We interrupt this blog...

Dear Faithful Blog Readers:

You may have been wondering what we've been up to lately & where we've been. Aside from my quick little "Tuck & Roll" update, I figured I need to fill you in on all the excitement (?) that has happened in the past 3 weeks.

On the 10th, Asher went to see his pediatrician for his 4 month checkup. Our boy had a little cough, but the Dr. listened to him and decided he sounded clear, and so it was probably something viral that we'd have to wait out. Asher jabbered the entire time, and Dr. A even noted what a talkative little fellow he is! Our lil man weighed in at 16.5 lbs & is now 24 1/8 inches tall (or short). He is in the 75th percentile for weight, but only the 10th percentile for height. We also got the go-ahead to try solid foods, so he has tried rice cereal, fresh pears, fresh banana & baby bananas & sweet potatoes. So far Asher hasn't met a food he doesn't like!

That evening after our Dr. appointment, we had plans to have our dear friends Erin & Justin over for some frozen lemonade pie. There had been lots of rain, and they were stopping by for their pie before heading up to Iowa City to do some shopping and meet up with some friends. While they visited, they got word that the restaurant they were to be meeting their friends at was taking on water. Shortly after that, Jake received a phone call alerting him that his Army National Guard unit was being activated for flood duty. He was to report the next morning.

The next morning, Wednesday, Jake left. We had no timetable and did not know where he would be going...just that he would be. He took two uniforms, two pairs of boots, and two pairs of "civies." I hoped he'd be back by the weekend to go to a wedding with me.

On Thursday I woke up feeling even worse than what I had been feeling. I had a cough, too, but figured I had whatever virus Asher had. Needless to say, at work that morning I was PRAYING there was something wrong with me because I felt completely miserable. I got a Dr. appointment for myself at 11 AM & lo and behold he diagnosed me with bronchitis and an ear infection. He sent me away with a script for antibiotics and I left to get it filled and pick up some gatorade, orange juice, chicken soup, Mucinex, and chocolate caramel ice cream (hey...a girl has to make herself feel better, right!?) I went home and crashed until 5 PM. Sometime during the day, my dad and brother stopped over to mow our lawn. That evening Asher was a trooper & let me be lazy and he napped, too. At some point that evening, we had a massive storm. And by massive I mean sheets of rain, booming thunder, crashing lightning, flash flooding, etc. Essentially, at 12:30 AM, I went to check the basement and walked into a sopping pool of water. Normally, we just turn on a wet/dry vac and we get the water draining through a hose outside (as our house doesn't have a sump pump). There was so much water and the hose was so long that I couldn't get it all coordinated by myself. I needed two people. At midnight, it was just me and the baby. I sucked it up, and called my dad. Asked him if I was doing something wrong...asked him how to start the suction. I said OK & hung up. I tried it. It didn't work. In tears, I called my dad back again, explained that it wasn't working, and asked for his help. He said he was on his way (later, I found out from my mom that he was already dressed & waiting for a second phone call....) He helped me rig up the hose and get the water suctioned out to the street (we had to do two dumps of the 18 gallon shop vac before we could begin sucking up the incoming water).

And so began the marathon pumping of water. We've had some water issues in our basement previously, but never have had the problem for as long as we did this time. There is a small hole in the floor where fresh ground water seeps up into, and this is where the majority of our water problem is. The only way I could figure out to keep the water from spreading all over the floor was to keep the wet/dry vac on with the hose in the hole while I went to work/slept, etc. The vacuum was running continuously from 12:30 AM Thursday-sometime around lunch on Monday when it died. Seriously.

My sister, brother, & dad came over while I was still at work and helped deal with the water. We had a portable sump pump on loan from a friend, but it couldn't run continuously. My mother in law brought over her wet/dry vac and canceled her afternoon/evening patients to help with the efforts. My mom picked Asher up from the sitter's house so that I could devote myself to the basement and other house projects. I don't know WHAT I would have done without family in this situation. Here I am, single mom'ing it, sicker than sick, and trying to battle a flood in my basement. Not ideal.

I wish I could say "I'm an amazing military wife who just pulls up the bootstraps when duty calls & does it!"...but I'm not. I fully admit I'm weak. I'm pretty helpless sometimes. I occassionally suck at life. I don't even know how to start the lawn mower, let alone mow my own grass. And so, again, major kudos to my mom, dad, mother in law, sister & brother who totally pitched in when it was needed. I cannot fully express to them how much their help meant, but it meant a lot.

Dad and brother spent Monday night on the couch in the basement, taking turns suctioning water out of the hole every 5, 7, 8, 10 minutes. They timed the increments as they began getting longer and longer. D thought it was great because he got to hang out in the "Man Cave" with Jake's big screen TV, video games, and movies, plus a little Cherry Pepsi. It was heaven for a 13 year old boy! D continued with the suctioning while I went to work, and my dad took a half day to come "assist" (by napping on the couch!) :) They attempted to rig up a timer system, but there issues with that as well...Eventually on Tuesday, the water had gone down enough and wasn't filling up so fast. They were able to create a way for the water to be routed to a floor drain once/if it got high enough to overflow the hole. It makes me tear up just knowing that they engineered this little maneuver all themselves. Finally, a week later, the water had stopped coming in. Again, thank you to the family members who helped me out...I am so not deserving of the help, but am forever appreciative!

Meanwhile, Jake was stationed in Cedar Rapids on flood duty. The city was beyond sandbagging, and no matter where you are in the US, you've probably heard/seen stories/photos of the damage done by flood waters in CR. Jake's unit was tasked with evacuating patients from the hospital, security checkpoints, general security with CR PD, etc. 6 days after he left for flood duty, he was informed that he would be on federal orders for 21 more days, which would take us through July 6th. The tought of being a single parent terrifies me, even knowing it just for a limited time. There is no one to "pass off" to when the baby pukes all over you. There is no one to take over when you can't stand one more moment of the whining. There is no one to assist with bathtime in the morning as you're trying to make it out the door on time each day. It made me miss my husband so very much.

Luckily, his duty was cut short. He was able to return home on Saturday, 10 days after leaving, to resume life as usual. We had plans to meet up with friends in Chicago that weekend, and Jake was able to meet us there on Saturday & join in the festivities! Now, we're attempting to get back into our routine...life as usual! Here are some shots our friend Dianne took of our blue eyed boy with her amazing camera!