Days 78-94/366

It's been a really long time. Frankly, I just didn't feel like doing this...so I didn't. There were more important things to do.

I took pictures most days, but most of them I cannot tell you which day it was. So I'm not going to designate them days here, I'm just going to post.

Keighan sacked out during a soccer game

My boys would live on the swings if we let them!

L2 especially....he's always beginning to swing with K!

One morning I was on the way home from taking Logan to school and saw this.

I had to turn around and go past again. 

Squeel! PUBLIX IS COMING!!!

There have been rumors for ever, but it's really happening!

Next summer...bring it on!

Best thing is it's only a few minutes from the house!

Wolverine jumped in my cart at Target!

It caught me off guard to look down and see my mileage all 1's!

Keighan is seeing a new specialist now who changed up his meds.

He's getting the hang of the nebulizer now and most of the time doesn't fight it,

and we can tell it's making a difference-yay!

My kids don't fall asleep in random places.

Until this!

Ok, so he was under the influence of Benadryl which I'm sure knocked him out.

It still made my insides happy to see it. 

Just a normal afternoon in our house...the brothers playing!

K helping Daddy study the new HC-144 manual.

It's totally normal to wear footed PJs and garden gloves 

while standing in Mommy and Daddy's tub concerned 

why you can't see out the window, right?

I think this was his 3rd change of footed PJs of the day to. 

We went strawberry picking.

I think we ate about as many as we picked!

The boys had such a blast!

Keighan and Landon playing together after L1's game

(during L2's game). 

Dan had ODO Duty, so we decided to get dinner and go visit.

Of course...Murphy's Law struck.

Just as I got our food (Panera), I got a text from him they were launching the ready.

Which translates to he'll be busy and cannot leave the Operations Center.

So the boys and I still went up anyways,

they were expecting to see Daddy and we had food.

We ate in the lounge and then went in the OpsCen to visit for a few.

The boys got to see the 144 take off.

Then they wanted the lemon out of my lemonade.

We got lucky and there were 2 of them...

this is the result!

Landon working on his homework,

Logan looking on.

Logan insists on watching Landon do his homework and trying to help!

Unfortunately Keighan takes a few different meds a day.

Fortunately he loves them and gobbles them up!

Keighan LOVES to swing!

When you start walking towards the swingset he gets so excited,

just like he does when it's time for a bath!

I was running a quick errand....

Logan insisted on wearing his t-ball helmet.

Thank goodness he didn't have to get out of the van!

76-77/366

Day 76-March 16th, 2012

Whitney has an almost unnatural amount of attraction to balloons.

Whenever they are around we hear her going after them at all hours of the day.

She will jump up to grab the string then carry them around.

Keighan loves balloons too....and the cats.

This balloon came with a clip on the bottom of it.

I clipped it to his shirt and he thought it was fantastic.

He would crawl around and it would go with him.

Then it got Whitney's attention and she was right with him which he thought was even more fabulous!

Day 77-March 17th, 2012

Pratt loves Landon.

When Landon was younger and taking naps Pratt would 

sprint to hid bedroom door when he heard it open. 

Then he'd run to the couch and wait for Landon to sit down and curl up with him.

Now there are mornings I hear Pratt meowing incessantly outside

his bedroom early in the mornings to wake him up.

This afternoons Landon was lying on the floor watching TV,

Pratt came right up and curled up with him. 

72-75/366

Day 72: March 12th, 2012

Keighan loves water. Sometimes I think he spends the entire day waiting for bath time. Even after he gets out he'll try to climb in with his big brothers. So it didn't come as a surprise when he was in my bedroom and noticed there was water in the shower (one of us had just gotten out), so in he went to play!

All of my boys are little fish and I don't think he will be any different!

I think a water table will certainly be in our near future for outside play.

Day 73: March 13th, 2012

Tuesday Katie and Henry came over to drop something off. It turned into a mini play date. Henry and Keighan are a whopping 6 days apart. We were with them in Milton and Corpus for flight school and now obviously in Mobile together as well!

