What A Great Welcome!

Ok so the first day went good. They only had four 3-bedroom houses for us to look at. We choose #3 because it was the lesser of the evils. LOL It has fresh paint, clean floors (no stains), everything just looked good, and it had a cleaner smell. Tuesday morning (day 2) however was a bit "interesting". Tom had to take Gabriel to the ER because he started throwing up and just didn't look good. Luckily he was ok and it really wasn't anything big. While they were there, we had a 4 to 5 ft black snake (we think it was either a black racer or black rat snake...both non-poisonous) slither up onto our back porch. EW! Needless to say, it's not going to bother us anymore. However, we are waiting to hear back from the work order we called in about having the landscape/shrubbery/mess taken out because there is a rabbit den there with at least 1 baby rabbit (maybe what the snake was up on the porch looking for?). Then Thursday night we had a pretty bad thunderstorm and we found out our roof has a leak. Luckily I saw it before Tom's electrical/computer stuff got too wet. So we called in a work order that night and then again Friday morning to check on it. Well they show up shortly after we called to "assess" the damage and then he tells us they'll be back later that day when it dries up to fix it. Well, they never came back. Ugh. It is calling for more rain and thunderstorms to hit today and tomorrow. So hopefully it doesn't get too wet.

So far I've met two of our neighbors. One of them her husband is in the same class date as Tom and the other has 2 kids as well (she also brought a plate of cookies and banana muffins). I also found out (by looking seeing our neighbor in the same duplex) that apparently American Eagle allowed retirees to live on post. That aggravates me a bit because I thought base housing was for Active duty or Activated Reserve/NG. If they had an excess of empty homes, I could understand, but as of yesterday they only had one 3-bedroom available. I don't believe it's right to allow them to take up the homes that our Active soldiers and their families should have priority to. After all, I thought that was the purpose of military housing.

It's been an adventure alright! Hopefully things will start to calm down. We have about half of our stuff unpacked and the other half is still in the trailer. Trying to get it done a little at a time. We will find out Monday if Tom is going to be in the first class or if he's been bumped to another class because they are currently overbooking his class.

A couple tidbits for Military Wives.

I found these while I was surfing different sites. They made me laugh. Enjoy!

The Seven Stages of Military Wifehood

by Tracy Wood

I wasn't born the calm, efficient, organized Army Wife I am today. Beneath this cool exterior is the woman who frantically tried to explain her infant's blue feet to a group of concerned German women and panicked at her husband's first promotion when called upon to pin on the new insignia.

Perhaps I should explain the baby's blue feet. I had foot-printed my son, Erik, for his baby book, but was unable to wash off all the ink. Later that cold January day, I decided to bundle him up and do some shopping. Unbeknownst to me, darling Erik, kicked off his warm booties to display his blue feet for the German shoppers. They thought his feet were purple from cold. I didn't understand much of their attempts to counsel me. After I managed to communicate to the large crowd that had gathered that his booties had fallen off, the women scurried off to find the baby's booties.

This experience taught me to see events from others' perspectives. Learning is what life is all about, and an Army wife is forever growing and changing. With tongue firmly in cheek, I classify the progression of Army wifehood in seven distinct stages.

Stage one: You don't know fatigues from a poncho liner. You wonder what all those "old" women do at those luncheons, attending a potluck dinner requires 10 long distance calls to mother.

Stage two: You sew patches on fatigues, attend luncheons, mistakenly iron the poncho liner (which melts) but otherwise are a perfect Army wife.

Stage three: You discover the post alterations shop and never sew again. Children enter your life and you forget to attend the luncheon you volunteer to host. The dog throws up on the poncho liner. Mom calls you for recipes. You ask your soldier husband to please drop off those infernal smelly fatigues at the cleaners.

Stage four: You've been promoted to a position of authority in the Army wife support system; younger wives look up to you. You get kids off to school, work on you career, tone up your body and try to set an example. You make lots of lists.

Stage five: Entering the fifth phase, your spouse hangs up his fatigues, dons desert camouflage, and leaves his family to go half way around the world to preserve peace. You miss him terrible, but rediscover the wonder of a love letter. The kids hang yellow ribbons. The poncho liner becomes the family security blanket.

Stage six: He returns home, and you once again are the perfect Army wife. But this time you can manage your family, your job, and your time better because you know what is most important.

Stage seven: You're close to retirement years and the chance for a new way of life. The thought of leaving the Army creates mixed emotions; you start to think about another tour. Your parents are starting to need you more than your children do. You find more time for yourself, and suddenly you are one of the "old" women at the luncheon.

And so we learn and grow. Each time we step forward, we leave a little innocence behind. For civilians, the props are different, but the story is the same.

Ten Commandments for Military Wives

1. Thou shalt not write in ink in thy address book.
2. Thou shalt not covet choice assignments or other branches of service.
3. Love thy neighbor ('tis easier if thou livest on a corner).
4. Honor thy Commissary and Exchange as long as they both shall live.
5. Thou shalt not ridicule a local politician, for mightly senator's from local politician's grow.
6. Thou shalt look for the best in every assignment even though the best may be "Most Childhood Diseases in One Year" or "Record Snow in One Months Time".
7. Thou shall remember all thy friends from all thy assignments with greetings at Christmas, for thou never knowest when thou may wish to spendeth a night with them while enroute to a new post.
8. Be kind and gentle to retired, white-haired Exchange and Commissary costumers, because thou too will be a retiree someday.
9. Thou shalt not curse thy husband when he is TDY on moving day.
10. Thou must never arrive at a new post and constantly brag about your last post.

It's a GIRL!!!

Well, we went yesterday to my 20 week ultrasound and we found out that the baby is a girl. We already had names picked out for a boy and a girl so that was one thing we had done early in this one. Everything looked great and she weighs in at about 12 ounces. Her name will be Victoria Elise. We had chosen a few different names when I was pregnant with Katheryn so we used Victoria and Elise is Tom's German grandmother's name.

Every Journey Begins with a Single Step.

Ok so this is my first post in here. I figured this would be interesting to start something to share with friends and family since we are going to be moving around alot. Somewhere for them to go to have a daily/weekly update on what's going on in the life of an Army Engineer family.

Well, today we're going to be packing the trailer up more for our move in 13 days. I'm both excited and nervous about it. Excited because we'll be traveling to a new base and 'exploring' the area. Tom will also be taking the next step in his career with the schools he will be going to. As everyone knows, Gabriel will be starting Kindergarten, the next baby is due Oct 23rd, and Katheryn will be growing like a weed. Sigh...I'm nervous because we won't have the grandparents to help with the kiddos especially with the new baby coming, but I believe it will help make us closer as a family. We'll have to rely on one another more.

Ugh, back to the packing. We finally got the trailer reweighed and empty so we're slowly packing furniture and such in. Hopefully today we'll be able to get double done what we did yesterday. I just dread it in this heat. 20 weeks pregnant in 90+ degree weather. Gotta remember to take breaks and rehydrate! I just wish that my sciatic nerve wasn't giving me problems so that I could help out a bit more. As of right now, I really can't lift anything w/o my maternity brace. Or really for that matter, I can't really lift anything heavier than a bottle of Cheer (which when it was full I had to get Tom to help me with laundry). I feel so useless right now because of it. I wish I could do more to help him out.

Well, I'm off to get some cardboard boxes set up and start throwing toys into it. Gabriel is going to hate that when he gets home and finds out his toys are packed. Oh well. I'll leave a small box out for him and Katheryn.

Ta Ta for now.