Reintegration

We are surviving.

I have been reminded that the world will not turn over and die if Gunner does something slightly different than I do. It's not wrong, it's his way. (Although secretly, after a year, shouldn't my advice make his life a little easier????) He also does it to drive me crazy, I am sure.

The amount of laundry has quadrupled. Gunner just caught up with everything that I was behind. Now we just need to catch up with everything that we wore in the meantime.

I haven't changed a diaper yet, which is a nice break.

The first night Gunner was home, I was startled awake every time he moved. I'm getting better about that. Just not used to sharing a bed.

The nightmares aren't as bad this time.

His adjustment with the kids has been going okay. They are quick to remind him that I don't serve dinner like that, get them ready in the morning like that, or do such and such and such. It's all good, because they do the same thing to me as soon as he deploys.

We ran a 5K this morning, and the starting gun was not well received by him (& there were others too that reacted).

He introduced me to mafia wars on facebook, as if I needed something else to do to waste my time.

When he drops Junior off at daycare, Junior cries "I NEED you Daddy" and it melts his heart.

Abs still tries to push in between us when we hug. And if we kiss??? They all start groaning.

Gunner has adapted to my healthy way of eating with little reluctance.

My students love him.

His return to the world of driving like an American has been slow in coming, although he would argue that point. No, Gunner, you can't force people off the road, run every light and sign, and I promise you that the bag blowing in the wind is not an IED. He still scans the roads, that will take time.

We went to the outlet mall today and he was great company. He didn't complain, and I even talked him into two shirts at Banana Republic. (Ummmm......I LOVE that store!)

Yesterday afternoon, Gunner needed to go to Clothing Sales to get a new pair of running shoes. I was exhausted after school, so I asked him to take the kiddos. He balked. I balked that he balked. Our conversation:

Him: Take all three of them to the store?
Me: Yep.
Him: Do you know how hard it will be to shop with three kids in tow?
Me (trying not to knock him upside the head): I think I have a pretty good idea since I just did it for a year.
Him (Smiling): But you had to do it, the beauty of this situation is that I don't have to.
Me (not smiling): Are you kidding me?
Him: Don't worry, I've got them.

My husband has a weird sense of humor some days. Karma came into play as Junior kept escaping from the cart.

I'm sure I will think of more things that are going/not going so well, but so far things are better than expected. It's still weird to think of him being here every day. It's nice knowing that on the evenings where I used to be too busy to breathe that I have someone who is there to help and without question.

In other news:

Em thinks she broke her foot. She's become the queen of broken bones. I am hoping that she just pulled something. It's on the top of her foot, and she said she heard a pop while she was running in PE on Friday. She's pretty consistent in her limping, so I am starting to be concerned. Thank goodness for the weekend clinic being open tomorrow. She's dragged out her old crutches from the last time she broke her foot and she is way too tall for them now, but she is gimping around the house on them.

Junior is tearing up his skin with all of his scratching. We're going to have to get a referral to the pediatric skin specialist at Scott & White since his allergist and dermatologist haven't been able to make too many changes. I guess we could try the warm pajamas and Crisco, as gross as it sounds.

Abs has been Abs, just her usual antics and ability to keep us on our toes. We were at the Children's Place today and they had a pair of stirrup pants for cheap, cheap, cheap. Abs saw them and freaked out. She was so excited that there was something out there created just for her problem of her pants riding up. God help me, I hope she doesn't want straps sewn on the bottom of all her pants. They also had tights for 99 cents, and she wanted them all. For that price, we settled for 6 pairs.

While we were out shopping today I got Em a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. For the same price I got Abs a dress, several shirts, a pair of pink Bass rain boots, the tights, two pairs of leggings and 1 pair of stirrup pants. That just seems insane to me.

And one more insane thing about the Round Rock outlet mall--they are stingy at the food court! They have no napkin dispensers, you can only get one or two from the restaurant that you order from. The kids all wanted bourbon chicken from the chinese place, and it cost $15 for three plates. That is insane (but they loved it and ate it). What's even more insane is their view on water. I asked for three waters and they gave me three water bottles. I told them I wasn't paying for water, could they make three waters out of the machine. They refused and would only give me one. I should have left, but the kids were hungry and I was trying to avoid a scene. I would have paid for the cup, which probably cost them pennies anyway.

Maybe I am just too cheap?

In the meantime here's yet another homecoming picture....

This is the tent where we waited and they had the huge screen we could watch.

Did I mention they fed you? I was too excited/nervous to eat. They had Pizza Hut, Fuddruckers and Bush's chicken, all for free. Junior chowed down on the pizza. More pictures later when I write shorter posts, because for some reason I can't drag my pictures down easily, and I have to do it piece by piece. Hmmmm.......