We really need to get these boys together more often!

Day 74: March 14th, 2012

Spring is certainly here! In some places you could call it summer weather. Yesterday I got Keighan a swing for the play set. He loved it! He also got a kick out of having his brothers on both sides of him. 

And just so you don't forget...I do have 2 other kids.

I know they aren't pictured as often it seems,

but Keighan is a bit more cooperative with the camera and I'm with him a lot more

(no school for him!)

Landon is a left footed kicker,

good thing he's playing soccer now to perfect his football kick later on hehe

Not sure how Logan still manages to cram himself in his car!

Day 75: March 15th, 2012

Today a group of Coast Guard wives were getting together at Mellow Mushroom over in Daphne. So L2 and K and I took advantage of an empty schedule in the morning and went over. 

Lunch date for Libby and Keighan!

She is 5 days older than him

(May 2011 was a baby boom here...especially that week!)

Poor K, he was tired. On the way over he fell asleep in the van for about 10 minutes. 

You get together about 15 women and 10 kids....well, lunch just isn't a quick function! 

We were there easily 2 1/2 hours. 

The time we left is the time K is usually ready for his 2nd nap of the day. 

He couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep in the high chair!

My insides were secretly dancing,

that's just something that my kids don't do!

I'm still in amazement

(and a little sad he was that tired to konk out like that!)

71/366

Day 71-March 11, 2012

Today was just what we needed...a nice and lazy day. I'm a little impressed with myself that I actually took a shower and got real clothes on! The kids on the other hand....they stayed in PJs, had baths, then back into PJs!

Tonight Dan was at his soccer game,

the boys were on the floor together just having a great time.

L1 and L2 just love getting K to play with them.

All 3 of them were just smiling and giggling.

It was infectious. 

Someday they will realize they are all each other's best friends!

65-70/366

It's not entirely my fault that it has been almost a week since I updated.

On Monday the Internet service went out. Great, just what we needed...ugh! They told me it was the modem to take it to the local office and exchange it. So I wasted an hour doing that. Yes, wasted. Got home....still no dice. So they had to set up an appointment for a tech to come out. Earliest possible wasn't until Wednesday evening. So I went out and got a keyboard for my iPad and reactivated the 3G plan so I could get to the 8 million emails I had from CG spouses. Turns out it was my neighbor's fault! They put in an extra section of their driveway and managed to cut our cable line. So that's my excuse for Mon-Tues. Wed-Thurs was just crazy with the memorial service stuff. Fri Logan was sick. Here it is Saturday already!

Day 65-Monday March 5th

Really, I had other things I needed to be doing on Monday morning.

But Logan had a field trip to the Partridge Plantation.

 He needed me too.

The kids had been such troopers with us both being so busy for a while.

So we went on his field trip and had a blast. 

(ok fine, I was working during the lunch part...some stuff just couldn't wait)

He is still talking about getting to ride a pony!

Day 66-Tuesday, March 6th

Tuesday morning I didn't have anything on the schedule.

I loaded up L2 and K and headed to the mall.

I needed to find something to wear to the memorial service on Thursday.

Brought the double stroller (which hasn't been used since L2 was about 12/13 months old),

settled L2 in with a movie on the iPad, and got K out.

Then I saw he was having a masto flare up.

No idea from what...it might not have been a single trigger.

There is an analogy called "the cup runneth over."

Basically a lot of little things over 72 hours can build up causing a reaction,

it doesn't have to be one single thing and those things as individuals may be tolerated fine.

Perhaps it was the strawberries in his yogurt, something at the farm the day before, friction from being in the Ergo, the warmer temps, pollen...there is just no telling.

Thankfully after a dose of Benadryl he was feeling much better and the blister went down.

Unfortunately his other mastocytoma has flared up a few times this week.

