A Different Journey

All I'm waiting for are my uniforms to finish in the dryer.

Whenever I tell someone that my husband is in Baghdad, they typically assume that he serves in the military.  Well, he doesn't work for the military; he works for the foreign service.  I, however, serve as an officer with the U.S. Army Reserves.  This wacky set-up is always fun to explain.  Anyway, two weeks each year I travel to an Army base and perform my duties as a nurse at the base hospital.  Last year's annual training was at Ft. Bragg, NC.  This year I'm attached to Ft. Carson, CO.

Jason and I actually met in the Army - years ago (1997) when we were both enlisted as MP's in a unit in Austintown, OH.  That was so long ago - back when the uniform was referred to as BDU's and we had to button everything up and starch our uniforms, shine our black leather boots, and our gear hung off of an incredibly uncomfortable web belt.  Now the uniforms are called ACU's, require no starch, the pattern is a digitized camouflage, the boots are an easily maintained tan suede/leather, and MOLLE gear has replaced the web belt.

We've long since left that MP unit.  Jason finished his assignment and opted not to reenlist.  I did the same; however, after finishing my BSN years later, I decided to return to my Army roots as an RN.  Tomorrow I'll board a plane in Pittsburgh and head out to Colorado Springs, CO to report for duty.

I've spent the entire day packing the kiddos' stuff for what they'll need at their grandparent's house for the next two weeks.  I have literally done ten loads of laundry - Kellen's sickness this week got in the way of getting anything done.  Plus he barfed so much on everything that practically his entire wardrobe needed washed.  My uniforms are in the the dryer; I have multiple copies of my orders; I've got most everything packed.

Kids have been kissed goodnight and Daddy got to call to tuck them in - their favorite.  Kellen has made a miraculous turn-around.  He's still sick but has made enough improvement that I'm no longer fretting about going for training.  And the kids have already given me their wish list for items from the PX.

I'm excited for this trip; I'd even call it a working vacation.  I've never been to Colorado and the area looks beautiful in pictures.  I can't wait to see it up close.  And I'm excited to work in the military hospital and give my time and nursing skills to the Army.  I'm hoping to get assigned to the ER again this year.

Pictures will post throughout the week.  For now, here are the muchkins who are fast asleep.  I snuck in to steal one last smooch from each, since I won't get to see them again before I leave in the morning.

See Owen's sweet little red cheek?  He was out at the ball fields
all day with his buddies...playing baseball, trading
Pokemon cards, and bike riding.  My sweet sunburned boy.

Abby and her sleep mask.  It matches her jammies.
Good stuff.

Finally.  After a week of sick, sick, and more sick.  He's starting
to make a solid recovery.  Sleep tight, little man.

Good Stuff

Peanut butter bagels, apples, pretzels, humus, and yogurt.  That's what little kids lunches are made of.  It's the last day of Spring Break, and I have to admit - Spring has finally arrived in our area of Ohio.  It's warm out, the kids are playing in a water sprinkler at a friend's house, after having enjoyed an outdoor lunch of the above.  I haven't been to the grocery store in a week, but thankfully I had kid food on hand for a large group of munchkins (my kiddos and three others!).  Such a wonderful day, and it's not at all how I anticipated it would turn out.  Truly, good stuff.

After worrying so much about getting our travels to Cairo planned, I have to take a moment to put all stuff in perspective.

Bunny Peep S'mores.  Good Stuff.

We missed Jason so much at Easter, but enjoyed the day nonetheless.  We always head up to his Aunt Jeanie's home for a family get-together.  She lives in a rural area, has a lovely house nestled in the woods, and a stream that flows nearby. Each of the kids made an Easter-Egg toting boat (it's a tradition) for the race in that stream.  It rained most of the day, but subsided enough for the kids to partake in the Easter Egg Hunt.  I kissed lots of babies and caught up with his family, bringing them news of our upcoming travels and Jason's assignment in Baghdad.  I even made Marshmallow Bunny Peep S'mores for the kids (thanks Becky for the fun stuff posting linking this idea!), and baked up a batch of brownies.  I downed an enormous piece of Aunt Jeanie's delicious lasagna and happily took home a piece for dinner that night. I played incessantly with my awesome camera that I have been meaning to get to know for nearly a year.  Finally figured out how it works.  All good stuff.

Easter Egg Hunt in the Rain.
Yup...Good Stuff.

