Nearly four months later...

I’m pretty lame, y’all. I mean, I ask for your advice. You all deliver amazing recommendations. And then? I fall off the earth for nearly FOUR MONTHS. I think that’s when most people commit blog suicide. But I’m back! Or, rather, my blog is.

I forget that the world doesn’t revolve around me sometimes and that a lot of my loyal readers don’t follow me on twitter (do NOT blame you there, friends!), so I’m going to do a quick recap here, before I throw up a ton of “My husband came home from Iraq for two weeks and it was UH-MAZING!!!!!!!!!” posts, packed with photos and video.

So, to catch you up to speed:

• My husband came home, as just mentioned! For two weeks! It was pretty spectacular. Dublin couldn’t let Daddy out of his sight for the entire two weeks, even going so far as to sob (violently) whenever Stephen walked out the door, even for a moment. Post about those two weeks coming soon. I pinky swear.
• Backing up a LOT, I went to Virginia for two weeks to visit my best friend, Sona. We had an awesome, awesome time, right up until Roman had a horrifying apnea episode, landing us in the ER for eight hours. He’s okay, now, thankfully, but let me just say, seeing your child’s lips turn blue is the scariest thing EVER.
• I started school. I’m getting my certificate as a pharmacy technician and wow, you guys? Medicine is kind of intense. I’m sitting here with my Mosby’s Dictionary and Math Calculations for Pharmacy Technicians workbook and it’s hitting me that I kind of need to do actual math. Which I haven’t done in…seven years. Setting myself up for success, AM I RIGHT?
• Dublin, at 25 months, weighs 35lbs and is 37 inches long. That’s a big baby, you guys. And his pediatrician measured his head three times, finally admitting that his head circumference is 100th percentile. She doesn’t know any other child in her practice with that large of a head, for his age. WHAT?
• Roman was 4th percentile when he was born (six weeks early), but now? He’s nearly 80th for weight, 90th for height. That’s nuts! His head, like his brother’s, is also ridiculously large (99th percentile).
• What does this all mean? It means I am definitely done birthing children, because I did it twice, with no pain meds (on accident! I wanted them!), and large heads are not something I look forward to pushing out again.
• I recently sold a few photos to the National Geographic! A company that produces documentaries for the NG found some photos in my flickr stream they wanted, so they contacted me for use of the photos in print and in their video. I’m excited!
• This deployment is nearing its end. We have less than three months left in this, and I know we can do it, but damn, it is HARD.  Saying goodbye to my husband again on Wednesday was difficult, and I’m still struggling. This isn’t my husband’s first deployment, but compared to his last one, this is definitely much more difficult on him. His last deployment (18 months in Iraq, 2005-2006), he was essentially single. Iraq was a scarier place then, and that deployment really affected him, changed him. But going back, as a husband and father, has definitely taken its toll on him. My husband is far from an emotional man, but I could see the feeling in his eyes, sense his agitation at having to return to Iraq. It made it harder, at the airport, knowing I was sending him to a place he hates.
• I don’t drink coffee, never have. But every morning lately has me craving for something delicious and caffeinated. I’m too impatient to wait for tea to steep and hot cocoa costs me too many WW points. What to do?!

Anyway, that’s what’s up with me, in a nutshell. I’m hoping to upload our homecoming video to youtube to post here shortly, and to blog all about those two glorious weeks. For now, I have four weeks of school to catch up on. See what I mean about my success with school?!