And so it is..

It hit me.
Jonathon is leaving.
A little late, right?
Is it horrible that I'm even tired of the word "Korea"?

There seems to be so much stuff to do. I'm not exactly sure how we acquired so many things.
Now I need to find boxes for these items. Sheesh.

This coming month, we need to focus on selling Jonathon's car. I'm hoping that is just an easy task and it goes quick and painless. It would be a huge check off of our "to do" list.

Jackson is going through some sort of 9 month sleep regression. Perhaps even a growth spurt. The child isn't sleeping. My poor husband was up all night with Jackson crying every 30 minutes. J sits up or stands up in his crib while he's still out of it and can't lay back down, resulting in waking him up. Now, Jon is back to work for the 3 day weekend and Jackson is back to being all mine at night. Yay.... I feel so bad for my little guy because obviously he isn't getting any sleep either. Then, he wants to wake up for the day at 6:30. I just walk in and tell him, "you know you're going back to sleep, right?". I take him downstairs and rock him. Sure enough, within 5 minutes, he's back to sleep. He puts himself to sleep beautifully at night. I wish he stayed asleep. This will pass, always has.

Jonathon is wanting to buy a house in Colorado. This scares me to no end. We've looked at houses several times and there are some beautiful choices, but the commitment is horrifying for me. Jonathon should have new orders before he leaves for Korea, and if they are in Colorado, I'll look at houses while he's gone I suppose. If they're somewhere else, then that process will need to wait until he's back.

On a bright note for me, Jonathon and I made a bet. The deal was the loser had to wear the other person's home state/college t shirt in their own home town. This was a bet that Jonathon lost. He now has the honor of sporting a CU hoodie while in Nebraska. Yes, I think it's hilarious. Yes, they are huge rivals and YES he would have made me do it if I had lost.

While Jonathon is gone, I'm going to try my hardest to stay busy. Besides joining the gym, or doing school, I'm hoping to make a trip to Arizona to see my favorite little cousins, Alex and Trevor. I'm also hoping to get some great pictures of my boy from my wonderful Aunt Michelle. Possibly in the summer, I'd like to take Jackson to Michigan since we couldn't go this year due to Jon's leave needing to be saved. Jonathon and I are also planning on taking Jackson to Sea World either on Jon's vacation or when he gets back for good. So, we have some fun things planned at least.

I realize this was such a pointless post, but I needed to kill 10 minutes before Jackson's nap (and he's busy playing with the kitty) and I guess I needed to put some of it in writing to make it a little more real.

And so the countdown begins...

Since I didn't address Memorial Day in the last post - Happy Memorial Day. Thank you to everyone who serves our country directly as active duty military and indirectly as the families behind them!

First off, my baby boy who was pulling himself up a few times a day into a standing position is now pulling himself up every single chance he gets. He'd be walking right now if he's just walk and not try to run. I was sitting in our cat napper - the recliner - watching Jackson crawl by the stairs. He's never had a fascination with them before, but I knew it was coming. And it did. He's actually pretty good considering. He got up a few before deciding to do something else.

I was told that at 9 months old, children do not understand the concept of "no". However, I think Jackson does. We've been working on the cat food issue for a few weeks. Since there isn't another place for it, Jackson just has to learn not to touch it. Every morning when he follows the cat to his bowls and tries to grab it, I say "no". Early on, I would go get him and walk him somewhere after. Now, I can see him going for it and say "no" and he backs off. It's pretty amazing really. What a genius baby we have!

Jonathon had his "pre op" for his eye surgery yesterday. Poor guy had to be there at 7:45 am. He switched his whole schedule for only one day, which is always hard to do. He came home exhausted, goofy, and he couldn't see. (They dilated his eyes) They should call him with his appointment time soon. He's so excited to not need glasses or contacts, but nervous that they're going to work on his sight.

Jonathon and I have started preparations for him leaving. After thinking about it, as much as I hate him leaving, I'm SO glad he's not going to Afghanistan or Iraq again. I worried so much while he was there, and his job was no easy task. At least in Korea, he'll have steady hours and it will work the same as stateside. I'm also thankful that he is desk sergeant qualified, and his flight chief has some contacts in Korea, and Jonathon could very well get a desk sergeant job there. He would be inside a building all day!! He's excited for that.

We've just planned that he'll take leave mid tour, or around Jackson's birthday, and we'd take a vacation somewhere. I guess that's all the news over here. I know it's not very exciting. Maybe as we get stuff packed and the ball rolling I'll have better news!

Keep on keepin on...

Another week, another post. Our big "win" this week is Jackson is officially pulling himself up to a standing position. He loves to pull him self up to the couch to grab the cat, or the remotes to the tv. I am SO glad our cat is so understanding. To date, we haven't had one incident with him getting angry with Jackson. We're teaching him to be gentle, but I think that process takes time. In the mean time, I love that our cat just lets Jackson pull on him, slap him, etc, without attacking my baby. Poor kitty!

Jackson really loves how much he's able to move around now. He's getting frustrated that he can't walk yet, but crawling will have to do. Our whole downstairs is baby proofed, minus the cat food and water. I love that he can crawl just about anywhere and I don't worry if he'll get hurt or get into something. Currently, he's not interested in the stairs or the bathroom...but those things will change and when they do we'll have to block those off.

Jonathon called me on Monday evening and told me he got orders to...wait for it............flippin Korea. I think I'm still shocked. I'm not sure it has hit either one of us yet - but I know currently Jonathon is very excited to get base of preference when he gets home. Jackson and I will no doubt move to Colorado so that I'm not completely alone here. Where and when is undecided, but it seems like the best option. I have lots of friends with kids near Jackson's age, and with all the family around, Jackson will have so much fun. Lots of people have said that we can visit Jonathon. I'm not sure if I'll attempt that flight with a baby - but I know he should at least get a break somewhere in there. If he's able to leave, it's a quick hop to Japan or China. I guess we'll see!

So, it's time to make a plan and figure things out. It's time to jump on board with this crazy idea and make it work. I'm going to look into Skype so that Jonathon and Jackson can say their goodnights and goodmornings. I'm going to load up on paper so we can write him letters. I'll make friends with the Fort Collins post office again since I'll be back in there 2x a month sending packages. I'll make sure I have the right phone cards to send. I'll make sure to send him videos of Jackson's "newest" thing.

Jonathon and I have done this before and we can do it again. We appreciate all the support we've gotten and prayers offered! This is our newest adventure.