Crazy 8...

So I am a little behind in this, and to be completely honest with you, I have done a horrendous job of documenting everything on Bryn this last month thanks to the move.
I looked back in my private Brynlee journal/bloggy thing, and I haven't updated since her 7 month birthday.
Sigh.
So here goes nothing, and Brynlee, if you ever read this in the future, sorry!
We are now moving into 6-9 month clothes and recently ventured into size 3 diapers.. We're still doing three naps a day giving the time change to CO and the move due time to set in before moving her to a possible two-a-day nap routine.

such a good sleeping babe!

I can't say enough how awesome having her sleep trained is. I am not a 100% Baby Wise mom, but after putting it's method's through the ringer these past couple weeks, I am grateful that I have been such a stickler to sticking to her Baby Wise schedule. It's paid off so much not only for her, but for me in all the madness as well. She not only has continued to sleep the night despite the move, but has transitioned into CO time fairly quickly, taking about a week.

This sounds bad, but I was praying over and over daily that Brynlee wouldn't become mobile before this move.
I needed her to stay in one place while the frenzy of packing swirled around her and to not envelope her. Thankfully she continued to keep her booty popping self contained to her blanket in the living room and only scoot backwards on occasion.

Celery is the first "green" she
would take, let alone finally a "real" food!

We had her last weigh in with the dietician on the 31st, and without having her papers in front of me, she has finally more than doubled her birth weight plus some. I believe she was at 15.2lbs when we left. Her eating habits still consist of nursing 5-7 times a day and pureed baby foods. It wasn't until we got to CO that she finally started showing any interest whatsoever in "real" foods. It's still a work in progress on the "real" food front, but as far as purees go, the girl has become a tank.
She's eaten anywhere between 3-4 jars of food before showing any signs of disinterest--and that's per meal. I have her eating 2-3 meals a day on top of nursing, so yeah, girl is "pudging" up for winter and I completely approve. :)
I have learned the hard way--she hates anything green.
Well, any vegetable that is.
I have NO clue why because I LOVE my green's but it has taken me mixing greens with non greens for her to eat any at all.

As I have said before, on the 5th, Brynlee, Katie Hyskell, Jax, Bella, and I flew out of FAY to DEN and then drove from Denver to COS. I know I mentioned this before, but I have to say it again, Bryn constantly proves me wrong in so many ways and I love it.
She flew beautifully, making friends with the other passengers--it couldn't have gone any better.
She and I spent our first few days in CO, sans daddy, again, getting situated and getting her new room set up. It took all of leave plus some to get it all complete, but I'm proud to say it's 95% complete now.
It was really important to me that her room try to stay as normal as possible in this temporary stay in CO. Her furniture was the only "big" things we moved.
I wasn't sentimental in this move, not bringing any pictures, or anything like that for me, but her room is a totally different story. Everything that was up in her old room is up in her new room, with even more wall space for daddy pictures to hang and talk to her about.

Cousins!

Bryn finally got to meet her aunts, uncles, and cousins on her daddy's side, which was really awesome. Uncle Jerrod and Aunt Brittany made sure she's continuing to style in Bronco attire while she's here, poor girl doesn't stand a chance.

We had her dedicated on the 9th with family friends which was really an amazing experience. Couldn't have gone any better all time constraints considered!
Well, and the Broncos beat the Steelers that day too, pretty much awesome.

We used leave to do as much family stuff as possible. This included a aunt/uncle/cousin trip to the zoo, a trip up Pikes Peak, our first trip to the park which was a first for swings, slides, and grass.
I signed Bryn up for the nursery at New Life Church and am really excited for her to get situated in this new aspect of our weekend routine. I have missed it dearly.
Some family friends of mine that I've known since elementary school, actually run the nursery there, so I was super happy and relieved in this transition.

I joined a gym since getting into town which is the Gold's Gym that my parents go to, about 2 miles from the house. They have child care available so I opted to pay extra for that and plan to use it as a means to get her socialized with other kids while I get my butt back in pre pregnancy shape (still 15lbs to go, darn leave and John's food bucket list).

