Anna Maria Island

In a few short weeks, Matthew and I will be jetting off to this amazingly beautiful place. I CANNOT wait! I have been there before but it was only for a day. So I can not wait to go and actually site see and enjoy the beauty of this place. This will be my first time traveling with Matthew, alone at that! Just through the airports though, we are meeting up with family! 

Does anyone have any tips or recommendations as to traveling with a baby. He will be 6 months old when we travel. And any tips on me doing this all alone? And anything I absolutely need with me that I would have never thought of otherwise?? I need all the tips and tricks. I am hoping and praying I don't have THAT child on the airplane who is crying the whole time. Although it is beyond my control, I am going to try to keep him happy. Hubs is a little nervous with it just being me and him flying. Because I will have him + all of his stuff + our suitcase. This is going to be interesting to say the least!

This little get away could not come at a better time though. Hubs will be extremely busy, so we will not get to FaceTime as often as we have lately, which I have gotten quite used to. But that just means it will be THAT much closer to the end of this deployment!! You have no idea how excited that makes me!!

Matthew will more than likely be crawling by then, but I am crossing my fingers he won't be walking yet so that Hubs can see that for the first time in person. But he is already good at standing, minus the balance issue, so we will see.

Any tips and recommendations are greatly appreciated!!

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Saturday Night...

Our first deployment seems to be dragging on forever and forever. Quite frankly, I am over it. We are down to double digits finally, but I feel like the time is going extremely slow right now. And well, it is summer time. Summer time was always our time, we were always doing something exciting and fun. Like kayaking or zip lining or swimming and bonfires. I hate not having him here, I hate this deployment, I hate Afghanistan. I hate that he has missed so much of his little boys life already. 

We have survived the first 300 or so days just fine. But now I feel like were just dragging along. This is how our conversations go..

Hey babe..how are you?

Im good. how are you?

Good, just tired. Hows Matthew?

He's good...

I swear that has been our conversation for the past month or so, everyday. It is hard trying to keep two separate lives together. His army life and my mommy life just don't merge so well together. I can't wait to have an actual meaningful conversation with him again. I feel like were both just in a rut. We are both over this deployment. We are both ready for him to be home. We are both ready to be a family again!

Let me tell you though, trying to raise a newborn, work part-time, worry and take care of my soldier and worry about everything else life decides to throw at us is not easy. I feel like I have done very well though. With the end nearing soon, looking back I feel like I have done pretty well as a "single" mother. Matthew is amazing, beyond amazing. I love him so much. Long, stressful days suck but coming home and rocking my baby to sleep makes everything else okay.

I'll leave you with some pictures since I have been missing for so long!! I am off to read more Fifty Shades Darker! ;)

I Would Like To Introduce...

My Precious Little Baby,

Matthew Ryan :)

He was born February 5, 2012

Two days later, we had to send Daddy back to Afghanistan.

Seriously, the hardest thing ever, for the both of us.

On a more positive note, we are almost half way done 

with this deployment!!

I apologize for my absence. I have not been the best blogger.

I will try my hardest to get back in the swing of things.

God knows, I have a bunch to say, just not enough time.

Its only me raising this little one while Daddy is gone.

Hope everyone has been well :)

Pregnancy Rant, Really...

So I am sure I am just being selfish and crazy hormonal from this pregnancy, but my husband is coming home from R&R soon. I feel like he is going to want to just go out and booze with his buddies the majority of the time. I get that he is beer deprived and things are not easy for him over there and just wants to have fun, but lets be honest, we are having a baby. He will either already be here before Josh gets home or really soon after. But I have had NO life for the past 9 months, lost lots of friends because I couldn't booze or go out with them anymore (guess they weren't really friends) and none of that will change anytime soon, if ever again. I am planning on breastfeeding at least for the first 6 months, if not the first year. So my alcohol/friend intake will be very limited still. I know I probably sound selfish, but if you were not going to see your baby for another 6-7 months wouldn't you want to spend as much time with him as possible, not to mention me. We've been married 6 months on the 8th and have never actually been a married couple. I'm sure I am over-reacting and he will be with us the majority of the time. And I'm sure this is just me freaking out because he won't be here for labor probably and well I get to spend the next 6-7 months being a single mother. Yes, I have plenty of people who are willing to help me, but they need to just back off and let me ask for help myself. The more they are pushing me the further I will push them away, they need to realize that. Ughh, I'm sorry for the rant, I am just really frustrated today!

01.01.2012

It is already 2012! Holy Cow! Where did 2011 go to?

