I'm such a liar. And I'm lazy, too.

Remember, oh, about 2 months ago, when I promised and swore that I would update you THREE followers on our life? Yeah. Sorry about that. I've been trying to stay busy and I've been pretty successful.

We've had dinners with friends and taken walks. We go to Target every other day just to get out of the house. We went to Ohio for almost a month, which was... interesting. To say the least. More overwhelming and stressful than happily busy like I wanted it to be. Unfortunately this deployment landed right on top of every single holiday that holds any significance for our family. I had to fight to put on a smile for Stinky Bean's first Christmas, our wedding anniversary and then when we got back home, Bean's first birthday. It was hard, but we made it through. I can't tell you how happy I was to sit in the car with a smelly dog and a fussy baby for 36 hours, because it meant we were going home. And that's all I needed, to be among our things and have our family photos around me and sleep in the bed I share with my husband.

Now that we're back home and getting into the swing of things again I am so grateful. The day we left Ohio for the long drive back here marked the halfway point. Now its time to clean out closets and find homes for the clutter and toys we managed to collect over the last few months. Its time to order banners and paint white bedsheets to hang along fences and over the garage door. We can breathe a little more easily because he's coming home soon. One day, not too far away we'll dress in our best and go hold up signs to welcome daddy home! I can't wait. I want to cry thinking about how that day will go. I can't wait for it.

N knows who his daddy is. He walks around the house looking at all the faces in our photos and points out "dadada" to me. He absolutely lights up when he sees a picture of his daddy. We have this (slightly creepy) thing called a "daddy doll" which is basically a full body shot of a daddy (or mommy) that is cut out and printed onto a pillow-doll-thing that little ones can hold and hug and carry around. And the kid loves it. The picture my lovely husband chose was one that depicted a man who hadn't had access to showers in upwards of 3 weeks and obviously hadn't shaved in a week or two. So he looks preeeeety rough to say the least. Its cute though. I miss that man. Even when he looks like he's homeless.

So all is well for now. Except that our tiny, little baby has grown up and learned to walk and is tearing apart every single thing he can get his chubby little hands on. Which means I'm constantly cleaning up some mess. Like the bowl of cheerios he dumped on the living room floor and the contents of his dresser drawers he so thoughtfully rearranged and relocated to the living room.

At least I'll be able to stay busy through this last stretch.