Happy New Year!!

Rob and I are in New York for the holidays and a few weeks of leave, so inevitably I have barely enough time for sleep and medicine, let alone blogging! We will be here for another week or so and then I will be back. Something to look forward to in 2010 will also be the debut of my cooking blog, which I am VERY excited about!! I've been working on it already and as soon as it is up, I will post the link.

Now, before my 5 minutes of calm quietness is up -

I would like to wish all of you a healthy and happy new year .. and I hope that many good things come to all of us. Let's hear it for 2010!!!!

He's Home!!

I am sooo happy!! After 12 months deployed, Rob finally came home last Friday. It feels so good to have him safe at home with me. The first night he was home we went out to Chris' Steakhouse for dinner..it is our favorite place for date night here in NC.

On the 18th, Rob and I were in the audience for a taping of the Oprah show, along with 700 other soldiers who just returned and their families. The show was about headline making heroes and Oprah used Skype to welcome them all home. We were surprised by Winona Judd coming out on stage and singing "America, the Beautiful". It was a pretty cool experience. The best part though was before the taping, one of the Oprah staff members was getting the audience ready for the show. She was making us clap and get loud, and then she asked people to go up on stage and tell stories about deploying or Fort Bragg or the Oprah show. Rob got up in front of all of those people and told the story of how we met. It embarrassed me a little because I don't like the spotlight, but it was really sweet. Anyway, the show should air on Tuesday, November 24th, so you should watch!

The last few days we have spend cleaning out our garage and *hopefully* getting ready to move. No news on that just yet..

Last night we had some friends over and I cooked dinner and we watched UFC 106. I don't like UFC, but Rob is into it. I ended up going to bed before it ended :)

Anyway, here's some pics from homecoming day and the Oprah taping. Hope you enjoy them! xo

the fridge full of beer :)

..love..
i missed him!!
sign in front of our house

Brooklyn missed Daddy soo much

oprah show

I didn't forget about my blog, I swear!!

The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy for me, and it is only getting worse! Just about 3 weeks ago I moved back to NC to get ready for Rob's homecoming. Needless to say, I had a TON of unpacking to do, but before I could get to that my house needed to be cleaned TOP TO BOTTOM! Also, there was NO food here, so I had to go shopping. I am still in the process of unpacking LOL I hate it soooo much! In between all of that, I have been volunteering on post to help set up the barracks for the single soldiers who are returning and putting together care packages for them. Being this busy has been great for my sanity, actually.

That being said, Rob will be home SOON!!!!! Even sooner than I thought!!!! For security reasons, I can't say any more about that but I need to get a lot of stuff done, and fast. The house is a mess, Brooklyn really needs a bath, there is piles of mail all over the place..all things I know don't matter to him, but sure matter to me!

I'm really not going to stress over it though. I went to the liquor store today and stocked him up (3 different types of beer, bloody mary mix, red and white wines & kahlua..depending on his mood!) As long as the fridge is full and the welcome home signs are hung, I think we'll be good ;) Ahhh I can't believe it is finally here..almost. I have waited 12 loooong months for this, what a great feeling it is to be at the end!! =)

Back to Blogging!

It has been FOREVER since my last post! Rob came and left, but we had an amazing time together while he was here. It was soo busy and felt like a whirlwind. Here is how it went:

Sept 1: HE'S HOME!! I got all dolled up and went to the airport to get him. I was an hour early and paced around until the plane landed. Then I stood by the escalator and totally freaked out when I saw his boots! I held him and it felt like we were the only ones in the busy NYC airport. Once the butterflies settled, we headed to a luxury hotel for the night. We were treated like celebrities when they heard he was home from Iraq. The staff was super attentive and strangers even bought us wine. We had the best time and it was great spending the first 24 hours alone..something we never did in the past.

Sept 2: My nanny had her breast surgery, so we drove the hour and a 1/2 to my parents house to see her. It went well and we were pleasantly surprised to see that a few hours after surgery she was sitting up playing cards, eating dinner with us and complaining of no pain.

Sept 3: Back down to Long Island to spend the day with Rob's mom, who took the day off of work. We had lunch at P.F. Chang's and did some shopping.

Sept 4: Nanny decided last night that her bandages were uncomfortable, and at 1 a.m. ripped them off...so we drove back up to my parents to be there for her second surgery to drain the fluid and swelling that occurred. This time she had to have a drain put in, but was sent home a few hours later.

Also, from the hospital we went home, showered and attended Mike & Amy's rehearsal dinner. It was a good time and everyone was excited for the big day.

Sept 5: Pretty much our only "non-travel" day. We were at my parent's house and didn't go out all day..it was great to not be in the car! Rob has become somewhat gym-obsessed and decided he needed to workout. He convinced me to join him, so we searched the house for some weights and other random equipment we could use. Needless to say, I ended up being the barbell...

Sept 6: Mike & Amy's wedding. It was a beautiful day out and most everything went perfectly..let's just say it was a good thing Rob was around to chauffeur the girls in the morning to hair and makeup appts. Thanks, love, for being a good sport!!

Sept 7: We drove out to CT to visit some of Rob's family.