Back to the crawling bit, once we got to CO I begged the opposite of the poor babe.
I did anything and everything possible to try to get her to crawl while her daddy was home, but it just didn't happen. It was SO stinkin' close, but just wasn't in the cards.

On the 23rd I left her with my parents for the longest I have ever left her with anyone.
It was the day John and I had the Bronco game in Denver, so we had our morning routine with her, where John had his final goodbyes.
We left when she went down for her first nap, and I didn't get back into town until about midnight-ish after dropping John off at DIA.

Although this is the most choppiest blog entry I have ever written, one thing that has stood out and that I have to stress again is how amazing my daughter is.
She has transitioned so beautifully in all this that I can't help but sing her praises.
Not only has she continued to sleep the night, every night since we got here, but with already adjusting to mountain time (two hours diff),  crawling and finally eating some "real" foods, I swear the girl is headed off to college tomorrow and I can't stand it.
I am one of those sad moms.
Instead of getting all super stoked about the milestones she achieves, I get uber sad and have a hard time not taking it personally.
IDK why, but every time she ventures into something new I get a huge dose of reality that it's one step closer to her not "needing" me as much as I want her too.
It's a fantastic problem to have and I am so blessed with an amazing baby that, as diva as she is, she brings so many smiles to my life that I rarely remember what made me as happy before she was born.

John is back in NC and is leaving later this week for our first deployment to Afghanistan, third deployment overall. This is our first deployment with him as a K9 handler, let alone a bomb dog at that.
I am relieved in the fact that Denzel, John's bomb dog, is a veteran bomb dog, having been deployed before. He and John have meshed so well and I really couldn't be happier all things considered. It helps to know he's in good hands (paws?).

Sleeping while I enrolled
in classes.
Such a good sport!

One of the first things John helped me accomplish when we got to CO was to get admitted and enrolled in some continuing education classes while I was here. I was already late, the semester already started about 3 weeks prior, but was able to squeeze into at least one late start online class I had been wanting. I got everything all set up to find that we had missed the military education financial assistance by 5 days and that the software I have is already outdated (it's a year old, dang it)  requiring me to upgrade all my software.
I ended up dropping it in the end, but have every intention of picking it back up plus a few others in January, now that I have time to financially prepare for the software upgrade and also meet the criteria and due dates of the financial assistance they have for us military spouses.
I am super excited about this and am even more excited that I have such eager hands to help me with Brynlee while I continue to pursue what I love.
Since I dropped the class I have opted to take these next couple months to relish the final months of my little girl's first year and kind of taking a breather considering how insane the last few months felt prior and during the move.

We sure do appreciate all of your kind thoughts, words, and especially prayers prior, during, and here after the move and as John heads out on this deployment.
We are so humbled by the outpouring of kindness from our friends, family, and even strangers that we run into.
Moving here was the #1 best thing we could do for Bryn and I.
As hard as it was for John to bring us here and then leave us here, be assured he wanted this for us.
A calm frame of mind is what he needs for this next year of being away and we are in the best place for him to be that way.
Watching Bryn with her family, on both sides, makes it worth it.
Her smile is radiant and I never want to miss it and I feel so blessed to be her mom and to take care of her while her daddy is away.
No one here can replace him that is for sure.
The morning after John left, I woke up alone, in bed, to the sound of her voice over the baby monitor, calling, "Da? Da da da!"
She knows him. She'll remember him if I have anything to do with it.
She still, on occasion, will be playing around in her bed, and will call out, "Da?"
It's hard to picture what this time next year will be like.
She'll be closer to two than the babe she is now, and I can't fathom missing that.
My heart hurts for John, not being able to understand how he feels--still trying to figure out how I feel about all this.
This rambling gets me all emotional, so I need to stop!
In ending, all I know is that this baby will never go to bed not being secure in how loved she is and will also constantly be reminded of who her daddy is and how much he loves and misses her.

