Another reason why I haven't posted is because there was something I couldn't really talk about yet. But now, I can tell you that......Brad ISN'T going to Afghanistan anymore! (And NO, I'm not pregnant like a lot of you thought with some of the posts that Brad and I made about this!) They cancelled the whole deployment for his squadron. We found out a mere 3 weeks before he was set to leave. (Hey, I'll take it!) It was a total shock! I was ecstatic, but it was a little bitter-sweet for Brad. Of course, he was glad that he wasn't going to be gone for 9 months. Now, he will be here to see Caroline's first steps, first birthday, etc. BUT- he has been training for the past 2 1/2 years. He didn't join the military to sit around here stateside. And an ironic part to all this: The day before we found out, we had family pictures taken. We did a lot of pictures of Brad and Caroline to have while he was gone. Oh well, they're awesome pictures and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Now, the next deployment scheduled for Brad's squadron is in 2013, and as of now, Brad's name isn't on that list. We shall see.
We spent Thanksgiving at the lake with Brad's family. It was really nice to see everyone and the weather was awesome! We were able to stay almost 2 weeks because Brad was on his pre-deployment leave (haha!)
We also did a VERY hard thing while we were there. We found a new home for our baby boy, Duke. It's a long story and it makes me very sad to talk about, so I won't go into details. BUT- we found him an AWESOME home and I feel like God placed the right people in the right place at the right time. We see pictures of him and know he is doing well (and has A LOT of room to run around!) Anyway, it is something we are still dealing with emotionally, so prayers are appreciated!
Brad's squadron had the annual Christmas party, where Santa usually flies in on a Huey, but didn't get to this year. It wasn't too big of a deal to us, but had Caroline been a little older, I'm sure it would have bothered me more. Brad participated in the "Polar Bear Plunge" AKA "crazy Marines who have no common sense..."
At least he got a t-shirt.....?
We had planned on spending our Christmas here in North Carolina because Brad was going to be leaving shortly after. As soon as we found out it was cancelled, we were looking to get to New Mexico to spend it with my family! (It had been summer since everyone but my mom had seen us/Caroline.) We had an awesome time, but it went by way too fast! It snowed while we were there, so Caroline's first Christmas was a white one! :) Here are a few pictures:
Napping with DADDY!
Loving time with my grandparents!
Snowman that Brad and Jess made
Caroline's great grandparents!
Caroline's favorite Aunts!
Gotta love the timer on the camera! ;)
Like I said, it was an awesome time and we were so glad to see everyone. We also got to do Christmas with Brad's family before we went to New Mexico. We were incredibly lucky to get the chance to see so many people over the holidays. Caroline got more toys than we know what to do with. We are now in the process of deciding if we want to set up a playroom or get some type of organization system for it all. ;)
Ever since we got back, my little angel has been going NON-STOP! She is sleeping about 7-8 hours at night and we're lucky to get her to sleep longer than an hour twice a day. (usually more like 30-45 mins.) I think she's just scared she's gonna miss something! We took her to her 9 month appointment this morning and she went from being in the 88% to 64% for weight. She's so active, all that baby fat is just falling off! She's also gotten to where she won't hardly eat off of a spoon anymore. She wants it all on her tray so she can feed herself, which means many more baths these days. ;)
Brad and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary last week. Time flies when you're having fun. :) We were going to go to dinner while some good friends kept Caroline, but she wasn't having that! Instead, we got sushi takeout and watched a movie. It actually turned out to be an awesome date! AND- Brad surprised me with a new wedding band!! I was shocked! He's so good to me. <3
I'm sure there's a lot of things I'm leaving out, but that's all I have for now. We are just working on getting back in the swing of things after all that craziness! I'll leave you with a sweet picture of Caroline and grandma from Christmas. As always, God bless you!
what a blessing!!!
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