Sept 8: First Yankee game at the new stadium!! We loved it, but of course miss the nostalgia of the old stadium. Oh, and the Yankees won =)






Sept 9-11: We rented a beach house on Long Island to getaway for 2 nights. The weather was cold, windy and rained the last day, but we still had fun. We played cards, went to a wine tasting, peach picking, had a clambake and visited an awesome aquarium.
















Sept 12: Rob went to another Yankee game to spend some quality time with his dad and brothers.

Sept 13-14: We drove down to Cape May, NJ where my parents were on vacation. It is a beautiful Victorian beach town and we had GREAT weather! We went on a horse and carriage ride, ate delicious seafood and got some sun, finally!!















Sept 15-16: Back to Rob's parents house to spend some time with his family & friends.

Sept 17: Time to say goodbye. I dropped him off at the airport and of course cried like a baby =(
Only two more months to go...

For those of you who have asked about the baby making...unfortunately this month wasn't it. Peeing on a stick has become so heartbreaking for me, that I almost dread it. I had to take a test this weekend because my doctor said if it was negative she wanted me to start IV antibiotics. So, it looks like I will be doing that this week. ::sigh::

Rob and I talked about it though and he did make me feel better. We have this big PCS move coming up and we want to take a trip to Italy in January, so maybe the timing wasn't right. Plus, the IV should get my weight and PFT's up which will be better for pregnancy. That is what I am holding on to for now, and if we don't get a positive test before we move, then we are going to see an RE in Georgia.

Well, that is all for now! I will keep you posted on the IV and such! xo

We're PCSing!!

For those non military friends, that means Permanent Change of Station. Rob and I will soon be saying our goodbyes to Fort Bragg, NC and moving on to a new Army post. Here is how it went down.

So I was messing around on the computer this afternoon waiting for Rob to come online like he usually does. As I was mindlessly reading statuses on my facebook pages, my phone rang. It was him. When I answered I said "Hey babe! How come you're calling??" He sort of laughed and I immediately knew something was up and I called him out on it. "Baby, what is going on??" Then he said, "I got orders." I was in shock. He then told me his orders are to Fort Benning, GA and he reports in February. As in, 7 months from now!! He won't even get home from this deployment until mid November. After he told me I was laughing and crying at the same time. I didn't know how to feel and honestly, I still don't. I am happy because it means he won't deploy for 4 years, and he will be home a lot. I am also excited to be moving to a new place and living in a different part of the country although I am nervous about it as well. It is an 18hr drive from my parents house in NY, it will mean finding all new CF doctors, and depending tremendously on Rob. I have a million questions and worries and concerns, but they will all get figured out in time. Right now I am just celebrating the thought of having Rob all to myself for FOUR years!! This is amazing!!!!!!!!

Road Trip!

Tomorrow morning, my mom and I are waking up bright and early to drive down to my house in North Carolina for the long weekend. It is about a ten hour drive, so we should be there by late afternoon. I am super excited. First, because I am looking forward to spending the next few days hanging out with my mom. She is always so busy around the house or with work that we don't often get to do anything purely fun and relaxing. Second, I can't wait to just be in my own house!! I haven't been back there since Rob deployed in December, so it is sort of bittersweet. I hate being there without him because of all our memories and I just expect him to be downstairs watching TV or in the garage looking for something..but I do love being in my house instead of in my parents house. I plan to be pretty busy and hope that staying occupied will keep my mind somewhat off the fact that Rob isn't home with me. I haven't seen my friends in Fayetteville in almost 6 months! It should be a good time. For now, I need some sleep so I can driiiive tomorrow. I will post more with pics when I get HOME!!!

Lonely

I talked to Rob twice today, which is more than usual, but I can't help feeling lonely tonight. I try to keep busy with friends, family, work..but at the end of the day I am ALONE. I miss my husband terribly. Everything I do, I wish that he was sharing it with me. When we talked today we discussed our plans for when he comes home. A trip to Italy to visit my family, finishing work in the house and yard, and of course plenty of time just relaxing together. We talk incessantly about starting a family. We both wish we had kids already..but these deployments keep getting in the way. I feel like we are constantly fantasizing about our future, but never really getting the chance to live it. By the time this is over, Rob will have been deployed for 27 months out of the 40 we will be married. That is more than half of our 3 year marriage. I am just so sick of sitting around and waiting. I don't want my life to be on hold any more. I don't want my best friend missing out on everything. Sometimes it is just so HARD. And having CF makes it even harder. I try to live every day to the fullest, but how can I do that when half of me is missing?? My life expectancy is already shortened, and deployments just take more of my precious time away. UGHH..sorry for ranting. We've survived one deployment already and I know we will get thru this one, too. Sometimes it just makes it easier getting it all out. Does anyone else feel like their life is on hold or they aren't where they hoped they would be? How do you deal?

The day he deployed .. 12/08

First Attempt

Well, I've never blogged before. I am hoping this will be a good way to keep in touch and let people know what is going on with Rob, me, and of course our dog, Brooklyn.

We seem to be all over the place sometimes, so maybe this will help everyone keep up!! Right now Rob is in Baghdad & Brooklyn and I are living with my parents in New York. All three of us miss our home and friends in the Fayetteville/Fort Bragg area and can't wait to be back in November!!!!!! This is our second deployment - five months down, seven more to go.