Pre Deployment Leave

So, as with other deployments, one thing that's not different is that we still got a pre deployment leave.
It started the 4th of September and ended September 25th, 2012.
He was SO close to being here for her 8 mos birthday. :(
The first week of leave really just consisted of us all getting to CO, preferably in one piece.
With one cat carrier handle being the only real casualty of the move, I say success was ours.
As mentioned in the prior post, the first real big thing we did is have Brynlee's dedication & BBQ which was an absolute blast.
What I never mentioned about it is how awful the timing of it was!
Not only did I schedule it for days after we arrived, which really was just insane on my part, but my mother's aunt passed away a few weeks prior and had the memorial service scheduled for the same weekend. Lots of weird emotions running that weekend for the whole house.

Prior to baby life, we have always spent pre deployment leaves, mid tour leaves, and post deployment leaves as a free for all when it comes to entertainment.
"Usually" budgets go out the window and it's one giant spending spree on knocking out the "I MUST do this before I deploy" bucket list.
Some of this includes my participation, some of it includes my permission, haha.
We did a lot of family stuff, but I also kicked John out the door to hang out with the guys and do "man" things with his brothers and friends.

Some things on the aforementioned bucket list are easy peasy, such as eat at Chipotle for every other meal, eat at PF Changs for all other meals, eat a lot of Cold Stone ice cream, and generally just hit up any other restaurants we've been neglected from while in NC. We went and saw the new Batman movie, SANS baby which was a biggy for us!
John went out with his brother's and Scott for a guys day where they went ATVing and off-roading. We had lots of BBQ's, dinners with friends, and lots of baby adjustments when it came to meeting all these new people including family.
This year we added some "real" biggy's that definitely stretched our limits when it came to baby tolerance.
I just have to put in here that Bryn has adjusted BEAUTIFULLY and amidst all the chaos and change of time zones, she has been SUCH a trooper and couldn't have asked for anything better.
Even when she was screaming crying, most the time it was 100% warranted so we didn't stress about it.

One highlight was going up Pikes Peak.
I've driven and rode up the Peak, but somehow in John's entire life of being born and raised in CO has never gone to the top, so it was a must.
Connie, John's mom, went with us and overall Brynlee was a TOTAL trooper.
We sat across from three older ladies from PA who by the end of our train journey were accepted into the Brynlee "you may hold me " club.

Another bucket list must was that we got family pictures taken.
I know it seems like all that's ever posted on FB is professional pictures of some sort, but these pictures were extra special and honestly were more for John and Brynlee than anyone.
Bryn's 6 month pictures were originally planned to be family pictures, but the Army came a'callin and John couldn't do them with us so it became a mother-daughter/baby picture day.
Considering John's pre deployment training and schedule, we hadn't had family pictures together since she was 5 days old, so it was LONG overdue.
These pictures are for him to have on deployment and for her to have and see her daddy while he's gone, so the pictures consisted mainly of the three of us, then the two of them this time. They turned out GREAT (have I ever mentioned how amazing our photographer here in the Springs is? Holly Pacione did our wedding and I am just thrilled we are working together again now that we are three!).

Holly Pacione Photography.

Holly Pacione Photography.

We ended leave on a huge bang by surprising John with Denver Broncos tickets.

Matching Bronco gear of COURSE!

He'd never been to any professional sporting event ever, so this was a biggy and I got extremely giddy over how it all panned out.
I hadn't been to a Bronco game since high school, so it felt like a new experience for me too!
The day before the game I contacted the Broncos letting them know about John deploying and that we were going to be at the game, etc.
I got a call back within an hour from a girl named Amanda that was actually born and raised at Fort Bragg, NC and was there just last week when her brother came home with the 82nd. She said she could actually get us on the field during the American flag pledge of allegiance and for the Air Force fly over!
I was SO stoked.
We were SO stoked.
I won't lie, I gave myself some major wife kudos for that one.

Practice makes perfect!

AMAZING experience. 

