Our Summer Plans

Big things are going on this summer for us! We’ve made a decision that has been more than surprising to most people who know me well. We are going to stay in the Army! Well for a little while at least. We’ve decided to go ahead and go to the career course. This means we will basically owe the Army an additional 8 months when it’s all said and done.

But you might be thinking “Amanda I thought you hated being in the Army?!”. This is true Army wife life has not been easy so far.

Think about it I got married and we got started on our family right away. We got back from our honeymoon and moved to Kentucky. I promptly began puking my guts out. Pregnancy did not agree with me. Jim was at school ALL the time. I was very sick and alone. I had never lived in Kentucky I didn’t have any friends, my family was very far away. Jim was so caught up in Army stuff that he even forgot our first married Valentine’s day! I was 8 months pregnant with our first child! Not a great start. I think it was made harder by the fact that we had struggled through 4 years of long distance to get to this point. In college I always told myself just make it to graduation and things will get easier. Then they didn’t!

But then we had Lacey and when you have a sweet little baby you seem to forget all those things. Talk about falling in love!

Lacey was barley 3 months old when we moved everything and drove to Texas. That was in and of itself an adjustment. We were originally suppose to go to Germany! I was a little disappointed to say the least. We got to Texas and learned that Jim would be deploying in about a year. The countdown was on. We had to make decisions about everything! We even had to decide how to manage this in terms of family planning. We knew we wanted Lacey to have a sibling and we weren’t sure we wanted them to be that far apart. I also knew I didn’t want to be pregnant while Jim was gone, I didn’t want to give birth by myself. So we decided to get started on baby #2 right away. I got pregnant fast! Mollie was on her way before we knew it!

Meanwhile Jim’s unit was spending more and more time training for Iraq. He was gone more and more. By the time Mollie was born we were 5 months away from d day. Jim left for NTC for a month of training when she was only 2 months old. I thought him missing her third month broke my heart. I had no idea how heartbroken I’d be when he left for Iraq.

By the time Jim deployed Mollie was 5 months old and I was fighting tooth and nail against a deployment I couldn’t stop. That day was the very reason I told Jim when I was 16 years old not to join the Army.

I spent the next 11 months angry, sad, and scared. I was a single parent to 2 under 2 scared everyday that some terrorist was going to make that a permanent arrangement. It was truly a hellish experience for me. I was never more sure that I wanted out of the Army! It didn’t help that I encountered some really horrible women through the FRG. I had volunteered to be the FRG leader when I was 8 months pregnant and was given a co FRG leader who I can truly say I wish I had never met. The experience is what has kept me from almost all unit functions since. I’ve only recently relented.

But things have been getting better. Jim and I are learning to balance things better. We communicate more effectively we know how to help each other through things better. We aren’t facing another deployment for some time. We have choices now and it feels so much better.

So we talked about what was next for our family. We talked a lot about getting jobs outside the Army. We decided that we would call about the career course and see if it was even a possibility. We were told that they couldn’t get us in until maybe November. We decided that was close enough to the end of our commitment that it wouldn’t be worth it and put the Army out of our minds.

But then a few weeks ago we got an email. We could go in the first week of August. It was a game changer. We did the math and were comfortable with the extra time. We knew that the schedule at the career course was very family friendly and that Jim couldn’t deploy while he was there. We knew afterwards that we’d go to a unit, that deployment would be possible but not likely. We talked a lot. I felt better about our conversations about this then I did about our other conversations involving the Army. When I was 22 I didn’t speak up for myself when it came to Army decisions. I told myself I wanted what Jim wanted. He seemed to really want this. This time I know he wants what he wants and he wants what I want too. I think he knows the same about me. Maybe that will only make sense to married people but it makes sense to me now. I know that we can figure it out. It feels great. 

And we finally decided to go for it!

So that’s our big news. Jim will clear post in June and by July 13th or 14th we will be Georgia bound. Life sure is crazy but I wouldn’t want to be on this journey with anyone else. Wish us luck! :)

It’s Been A While Part 2 (Another Long One…)

So I totally forgot to mention this in my last catching up but Jim and the girls are famous. By famous I mean they are a part of a photo collage on the cover of Hood Happenings, a magazine distributed here on Fort Hood. Famous. :)

Can you spot them?

