I'm ALIVE!

Yes, a slacker, but alive nonetheless.

Please forgive me for completely falling off the blog-wagon. At the time of my last post, we hadn't even been here a month and now we are quite settled here at Drum and a few major changes have taken place.

So, I'll just jump right into it! I, yes me, Alyssa, enlisted in the U.S. Army. I swore in on July 3, 2012 and my ship date is January 2, 2013 to Fort Sill, OK for Basic Training. Crazy, right? I did a lot of soul searching on my own before coming to this decision and when I was ready, I brought it up to Bryan and eventually to my amazing, supportive friends and family. Bryan was by far the greatest friend and husband during this time and I am so grateful for his support. Ultimately, I decided that I love being a mommy so much, it is everything I could ever want to be, however one day Aydan isn't going to need a mommy so much anymore and I'm going to be a real-life, normal person again. Does that even make sense? In order to be the complete, well-rounded person I aspire to be, I really felt like I needed to further my education and of course, the Army gives me plenty of freedom to do that! I will be a 35F Intelligence Analyst, and I my contract is three years long. I'm excited, nervous, scared out of my damn mind, EVERYTHING. I've had a few really weak days lately with the thoughts of leaving my sweet baby for nine weeks of BCT, but I'm doing my best to keep my goals in mind and reminding myself that this does make me a better mom in the long run. This opportunity allows us to open so many more doors for Aydan that neither of us ever had growing up.

Now that that's out of the way... we are truly falling in love with Fort Drum. This place really got a bad rep and we heard all of the horrible stories before we got here, but it seems like everyone failed to mention of truly beautiful it is up here. Being from Florida, I always swooned over the beach and the occasional dolphin I would see. The wildlife here fascinates me beyond belief! We see turkeys, deer, groundhogs and porcupines on a daily basis, I truly love it!

So, since nothing really sums up a long absence better than some iPhone pictures, I'll catch you up via some of my Instagram photos!

To say that my "little" Aydanator has gotten big, is an understatement. This little monster is 35 inches tall and 30lbs these days! Woah!

These two boys rock my world, and apparently I talk too much, according to Aydan! 

I completed my very first Pinterest project, a pool noodle wreath! 

Aydan had his first visit to the ice cream truck, it made for a great evening as a family, outside enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having! 

Aydan also visited the world's worst ER. After coughing up blood in their waiting room, we still waited an hour to see a doctor and we were told the "coughing up blood is really no big deal, it just looks dramatic." Noted! **Insert annoyed, sarcastic, mommy eye roll here**

Aydan helped Daddy kiss his old rank goodbye at his promotion ceremony! 

Aydan has become quite the social media butterfly. He has uploaded countless pictures to IG and made many FB comments, posts and called at least half of my contacts list. Oy!

Again, who is this kid?! And where is my baby?!

The "Incredibooth" app is free in the iPhone App Store this week, we had a few minutes of fun with it! Check it out and share your photo strips! 

Bryan left for NTC recently and Aydan decided he needed a travel buddy, so he let him borrow his favorite Mater truck. I'll keep y'all updated on Mater's adventures over the next month! Until then, feel free to follow me on IG or Twitter (alyssajames21)!