Time Is Slippin Away!

Well folks, D-Day is near. Cam was told on Friday morning that they would gather on base to leave this Thursday. Today, they told him that they flight will now be leaving on Sunday morning which is much better news. I was feeling pretty positive about the whole thing, trying to think of it as just a small transition phase of our life together, but getting an actual date makes it all more real. My last day of work will be on Friday, so all this couldn't possibly come at a worse time, but let's face it...Friday is gonna suck regardless, so I might as well be here and say my goodbye's.

Mom and Dad came up on Saturday night to babysit Jac so that Cam and I could get away for a night. We justified spending the extra money saying, this is our anniversary (July 22) and both of our birthday celebrations (June 30, Aug. 26). We went to the same Bed & Breakfast in Wilmington we stayed at on our honeymoon. It was awesome! Cam called in earlier that day and they had a cancellation on one of their best rooms, so we were pretty pumped about getting it. When we finally arrived shortly after 8, the owner realized that Coker sounds alot like Coger, and he had already checked another couple into our room by mistake! All of their rooms are pretty amazing so we didn't put up a fight (as long as we had our hot tub) and took another room. I would feel horrible about kicking another couple out. As it turns out, our new room (The Cabana Suite) was probably better anyway. It was a little smaller and didn't have a fireplace, but everything else was pretty great.

The plaque outside our room

Wet bar, closet, and freakin awesome hot tub!

Bed, Dresser, and Art...with a Carribbean vibe

View from the front of the bed...I know...we should have taken a pic BEFORE we pulled down the covers.

On Sunday morning, we slept in, went downstairs to eat a late breakfast, and then headed to town for a little shopping. I got a sweet new hippie shirt from Loose Lucy's so I was pleased with my purchase...it actually fits! Anyhow, it was an awesome night...I hope it ties me over for the next 6-7 months!

I'm planning on going back to Florence on Sunday after Cam leaves. I'll probably be zonked! Mom is off all week next week, so she may come back to J-ville with me to start getting packed up for the big move...maybe the first weekend in March? Who knows.

I've got so much to do here at school to get ready to leave. The problem is that I'm having a hard time caring about any of it. All I want to do is spend time with Cam and Jac. My slackness here at work is a direct result of wanting to be with him every spare second I have. I can't even think about him not being here without getting a lump in my throat and watery eyes. I know that God's in control, but that doesn't make me miss him any less.

My favorite place to be...with my boys!

Happy (Belated) B-Day Jac!

Big news! Cam got promoted at work! It's really kind of a big deal (at least I think so). He went up on a sergeant board for his company, battalion, regiment, and MLG and won all of them! We're talking a big percentage of Camp Lejeune here. So...I took the day off so that I could be there to see his ceremony, and apparently they decided to "surprise" him. Long story short...I missed it. So while I was sittin at home waiting for him to get here and celebrate, I was feeling a bit nostalgic and I put together this little slideshow of Jac's first year. I can't believe my little tiny baby is a toddler! :( Here it goes!

Snow Day!

We were pretty ticked when we left Florence, everyone was talking about snow. Go figure we would have to leave the day BEFORE it snows. Anyway, when we got back home to Jacksonville, and what do you know...it's was supposed to snow here too! I was stoked and woke up about 3 times during the night that night to peek through the blinds and check for snow. It didn't really start snowing good until close to lunch time. We let it collect for a little while and finally took Jac and Kory outside for some playtime. Jac wasn't too crazy about the coldness. He was laughing the whole time, but didn't want to touch it or walk in it. He preferred to stick to the sidewalk. Afterwards, Jac laid down for a little afternoon nap and Cam made a run to K-mart. While he was gone, I built a little snowman at the top of our staircase. Now the snow is melting, and I'm pretty much done with winter. Go ahead and bring on the hot weather!

It's Official

So...we finally made a decision. After spending a couple of months weighing the pros and cons of me going home for Cam's deployment, we decided that I will come back to live in Florence until he gets out of the USMC. You know what that means...yes...I'll be mooching off Mom and Dad for the next year or so.

I'm not gonna lie, it's a big relief. After our test-run when Cam was at Mojave Viper, I was wiped out! I can't imagine having to stay in Jacksonville all by myself with a baby for 7-13 months. The one weekend I actually stayed home that month left me more exhausted than the drive back and forth from Jacksonville to Florence. Plus, having some type of adult conversation after work will be awesome. I also don't have to worry about Jac having one of his little mini panic attacks when I have to run out to the car to look for something, or heaven forbid...the BATHROOM! I'll be able to take a shower in peace, and if I get sick, I've got a back-up. Not to mention the unlimited baby-sitters and the little "nest-egg" we're hoping to save by me staying here. If Cam is planning on going to school when he gets home (and he is), we're gonna need every extra penny we can get.

