A Big Toddler and a Big Boat

Last week, a very exciting day happened for the United States Navy and for the Greens! Naval Station Norfolk welcomed the USS Theodore Roosevelt back to the piers and fleet, and Mason and I welcomed James back home. The ship went underway for the first time in four years and James was gone for just under two weeks.

I got to the pier about 10:00am last Thursday knowing she was docking around 11:30am. I had taken Mason to daycare unsure about how long it would all take so I stood there meeting other wives and families and just waiting to see the Roosevelt come around the corner. It was such an awesome, beautiful, amazing, and breath taking sight. For one, the sailors were manning the rails in their dress whites, and second - she is huge. MASSIVELY huge. It took about an hour for her to dock and then of course true to form...hurry up and wait. James didn't get off the boat until 4pm. That is when I became very grateful I did not have a one year old out there with me in August waiting on a concrete pier for his Dad to get off a boat. I had some pretty sweet farmer tan lines when we got home. Below are some pictures of the homecoming!

 

 

 

I was oh so happy to have James home. I will readily admit that the two weeks he was gone were very tough. I have been separated from my husband before for much longer periods of time, but this was the first time we had been apart since Mason was born. It was also really hard because there were many (many, many, many) moments of "Ok, this is our life now." This is the "real" Navy life and it is definitely going to take some getting used to and lots of adjustment. I have been so blessed and lucky to have James around these past 3 years as we entered military life and especially the past two years through my pregnancy and Mason's first year. It was so difficult not to text him when Mason did something funny, or go to bed knowing he'd help me in the morning get Mason ready for us to leave for daycare/work, or let's be honest...he wasn't there when Mason was having a meltdown and I needed 5 minutes to breathe or needed 30 more minutes sleep on a Saturday morning.

I also would think about James physically being away from Mason for two weeks and that would just make my heart hurt. I think James is so brave and strong for serving his country when it involves making sacrifices such as being away from his son. These separations will only get longer - and I can't tell you how many times we emailed back and forth "Let's just take it one day at a time." and that is literally what I did - sometimes one hour at a time - but in a weird way I feel stronger going into the next underway, which is coming sooner than we'd like. If there is one thing the Navy has taught us as we talked about the night he got home, is that we can make it through anything. I can assure you I would only do this for one person in the world, and that is James Howard Green. It is funny, I always said I would never wait for a man. I found myself waiting for six long, hot hours last Thursday on a pier...  

Thank you as always to the amazing support system we have. The texts, calls, and emails checking in can turn my day around. And they did, more than once. Special thank you to my amazing sister. A day didn't go by I didn't know she was thinking of us whether it was a quick text, g-chat, or forty five minute phone conversation (Sorry, Will!) and she heard me cry more than once :) She's one of my most favorite people and I just don't know what I'd do without her. Bear with us as we navigate James's schedule. There are time we'll miss things, but trust us, not being close to 90% of our friends and family is one of our greatest struggles. We hate telling anyone no!

We finally made it to Mason's one year checkup this week. Hey, better late than never I say. And it was quite comical. Mason is in the 93% for height and the 63% on weight. James and I just stood there shaking our heads. James is the shortest of all his brothers and I am 5'3" on a good day. How did we produce such a tank? Looks like his genes from Great Granddaddy Green are shining through. He has seven teeth with one breaking through, we had to go buy new size 5 shoes (seriously.) and he's well into his eighteen month clothes. He did not mind the shots, what he did mind was them holding him down to give him the shots. That's where Julie shines through, he is always on the move and SO busy. I got to daycare yesterday and he had an incident report because he had tripped, fallen, and bit his lip. There's a part where it says "what we will do to prevent this from happening again" and they wrote "We told Mason he doesn't have to run everywhere." We tell him that everyday...

We are very much looking forward to a weekend of quiet family time. For the first time in a month I get two uninterrupted days with my boys and I couldn't be more excited. We even get to go on board the Roosevelt for a tour so stay tuned for a blog post! Wherever the weekend takes you (the NCSU game for most of my family!) I hope you are surrounded by laughter and fun! Enjoy the gorgeous weather, I know we will!

The Greens