Kids and Technology

Kaity's conversations with me are so random and out of the blue. She has a crazy good memory and will remember things, people, and situations from more than a year ago and something will trigger something in her little brain and poof, out comes something we have totally forgotten about. It has probably been about 6 months since we last Skyped anyone due to some computer issues, but we use Skype to talk to our friends overseas and some friends in the states as well. Kaity has only Skyped with people a handful of times, my mom and dad, my sister, and her good friends Morgan and Ryleigh. She loves it because she can see them and hear them. It is a great way for us to keep in touch with others in this transient lifestyle we have.

Bill is getting ready to come home from work (he had the 24 hour shift) and I was talking to him on my cell phone. When I hung up Kaity said she wanted to talk to him. I told her he would be home soon and she could see him then (I knew he didn't have time for me to call back as they were getting ready for the shift change). As couple of minutes passed and then she said..."When Daddy goes to the desert we can Skype him." Very matter of fact.

When we first moved to SC about 18 months ago (Kaity was about two and a half), she would walk over to the computer and ask to call someone. I get a kick out of the fact that our kids have such a grasp on technology and it is such a part of their daily lives. Especially since computers were little more than word processors when we were their age. I know my grandarents are laughing as they read this, especially since Kaity may one up them in computer skills next year. :)

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn…
Kaity is turning into such an awesome little girl. Everything baby about her is gone and she has her own ideas about everything, from what she wants to do, what she wants to wear, and the things that she comes up with crack us up several times a day. Our recent favorite came out of the blue one evening while we were hanging out in her room. This is how the very brief conversation went.
Kaity: I make all of the decisions in this house when the decisions are about me. (Said with all the sass of a teenager)
Mommy: Really? (trying really hard not to giggle and to keep from smiling)
Kaity: Yes. Well, sometimes.
I left the room pretty much right after because I couldn’t keep a straight face. I then grabbed the phone and shut myself in the closet to relay the story to a friend (I tried to call Bill, but he was alert and couldn’t answer). I had to tell someone.
She is such a wonderful big sister. She adores her little bro and is so incredibly sweet with him. He is taking a few steps here and there and he starts towards her and falls into her outstretched arms in a fit of giggles. The way she coaxes him to walk melts my heart. There is so much love in her voice when she talks to him.
Kaity took gymnastics and dance for the first time this summer and her favorite is dance. She told me that she is better at dance than at gymnastics. After watching the Olympics, she performs in the living room for us. It’s pretty cute. Not very good, but very cute.

Ryan

Ryan…
First off, the boy can’t walk, but he sure can climb! So far I have caught him in Kaity’s bed, on the couch climbing onto the end table, and standing on his rocking airplane climbing to the other end table. As any good mother with a camera nearby, I snapped a few pictures before scolding the monkey in him. When he climbs up into Kaity’s bed, he calls for us until we come looking for him and when we walk into her room he is so proud of himself and is always sporting the cutest “look what I did” look.
I am always on my toes with this one. The super chill baby he once was is a very faint memory, as now he never just chills. He is super active and crazy busy…always into everything. We were ready for the busy as Kaity was a busy baby, but she was awesome about leaving things alone when asked. Ryan interprets “no touching” as a challenge to see how many times he can touch it before we finally just move it. I do have to say though, for as busy and challenging as he can prove to be at times, he is the sweetest, most loving little boy. He always has a kiss and hug for anyone who wants one and will stop playing just to crawl over and love on you for a quick second before going back to whatever he was doing. He is a pleasure to be around and brings us so much joy.