The night before the game was a hard one.
I stayed on my parents main floor in a baby cleaning frenzy (it's my de-stressor) while John put his baby girl to bed for the last time.
One thing you learn really quickly with the military lifestyle is that every deployment is different and brings it's own set of challenges.
This one is no exception to that rule.
Not only is John going to Afghanistan this time as opposed to Iraq like the last 2 deployments, but leaving behind his baby girl has proved to be the hardest thing ever for BOTH of us.
There are no words or warning that can ever explain this feeling.
How would you spend your last bedtime with your baby??
I let them have their bedtime rituals alone so he could have his face time, but it made me ache all over. Just knowing what was going through his mind as he was up there with her....I could never walk away, and I hate the fact that this time it's not just me he's walking away from.
We both are feeling a loss for her, lots of tears and anxiety....her smiley self has no idea the hurt we are feeling for her and never want her to feel.
It's the hardest burden I have ever carried in my almost 28 years of life and I don't wish it on anyone.
It's gotten to the point where we cope better not to talk about it or focus on it.
Ignorance is bliss??
I don't know, but as of right now it's working for me.
Any of my friends that have experienced a deployment with me before know that the best way I cope is to consume myself with so many distractions that I don't have a choice but to not talk about it or focus on it.
In order to ignore what was looming ahead we spent his last day in CO in Denver at the Broncos vs. Texans game and had an absolute blast.
If they had won, it woulda been better, but ya know...you win some you lose some.
We went to LODO after the game to Cheesecake Factory and went to DIA.
His flight was at 1 am (his idea not mine!) and of course with all the pandemonium going on in my brain I had bought the tickets for the wrong day causing us to pay about $200 in fees to get him on that night's flight.
Def helped leaving on a good note, right?
Right.....
We sat in DIA for a couple hours eating cheesecake and looking over the pictures we took from the game, honestly just wasting time not wanting to say goodbye.

Well, obviously the goodbyes took place, cause here I am.....and there he is, leaving NC the end of this week.
I won't lie, I kinda prefer green ramp goodbyes now that I have had done an airport goodbye.
At least at green ramps, misery loves company??
Walking away alone in the airport is just miserable.
Plus the parking garage is scarier at midnight at DIA by yourself....just a future mental note.

If I could press anything to anyone, military or not, please tell/show your babies how much you love them and spend all the free time that you have with them.
Even when you are tired, been working all day, the kitchen is a mess, laundry not folded, animals not fed---it can wait.
Our little family is blessed in so many ways and here I go, against my nature, fighting the "feeling sorry for myself" blues, but as cliche as it sounds, please hug your babies a little tighter and a little longer when you put them in bed tonight...there are lot of daddies and mommies out there that won't get too and are sacrificing everything so that theirs is safe at home without them.
Deployment #3 here we go.....

Brynlee Paige's Dedication Day

One of the big things we wanted to do as soon as we got to Colorado was to dedicate Brynlee.
It took a lot of planning while being on the other side of the country, while moving, while John's in AZ...all to happen within days of us arriving to CO assuming things went according to plan!
Just like everything else we seem to do, I picked a date, committed to it and allowed divine intervention to take the lead and let things fall as they may.
Our wedding was this way when John was deployed and we weren't 100% sure he was going to be there.
Our move was this way, with John being gone during the whole packing process and arriving home in time for me and the babe to just leave him all over again a few days later.
Somehow whenever we're faced with a task that seems ever so daunting, the cards fall the way they may and it makes for amazing memories.

We had visited churches over the years while in NC and landed at Manna for a while. We attended off and on, wanting to get more involved but never able to take the plunge because of John being gone all the time. Once Brynlee was born, needless to say, our attendance fell to the "we'll go on Easter" type of thing and it's something that always bothered us because we were both raised different--yet, when push came to shove, Sunday's might be John's only day off, etc and we totally broke our attendance habits.
Because John and I have never actually lived in CO while dating, engaged, or married, we haven't really claimed a church home there either.

For most people this would seem like a problem when planning a dedication, however, I saw an amazing opportunity.
I designed a dedication invite and sent it out to all our  friends and family--our own handpicked congregation--the people that have always supported us through thick and thin, people we have always been able to call on, and also that would be the backbone of this deployment being a success, not a downfall for our little family.
This was so important to us and we were SO grateful when we virtually had 100% RSVP to participate as our "congregation."
These people consisted of all walks of life for us. Elementary school, middle school, high school, college, Colorado, Oklahoma, North Carolina...you name it, this concoction of our amazing support system took time out of their Sunday to participate and we couldn't feel more humbled or blessed.

Pastor Ed conducted her dedication, who was also the pastor that married us. 

