In the last year, I started my new job as a 911 operator at the same agency my husband works for. It was so interesting to see what his job is like at first but since he was deployed to Afghanistan, I got to focus on my training - and that soon got VERY intense. I adjusted to working full time and being a single Mother as best as I knew how but I was definitely very stressed out! I had some generalized joint pain but blew it off on carrying around a 20 pound child all the time and doing all the housework. Jonathan came home for Christmas and boy were we excited to have him here!!! Caitlyn thought it would be fun to be sick and get pneumonia while he was here and then even more fun to have an allergic reaction to Amoxicillin (Jon and I are both allergic, too)! We still managed to have a good two weeks and off he went back halfway across the world.
Jon came home in March, Caitlyn turned two in August and had a vast explosion of vocabulary (finally!) and then I managed to COMPLETE MY TRAINING!!! I am officially a Communications Officer II, which means I got promoted! I would be lying if I didn't tell you that training was horrible and numerous times I wanted to quit. I got so close to just leaving and never going back but with the support of my family, I worked through it all and made it. Backtrack to February of this year and I went to the Dr. about all that pain I was having. I got referred to a Rheumatologist. She eventually diagnosed me with "Sero-Negative Inflammatory Poly-Arthritis" or "SNIP" for short. This just means that I have an inflammatory type of arthritis that affects multiple joints but the exact type cannot be identified through blood tests. My treatment is fairly trial and error and I think we are still working on it.
Jon came home and took some time off to do things around the house and just enjoy some freedom. He started back with the police (very excitedly, I must say) in May and has been happily going to work each day since. Keep in mind: Happy to go to work is completely different from happy to wake up for work. We work the same shift right now so things are really great but we know we're in store for some big changes next year and we don't like it at all! (Mandatory shift change for me)
Caitlyn is just amazing. She frustrated us some with refusing to speak and she continues to be difficult with food but she wouldn't be two if she didn't have a mind of her own and make things difficult for us! I am so proud of her every time she uses her words like a big girl and I just feel like I'm going to burst with joy each time I go to pick her up after work and I see her light up with "Oh, Hi, Mama!!". Her little eyes sparkle and her sweet little smile melts my heart. She is an all around good girl and so kind hearted. She looks for things she can do to get praise and gives the sweetest of night night kisses!!! She is physically spot on with everyone else her age and we took her to a Little Gym free trial class that she LOVED so we'll be taking her back! There is so much going on with her cognitively and I think she is about where she should be with that for her age, too, considering she is currently an only child and isn't in day care. And her size? At last check, 38 inches and 34 pounds. 99th percentile for height and weight still!
On to our most recent event: We moved! We took the plunge of being landlords and bought a brand new (well, built in 2007 but never occupied new) house in Dacula. It is still a little dirty and the blinds won't be in until at least Friday now but it is so spacious and more than what we thought we were going to get when we started out on this adventure. It is certainly a house we can grow into and that is such a comforting feeling! I am still a bit overwhelmed with the task of getting the other house rented out and the new house clean and unpacked but little by little we are making progress each day and continue to feel blessed!
The future: Right now, the plans are simply to get the old house rented, the new house looking like our home and then maybe we'll feel like we are ready to complete our family plans...
I was going to post some pictures with this blog but there is a lovely message saying that photo uploads will be disabled for two hours so I guess not this time. You can always see them on Facebook, though!!!
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