The Story of an Early Assignment

So, here is the crazy story of how our life took an unexpected turn. Bill was TDY (stand for Temporary Duty, but means on a trip) to Alaska when he got a message to call the boss immediately (never good). He was then told that he was to report no later than a specific date in January to Kunsan, Korea for a year long remote. I know, you guys are thinking that we just got to SC, how can he be up for reassignment? We were wondering the same thing. Turns out when you are on station for two years (it was less than a year and a half at the time we found out, but will be two years the end of January which is what they count), you are vulnerable to move. Having never been on a remote, he was red hot to go one and because they didn’t have enough volunteers for Kunsan (why would they, it sucks to live there and be away from your family for a year) he got non-volunteered. Needless to say, we were shocked. No one was expecting this. Even his commanders were saying, “but Kelso isn’t even on the VML (vulnerable to move list). “ Everyone has been really great about the whole thing. Everyone who could fight for him fought to get the assignment changed, at the very least to Osan, Korea where at least the kids and I could go with him and live off the economy if he couldn’t get us sponsored. Everyone who couldn’t fight for us, was pissed for us. Bill has been a huge asset to the squadron and no one wants to see him go before his time at Shaw is up. Unfortunately, this was all to no avail and things are to remain as they were handed to him. The worst part of being blind-sided the way we were is that we were four time zones away from each other and we weren’t able to be together during the most stressful time of our married life so far. Which will be quickly trumped by the deployment/remote that is rapidly approaching.
We take solace in the fact that the Good Lord has a plan for our family and we know that His plan is a great one. This situation still sucks though! As far as our plans as a family, we have been back and forth (more than a few times) about what we should do and have decided to get the house ready to sell and put it on the market in the very near future. We have been in our house less than 18 months and are very worried about not being able to sell it and also about having to take out a loan to pay off our mortgage if it does sell. So, we are going to list it with MilitaryByOwner.com and try to sell it on our own. If it sells, we will move home and if it doesn’t we will stay where we are. This was we can just sit back and let God work instead of second (and third and fourth) guessing our choices. If it hasn’t sold by September of next year we will hire an agent and go from there. Please pray that it sells!
I have a great support system here with the squadron and my friends here are awesome, so I am not too worried about us without Bill. I am honestly more worried about him without us. As hard as being a single mom will be on me with no breaks and all of the household and parenting responsibilities, I know that this year or so will be much harder on Bill being away from me and missing being a daddy in the daily lives of our children. They will both grow so much while he is gone. He will miss many milestones in their lives like sending Kaitlyn off to her first day of kindergarten, her first dance recital, and a year’s worth of holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. I think the hardest thing will be that he will leave a baby who is barely walking and barely talking and come home to a little boy who will be running circles around him and speaking in sentences. Bill is also supposed to deploy this fall with his squadron and we are still waiting to hear if that is going to happen. If he goes, he will leave in a few weeks and be one for a few months before the remote. Please pray that this time apart will strengthen our family and make us closer in the end.
Okay, so wipe your tears (I just read this to Bill and it was much harder to read than it was to write) and know that we will be just fine. We are blessed that he is going to Korea and that he will have all of the technology that we have here. We will be able to Skype with him (webcam and phone through our computers – check it out if you don’t already know about it http://www.skype.com/) and have a bunch of ideas up our sleeves for making the time apart as easy as possible for the little ones. We will also be able to go visit him out there and experience a little bit of Asia, which will be totally cool. The 14 hour flight with two kids by myself? Probably not as cool, but at least I’ll have some great stories to blog about. I can already see the nasty looks as we board.
Right now we are trying to spend as much time together as a family as possible before Bill leaves and we are looking forward to being able to travel abroad and see family and friends while he is gone. Even though it will be a difficult time, we will be making the best of it and we know that on most days, the time will fly.

A lofty goal

So, I was thinking that maybe a few times a week might have been a bit of a lofty goal, at least while Bill is home. Now that it has been nearly two weeks since my last posting I have decided to break this long posting into the short ones I had intended, but didn’t have time for. As I type these stories, Bill and I are driving down to Charleston for our first overnight trip without any kids. More on that later.

My First Blog

The kids are in bed. The house is quiet and the wine is cold. White tonight. No red left. :( I thought since I finally took the facebook plunge, I might as well take the blogspot one too. Why not, right?!

We have had some big changes in our lives recently (no we aren't pregnant), too much to write about for the little amount of time I have left this evening, but the Good Lord and the AF have thrown us a bit of a curve ball recently. I will add the story to the page soon. I thought this would be a great way to keep our friends and family in the loop throughout this chaotic year and a half and the years to follow. Most importantly it will give B the opportunity to see what is happening with the other 3/4 of his family when away from us.

I am still trying to figure out the security issues that may pose a threat with posting personal information online, so please bear with me as it may take some time. I am hoping to add pictures of the kids at the very least so you all can see how much they have changed and how quickly they are growing. Plus how stinkin' cute they are! :)

Please check in often as our life is always an adventure!