Pastor Ed came from my home church in high school although he was never actually a pastor to me.
He was the mid high pastor while I was in high school and through a weird turn of events I connected more with him than any of the other leadership. He's played a magnificent role in John's and my relationship and it wasn't even a question that he had to be the one to bless our growing family.
We learned the day of the event that his was actually his first baby dedication which made it even that more special for us and him!
John picked out the life verse for Bryn and he did a great job at it.
"...be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9.
I had been struggling on a life verse for a while, nothing really jumping out at me or finding any little link that might tie in to how I feel as a new mom, growing family, and as spiritual inspiration for my daughter.
I found this verse among a few others that stood out enough to make it on a paper list and I handed it to John to decide.
He called me from Yuma, during his last week of pre deployment training, and said he picked this one because it was everything he wanted and wished for Brynlee, especially for when he's not able to be there to encourage her himself.
It made perfect sense to me and I was 100% sold.

We also decided to use this event as almost an official introduction of Brynlee to family and friends, most of whom had never met her. It was so great to finally get to do that and John was all but shy when showing off his baby girl.
To make things even more complicated, we also had this event serve as a deployment send off of sorts for some that we knew we probably wouldn't be able to see during leave.
In order for all the circumstances to be viewed in a happy way, we decided to have a BBQ afterwards where we could all sit, relax, watch the Bronco/Steeler game and just enjoy each other's company.
Since the event was at my parents house I wanted to make sure they enjoyed the event, not conducted it, so I hired caterer(s), photographer, and enlisted the Pinterest help of my crafty sister in law for DIY ideas that would leave my parents to enjoy the friend and family community as much as the rest of us!

We did things a little unconventionally for sure, making our own congregation and all, but I don't think it could have gone any better had it been in a church with hundreds of people. I posted a ton of these pictures on FB, so I'll only post a few of the main ones to show you how awesome her dedication was.
Thank you all who were there for coming and supporting us and our little family. We love each and every one of you so dearly and already appreciate so much the love and support we felt not only on that day, but throughout our years and years of friendships with many more years to come!

No worries, Bronco's won. :)

Four generations. :)

We've Moved!!

D-Day. 

The infamous move finally took place and although the dust has yet to settle, I think we're on the downhill side of things.
The move couldn't have gone any better considering all the components that were involved.
I had some amazing friends help me with babysitting and packing while I finished getting Bryn's and my stuff as packed as possible. I could NOT have done it without them!
John arrived home from Yuma, late on the 2nd of Sept. We had to have the UHaul trailer of our CO stuff ready to go (packed) by noon-ish the next day, poor man.
Again, we had some friends help us with delivering the trailer, babysitting, and packing it which made the whole process virtually painless.
On Labor Day our neighbor across the street took off with the trailer headed for CO. He's also military and his home base has always been Ft. Carson, CO. He's been TCS'd in NC because of his job in SF and it amazingly worked out that he was going back to Carson the same week we were needing our stuff physically moved. So we worked it out where he would drive our stuff for us which was 60% of the moving battle completely resolved. Amazing how the blessings flow!

Ugh, my poor babies!

The next day my high school partner in crime, Katie H., flew to FAY along with her husband, John's elementary school partner in crime, Scott who surprised John with his arrival. Katie helped me pack up the stuff to go on the plane while Scott helped John with other "man" stuff including some house work The owner of our rental house decided he wanted to come by and meet us while in the middle of packing...sigh...but thanks to our CO friends as well as my live in "brother husband," Jacob Albaeck, we managed to not look completely insane when he arrived.

I think they are going to be just fine!

Next morning Katie, Bryn, Jax, Bella & I were escorted to the FAY airport by our men and were off to CO.
Yes, we flew the cats.
You'll be happy to know that they not only survived being transported as cargo, but have transitioned really well to their new home. :)
Katie's primary "job" was to help me fly with a babe, TONS of luggage, and two cats and I 100% couldn't have done it without her.

BUTTONS!!!

Bryn totally surprised all of us, especially me, and was an absolute gem to fly with. She was fascinated with the volume and channel buttons on the armrests and also playing peek-a-boo with the passengers behind us. It honestly couldn't have gone any better. At one point, when landing in Denver, the people in front of us stood up to leave the plane and commented they didn't even know there was a baby behind them.

