Settling In Michigan

We're getting settled into our new home fairly well now. The boys are getting adjusted. I've loved having family around and have had so much help with the kids lately and hope that it doesn't die off in the next couple weeks when everyone decides having us here isn't so fun anymore!


Mackinley is going to be 8 months old on Friday and is amazing. She is 16lb 12 oz, finally growing at a great pace! And she's 27 inches long. She can crawl like a champ now and is eating really well too. She's now onto bite sized baby puffs and crackers as well as jars of all sorts of baby food and seems to be okay with eating any flavor though she prefers some over others.




Before Kirke left it was so obnoxiously funny that as soon as he got home and she heard his voice or caught sight of him she'd start whining and crying until he picked her up. Now she's doing it to me and it's not so funny anymore!




Korbin is very happy with his move to first grade and enjoys going to school now. Tayton likes school too and they are both where they need to be! Their teachers seem to enjoy them and that makes me incredibly happy and at ease.




Kirke is getting settled as well. He's working very very long days and eats lunch while he works most days (which is really gross because he's a mechanic but whatever). He has been getting online or calling us nearly everyday but only has been catching the boys on weekends of course. This deployment is especially hard on him because he's never had to leave behind a baby before. The boys were 3 and almost 2 the first time he went, the second time they were 5 and 7 I think.

My only problem is that I'm living just a few houses from where I always considered "home" but I feel out of place. I felt out of place in NY too but that was a lack of friends and a social life. Here it should feel like home. I have my own house and all of my things are here. I think the real reason is that Kirke has never lived here. He's never seen our house. Our bedroom feels like "my room" not "ours". There is a hole in our lives right now. There usually is during a deployment but this time it feels different. I feel like we don't have all the pieces.

But don't get me wrong. I am so glad that I am here in Michigan surrounded by family and friends. It just doesn't feel right. I miss my soldier.

~Till They All Come Home~