Life, Or Something Like It

Eight Months Later...

2010-12-27T16:24:00.009-05:00

Hello! I know it's been a LONG time! My sincerest apologies. I almost completely forgot about this blog, to be honest. When Jay got home, it seemed to be not much of a priority. So let me catch you up to speed on what has happened since Jay got home.

Noah turned 2 on May 6th of this year. We celebrated with my family in Florida and then again with Jay's family in South Carolina.

The rest of the year proceeded as normal. Nothing too interesting. Fourth of July, summer fun, Halloween (Noah was a lion), Thanksgiving, etc.

Noah is growing up incredibly fast. Jay is preparing to pin on Gunnery Sergeant in January and deploy to Afghanistan again in early 2011. I am still trying to keep up with both of them.

So since the new year is quickly approaching, I've decided to make it one of my New Year's resolution to blog E-V-E-R-Y day! I know I've said as much before, but this time it's a resolution so, naturally, I have to follow through.

In addition to blogging every day, I have decided to create a new blog on a new platform.

The new blog will still be about our family and our everyday lives. Its address will be :

nafeaseejordan.wordpress.com

I'll shut this blog down in a couple of days. The new blog will be up and running shortly! Be sure to check it out!

Jay's Homecoming

2010-05-19T23:09:00.002-04:00

I know, I know! He's been home for more than a month now and I've yet to share the story of Jay's homecoming. But no worries, you'll soon hear the juicy details.

The news that Jay was actually, REALLY coming home was like a thousand pounds lifted off my shoulders. I was so tired of playing the "wait-and-see" game. It was a beautiful thing to hear my husband say, "I'm in Germany now, love." The anticipation was building and I couldn't have been more excited. (Little did I know his flight was almost delayed again because of the volcanic ash, but he was somehow able to escape another hang-up)

I found out around 8 PM that the Marines wouldn't be bussed in until around midnight. I left Noah with my neighbors around sunset to go hang up the banners I'd made for Jay.

I wrapped the columns in front of our house with shiny red, white and blue stars. I taped red stars to our windows, and I hung a banner on the garage door that said, "Dear Daddy, Mommy and I missed you SO much!" (only I put about 20 SO's and not just one). I decorated my car windows with paint, too.

My banner was the only one on New River's fence. It said, "You Put The 'Jay' in Jacksonville!"

I hung another banner over on Lejeune's fence that said, "I Gotta Feeling That Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night". Jay mentioned he liked the song and it served its purpose as an innuendo!

By the time 10:00 rolled around, I figured I should head to the Maintenance Battalion bay and hang out there for a while. I didn't know if Jay would come in early or not and didn't want to risk not being there.

Turns out I showed up WAYYYY too early. Noah was grumpy and very, very tired. He had red rims around his eyes, poor guy. Thankfully I had a little umbrella stroller with me. I must have walked with him 50 times back and forth across the bay.

It was really strange to be there. It's where I'd last seen Jay. Plus there were Marines who'd arrived earlier hanging around, keeping an eye on all of the gear and preparing for the other Marines' arrival. Families were pulling their loved ones' bags from the long lines of sea bags lying across the bay. There were hundreds of bags and I knew I'd have to do a lot of heavy lifting if I wanted to find the two that were Jay's, so I opted out. Until...

I received a call around 11:45 PM from Jay! He was calling from another Marine's cell phone. He told me he was about to have his blood drawn and they would probably start getting on buses in another 15 minutes. (At this point they were at Cherry Point, which is about 45 minutes away from Camp Lejeune) Jay asked me to look for his sea bags. It didn't take me long to find the first one. And even though I was less than an hour away from holding my husband again, just seeing his handwritten name on his sea bag was enough to bring tears to my eyes. I grabbed the strap and lugged it a few feet away to where I was standing. I searched far and wide for his second sea bag but it was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, we everyone was looking at a man wearing slacks and a collared button-down in the front of the bay. I could not, for the life of me, hear what he was saying, but I quickly figured it out when people started stampeding out of the bay.

I decided it was probably time to wake Noah up, although he had only fallen to sleep about ten minutes prior. I shook him awake and started strolling him outside to where the rest of the crowd was. There was a long, white line on the ground we were to stand behind as we waited for the buses to show up. Somehow I managed to wiggle my way up to the front. The air was really chilly and I saw that Noah had goosebumps all over his face.

But then we saw the buses coming and heard everyone around start cheering and applauding and the goosebumps really started to appear!

I figured Jay would wait to be one of the last Marines to get off of the bus so that the crowd would dissipate, but apparently I was wrong! I was fidgeting with my new camera, trying to play around with video mode when I saw him step off of the bus. I quickly switched to “auto” mode. I saw that Jay was looking around for us, so I asked Noah, “Do you see Daddy? Look over there” and pointed to Jay. I called Jay’s name and he saw us and slowly made his way over. I wanted to photograph Noah’s reaction to seeing his father for the first time in five months, so I stepped back and let him run to his dad.

At first Noah screamed, “Daddy! Daddy!” But as Jay leaned in to hug him, Noah wouldn’t make eye contact. You can see what I mean in the photos I’ve posted along with this entry.

It didn’t take long though, for Noah to start making eye contact—and lots of it! When Jay went to search for the aforementioned second sea bag, Noah cried out for his dad and almost started crying as he scanned the bay for him.

It was a beautiful experience and we are all very glad to be together again. I’m grateful for the deployment, as I learned a lot about myself and about my marriage. However, I’ll be equally as thankful to not have to experience another for a while! Fortunately, Jay is not supposed to leave again for Afghanistan until September 2011.
Sorry for another novel…my next post will be about Noah’s 2nd birthday. Expect it soon…but not TOO soon! :)

Home

2010-04-25T20:59:00.003-04:00

Today is Sunday, April 25th.

I am sitting next to my husband on our couch. I stare at this screen, but in my peripheral I see his thumbs circling around on his 360 controller. I can hear some unknown rocker singing (read: screaming) something like, "I'm a bad mother sucka'". Occassionally Jay will look at me and say, "Babe...ready to help me with the next IQ test?" with an innocent smirk on his face.

Twenty minutes ago we told Noah to start putting his toys away so he could get ready for bed. Ten minutes ago we found him in bed, half-covered with a blanket and sound asleep.

There's a crumpled up napkin on the side table and the fish's tank is in dire need of a cleaning. Noah tore up a piece of paper soon before he fell asleep and it is lying on the living room floor. He never actually got finished putting his toys away, so his stuffed monkey (which Noah calls "Bonkey") is lying in a contorted position next to the front door.

The Chinese food we ordered in for dinner is still on the kitchen counter. If it could talk it would say, "Yew no like flied lice?"

With all the XBOX-playing, exhausted children and disorganization, one would naturally assume that I am pulling my hair out.

And yet, this structure...this green-roofed, remodeled, three-bedroom duplex on this Marine Corps-run Air Station... this has never felt more like home.

I've got to go answer some more Madden quiz questions now. Keep an eye out for some pictures and a seventy-three page report on Jay's homecoming.
Much love!

Thursday, 10:30 PM

2010-04-14T20:01:00.002-04:00

That will be the first time I am able to kiss my husband in almost six months!!!

Jay will be on a plane in three hours. Whoop whoop!

Going to mop the floor!

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

2010-04-13T14:30:00.002-04:00

That's ^ the most recent update. I am laughing as I type this because it is ridiculous to think it is an accurate date.

The FRO decided to stop updating us because of the "nature of the situation and the fluidity of the flight schedules and how they are changing so often and rapidly". Truthfully, there is no flight schedule. I hate how they keep saying that like someone is actually sitting in an office putting a flight plan together.

