VID00649

Our weekend

 A bouquet of flowers just cuz...I must say Nulkie has amazing taste.

 Chunky face loves to sit on the couch with a few toys to gnaw on and watch everybody.

 We didn't do a lot this weekend and yet we did. A lot of deployment-checklist errands along with a lot of chillin out. It was a nice blend :) Our calendar is a whirlwind right now with all the last minute preparations, briefings, appointments and family events. Michael had a lot of late nights last week so it was veryyyy nice to have him to ourselves for 4 days! We kicked off our four-day Thursday night with a trip to chick-fil-a.In a snow storm. Were that dedicated! It pretty much is a date for Nulkie & I because Gabe plays in the playplace the whole time while we feast and chat. Gabe's happy, were happy- totally win win. And to let you know how well Gabe's toe is feeling- he was literally jumping off benches in the playplace. We had to make him stop- so clearly he is experiencing no pain. One more week till the cast comes off!

 Friday Nulkie let me sleep in and we relaxed a bit. We thought Uncle Matt was on his way from KS, but 100 miles into his trip he was stopped by a blizzard. The road was shut down and he was stuck in a hotel somewhere in central kansas. So he never made it out here which was a bummer. I had bought all this food thinking the other Hulk was coming so Nulkie & i had to suffer through eating most of it ourselves:) Other than that our friday was nice and quiet. I was still recovering from my infection so we watched a movie, made home-made pizza and stayed in.

 Saturday morning Michael made creme bruele french toast and bacon. Yesss please! We (finally) painted Evie's letters and hung them in her room. That's the craft station behind Evie. She ate some baby peas & oatmeal this weekend! Nulkie cleaned out the garage and re-organzied it. He found all the parts to the jumperoo so we set that up and took the baby swing out. She already loves the jumperoo! SO cute.

 Saturday i had planned a mini-thanksgiving dinner in honor of Matthew coming. Well as you know, he didn't make it and then Gabe ended up puking that afternoon and had a 102 fever all day. So Nulkie and i had a date at home with turkey, gravy, roasted veggies, spaghetti & cheese, stuffing and wine. It was delish. Gabe had saltines, water and got to watch tv while we feasted.  He totally thinks he scored because he wasn't forced to eat at the table.

Sunday morning Nulkie picked up starbucks and treats for he & I. Gabe still had a fever so we kept him resting most of the day. Brian & Christina decided not to come with Gabe still sick so it was just us for the Superbowl. Still really fun actually. We did our taxes ( i know, yawn) and got a sizable tax return. Nulkie made delicious homemade guacamole and i made pulled pork in the crock pot.

Monday we took care of a bunch of pre-deployment chores and then went and ordered a cap for the truck bed. We decided that was more practical than renting/towing a trailer behind the escape for my cross-country road trip back to NY. So that should arrive in 2 weeks.
This Friday were planning to go up to Denver to hit up the aquarium and maybe the science museum. I'm pumped! Saturday is the ball and then Monday Nulkie wants to do our valentine's date since he works Tuesday. This morning i took Gabe & Evie over to storytime and now were cozy in our house! We skipped a walk at the park since it's like 24 degrees and snowing. A lil' nippy for Gabe who still has a cold. Well i gotta go feed the beast- yes i mean Evinator. I hear her squawking! Hope you all had nice weekends.

What did our weekend entail? Fever! Chills! Fatigue! Nasuea and vomiting! A trip to the ER! Heating pads and attempts at sleep! What does all that sound like? Yes, another bout of mastitis. My fourth case to be exact. Why do i keep being plagued with breast infections? No idea. The docs can't figure it out either. But operation get Evie weaned is in effect. Lets just say she's not all Miss-compliant about it. She is doing better on baby cereal, and yesterday even ate some baby peaches. But switching to the bottle? Yeah right. Michael's method is holding the back of her head and pouring formula down her throat. Works sometimes. She usually screams and gags through the whole scenario. But even though i continue to nurse her, my milk supply is wayyyy low. Low enough that she's not satisfied after a feeding and then is super-fussy all day. I think it dwindled because i was dehydrated from fevers and vomiting on Saturday, and then not eating much on Sunday for fear of vomiting again. Is there anything worse than vomiting? Ugh i hate it. After switching antibiotics i finally feel more human again. Hopefully this upcoming weekend will be more pleasant. Wish us luck in forced-weaning!

the happy patient

 Here's the happy patient. He's already walking around on his cast like it's no big deal. He walked up and down the stairs already. Mr. Independent didn't want any help! His surgery went well according to the dr. His second toe on the right foot is now straight. He's in the cast till feb. 14th and then he gets it off! He actually has a pin in his toe with a yellow ball at the end of it (Gabe calls it a jellybean).

