Confession:
Marley hasn't gotten shots since her one year well baby exam.
I didn't plan it that way. I didn't conciously decide not to vaccinate her. It just never happened. When we went to the next appointment where she would have gotten shots, she had a cold so she couldn't get them. Then our insurance was switching. Then I didn't know who I could go to. Then we lost her shot record. Then we moved and I didn't know where to go again. Then our old doctor took 6 weeks to send her records here. Then the doctor's phone wasn't working. Then we were in Nacogdoches and couldn't get them done.
Anyway, one excuse after another and here we are a year behind on her shots.
But today I made huge progress and actually got her two vaccinations! How it works for us is that we have to go to our off-post assigned doctor for the appointment and then they make a sort of prescription for the shots she needs. We then take that prescription to the immunization clinic on post and get her shots. Her prescription was for five different shots, but we are only going to get two at a time.
Today, she got the MMR and Variccela vaccines. She was a much better sport that I thought she would be. She only cried for about a minute until the nurse gave her two bracelets and a lollipop. My Marley knows what she likes and quickly smiled about the candy! She hated the cartoon character band aids that the nurse put on her and insisted on putting them on my arms. Which was fine, I love sporting Tasmanian Devil band aids!
So, in two or three weeks we will go back and continue on our list of shots. I think was a bigger deal for me than it was for her! I still hate it just as much. It's hard to watch her unsuspecting face go from smiling to screaming in half a second! Hopefully this gets even easier each time we go, instead of getting harder! That would be nice!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
A Happy Third Birthday
On Saturday afternoon, we went to Ainsley's third birthday party! Marley was a little nervous when we got there. But, much to my surprise, she warmed back up to the girls quickly! She would even walk over to the playground with Abby or Ainsley and play over there without me. This may sound like a normal kid thing to you, but that is very out of character for Marley. Normally, I need to be within 5 feet of her at all times or she just can't have fun. But I am so thankful she was independent!
Ainsley says that Marley is her best friend. If Marley could say Ainsley, I'm sure she would agree! She followed her around, tried to copy what she did, and even held hands with her!
They were so so cute!
All the kids had fun playing together, and I had fun getting to talk to some other adults! I really hope we get to spend more time with the Bollins, because we all get along so well!
Ainsley says that Marley is her best friend. If Marley could say Ainsley, I'm sure she would agree! She followed her around, tried to copy what she did, and even held hands with her!
They were so so cute!
All the kids had fun playing together, and I had fun getting to talk to some other adults! I really hope we get to spend more time with the Bollins, because we all get along so well!
Sunday Geocaching
We did some family geocaching on Sunday! The weather has slowly been getting a little warmer every day, so it wasn't quite as "autumn-y" as I would have liked, but we still had fun! Marley was our navigator:
And we even had to take our shoes off and cross a creek! The water was freezing!
All along the path were little neighborhoods of butterflies. They were so wrapped up in what they were doing, that Marley could walk right up to them and see them up-close! Unfortunately, a few butterflies lost their lives under Marley's feet, but they will be remembered fondly I'm sure.
I was actually the one to find the geocache, which is very exciting! And we are very thankful to whoever left this little key chain in the geocache, because Marley loved it!
But after the long walk (about a mile), Marley was tired and could barely hold her head up.
And we stopped to take a family picture on our way back across the creek. We are smiling in this picture, but our feet are freezing!
And we even had to take our shoes off and cross a creek! The water was freezing!
All along the path were little neighborhoods of butterflies. They were so wrapped up in what they were doing, that Marley could walk right up to them and see them up-close! Unfortunately, a few butterflies lost their lives under Marley's feet, but they will be remembered fondly I'm sure.
I was actually the one to find the geocache, which is very exciting! And we are very thankful to whoever left this little key chain in the geocache, because Marley loved it!
But after the long walk (about a mile), Marley was tired and could barely hold her head up.
And we stopped to take a family picture on our way back across the creek. We are smiling in this picture, but our feet are freezing!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Family Time
We have a new evening activity to do as a family! 
It feels so good to be back on my bicycle, something that I haven't done since I got pregnant with Marley! We bought a bike trailer for Marley to ride in a few months ago, but this was our first time to ride all together. And we all had a blast! It felt so great to be riding fast down the troop trail and listening to Marley laugh along the way.