I can't say 2011 was horrible because lots of awesome

things happened, like marrying my man, finding out

were having a baby boy, moving back out on my own.

But 2011 did bring a lot of challenging & difficult times,

along with a deployment that has taken my husband away 

since August of 2011.

I am looking forward to 2012. I am hoping for lots of

good things. I will have my precious little baby soon,

R&R will be soon, 8 months later - hubs will be home, 

FOR GOOD! We will hopefully be taking a vacation

with our little family & we will get to celebrate baby's

first Halloween and Christmas as a family!

So, yay for 2012!

January Shall Be...

GREAT!!

Want to know why??

Not only will we have a beautiful little boy named Matthew Ryan

enter the world, BUT...

I will get to see my HUSBAND!!!

Yes, you heard that right. R&R is coming so quickly and I couldn't

be anymore excited!

Soon, maybe. But him being here for little baby's first couple

of weeks is WAY more important, we both agree!

So I obviously can't give exact dates, but I am ready for 2012 to be here,

like NOW!!

Merry Christmas!!

Let me start out by first saying,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day with whoever they shared today with!

I have been celebrating Christmas since Thursday evening. We started at my father-in-laws house. It was great, we had a very non-traditional dinner, which consisted of lasagna Mmmm, who doesn't love lasagna? It is personally one of my favorites. We got to Skype with hubs aunt & uncle & cousins who live in Texas. Then we opened some presents. Guess what Hubs and I got?? Yep, a garage door opener! I was beyond excited about this. Mainly because here in Ohio we get lot's of snow. It surprisingly hasn't struck yet, but it will soon, always does. But cleaning my car off, especially in the mornings, is one of my most hated things, but then again having to get in and out of the car to open and close the garage door equally irritates me. So what is better than having a garage door opener?? Also, got some candles and gift cards, too.

Friday, was probably my best day around this whole holiday season! I had to work, but I got such a good surprise at work. Hubs had signed me up for a program called the 12 days of Christmas. It is an organization funded by Full Circle Home based out of Rochester, New York. Sgt. 1st Class Fitzwater, not only has family who lives in my area, but he knew my husband from ROTC, so he told them that he needed to personally deliver this package to me. Well with him, he brought our local newspaper. So Saturday morning, I made the front page of the Community section in our newspaper. Here is the link to the article, if you care to read. I have no words for how shocked and surprised I was. Best part about it all, I talked to hubs a little while after they left my work and I was telling him about it, his response, "Oh shit, I forgot I signed up for that!". Haha, gotta love him.

Later that evening, I FINALLY received my actual present that hubs had got for me at his Grandma and Grandpa's house! I had been bugging him non-stop since he told me my present had shipped to his "secret" person who would give it to me. Turns out, that secret person was his step-dad. But I got my video camera, a very good one at all. We had talked about getting one, so that he wouldn't miss too much stuff when the baby came. So I think it is more of a present for the both of us! But either way, I was so excited. I also got lots of other presents from his grandparents that night too..

Saturday, I worked until 2. And then celebrated with my family at my sister's house. It is tradition to celebrate Christmas Eve together. So after spending time with my mom, dad, sisters, and my nieces & nephews, I went to Christmas Eve Mass with my sister and brother-in-law. Sunday morning, I went to my mother-in-laws, opened presents and had breakfast. 

All in all, my Christmas was not as bad as I thought it would be with my husband being deployed. Yeah, it is far from fun and I miss him terribly, but I managed to make it through. We are one holiday closer to seeing each other again!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN!!

Dear Little Baby,

I know you are fully enjoying giving mom these little scares, as I have spent more times in the hospital than I can probably count on two hands anymore, including our little trip last night. But you are still safe and sound where you belong for another 5-8 weeks. Giving Daddy heart attacks doesn't help any either, lol.

You are loved so much already and I can't wait to meet you. Daddy is beyond excited to meet you. I can already see it now, how much "trouble" you two will get in together. Although Daddy won't be here for half of your first year of life, because he is doing his job and I hope one day you are just as proud of him as Mommy is. And I can't promise you he won't have to leave again in a couple more years, but know that you will never have to play the "man of the house" if or when Daddy does leave again. Your job will always be, to be the little wild crazy boy I know you will be. Sure I will probably be pulling my hair out at times, but it will be worth every minute of it.

So do Mommy a favor and calm down just a tad for a couple more weeks. We need you to be 100% okay and ready before you decide to come out and join the world. I love you so much and I will see you soon!

Stages of Deployment

(NOTE: I did not write this. I copied and pasted from here. I just really liked it, so im sharing)

The beginning will suck. There's no getting around it.

