Hiking the engineer trail Saturday morning, followed by an outstanding brunch :)

 Being a ham at breakfast

 Prettiest bouquet of flowers i have EVER had! They are completely gorgeous! Well done Nulkie!!

 Me and my lil' Valentine!

 See what i mean? From every angle these flowers are sooooo stunning. I love them.

 The Johnstons! Beefcakes (aka Brian) is Nulkie's best bud. His wife is an army nurse stationed in Ft. Bragg. They've been separated 3 years now (thumbs down) but are finally getting stationed together this summer! Yay! So anyways we finally met her this weekend during her visit. It was really fun! Gabe loves "manda" and "uncle mian"

 Look at my pretty blue eyes!

Things to do on a snow day...

 You should definitely go sledding in your backyard...while letting the doggies run free. I mean no one is on the roads when there's 4 inches of snow! Panic!!

 Cheeky liked sledding for awhile...until he face planted in the snow!

 You should absolutely teach your 2 yr old to eat snow. But not they yelllow snow (or "lellow" as Gabe calls it)

 Dress up in your hubby's extra snow gear and go sledding with the baby.

 Action shot!

 Look at that directional skill. That's from years of sledding at Normanside!

 Nulkie enjoys being out in the snow more than anyone i know!

 You should dress your dogs in their cute sweaters and roll around the the snow with them

 You should make home-made decadent hot chocolate. Mine was even better than this picture. I'm talking whole milk, sugar, cocoa and vanilla extract. Topped off with whipped cream and you've got some delish stuff right there.

 You should go find a better hill (unplowed road) and sled there.

 My personal fav pic of the day. Happy baby and daddy.

 Getting doughnuts after sledding is a must do. Fortunately we have a doughnut joint right outside post! We even let cheeky have his own :).

 

I was blamed for the doughnut run as a "preggers craving". But i only ate 1 doughnut. HUbby had about triple that! 

You should totally ignore the piles of laundry everywhere and snuggle up with your hubby and watch an afternoon flick instead. Who cares about laundry? It's always winning anyways! Hope you;re all having a pleasant wed., we sure are over here on snow day #2. 

Happy 1 Year!

 Gabers face

Michael's been home one year today! Wow that went fast. And it's a blizzard/ice storm so Nulkie has the day off! Wahoo! And I actually have a dinner plan! It's a good day!
This is Gabe last friday at a mexican restaurant called El Jimador. We put him in his drug rug to feel the authentic Mexican culture. Very classy. Actually it was nice to get out of the house considering Gabe & i have been hermits the last 2 weeks.  Were all finally recovering from our colds, although Michael & I still have to blow our noses a lot. But no more fevers! Baby #2 is good..about the size of a lemon now! Were getting excited to find out the gender. Michael thinks it's another boy which he's pumped about. I can't decide myself. Gabe says "sister" or "brother" depending on his mood. Well that's about all that's new here. March is when we find out the gender and where were going to next...so we hope feb. goes as fast as Jan. did! Should be fun with family visiting and Nulkie starting grad classes.

This time last year...