Leaving my kids in the middle of they year is tough. They drive me absolutely nuts and I firmly believe that I am not cut out to be a first grade teacher (that is if I am cut out to be a teacher at all), but in all honesty, they are such a sweet group of kids. I know they are going to take the news hard. Kids come and go all the time, and you sort of get used to saying goodbye to them after a while. A good boss, on the other hand, is extremely hard to find. Our principal is so nice (some say too nice). She tries hard to help teachers out (and keep them sane). She's the type of person that you really don't want to disappoint. I finally worked up the nerve to type up my resignation letter and meet with her last week. I was super-nervous and literally sick about it. I didn't want to leave it in her box or on her desk to just "find." I wanted to meet with her and talk about why I made the decision to leave in the middle of a school year. Her reaction was an answered prayer. She was so supportive and actually said that she admired me for putting my family first. She also said that she would be more than willing to write up a letter of reference for me if I choose to work (big relief!). I was so worried that she was going to be angry or that she would try to talk me out of leaving, but instead she gave me a hug and said that she would miss me. Seriously...I have the best boss in the world! Am I a complete idiot for giving all of this up???

So now, my to-do list is getting longer by the second. There are:

assessments and conferences to complete
boxes to pack
furniture to move
utilities to cancel
addresses to change
lessons to plan
storage buildings to scout
Land Rover to sell (anyone interested??? lol)

NOT TO MENTION

baby to feed
diapers to change
clothes to wash
pre-deployment crap to think about

...all the while trying to spend some quality family time with my soon-to-be overseas husband! I don't even want to think about having to tackle this new endeavor without my best-friend and the only person who really understands my warped sense of the world. What the heck am I getting myself into??? Don't get me wrong, I have the most incredible parents for not only LETTING me come home to live, but actually WANTING me to come. I know that sometimes "The Family" (my little mafia) can be a bit suffocating, but I am totally blessed to have their support, no matter what!

Oh yeah, so, since first grade isn't really working out that great for me, (I'm not all about tying shoes, bagging up lost teeth, and sending kids to the nurse's office for a dry change of clothes), I figure I'll try my hand at fifth and take over Kimmi's class when she goes out on maternity leave. I'm sure that I'll have a whole new (and more mature...lol) set of pet peeves to go with it. More to come on that later.

So I guess this is the start to a whole new chapter of my life. A little scary, a little exciting, a lot sad, but at least I'm not doing it alone.

Updates...

So it's been a little while since I've updated this thing. We've been back home in SC since the 23rd. We left a little later than we wanted to because of Jac's one year well baby appointment at the Naval Hospital. I love taking a healthy baby to the dr. to hear just how healthy he is. Everything was fine...we really didn't have any concerns anyway. He weighs almost 24 pounds! That's like half of what I weighed in the third grade! They said he was in the 50-75th percentile in his height and weight and 95 in head circumference. Yikes! I was feeling a little upset about that, but apparently he's growing right along and they didn't have any conerns. Got to have a big head to fit his big brain inside I guess.

Then, along came Christmas. First at the Dot's for a celebration with Cam's step siblings. I think G-ma Dotty was upset because Jac got cranky so we laid him down in the pop up crib and he missed presents (it's not like he would open them himself anyway).

The next morning....SANTA CAME!! Jac had fun playing with his new vibrating hedgehog and Penn's aquadoodle. After all the siblings got here, the house was packed with presents, people, and puppies. I always knew that we had a big family (my parents, big bro, big sis, Kimmi, and me) but with all of us crammed into Mom and Dad's house, all 17 of us (with one on the way) that is, you can really feel intimidated. We all sat down in 3 different rooms to eat breakfast. Finally, Cam, Jac and I all layed down for a nap.

After lunch we headed to Aunt Ann's house for the Carmon family gift exchange, and then went straight over the Meme's house for our last party. I was really excited about this one because of Cam's special present I was able to organize from the family. It's always hard to switch gears from my family to Cam's. My family is so huge. When we all get together and open presents, we can go through hundreds of packages in a matter of minutes. In Cam's family, they open presents one-by-one. All of the attention is on you and it's so quiet (with only 6 people besides us), it's nerve racking. Everyone is watching your reaction and it takes a good 3 hours to finish the whole process. Anyhow, after being tourtured with anxiety, Cam finally got to open his big present... A LAPTOP!! I was so excited about it. I really wanted him to have one to take with him in Iraq, so that we can talk on a webcam and he could watch movies and everything. After all the fuss, we went home and I crashed while Cam played with his new toy all night long.

