We are in

We are in our house. I am not exactly thrilled with our house, but it will do until next year. It was filthy when we toured it. We were told it would be cleaned, but it wasn't cleaned...at least not to my standard. The good news they shouldn't be expecting perfection when we move out. We took pictures and sent an email about our displeasure. Our stuff arrived Tuesday and only a few things were broken. The biggest thing that pissed me off was our mattresses.  When they packed, they did not bring mattresses boxes or tv boxes. We protested about the mattresses. They wanted to wrap them in furniture pads and then shrink wrap them. We said no. We wanted them in boxes for protection from dirt and bed bugs. Finally we agreed to shrink wrapping them for the trip to San Antonio and once at the warehouse they would put them in boxes. It was not done. I was pissed. We told the movers here to leave the mattresses in the garage until we could buy those vinyl covers. Our mattresses are now covered so if we did pick up bed bugs they should be dead. Also we are finding things in the wrong boxes. Luckily we have everything except our dog pen. It was surrounded by another family's belongings so they will deliver it later (hopefully).

All in all we are starting to get settled. It is taking longer since we had to do a deep cleaning first instead of just surface cleaning. The house is starting to come together and I am hoping we can start to explore our new city soon. Pp

Moved...

Well we made it to Jacksonville!  We are currently staying at the Lodge on base until we can move into a home. Our trip was pretty uneventful which is great. We spent the night in New Orleans. Apparently that weekend there was a dog show. The hotel we stayed in was full of dogs. Rowdy and Pepper were in heaven. Thankfully they settled down so we all slept. Things weren't so great when we arrived here. It turns out the reservation for the hotel was made for the incorrect date and my husband never noticed when he printed the confirmation. Unfortunately this is not new for him. This is the third or forth time he has done something like this. I am starting to think I need to reserve rooms from now on. Anyway, they didn't have any pet rooms left, but they gave us a non-pet room. We had to pay up front for the room which I was not prepared for. We also have not received our travel advance yet so everything has been out of pocket. They made my husband check out earlier than stated on his orders which meant the money wasn't ready in time. I woke up this morning to see our bank account at zero. It was not a great feeling. We had enough in savings to put a security deposit down on a house and they are letting us wait until the money comes in to pay rent. However that means we are stuck in the prepaid hotel room until Friday when hopefully the money is in. We were hoping to be out of here by tomorrow so we could get some money back, but at least we do have a place to stay while waiting. The house we are renting is in a pretty nice area. It isn't the exact house I was hoping for, but it will do. I can tell that a dog and kids have been living in it. It is pretty beat up, but they lowered the rent and they will let us paint. Hannah has been begging for a pink room. We are trying to get used to living in a big city again. Traffic here is crazy! That will definitely take some getting used to. The other good news is we will receive most of our rent back from our last house. We lived in base housing so our rent was paid by allotment. They had already received our money for August before we moved. They held onto it until their inspection so they can take the money they need for repairs and then refund the rest to us. When we moved in they didn't require a security deposit if you pay by allotment. It will be nice to have that money back again. I will say this, if you are ever stationed in Corpus Christi avoid the housing there. Their pest control is horrible! I know that bugs are bad in the south, but we had ants living in our walls and from what I hear it is a common problem. We had them coming out of our baseboard in the master bedroom, they came out of the door jam in the back door (the day before our movers arrived), the electrical outlet in the master bedroom, and a light switch in the living room. This is after they sprayed. It was disgusting.  I know I will have to deal with ants here because it is the south still, but I really hope I don't have that level of infestation again.

And one last kick to the head is I am sick. Of course. It happened when we moved from Florida to Texas and now from Texas to Florida. Also, if you are pulling a trailer you better stop at the agriculture inspection station when entering the state. I didn't thinking it was only for commercial trucks. Turns out I was wrong. I was quickly pulled over, and given a warning. Thank goodness he didn't give me a ticket.

Moving

The movers are scheduled to arrive Wednesday which means we are scrambling to grab all the stuff we want to take with us. We have narrowed down our house search. Hopefully our favorite is still available next week. We are ready to head to Jacksonville. I can't wait to see what the city has to offer.