Tuesday night we had another Family Night.
This time it was accompanied by a candlelight vigil as well.
The woman who taught my Family CISM course a few months ago sat with us for it,
this is her handing Landon a candle to hold.

Day 67-Wednesday, March 7th

Wednesday afternoon we did a walk through at the florist to see 

how the progress on the arrangements was going. 

We had just ordered them on Monday afternoon so it was a lot to be done in a short amount of time.

Thankfully they were looking wonderfully! 

The next day they even showed up early to deliver them,

everyone was very happy with how they turned out and the service!

Day 68-Thursday, March 8th

CG-6535 memorial service day.

It was a long and emotional day for everyone.

Dan was up around 4 and out of the house shortly after 430.

I was up a little after 5 and just before 7 our first ever babysitter arrived,

I left right after Landon got on the bus at 715.

I took this pic after the service,

uploaded it on Facebook with some other pics that I took.

A friend of mine tagged the woman in it.

It is Admiral Papp (the USCG Commandant) with Danielle and Ty Nichols.

I had no idea at the time, just thought it was a great shot

(and a little annoyed with the woman in gray walking into my frame at the last second).

Danielle's husband was on CG-6505 in Hawaii in 2008,

from what I am told she now tries to attend these services for support of the families. 

I think that is so awesome!

Ty was just 2 or 3 months old when he lost his Daddy.

Shortly after we got home from the service Dan's phone started going crazy.

The 4th, and final, crewmember had been found and was enroute back to sector.

We loaded up and got down there just in time to join a crowd of Coasties that had gathered,

along with his family,

to see him taken away in an ambulance

It was such a relief to have Drew found and brought back. 

Day 69-Friday, March 9th

Friday was a day I thought I'd be sitting around doing nothing

(well, other than things that were in desperate need of doing...like laundry).

Turns out L2 got sick so I was his nurse for the day.

I guess K was pretty exhausted too.

Early in the morning we were sitting on the floor.

Suddenly he lunged for my sweatshirt on the floor and curled up with it.

L2 moved one of his stuffed animals closer. 

It wasn't a long nap but it sure was cute!

Turns out that L2 had strep throat, ugh! 

Day 70-Saturday, March 10th

 Little stinker!

I left him alone in the room for not even a minute.

Returned to find him just having a blast emptying the tissues from the box one at a time. 

As soon as he saw me he just started smiling and laughing,

he has an infectious laugh...I couldn't help but laugh too!

Good thing he's so cute.

64/366

Today we had a little get together on base to assemble the ribbons. I thought 20, maybe 25, at the most 30 people would show up.

We ended up with 75-80 people there! Even an admiral who is in town and his wife, a few chaplains, the family CISM team (critical incident stress management), and all sorts of people! It was absolutely amazing and so wonderful to see and be apart of! Everything was done within an hour and a half, people just sat around for a while chatting and having a good time. I am not sure of the exact number of ribbons that were made, around 3,000 though.

I can tell you that we had 3 cakes, a set of cupcakes, 2 arrangements of flowers and balloons, muffins, cookies, drinks, a meal for my family to take home, and multiple birthday cards...even one that was made into origami. Little did I know word got around that yesterday was my birthday! It certainly took me by surprise when these things started coming in. I think my face was 5 shades of red when someone flicked the lights then in came a friend with a cake and lit candles while the entire room sang "Happy Birthday" to me! Certainly a birthday that I will never forget.

I know sometimes parents worry when their children move away from home.

Who will be there for them, who will take care of them if needed, etc.

Our Coast Guard family is just amazing.

I don't know why I continued to be surprised by them,

by know you'd think I'd know not to put anything past them!

I am so lucky for the CG family here in Mobile. 

Tomorrow I have another busy day ahead of me. I've been asked why I do this. It's a volunteer position. Tonight was an example of why. These people are my family and I would do whatever possible for them! They are there for me, I will always be there for them. 