The families and the Marines themselves are all VERY frustrated at this point and the FRO does not want to hear about it anymore. That's really what's going on.

I can deal with Jay coming home on Sunday. Or Monday. Or Tuesday. Or Wednesday. But for goodness sake...if you're going to get them home, get them home! Stop piddling around and letting them sit there at an Air Force base where they have no job and nothing to do. Make them a priority! At what point does this become an issue to them? A week from now? Two weeks? A month?

I could go on for 45 minutes about why I am so angry about this situation, but there are some people who think I'm being ungrateful and impatient, so I'll stop.

That being said, I am not going to update anymore until I have confirmation from Jay himself that he is on a plane or is already on his way.

I don't know why I'm doing this...

2010-04-12T20:10:00.002-04:00

But here's another "update". Now, SUPPOSEDLY, I am picking Jay up at 10:30 PM on Thursday, April 15th. Of course, I don't believe it, just like I didn't believe the last update would be the final word.

It is very hard to patiently wait for your husband and father when you are SO close and yet so far away. I know he is safe, I know he is healthy, but I want him HOME.

Another update

2010-04-11T12:18:00.004-04:00

Received an update stating that we will meet our Marines at 2:30 AM on Wednesday, April 14th. At this point I don't really even believe that.

My honest opinion about this whole thing is that the Marines set to leave Manas for the U.S. are being put on the back burner. And it's just a shame...

Return flight update

2010-04-11T09:35:00.004-04:00

Scratch what you just read!

We're back to not knowing when Jay is coming home. Apparently a very hasty Gunnery Sergeant misinformed Jay and the flight was actually for another unit and not Jay's.

Typical.

No more updates yet from the FRO. (Sigh)

Back to the waiting game.

Return flight

2010-04-10T23:57:00.000-04:00

While I have not received any "official" word from the FRO yet,I just received an e-mail from my dear husband saying that he can not give me any times (so as not to violate OPSEC), but that he was just told to pack up and go get his carry-on checked to go into lock-down (where he won't be able to add anything to his carry-on luggage)!!!!! This is FANTASTIC! It means he will be coming home atleast a day earlier than we have been expecting. Hoping this actually works out and I don't receive any emails of cancelled or delayed flights. I've got some houseword and banner-hanging to do tomorrow! Will update more as I receive news.

P.S.-- please excuse any discrepancies as I just typed this entire message from my (new) Blackberry! Good night!

After five long months...

2010-04-10T08:54:00.001-04:00

...I can finally update this blog!

I haven’t been able to update this blog since Jay arrived in Afghanistan because he was instructed to change his email password. That email address happened to be connected to this account, so I couldn’t access it for five months!! Because he is out of Afghanistan now, he was able to give me his new password, thus the reason I am able to finally update.

So the bad news is that I have a lot of updating to do! The good news is that my husband is ALMOST home!

And when I say "ALMOST" I mean I don't know when he's getting back. I have gotten three updates, each pushing his estimated time of arrival back another day. Right now we are up to Tuesday at 2AM with no updates today yes.

So where to start? I have 5 months to cover...

I’ll start where I left off. Isn’t that the best place?

I was reading over what I wrote on here the day Jay left.

I think I slightly under-explained how I felt that day. To make a long story short, I was a mess. Maybe I was too embarrassed to admit that I completely broke down on the way home. As soon as I said “good bye” to Jay for the final time I called my mom. Yes, it was 4:30 in the morning. And yes, someone answered the phone. It wasn’t my mom, but my sister, who happened to be spending the night there. I was hysterically crying and could barely make out what I wanted to say, which was just that I needed to talk to someone. My sister did her best to calm me and I decided it was time to get back home.

It was raining (how fitting, right?) and the roads were really barren and slick. I was still crying when I passed a white Altima that said, “Welcome Home Daddy!” on the rear windshield. My heart dropped and I had to pull over on the side of the road to sob. Loudly.

I finally composed myself after a couple of minutes and returned to the road. My mascara was runny, my eyes were swollen, and my nose was red by the time I made it back to New River. The gate guard was kind enough to ask if I was okay and I quickly explained that “my husband just left for Afghanistan”. He must have expected me to say something like, “I’m fine, thanks” because his response was, “You’ll be all right.” It was nice of him to have asked in the first place, though.

When we got home, Noah and I went back to sleep. When I woke up, I smelled Jay. His scent was on the pillows and the sheets and my own hair. I wept.

I went to brush my teeth and saw Jay’s toothbrush in the toothbrush holder. I wept harder.

I proceeded to get Noah out of his room. Noah looked entirely too much like Jay at that moment. I wept even harder.

This is about how the first few days went. Eventually I was able to wash the last few dirty clothes of Jay’s that had just been hanging out in the laundry basket. (I was afraid I would self-destruct if I touched them). I threw away is toothbrush and his bath pouf. I temporarily put any photos of him away. The fact that I wouldn’t see him in person for six months was too fresh in my mind to see his face just yet.

Things did get easier though and I wasn’t a total mess. Unfortunately, Noah and I got Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease (again) a few days after Jay left and there was no way I was going to be able to handle my son who had mouth sores and wouldn’t eat. I just couldn’t do it alone. My mom actually flew to North Carolina to help me. What a relief to have a mom who would drop everything to come help you out!

Things really got better from there. I enrolled myself in online courses at the local community college. I started making friends with my neighbors (more on them later!) and staying busy in general. In the first month I had a few rough days here and there, but overall I really did handle things better than I thought I would.

In December I went to Florida to visit my family and stayed about ten days.

January went by pretty quickly and by the time February came around I started to get excited about Jay’s return. We found out fairly early on in the deployment that he would return home about a month early!

Noah and I experienced our first snowfall in North Carolina in February. It was really fun for Noah. He wanted to stay outside all day long. I scooped up a snowball and stuck it in the freezer so Jay could literally have a “piece” of the experience.

I turned 21 at the end of February. I cried in the afternoon. I wanted to share this birthday with Jay and no one else. But my friends (and Mom) took me out to Texas Roadhouse. I had to dance to “I’m a Little Teapot” on top of the table in front of the whole restaurant. A restaurant mostly full with Marines. Ohmygosh. Talk about embarrassing situations. It really was fun, though. I got to share my 21st birthday with my beautiful son, my awesome mom, and two really amazing friends, Jessica and Amanda. I had a great time.

March took longer to pass than any other month during the deployment. The whole “watched pot never boils” thing…yeah…they’re not kidding. I had my countdown on the refrigerator since like, day 90-something. But once it hit 30 days the time really dragged on. Then when there were only 11 days left before Jay would return, I found out he would officially return a day later so I couldn’t change my countdown that night. THAT was frustrating! That one day seemed like 5 days. And when it got down to 10 days, forget it. I was looking at the clock every hour to see if the day was almost over!

Now we don’t really have a countdown. I’ve taken it off of the refrigerator completely because the closest we’ve gotten was 2 days and then it went back up to three and then four, so it just made me sad to look at it.

By the way, in case you don't know, Jay is currently in Kyrgyzstan. It is a pit stop for Marines going and coming to and from Afghanistan. Well, right now it is also experiencing serious riots and gunfights and violence, so the Air Force base (where Jay is) is on lockdown with no flights going out or coming in. As of today, finally, flights are back up, but Jay's flight needs to be rescheduled. We really don't know exactly what's going on right now.

As far as updates go, I am at the mercy of the Family Readiness Officer (or the FRO--basically the person who gets updates and messages to the families) and Jay knows what he does based on what he hears at formations that take place at 1600 each day.

He is doing well and I am very grateful that he is safe and healthy and happy. But he is extremely bored!! We are so ready to have him back home. And he is so ready to be home.