Monday came and so did the required doctor appointments for my personal medical clearance.  I caught up with a close friend for breakfast and some shopping before getting to the first doctor's appointment.  Got done with one appointment and headed to lunch for the lull between it and the next.  Jason called when I was lunching alone (have I ever mentioned what good timing he has??) and we got to enjoy lunch together.  Sure it was dinner time for him, and he had already eaten, but in my part of the world, it was lunch with my husband.  Very good stuff.

I went to my primary care doctor, anticipating that he might want me to follow-up again with my surgeon on a new medical issue that had occurred over the past year.  In November I was in the ER with belly pain - I figured it was a kidney stone.  Nope.  Diverticulitis (and even as a nurse, I had always categorized this into 'old person' disease - nearly everyone over the age of 80 has diverticular disease).  I guess it's time to realize my body isn't what it used to be!   After a colonoscopy in February (ummm...not good stuff, but definitely good drugs), my biopsies came back negative and I've not really had any problems with it.  However, I wasn't sure that my primary doc could give me the clearance.  Well, he can.  We talked about what I'd need to do to manage it overseas and he signed off on my paperwork.  We'll see if State wants anything more.  But, for now...good stuff.

On a mission to find eggs!
Excellent Stuff.

And then I even got in a run at Millcreek Trails before I had to pick up the kids.  Sure, it poured on me for the last 1/2 of my run, but I finished out a quick 3-miles and despite the drenching, it was still an awesome run.  Really good stuff.

However, when I picked up Kellen and the rest of the kidlets at daycare, Kellen was obviously sick.  Runny nose, eczema flair-up (he always gets it when he's sick), and a wet-sounding cough.  Ugg.  I got the kids home and the big kids to bed.  I checked Kellen's temp and he had a fever.  After a dosing of Tylenol and Motrin, I called off at work for the following day.  I was supposed to work a 12-hour shift on Tuesday.  Not good stuff.  But when little man is sick, he needs his Mama.

He slept fitfully through the night and woke up with a fever again.  He puked up his bottle on me (his aim is impecable) and I cleaned him up, gave him some more Motrin and tucked him into the magic swing.  He slept for a few more hours and I caught some more zzzz's.  The big munchkins awoke and were little angels while Kellen and I slept.  Really, angels.  Not something I can say often.

So here we are.  Kellen's fever has broken and while he still has that wet cough, he is smiling through it. A trip to the pediatrician is in order for tomorrow.  The kids are finishing their time in the sprinkler, and a storm is threatening to come in.  Kellen is down for a nap, after successfully taking a bottle and a snuggle with me.  I have a fantastic pot of coffee brewing.  Kids laughter blowing in through the windows.  Just recently finished a chat with my hubby on the phone.  We are three weeks out from his leave!  I've got most of my arrangements in order for my Army trip to Colorado coming this weekend.  And the required TM1 is in the works - I've been told we are this close to getting it, and then we can begin the travel planning to Cairo.

Sometimes I feel like I put out one fire only to see that something is burning elsewhere.  If it's not one thing, it's another. But that's life, right?  Take a step back and see the stuff for what it is.  It's mostly good stuff.

And wow.  I just got an email at this very moment with Jason's correct TM1.  Uber good stuff.

Kellen's first Easter.
Beautiful Stuff.

It's Time to Ask for HELP!

Einstein was right.  Time is relative.  One year in Los Angeles?  I swear it was much shorter than a year.  It flew by.  A year with a hubby in Iraq while I [im]patiently wait it out in Ohio with our munchkins...an eternity.  Except when it comes to getting all the details of planning a new life overseas while said hubby is off in Iraq.  Obviously, I didn't take time into consideration.  I SWEAR it seemed like I had forever to get everything accomplished to get us there.  An entire year has to be more than enough time, right?!?!  I mean, what exactly would I need to do?

Passports.  OOPS.  Kids and I don't have them.  Nope.  No one but Jason has a passport.  Before we left L.A. we had the photos done.  But not the passports.  And it takes both parents to be present to get passports for the kids, unless Jason can send me a notarized statement practically saying I'm competent enough to handle it on my own.  However, by the time the mail would come in from Iraq to Ohio, I would be in Colorado (more on that below).  And then when I'm back form Colorado, Jason would be arriving from Iraq on his final leave (!!) and we could just go and do it together.  So that's where this stands.

Medical Clearance updates.  OOPS.  Apparently Kellen didn't actually exist in the State Department's eyes until I could prove otherwise.  I faxed a copy of his birth certificate and thought that was all that was needed.  Luckily, Jason found out that a medical clearance was also required, and our pediatrician dutifully filled out the required forms for us quickly.  But this lack of knowledge on our part still lost us weeks in getting any sort of travel orders for my husband.  Because until Kellen is added as a dependent we can't do anything.  We're still waiting on this to be accomplished - Kellen officially exists in medical clearance but not as a dependent just yet.

