It's flying by!

We are already about half way through leave and it's been....interesting so far!

The first full day Chris was home, Tuesday, we had snowfall - that stuck! This is pretty cool because Luke said one of the things he wanted to do with daddy when he came home was to play in the snow. This was something I definitely couldn't promise him. It gets cold here, but a lot of snow isn't a normality. But low and behold - by midmorning, there was plenty of snow on the ground for us to all go out and play in. At first we were a little unsure about taking Luke out - as he had been suffering from an icky stomach bug. But he seemed to be acting ok and assured us he felt fine. So we bundled the boys up - found Chris some winter wear and off we went to play in the snow.

Luke was quite ecstatic. Chris and I were c-c-c-cold, and Will just didn't know what to think. Luke wanted to make snowmen (just so he could knock them down of course) and to fill his wheel barrel up so we could take snow over to feed the horses. Will still wasn't sure he liked this cold wet thing called snow...Chris and I remained cold the entire time. =) Will eventually got into it for a few minutes - but I took him in early to get lunch started. Chris and Luke proceeded to build about 15 more mini-snowmen to knock down. We took the rest of the day as it came and then went out for a nice dinner with Mom and Dad.

Wednesday was when things started to take a turn for the worse. Tuesday night I started getting that unsettled icky feeling in my stomach, but refused to acknowledge it. Chris had a cold, Luke had a tummy bug - there was no way I was going to get sick...our luck just couldn't be that bad. So, Wednesday Luke woke up grumpier than normal, but I was hoping it was just coincidental and not an indication of more sickness on the horizon for him. I was really hoping that this would be the morning I could hand Will off and get just an extra hour of sleep...but as I did so - returned to my bed - got all nice and warm and cozy in my blankets - closed my eyes - yep, then Chris came in and said that Luke had thrown up all over him and Will. yay. Not to mention my stomach was getting more and more queasy and nauseous as the minutes ticked by.

As Luke seemed to perk up during the morning, I began my downhill spiral....which landed me right in the ER in the wee hours of Thursday morning. (I dehydrate at an extremely quick rate - especially since I'm still nursing.) They pumped me full of fluids and gave me plenty of meds. Unfortunately I left the ER feeling almost as bad as when I went in. The next two days were TERRIBLE. I was sicker than sick - but thanks to the extra boost of fluids from the ER, I didn't dehydrate again.

By Friday night I was pleading with God to bring recovery to my system. R&R is short. We were losing days and it just didn't seem fair. In the early morning hours of Saturday, I began to feel better. By Saturday morning, I was able to get up and move around without being sick- Praise the Lord! - and had a fairly normal day with the family. I was weak and tired, but at least I was able to be with everyone.

So - anyway, I'm not sure all that happened between Wednesday morning - Saturday morning for everyone else - but that's what I was up too. =) I do know that after Luke's morning upchuck episode on Wednesday - he was on the mend quick. He's been feeling fine and eating great!

Today we went to church, had a small get together to celebrate Will's birthday and then watched the Super Bowl.

The time is going by way to fast - as I knew it would. It is sometimes hard to look at the time that's left on this separation. Even when the deployment ends, we'll still be 3 months away from being back together again (because of our unique ERD situation.) So when I look at 8 months still to go, it can seem a bit overwhelming. But one thing I learned early on - in the first deployment - is that you can't look at the whole separation in one big chunk. You have to divide it up into smaller windows and just focus on the time in-between each window. And for us that works. There are big things happening in the next 8 months - the birth of a niece or nephew, lots of videos and projects for the church, Easter, birthdays, warm weather, block leave, etc. So though it still seems like it'll be a long time until we're reunited whole, we know it could be a lot worse. And hey, we've already passed through 10 months! Yay!

Ok, on to pictures! If you think of us - please say a prayer for our health. We seem to have started out on the bad luck straw healthwise. I'm praying the rest of R&R will be spent healthy and happy!

Pictures from the airport:

Here is Luke and Will holding a sign for daddy right before we left for the airport...

Luke is looking out the airport window waiting for Daddy's plane to arrive...

He's home!

"That's your daddy, Will!"

Hugs for Mom and Dad!

Will shows Daddy he can walk!

A picture with the family! (Jamie was rushing from work to get here at this point...she made it a few minutes after Chris got in - but that's why she's not in the picture.) =)

Chris gave Luke and Will each a gift upon arrival...

Family and friends came to the airport to help welcome Chris home!

That night Luke was able to rip down the last link to his "waiting for daddy to come home for a visit" chain.

Daddy and Will hanging out!

Reading books together...

It's snowing!!!

Luke insisted on taking a wheel barrel of snow to the horses...

Here he is attempting to give the horses the snow...=)

Will finally starts to "warm" up to the snow...

Luke put on daddy's hat and proclaimed he was a soldier like daddy!

Chris feeding Will something....I get the feeling Will likes it....

The boys having lots of fun with daddy!

Will's birthday celebration!

Presents! I think Luke did most of the unwrapping, but he seemed to understand that all the presents were for Will. Will got fun toys, books and clothes!

The Cake! Believe it or not, this is all cupcakes! It's SO cool!

Will getting ready to blow out his one candle...

Will wasn't sure what to do with the cupcake at first...I think the yellow frosting threw him off...

Luke knew what to do though!

And it only took Will one bite to know he wanted to devour the whole thing!

Well, that's it for now! More later! =)