Street Smart

While in the car Kalee observed skid marks in the street.

Kalee: "What? How the heck did this street get stretch marks?"
Max: "Because no one rubbed coco-butter on it."

Yes, this is the kind of stuff I hear daily!

9, nine, NINE!!!!

What an amazing weekend! We got a lot done.
-tilled the garden
-plucked weeds
-cruised the lawnmower
-weed whacked
-tackled laundry
-explored at the beach
-lunch with friends on the beach
-delicious Red Lobster dinner *note-I actually ate something with a face. I had coconut shrimp.
-welcomed a friend in from doing humanitarian work in Haiti, and brought her home to surprise the family
-defuzzed the dryer vent
-Church birthday celebration
-drug the husband out to get new shoes
-discovered some delicious sangria hazelnut coffee
-hunted the dust bunnies on the ceiling fans
-stared in Max's eyes

Two beautiful babies, 7 moves, 5 ships (4 back to back), an overseas tour, countless deployments, cancer, and an approaching IA. If that doesn't count for a 'well rounded' couple then we sure have been 'seasoned' by God! Yesterday Max and I celebrated our 9Th wedding anniversary. Yes, I survived 9 years of being a Navy wife and he survived less than 9 years of my burning cooking. Lucky him-I think... Navy chow picked up the difference. :) Honestly I look at how 'not normal' military life is compared to whatever everyone else calls normal, and I'm grateful for the 'not normalness'. I'm thankful for every speed bump, curb, hill, and mountain we have endured these past 9 years. Life challenges possess just as much of a growing experience as opportunities do. I'm thankful that we have had the opportunity to hurdle over challenges... even if we physically are not by each others side 100% of the time.

I have grown to know, love, and be married to my best friend...the most amazing husband in the world. Happy Anniversary Babe!

It's official...

...IA orders are in hand. Screening has begun.

Saddle up the horses, we got a trail to blaze...into the unknown.

A Bit Rusty

Got some news Friday. :/ This week we should have more info.

It was only a matter of time. I need to return my husband to the far away Navy because the Army is lackingneeds him. Confusing huh? Yup, the request came in for an IA in his area of expertise and he is the only one within the three pay grades that could fill it. For you non-Navy folks; Individual Augmentee is when a Sailor is pulled away from their current command and deploys individually or with a small group to assist another service, primarily Army. Yes. Boots on ground kind of stuff! I'm far from one of those 'it's about time for him to deploy' kind of wives...and he's not one of those 'I need to leave' kind of husbands ... so I'm not going to lie, this sucks. Expecially the 'where and for how long'. But honestly, I am so thankful that he was around last year when we absolutely needed each other. It paid off to not be one of those crazy hypochondriac wives that I have seen so much of recently. I guess having the word "chemo" in my medical record at the time had something to do with it too. Since he has not been gone for about 12 consecutive months, my wheels were a bit squeaky. I actually appreciate how all those past deployments have seasoned me so well. So well in fact, it took no time to re-oil the wheels. I jumped in feet first with organizing my thoughts and making a list. We have a lot to do. Thankfully he's not leaving this week (I won't be posting exacts either since I'm the good Navy wife that observes OPSEC).

So yes...this bumps my port removal surgery to the left quite a bit (hopefully), throws my schooling way off and challenges me to find a way to make physical therapy, scans, and my follow up appointments sans kids.

Max and I have decided to embrace this challenge with our heads up because we know God wouldn't give us what we couldn't handle. He has a plan....

Quiet

I'm still blown away. Last night when I picked Bear up from child watch they handed me a puzzle and said "Max won the quiet game and this is his prize." Um, excuse me?! I don't think I heard that right. You must be talking about a different Max. Mine, quiet? Ha! "Well, he was laying on the ground so that is probably one of the reasons he won." Ohhhhhhh ok. Now that sounds like my kid.

I wonder if the quiet game will work at home if I use the treasure chest (where they get rewards for doing chores above and beyond the regularly expected ones) as a bribe? Hmmmm.

Physical-Psychological?

Physical Therapy. Yes, I am now in physical therapy. What for? Well, the pelvic floor. It's time to address the pelvic congestion syndrome issues. No, I don't need psychological therapy like I thought I would after reading some lovely websites google brought me to. Google is wonderful...but it also freaks me out. I mean, where else cold you find pictures and videos of parasites, research a curriculum, find out where the next Zumba training is, and try to figure out the rules for Algebra that you thought you once learned, but later found out you never knew existed?

I was not sure what to be prepared for. After having Kalee I remember going in for my 6 week follow up and the doctor explaining how to do kegels. What else can p.t. have me do? Were they going use a 'tool' to measure my strength? I associate physical therapy with elecro-something-or-other that stimulates muscles. Well thank goodness it is NOTHING 'weird'. Well, unless you consider tying your knees together with a rubber band while doing one of the movements 'weird'. I'm actually amazed at how the level of difficulty changes when I move around. For example, doing a kegel while on my back is far different then doing it on my side, sitting, standing, while extending a foot, tilting the pelvis, opening and closing the knees or doing an upside down butt plank. Yeah, don't ask me to explain butt plank. I'm not sure what I even said. Core strengthening makes a difference too. I didn't realize how I lost all that muscle during chemo. I'm sure I kept all the fat and lost 14 lbs of muscle last summer. :)

I also should mention that I went in for a port flush and the 2nd of 8 quarterly follow ups last week. Blood count looks great and I get another PET scan the beginning of May. When that scan comes back clean I'm going to schedule my surgery to be 'portless' this summer. :)

I'm aiming for 1 good push up (full-guy style) by the end of March. Think I can do it? So far I can do about 5 against the kitchen counter... o.O

I'm so proud of her...