Army Life- Week 1

Wow! What a whirlwind! This whole week has just been crazy! And God has been teaching me many things all week- namely, FLEXIBILITY! I know all this sounds crazy, but as a new mom one of the major challenges has been schedules and noise-levels. When you stay in a hotel or are on an airplane or you are driving to an from airports- there is just NO way to make your baby sleep when he needs it. Jonny was officially up for the longest time in his life- from noon to 7pm. He wouldn't sleep on his flight and didn't fall asleep in the car from OK City to Lawton. He did good though. And im happy to report that this is probably his 7th flight- and has still not shed a tear! I can officially say he is just SUCH a good boy!

At the  beginning of this week, Sunday, after the packers and movers had come and gone, Jonathan, my husband, left in his car with a FULL car, floor to ceiling, to go to Fort Sill, in Lawton, OK. He left Jonny and I behind, to follow on an airplane. We were staying with his parents at Carlisle Barracks, at the Army War College where my father-in-law is stationed  during the transition from the Army Reserves to Active Duty. Then we found out that Hurricane Sandy was on its way RIGHT to PA. We got ready and prepared for the worst (my mother-in-law and I) and prepared for no power or water and some terrible weather, and had NOTHING of the sort. We postponed my flight from WEdnesday to Thursday and now know we didn't even need to cause it hardly was a storm, in our area. Being from Florida and seeing some SERIOUS hurricanes- this was nothing- IN OUR AREA. LET ME CLARIFY- IN OUR AREA! lol.

So, on Thursday I finished up the packing and all our stuff barely fit into 4 suticases. I had three carry-ons, 4 suitcases, a pack-n-play and a stroller. And a 20 pound 7.5 month old. When I got to the Delta desk, they proceeded to tell me that in fact, our bags are NOT free, with active duty military orders, which I brought, and their site says, it actually must be the ACTIVE MILITARY PERSON- or he must be with us. It would have cost 245 dollars, but I kept my cool, asked to speak with someone else. A guy came down and said he had 3 kids in the Army so he was sensitive to my situation. He said he couldn't do it for free, but he could rearrange things. He would count "baby stuff" as free (2 of the things), give us two free bags, and then charge us for two- each one bag, so it only ended up being 50 dollars. Jonathan was SO angry and is still planning on calling Delta and flipping out on them! :)

My mother-in-law was able to get a guest ticket to help me through security with my baby, stroller, carseat, and 3 carryons which f course have to be virtually emptied because of the formula, water, ibuprofen, Benadryl, juice, etc. Baby out of the carrier, Carrier on the belt, stroller through the special gate to be checked, shoes off... and then someone has to put all the bottles in some machine to check that they aren't some kind of bomb-liquid or something. Its a big process but luckily Ive been through it so many times, just in the last 8 months that it doesn't even stress me out anymore.

We said goodbye to my MIL and she cried. She was very sad to see Jonny go, and I always internalize those feelings and feel really bad when I leave family. I cant imagine not seeing Jonnys chubby little white face and blue eyes and smile EVERYDAY. I have yet to ever be away from him and it sure would take a LOT for me to do so. I don't even think a trip to Greece could make me separate from that boy!! On the airplane, I quickly discovered that Jonny has changed his mind about strangers. He officially LOVES all strangers. He was jumping around, squealing and dancing for every single person who would smile at him. Everyone guessed that he was 1 and were surprised when I saw he was only 7 months old. They said he had a "mature" face... Im guessing that means he looks like an old man? :) And he definitely LOVES him some women!

He took a short nap on the first flight, no problem, in his carseat. But no such luck for the rest of the day. He were hoping that they would follow-through with having some assistance or at least an escort to help me get where I was going on my short layover in ATL but no such luck. After 20 minutes of waiting and NO one showing up, I finally left to find my gate myself. I trudged through the airport and located elevators and trains and got there just in time. We boarded early both flights which was nice. Jonny enjoyed the second flight too cause one of the flight attendants adored him. She actually busted out laughing and had to compose herself during one of her announcements cause he peeked over my shoulder and saw her and SQUEALED with delight. It was quite cute!

When we got in, Daddy was there to greet us, we got all our bags and got in the car to make the 80 mile drive from OK City to Lawton. We stopped at Sonic and I chuckled because people here must seriously LOVE Sonic. We went for 4 exits with a Sonic at each one! No kidding!

We got to the hotel and put Jonny down. He slept through the night but it was tough cause Daddy had to get up at 4:45am for a 6 mile run for his first day of Pt and of course that meant me and Jonny also had to wake up with daddys alarm :( Jonny did WONDERFULLY in the hotel the first day. He took 4 long naps and made up for his lost sleep. That night when daddy got home he took us to Outback to celebrate for dinner, that he got the house we wanted and we went to see the house and take some pictures. Its about 1500 sq ft, has a huge yard, a giant master closet, is barely over our budget, has a room for a playroom, a very large living room, nice counter space in the kitchen. I cant say enough! And a nice BIG bathroom! I just love it! I cant wait to move-in.

We got a move-in date set for Monday, when the movers with drop all our stuff off so tomorrow we will go back over there and check it out and figure out where to have them put our big furniture. Today we went to the Lawton mall after Jonnys first nap (he slept in til 740am!) and it was nice! We went to SEARS and picked out a washer and dryer. They don't match, but they were both clearance items, and both just returns. We bought a protection plan on them so we should be good. Neither of us know much about what to buy as far as those go, but hopefully we made a good choice! Guess we will find out! The washer was originally 999 on sale for 779. Its really nice and I believe its LG brand. Both are spacious! Then we had lunch at Chickfila and peeked in Old Navy to get Jonny a couple bigger and LONG-SLEEVED onesies. Yesterday it was really warm out and today I brought Jonny outside in a onesie and I think it was 60 degrees! Yikes! COLD! After his current nap we will be heading to ATT to upgrade our phones and get back on our own phone plans and headed to the PX and Commisary to get my LONG-AWAITED Keurig coffee maker and my delicious Holiday blend coffee- the Eggnog is THE BEST! If I cant have eggnog as a prego, I sure as heck am gonna enjoy the egg-nog flavored coffee! and we have to get Jonny some baby food. Our power will be turned on Monday, goods delivered, and we will get our W&D on Tuesday! Installed and delivered!

So far, I have expected the worse in every situation. I TOTALLY expected to be powerless in the hurricane. I expected Jonny to finally have a meltdown on a plane ride. I expected to miss my flight. I expected to have a horrible hotel experience where everyone is screaming and running by and slamming doors and waking him up. I expected us not to find a house for 2 weeks and have to go to a Laundr-o-mat. ETC. But everything has been so wonderful and I find myself REALYL embracing the whole calm, cool, collected, flexible Army wife thing. Im enjoying the role and really trying to get everything I can out of it. I have a spouses class where I will get to meet and greet the General of the Schools wife- who has already been told about me through a friend of my in-laws! Yay, connections :) Its during Jonnys bedtime, but it should be fine :) Trying to go with the flow! Ill have an update after we get moved in!