Which means we can't get visas to enter Egypt.  We can't get arrangements made for any pack-out.  We can't get arrangements made to ship our car.  We can't get airline tickets.  We just...can't.  You get the picture.

And then I looked at the Medical Clearances we have for the big kids and for me.  OUTDATED.  Yup. Expired as of April 2011.  OOPS.  

Now, I have to be in Colorado Springs, Colorado at Ft. Carson for my 2-week annual military training the first two weeks of May.  I work as an RN for the US Army Reserves and it's my yearly duty to fulfill.  Honestly, I am looking forward to it.  After a big hiccup in planning (my mom was injured at work, and while she is doing well now, she can't watch the kids for the first week of the two I am gone), childcare has been fully arranged for the two weeks I am gone.  I can't tell you what a planning nightmare that was!  Special thanks to my in-laws for taking the kids for nearly the entire two weeks (I will be buying them some very nice bottles of wine in CO!) and to my friend Suni for taking a couple days to help out as well (the kids love 'Aunt' Suni -- "She always brings us sweets!").  This will be a great assignment for me this year - should be working in the ER at Ft. Carson and I fully intend to sightsee in Colorado Springs on my off time!

But the two week annual training couldn't come at a worse time.  After realizing that I have to get MY medical clearance achieved BEFORE I leave, I will be spending all of Monday getting poked and prodded in some uncomfortable places by multiple MDs.  Luckily, I was able to get the kids taken care of last week.  Poor Abby.  She has a serious phobia of needles and well, even a small finger prick for a hemoglobin sent her over the edge.  The doctor, me, and a nurse had to hold her down.  She screamed and then kicked the pediatrician square in his goods.  MORTIFIED.  Thankfully, he's dealt with kids for 30+ years, so he wasn't shocked.  We managed to get her finger prick done and she actually screamed at us:  "THAT WAS IT!  THAT WAS IT!!??"  Then I took the kids out for ice cream.  And a Starbucks for me.

No matter how I look at this, the overwhelming feeling is that we are drowning trying to plan it all out.  Information is scattered and hard to find.  There are multiple agencies to coordinate our move.  And we aren't yet familiar enough with the the big machine of all this.  I feel especially isolated in Ohio - I mean, I can't just drive to HR at State and get things processed (although, even if I was in D.C., I have no idea how I'd even find it.  Or if I'd find the right one!).  Yes, yes.  It's time to ask for help.

So, after a long email to a fellow spouse who's been through this before, I have been pointed in the right direction(s) to get the above achieved.  She got me the appropriate HR contacts and made a step-by-step how-to for me to follow in getting passports.  Literally.  Step-by-step!  All I had to do was ask for help.  Which, from my past blogging noting that I was going to go childbirth all alone, you'll realize I'm not always so good at.

Stress is definitely taking it's toll on me.  I've had non-stop heartburn for days (thankfully, TUMS are a great way to get calcium, right?!?), my sleep is short and fitful, and I am ingesting far more caffeine than any human body should ever attempt to take on.  I was terribly worried about my mom (again - I reiterate - she is doing well!  I'm just not ready to write about it yet.), fretting about planning my training in Colorado, and getting nowhere on all the things we need to get done for Cairo.  Where did time go?  It seems like it's been FOREVER since Jason left, and yet, I feel like I haven't had enough time to get anything accomplished.

But the stress stops here.  From now on I vow to ask for help every time I need it.  I vow to reach out to those who have experience and knowledge about what's going on when I have none.  And I will vent when I am frustrated!  I will work on things ahead of time (umm...ok, this may be a lifelong challenge for me).  But really.  This new life is crazy and chaotic and I just need help figuring it out!

On a final note.  After a long 12-hour shift at work yesterday (but a great shift), I picked up our little man at 11:30pm and we went home.  Owen and Abby were at the fab in-laws for the night.  Anyway, Kellen fell asleep in his carseat and being the exhausted Momma that I am, I just carried him upstairs in it and let him sleep away the night comfortably snuggled in the carseat.  I collapsed into bed and got a decent six hour stretch of sleep until Kellen woke me.  When I went to change his diaper, which had been changed last at daycare just before I picked him up, I found the funniest thing written on it.  Check out the photo.  The nickname on the diaper reminds me to relax, have fun, and enjoy life.  All this stuff will get figured out somehow (especially if I'm willing to ask for help).  

"Uncle Fester" - what our wonderful daycare
jokingly calls our very VERY bald baby.  Gave me
the best giggle of the morning!