62-63/366

Day 62

The days of the past week or so have really just turned into a blur. Trying to distinguish what happened on one day or another is becoming more difficult. Friday though I didn't step foot on base, which was nice. Keighan had his 9 month well check (still my gentle giant, off the chart in height and 50% in weight). Landon had a program at school to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. I was just able to do my work from home and most of it in the evening.

This is Landon performing at school.

They sang some songs, dressed all crazy, and had a great time!

Day 63

March 3rd...happy birthday to me! Certainly didn't feel like a birthday for much of the day! The boys had their soccer jamboree in the morning, which we froze at! As soon as we got home I went out again to buy supplies to make at least 3,000 ribbons for people to pin on at the 6535 memorial service. Shortly after I got to my first stop (around 10:45am), I got a call from the CO's wife. Next thing I know she was there too and we were running all over town for supplies and picked up another Coast Guard wife to bring along too. Went back to their house where we were joined by another and around 5pm sat down to begin cutting these ribbons. The plan is to assemble them all on Sunday with a large group of spouses on base. By the time we were finishing buying the supplies we began to get a little slap happy. Add in cutting loads of orange and blue ribbons with the good company we had....wow, I haven't laughed so much in a long time! At one point I got a call from someone about the flowers for the service and he wanted to know how much wine we had drank, um...not a drop of alcohol was consumed! If you put all the ribbon we cut end to end, it was enough to be the length of five football fields! We cut them into 6" strips. Oy, it was an undertaking and I'm glad I had help! As we were beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel (around 9pm), Capt Maine came home. He then left again and brought us all back some dinner. Little did I know he and his daughter had also picked up something else while they were out. After we finished the cutting we ate, then as I was packing up my things to head home they walked out with a cookie cake on fire with all the candles. So while I wasn't able to spend the day with my family, I spent it with a great part of my extended family...my Coast Guard family. 

There is another pic out there with the candles lit and me standing behind it.

I haven't seen it yet...not sure if I'm brave enough to look at it,

I know I was looking pretty rough at that point!

61/366

Somehow in the midst of yet another crazy and long day, I thought about grabbing my camera to take some pictures. I had a specific one in mind.

Today I was again on base for hours. About 12 total actually. On my way in this morning I noticed the front gate had been decorated with flowers, flags, posters, etc. The road just inside the gate was lined with small American flags in the ground. Late this afternoon I ran home to get Landon off the bus and pick the other boys up from my friend's house. We were home maybe 45 minutes before I had to load them up and go back to ATC to set up for the family debriefing. I got my camera then to take a pic of the gate.

At the corner of Schillinger and Tanner Williams (Tanner Williams is the road the base is off of), I noticed a local restaurant had their flag lowered to half-mast, so I grabbed that shot. Then as I was waiting to pull into base I took the one of the front gate. Both I just took a single shot of, they aren't great...but that's not what matters here.

What has been so amazing is the continuing outpouring of support since the news broke. Support from all sorts of places...the local community, the Coast Guard community both here and everywhere, people just wanting to help in any way possibly. It's nice to see so many people helping out and wanting to help out.

I didn't know it when I took these, found out tonight when I got home and someone tagged me in a Facebook post. Dan was quoted on a local news station in a story about the community support http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/mobile_county/community-reacts-to-uscg-search

I hope this post somewhat makes sense. I'm exhausted and too tired to read it over at this point. The brain is mush and the eyes are burning. If the hubs ever gets home then I'll get some sleep. 

As of now, three of the four crewmembers have been recovered. 

60/366

February 29th, 2012

Leap Day

Rare Disease Day

You see, I had this blog post planned for a while. The last day of February is always Rare Disease Day. I think it's pretty cool that this year (and every 4th one) it also falls on a rare day...February 29th.

I was going to explain to you all about mastocytosis, which Keighan has and it is considered a "rare orphan disease" which means less than 200,000 people have it in the USA. We were going to have an allergist appointment this morning to hopefully start a journey to answers. We were going to have his 9 month appointment and I would post how big he is now. I was going to show pics of his flare ups so you could get an idea of what it's like. Tell you all the things he's had triggers to. It was going to be awesome. Was one of the reasons I was working for a while last night on posting the last 2 weeks of pictures. I wanted today's post to be a special one all by itself.