Noah talks about him almost constantly and he still gets nervous when I open the garage door in front of him and he sees his dad's car parked in there. I am still really curious about how he will react when he sees his dad in person again for the first time in half a year. (Especially since Jay shaved off his hair!)

Now for the props--

Thank you to all of the servicemembers who sacrifice for the good of our nation and world. Thank you to my family for helping me out so much and coming for visits during this deployment. Thank you to my son, who keeps a smile on my face when I'd rather cry. Thank you to my wonderful neighbors and friends who keep me busy and offer their support. Thank you to everyone who has shared a kind word to make me smile when I've felt down and who are hoping for a safe return for my husband. And most of all, thank you Jay, for the things you do every day for our family and country. You are my hero. I love you.

As soon as I get an update from the FRO or from Jay I will update the blog again. Thanks for visiting!

Deployment, Part III

2009-11-17T07:24:00.003-05:00

Well, Jay just called me and said he has been in Afghanistan since 3PM yesterday (our time). They are ten hours ahead of us there.

He is doing well. He's still in Camp Leatherneck and won't leave there for a couple of days. He should have some kind of WiFi connection in Leatherneck and when he gets to Dwyer he will have an internet connection in his office, so he will be able to use his personal email to get in touch with everyone.

He got to talk to Noah. Noah said, "Hi" and laughed and said a few words in Baby. Jay was very glad to be able to hear his voice.

As I learn more, so will you!

Deployment, Part II

2009-11-15T20:56:00.003-05:00

**I am going to send this in an email as well**

I got a chance to "talk" to Jay around 7:30 PM (EST time).

Jay is in at Manas Airforce Base in Kyrgyzstan.

There were some changes in his trip, so here's how it really went:

They left Cherry Point (NC) around noon (EST time). They flew to Shannon, Ireland. They were supposed to deboard the plane, but apparently "they" were not ready for the passengers (whatever that means..this is in Jay's own words). They sat on the plane during the refuel for thirty minutes.

They then flew to Germany and were supposed to be there for an hour. Instead, they only got 25 minutes in the airport before they had to fly out.

They then flew to Romania, and had to stay on the plane there due to Romanian security procedures.

They left Romania and arrived in Kyrgyzstan around 9AM (EST time). They are 11 hours ahead of us there so right now it is Monday 8:15 AM. He is in formation right now and then he will be going to eat chow. After that he is going to call me.

They leave Kyrgyzstan for Afghanistan in about twelve hours. He is supposed to stay in Camp Leatherneck for 2 or 3 days and then he will reach his final destination, Camp Dwyer.

He asks me to thank everyone for thinking of him and he said he will get in touch whenever he can.

Keep checking back here for more updates.

Deployment, Part I

2009-11-14T09:09:00.004-05:00

This morning (at about 0300), Jay left for Cherry Point. He was bussed there. I am assuming he's already there, but there's no way for me to know for certain. He should leave around 1200 for Germany. Then he will go on to Romania. Then he will go to an Airforce base called Manas in Kyrgyzstan and will be there for three days until he goes on to Afghanistan. I will update the blog whenever I hear from Jay.

We went out to the maintenance bay to see Jay off. We got there at about 0230 and we said our good-byes around 0430. Marines do this thing they call, "Hurry up and wait' and that is exactly what we did. They were just doing formations and passing along information until we said "goodbye".

That was the hard part. Jay and I walked out to the car and he kissed and hugged Noah and told him to take care of his mama, to which Noah replied, "Okay" and looked at me and smiled. Jay snapped him into his car seat and then we spent a few minutes reassuring eachother. He told me he'd be okay, I told him I'd be okay.

Initially, walking out to the car, I thought I was going to get through without even crying. But when it came down to it...well...only tears would do.

The most difficult thing was watching Jay walk back to the bay. Only because I knew it would be the last time I saw him for a long time.

I don't think deployments are something I am going to get used to.

But for the record, Noah and I are doing just fine. We can not wait to hear from Jay. But we are going to be keeping busy and happy and healthy.

As I said, I will most definitely update when I hear from Jay. Please keep him in your thoughts.

*****I want to add that Jay got a hold of me around 11:30 and said he would be boarding the plane to head off to Germany around noon. I'll post again the next time he contacts me.

If you think THAT pumpkin was great, check this one out...

2009-11-02T14:33:00.003-05:00

Noah made a perfect pumpkin. He did pretty well. He got the hang of the trick-or-treating process after a few doors. He even said, "treat" when people opened their doors and "thank you" after he got some candy.

Here are some more photos of Noah's second Halloween!

It took a few minutes before he figured out how to lug that thing around without dragging it.

My pumpkin and me

Trick-or-Treating all by himself!

"Thank you!"

In Grandma's car after a long, hot night of begging for candy. He was so sweaty!

Jack-O-Lantern

2009-10-24T21:06:00.002-04:00

Okay..if you've ever seen a cooler jack-o-lantern, let me know.

I found the idea on-line, though we free-handed the design onto the pumpkin. Jay spent 6 1/2 hours today cleaning out, carving, and scraping this pumpkin until he created this beautiful, artful masterpiece!

What do you think?

Want some Swag?

2009-10-15T22:35:00.002-04:00

So I'm including this link for a couple reasons-

1. Swagbucks is really cool. Basically, you install a search engine, Swagbucks, and use it instead of Google or Yahoo or AJ or whatever you use. (It's comparable, too. I think they actually pull from Google anyway) When you search, randomly, you earn "swagbucks". They are points that you can convert to virtual money to buy things like gift cards, music, movies, posters, shirts, and other "swag".

2. When you sign up for Swagbucks through ^that^ banner, I will get a swagbuck for every swagbuck you earn. So...sign up. :-)

You need to bookmark this page...

2009-10-13T22:04:00.007-04:00

...so that when you are in a bad place in your life, you can look at these pictures and know that someone is worse off than you are!

On page 20, there is a gentleman from Saint Augustine. He is the "Some of That Purple Stuff" subject. If you live in Saint Augustine, you have most likely seen this guy around.

Also, please, if you are ever in a Wal-Mart and see someone worth of this website, snap a picture (discreetly) and submit it to the site. It is the right thing to do!

People of Walmart

The Move

2009-10-09T09:30:00.003-04:00

So here are some photos from the tail end of our move. Mind you, we haven't taken any after photos yet. I will get those this weekend. In case you don't know, we received housing not at Camp Lejeune, but about 15 minutes away at Marine Corps Air Station New River. I like it better than Lejeune. It is much smaller and cozier, less busy.

The house is part of a duplex, which you'd think would be bothersome but it's really not. We are attached by the garages and can't hear a single noise from our neighbor. Though the house is about 700 square feet smaller than our last home, it really does not feel small at all. We have 3 bedrooms, one of which is being used as an office/"I love me" room. ("I love me" is a term they use in the Marine Corps for showing off awards and medals and such. Jay has a whole wall stacked with frames that need to be hung, thanks to recruiting duty.)We have ample closet and storage space plus cabinets and drawers in the kitchen that go on for MILES! Seriously, I have more cabinetry here than I did in my old house! It's actually pretty safe to say that we love this house.

Here are some of the unpacking!

The first few boxes and Noah in his playpen. He had to stay there for most of the day, but he was a trooper.

Oh, what, it looks cluttered?

How about now?

Now?

Now I have nightmares about drowning in paper.

I had to initial next to the numbers of all the boxes that came in. And they weren't easy on me!

Stopping for a photo

Kitchen

Ah, a place to sit!

Still being a trooper

And Noah's room. This is the cleanest you will ever see it, so savor.

Trip Photos

2009-10-09T08:51:00.002-04:00

I have lots of photos taken from our trip to South Carolina I'd like to share. They are pretty random, so bear with me!