There they are!

 

Ok back to catching up.

So once again for the week of May 7th I’m not really sure what we did for the most part. Sorry about that. Lets just skip to the weekend?

Friday was Lacey’s 2nd and last soccer game of the season! It had been rescheduled because of rain from the weekend before and I left the camera! I managed some cell phone pictures though! She didn’t want to play at first but she came around and did great! :)

 

As a side note she also must have been hungry because when she handed me her orange trash after a water break I noticed she ate more of the orange than she should have…

Gross.

Then Saturday I was excited because we had JDs birthday party to go to! It started at 3 and guess what happened at 2:45? Mollie picked up the iron and sustained a pretty serious burn. :(

We had to go to the er! I felt really bad. I had been ironing and I unplugged the iron but it hadn’t cooled and Jim called me from our bedroom. I got as far as the hallway when I heard Mollie. Luckily her burn has been healing.

In the emergency room they kept her for a while trying to determine if it was a 2nd or 3rd degree burn. She even saw a surgeon and there was talk of sending us to a burn unit in Dallas! I learned a few things about burns that day. The surgeon was mostly concerned because Mollie didn’t appear to be able to feel anything when he touched the burn. She wasn’t complaining at all. He was even able to remove a piece of skin without her flinching! I was happy Mollie wasn’t in pain but worried about the severity. (She’s getting better though! That means it was a 2nd degree burn and not a 3rd degree thank goodness!)

Dramatic cell phone pictures in the er.

(I have  picture of the burn but I shall spare you the gore.)

We did get a chance to stop by the party around 6ish after the er. Lacey and Mollie acted like nothing even happened! JD’s solar system party was super cute and we got to give him our gift. So that was good!

Things got even more exciting for the Sullivan’s that night. Shelly’s water broke 7 weeks early! Little Andy was born on May 14th! He had to spend a while in the NICU and gave everyone quite the scare but I am happy to report that yesterday he got to go home! Horary! Isn’t he cute? (Shelly sent me this picture when he was born.)

Sunday was Mother’s Day! It was great! The girls made me beautiful wine glasses and I got lots of cards and a gift certificate for a massage plus brunch at the officer’s club! We also took a family picture. :)

After brunch we paid a visit to grandma!

   

It was a pretty awesome Mother’s Day if you ask me!

The next week was another snoozer. There was all the normal things and I didn’t manage to get out the camera too much. I’ll get better I promise!

The girls and I met up with Grandma for lunch at Chuck E Cheese though! Always a blast! I also got this picture of one committed grandma. :)

We did get a little excitement in the middle of the week too when we went to the community theater production of Pinkalicous! The girls LOVED it!

They danced before the show started with their pinkalicous wands!

During intermission Daddy told some funny jokes. :)

  

And after Lacey even go to hug Pinkalicous!

 

I don’t know what we did Friday but Saturday we did a family 5k! We even took Penny!

The girls fell asleep on the 5k…

 

oh well!

Saturday night Jim and I went to the regiment’s birthday party! Didn’t we look snazzy?

It was a lot of fun. There appeared to be about 10 times as much alcohol as food. I think this was especially evident towards the end of the evening… :)

Sunday we just recovered from our 5k and the birthday party. But we did manage to get a sweet picture of the eclipse!

We didn’t get to see the full eclipse like the west coast but still pretty cool!

Monday the girls got to hang out a Jim’s work. I had a doctors appointment for what I believed was an ear infection so Jim watched the girls at work while I did that. I took some pictures of his work when I got them…

This is what happened when Mollie took one step on the floor.

This is why. It’s the parking lot they’ve been repaving since forever. They also decided to redo the sidewalks in the front of the building at the same time. You basically can’t get in the building without being covered in dirt.

This is the vending machine. Lots of choices…

Jim has to tape his drawer closed!

  

Needless to say I think Jim’s office miiiight need a little work!

Later in the week (I think Tuesday or Wednesday) the girls tortured Grandpa with some stickers. He was a good sport though. :)

Thursday Lacey had her end of season Soccer pizza party and got a trophy! She loved it!

That brings us to this weekend! Friday we got to go dinner with Phil, Autumn and their girls. It was oh so yummy! We ate at a nice Italian restaurant in Copperas Cove. It was great food and even better company!

