[Disclaimer: Finding Mandee is reader-supported, if you purchase through links on my site I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.]
We are 3 months into this deployment. And what a looonnggg 3 months it has been!
Murphy’s Law hits hard every time Heff leaves and this time was no exception.
But we’ve also had some really good moments and have been able to mark several items off of our Deployment Bucket List.
So, here’s a deployment update:
Month 1: December
The first 2 weeks after Heff left, we were really sad. The girls were in school, dance, and gymnastics, so life continued as ‘normal’. Getting ready for Christmas and planning a trip home also kept me extra busy.
Then the sickness hit.
Both the kids had a snotty nose, cough, and sore throats, but tested negative for Covid, flu, and strep. Then I got whatever it was and lost my voice completely.
However, we still managed to go home to Florida for Christmas. And we marked these 8 items off of the deployment bucket list:
- #2: see some Christmas lights
- #4: celebrate New Year’s Eve
- #8: make a deployment wall
- #18: make a deployment countdown
- #31: adopt a Christmas Angel
- #44: make a gingerbread house
- #55: take the girls to get their nails done
- #74: do an escape room
- we also sent our first care package (1/9)
- walked 25.73 miles (25/250)
- read 6 books (6/30)
Month 2: January
We were starting to feel better by the first week of January. However, true to Murphy’s Law, a few weeks after getting back from our Christmas trip, we all got sick again.
All of the same symptoms, except this time Lainey was running a fever. So, I took her to the doctor and this time, she tested positive for Covid. We were looking at 10 days of quarantine and virtual school.
Thankfully, I have the best friend in the world and since her kids were virtual schooling too (and had just had the Rona), she drove down from Missouri to keep us company!
We couldn’t go out and do much, but we had a good time just being together. And we were able to visit the zoo (since you don’t get out of your car anyway)!
Here is what we marked off of the bucket list:
- #1: make a sick kit (which we promptly used)
- #7: celebrate Lainey’s 11th birthday
- sent our second care package (2/9)
- walked 22.07 miles (47/250)
- read 4 books (10/30)
Month 3: February
February was a better month….though it didn’t go by without any sickness.
I’m NOT kidding. My kids had a cold…AGAIN.
I don’t know if it’s lingering Covid or what, but they’ll get rid of their snotty noses for maybe a week, and then it comes right back. It’s awful!
Lainey also started the winter soccer season. That along with continuing dance and physical therapy, plus Lyvi’s gymnastics keeps us busy pretty much every day of the week!
Here’s what we marked off of our deployment bucket list:
- #9: celebrate Valentine’s Day
- #49: let the girls have a sleepover
- tried 2 new recipes (2/9)
- sent our 3rd care package (3/9)
- walked 37.31 miles (85/250)
- I’ve successfully cultivated 1 new habit – drinking more water!
- read 3 books (13/30)
We’re nowhere near where we need to be on marking items off of our deployment bucket list. But hopefully, with the weather warming up, the kids will start feeling better and we can get out and do more.
It was a rough first couple of months, but hopefully, they only get better (and faster) from here on out!
More Updates:
