Taking things down and packing things up

A lot of things have been happening in the Kilbride household this summer...We took our first family vacation, Brendan is making great strides in becoming a walker, the boys moved into Big Boy beds, Rory went to Kindergarten camp to get ready for her first day of Big Kid school and Bryan started the task of packing up his gear for yet another tour to the sandbox.

Taking the boys cribs down was a bittersweet moment.  It was so exciting to have them graduate of the baby cribs and move into big boy beds, but as we looked at the dismantled crib it was an incredible reminder of how quickly time passes.  I remember Bryan putting the crib together in Rory's room in Colorado, I remember putting her in it for the first time.  I remember taking it apart for the move to Texas, and then having a fit when all of the screws were not with it when it got to Texas!!!  I remember taking it apart and putting it in the attic of our Texas house when Rory moved into her big girl bed, and I remember taking it out again and assembling it for Brendan's arrival.  I remember putting Brendan in it for the first time, and how special that was because we didn't think he would ever make it into that crib.  I remember when we added a crib to the room, officially making it "The boys room". I remember moving them from Texas to Kansas, and then again in Kansas.  I remember walking into Brendan's room to get him from a nap and seeing him standing there in his crib for the first time.  I remember every morning walking in to get them and seeing the smiles on both of their faces, so happy to see each other again!

Now, there they were....

...and all I can think about it how incredibly fast 5 years has gone by.

Now, looking at this...

...all I can think about is, how fast is this deployment going to go by?

No, this is not our first deployment, yes his last deployment wasn't that long, but it was by far more stressful than any other deployment.  This one just needs to get started.  We are both dreading it, far more than any other one.  The last one we both knew that he needed to go, Brendan was home and doing well, Bryan needed to go and be with his troops.  There had been casualties of his own men and of his friends, and Iraq is where is head was and now the rest of him had to be there. 

This time is just different, we have 3 kids now (just in case you didn't know that!) and for the first time Bryan was home for the first 18 months of one of kids lives, and now he knows what he missed and he knows some of what he is going to miss, and still more of what is going to go on without him physically being here for it.  Yes, this happens all the time with military families, I am not whining or complaining about it, we just need to get day 1 of this thing under our belts so we can all get to our new "normal" for the next year.

All I ask is that you keep Bryan, and all military personnel and their families in your thoughts and prayers....