One More Month

Here we are, five months down and a little more than one to go. 

On a good day, the time seems to be flying by.  On a tough day, it feels like forever until Zach comes home.  Thankfully, there are many more good days than bad.

I did seem to hit a wall about a month ago.  We had a pretty rough week and a half/two weeks.  Nothing seemed to be going right.  The girls were always arguing, wouldn't play well together, there were sleep issues, bad attitudes, bad mommy moments, you name it.  I was really struggling.  Things started to turn around thanks to a few acts of kindness from friends.  I'm not sure that they know how much a simple lunch invitation or offer to hang out meant to me.  But it really helped us get back on the right path.

We've managed to keep pretty busy since the holidays.

Emily and I try to have a lunch date with Haley at school once a month.  She loves it because it means that she gets to eat in the cafeteria with the big kids.  And that she gets a slush from Sonic :)

 

  
We also went to the rodeo.  The girls had so much fun seeing all the animals and going to the carnival.  We even got to see some barrel racing.  Haley just thought that was pretty awesome. 

Valentine's was fairly low key.  We had heart shaped donuts for breakfast, a real treat.  It was a half day for Haley, so we ended up having a lunch date at a restaurant.  They got to wear their fancy dresses and got quite a few compliments.

 

There have even been a few pajama days.  Haley requests these often.  They usually consist of crafts, movies, picnics, and whatever else we can come up with.

I've also managed to sneak away a few times to enjoy some grown up time.  It's been wonderful to step away from mommy duties for a few days and come back refreshed.  I am so thankful to family for offering to watch my babies for me.

 

Zach is still doing well.  He moved locations about a month ago and will head back to where he was before too long.  His job isn't too demanding, so he has been able to continue to take classes while deployed.  We talk almost every day and the girls get to Skype once or twice a week.  Hopefully we'll have a concrete coming home date in the next two or three weeks.  But, it's the military and anything is subject to change at any moment.

There is one thing we do know for sure- we are all ready to be back together again.  We are beginning to see the light at the end of this tunnel.