Day 238 - Keeping it Real

Let's see, how to put this? Life has been interesting since Al has been back in the Sand. This Saturday marked his one week anniversary of being gone - and that was kind of a rough day - Em and I stayed to ourselves and didn't venture out until my neighbor took us out to dinner that night. "Nanny" is my landlord, next door neighbor, Em's adopted grandma and a real sweetie most of the time - she knew that I was sad with Al being gone again so she wanted to do something special for me. The lobster, crab legs and hot lemon butter at Red Lobster were like a salve to my broken heart - lol.

Al called Saturday and he is right back in the thick of things at his FOB. He is now working in the clinic, doing the security officer position, and he will be training for another position soon too. It looks like they are going to serve their whole boots on ground time (call me a fatalist but I hadn't gotten my hopes up that they wouldn't do their whole BOG anyway - lol). Please keep him in your thoughts if you can.

Emelia hasn't been feeling herself for the past week or so either, so that has been hard. I don't want to make anybody barf, but explosive toddler diarrhea is a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure. We had to stay home from church yesterday, because I don't think she's contagious - I think she's just teething her molars, but I didn't feel that the people in the nursery should have to deal with all of that. Our big excitement yesterday was laundry, scrubbing down the kitchen, and me cleaning and organizing various drawers and cabinets in the house - we also ventured out to Walmart and we made it almost home until another attack of the killer poopies hit. YUCK. If anyone has any cures for a raw bootie, my ears are open - I have been using a double layer of vaseline and diaper cream.

I stayed home with her this morning until I got the free and clear from the Peditrician's office to try another couple of days of the 'wait and see' approach. Em has no fever, no vomiting and no behavioral changes - she just has Mount Vesuvius in her pants about five times a day. We start our new Tricare insurance on Thursday also - so it will be really nice to have no copay, etc. on this doctor's visit (I told Al that now that I am getting Army bennies, that it makes it 'a little' easier to have him gone, lol). Anyway, I am now at the office and I have been trying to slog through my many projects, but I have no real motivation to get anything done.

There's another hurricane a' comin' too - but we should just get tons of rain and strong wind. I talked to Stacy at about 1100 this morning, and they had just lost power at her house. She is close to Jackson, MS which is also where Al's mom and his son, Trey live. There are tons of soldiers in training at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, MS which is in the path of the hurricane - and there are a lot of currently husbandless military wives in the 155 BCT that are going to have to deal with this storm and its consequences, so please keep them in your prayers.

Staying humble in Alabama, rain, wind, poop and all . . . Melinda.