Little miracles! :)

I've been fighting this cold the past couple of days but it really hit me yesterday after a long day chasing after a toddler. Sophia had a very, very short nap which is unusual for her and after getting all my household chores done, I barely had time to put my feet up before I heard her in her room. Normally, this wouldn't bother me but yesterday I could have really used the rest to nip this cold in the bud. So we trudged along making an afternoon of shopping at the Commissary for goodies for Dad and browsing around TJMax to look for some Halloween decorations. After a nice spaghetti dinner (thanks to Nani's AMAZING frozen sauce in the freezer, used on special occasions ONLY IE when I have NO energy to cook) and a hot bath, Sophia was off to bed. Now here's the little miracle...she slept until 8:40 this morning! Not only did I get the extra rest I much needed, I had extra time to enjoy a hot cup of tea, check my emails, and make a beef stew crock-pot dinner for tonight. I woke up feeling much better than yesterday and although I'm not 100 percent, I'm confident that this cold will be gone before I know it! Thank God for little miracles! :) And big ones...one day closer to seeing Chris!

Here comes another week and I'm READY! I've got the house all decorated for Halloween, Misha arrives on Thursday and trick-or-treating with my little 'angel' on Saturday! I can't believe November is a week away. Wow! Pretty soon it'll be time for Sophia and I's visit to Virginia and then preparations for Christmas...my favorite time of year!

Chris is doing well...keeping busy. We're over the hump, meaning we've made it to the halfway point, which means the rest of the deployment should be smooth sailing!It's hard to believe that so many of our service men and women will be away from home over the holidays. Good thing that Christmas comes once every year. I feel like that's my motto these days...there's always next year!

So, a really great thing happened to me last night. After a great barbecue at Molly and Marshall's house, I came home to find an email from Chis. Before he left, we ordered a set of new contacts from 1-800-Contacts and apparently, much to Chris' dismay, ordered the wrong prescription. YIKES! I had to figure out a way to get Chris contacts and FAST! So at 9pm, I called 1-800-Contacts to ask if they ship directly to Iraq thinking I'll have to pay a bundle in shipping charges on top of a new set of contacts. You could tell the lady on the line hadn't heard that question before and after talking with her 'manager' she came back to tell me that...yes, they'll ship directly to Iraq and that they'd put Chris' order on the highest priority, not charging me a penny!!!! Yup, that's right...the contacts, rushed shipping and handling, plus the reassurance that we can ship back the wrong set on our own time, ALL for free! Can you believe that? 1-800-Contacts went above and beyond for us after hearing that Chris was serving in our Military currently in Iraq. I was stunned. It's been so long since I've been that satisfied with a company's customer service. It's very reassuring to know that people out there appreciate his sacrifices and take care of him when I can't. I recommend 1-800-Contacts to everyone and as Chris said last night 'I guess we have a new favorite place to get our contacts!'!!! :)

I hope this post finds everyone well and getting ready for Halloween! I can't wait to show you little Miss Sophia in her adorable costume!

"A friend is one who strengthens you with prayers, blesses you with love and encourages you with hope"

I've been thinking lately about what it means to be a friend. I have had to lean on my friends and family a lot in the past few months and am very moved by the kindness of these people in my life. My Chris always says that 'actions speak louder than words' and it's funny how that has really rang true for me during this deployment. It's a great lesson to teach Sophia, about being a good friend and putting others before yourself. It's one of the greatest things you can do in life. It's amazing how easily you can turn someone's day around and I want to say thank you to everyone that goes out of their way to think of Sophia and I. This deployment, although at times has been rocky, has forced me to slow down and appreciate the people in my life who are there for me when things are not easy. There's an upside to everything right...even a stinkin' deployment! :)

Yay for 'Yucky on the Potty'!