All of us at the zoo in Columbia. It is ranked one of the top ten zoos in the U.S. and after going, I understand why!

Noah & Me

Our little animal

This giraffe was a lot closer than she looks. Noah actually fed her a leaf. His whole hand went in her mouth!

My boyfriend, Harry, and Me (Seriously, though, the gorillas are my FAVORITE! This one was picking his nose and eating the treasure...blegh!)

Noah wearing his 3-D glasses for a movie we saw at the zoo

This is the entrance to the gardens they have. Some of the most beautiful landscaping I have ever seen is right past those doors. I took this photo for inspiration because one day I want something like those glass vases. How pretty are they?

Noah playing with the blanket at Nana & Papa's house

Noah eating an apple, which he liked to get for himself from the fruit bowl

Lazing in the pool

After the pool. He just looks so cute, I had to snap this one.

Classic Noah-Daddy photo

Looking good!

Still looking good!

A giant sparkplug at South of the Border

Rockin' out at the condo!

Afghanistan

2009-09-29T16:55:00.003-04:00

Jay will be leaving November 10th for Afghanistan. It will be a six month tour.

I'm experiencing so many different emotions right now- anger, sadness, worry, anxiety, plus some I can't describe.

Please keep us in your thoughts.

Condos, Family, Bases, and Other Things

2009-09-28T23:40:00.005-04:00

Lots of stuff to tell you all about.

I have been procrastinating in the blog-updating department lately, I know. But things have been busy, the days almost jam-packed.

We are in Jacksonville, North Carolina- our final destination.

Actually, we are in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. So...we're about 3/4 of the way through our moving journey!

We are in a condo here, right on the beach. It's a one-bedroom, one and a half bath with a view of the pool. It's quaint and quiet and cozy.

A couple of days ago, I met Jay's cousin, Jack, and his family. They happen to live about ten minutes away from where we are right now, which is convenient and coincidental. We had a GREAT time there. Everyone was so nice and down-to-earth. Plus we had awesome shrimp and steak kebabs and salad. I'm looking forward to seeing them all again.

We found out the other day that there is no housing available at Camp Lejeune until between one and eight months from now! The housing lady told us that there was immediate housing available at the air station (formally called Marine Corps Air Station New River or New River, for short) about 15-20 minutes away from Lejeune. We went over to New River and took a tour of their model home and decided to go with the housing there. It may be a little drive for Jay to get to work, but we will be able to settle down now as opposed to waiting who knows how long and having to rent out in town month-by-month.

Today Jay signed the lease for the house. We just have to request for our household goods to be delivered to the house and the move will finally be done! Woohoo!

On a less-exciting note, when Jay was checking in to his unit today, he found out that he may be deployed to Afghanistan on November 10th. Basically, all we know right now is that there is a spot needing to be filled and Jay might be the one to fill it. It is not a for-sure thing right now, but we are both trying to mentally prepare for the possibility, just in case. We were expecting him to deploy in a year or so--not so soon! But I guess I'll have to learn to expect the unexpected as a military spouse. Tomorrow we should get a definite answer, and I will update you all as soon as I am aware of what that answer is.

Until then...

Hello South Carolina!!

2009-08-31T11:03:00.003-04:00

We arrived in Patrick a couple days ago. So far things have been great. We just now unpacked everything and started settling in.

Noah is adjusting okay. He's getting along great with everyone, but he is in a new environment, so he is acting up a little. He's not listening so much , but he certainly is having lots of fun!

I'll post some pictures and hopefully give you all another update soon.

Bye-Bye Florida!

2009-08-27T19:24:00.005-04:00

In two days we will be leaving Florida for (atleast) four years.

The movers have already packed up and moved our things. (This is a convenience the military provides us and by far the best way to move!) Our house is completely bare. It is SO strange to see our house stripped of everything. After the movers left today I suddenly had a headache-- I was forced to rest my head on the wood floors! Tonight and tomorrow night we are sleeping at my parents' house so we don't have to wood-floor it the whole night through!

We are going to South Carolina to visit Jay's family for about a month until we head on up to North Carolina. I'll update you when we get to South Carolina! So long, Florida!

Moving Woes

2009-08-22T23:33:00.002-04:00

Okay so, you would think that when the military hires a company to come pack and move your whole house for you the stresses of moving evaporate, right?

Mmm...Yeah, not so much.

I have this unnatural compulsion to make lists. I make lists for everything. The older I get, the more lists I make and the longer they are and the more details they contain.

One can only imagine the millions and billions and trillions of things I could write down when making a moving list. They range from "Inventory/picture" to "Give freezer foods away" to "Remove ink from printer". It's a little ridiculous. My list is a whole college-ruled page long, with every line filled in.

The worst thing about my list-making obsession? I HAVE TO COMPLETE EVERY ITEM!

Needless to say, this move will be stressful, and I will get better at meditating.

P.S.--This should make you laugh. Item #7 on my "Moving" list: "Make travel list"!!!

ER Visit

2009-08-14T08:21:00.003-04:00

I know it's been a while, and I know the first thing you don't want to read after you've waited a month or so for me to update our site is, "ER Visit", but it is the only thing that's prompted me to write!

Lately our family has been enjoying the time Jay has off together since it will have to end eventually. Plus we have been super busy getting ready for the move in 13 days!

Anyway, about the emergency room visit.

Last night we came back home after eating dinner at my parents' house. We weren't even home for 5 minutes when I heard a gut-wrenching scream from Noah and Jay saying, "I'm sorry, buddy!" I walked into the kitchen and saw Jay holding Noah. I asked what happened and Jay explained that he turned around quickly, not knowing Noah was behind him, and bumped him into the corner of the kitchen cabinet. I looked at Noah's face and he had a nice-sized gash at the top of his forehead. He had a little scrape on his chin, too.

Being the overly-cautious person that I am, I told Jay we should take him to the ER. I was worried about concussions and brain damage and "maybe he needs stitches" and, "Yes, Jay. I know it's not bleeding, but it could be something major anyway!"

So off we went to the ER. I sat in the back seat with Noah, as he sipped his milk without a care in the world. He started bobbing his head, though we rode in silence, not wanting to give him a headache from any loud music. Every time he blinked I told him not to fall asleep, as I gave his little shoulder a nudge. (Remember...overly cautious)

We got to the ER and only waited about 15 minutes before they took us back to check his heart rate, blood pressure, and weight. Waited a little longer only to have the doctor come in and kindly explain that it was, "just a scrape" that looked like a gash, a) because of my Mommy-Vision that caused me to write "head trauma" as a reason we were at the ER, and b) because the skin surrounding the "scrape" was swollen, causing it to separate the skin and look like a canyon.

Everyone was very friendly. The nurse explained that as long as he didn't black out, vomit, or act lethargic I shouldn't worry. (These are all things I already knew...but how can you tell me, a first-time mother and self-proclaimed hypochondriac NOT to worry?)

Noah thoroughly enjoyed himself. We took some photos and joked a little with the doctor about understanding the terms he used "thanks to Grey's Anatomy" (we thought we were a part of the "in" crowd because we understood "hematoma"; he got a little red-faced and probably thought we were idiots).

I am hoping, despite the fact that we have a rambunctious little boy, that last night will have been the last ER visit for many, many moons.

I will write again soon...just heard another scream!

Isn't this cool?!

2009-07-13T12:26:00.002-04:00

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

New Blog

2009-07-06T10:04:00.001-04:00

Jay and I have started a program called the "P90X". I've created a new blog for that 90-day program so you all can track our progress with us. If you are interested in reading it, I'll post the link here and also over on the right hand side of the page.

http://www.jordanp90x.blogspot.com

Check it out!

