Family Update

The kids are in bed and I'm on my new laptop watching HGTV. We are dadless for a while now and trying to get into our deployment groove. We've already had a busy Memorial Weekend with a birthday party, church, and just playing. Not sure what tomorrow will bring for us yet. We have another busy week ahead of us though with a train trip and birthday party!

Zack

Just a few days ago we got the results of the advancement test he took in March. And yes it takes them that long to put out the results to everyone! It was the second try for making First Class. For his rate, it had been very difficult to make First...and the chance of making it the first time were nil. The Navy advanced a lot of people this go around...things opened up a bit...and he made it by quite a lot. The results are supposed to come out right around June 1st...they are always a bit early though. The whole week before the results come out the rumors on the ship spread like crazy...the advancement results are out...no they aren’t....well, so and so said they were. And on and on! Finally the rumors all lined up to a specific date and time...and we both waited up separately to search through the list of AT's to find his name. Well I was on fb chatting and waiting with one of my neighbors...waiting to see if our hubby's made it! He is super excited to have made it! There are a lot of things going on right now on the ship...and everyone is stressing to get the work done. So this bit of good news was much needed for him. He is gone now and seems to be really busy. He left for a few days a two or so weeks ago and his comment was that he was working with a bunch of "idiots". His words not mine. He admits he doesn't have a lot of patience...and some of the guys were testing what little he had. Now that he made First he will be put in charge of a shop...and hopefully be able to run it his way...the Gogel way! LOL!

Noah

With Zack's crazy work schedule these past six months Noah hasn't really noticed that Zack has left. He understands so much more this go around than last summer. He knows that Zack is on the boat at work...on the water...and the airplanes fly off the ship. I showed him pictures of the ship today and he was happy and excited to see it. But he still wants to drive past the pier to see "Daddy's boat"...he's not quite there yet! He's recently mastered knowing up and down...and which things are on the ground and which things are in the sky. He's been pointing out that flowers grow down on the ground...and birds fly up in the sky with the moon and stars (he LOVES stars!). We have a small little turtle that projects stars and a moon on the wall and ceiling of his room at night. I've asked him what comes out during the day in the sky and he says...clouds and more, more, more rain! We had a lot of spring rainy days and are just now getting into the rainy season. He's in a coloring stage and colors a lot during the day...I still love to color! He's moved from a fist grip of the crayon to an actual pencil grip. Noah has suddenly decided that his name is two. He used to say his name. It was super clear though and came out No. And he knew he was two. Well now he insists that his name is two...and once his mind is set on something it's impossible to change his mind. I've tried working with him but I think it's a game for him. I've said...what's mommy's name...mommy. what's daddy's name...daddy. Noah, what's your name...two! LOL

Caraline

She recently just turned 7mths old. Zack was able to experience month 3-7 for the first time. Between the both of them he'll still miss on 3 months between birth and 12 months. She is getting ready to crawl. She can go backwards and can get up on her knees. Right now she is digging in her toes, pushing up, and then throwing herself forward. Noah crawled at 7.5mths and I think she'll be right around there too. We'll see. She loves her bink. Noah wasn't super attached to it but Caraline loves hers. She likes to suck on her fingers. I'd rather her not be a thumb sucker because you can't take away the thumb...so she sucks on the bink instead. I am also doing signing with Caraline...right now when I sign to her...her response is a smile. When I ask her if she's hungry and wants to eat...she either does nothing or smiles as a yes. She is going through the separation anxiety thing now...and even cries in the stroller sometimes if she "forgets" that I'm there. This is also happening at night. She will cry for five or so seconds and then stop. If I don't go to her to pat her back then she'll cry again for five seconds. This continues until I go in and let her know that I'm still there. Noah is one of her favorite people. He goofs off just to hear her laugh...and then says..I'm funny! She also likes to hold his hand and they often sit on the couch right before bed holding hands. And I've forgotten to mention that she has hair! You can't really see it though since its bleach blond...yes bleach blond!

Me

I'm happy that the pre-deployment craziness is over. The whole last few weeks before deployment is stressful physically and emotionally. We're both running around trying to accomplish those last few things that need to get done and getting him ready to go. Emotionally it's tough too because your trying to make each day perfect...trying to fit in a few days’ worth of things into one day. And it never goes perfectly! But he's gone now and we're getting into our grove. As I mentioned before he left for a few days a few weeks ago. And even in that short amount of time we were in the groove...and then he came home and we had to adjust again...and then he left again and then we have to adjust yet again! My desktop computer acted up near the beginning of April and I took it to the NEX to be fixed. After a long wait I finally found out that it was going to have to be sent off to HP to get a part. Between the cost of shipping, labor, and parts it just wasn't worth the money. I had him transfer the hard drive data and I got a new laptop, which I'm in love with! My parents arrive on June 3rd and I am looking forward to spending this next week getting ready for that visit. I'm beyond excited to see them...it's been almost a year. I'm very close to my parents and talk to them just about every other day on the phone. They have yet to see Caraline...so has pretty much all of our family except Grandma Betsy and Kristen. Noah talks to both of them on the phone. He'll be in heaven with the both of them here. They both have military ID's and it will be nice for them to have full access to the base. They won't be able to drive here though. With Zack's schedule I haven't had much of any break for the last 6 months. He helps when he can but it's been exhausting. It's almost been like a deployment and now we've just started the real deployment. I'm also looking forward to having some help all day for the next month. It will help me get a bit refreshed to finish this out. Our neighborhood is mostly sea duty families however my next door neighbor is on shore duty. So he's the neighborhood "man" of the house! You know all those things that you need a man to help you with? I tried for quite a while with my pink tool kit to get the hose off of the outside faucet...couldn't budge it. He came over today took the hose off from me and hooked up the new one. While in VA Beach, I would wait until a maintenance man would come and say...oh, by the way could you open this jar for me? Zack always puts the lids on super tight and so he'll leave and then I'm stuck with a jar that I can't open!

I think that just about wraps up what's going on with us. The kids are changing daily and weekly. Noah is changing into a little boy and out of toddler hood...crazy since last summer he looked like a baby. Caraline is growing rapidly as well!