 This is right before he went into surgery. I wimped out of going into the operating room but Daddy was there with him while they put him under. They even let Tiger attend the surgery and have a special band of his own!

 When they rolled Gabe into the operating room all the drs and nurses had the mouth-masks on so Michael called them "pirates". Gabe liked that a lot i guess. He did really well in pre-op, only fussed at the end. He wasn't too happy when he woke up in a cast with an IV and tubes all connected to him! I went down to recovery and he just cried and cried asking for me to pick him up and take off the cast. The staff could not have been kinder and more soothing. I was starting to get upset and they kept bringing things for Gabe and telling me that all kids woke up crying. He scored a lion stuffed animal, coloring book and pencils, play-doh, and a new sippee cup. I was able to get him to eat a purple popsicle too.

He calmed down a bit when he was moved back to his room and Michael & Evie could meet up with us. Michael crawled right into bed with Gabe and read him some stories which helped distract him a bit. I went and picked up his meds. The dr. prescribed a mild narcotic (tylenol with codine) for the first day. He's already off it today and only on motrin. He did MUCH better when we got home and he had some lunch and watched chitty-chitty bang bang.

 Evie giving Daddy kisses! And she rolled over last night! Finally!

 Bacon and eggs for the brave little guy :)

As you can see, he's doing great. Already trotting around the house dumping toys and back to his ornery curious self! We all feel better that it's over, in fact yesterday the whole family took a 3.5 hr nap we were so exhausted! And in bed by 10. Nulkie has a few things to do today and then hopefully is off by the afternoon. Hope you all have good weekends!

 LOVE this baby girl!

 Today Gabe was running around the house driving me crazy so i said forget chores, lets go to the dog park and then have a picnic at the nearby playground. Evie even ate a little bit of oatmeal cereal mixed with water (maybe about a tablespoon) which is a major score. Usually she's impatient and spits everything out, but i think she actually swallowed a bit today. Anyways back to the dog park. So i packed some PB & Js, pretzels, fruit snacks (obvi), drinks and we rolled out. Gabe walked the whole loop and happily pointed out every dog dump "dat's poopies mommy. dat's big poopies". Of course as soon as we arrived he said he wanted to go pee-pee. And yes i took him before we left. So i said Gabe try and stay all dry while we do our walk and then we'll find someplace to go. He's easily distracted and soon forgot needing to use the bathroom when there were dirty sticks and rocks to pick up and throw (which drives the retrieving dogs crazy and earns me dirty looks). He even tried to scoot down the river bank on his butt to follow the dogs in the river--i caught him just in time. By the end of the walk he remembered he needed to go and asked again. I was debating taking him behind a bush when lo and behold i saw a port-a-potty. It was basically the thrill of the lifetime for Gabe to go in the "porterpotti"! He talked about it all afternoon. "we go in green porterpotti mommy, we go in green porterpotti!". Suffice to say it was super-nasty and i should've just taken him behind a bush!

 

 Evie is doing great. I'm just SO thankful to have a little girl of my own. She is too much fun! She's so cuddly and content..a big chunk of happiness as Aunt TZ says! Last night we met Nulkie at headquarters for an FRG meeting. He held Evie most of it and she just cooed at him. She was blowing raspberries and smiling at him the whole 45 mins! I swear she was telling him about her day or something. He even thinks he heard her say "da". We both have heard her say "mama", but it's only in times of distress..like stop forcing this bottle on me!

Here she is with her new sippie cup. She loves grabbing the handles and bringing it to her mouth to chew on. She maybe lets a few drops of milk in but i think that's about it. Oh well i'll keep offering it to her!
Gabe had a great time at the playground. He even ate his whole sandwich (at lightening speed) so he could get down from the bench and play with "wittle boys and wittle girls". He proceeded to throw sand in one little girls hair and i had to make him apologize but other than that it was great. Gabe had a blast, doggies were happy, and it was beautiful weather. Hope you all had nice days too. I gotta get the little guys up now and then start dinner. Beef & broccoli in the wok..yum!

Side note: I'm not privatizing yet. I started too, but realized it's kinda annoying so I'm waiting until Nulkie actually leaves the country. Then i'll work on it.

News

So here we go. Micheal is deploying again. I can't give specific dates and times but he's headed to Afghanistan for a second tour of duty. Most of you may already know this, but for those of you not in the loop...boom, there it is. To say I'm bummed would be an understatement. As an army wife, you always know that another tour is lurking, but you try not to think about it. The whole if i don't think about it maybe it wont happen mindset. I've been trying that- doesn't work. And yes supposedly they're "drawing down" troops over there. Doesn't matter, Nulkie's unit is going. And i am fiercely proud of my solider. He is a wonderful leader and will make an excellent commander. But he's also a rockstar daddy and husband and i don't like sharing him! 