Winging

6 days ago my husband received his wings of gold and became a Naval Aviator.  It was a chaotic and crazy day, but it was worth it. Hannah did not behave through most of the day's activities. Luckily the CO was very pro-family and didn't mind if kids ran around during the ceremony. He actually told me to let her do it since he didn't expect a 3 year old to sit still. She didn't sit still, but at least she was quiet. She decided to crawl under the chairs. Meeghan though stole the show. She would cry every time I stopped holding her. I was supposed to be the one to pin on the wings. I decided to take her with me so she would stay quiet. My husband held her while I attempted to pin on the wings. She dropped her toy and gave the CO quite a look when he handed the toy back to her. I guess everyone thought it was pretty cute.  I do give my kids credit for behaving as well as they did. The ceremony started at 3 which is right in the middle of nap time. They were tired, but they pulled through.

Trying to pin the wings. Meeghan dropping her toy.

The wings! Did you know they go 1/4 of an inch above the ribbons? I tried my hardest to get it right.

The family with the bay behind us

As for me, I was exhausted and cranky.  And terrified. I had no idea just how scary it can be to have a room full of people watching you pin a set of wings onto a uniform. I also didn't know just how thick the uniform is. I was struggling to get the darn thing on. I was shaking pretty bad which did not help. I hate having people stare at me while I do something like that. It's over though. He has his wings. He finally has his orders. Packers will be here in 6 days, and we leave Texas in 8 days. We are in moving mode. We are organizing, cleaning, throwing stuff out, and making unusual meals from whatever we can find in the freezer and fridge.

Packing

Our hallway upstairs

The house is quickly becoming a disaster area filled with boxes and paper.  We decided to move ourselves to make it easier to only unpack the essentials in Corpus Christi. We will only be there for around 5 months before moving to the next location (hopefully Jacksonville, FL).  We decided if we move ourselves than we can pack the non-essential stuff together and label it so we aren't sorting through boxes.  Now we have everything we need for the next few months organized into the same boxes.  It is a pain to try to pack with a toddler and an infant.  I feel like I get about 20 minutes to pack a day.  Wednesday I was able to pack my closet and that's it.  Plus it seems like we can't pack a lot until the last minute.  We still need clothes, we still need some toys for Hannah, and all the stuff we use for Meeghan can't be packed until the last minute.  Thank goodness our lease doesn't end until the end of the month so we can come back to get stuff or clean the last few weekends of the month.

Help!

I have a problem.  I have a few hundred ounces of breast milk in my freezer, and I am not sure the best way to move it.  The husband and I are thinking throw it in a cooler with some dry ice.  It is only an hour between here and the new place.  However, it is in the 70s and 80s here so it won't take long for the milk to warm if we don't do this correctly.  I really don't want to lose that milk.  Have any of you moved with a freezer stash of breast milk?  If so, how did you do it?

Orders

My husband has orders which means he will finally breathe a sigh of relief.  He never relaxes until he has orders.  (You know how the Navy likes to change its mind.)  We have decided to move ourselves since it is a short move.  Now here is what I don't get.  They gave him orders yesterday.  He must report by the 11th of February which is less than two weeks after receiving orders.  However, the time needed to process the paperwork for an advance on the move is 2 weeks.  Why does it take so long with the Navy?  When we moved ourselves to Florida from Kansas it took the Army just a few days to finish the paperwork, and we had money in plenty of time.  We moved one week after he received orders. I guess the Navy has its own timetable for things. We were told a house probably won't be available until the end of the month, and we paid rent to live here through the February, so we hopefully we won't have to stay in a hotel at all.  We are number 1 on the list.  I am excited to have a garage and a yard again.  No more taking the dogs out every few hours. I can open the door and tell them to go run around.  Hannah can play in the yard and I won't have to worry about her running into a parking lot.  We can walk to the store if we need something.  I am looking forward to the change.  It will be nice to live in a city again.  It is crazy to think that in a week I could be hauling boxes onto a truck and leaving Kingsville.

Last day

Today is my last full day in the hotel!  I am so freaking excited!  Hannah and I are going nuts in this room.  We take walks around the hotel for fresh air and exercise, but since we only have one car we are limited on what we can do when the husband is at work.  Luckily, we have found all the parks in town so when we do have the car we go to those.  Hannah is using all her excess energy to destroy everything.  I am trying to so hard to be patient, but I am losing the battle.  I can't wait to get the keys tomorrow, move what stuff we do have with us in, and pick up the dogs.  I miss my pups!  I just have to survive the next 24 hours.