Independence Day 2009

2009-07-05T09:37:00.005-04:00

If you ever get the chance, spend your Fourth of July in Saint Augustine, FL. The show is gorgeous. The atmosphere is laid-back, the sights are beautiful, the people are (for the most part) friendly.

We (Jay, Noah, Mom, Suraya, and I) made it a point to arrive four hours before the show so as to avoid the frantic search for a parking spot. As it was we had to pay $10 for parking, though it was a pretty good spot, and only a few steps away from where we were sitting.

We spent most of our time chasing Noah around. We also made a quick trip to Kilwin's which was around the corner from where we were. I had raspberry sorbet and Jay and Noah had Georgia peach ice cream. We ate fruit and watched some kids (and one adult) wrestle in the grass. Noah got to pet some stranger's dog. We popped bubbles that floated to us from a half a mile away.

The show itself was very nice. We had the perfect view from where we were sitting. Noah really enjoyed the show and he "ooh"ed and "aah"ed the whole time, pointing toward the sky.

I'll post some photos for your enjoyment!

Our self-timer family photo

Our arm-extended family photo

Mom & Son

Mom & Dad

Dad & Son

The fort

Our little patriot

Another Mom & Son

Telling us a story

Though you can't tell, he was thoroughly enjoying this.

Some fireworks

" "

One Year Pictures

2009-06-18T13:01:00.002-04:00

Noah had these done a couple of weeks ago. So you should be receiving some in the mail soon!

It was a WONDERFUL shoot. I was extremely pleased with Portrait Innovations and I think we've got a permanent place to go for in-studio photos. Thankfully, there is a P.I. about an hour away from where we will be in North Carolina.

The photographer was kind and patient with Noah (who wanted to run around and play instead of pose). They took about 60 photos (and put them all on a CD for us). There were lots of extras and options for us. It really was great. I recommend them to anyone.

Here are some photos from the shoot.

Beautiful Boy

2009-06-12T16:20:00.004-04:00

If you ever read our blog, you know most of my posts are about Noah. This is for one simple reason- he is the biggest part of our lives.

This post is about Noah, just like all the others. But this one is about what makes him so special.

Noah has the most contagious smile. He's got his cute little top teeth with tiny gaps between them, and his two bottom teeth. They're as white as can be and they give him so much character. He's got one dimple on each plump, perfect cheek. Combined, these features make up the sweetest smile I've ever seen.

In so many ways, he is a typical "boy". He loves wheels, cars, being outside, and playing rough. I was never really exposed to the wonderous world of boys as a child. But now that I have been, I am consumed by it. I love when he throws himself at me, looking for a good tickle or pillow fight. I love that he'd much rather be outdoors than in. And as much as it hurts, I love when he wakes me up from my nap by biting my forearm.

Noah is a lover, too. He loves to give and receive affection. He comes up to me randomly, even on my busiest days, and wraps his arms around my thigh and kisses and hugs my blue jeans. When we kiss him on the lips he says, "Mmmm". And when we request hugs, he gladly gives them to us.

I never thought I would like the idea of my son walking around carrying stuffed animals. But I LOVE that he has an attachment to his stuffed bears and lions. He is not overly-attached, but he does carry them around sometimes, and he does kiss and hug them. He even knows them by name. "Bear" is his favorite- we recorded Noah's heartbeat when I was still pregnant and it plays when you push on Bear's hand.

Noah is also a talker. He will babble and babble until he turns blue. He just goes on and on. Sometimes we know what he's saying. Other times, he will point at something and ask a "question" or just sound excited. When we say, "I love you, do you love me, too?", he answers, "Mhm". And when I say, "Daddy's coming home!", he runs to the garage door and says, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" It is so amazing to be able to listen to the start of his vocabulary.

And though it is going to cost me oodles of money in the near future, this boy can eat! Like I have never seen a child eat. I have heard all kinds of stories about kids who won't eat their meals or only drink and I think of how lucky I am not to have to struggle with that! (Knock on wood!)
I can only imagine, though, how difficult it is going to be keeping the house stocked with food when he is a teenager. (I mean, he eats adult portions at age 1!)

There are a trillion more things that make Noah so special and loveable. Those are just a few. Today I am feeling especially grateful to be the mother of this beautiful boy.

Thanks for reading!

Jacksonville Zoo

2009-06-10T15:15:00.003-04:00

On the 30th of May, we decided to take a trip to the Jacksonville Zoo and expose Noah to all of the plants and animals. Unfortunately, he was a little sick with the HFMD you read about, but he still seemed to enjoy the experience.

I'd have to say the highlights of the trip were the carousel ride (Noah is OBSESSED with carousel rides), the train ride, and any air-conditioned rooms we visited because they were air-conditioned. The heat in Florida is almost unbearable!

Here are some photos of Noah's first zoo visit-

Zoo entrance

Mom, Jay, and Noah

The carousel ride

Family photo (notice how we all have markedly different expressions on our faces!)

Parris Island Marine Band

2009-06-08T11:10:00.008-04:00

The Parris Island band came to Saint Augustine's Flagler Auditorium to play, thanks to the requests of the gentlemen of the local Marine Corps League. Those Marines are such talented musicians. They blew the audience away. They played very traditional, beautiful pieces. They even did their interpretation of all the services' hymns, starting with the Army's, and ending with the Marine Corps'.

Coincidentally, Jay put one of the saxophone players in the Marine Corps a couple of years ago. It was nice for Jay to be able to see the fruits of his labor.

Here are some photos from the very enjoyable event:

Daddy & Noah, both in their Marine Corps uniforms before the event.

Jay with the Marine Corps League fellows.

The band with their conductor.

My personal favorite, the drums.

The whole audience was standing, as well.

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Jay!

2009-06-01T08:02:00.004-04:00

Dear Jay,

Our blog has turned into my blog. Since that is the case, this entry is dedicated to you, and to us.

The past year has been the toughest and the happiest of my life (you know, all twenty years of it!). Things most definitely were not perfect, and not what either of us would have envisioned for our relationship. But we were strong. And we pulled through, like we always do.

More than anything, we both have the desire to be together. I love you for so many different reasons. There are also days I feel like I could wring your neck. But no matter my desire to wring, deep down I still love you, and still want you in my life.

I know you feel the same way, and this is the strongest bond we have.

You are a special person, Jay. You have a tough exterior and such a very soft interior, much like a nice baguette. Also like a baguette, you are delicious, but that is information best saved for a separate entry.

You were a Marine long before you met me, hence the rugged, "Ooh-rah" mentality. But you are also sensitive and will cry pretty darn hard during chick flicks. Almost every one we've ever watched.

That combination is what keeps me coming back for more, I think. I have the best of both worlds. When I want a man's man, there you are, ready to fix broken things and mow my lawn. And when I want sensitivity, you're there, too, holding open doors and doing "Love Dares".

I really love that you are always trying to do better. You're constantly trying to improve yourself for the sake of our relationship. I am so encouraged to do better myself, because of you.

Thank you for contributing so much to this marriage.

Happy 2nd anniversary. Here's to a million more!

I love you!

HFMD, Take Two

2009-06-01T07:59:00.002-04:00

Well...Noah's HFMD seems to be subsiding. He has no new blisters, the rash is slowly going away, he has no more fever, and he is eating much better. He is still very irritable, but that is also getting better.

I, however, have horrible mouth and throat sores. My mouth is a mess. If I opened up wide for you, you would see yellow spots on my throat, sores on my tonsils, sores on my inner cheeks and tounge. Yuck. It is so hard to swallow.

I have found a remedy involving honey and cayenne pepper and am going to try that. Wish me luck!

