So This is Paradise?

Oh gosh. I am panicking! I've got that feeling in my neck... the one you get when you're falling! I know it'll be okay. I've got amazing people making this journey with me and more amazing people waiting to greet us. I'm not alone in this. It's just OMG, hitting me Right. Now. We are MOVING to Japan! We are not going for holiday... we're MOVING! Have a lost my mind thinking this was a great idea?

No... it'll be okay. Can I think of a more beautiful, amazing place to have the opportunity to live? Nope! This will be such an experience for my kids. They are both sponges. I'm excited for them! What a life we've had. Aidan was born in Hawaii. We moved as far East as we could in the US after that, to Maryland, where Autumn was born. We're in California now... and we're taking another huge leap across the ocean again! Who else can say they've lived all these places? It's pretty cool, actually.

You know... maybe my big fear is that I'm never going to want to come back!

3 weeks. The countdown begins!

Of course the minute I hit submit on the last entry, the phone rings and Garrick says we're on the *new* early det. leaving on the 12th.  We shall see!  We switched with another family so they could be in the states for Christmas.  I don't really have a preference.  We'll get to see family at Thanksgiving so I'm good to go with that :).  I'll be happy to get out of here, is all.  All these random overnight shifts and the scent of cow poo in the morning are enough to drive anyone mad.  Lesson of the day: if you don't like to be jerked around, don't let your husband join the Navy.  Apparently, I like it.

Obviously, we're still here! 

We were hearing the beginning of December and now it looks like January.  Oh well... I was stressing about the December date anyway because that would mean Christmas in the lodge without our things, without the kids presents.  This will make things a little less crazy.  I'm not counting on anything that's said until things are actually scheduled again, though.  I have learned my lesson on that one!

I had a little scare with Aidan on Friday night.  He was complaining of a headache at school and by the time we got home he said the light was bothering him and he just wanted to lay down.  He kept falling asleep on me.  If you know Aidan you know that's weird behavior for him.  I took him in to urgent care.  He started throwing up while we were waiting to the see the doctor.  He said his head was hurting so bad it was making his tummy hurt too.  Broke my heart... They took blood and ran some tests.  He told the nurse he felt like a "Steamed Pepper" *That's my Aidan :)*  I was especially nervous because he just finished a 6 week round of antibiotics for Lyme disease.  Nothing came up difinitive so we were sent home with a different stronger antibiotic to try for 3 days.  If he got worse he'd have to come back in for a lumbar puncture.  If he got better we were good to go.  Thank heavens he was just fine by Saturday evening.  Last night Autumn started to run a fever.  I've never been so happy in my life to have a sick kid.  Her fever told us it was just another random virus and not Aidan's Lyme Disease in his brain.  So now, all is well!  Autumn had a fever all night and I'm going to let it run it's course.  She's sleeping now and her fever is down to 99.  Hoping she clears it as fast as Aidan did.  I've got some pretty tough kids so I'm not too worried.  My poor sick baby, though :(.  At least she has her sweet big brother to help take care of her so mommy can get some things done around the house.

I'm getting better at this hair thing.  She is SO cute.  This morning she kept saying "I, I, I" and patting her head which is what she does when she wants a hat.  I got her a hat and she said "no no no" and made me follow her to the bathroom.  Yesterday I did her hair with her sitting on the bathroom sink with the water running so she should splash her feet in the sink and see herself in the mirror.  Then she declared she was "Pitty!"  She wanted me to do her hair again! <3  I managed lopsided piggies this time.  *dies*  I thought this child could not get any more adorable and I was wrong!  Cutest. Baby. Ever.

So I think my picture issues have more to do with Bloggers photo uploader than my camera.  They seem to come out better if I load them in Photobucket and paste them.  I'll probably just do that from now on.  Using this thing for pictures feels like banging my head against the wall anyway. 

New word on the street is that we'll be here for Thanksgiving!  That was what I had secretly originally hoped anyway.  As much as I want to get the heck out of dodge it'll be nice to have one last Turkey Day down with the Arizona family before we head off.  Garrick doesn't want to come back to the states at all once we've left.  We'll see about that.  Our new date is looking like the first week of December.  Christmas in the Navy Lodge.  Awesome!

Let me see... of the 6 Christmases we have celebrated since Garrick and I got married - He was deployed for 2, I was pregnant for 2 (one of which he was also deployed during), we were in the middle of moving for 1 (which I was also pregnant during), we had the inlaws visiting for 1... I think we've had 1 normal family Christmas.  Number 7 will be spent in temporary lodging.  Oh joy of being in the military!

But you know, as much as I whine and carry on.  I think I would go insane if my life was any other way.  I get bored staying in one place for too long and the Navy has totally solved that problem for me.  Because it'll NEVER happen.  At least there's that!  Being a Navy wife is a lot of things, but it's never boring!

I'm too sleep deprived at this point to form a coherent post... but look!!! Autumn has enough hair for a little sprout on her head!!  I've been waiting for this day!  Next milestone: pigtails!

There's been a lot going on lately!  Unfortunately, no real forward movement in our move to Japan.  They keep saying "we're working on it, we're working on it" yeah yeah... I'm getting frustrated.  We've been living in this kind of limbo since July and it's grating on my nerves.  I just want to get there and be settled and feel home again.  Hopefully it'll happen this month!  I have good feelings about November!

And, I'm obviously still getting used to the settings on this camera.  I keep taking bad pictures though :(.  If anyone has any ideas on what I can tweak to reduce the noise in these shots I'd love you forever!  The blurry/pixelation is driving me crazy.  If I should try another camera let me know too, please!  I have a Sony Cyber-shot 220.  I love the camera... the shutter speed is awesome.  But I can't get it to take a good picture to save my life!

Halloween was fun!  Autumn was a bee and Aidan was a vampire.  Garrick insisted on doing Aidan's makeup and I think it made him look crazy, but they had fun with it.  Autumn was terrified, at first, of all the people dressed up in their costumes.  Once she realized she could get candy from all those crazy people she was diving into their bowls with both hands!  We only got one trick-or-treater once we got home from taking the kids.  I was the boring house handing out pretzels, so that may have something to do with it!  Haha, oh well, at least it's something I can use and won't have to throw out.  Candy and my kids just do not mix.
I have to vent about the stupid sprinklers on this base.  They always seem to come on when I'm walking Aidan to school or trying to take Autumn to the playground!  Aidan's always getting into the mud on the way home.  I walked around for a half hour the other day trying to find a playground that wasn't soaking wet!  We finally found one and I took some cute pictures of Autumn running around and being her silly little self.  Looking at the pictures I realized she's actually starting to grow hair!  Maybe my pigtail days aren't too far off!  I cannot wait until I can do something with her hair!  I'm tired of people saying what a cute boy she is, no matter how much pink I put her in!  I think she's beautiful... but whatever, people are weird!


Oh, and I thought I'd share - My favorite soup at Olive Garden is the Zuppa Tuscana so I made some with this recipe last night.  We had our own soup salad and bread sticks!

1lb turkey italian sausage links
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
4 slices turkey bacon chopped
1.5 qts water
2 Tbs chicken base
4 red potatoes halved and sliced
3 stalks Kale chopped and ribs removed
1/3 cup cream

Remove the sausage from casings and saute in a little olive oil.  Once cooked through remove from pan and set aside.  Saute onions, turkey bacon, and garlic until translucent.  Add water, chicken base, and potatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes.  Add sausage, Kale, and cream. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the sausage is heated through.

SO good and so easy!  Enjoy :)