Easiest way to get God to laugh? Tell Him you have plans.

Last night we had just put the big boys down for bed. We were settling into our respective places on the couch. Dan was feeding Keighan. I was sitting right here blogging. We put American Idol on to catch up. Dan's phone was on the arm rest of the couch. It rang. ODO (operating duty officer) popped up. It was a longer than usual conversation. He got serious and was listening. Said he'd get dressed and be in in a few minutes. I figured the duty crew got bagged out and he was the backup and they were filling him in on some details of the case. What he told me upon hanging up I wasn't ready for. You are NEVER ready for those calls.

A Coast Guard helicopter (HH-65 Dolphin) went down in Mobile Bay. My heart raced, adrenaline shot sky high, and before Dan was out the door I was on the phone to the other Ombudsmen to see if they had heard and if not to fill them in. I was pacing after those calls. Racking my brain. Which friends are on 65s...are they/their spouse involved? What could I do? What would be my roll as an Ombudsman? Soon it hit the local news. Not too much time later it was all over the national news networks. All over social media.

Since then Dan and I have both been going almost non-stop in our different roles. Him as a public affairs officer (PAO) and me as an Ombudsman. We are exhausted, but holding it together. He wasn't home until close to 1am and was back on the way to work before 6:30am then not home again until after 5pm. I was on base before 8am today, and somehow managed to get all 3 kids either to school or a friend's house with everything they needed..and even showered myself! It was a long day there. Lots of talking and visiting different shops in the hangars. Swimmer's shop, 65 shop, TraDiv pilots, and a bit of time in the admin building.

I wish this was my first experience of being hit with something like this. I wish it was Dan's first too. We've both been in the aviation world for over a decade each now and have had our individual experiences with it before him joining the Coast Guard and ones we've been through together since he joined (no CG ones where we were stationed though). One of the things I hate about aviation, actually probably the only thing, but we both love it too damn much to deter us from it.

My heart is heavy. There were 4 on board. 1 has been confirmed deceased. The other 3 are still missing.

This is not my picture, I did not create this. I am moved by it though. If is fins and a mask/snorkel hanging up on the hook.

My prayers continue to go to the families of the crew, to those searching, to the families of those searching, to our entire Coast Guard family. We are a small family, this cuts deep.

46-59/366

Wow, this brings a whole new meaning to a long "2 week wait!" (and if you don't know what a 2WW is then you probably haven't tried to have a baby anytime recently or plan on it anytime soon!)

The kids got sick. It was rough. Then on the 16th about 10:30AM I decided that I needed to go to Tampa for Aunt Jen's memorial service there. I texted Dan, he said he was ok with it. The boys were off school the following week so they wouldn't be missing out and we wouldn't have to rush back. I called my parents and mother in-law. I think my parents were too shell shocked that I was going to drive that far by myself with the 3 boys to protest. Or maybe they just knew that protesting over this situation wouldn't get them anywhere. So I was a mad woman for a few hours and that afternoon we got on the road. We arrived at my parent's house around 12:45am. The next day we went to Tampa for the service and spent a few days seeing family who had come in from Michigan and also visiting with Dan's side of the fam. After that we went back to Ocala for a few days before making the trek back to Mobile. It was a whirl-wind visit (but really, it seems as though they all are! We never get to see everyone or do everything in our time there no matter how long it is). I am so glad we went though.

So here we are, two weeks since I last posted! I slacked before we left because of the sickos. I slacked while we were gone because I just wasn't really on the computer. I've slacked since we got back because there have been a million other things to do. But now I am catching up and am going to be better about staying on top of this! I wasn't the best with the camera this trip, so I may be missing a few days...even some without iPhone pics (::gasp::). Most of these are just quick phone pics so they aren't the best!

