So far...

... this deployment hasn't been as bad as I'd expected. I'm not saying it's been a cake-walk either (because OMG IT SURE HASN'T), but my expectations going into it were: cry all day long and then drink wine all night long and have screaming children all day long, lather, rinse, repeat. I'm happy to report that only one of those things is a constant and I can honestly tell you that it's not the wine part (sadly). Or the crying part. My kids are definitely needy little creatures though.

Since doing the Advent calendar thing, I'm sure might appear that I've got my ahem, "stuff" together and I'm rockin' and rollin' all night long over here. (But I don't because haaaaaaaa who has time to stay up late for anything when you could be sleeping?!) We most certainly have good days when we do playdates and get laundry done and I cook dinner and we all shower. But other days we have not-so-good days.

Days where we eat hot dogs for dinner (just hot dogs, and sometimes, just ketchup if your name ends in Sam).
Nights where people summon me to their rooms only to present me with handfuls of poop.
Days where I lose track of how many times I drop the f bomb.
Nights when I look at my bed and wonder whyyyyyy my husband isn't in it.
Days where I wish I had caffeine test strips for my breast milk because I'd suddenly started a coffee diet.
Nights where tiny people wake up screaming and I can't figure out what's wrong with them.
Days without showers. Multiple days straight without showers. (As in, sometimes many more than two, my apologies to everyone in the greater Ft Campbell area.)
Nights spent wondering what that noise was.
Days watching my kids do new cute things and not grabbing my phone or camera fast enough to capture it for their daddy.

Despite all of that, I feel comfortable saying that I think we're past the point of just surviving and are thriving. I'd be lying if I said this was easy or that I sometimes look at the calendar and days have passed before I've realized it. No. This phenomenon people keep telling me about where days turn into weeks that turn into months that fly by before your eyes- that is not happening here. (Quit it with the lies, people.) But we have finally hit a deployment milestone. Although I can't share which one it is (OPSEC), I'm sure you're still excited nonetheless and will eat a piece of chocolate (or hell, the whole box) on my behalf.