Sweet Home Alabama

Well we are settling into our home in Alabama. Shawn will be here Thursday with the rest of our stuff and I'm anxious to get unloaded, set up and purged of all our stuff we have too much of :). Amazing how moving so often you realize you have a lot of stuff you could do without. But also keep in mind that with each move comes different windows that require different curtains, bathrooms, etc.


Our home in Florence is nice just not what we have been used to in the past. We went from Ft. Bragg (very Hooah Military Town) to Ft. Gordon (semi Hooah Military town) to Florence, AL...no military base for at least 1 1/2 hrs and it's not a big one. I miss our life in NC and my friends I made there. i guess it will always be special to me b/c I "found" myself there working as a social worker and becoming a first time mom. It is where we started our "grown-up" life together as husband and wife. i know we'll be back soon enough b/c Shawn loves the 82nd Airborne Division....minus deployments :). But we know that they are part of it and we will have many more in the next 13 years of military life. My biggest fear is how the boys will react w/o daddy there. James asks about him when he is just gone over night.

James is settling in pretty good. Regardless how he acts during the day he always brings a smile to my face with just a kiss, hug or "I love you". He is truly a smart kid and we are blessed to have a smart, healthy big boy. We live close to an awesome park that has ponds for him to see turtles and fish so he loves it. He asks everyday to go fishing with daddy so I am sure that will be first on agenda when Shawn returns back here. He is a smart kid...sometimes too smart :). He test me daily and I just pray that God give me the ability to parent out of love and nurture and not anger. I hate spanking and he knows it but I do it b/c I don't want him out of control. I hate the phrase that people use "he's just being a boy". I do believe boys are much more active but doesn't mean they have to be disrespectful or have excuses to not listen. Parenting is amazing and filled with so many joys but it is the hardest job i'll ever love :).

We'll be here for about 2 years so we hope to make as many memories together as a family while Shawn is here with us. We definitely have lost a lot of money waiting for our house to do someting in NC so we'll have to be frugal but I think we can do it!! I see the 15 months he missed with James and want to ensure we do as much as possible now. Kids grow and change so fast. James will have his 3rd bday in November and it is crazy how fast it has gone by.

I hope to get involved in church and other social activities outside of just being a mommy. I feel I need a life outside of it or it will consume me. I am going to look into part-time work possibly once Ethan is older. But for now I'm gonna enjoy my boys.