Max & Kaylee

we are home! in MN! woot! we left charlotte on monday morning and made it to MN on tuesday evening. we made an overnight stop in indianapolis again, to stay with our relatives. the drive was pretty decent. only had one big slowdown and other than that, it went well. i was again reminded of how not baby-friendly traveling can be. L was an absolute trooper and slept/played most of the time. only had a couple crying fits, but nothing unbearable - seriously, she was in the car for 12 hours on two days and only cried like an hour total. that's good, in my opinion! the reason i feel traveling is not always baby-friendly, is that i can never seem to find baby changing stations in any of the restrooms at the gas stations we choose. we must choose the stupid ones or something. so i always end up changing her in the car before i feed her in the car. oh well.

it's really good to be home. to sleep in my own bed. and to put L to sleep in her crib! i do miss my aunt and uncle, and the slightly warmer weather, but i did miss MN and am very glad to be back. we've been adjusting to the time again. poor L has had a hard time of it and always wants to go to sleep at 600pm! we try to stretch her out to 700pm! mostly so that she sleeps until 700am and i can get an extra hour of sleep!! i've also spent a good portion of the week unpacking and re-organizing all of our stuff. we have a bunch of stuff that we need to store - a couple packed bags of max's civilian clothes and un-needed gear. the basement is still a mess with all of our stuff strewn about. but i have good motivation to get it done....i got a new kitchenaid stand mixer for christmas (thanks kyle!!) and i told myself that i can't use it until i got things more organized and put away!!!

max made it to afghanistan this week. i was able to talk to him a few times on the phone while he was on his way. and i have gotten a few messages from him, letting me know he is there and getting acclimated. he seems to be doing well, figuring things out over there and getting used to the country, the climate and the schedule.

L had her 4-month check at the dr this week. she is at 13.0 lbs (in the 30% percentile for her age) and is 25 1/2 inches long (in the 85% percentile for her age). she is doing really well. developing and growing right where she should be. she was great at her appointment, happy as can be. and then they gave her the shots. the dreaded shots :) and she screamed, of course! oh babies and getting shots. you always feel so bad when they scream so much and yet you know that shots are good for them and aren't the end of the world!

there are a few pics from when we were leaving north carolina. and then there a few from yesterday. enjoy!

with her great-great-aunt kathy and great-great-uncle david!

maxwell left yesterday morning, early early! we had to be on base at 0200 (that's 2am in the morning!). hung out with him until 0330, then he loaded on the bus and they rolled out around 0420. we got L in her carseat and she slept until we got to base. but i think it was much too busy for her, so she woke up, was giggly and played for about an hour. then fell asleep super hard. she did really well and slept in with me that morning, which was great, as i had to drive back to charlotte that afternoon.

earlier this week, we didn't do anything too crazy. maxwell got a new tattoo. i'll have to post a pic of that soon. it's one he's wanted for quite awhile...the hebrew characters for YHWH, or 'I AM WHO I AM". it's pretty awesome and wraps around his torso. he had to work a few days, but other than that, we finished our harry potter marathon, hung out together, played with L and got things ready for him to go. it was hard saying goodbye - it didn't feel real. i think i have gotten so used to seeing him on weekends and having to say goodbye every sunday, that it didn't quite hit me that this goodbye was a lot different. he was ready to go and excited to be doing what he's been training to do, although definitely sad to be leaving us.

he will be in afghanistan within the next week and they will start getting acclimated to the country before moving to their assignment location. if anyone wants his address, i can pass it along. i know he would love letters, packages or any other form of encouragement! my dad flies into charlotte on sunday and then he, myself and L are going to drive back to MN on monday and tuesday. i am excited to get back to MN, to be home, to sleep in my own bed and see family and friends. the only thing i am not looking forward to is the colder weather! i have been spoiled by this nice, often sunny and warm weather!!! oh well - nothing huge! i have some new photos from the morning max left. enjoy!

last family photo for awhile.

after a bath. look at her hair coming in :)

the weekend flew by. and i was a slacker and didn't take any pictures. i will have to make up for that this week and post some new pics of little L. she has been wearing some new outfits from her bibi and her great-gma, so i best be getting some pics of those up :) saturday, great-aunt kathy took me to get a manicure and pedicure...it was fun to get out and have a little female pampering time! that meant that max had L all to himself again, and although she slept most of the time, i think he enjoyed having that responsibility! then we all went out for brunch and did some shopping in the afternoon. it was a nice day and we enjoyed each other's company. saturday evening, max and i left ms. L with great-aunt kathy and great-uncle david, while we went out to dinner. it was awesome to get out just the two of us. and great-aunt kathy had a fun time taking care of L (of course, L had to give her a run for her money!!!). today, we went to church (L was such a good girl again...she loves the music and also likes to watch the pastor preaching on the big screen, so she sits really still and normally falls asleep!), grabbed coffee and hung out. max had to leave a little early today to get back in time to finish his packing up.

it was fairly good weekend, minus the fact that reality about max' deployment did set in. i have this strange tendency to get a little crabby when i know a big change is going to happen, so i was struggling with being patient, kind and enthusiastic. it's hard, because i don't want to waste any of my time with him. and yet, time goes so stinkin fast. so my goal for the next week/weekend is to really embrace every minute that we have together, to take it all in and be in the moment. to not worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow has enough worries of it's own. but to truly be present, to make lots of memories and to set my eyes on jesus. because only through His strength am i ever going to be able to get through this.

this week, L and i have a bunch of stuff to get done for max before he leaves. and on wednesday afternoon, we will be going to jacksonville to stay with max for the weekend, as he gets a big part of thursday and friday off and we want to be able to spent that time with him. i have his deployment address and he would always love care packages or mail, so if anyone wants it -- call, email or text me for it! and i work on taking new photos, i promise!

we haven't been up to much. last weekend max got a little bit of a cold...headache, congested -- and he was kind enough to give it to L and i as his gift, lol. so a few days this week, i didn't feel so hot, had zero motivation and just did not want to exert any effort in going out. L even had a bit of runny nose...although i am glad that is the extent to which it affected her! we are doing and feeling much better, albeit a little stir-crazy. and i woke up today, all ready to go out and do something...but alas, it was raining so hard that my desire to step a foot outside quickly vanished. so we've been hanging around the house.

i have no new pictures yet, as we haven't done much of anything this week. but i am sure there will be a bunch taken this weekend. and i'm even going to work on taking a few videos and posting them on here. it would be fun to show off L laughing...it's so fun and contagious! hopefully she'll let me catch it on video!

we don't have too much planned this weekend. max has to have all of his gear packed by the beginning of next week, so we may have a few last minute items to pick up. and we'll hopefully make it to church on sunday morning. otherwise, i am hoping we can just enjoy our time together...only two more weekends left...and then it'll be time to say goodbye for a lot longer than a week. i did find out some sweet news. because he will be gone for at least a year, he gets two weeks R&R (rest and relaxation) sometime during his deployment. he can go anywhere for that two weeks...which means we're going to find a way that we can see each other. whether that means he comes home to MN or if i go to meet him somewhere crazy. part of it depends on L...i am sure he'll want to see her, so it would make more sense for him to come home. but at the same time, we want it to be a relaxing time for him...and normally when he is home, life is crazy, running all over the place to see family and friends. which is understandable and i know people are going to want to see him. so it's just trying to figure out the best plan for all involved :) but it is such great news...as that means that it won't be a whole entire year or more that we won't see each other. half a year is so much more doable in my mind than a year! woot!

anyways, nothing else too new and exciting here. i'll work on photos and videos for early next week!