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease

2009-05-30T20:49:00.004-04:00

Noah has come down with this illness. It all started when we noticed he was a little warm. I didn't think too much of it because he is teething and he gets a fever every time a tooth comes in. After a couple of days, though, he developed a runny nose. Again, I thought, "Well, runny noses accompany teething sometimes, too." Brushed it off. Then, about a day later, I noticed a pink-ish rash on his legs, feet, belly, and back. I took him to the pediatrician that day. She diagnosed him with an ear infection and said he had a sore throat. She mentioned something like, "If he had mouth sores I would suspect 'Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease', but there's nothing you could do to treat that anyway."

She prescribed Noah some antibiotics. Today we decided to go to the Jacksonville Zoo. We asked Mom to come with us, and while we were stopping for breakfast before the drive, she said, "Did you know Noah has blisters on his feet?" I looked down and the poor guy had blisters on his soles and on his toes! So I checked him out a little more and found blisters on his little hands! I used Mom's iPhone to search around for "Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease" since I was fairly certain that is what he had. Sure enough, he has been exhibiting all of the symptoms.

We haven't found any sores in his mouth, but I suspect he has them in his throat, because he is not eating. He will only eat soft foods (his favorite is watermelon right now) and we had to force-feed him formula from a syringe for his last feeding. I feel so bad for him. Fortunately, though, I did lots of research on-line and it seems that HFMD goes away fairly quickly and without medical intervention. It is contagious, but most adults who have it will only feel "under the weather" when they contract it. Hopefully we won't get this and/or pass it around!!

Noah's First Beach Trip

2009-05-26T07:48:00.006-04:00

We took our first trip to the beach as a family this Memorial Day. Of course, we all went to Aruba together, but Noah didn't get to play in the sand or get in the water. So this was really special. We were so anxious to see his reaction to everything.

He LOVED the ocean beyond all reason. Flagler Beach is on a pretty steep slant, so he kept falling down trying to run into the ocean. We had to keep running after him before he could plant his face in the salt water and seashells.

Speaking of seashells...Once his digestive tract starts moving, we are in for it! He swallowed a little fistful of tiny seashells!

Noah and I played in the sand with his shovel and buckets while Jay searched for seashells to collect as mementos. We are thinking of stringing them on some wire or twine to keep for Noah. (Since, after seeing the sheer joy in his eyes as the waves splashed him in the face, we are pretty certain he'll surf or body board or even take after his aunt and be a marine biologist)

After he got tired of playing in the sand (and we could tell he was bored with digging because he tried to make a run for it straight into the Atlantic), I decided to bury him.

I took him in the ocean to satiate his thirst for salt, and then brought him back and started digging. And I dug and I dug. (For about two minutes..that's all it takes to dig a hole fit for a one-year-old) Then, the hole was ready!!!

We put him in that hole and started filling it right back up. Soon he was completely burried, with only his arms and head out. He didn't protest either. He just sat there patiently while he took our pictures and laughed and joked and then dug him out.

All in all, I think it was a wonderful time. I hope Noah was equally pleased with the experience.

P.S.- I will add more pics of our beach trip later!

"I WANT TO DO IT!"

2009-05-22T10:11:00.018-04:00

That ^^^ is what Noah would say if he could talk. He's at the independent stage (for the most part) where he wants to do things for himself. And that includes feeding himself. Of course, he's been feeding himself finger foods for a long time now. But the spoon? MY BABY?!!! With a spoon?

Noah, if you didn't know, has super-strength. He is ridiculously strong. He pushes me out of the way when he wants to get to something and he pushes me around when I am in my computer chair. So when I am spoon-feeding him and he decides he wants the spoon, I am better off just giving him the spoon, rather than having a tug-o-war in the kitchen with my one-year-old.

...and that is what happened. He fed himself!! He did fantastic putting the spoon in his mouth. He barely got any food on his face. His only issue right now is figuring out how to "scoop" the food into the spoon, but we are working on it. And I have to say, towards the end of the meal, he almost got the scooping down.

My little baby is growing up!!!

Losing it...

2009-05-19T21:39:00.003-04:00

...the weight that is!

Jay and I are on a mission. We are both really working hard to lose some weight. He needs to lose about 25 pounds and I need to lose about 20-25 pounds as well. I am at the exact same weigth I was a year ago, before I had Noah, but I still could have afforded to lose weight back then.

More than anything else, we both want to FEEL better. We are starting Weight Watchers next week. Right now we are already cutting way back on our caloric intake and we are doing the Wii Fit every night (And trust me, the WF really does let you "feel the burn"!) for 30-40 minutes each.

We have both lost a few pounds in the past couple of days, but it is all the initial water weight and probably not solid pounds.

I thought I was eating pretty healthy before, but I think the portion control is what I was having an issue with. It is definitely tough to adjust to not eating as much! But I am very committed and dedicated to the cause!

Jay cheated today. One of the other recruiters brought him a Domino's pasta-bread-bowl thing and he ate half of it! But I can't blame him because the lunch I made for us was...blegh....

It was from the Diet Detective's website and it really was terrible! And that's what made me want to go to Weight Watchers. It actually allows you to eat palatable foods!

Anyway, we will update you with our weight loss milestones!

Noah's 1st Birthday Party

2009-05-09T21:32:00.005-04:00

First of all, I would like to say, "thank you" to everyone who was able to come to the party. You all made it such an enjoyable experience for all of us. And if Noah could remember this day, he would remember it was a great one.

Second, I would like to give you this news-

On the day of Noah's 1st birthday party, he decided to make himself an official "walker". He is now walking everywhere. No more sitting down in the middle of his walks! Maybe seeing all of our family and friends walking around got him motivated! He is doing wonderfully.

The day was awesome. It started off fairly stressful. I have PPAD (Party Planning Anxiety Disorder) ;-) . I have a perfectionist attitude when it comes to party planning and that is not a good thing. Once the party started, though, I realized that I could relax and let go. It was wonderful to have a lot of our friends and family around. There were two other babies there, too.. Layla (Fatima's baby I was telling you about in a previous post) and Addison Leigh (my cousin Josh's new baby girl).

We had a slideshow of pictures from Noah's first year playing on the television. We had his scrapbook out for everyone to look at. There were also pages for them to sign, wishing Noah a happy birthday.

Noah received about one billion gifts and he is already playing with some of them. (The picture of the gifts on the table was taken a while before everyone got to the party.) He even received his very own Noah-sized golf cart! My parents got him that and he absolutely adores it.

He didn't want to open the gifts though. Once we opened his second gift, a little fire engine that he can push around, that was it! I had to open the rest of them!

I was so very disappointed when he ate the cake though. I made the cake and I was really looking forward to seeing him plow into it. He didn't really know what to do with it. He kind of picked off little pieces of icing. That was about it. Finally (after I took pictures) I shoved his hands in the cake to fill the void left by not seeing my son with yellow icing all over his forehead and ear lobes.

Overall, it was great. It felt really nice to celebrate the past year with the people we love. I can not wait to tell Noah about his first birthday party.

Beginning of the party

Noah's cupcake cake

Some of the gifts

Mommy helping Noah open the gifts; Noah enjoying one of them!

While we were singing "Happy Birthday"

The let-down

After some coercion

Happy Birthday, Noah!!!!!

2009-05-06T22:11:00.010-04:00

(Exhibit A)

He weighed 9 pounds and 11 ounces and couldn't even fit into the Newborn-size diapers they had. (See Exhibit A) I couldn't hold him right away, but I look over to my right and saw my sweet little guy looking right at me. It's like he was thinking, "That's my mommy." He just stared at me for a while. And there were no icky liquids, no blood, no crust...just one big, beautiful boy. And that was the day I was introduced to motherhood, and to the most wonderful boy who ever lived- Noah Adam Jordan.

