Oh the life of the military.

I was born into the military. My dad had been in for a few years when I was born, and I spent 19 years of my life as an Army brat. I was blessed to only have moved twice during that time, and that my dad was never deployed. Sure, he was gone a lot because of his MOS, but he was still around. After the Army, he worked at my old school until he got his current position.

Right before my last semester of college, my dad got sent overseas for a year. During that time, I found out I was pregnant, graduated from college, got my first big kid job and had JJ. For the first time in my life, I felt like my dad missed out on so much. Of course, pictures and technology allowed for him to be there more than I ever thought he would, but still. It wasn't the same. Soon, he'll be leaving again, and I can feel the dread building again. J and I want to try to get pregnant again, JJ will turn 2 in December, we may be moving away due to the Air Force...I feel like all the major things that could take my life in a different direction will probably happen while he's gone again. I know that he's doing what he loves, and I support him 100 percent...but it still makes me sad. I just try to keep thinking that one day closer to when he leaves is one day closer to him being home again.

J had Warrior Week this past week - he graduates in less than two weeks now! I've been surprised at how much communication I've had with him since he's been gone. He's gotten to call the past three Sundays, and I've gotten four letters from him while he's been gone. He's gotten all the letters and pictures I've sent him, too. I was expecting to only hear from him one or two times while he was gone, so this whole process has been much easier than I thought it would be. Yeah, I still miss him (a lot), but being able to get letters from him and hear his voice once a week has made it easier. The only bad thing is that he generally calls while JJ's napping, so he's gotten to talk to me but not to our little boy. I'm hoping that if he gets to call later today, he'll be able to talk to JJ - finally.

I'm so anxious and excited about graduation that it's all I think about. Eight long weeks apart are finally drawing to a close...I can honestly hardly believe it. He left at the end of April, and we're already at the middle of June. So, not only has time absolutely flown, but we're already almost halfway through the year. Absolute craziness. I know in the grand scheme of the military life, eight weeks probably isn't a long time - but it's the longest I've EVER gone without seeing J. It's new to me.

My mom wasn't kidding. The military way of life is way different when you're a child and when you're a spouse. When you're the kid, you don't really have any worries or can grasp just what everything means. But now that I'm a future Airman's wife...my entire prospective on things has changed. I feel like I have so much to learn about the Air Force, but I'm not really quite sure where to begin. All I know is, I'll miss my dad a lot once he leaves, but I know he'll come home. And I miss my husband a lot, but we're in the home stretch. I can't put into words just how proud of him I am...but I'm hoping that I'll find some way to show him when I get to see him.

Oh the life of the military. It's fast approaching...

It's all coming together.

The past couple of years have been a little rocky for me and J. Relationship-wise, we were doing OK, but we were struggling to make our married parenthood life work. I mean, when you go from engaged to married with an infant in the span of mere months, things change and move very quickly. Yes, we talked about the dreaded "D" word - but at the end of the day, I love him. I really, really love him. We stuck it out and are doing so much better now.

Now, it's time to balance our lives from the days when JJ was little and money was tight. We're not up in our eyeballs in debt, but I would feel better if we could get the balances down. We are slowly, but surely, getting there - I was able to add to no. 29, which was to pay off another credit card. I've been working on this card for months and had the money saved to pay it off. Every small victory counts, right?

J got to call me on Sunday...it was so good to hear his voice. I miss him and am anxiously counting the days until I get to hop in the rental and head to San Antonio for his graduation. I knew that getting through eight weeks of little contact would be hard, but the last week's been harder than it was at first. I think it's because I can actually count in my head the number of days until I get to see him again, and I'm anxious and excited. He sounds like he's in the right spot and enjoying what he's doing down there - I'm so proud of my future Airman. We should get orders next week, which makes me a little nervous...but I'm ready.