Asa came home the other day and told me that he is leaving for JRTC in Louisiana on October 23rd. Not only is that 10 days sooner than we thought, but it also means we will not be together for our first wedding anniversary. Or our second next year. I guess that's just something you get used to as an Army wife.
So, we when I sat down and started looking at what the next 5 months will be like, I was overwhelmed. We are together until October 23rd. From October 23rd until November 22nd, Asa will be in Louisiana and I will be in Nacogdoches. Then we have a few weeks together until December 19th when we travel home for Christmas and Asa's block leave. And then we have January together, and he deploys sometime after that.
It really hurts to think about it. It's really starting to hit me hard. What will it be like? How do I even comprehend how long that year will feel? How will Marley handle it? What will she think about him when he gets back? How often will we get to talk to him? What will it be like when we see each other again? What will I do when I just fall apart one day? How do I put myself back together?
I know I can't spend the time that he is here with us stressing about him leaving, otherwise our time together would be wasted. So, we have to stay as happy and as strong as we can. We have to enjoy every day that we do have together and make memories that mean the world to us. We have to spend our evenings going on bike rides, taking Marley to the park, going geocaching, and grilling in the backyard. Whatever we can do to spend time together and soak it all in. It will go by so much quicker than we want it to.
So, for the next 5 months, it's all about family time.
It feels so good to be back on my bicycle, something that I haven't done since I got pregnant with Marley! We bought a bike trailer for Marley to ride in a few months ago, but this was our first time to ride all together. And we all had a blast! It felt so great to be riding fast down the troop trail and listening to Marley laugh along the way. 
Asa came home the other day and told me that he is leaving for JRTC in Louisiana on October 23rd. Not only is that 10 days sooner than we thought, but it also means we will not be together for our first wedding anniversary. Or our second next year. I guess that's just something you get used to as an Army wife. So, we when I sat down and started looking at what the next 5 months will be like, I was overwhelmed. We are together until October 23rd. From October 23rd until November 22nd, Asa will be in Louisiana and I will be in Nacogdoches. Then we have a few weeks together until December 19th when we travel home for Christmas and Asa's block leave. And then we have January together, and he deploys sometime after that.
It really hurts to think about it. It's really starting to hit me hard. What will it be like? How do I even comprehend how long that year will feel? How will Marley handle it? What will she think about him when he gets back? How often will we get to talk to him? What will it be like when we see each other again? What will I do when I just fall apart one day? How do I put myself back together?
I know I can't spend the time that he is here with us stressing about him leaving, otherwise our time together would be wasted. So, we have to stay as happy and as strong as we can. We have to enjoy every day that we do have together and make memories that mean the world to us. We have to spend our evenings going on bike rides, taking Marley to the park, going geocaching, and grilling in the backyard. Whatever we can do to spend time together and soak it all in. It will go by so much quicker than we want it to.
So, for the next 5 months, it's all about family time.
Fall Feelings
I've always thought that my favorite season was summer. Summer brings longer, sunnier days, swimming, grilling, and more free time for Asa. But when I got back from Texas, there was a chill in the air and I got so excited! That feeling of the autumn breeze and the brightly colored trees and cozy layers of clothing has me so happy! It reminds me of camping, going on picnics, getting married, my birthday, Thanksgiving, and cool weather clothes!
Marley feels it too!
Picnic at the spring
Emily V. is in town to visit us, so we decided to do something fun today. We packed up a picnic lunch and drove to a beautiful spring here on post. It was a little bit of a walk to get to the spring, and on the way we saw a bald eagle! He is sitting on the curving branch across the water. You can barely see him, but he's there and he's huge!
Marley took her sweet time on the way out there and smelled some pretty flowers along the way.
When we got to the spring, we all couldn't believe how beautiful it was! And the water was so clear!
We ate our lunch at a picnic table by the water and then walked down to where the spring hits the river.
Asa showed Marley all the fish he could see. There was a woman trying to catch a 2 foot trout, and the water was so clear that we could all see him teasing her inches away from her line.
Marley didn't want her picture taken today!
And she insisted on taking her shoes off!
It was a beautiful area, and I definitely want to go back sometime! It will be even more gorgeous down there when the leaves start changing colors and fall is in full swing.
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