Hurley pup, such a trooper!

TOTAL proud mama moment, cause she def was awake and being totally ornery the whole ATL-DEN plane ride.
The guys, back in FAY, drove to Raleigh to pick up John's oldest brother, Danny, whom we flew out to NC to help Scott and John with house packing/cleaning and also with the drive to CO in my car, along with Hurley our pup.

Can you see how entertaining this is??
In all, everyone arrived in one piece, our plan working as best it could to get all here, accounted for, and for John to have as much time as possible to enjoy his leave how he saw fit.

Special shout out to all our friends back in NC. We already miss you all greatly and you all know who you are. We/I could not have done anything to make this move possible if it weren't for your willing spirits and hearts there to support not only Brynlee and me, but our little family as we moved away from you. It was hard for me to use your help in knowing that your help meant it was one step closer to us leaving you all. Please know that you are loved, appreciated, and we just can't thank you enough for all of your support through all this.
This deployment will be so different compared to the others since I can't be surrounded by my band of sisters I have always leant on when times get me down in the dumps.
You girls also know you who are, and I cannot express enough how much I value each and everyone of you in our friendships! All of us bring something so unique to our quirky little table of oddballs and I wouldn't have it any other way!!
I don't think I can ever eat at Chic Fil A or Panera without thinking of some random memory of all of us while eating/hanging out there....and as weird as it sounds, even being here away from you all, that makes me happy. I LOVE remembering all those crazy times and this time next year when I'm most likely headed back to NC, we better make up all the lunch dates I missed, assuming you all are still there too!

Love to all of you, and CO....I missed you like woah. This is going to be an absolute BLAST.

REAL mountains...just can't beat it. :)

Our CO address is:

6842 Sproul Lane

COS, CO 80918

Lucky #7...

August 26th, 2012. Seven months. 

First of all, whoa.

It seems like just yesterday we were in awe of Bryn's half year "birthday" and here we are again, further away from her newborn days and onto being closer to a year old.

It's SO crazy how much babies change their first year.

Giving that John and I were never exposed to babies as kids or adults we are constantly in awe of every little change that happens and always think it's the coolest thing ever, even if she's early doing it or late doing it! 

One of the first newbies that we had this last month was the little gal shaking her head "no." I am assuming she has no clue what it really means, but she always has impeccable timing when she does it. What's even better is she always does it with a smile, so it's like a false negative, LOL. I love it. We've been nodding our head "yes" to her just to give her some perspective, but all that results in is more head shaking and sometimes shaking so hard it's a full body wiggle and twist that will make her fall over. 

Defiant "snuffy" face showdown with dad. 

Sigh. 

Defiance. 

Not sure where she gets that from...ANYWAYS....

We have been on the forever fight of baby foods this month and some days we have amazing progress and other days it seems like we are back at square one.

At her six month appointment it turned out that she had not only not gained weight, she had lost half a pound. I was so shocked--totally didn't make sense to me. She nurses like a little piglet and even though we feed on a schedule I've never deprived her from nursing if she let on so. 

I set up an appt with the Lactation Consultant at our hospital and went in for a consult to come up with a game plan. Lord bless those LC's. I am in there about every other month coming to them with whatever obstacle I am currently facing and I LOVE the fact that they work with me to keep breastfeeding a priority as opposed to the usual "supplement" quick fix that seems to be the downstairs ped's favorite and most popular suggestion. 

All in that to say, I'm nursing her more often, whether she's acting hungry or not, and continuing to work on the baby food issue to get more calories in her tummy. I'm actually nursing her more often than I did as a newborn at times. I'm still not feeding her on demand but am balancing nursing sessions in between nap times and baby food attempts hoping for progress.

We've gone in for several weigh ins this month since that first consult and I'm happy to say that she's not only gained weight, but went from the 20-30th percentile to the 60-70th percentile in just two weeks time. 

Part of that progress came from some breakthrough's in the baby food portion of our struggles. We'll just say that practice makes perfect and that not only was she finally accepting her oatmeal and rice cereal with mixed in fruits and veggies, she finally started to take the purees straight without being mixed in with anything. 

