Team Tieman: The good, the bad, the ugly....

Well,

I've come to the conclusion that I'm terrible at this blogging thing. Hopefully, I'll get a little better. It's hard to find time to update with a hyper 2 1/2 year old bouncing off the walls! So, now that Jake is finally out for the night, I'd thought I'd do a little update. When I started this blog, I never intended for it to come off as a blog to showcase my perfect, little family. In fact I wanted to do the complete opposite. Sometimes staying at home all day, every day with a toddler gets old and you gotta vent! Since, the hubby is gone I thought I'd start a blog to write the good, the bad, and the ugly about being an army wife and mother of an almost 3 yr old-yikes!! Let's face it... life ain't perfect, and if you think it should be then good luck! Life is crazy, messy, terrible, wonderful, and so much more. Sorry getting on a rant, but I'm not here to prove anything or to create an image that fits in with what I think is socially acceptable. With that said, A LOT has happened in the past month! It's been very bittersweet, but mostly bitter. Eric is now in Afghanistan, where he'll be for a year. Some days are good for me, but somedays aren't so good. I try to stay positive and as busy as I can. However, sometimes if I have too much idle time or if Jake is especially crazy, then it hits me that my husband is going to be gone ANOTHER year. Eric joined the army about a year ago, and since he's been gone we've been able to spend all together about a month with each other. We've had plenty of dates via skype and have been able to communicate pretty often, but sometimes after a long day you just want to be able to be kick back, watch a movie, and cuddle on the couch with your significant other. When Eric finally gets back from this deployment, it will be almost two years that we've been apart from each other. People ask what it's like being married, and honestly I have no idea. I can't wait until the day that we're finally together again as a family in our OWN home. The count down is on!! Some of the sweeter parts of this past month are the two new additions to our family.We now have a dog, Hamp, and a cat, Chloe. If it was up to me, I would rescue all the homeless cats and dogs I could, but I'm not sure my family would appreciate that. My mom likes to call me snow white, because ever since I was little I've always brought new pets home in attempts to rescue them and give them a better life. In my defense though, it was my grandma who brought the dog home this time. Both are very sweet pets that we adopted from friends and family. It feels good to have pets again, since our dog and cat passed away last year. RIP Sally and Wendy- we love & miss you! Swear I'm not a crazy cat/dog lady! HA. Jake absolutely loves our new pets! Chloe, adopted from my best friend's sister-Lindsey, is very sweet, but has a bit of a cattitude sometimes (when she likes to make an appearance)! On the other hand though, I think Jake has a new best friend. Hamp, our half blue heeler/half red heeler, is great with Jake and even plays in the sand box with him. Well, more like he lets Jake pour sand all over him-he's a good sport. Hamp came from my family's farm. He was the runt out of all the dogs and was pretty much picked on and bullied by all of the other dogs (two being territorial WOLF dogs-poor thing!) My cousin practically begged my grandma to take him with her, so he wouldn't be killed by the others. So, Hamp is a little shy, but very sweet. However, being that he's been on a farm for the past two years, he's never been on a leash or worn a collar. We're in the process of getting him use to both! Here's some pics of the last month and of our new family members!