Brooke and I had the wonderful chance to go up and visit Daddy this last weekend. It couldn't have come sooner! If Kip was not such an amazing help and such an amazing Daddy he would not be missed as much as he has been. I am grateful every moment for him in my life!! I have decided in this time apart from him that I have all the respect in the world for all the Single Mom's or a Military Wife's out there! Like my own Mother that I have a new found respect for. I think if I did not have a child I could maybe handle it, I feel like I am independent enough and secure enough in our relationship that I could handle it alone for a period of time, but since we have a little girl that ADORES her Daddy, that is what makes this the hardest! It is so sad to see her confused about why Daddy is not coming home, why she only gets to talk to him on the phone, why our nightly routine is disrupted, it makes me SO SAD when she hears a motorcycle go by and asks if it is Daddy, or when she stands at the front door and says "See Daddy?". How do you explain all this to a 19 month old that loves her Daddy and needs her Daddy! Don't get me wrong, I have missed him with all my heart! I love him SO much and appreciate him SO much more than I even did before!
It was a wonderful trip. I LOVE KIP'S FAMILY!!!! Bobby, Cindy, and each of their kids are AMAZING and SO much fun! I felt like I was in my own home when I was there! What amazing people they are! I can't wait to see them again! I was grateful that I got to eat at Cafe Rio a few times :) But most of all I was SO grateful to spend time with my love. I was grateful to see him and Brooke together, always heart melting! I LOVED my cuddle time with him, not sleeping alone in bed, his kisses goodnight and goodmorning, our family prayers, all of it! It was fun to go to the Mall and see the job he is managing. I am SO impressed that he knows how to Project Manage the building of an entire store from the shell of the walls to the smallest details of a store! My man is AMAZING!
So, I think I was too excited while I was there that I did not even think to pull out my camera till the last day there! We spent a lot of time at the parks out there, we spent a ton of time with family, we played card games, told LOTS of stories, and spent A TON OF TIME in The "Raaarrrr" Room!!!!
Here are the photo's I got the last day when I finally remembered to pull out my camera to capture a few moments. All the pictures are of Daddy with Brooke, which to me was what was the most important to capture, plus, Im always the photographer :)
Here we are playing at the park behind Bobby and Cindy's house. It is SO COOL, they literally have a gate in their backyard that takes you out to this park! Super convenient! We spent a lot of time working with Brooke on what we called "Slide Therapy". Brooke had a fall down a super tall slide right before Daddy left for Arizona. I don't know what happened half way down the slide but she began tumbling head over feet, and ended on the bottom of the slide skidding on her face. She had a black eye and a scrape on her arm from it as well as slide TRAUMA!!! For a time we could not even get her to walk back up the stairs of any toy at any parks. I would love to say that I think we have gotten her bravery back. Today she was loving the slide! This day in Arizona at the park with Daddy we made the most progress!
And here Brooke is in her favorite room in their house. She called it The "Raaarrr" Room! She was not at all afraid of the array of animals in there, we actually had to keep a close eye on her to make sure she did not try to mount and ride them :) Kip's Uncle Bobby is a big hunter, you can tell he is pretty good and take pride in it :) Here are some funny pictures in the room! O' and every morning when Brooke would wake up, the second we would walk in sight of the room she would yell "Raaarrrr" it was SO funny!
So there it is, we love our Daddy, we miss our Daddy, and we are SO grateful we got to go visit him! I am glad we had the finances to do it, were able to make it too and from safely, as well as the amazing chance we got to get to know family better!
5 comments:
I am so glad that the slide therapy has been good for miss brooke and that she is well on the way to recovery. And the Raaaarrr room....what to say?? That is A LOT of dead animals! The look on Brookies face in the big picture....Classic! I am just glad that someone Makenna's age didn't have to see this room. How would I explain that to her??? Without inducing tears or fear of course? :)
dads are the best. glad kip has the work though!
I understand about how much Brooke misses her Daddy. I was a Navy wife. The longest Gary was gone at a time was 5 months. (!) This was when Daniel was a baby. We did not know yet that he was autistic, but we did know that he did not like change! He did not talk much, even as he got older, he really did not care much for talking, but as his teachers said, you could almost see the gears turning. You KNEW he was taking in a lot. And his Daddy was gone! After Gary returned home, Daniel pitched a fit whenever he saw Gary in uniform. Uniform meant Daddy was going to work. He might be home that night, but he might not be home for months! And we could NOT talk on the phone when he was gone! I'm glad that y’all can talk on the phone with Kip while he’s been gone, and that y'all got to visit with him. (And the Raaarrr room is priceless! Glad Brooke’s not afraid.)
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