Some days she totally changes her mind and won't take the purees at all and the next day she fusses the minute she sees her cereal or oatmeal. 

One thing is for sure however, that baby LLOOVVEESS her orange veggies such as squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. I have had to ration them out among green beans and peas so that she doesn't start looking like a brunette oompa loompa. 

Fruits we are still working on, with pears and apples with blueberry being the most favorite. All the others, minus banana, is a hit or miss, but hey I'm having to find progress wherever I can find it. As long as she keeps gaining the right weight I'll play her little game.

I love food too much to make her hate it by forcing her into it, so I am, for once and probably ever, letting her set the pace in this category. 

 This month we also had our first birthday party, first pool experience, first teeth (!!), and first real length of time we've gone without daddy being home.

John left for his pre-deployment training on the 12th, so little gal and I have been flying solo for a couple weeks now. I was worried in the beginning that I would be bored out of my mind stuck at home with nothing to do, but that is nothing but a faint faux memory.

I haven't had a chance to sit my butt down since he left and if anything, I'm going to bed later and later each night he's not here, trying to get things accomplished for the day.

We are getting ready to move to CO, the countdown has officially commenced!

We have been SO blessed with friend and family support with our moving efforts both here in NC and in CO. It's so humbling to have people that will drop what they are doing in their busy lives to help you out with the madness in yours. It's something I'm not sure I can fully express with words at this point, but you all know who you are and you are SO appreciated!

Getting down the crawl stance, and now have
it down plus starting to rock forwards!

This is my last full week here in NC and it's flying by. Bryn isn't helping either.

She's on the verge of crawling and if anything doing her little tummy pinwheel spin or scooting herself backwards does enough damage without the forward crawl already. The animals scatter like oil in water whenever she gets on one of her scooting sprees and it's hilarious. 

She's also discovered more of her voice and has not only started squealing just in general, but she's started a whiney little squeal that is simply pathetic. She'll do it when she's not fussy, but not happy either...just kind of blah. 

She's also started sounding out her musical sounds with lots of "ma ma ma's" and "ba ba bas," etc. I love it! We're working on "da da das," so far it's come out "ta-tas" and well, maybe that's what she wants it to mean, who knows! While John's been gone I have been slowly but surely working on the house, packing it up for our move. Slowly is the key word. I thought him being gone for 3 weeks was plenty of time to get things under control, but here I am with less than a week left and I feel like I've accomplished nothing and my house is absolute and utter chaos. 

With that we have also had our poor pup, Hurley, put into the cone of shame after he chewed out his staples he had in his leg from a mysterious cut we have no idea how he got. He got the staples the night before John left. At the end of that week I took him in to get the staples removed and he had worked them out so they coned him and gave me antibiotics. 

The antibiotics made him quit eating and he was throwing up constantly so I quit those and have just left him coned the last two weeks which has worn on both of us. 

Poor pup has no real peripheral vision with the cone, so he's constantly walking into corners of walls, couches, moving boxes, etc...

Last night was the final straw when he was banging his head into the carpet trying to scratch his nose. I couldn't take his pathetic-ness anymore, so I de-coned him and I swear he laid there scratching his nose for about 5 solid minutes. 

One highlight of the month was getting Brynlee's pictures done with the same photographer that did her newborn pictures and my maternity pictures. Her style of photography has made these photo sessions addicting, and with pictures like this you can see why...

J Christina Photography 6.5 months old.

I had a couple more appointments this month dealing with my post birth healing issues that I still have going on. Every doctor/specialist I see I get different opinions and different results which lead into different suggestions and no real answers. 

Unfortunately, I am having to put everything on hold right now until I get to Colorado where I am hoping I can start over with a new OB or specialist with a blank slate. I am so tired of hurting and being uncomfortable. I'm so tired of wearing loose gym shorts and sweat pants everywhere I go cause everything else is too tight and hurts too much. I try to not let on how much it all really does bother my day to day activities, but some days I just cry, cause I am SO frustrated. 

I just want to sit normally on a couch again, dang it! Someday....

Mastered the sippy. She even drank out of
an open glass the other day, no spills.

