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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Getting ready for Big Move 2010!

We made our trip home for Christmas and celebrated with almost everyone! Gray was able to spend time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and most of his cousins! Santa came to see him in Jackson and since he was a good boy this year (except when actually meeting Santa-screams ensued) Gray got tons of fun things to play with and cute things to wear. Overall, we had a great trip but were glad to be back in our temporary home. Living out of a suitcase is overrated, unless you are on a fabulous vacation!

As soon as we got home, we started packing up the house. Josh finished his last two flights at 302, the same night I won a pair of diamond earrings at the 302 coffee for January! We took the MLK weekend to lounge around the house and pack some more. It was nice having Josh around without a flight and studying for the brief looming. We had a very uneventful weekend, but it was amazing. We have decided to move ourselves (referred to as a DITY move) after finding out how much money we could make doing it ourselves (I'm currently planning a holiday with the proceeds). I think this is a win-lose situation, but I'm the one that talked Josh into it. The win is the $$$. The lose is the expense/heartache of actually packing up everything we own and moving it across the country with a 10 month old. We actually have almost everything packed up already, so I'm just ready to find a place to live and actually unpack everything. I'm ready to drop the transient title and move some place for more than 10 minutes. I think Josh is more ready to be near consistently surf-able waves!

Our plan is to pack the truck and be out of North Carolina on the 11th. We are stopping in Bastrop for Gray's 1st birthday party on the 13th. We thought it would be nice to celebrate the big ONE with friends and family at home since he may not get to celebrate in a BIG way again for a while. We also thought it would be a great time for our friends and family to see us one more time before we go. I'm hoping people will make the drive because I don't know when we will be back in the area and we really do miss everyone!
Gray and I dropped Josh off at the airport one week ago today. He flew into San Diego for SERE school, where he is currently in the field, sleeping under the stars and most likely getting pretty hungry. From what I have gathered this training isn't the most fun training Marines attend, but you learn tons of useful information about survival techniques. I think Josh will love all of the information they teach because he is really into useful ways to 'survive' in the wild. I'm not sure what all they do at SERE school (mostly because you have to sign non-disclosure forms and Josh doesn't take that kind of thing lightly) and I'm almost glad that I don't know because I have heard horror stories including frostbite, black eyes, babies crying, and pine boxes. Most guys lose around 20 pounds while they are gone, due to the lack of food/sleep/etc. they experience in the last week. Josh isn't very friendly when he goes without sleep or food, so I'm interested in hearing the stories when he gets back! He has some super stories from TBS. Josh will be able to call me Thursday or Friday night to tell me he survived and how excited he is to come back home. Gray and I will be waiting by the phone, but until then we are praying for his safe return!

The day after Josh left, I spotted the beginnings of Gray's first tooth. He is 10 months old and I was beginning to wonder if we would have to fit him for dentures before kindergarden so he didn't get funny looks (mostly kidding). The white spot, which I will refer to as a tooth, is on the top left. I wonder if that means he will get top teeth and bottom teeth at the same time... That would explain his erratic behavior in the last month or so. He will have days of being really fussy or tired or clingy when he normally is a happy-go-lucky kid. Needless to say, we have had lots of ups and downs and there better be some teeth on the way sometime soon! 

Mom came for a visit, to help me pack up and spend some time with us before we move out West, a day or two after Josh left. She and I have done some shopping, ran some errands, packed lots of kitchen stuff, and done some sight seeing during her visit. Gray, Mom, Fletch, Silas, and I went up the North Carolina coast earlier this week to see some of the Outer Banks. We saw several amazing lighthouses, lots of beach communities, Serendipity (the house on Nights in Rodanthe), the Wright brothers memorial in Kitty Hawk, and shared some delish crab cakes. Gray rode on his first ferry (where Mom's van decided to die), made friends with a big white parrot, and rode on a luggage trolly in the hotel which he LOVED. We got lots of good pictures to share with Josh when he gets back. Gray and I were sad he missed all the fun, but I'm glad we were able to see some of those things while we were on the East coast. 

Considering this is the longest post to date, I think it's about time for bed as Gray has been out for at least two hours and will be up bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning waiting for breakfast. I'll try to upload some pictures soon and post the latest information. I can't promise much after we move, because we may or may not find a place to live quickly and may or may not have internet access for a while.  Please keep our family in your prayers for safe travel, uneventful days, and quickly finding the perfect house as we move to a completely new place on the opposite side of the country!