 You'll say goodbye and be torn in two. You'll take the drive home, and you'll probably calm down. You'll go back to the house and it'll almost feel like nothing has changed. You'll feel like "hey this isn't as hard as I thought it would bad." You'll think you're handling it really well, and while you probably are...wait for it.

The first day or so you'll be really bored but not too depressed. You'll want to be alone but you wont be suffering like you thought you would be....but it'll hit you. One day, probably in the first week you'll have a break down. You'll have been waiting for a call and it takes longer than you thought, or you just cant stand the thought of not having to share the bed, or you'll trip over a pair of old boots and everything will come crashing down.

Let it. That's the one thing you'll learn. If you need to fall apart, don't try and stop it. The only way to pick up the pieces is to let them fall.

Once this happens, deployment is going to hurt. A little every day but you'll manage the pain. Stay busy. In the beginning, you'll feel helpless and like you've give anything to keep him from where he's going. But you can't. That's why we send care packges. Go to the store and throw your heart and soul into a care package.

We rpesent care packages like we do it for them, but in all honesty, we do it for ourselves. We want to feel less helpless. Like we're in some way, in the only way, making their lives a little easier, the only way we can.

After the first 3 months you'll set yourself into a pseudo groove. You're used to the deployment by now and with 3 months under your belt, the next three will probably sail by like they never even happened. Before you know it you're 6 months down and only have half to go.

R&R: It's going to be amazing. You're going to have a hard time sharing him, but realize that this is his vacation and other people love and miss him too. realizing and accepting this will make it easier on everyone. He's going to have friends who he hasn't talked to since he left,want to hang out. Let them. That's what our loved ones do. They keep in touch with us and leave the friends for later, so don't hold it against them that they haven't been around. He hasn't let them. he's only made room enough for you in his deployed life.

The goodbye will be the most horrible day of your life and nothing will ever prepare you for it. It almost seems unfair, like there should be an in-between. Because here and gone isn't good enough. There's no slow goodbye, there's no easing into it. One second he's kissing you goodbye and the next you can't see him anymore and you know the next time you do will be in 6 months.

Cry. Scream. Do what you have to do because you need to get this out.

The deployment will be easier for the last halfbecause you have something to look forward to and because ta this point, you've done this before. But with the ease, you're going to run into arguments. You're both used to this and you're both tired of it. You're both trying to put on a happy face but you're both miserable.

While one is comfortable with the situation, another will have a rough day and want some reassurance and the other wont have the energy for it. You'll both go back and forth with this and the arguments will suck. There will be mis communications, jealousy, and simple frustration.

It's okay. Just figure out which battles don't need to be fought. if you're arguing because you've run out of thinsg to talk about (don't act like this doesn't apply to you) Then give communication a rest for the day. I know it's hard because we think "if we don't talk and something happens I'll never forgive myself"....it'll be okay. Sometimes you just need some time to yourself and so does he.

The end of the deployment will be horrible. Sorry, I know that's not comforting but I'm not going to lie to you. It sucks. If it went by any slower it may actually go backwards, and that's honestly alli can tell you about the end. It sucks and that's normal, but you'll get through it.

And then they come home.

Military Monday

So let me just start by saying heyyy to any new followers or visitors from

Military Monday! A little bit of information about me:

Name is Lauren

I am married to a Soldier

He is my best friend

He is currently in the sand box

Yes, we are going through our 1st deployment

We are expecting a baby boy in January/February

Depending on when baby wants to come

I love making new friends

So leave some comments so I can come follow you back 

In other news, I seriously live for phone calls now. I have my phone 

glued to me at all times. I am really thankful to hear from my husband as 

often as I do. And extra thankful that I got an iPhone recently 

because with my phone and his iPod, we get to FaceTime

quite often and I LOVE every minute of it. I mailed out his 

first goodie boxes today. Only had intentions on making 

one box, but ended up with two full boxes. There are lots 

of goodies and stuff he needs in them though.

In baby news, I am 26 weeks and a day today! I can not

believe how fast time as flown by. My baby shower is this 

coming Sunday already and we could possibly only have

9 more weeks until baby gets here, depending on how

anxious he is at 35 weeks. I'm hoping not much longer

after 35 weeks because I am ready to be done and 

to meet my little man. 

Dreams

Last night I kept having these awful dreams about hubs.

Not anything to have to do with his deployment, but he 

was home, we were living our normal life. It all felt so

real. I was pregnant, a little further along than I am now,

and I had just found out that he cheated on me, again...