Jac playing with his new toy at Meme's

Fast forward a couple of days and we were headed to Highlands, NC with Kimberly, Pack, and Penn. We had a blast in our cool lodge and pretending like we were rich going to nice restaurants and shopping around the ritzy little town. We did a little bit of hiking and climbing (you know...to remind me just how out of shape I actually am, and what an annoyingly athletic stud I'm married to). Jac stayed with Grandma Dotty for three nights. It was all I could do not to cry without him there, but I had a blast on this last little excursion with Cam before he deploys.

Stopping for some pictures at an overlook.

Our last night in Highlands

Back in Flo-town...HAPPY 2009!! It was time to pack up the Land Rover and head back to reality in Jacksonville for a much more somber coundown...days until Iraq. It's just now starting to become real, with talk about what I'm gonna do while he's away and possibly moving back to Florence. They are officially changing the time overseas from just 7 months to 7-14 months, meaning there is a possibility he might be extended. They will be the last USMC unit in Iraq (the rest of the Marine Corps will be in Afghanistan) and they are responsible for moving the USMC base over to an Army base. I'm definitely not ready for all of this, but I know it'll all be worth it when he get's back and we run like the wind away from military life and start all over again.

Oh well, too much to think about right now...time for some quality DS time with my hubby...lol!

Countdown Mode

Ugh! I'm so ready for this week to be OVER! I think I'm looking forward to it more than my kids at school. I'm really having a hard time getting movtivated to get to work so I'm not scrambling during vacation to get some lesson plans done. I lost my voice yesterday. It actually worked out for me. My kids felt really bad for me...they thought I was really sick so they were trying really hard to be good.

We had an exciting weekend back in Flo-town. Kimmi and Pack asked us to take Jac to a Breakfast with Santa thing. We had to pay $5 a person to get in...and we had to pay for Jac...bummer! We really wanted to get his pic made with Santa, but didn't want to wait in the long line at the mall. Penn went first and was pretty terrified. Then Jac. He started crying the minuted it handed him over. I thought Santa was gonna be crying too by the time it was all done. A good laugh none the less and some great pics to put in Jac's senior page one day.

Almost done with Christmas shopping. Just a few more gifts to buy. Hopefully I'll take care of that this weeked. I'm so looking foward to Christmas this year. It's so much fun shopping for a baby!

It's great to have Cam home. Things are pretty much back to normal. He was told to plan on leaving for Iraq in mid February and there is a possiblity they may be extended for a few months. :( I'm dreading that, but wanting to get it over with at the same time.

Well it's bedtime so I guess that's all for now!

So, I'm pretty ticked right now that Cam never send any pictures of wild beasts and bugs out in the desert. It's alright though...BECAUSE HE'S ON HIS WAY HOME RIGHT NOW! He just texted me a little bit ago and said they were back on Lejeune and had to turn in rifles and such and that I could come to get him in about an hour and a half (longest hour and a half of my life).

Jac was getting pretty cranky so I put him to bed. I know I'll have to get him up to leave, but it's worth few minutes of peace and quiet to try to get the apartment straight before I leave. The place was rancid when I got home! I mistakenly didn't take the garbage to the dumpster before I left on Tuesday night and with the tons of dirty diapers and Kory's puppy pads, the smell was horrible.

Well, I officially am the mother of a toddler now. Jac turned one yesterday and I wasn't feeling very festive. I'm glad this is the birthday he won't remember, because I spent the whole day on the couch and in the bathroom with a terrible stomach virus. I started out the morning at 2:30 to go shopping with "The Fam." Long, gross, story short, I ended up getting Kimberly to drop me off at her house to sleep while they finished up shopping and had lunch. Then, Mom came to get me and took me back to her place where I slept some more. I don't remember a whole lot about that day...sometime Dotty came and dropped off Jac and Mom and Dad chased him down for the rest of the day. I woke up (about 20 hours after I went to sleep the first time) at 7 this morning...feeling much better I might add. Good thing, because I had to drive back to Jacksonville to go pick up Cam.

Here's a picture of Jac at his Baseball/Turkey birthday party on Thanksgiving.

So, I'm finishing this blog up about a week after I started it. Cam called in the middle and I stopped to go get him and am now finding that with him home, I actually have a lot less time on my hands. I'm definitely not complaining...I'm so glad my BFF's home. I finally have someone to play with again!

Well, it's Sunday night and since I have to get up early while Cam sleeps in for the next couple of days, I better get some rest! Those first graders wear me out. Take care!