Ever since he was born, though, I wanted to cut his fingernails! They were so long and I didn't want him to have to wear those awful mittens. So when we got home from the hospital, I unpacked the shiny, silver baby nail clippers from my brand new grooming kit that was overflowing with things like nail filers, bulb syringes, rectal thermometers and hair combs. And I wanted to clip his nails myself. I didn't want Jay to help me. I was like a stubborn toddler wanting to hold the spoon all by herself. This was my first opportunity to do a Mommy job.

Maybe it was the lighting, or maybe the fact that Noah's fingernails were the exact same color as his skin, but I completely failed at my very first Mommy job. I snipped off the end of his poor, little thumb! And as soon as I saw blood, I bailed. "Take him, Jay. Take him!" I yelled, and shoved Noah into Jay's arms. "I can't look!" I shrieked, as I ran into the bathroom to cry. Jay reassured me and then I slowly crept out of the bathroom to see the damage. We would definitely have to put a bandage on that one. (See Exhibit B)

(Exhibit B)

Noah forgave me, of course, and things started looking up. I got much better at things like clipping his nails, suctioning his nose without making him cry, and hold him with one arm while doing something with each of my other three limbs.

Noah started to amaze me by his abilities, as well. He had a very precise telepathic talent that would cause him to cry the moment I fell into a deep sleep. He also had a very disciplined bladder and could urinate (on me) on cue.

All joking aside, he really did amaze me every day. He had a very strong neck from day one and also amazingly strong legs.

At two months old we would hold his arms and he would pull himself up, with zero assistance from us. (See Exhibit C)

(Exhibit C)

When he was five months old, we took Noah to Aruba for my sister, Ellaine's wedding. He was an angel on the plane and he seemed to love the tropical atmosphere. He went swimming for the first time (after Mommy smothered him with SPF 7,000). He went on a catamaran and wore a life jacket (See Exhibit D) and he soaked up a ton of son.

(Exhibit D)

In Aruba, we also discovered that he is disgusted by body hair. Jay doesn't have much body hair at all, especially not on his chest. But when we went to Aruba, Dad had his shirt off a lot. One day we were all gathered in Mom and Dad's hotel room, and Noah was sitting on Dad's shirtless stomach. Noah started to stroke Dad's chest hair (and there is an abundance of that). At first he would make this truly disgusted face. Then...are you ready for this?....He started GAGGING!! Anytime he touched the hair or even just saw it, he would gag. It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen in my life. That WOULD be Exhibit E, but Wessal has yet to send me the video. I will get it from her, eventually, and then post it and wait to hear about you all peeing in your pants from the hysterical laughter.

There were many, many firsts after that. From the first time he sat on his own to the first haircut to the first poop in the tub, there were just way too many to name.

So we'll fast-forward to month twelve. Right now Noah is *almost* walking. He will take about twenty plus steps at a time, but he almost always needs us to "practice" walking with him for him to do it. Sometimes lately, though, he will pull himself up on the couch and then walk wherever he wants to go.

He probably weighs around 27 pounds, though we won't get an official number until the 18th. He is almost completely off formula and he LOVES whole milk. We had no issues at all replacing his formula with milk, thank goodness.

Speaking of which, he loves all foods. I was just saying yesterday that I have never fed him something he didn't like. Ever. Knock on wood.

Noah signs "sleep", "Mommy", "Daddy", "more", and we are working on "drink" and "all done". He says, "Mama", "Daddy", "Hi", "Bye", "Jedo" (which means "Grandpa" in Arabic), and mimics us whenever we make sounds or say words. His newest sound is "Ohhhh!"

He is still a little social butterfly. He just adores people.

And that is who he is right now. And tomorrow there will be something new. I can guarantee that. For example, yesterday he started saying something like "Sha-Ja". We're not sure what it means, but he keeps saying it. And today he got hungry and went to the pantry and opened it and just stood there, waiting for Mommy to get the snacks down for him.

The first year of a child's life has its hard times. Any new mom will tell you that. There were sleepless nights and fevers and bumps and bruises. There was frustration when we couldn't communicate with eachother. There were tears when things weren't going right for any of us. Then there was the poop-covered car seat. But that's another story.

There were also the amazing moments. Like today, when we were laying on the floor in the living room and Noah was feeding me goldfish. Or the times when he wakes up and he is the happiest baby you've ever known. There were the laughs and the happy tears and the funny faces. There were times when we could look into eachother's eyes and feel the love that we share. And the amazing moments definitely outweigh the hard times. It's about a trillion to one at this point.

We (meaning anyone who's ever met Noah) are very fortunate to have him in our lives. He is a blessing, truly. He is so loving and friendly and curious and funny. He has a beautiful personality and a face to match.

I feel like the most fortunate woman in the world. And I have never loved a person more than I love my son. I can't imagine ever feeling anything more deep than the connection I feel with Noah.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past year, good times AND bad. And I am so looking forward to the next year. And the year after that. And the year after that. And the year after that. And the next year...

BabyFirst TV

2009-05-05T20:18:00.004-04:00

I swore up and down before Noah was born (you know, when 300-pound Idealism squashed poor little Realism like a fly) that I would not let my child watch television. But during these busy times (like...everyday) I have been going back on my word!
Bad mommy, right?! I know!!! I feel constant guilt when he watches, "Harry the Bunny" and "Tec the Tractor". (Though, I do LOVE "Symfollies" and could watch that myself. It has animated musical instruments that go on adventures based on classical compositions. No words, no squeaky voices. Just music by Haydn and Chopin and other musical geniuses.)
They are all educational in their own right, but it is the two-dimensional, impersonal screen that bothers me.

Ideally I would like Noah to learn more by touching and smelling and tasting (okay, tasting not so much) rather than "seeing" all the time.

Who am I kidding, though? I have laundry to be folded and dishes to be scrubbed and bills to be paid and groceries to be purchased and Palm Coast Mommy Meetups to attend and legs to be shaved. I have to let him watch T.V. sometimes. And I'll just have to get over my New Mommy guilt and know that I'm doing the best I can.

Random Stuff

2009-05-04T10:41:00.005-04:00

I'm feeling much better since the last time I posted. I had nausea for a few days. But I saw the doctor. She gave me a shot in my hip for the nausea and some medication for what she called a "gastrointestinal irritation". I had some spicy food on Monday, so she thinks that irritated my stomach.

In other news, Noah will be a year old in two days!!! It is so hard to believe. The past year has flown by. He is now so big and so developed. I look at him now and see a little boy instead of a baby!

Jay took him to the barber shop for a haircut. We didn't want to do it this time, just in case we messed up. His party is in five days and we didn't want to ruin the pictures with a bad cut.

I went to my cousin Mimi's baby shower yesterday. Got the baby fever for about, eh, .0005 seconds. Mimi's whole pregnant body is pretty much as big as my left thigh. She looks great!

That's all of the random stuff for now!

Churn, churn...

2009-04-28T09:09:00.000-04:00

That's what my stomach is doing right now. Last night around 1 AM I woke up with a cold sweat, a serious headache, some nausea, and a rapid heart rate.

At first I thought I could try to massage my temples, breathe deeply, and sleep it off. But I soon realized THAT would not be happening. I started getting shaky and my heart rate was causing a lot of discomfort. I woke Jay up and had him massage my feet. I called my parents (because I still do that when I'm sick!) and they said it was probably food poisoning. Jay and I had homemade tuna melts for dinner. I had one and he had two. Everything I used seemed to be good; all the expiration dates checked out.