(It's not secret what happened before)....

Yes, I woke up crying & I was tossing and turning.

But that fact that he just didn't care killed me, again.

And here I was pregnant with his baby.

The kicker though, I woke up probably 3 

different times and ALL 3 times I would go

right back to that dream, it just kept continuing

every time and it didn't get much better any time.

I finally woke up around 730am and stayed up 

because I couldn't deal with that again. But now

I have this horrible gut wrenching feeling that

maybe it was trying to tell me something.

How often do dreams just continue on like that?

The last thing I want to do is bring it up to hubs

though, because the whole topic is touch and go

because I tend to make it worse ( I think I have

every right though). But I still can't shake that

bad feeling and its only10:50am...

It's been a while...

Hey guys! Sorry I have been MIA for a while. A lot has happened since

the last time I was able to blog. To get you all caught up though, this

is what has been happening.

Mine and hubs first deployment is well under way. He was just 

home this past weekend for his four day pass. It was 

probably the fastest four days of my life thus far. Sadly 

though, I had to share him with A LOT of people.

As unhappy as I was about sharing him, I was just

happy to have him home. Now he is gone, for 

quite some time too. 

As proud of him as I am, it still sucks. I miss him

so much, especially with the baby coming soon

and all of the baby activities taking place soon.

I just want more than anything to have him here, 

but that isn't an option. I need a hobby.

Preferably one that isn't expensive. Or

an easy coping method to deal with everything.

I am now 23 weeks pregnant. I still have 

a ways to go, but time is going FAST!

January will be here before I know it.

We finally picked out a name for baby, after

much debate. And we didn't fully agree until

hubs was seconds away from getting on

the plane to leave us again. Kind of cute,

definitely not something we will forget.

But we plan on keeping the name a 

secret until baby is born since I didn't

want to tell anyone it was a boy from

the beginning but hubs was so excited.

We also got all moved in to our new place.

And we got to set up the baby's bed & dresser

while hubs was home. So that was exciting.

That is all for now. I promise I will be back

to regularly blogging again. I just had to wait

until the internet got hooked up and spent

time with the hubs. Hope everyone

is well. I have some serious catching up to do.

Hopefully if you follow me on twitter,

your not too far behind on me :)

Bed Rest to No Bed Rest

Today has been an absolute roller coaster. It all started at 8:15am,

I went for baby boys 20 week check up. Now, let me give you a little

back history first. I see my normal OB and then I also see a high risk

doctor. Well, my high risk doctor has had me off work for about

a month and a half, I just went back to work last Monday, but

on extended circumstances.

So this morning, I start telling my doctor about this pain that I have

down in my girl area's, but only on the left side, weird huh? I 

thought so too. High risk doctor told me my potassium was low,

asked my normal doc this morning, he basically told me High Risk

doctor was a moron, that more than likely when I had the cerclage 

done, he hit a nerve. Awesome right? And there is nothing I can 

do about it until 35 weeks when its time for the cerclage to come

out.

He then proceeds to tell me that I need to be resting and not doing

much, I then proceed to tell him that I am back to work. He basically

goes all crazy again because my other doctor sent me back to work

without consulting with him first. Immediately takes me back out 

of work. And then tells me have a nice day, see you in two weeks.

Sure, I left like okay. But 20 minutes after I got home, panic set in.

Hubs was busy doing training so I couldn't talk to him right away.

Everyone in my family is obviously biased, so that was no help.

I know my body and what I can and can't handle, I only work

four hours a day right now and they give me a chair. I freaked

out because well, yeah hubs is making good money, but I still

need to be making something too.

I eventually got to talk to hubs, he told me to do what I feel is 

right for baby and me, as far as continuing to work. I 

eventually called my doctor back, talked to him some more.

He agreed with certain restrictions, that my job is okay with,

thank goodness, I can continue to work only if I am in my 

chair at almost all times...

So, that was my day.

Crazyness.

With that being said, I officially move in 2 days & I will have no

internet or cable until further notice. Unless I can figure out

how to steal the internet from my phone, which I know is possible.

Just have to figure out how.

And, one more thing? Does anyone sell scentsy or any other

work from home type of businesses. I'm trying to come

up with something I can do IF I get taken off work all

together again or just to add some more cash flow, 

since I'm not making quite half of what I normally make.

Let me know :)

Not such a Monday Funday

So today, I woke up at 7am. Not sure why exactly and quite frankly

I don't appreciate it. I am tired all the time, so waking up that

early for no real reason is just annoying. I supposed I have a 

million things I could be doing, like packing for 1 or getting 

my baby shower invites started, but I did nothing.