Well this time next month we'll be heading into month #8 and will be in Colorado without daddy for real this time. I'm so excited for Colorado but am so terrified of being virtually a single parent for a year. This lifestyle has never really gotten to me as deep as it has now that we have Brynlee in our lives. It always sucked when John deployed but we both accepted that this was part of the job and we'd just make lemonade out of our lemons. 

Just thinking of how she is now--almost crawling, discovering her voice, her first teeth--then thinking what she's going to be like when she's a year and half-- walking, talking, more teeth!--and all those first things he's going to miss seeing and experiencing---it chokes me up every time.

It's hard to not feel sorry for yourself or your baby in situations likes these. I know I'm not the first one to deal with this and unfortunately I'm not the last, and that, in a weird way brings comfort to me. 

Moving home with the babe is really going to be the best thing for her and I. The multitude of family and friend support that we'll have will be insurmountable for both her and I, and in some ways John too. Thinking about that support system that we'll be surrounded by is truly what gets me through the day sometimes. 

With that, I am going to insanely miss my friends here in NC! I have been SO blessed with a group of mom's from so many different walks of life and I value all of them so much in so many ways. I'm one of the deployment veterans of this mom group, but these mom's have more than made up for that by teaching me a thing or two about this baby business. 

TEETH x2!! 

First time moms, two kid moms, to four kid moms. :) They have all taught me something or left some type of impression on me that I will forever hold a tremendous value and memory too, especially as B and I venture into this new adventure away from them. With all the tutelage and support they have bestowed to me, I can only hope that I've been half as good to them in some way!

Meet you in Colorado...t-minus 8 days....

Halfway to Somewhere, the "PS" edition...

PS: So I totally forgot another aspect to my 6 month round up with the bug that I wanted to write about in order to keep myself accountable...losing the baby weight.
I have allowed myself up until now to not even consider stressing about it, knowing the full plate I had with being a new mom, working from home, husband's work schedule, etc...Once B was about 3-4 months old I hit a weight loss plateau where I still had about 10 lbs. give or take left to lose to be back to my pre pregnancy weight.
I credit working out while pregnant (for the majority of it anyways!) and breastfeeding for the weight loss I have had so far.
Now, looking at my body shape since her birth, I'm pretty sure that will never be the same, haha. I'm oddly ok with that, BUT the weight portion of it, I can totally see where the loss can occur and I know it won't take much for me to get rid of it. It's just a matter of me getting my butt out to do it!

I've used her six month birthday as a new beginning for me to give myself until her first birthday to lose that extra weight and be as close back to my pre pregnancy weight as possible. I think this is totally achievable with just light to moderate consistent workouts like I did before and while I was pregnant. I am looking forward to our time in CO because I've got tons of willing work out partners with work out routines already being planned out and I just can't wait!

I am also considering it as the "something" I need to keep me busy while John's gone, just like it was last deployment.
Last deployment I lost close to 40 lbs. and about 8 clothing sizes....then I got pregnant and gained it all back, LOL. Because of my body shape changing I'm not planning to get back down to that size 2, but if I can, rock on!
I like to put this out there for all to know because it's one of the only ways I can keep myself accountable for my actions. I'm not a public person when it comes to more private things like this, but I've learned the best way to trick myself into doing something that I don't feel like doing all the time is to futuristically call myself out on it!
So here it is!
Starting on her 6 month birthday I started back on my pre/pregnancy neighborhood walk routine I did almost daily with Hurley, just this time it's with baby. :) She's been a trooper so far and no offense to Hurley, but she's much more of an intense work out partner. Pushing that stroller up those hills ain't no joke! If we have the time to work up to it I'd like to progress to taking her out on the Cumberland Trail and work out there. I attribute a lot of my weight loss to that trail while wearing ankle weights and taking turns with my friend Steph, pushing her baby, Luke, up those trail hills!
No thanks to NC heat, I have to do this walk first thing in the morning, but that's when the babe is most tolerant of my weirdness, so it's actually worked out really great!
I probably won't weigh myself or even think about again after this post until we are in CO, but I'm excited for this journey and challenge and am thankful for the support from friends and family I have had so far in this area!

More on this as it continues....