My mentality is this weird combo of obsessive planning, moping, frustration and resignation. I can't ignore that it's coming (although i really really want to) because i have to game plan what to do about Gabe, Evie & I while Michael is away. Trust me I've been debating back and forth of whether or not to go home to NY or ride it out here in Colorado. Some of you would probably say, "that's easy, i'd stay in my house". Well my home in colorado, while wonderful (Nulkie could not have given me a more desirable home), doesnt feel like home when Michael's away. It just doesnt. Call me needy and pathetic but after Michael leaves it feels like i'm just reminded of him constantly in our house- oh this is the last load of laundry i'll do for him in a year (9 mths) or this pan was his fav to cook omelettes on, or he loved woodworking in the garage ..etc that just make me meloncholy. It's this huge void that i can't possibly fill no matter how many play groups i'm a part of. Now a lot of wives stay in their houses and they do great. A lot go home and do great. In fact, the number one question i was asked at our recent deployment fair was "are you staying or going home"? Michael & I have prayerfully discussed it at length and decided the kids & I should move back to NY for most of the tour. Yes were leaving our house where i have my own bathroom and Gabe & Evie have their own rooms. But to me that is just stuff. The loneliness overwhelms those conveniences (at least for me).

I read this quote in a book, "Out of the slough of loneliness sometimes grow rare and beautiful characters, but more often that slough produces only blighted and bitter personalities. In most cases...that early depression passes away..., but in the meantime there is much needless heartache."

That sort of describes why i choose to go home. I'd rather spend my energy on my kids than being lonely. We  haven't found a church here or made many close friends. Needless to say it's been a hard move. In Ft. Leonard Wood we were friends with neighbors on either side and across the street. We had a wonderful church family. I've told Michael if we were still in Missouri and he was leaving i'd probably stay. But i just don't feel that connection here. I haven't even met our next door neighbors. The MOPS group I'm in is 40 mins away. We actually feel pretty isolated out in Ft. Carson. So i ask not for your judgement, but for your prayers for us. You can't imagine the emotional pain when you're separated a very long time from your spouse. When you're afraid when the doorbell rings in the evening. I am so thankful and blessed i have a family that is willing to disrupt the patterns of their lives to take my family in and help us! There are many other reasons that contribute to this decision, but the long and short of it is:  when Nulkie leaves, Gabe, Evie, Bella, Winston & I are schlepping our stuff cross country to become extended-stay residents at the Pilon bed & breakfast :)  Anyways, eventually I'm going to have to privatize my blog for Nulkie's protection. So i'm not sure who all reads this, but if you want to continue reading the adventures of the Incredible Nulks let me know so i can add you to the allowed to read list.

Alright that's the end of my deployment rambling. Another tidbit is that Gabe is having toe surgery this Thursday. Please pray for him- that he's not scared or in pain, that everything goes smoothly and heals correctly. It's supposed to be an easy surgery and recovery, but he still has to go under anesthesia and he's only 3! Thanks for all you're support!

Crusty Butts

 Excited to have some family visiting!

 kissing camels at Garden of the Gods

 Vacay! Boo-ya!

 Family dinner at Ft. Carson!

 Scenery on the drive to Crested Butte. Ah-maz-ing!!

 Hiking in Crested Butte. Note: I have no children with me. Also note: TZ is the cutest dresser/hiker ever!

 View from our Condo. Crusty Butts doesn't allow franchises so it maintains that rustic, small town charm. I wouldn't mind living in one of those houses either.

 Evie had fun in the condo. She's working hard at trying to sit up,

 Taking Gabe sledding on the slopes!

 Typical V & T pic.

 We got to sneak away one day for a hike. Evie has made it a bit difficult for me to leave her with anyone. That whole not wanting to take a bottle/soilds deal is tricky! Were still working on it.

 We love Aunt TZ!

 It didn't snow the whole time we were there till the morning of departure. The guys got in a few hours of skiing on fresh powder in a blizzard!

 Where are the mtns?

We took this trip over MLK weekend. McGregor organized the whole trip...great job! We had a pet-friendly ski in/ski out condo. What did i do you might be wondering? Well i did get out for a few walks, but i was mainly housebound with Gabe & Evie. I had to suffer by the toasty fire and read a book :) It was fun, a little tricky with babies that can't ski. But super-gorgeous. Nulkie & i are already planning on coming back in July to see the wildflowers! Thanks for the great trip everyone!