband usually is confined to a few days at most. And maybe those days are spent getting "me" time or special time with your children. But as a miltiary wife, the second thing you do after your husband is deployed, is make a list of projects to tackle and accomplish over his absence. The first thing you do of course is try to pick yourself up of the couch where you've been sobbing for the last hour. Deployments don't get easier, and the initial pain of missing the man you love is so intense. But giving yourself something to work at greatly helps busy the mind and body not to dwell on the current circumstances.

I'm sure it depends on the length of deployment - Susi had 15 long, grueling months. And a 4 month old daughter. But guess what the first thing she did was? She moved!!! Talk about an accomplishment!

My projects have been much smaller. Last spring, they were making a lovely place out of the front flowerbed, re-vamping the office completely (including a lot of hanging/organizing and painting my desk), and organizing the garage. Plus lots of visiting around. Anyway, here's a tiny glimpse of what I did last time:

You can't see in this picture, but the front bed was so ugly. Planted 4 rose bushes, a gardenia bush, dusty miller (silver-colored), hostas, red flowers, mulched, put up black fencing. Took about a month for all the colors to come in & I never got a picture of that, but believe me it looked great! All that digging was a lot of work! (Before & After pics) Click to see the colors!

I can't find a "before" of the office, but believe me it was messy and uncoordinated! This is what my desk went from looking like. It's so much nicer with complimentary furniture!

So this time, my projects were to get the new office all set up (since the old office was now the baby's room). This was a bit tricky because it involved combining the hunting room with the office. Sure, there was space, but careful organization was needed to keep it from being crowded and frustrating. (Believe me, we have enough hunting stuff to dedicate an entire room to it! *grins*)

I also had the best project ever, to get the baby's room painted! I also ended up purchasing a fair amount of baby clothes/stuff while Jonathan was gone, so getting that set up was inevitable. My little projects have been: read birthing & new baby-related books, crochet Baby Girl a blanket, sew myself a nursing cover, make my own baby thank-you notes, and just in general organize the house more (I feel like I can always, always organize it more!). So, for your enjoyment, here are some pictures of my accomplishments. I did also travel & have guests too, went to Chicago for business, and made my sister-in-law's wedding cake. All I have left to do is cleaning until Jonathan returns!!!!

Nursing Cover, Baby Blanket, Thank You Notes

For what it's worth, I'm craving this fabulous concoction Susi and I made: a Black Forest Kirsch-laced Torte. We made it one of my last few days there, and even managed it for breakfast once (goes incredible with some Cutter's Point coffee laced with real cream). Can anyone tell we have decadent taste????