I joined the iPhone world this weekend. I thought I would NEVER say that, but it's true. I ditched the Blackberry, got an iPhone 3GS, and I.love.it. How did I go this long without it?! How did I resist its awesomeness?! I don't think I'll be able to go back after this, honestly. I already have more than two pages of apps, and it's SO easy to use. I've even gotten used to typing on a touchscreen, and I bought it Saturday. I think J's going to get the iPhone 4G that was announced today, but I don't care. I'm happy with what I got. He can have the new fancy phone. :) I think my phone cover will be here by the end of the week, which is awesome. It makes me nervous to not have a phone cover right now since I'm not the best person with phones. At one point in my life, I replaced five phones in a year. Yeah. I need a phone cover.

J and I also joined the Wii world. I didn't want to tell him, but I told him on Sunday when he called. He's excited, I'm excited, and it's about time we got our own Wii. We even got the new black one, which he was REALLY stoked about (of course - he loves having the latest stuff). I think it'll be here at the end of the week. I guess it's time to start looking for games...and asking my parents if we can "borrow" Rock Band...

So, our lives are all coming together. Our son is growing before our eyes, and I think words are FINALLY starting to come to him. J's graduation is mere days away, I think we're doing family portraits this fall...I just feel so content with my life right now. A year ago, I couldn't have said the same thing. I mean, I was happy, but I was stressed. Worried. Not the person I am now. But now that things are coming together and I'm realizing just how great I have it...I'm happy. I'm content. And I'm blessed.

As an endnote: I can also add to no. 60. I finished "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin on Saturday. I couldn't freaking put the book down. It was SO good! I'm going to find "Something Blue" and start reading that soon, and I'll probably re-read "Love the One You're With." I also donated another $10 to ACS through a friend's Relay for Life campaign. I just wish I could be the one to use the restaurant card instead of my sister. :P

Time to update!

I've been putting this blog post off because I just haven't had the time to sit down and update. But now, I'm forcing myself to update - especially since I finally brought my Project 365 blog up-to-date. :)

So. It's June 2nd. Um, where has the year gone?! I know I say that a lot, but I really do mean it. This year just seems to be flying by, lemme tell ya. That's fine with me, because my favorite season is fast approaching (fall/winter)...but now, summer's unofficially here, and I'm so thrilled! I'm not thrilled about the hot temps, but I'll get used to it.

I do have a couple of updates. My sister and I met some friends at a new restaurant on Friday, Cafe do Brasil. I've never had Brazilian food, so I was pretty excited about it (and, it was payday, so it was time to have some fun). I had this garlic chicken, greens, a special mix the make with beans and some other stuff...I also had two mixed drinks, and the whole dinner was DELISH.

Good food, awesome convo, new friends made, photo shoot in the bathrooms with the creepy mural people...it was a FUN night. Cap it off with drinks/dessert at Red Prime Steakhouse and dancing at Skyy Bar (where we got in free!), and it was a really fun night. I needed it.

We're almost three weeks out of J's graduation, and I am SO excited. He called me on Memorial Day and called last week. The more days that go by, the more I miss him - and the more excited I get that we're more than halfway through basic. We should find out our duty station soon, so we'll see what happens after that. I'm really hoping we get to stay close, but we'll see. We'll go where the Air Force takes us. I'm so proud of him - he sounds like he's in right spot and working hard. I can't wait to see him.

I have so many thoughts running through my mind and so many things that have happened, but I'm too tired to recount them. Let's see...enrollment started at work for the new freshmen. It's been fun, but exhausting. I'm getting better at this whole making dinner thing, I'm now a coupon diva that doesn't go anywhere without my coupon bag (I took a pic of it and put it on my Project 365 blog), I love having the ability to go to the Commissary again (i went on post three times last weekend just because i could)...things are going well right now. I love it!

Summer's in full swing, which means the BBQs, the vacations and the hot weather have settled in. I'm hoping to hit the water park soon and maybe have a dinner party - but we'll see how things go. Right now, I'm honestly focused on making it to the end of June, when I get to see J again. Did I mention that I miss him tons?

Hope everyone had a great, safe holiday weekend! Hellllllllo summer!