Anyway, my headache and nausea started to get a little out of control. The headache was turning into a migraine quickly. The lights from my iPod docking station and the Xbox 360 console were driving me insane. I even had to have Jay start answering the phone for me because the back light was irritating my headache.

I decided to go to the emergency room. Mom said they usually give her something for her migraines that makes it go away within about 15 minutes. And of course, they could probably do something about the rising heart rate.

So Mom had to come to Palm Coast so that someone could stay with the baby. Jay had training in the morning, so he needed his sleep anyway.

I threw up a few times before Mom got to our house and it relieved the nausea for about, oh, 10 seconds.

When Mom got to the house she poured a glass of ginger ale for me. I sat up from the couch and took just a teensy, tiny sip. About twenty seconds later I was hunched over the toilet seat again. I vomitted a lot more this time.

The cold sweat stopped and my heart rate dropped back down to normal for a while. I just decided to try to sleep it out and forget about the emergency room.

So around 7 AM I got off the couch and went to the bed. (Mom left about 30 minutes after I decided to stay home)

Now my headache is about 98% gone, I still have a bit of nausea, and my heart rate is fluctuating. Overall, though, I feel much, much better than I did 8 1/2 hours ago!

I'm hoping it was just a fluke and not that Swine Flu we are all hearing about!

Lumps and Bumps

2009-04-27T10:42:00.000-04:00

The past couple of days have been really rough for Noah.

Two days ago, Noah was in our bathroom, standing up. He wanted to sit down, but got wobbly and smacked his head against the tile step that leads up to the bath tub. He immediately got a huge, purple lump on his forehead. I freaked out a little, but managed to calm down enough to massage the area. The swelling went down after about 10 minutes of massage.

Then Saturday night...well....just look at the picture! Yes, those are mosquito bites! And those bites look tame compared to how he looks right now. His left eye is swollen and he keeps rubbing his face! Poor little man!

Oops...

2009-04-25T07:54:00.000-04:00

I haven't written anything in a while! My sincerest apologies for that! I have been super, super busy planning Noah's party, helping him work through the teething, going out with my friends and to this appointment and that. So things have been really hectic!

Anyway..

BIG news since I last updated you.

Noah has taken his first steps and is SO close to going! He is doing great at taking off on his own when he is already standing up, but he sits back down if he feels any hesitation. He will take about 10-15 steps at a time at this point. He is doing wonderfully! He even tries to change directions and turn around on his own. We are so proud!

Somehow, though, I know I'm going to regret being happy about him walking. Below is a video of him the day after he took his first steps (I was home alone then, so I couldn't get it recorded). He is doing much, much better now, but these are still exciting to watch.

Tonight we are going to an event called "Springfest 2009" at the Catholic church near our house. There are activities and rides and games. A lot of my friends are going and bringing their families, so we will have a great time.

Anyway I will try to do better and keep you updated.

Can't wait to see some of you at Noah's party!!!

Scrapbooking

2009-03-31T10:35:00.000-04:00

I am trying to complete (for the most part) a scrapbook of Noah's first year. It is coming along well, but I am only up to the "One Month" page.

I would like to have it done before Noah's birthday party. Except for the "First Birthday Party" page, of course.

I have done 23 pages so far! Most of them are things like, "Mommy's Family Tree", "Daddy's Family Tree", "My Baby Shower", "My Arrival". I will post pictures of some of the pages at a later date. It is such hard work! Probably because I am a perfectionist with these sort of things.

The first year of a child's life is full of so many milestones that I want Noah to be able to look back on them. Obviously he will have no recollection of these things, so I want to record them for him. I believe he will be grateful that I preserved these photos and dates, any maybe one day, if he has children of his own, he will do the same for them.

Dinner & Pool

2009-03-28T10:10:00.000-04:00

Last night our friends, Mark and Kim, invited us to their house. They invited us to have dinner and then drive over to the pool hall for a couple games of pool.

The dinner was great. Jay is in love with Kim's buffalo chicken dip. So he scarfed about 3 pounds of that down. They also had salad and skirt steak and it was delicious.

Mark and Kim have a son, Mark Jr., and he wanted to play 'Guess Who' with me. I used to play the heck out of that game as a kid, so I won the first couple of rounds before I realized I was probably not making playing much fun for Mark. So I sabotaged the next couple games.

We watched a little bit of the Syracuse/Oklahoma game and then made our way to the pool hall.

I played Mark Jr. again and lost! I was kind of just shooting around, not paying attention, so that he could catch up with me. Then when I DID try to actually shoot my last ball in, I scratched and lost the game.

I also threw a couple darts, but the dart board was malfunctioning, so we didn't play for very long.

The night was nice. It was good to get away for a while. Noah stayed with his grandma and was asleep when we picked him up at 12:15 AM.

We fell into bed around 1 o'clock and let me tell you, it has been a LONG time since we've gone to bed at one! It will not be happening again anytime soon!

Birthday Prep

2009-03-27T08:38:00.000-04:00

First, I would like to say that the fever has broken!!

I took Noah to the pediatrician yesterday afternoon because I was really concerned about his lack of appetite. She said his right ear was beginning to get infected and prescribed antibiotics. She said as long as he has two wet diapers per day he will be fine. And to keep offering him liquids and not worry about solids for a while.

Last night I woke up and felt his head twice and both times I would guess his temperature was somewhere around 100. And now it is 8:41 and the fever is nowhere to be found!! Wahoo!!!!

Second, we receieved a big ten-pound package via UPS yesterday. It is all of Noah's birthday party supplies! I am entirely too obsessive-compulsive about party planning and so I have everything prepared already and his party is May 9th! We are inviting close to 45 people (though initially we had planned to keep it small!) and we will have it at home.

It is difficult to believe that almost one year ago Noah came into our lives. It truly feels like this past year has gone by in a matter of weeks! He is getting so big and developing so rapidly! There he is, up there, dumping his cheerios onto the floor!

"Fever in the morning, fever all through the night"

2009-03-26T12:23:00.000-04:00

Oh, the woes of teething!

One of Noah's top front teeth is coming in right now and he is suffering! Yesterday around 2 PM or so he started running a fever. He only had a couple of barely wet diapers the entire day. He was lethargic and definitely not himself. I started to get worried when he wouldn't take any formula or anything. Finally he took a couple ounces of water and then some Pedialyte. Around 2 AM his temperature had reached the high 102's. I brought him to bed with Jay and me and gave him Motrin and a little bit of Pedialyte. I tried some formula, too, and he took it. It dropped back down to 101.

He's been running a low-grade fever all morning. Now it is around 99 degrees, which is a little high for him, but not abnormal for any baby. So, though he is eating less than usual, he is back to his almost-normal self. He is babbling and watching Baby Einstein and crawling around the house. Though he DOES want to be held more often than usual, too!

I think I am more stressed than he is feverish!

The First Entry

2009-03-25T18:56:00.000-04:00

We (and by "we" I mean "I") have decided to begin blogging again. It is so much simpler than keeping up with our website.

Today Noah and I visited our new baby cousin, Layla Kay. Fatima gave birth yesterday, the 24th. Layla is healthy and beautiful. And is she TINY! Especially compared to the almost 10 pounds of baby I birthed almost 11 months ago! She weighed in at 6 pounds, and a few ounces, I believe. Though she was 3 weeks early. Congratulations to P.T. and Fatima!!

We also took a trip up to the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville today. Jay needed new PT clothes.

Speaking of military bases, we found out recently that we will be moving to Camp Lejeune, NC sometime between September 1st and 30th. Jay is being stationed there. This is bitter-sweet for both of us. We will be further away from my family and closer to Jay's. We will not know anyone there, but it will be pretty easy for us to make friends because we will be surrounded by military families. Either way, though, we are beginning to prepare!