We are on day 3 of POTTY TRAINING! Before Chris left for Iraq we bought Sophia a potty which we placed in the common bathroom so she could get familiar with it. Sophia was always very comfortable sitting on it and would even go to it when asked, 'Sophia, can you go sit on the potty?'. For a little while now I've been noticing that she is more aware of her 'yuckies', as we call them. She has been bringing me a diaper every time she pees and adds wipes when she has a big ol' yucky. So...I've started the process of training! I moved her potty into the common area of the house where Sophia does most of her playing. Every morning after she has her sippy cup, every time she wakes up from her nap and before she takes a bath, I stick her on the potty and tell her to go 'yucky in the potty'. Yesterday, before dinner and after we got back from running errands Sophia had her first pee in the potty!!!! Needless to say, I got a little excited! I made sure that she knew what it was I was praising her for and made last night all about Sophia's 'great job on the potty'! I realize that we have a very long way to go but with loads of patience and persistence, I have no doubt that we will conquer this in no time. I told Chris when I talked to him last night and he was very excited! It's hard to believe that we're already at this step with Sophia. It's mind-boggling how fast she is growing but I'm enjoying watching the process very much!

We are officially three months into the deployment and hopefully more than halfway through! Next up...Halloween! :)

Sophia's first certificate EVER for her swimming lessons! :)

Wow! What a weekend! It was Sophia and I's first time ever to the University of Michigan to watch Chris play baseball! Watching Chris in his element surrounded by all of the guys he's spent the last 4 years with was the highlight of my trip. It's funny because I still see my little brother as just that...my little brother. He's all grown up now, making excellent decisions and creating a great life for himself. I can't even begin to put into words what he means to me. Words just don't seem to do him justice. He's a great role model to people of all ages and the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He knows what is important in life and doesn't let any one change his morals or beliefs. It's so hard being far away especially when I see/hear of him doing so well and not being able to be a part of it. Watching him play was great this weekend and seeing him with Sophia was the icing on the cake. It's so funny to see them play together! They wrestle and laugh and she's never short on hugs for her Uncle Chris. It feels like a dream come true watching my daughter have so much fun with her Uncle's and Auntie's. I couldn't ask for a better family!

After what seemed to fly by Sophia set out on what would have been a pretty easy flight home. We had a flight out of Detroit at 9:30 to catch a connecting flight in Minnesota to San Diego at 11:40. Our flight out of Detroit was delayed an hour which caused us to miss our flight in Minnesota. We were rebooked to Seattle but because of delays in Minnesota we missed our flight in Seattle to San Diego. We waited for about 3 hours until we FINALLY got on another 3 hour flight back HOME! It really was a comedy of errors. Whatever could have gone wrong went wrong but despite it all Sophia was the perfect angel. She kept a smile on my face all day and helped me to remember what was important. With Chris being in Iraq, it puts things in perspective and although it was a long day...we made it through just fine! Now...if only I could find my luggage! ;)

Great to see everyone this weekend and although it's always hard to leave family, I've got some amazing pictures and even better memories of a great time!

God Bless Our Troops around the World.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Little-Soldier-Girl-Didnt-Want-to-Let-Go-63629627.html?yhp=1

This is a fantastic story that Amanda sent me about a military family. It's funny how things like this just sort of fall into your lap when you need it the most. Amanda told me she wasn't going to send it, that she didn't know if this was something that I'd want to read. I actually love reading stories like this. It brings me comfort knowing that Sophia and I are not alone and that there is a huge group of Mom's out there going through exactly the same thing. This family in particular is dealing with a year-long deployment. I can do 8 months if she can do a year...right? I just thought i'd share this with you. It breaks my heart to see that little girl not wanting to let her Daddy go. I can see Sophia doing that as she gets older. Where military parents have the knowledge and the strength to realize that deployments are just 'something to get through', the children often times can't quite understand fully why it is their Daddy has to go. It's my job and every other military wife's job out there to shower their kids with love when their Daddy's can't. I hope you enjoy this story and take a little time to say a prayer for our military families.