Day 301 -- This Renovation Has Been Brought To You By...

Some of you may not know that Brian has been away for the past 8 months. 7 months ago he came home for a brief 4-day visit before heading out to Iraq, but I don't count that as being "home". Today he finally came home. I have to say, next to our wedding day and the birth of our sweet little one, it was the best day of my life. In contrast, the last 8 months were definitely not. I have cried more in the past 8 months than the rest of my life combined. Being pregnant, working full-time, having a 3 year old, and being PM on a renovation project all at once has not been my idea of fun. There are people out there who had/have it way worse than me though, so I'll leave the complaining there.

If there was one silver lining to this deployment it was the $$$MONEY$$$. There is no way in the world we would have gotten this far on this renovation without those military paychecks coming in. Brian was an awesome sugar daddy. He made the money and I spent it. It was a fine arrangement. I also had to make all the decisions which was nice, in a way, but I would rather have had Brian here to give input and to see the final result.

The other great thing about this deployment was the time that I spent with our families. Brian and I have the best families (and friends) ever. I thank my Heavenly Father for them every day. They were so supportive and helpful in every way imaginable. I will always be grateful for being able to grow closer to them during this time. Thank you everyone for everything...I truly couldn't have survived it without you all. Iz and I love you very much.


As far as the events of today, Iz and I went to the airport at about 9:30 this morning to pick Dad up. Delta let us go to the gate to meet him. You should have seen Iz when she first saw her daddy. She went on a dead run half-way across the terminal screaming "DADDY!!! DADDY!!! DADDY!!!" It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Then she kept him in a death grip for a solid 15 min before she would let him put her down. The minute she was put down, she asked "Can I have my lamp?" :) She says we're going to have to get a Jasmine costume to go with the cool lamp dad brought back from Iraq.

After the airport we came home so Dad could see the new house. Dad has only gotten 6 hours of sleep in the last 3 days and I haven't slept well in....I can't even remember....so it was a sleepy day spent scuddling on the couch as a family. It was the best. I'm taking the next week off of work and I wouldn't complain if every day was like this one.

Last but definitely not least, Brian, I want you to know how much I love you. I am so proud of you. I am so lucky to be married to such a great man and dad. You are the love of my life and you can't imagine how happy I am that you are back home safe with us just in time to start a new chapter in our life with a new baby and a new home. Thanks for being married to me.