Since I can remember I've been keeping journals. As life got busier the entry's became less frequent. I've been searching for a way to get back involved, especially since my kids give me plenty to write about. My husband ask questions all the time about his childhood and everyone always responds," I don't Matt, that was __ years ago." I love listening to all the mischief that my mom and her brother got into as a child and could listen to those stories over and over again. So this is my way of keeping in touch. In touch with the beginning of my children's lives and my adventure into motherhood.
So, I wish that I would've started this when my oldest was first born since there are so many stories between then and now. "There's no time like the present." I'll start this first blog with a rundown of life as I know it. It should be easier to follow if you have the background information.....
Matt (my husband) and I met at Shaw AFB SC. After a few months of dating we knew it was meant to be. We found out we were expecting a "love child" so we rushed to the alter. Five years later we're so glad that we did! The first baby was a miscarriage and we quickly realized how badly we really wanted a family together, planned well or not. After Matt returned from a 7 months deployment to Kuwait we wasted no time. Vincent Michael was born on December 30th , 2006. Vincent is reserved, soft spoken, and a gentle soul. We bought a house and Matt left for Iraq. Two days into his deployment we learned that the family would be growing shortly. Matt returned and a few weeks later (December 5th, 2008) Benjamin James entered the world. My little Benji, you can see the wheels turning when you look into his eyes, he searched high and low for an adventure. He's rough, tough, and all boy. He was born with a stork bite on his forehead that resembles a permanent bruise. God must've thought he could save himself some time that way. Matt went from being a "straight leg" to a K-9 handler. From this he received orders to Washington. Right away we decided the family was complete and it was time for permanent birth control. He had a vasectomy. The doctors since have told me that they see at least 4 women a season that are surprised after the procedure. We had our daughter, Maci Lynn on June 15th 2010. NOW our family is complete.
Matt now has orders to Afghanistan and will leave in just a few days. We dread this day, but it's part off the job. I remember the very first deployment, it was lonely and hard, but I didn't have the pain of seeing my children urn for their father. The second deployment was harder with Vincent at my side and Ben in my belly, but there was no questions yet. Vincent's now old enough to understand which makes it harder to cope. I'm so glad to have them through all this because each of them is so much like their father it's like keeping him close to me. I'm not sure how it's going to be raising the kids alone, but I'm up for the challenge.
