He is home!

It's a been a few days since I have stopped to write anything, but there certainly has not been a shortage of things going on around here! 

The greatest news is that my lovely husband came home on Wednesday night, the 29th from a 6 month deployment! He arrived home from South America around 9:40pm after a full day of plane hopping from down South. Fortunately, I was able to have a friend come and sit at my house while the kids slept so I could go pick him up when he got off the bus. It was so wonderful to finally see him and give him a  great big hug :-) Of course he couldn't wait to go peek in at the kids while they slept. Little D was just 15 days old when he left and now at 6 months old and 18lbs, he is quite a different baby! Unfortunately, I would not let him pick either one of the kids up and run the risk of waking them up, haha. So, in the morning when C stumbled in my room at 7:00 as she normally does, I whispered, "come here, I have a surprise for you..." She rubbed her eyes as she came over and I picked her up and lifted her over my body so she could see her dad on the other side of the bed..."DADDY!!!" and a  great big bear hug followed. She was immediately wide-eyed and bushy tailed! She was so excited to see him and even though I had told her plenty of times he was coming home, it didn't really sink in until she saw him. 

Little D on the other hand didn't have quite the same reaction. When B walked in there to go get him out of his crib, D just stared at him. He wasn't afraid and didn't cry or anything - just stared at him long and hard, haha. Even when B picked him up, D moved his head back so he could get a better look at him - so funny. Fortunately, D wasn't afraid and went right to him from then on without any problems. He is such a happy and easy going baby!

It has been fun getting readjusted as a family of 4 again. C doesn't want to let B out of her sight...she cried when he had to go into work that morning (no, the Army couldn't give him even ONE day off after being away for 6 months! Too much to do I suppose) and every time he walks out of the room, she asks, "where's my daddy?" He has had to explain every time he leaves for work - which is every couple of hours since he gets to come home for breakfast and lunch - that he is coming back TODAY, haha. Poor little girl just doesn't understand. We went out to her favorite place, Texas Roadhouse of course, last night and C had to sit on his lap the whole time. :-)

Obviously, I have had a wonderful time having some help around the house and having someone to talk to after the kids go to bed. And, I even got to go to the commissary (the on-post grocery store) last night by myself...it was wonderfully relaxing! 

Overall, it has been amazing having him back home. I am currently doing the second of what will probably be about 10 of his loads of laundry, but I don't really mind. I also don't really mind seeing his clothes on the floor in our room and smelling the smell of his ACUs (his uniform) when he comes home after working all day - always smells like dust for some reason, haha.  Sometimes the things that can seem "annoying" can really be comforting after their prolonged absence. Sure, they may get old after a while again, but I will have to remember that he will likely deploy again in the Fall and  I will miss those things that only he does :-) For now, I will do his laundry and pick up his shoes...and use his toothpaste that is written in all spanish (SO COOL!).

Oh, and in these pics, D is in his very first CLOTH diaper. I decided I wanted to try it, so I ordered 2 diapers to see how I like them. I will write a post later about why I wanted to do this and how it is going...but for now, check out how adorable he is and how cool the diaper is! It is not your mama's cloth diaper...they are WAY cooler nowadays!