This time last year was the LONGEST WEEK of my life. I was beyond desperate for Michael to come home (it had been 11 1/2 months) and SUPERfrustrated that he was pushed back to the last flight home. I was hovering between tears and anger...and had many irrational thoughts of toilet-papering the battalion xo's house. I remember people telling me that the deployment would "fly by" or "it goes really fast when you stay busy" "2 months down already" "12 is nothing...better than 15 months". All these things, while meant to be encouragement...are insane! I remember thinking to myself, 12 months is a longgggggggggg freaking time! I thought the first 2 months went painfully slow, contrary to all my freinds' opinions. And it sucks! and no matter how busy i am it's a year i never get back with Michael so stop telling me it goes fast. Maybe for some wives it did. It definitely improved when i moved home or  who knows what Michael would have come home to. A ramen eating lifetime-addicted hermit probably!
  Anyway, somehow Gabe & i survived that tortuous week. When he came home on Feb. 1st...it was the sweetest day ever!  Probably tops our wedding day. Finally that constant worry and fear you carry with you vanishes when you can see they are safe right before your eyes.  I think the deployment was good for us in some ways...it made us grow closer as a couple, i became more confident as a mom and keeping things going.  I used to hate dealing with insurance companies...well i was a pro at dealing with Tricare by the time Michael came home. Gabe was a well-adjusted baby....gave up formula and the bottle without a hitch...switched to non-baby food pretty well. Learned how to crawl about 5 seconds after getting back to texas.
 I can't believe that Michael's almost been home a year. It's the time they are home in between deployments that goes fast people...not the actual deployment. Were lucky that we get to have Michael home longer than 12 months...we get him home probably at least till October. Once we move to our next assignment there are no guarantees. In fact the only guarantee is that he will likely deploy again. It is important for Michael's development as an officer and leader that he deploys. I mean, it's what he trains to do...go fight, lead men in combat.
   So those are my reflections today. Things have been pretty slow here. I was sick most of last week and spent my days between the couch and bed. I'm finally starting to feel human again! Michael picked up some cold though, so today he'll be taking it easy. We bought pull-ups and have starting putting Gabe on the potty. He's thrilled to sit on it, but still doesn't do anything. Here's hoping I'll catch him one of these times! he continues to say about 10 new words a day and is starting to put 3 words together in simple sentences like "wash your hands" "brush your hair" "down please" "i love you" or "daddy at work". It's really exciting how much his vocab is expanding. He also shocked me yesterday by counting to 6 all by himself! He continues to be a sweet, energetic lil' guy and we love him to pieces! Hope all is well on your end. sorry no pics! I'll work on some next week!

Somebody turned 2...

Gabe is now 2 years old! We had a nice relaxing birthday. Michael made cowboy coffee cake for b-fast and Gabe also had cinnabun yogurt (which he mainly fed himself). Then we opened presents. We did a little furniture shopping. Gabe took a 3.5 hour nap (mommy took a 2 hr) and then we had his fave dinner (mac n' cheese) which daddy also made. Then gabe demolished a red velvet cupcake! All in all is was a good birthday I'd say!

opening up his first present

check out my crab hat!

Pellican! Gabe's giving it kisses. Thanks Uncle Greg & Aunt TZ

tricycle from Mommy & daddy

 Now that gabe's 2 he can:
-feed himself with a spoon (sometimes) and fork
-tries to say everyone's name
-says "pease" and "dank u" (please and thank you)
-pounds it with everyone
-gives lots of bear hugs and kisses
-sleeps in a "big boy" bed
-loves to listen to music
-loves to be busy busy busy.
-likes to help mommy with the laundry
-repeats the alphabet and counts to 10 (when prompted)
-favorite toys are firetrucks, trains, snowmen and puzzles
-he loves books! we read a pile a day to him
-Is the sweetest little guy in general. Couldn't ask for a better dude! We love you Gabe!

Look, Ma, No Hands!!

upgraded family room arrangement.

new sleeper sofa

Gabe approves the new layout.

Exciting News!

Gabe's gonna be a big brother! We've known for some time now, but were waiting for a positive ultrasound to officially announce it. Yesterday there was a good heartbeat and the baby was a little over 11 wks in size. That gives us a due date of Aug. 2. We are both sooooo excited!

 kisses for his future sibling :)

I'm looking forward to being done with the first trimester and maybe having energy? My "morning sickness" seems to be diminishing..i only tend to feel sick in the evenings now. Which is actually good because Michael can take care of Gabe and i can try to rest.
 Can you believe this little guy will be two on Sunday? He's definitely lost most of his babyness (other than those chubby cheeks) and is becoming more of a toddler everyday! We've have about 6 months to get this kiddo potty trained before the next one arrives. Wish us luck!