Saturday the fun meals continued! The girls had a special Luau lunch at Grandmas!

Yum!

Sunday we had a BBQ at our house. The Edmondsons and the Abbatacolas came over and I didn’t manage 1 picture! Shame on me. It was lots of fun though! The kids splashed around in the pool while all the adults got to talk. All around a good time!

Today we spent the day at Grandma’s playing with the slip n slide!

So much fun!

Pluuuusss Jim and I got to sneak away to a movie! We saw What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I thought it was super funny and sweet! I recommend it.

Annnnd now you are pretty much caught up! I’ll do my best to keep you in the loop from now on and be sure to be on the look out for an announcement about what the Gallagher family will be doing this summer coming up next! :)

It’s Been A While… (Warning This is Going To Be a Long One)

Looks like I owe you a few updates huh? (Stick with me through the updates and I’ll do some explaining I promise!)

Well let me give it my best shot a few posts at a time!

Wednesday and Thursday we kept a low profile because we worried Miss Mollie may have contracted a mild case of whopping cough. Mollie wasn’t too uncomfortable but she made that horrible whopping sound from the commercial Tuesday night and I decided better safe than sorry. The doctor agreed and started her on the medication that doesn’t actual treat the illness but keeps it from spreading. We didn’t get the test results back until like 2 weeks later. Turns out it wasn’t whopping cough. Thank goodness! I DO NOT want to be a public health concern!

Mollie was quarantined but Lacey did make Soccer practice Thursday and was oh so adorable.

Friday we were suppose to make story time but Lacey slept in and I didn’t have the motivation to wake a sleepy child, who is almost always grumpy when you do, to drag her to the library when she was tired. I want her to like the library! We did manage to do some fun stuff Friday though! We went to Month of the Military Fest! It’s our third year going!

Here are the girls last year.

And the year before. How small were they?

This year didn’t disappoint either! We had lots of fun!

We had snow cones. (Side note: I love that the girls are tolerating their sunglasses longer and longer these days!)

Then we listened to a story and we even got to take a copy of the book home!

 

We golfed and you won’t believe it but with the help of the nice guy running the golf game Lacey got a hole in one! Mollie did pretty awesome too!

 

Lacey LOVED her prize from the golf game.

 

The girls danced like crazy people when of all things a Lady GaGa song came on!

 

We enjoyed a display about butterflies.

 

And some free food!

Later the girls even got to wear the shirts I got them to bed. They have shirts from every year!

 

Saturday and Sunday Jim had to work. Boo. It was some big expensive war games situation. Bottom line it was just us girls. Saturday I managed to make Celebrate Killeen Fest. It was insanely hot so we only managed a few activities before I had to get out of there. I think the girls still had fun though!

Sunday I had planned on making it to Turtle Fest (lots of fests right?) but I didn’t. We bummed around instead cause I was tired. Oh well.

Soooo I don’t have much idea what we did that next week. I have some pictures from a day at the playground, some soccer practice pictures, some fun with silly string and a few of the girls playing hopscotch and that’s pretty much it so you’re gonna have to draw your own conclusions about the week. This is what happens when you don’t blog for a month. But just cause I know they are your favorite part here are the pictures!

 

I have lots of pictures from Saturday! That was Lacey’s first soccer game!!!! I was so proud of both Jim and Lacey. Jim did a great job coaching and Lacey did great playing! (For the record we are not suppose to keep score but Jim assures me our team won. )

Also Lacey is in 2 different color jerseys because we had to share a player with the other team and all the kids took turns playing for the other team. 3-4 year old soccer is super competitive. :)

When your Dad is the coach you get hugs in the middle of the game. :)

 

Every time either time coach put a goalie in they immediately had to hang on the goal like this. I thought it was funny.

Lacey kicked the ball right after this!

How cute is that run?

Sunday we kept the good times rolling with a trip to Sea World! We are determined to use up our season pass before it expires! I get to bring a guest so we didn’t pay admission and parking is free with the season pass too! (Side note: good for you still reading at this point! You’re dedicated!)

    

We had so much fun!

I don’t think blogger will let me squeeze any more pictures in this already ridiculously long post. Sooooo I will continue the catch up in the next post!