2012 is starting off much different than 2011. Shaun is in Afghanistan and will be gone through May. He left right after Thanksgiving, so I am glad he was here for that. We had a great Thanksgiving. My Mom and her husband, Danny came to visit and our great friends Clint and Krystal came over with their little boy Jake. The weather was nice enough that we were even able to play outside. You may notice Nicole is wearing the same outfit she wore last Thanksgiving. She is still a tiny little on weighing in just about 23lbs. I do not worry about her weight anymore. I use to stress that she was not eating enough, but after reading a ton of books, blogs and articles, I have realized I just have a little one that will always nibble and she will probably always be small for her age. 
I am no longer in the Air Force as active duty. Ever since Nicole was born, I worried about having to leave her for an extended deployment. I wondered if I would be able to do it. I was very blessed with a boss that did not require me to travel until I was "ready". I asked if it would be possible to not travel until after Nicole was a year old, so I could continue to nurse her that long. We made it 13 months, which brought me right up to my first trip in April. I really missed her, but thanks to Skype and Shaun, I was able to talk to her at least once every day I was gone. My decision to actually separate starting to come about after I found out Shaun was going to Afghanistan. I wondered what I would do if I got tagged at the same time. The Air Force requires us to have a Family Care Plan that outlines care for Nicole if we are both sent away at the same time. We had one, but I hated the thought of actually having to implement it. It is not that we felt she would not have been taken care of, but rather what that would do to her that both of her parents are gone. It made me sick to my stomach. As the timeline approached for me to decide, Shaun had a conversation with somebody that has insight into deployments and found out that I was already scheduled to go in December to Afghanistan. I would have been sent to Kabul and Shaun was going to Bagram, so we would not have even been near each other. That made my mind up. It was definitely one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I submitted my separation paperwork. As upset as I was, it was a great opportunity to take stock of my blessings. I was very lucky to have a couple friends that had gone through the same thing over the past couple of years and with their support and mentorship, I was able to find a job and complete the transition. I found a job doing my favorite part of my military job and that is training junior airmen how to do it. The pay is good, it is relatively flexible, and there is not much travel required. So it had all of the things I needed right now. Unfortunately, I had to start a couple days after Shaun left, so that made things challenging. We survived it though. Overall, the year was great. We were able to use the pool in the back yard. I cannot wait until this summer when we can get Nicole some swimming lessons and we can spend more time out there. It will also be nice because our friend Clint was deployed last summer and this year, he will be back, so we can hang out all together with the little ones. We had lots of old friends come and visit throughout the year. Lucky for us, a lot of people that deployed this year flew through a nearby airport, so we saw our friends Moth (Jefferina's (aka Nicole) namesake) and Melissa. While Melissa was here, her husband Peta came to visit too. It was awesome to see them. We missed them a lot. Vero came to visit for Nicole's birthday. We were able to see Teresea and our friend Dorothy already lived in the area. My dad was able to visit in August for his birthday. Auntie Kari made it up a few times, my mom is able to come and visit every month or so. Jessica and Rome came to visit from Germany because they have family close by. Julie came to stay with Krystal for a few weeks over the summer and it was great to spend time with her and her little one. One of the best things about being in the military, it is large amount of friends that become family you have and the fact that everyone's travels can bring them together again. I'm glad we have a guest room to make sure anyone can stop by. Nicole has so many Auntie's and Uncle's!
Nicole is really amazing. She is almost 2. She regularly speaks in complete sentences. "Mommy come here!" "Daddy, where are you?" "Come find me" "I'm hungry" One of her daycare providers told me months ago that she stopped charting Nicole's language development because it was literally "off the charts". She will have conversations on the phone. She "reads" her books. She still loves books just as much, but now she will sit and read them to herself. She loves to sing. She sings the "ABC" song. She mostly just knows the rhythm, but she fills in the gaps as I sing it to her and she can go through the whole thing on her own. Of course, she doesn't know what it means yet. Her favorite songs are The Barney Song...thanks to my little brother David and his childhood infatuation with Barney, I still know that one and when I can't think of a song to sing, this is the one that always comes to me. She always loves the Monkeys on the Bed and the Wheels on the Bus song. She loves, loves, loves to color. She will sit for a long time and color. At daycare she sits longer than any other kids to color. We got her an eisle for Christmas and she loves it. She has also started imagination play. She loves to "cook" in her play kitchen and play tea party. She is very particular about it. It is super cute. She loves Elmo and Abby and Curious George. For New Year's, we went to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens and she saw Elmo's Christmas Show. She loved it!! I loved seeing her so excited. She sat so still but kept tapping her hands and feet along with the music. She loves music and loves to dance. The ladies at daycare are amazed that she follows instructions so well and does all the dance moves to different songs. We also started going to a kids gym with her. Originally, we joined so I would have an activity to do through the winter while Shaun was gone. She has developed some amazing abilities though. She climbs the wall later, does pull ups on the bars, walks across the balance beam all by herself. It is just amazing. In 2 weeks, we are switching to a Mommy and Me tumbling class that should give her even more opportunity to grow. It is right down the street, too. I am super excited about that. 
Wow, so many things to update everyone on. A few more highlights of the year...on Shaun's birthday, he completed the Nation's Triathlon in DC. Nicole and I cheered him on and he did great! He finished top 10% overall, which is amazing because pro triathletes compete in this race. Then we went and stayed at the beach. It isn't far away, but we got a room down on the military site in VA Beach and stayed for a couple days. It was Nicole's first beach experience and she loved it! We were able to go a few more times since. She loves the sand and the water. 2012 should be even more fun. Nicole should be potty training soon and then transitioning to a big girl bed. I cannot believe my little one is so grown up. I have started sewing. My first project was this pillow. Now I have a long list of things to do for her and around the house. Hopefully, I will be better with updating this blog, too!
No comments:
Post a Comment