What have we been up to?

A whole bunch of nothin'!

The past couple of weeks have flown by with Bryan at Ft. Stewart. Jack and I spend our days eating, sleeping, cleaning and so forth. On the weekends, Bryan came home. This last weekend was his last one here. Laid low, for the most part. We started the long weekend off by going to St. Simons Island. The weather was crap - so no time for the beach or anything else. However, it was great to get away from all the distractions in our house. No dishes, laundry or staring at the elephant in the room [Bryan's packed bags waiting for him to take to Mississippi]. So, we made use of the quaint hotel room ... ate out, took a walk, and got a great night's sleep. Let's not forget that this was Jack's FIRST overnight visit somewhere! It was good practice to see what we needed to pack. (Jack and I will be heading to NJ and MN at the end of the month)

The Village Inn & Pub, St. Simons Island, Georgia

Some trees with very large vines in the park

Bryan and Jack watching TV

Steph and Jack ... Jack obviously annoyed by me for some reason.

We spent the rest of the weekend at home. We took the night off and got a sitter come Friday (thanks, Miriam) and spent the evening with some of the guys from Bryan's unit. The weather was still pretty crappy - didn't make for much fun outside. Bryan, Tom and Matthew went to the gun show on Saturday. Jack and I stayed in our PJs. Then we hung out on the couch all night long and watched movies while the storms rolled through. The thunder and lightening were crazy. Our neighbors house got hit a couple of times by lightening. The thunder was so ridiculous it was knocking pictures off of the walls and making the glasses in the cabinet shake. It was rather creepy.

(I came to realize that we had only two pictures of us as a family ...
so we had a makeshift photo shoot on the couch - pretty disappointing)

Sunday, the sun came out - finally. We enjoyed the weather and Bryan packed his last minute items. The flowers that Lindsay and I planted in the front yard are finally blooming! Together, Lindsay and I planted 100 tulips and 100 daffodils; for those of you who don't know ... we did it the day before I was admitted to the hospital - hmm... I am thinking Jack was pretty pissed for my crawling around my yard all afternoon and wanted revenge. But - it was worth it! Beautiful flowers and a beautiful boy! :)



Then, Monday morning Bryan left for Mississippi. It was tough on all of us. Bryan is finally accepting how much Jack will change and grow while he is gone and I am accepting that Jack and I will come home to only Peanut and Mac. The house is definitely quiet without Bryan. He will be in MS for approximately 45 days. At one point, he 'should' get a pass. I say that loosely. So, we will hopefully see him in May. Maybe I'll get that family picture.

BUT ... on a lighter note:
Jack and I have SO much to look forward to. We are getting visits from family and friends during the month of April. Kim, Ryan, Pete, Christine, Adriana, Sophia, Ann, Matt, Drew and maybe Keeb will be coming to meet our little man. Then, grandma and grandpa Arends will stop in again. At the end of the month, Jack will take his first plane ride to NJ to meet some more family and celebrate great-grandma Jane's 80th birthday. We'll follow that trip up with one to MN to meet even MORE family and celebrate Laura and Aaron's wedding! Hip, hip hooray! I'll get back just in time to go back to work May 5 and come June I will be reattempting to start my Masters. :)