46-Feb 15th

Keighan feeling quite crummy still, battling RSV and an ear infection.

Only place he seemed to be happy was in either Mommy's or Daddy's arms

47-Feb 16th

Keighan just loves his activity table.

Any time he can stand up he's usually pretty happy!

He loves to put balls down the center (they're supposed to) and see which leg they come out on.

He also likes to stick other things down there, like pacis!

Landon was being a great big brother when he got home from school and playing with Keighan.

48-Feb 17th

The drive down.

Might be hard to see...but this is THREE sleeping boys!!

You can see K's reflection in the mirror on his seat and then the other 2 just sacked out.

I was worried how it would go with all 3 of them by myself on the way down, 

but they were FABULOUS! 

I was seriously so proud and happy with how they behaved.

Worst part was a rest area we stopped at. 

Handicapped bathrooms were closed for cleaning so all 4 

of us were crammed into one stall when I had to go! 

Next time I'll need some extra duct tape to tape K up on the door

(I kid, I kid!)

49-Feb 18th

This was the day of Aunt Jen's "celebration of life" service in Tampa.

They held one in Michigan which I was unable to attend so was glad when they decided to have one in Tampa as well as that is a bit more feasible for me to travel to. 

I look awful. It was the end of a long and emotional day.

Not to mention I got, oh, maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep the night before.

Keighan thought it would be a swell idea to stay up until 2:30am after the drive.

Here the cousins are sacked out after a long day with a proud G looking on!

50-Feb 19th

Sunday morning we went to the BRAT's hotel 

(well, I guess it would be BRAs since Tara couldn't make it??).

Austen, Landon, and Logan went swimming.

They love Austen and it's a little scary at times 

how much alike Austen and Landon are. 

This was after they had been swimming and we were getting ready to go to lunch.

That night Amanda and Mike came over 

(we were staying with Dan's parents) for dinner.

There is a playground in the neighborhood so

we took a stroll down there to burn off some energy while Grandpa grilled dinner!

Keighan got in on the swinging action too.

He LOVED the swing!

I really need to get on buying him one for our swingset 

since it's quite warm out these days we'll be spending lots of time out there!

51-Feb 20th

On Monday we went to the Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa.

Here the boys were testing a paper airplane in a wind tunnel.

Glimpse into their future at ERAU perhaps? ha!

52-Feb 21st

Back at my parent's house we heated up the hot tub for the boys to go swimming.

Landon chilling at the bottom

Keighan is going to be another fish!

He kept dunking his head on his own and loved it!

I just love this shot. 

Keighan loves his big brother so much and they love him just as much too!

53-Feb 22nd & 54-Feb 23rd

told ya I didn't take some every day...

55-Feb 24th

My birthday is in a few days.

Every since I was 2 years old my mom has always made me a strawberry cake with strawberry icing,

using an old recipe from her home ec class (so you know it's ancient, haha!)

Majority of the years Hello Kitty adorned it in some way.

This year L1 and L2 helped decorate it.

Hello Kitty was all over with candles that were actually sparklers!

56-Feb 25th

This is how L1 and L2 were as I was packing up the van.

Not sure how hanging out on the stairs like this was comfy, 

but apparently it was!

L1 was playing on G's iPhone while L2 looked on.

57-Feb 26th

Soccer was supposed to begin on Monday

(rained out)

so on Sunday we were checking out their gear and getting everything in order.

Logan insisted on trying on his shin guards, socks, and cleats.

On top of his turkey Thanksgiving PJs.

Then going outside to play...and refusing to look at the camera.

58-Feb 27th

A page from Landon's St Jude's Math-A-Thon fundraiser book.

I'm so proud of what he is accomplishing these days! 

He read all of the directions by himself and wrote his own answers.

We have a little work to do on the spelling, but he's getting there. 

59-Feb 28th

Pratt missed us while we were gone!

He was trying to snuggle up with me on the couch 

but Keighan's leg was getting in the way!