I feel so crappy today. Maybe because it has been raining nonstop

here in good ol' Ohio, or maybe its the fact that I miss my husband.

I feel like I shouldn't be doing things without him. Obviously, I need

to get over that because well, I have a year of him being gone. I 

can't put off doing things until he gets home in about a year from now..

So with that being said, I will go do something productive, like actually

make myself presentable for dinner at my father-in-laws tonight.

1 Monday down....a whole bunch more to go!!

Oh, and be sure to leave comments if your new followers from

the Military Monday Link-Up!! :)

The Dreaded D Word Has Begun

So I have been MIA for a while now, my apologies. I have had good reason though, I was spending as much quality time with my husband as I could because our very first deployment as officially started. He actually got to come home a couple days sooner than planned from his AT because they all like him and they really knew I was struggling with things at home with the baby. So, God bless them for giving me a few more days with my husband, there are no words to express how grateful I am. But now he is gone, again. The reality of it hasn't sunk in much because I am used to him being gone for all sorts of training. It hasn't really hit me yet that this time is different.

I will leave you with some photos from babe's Call to Duty Ceremony. I cried my eyes out the entire time...

Our Little Family

Yes, they sang "I'm leaving, on a jet plane". I cried hysterically..

This is just too funny, I look so disgusted

Last 3 = My Favorites!!

Song Link-Up

So things have slowly been getting better, day by day. Thank goodness..I am finally allowed to have

a life again, well sort of. Light activity is what I'm allowed to do...better than nothing though...

And baby is doing good & healthy!! That's the most important thing!

Hubs is doing good, although currently sick. I get to see him soon enough. I'm beyond excited because

this will be the last little bit of time I will get with him before he leaves for good, boo.

The planning and organizing for his party is in full affect. Were having it Labor Day weekend, I just hope

people actually come because we have put a lot of work and effort into it. And like hubs said,

If people can't take away one holiday to come and say "see you later" to my hubs who is going

off to fight a war, then they are not really real friends or family anyways.

That's all for now...

Except for my song link-up

My song this week is Toby Keith's American Soldier.

Cliche, I know. But hubs and I went and saw Eric Church & Toby Keith in concert

a few weeks back. When he performed this song, I cried, because my husband is going off to fight

this war soon enough. He will not be here to see our son or daughter be born or a lot of the first that

come with a baby. And this was the last "outing" we will have until he comes home safe and sound to us!

So enjoy!

Bed Rest Day 3

Its day 3 of bed rest. I am already going crazy. I am not one to just sit around and do absolutely nothing for long. I am a busy body, people tell me that all the time. I have to be doing something, anything at all times. So to just lay here and do NOTHING is killing me. The only things I am allowed to do on my own is a.) go to the restroom and b.) get a snack or a drink. Notice I said snack. My doctor specifically told me I am not allowed to cook for myself or anything because I am only allowed to lift things with a 2lb or less weight. Talk about ridiculous. But I know that it is all worth it in the end. I just have to keep telling myself that before I go crazy.

So, do any of you wonderful ladies have any ideas on what I can do to keep me occupied? That requires me to just lay in my bed? Any options are great at this point, lol.

While surfing my blog followers, I came across a post that Life Is The Messy Bits did about a book called "How to love me". It caught my attention. She actually purchased two of the books and gave one to her hubby to fill out and then they are going to swap books before he deploys. This is such an excellent idea. It gives you the chance to learn things about your spouse that you may have never asked the question before. I am purchasing two copies today for my hubs and me. I think it will be fun to do this, especially with the deployment coming SO soon. Let's just hope the hubs plays along too.

Speaking of the hubs. He is doing good. He plays the Army role really well. He enjoys it. The way he talks about everything he gets to do or had done for the day, the enthusiasm in his voice is great. As much as I would rather have him home and as much as he would like to be home through all of this, he is doing an excellent job and I am so proud of him. I can definitely see him playing the Army role for a long time to come and I am perfectly okay with it. He enjoys it, it makes him happy, so ultimately it makes me happy. He didn't have the passion with his civilian job like he does with playing the Army lifestyle. But only time will tell.

Best news of it all, he gets to have his cell phone still. So that means like 3-4 phone calls a day for me :) :)

I kind of feel bad for him though, because he is away and he knows I am not happy. He knows this bed rest ordeal is driving me crazy and there is nothing he can do to make it better. But the end result is so much greater than not being able to work for a couple of weeks (as of right now), and not being able to do stuff with my friends or family. I actually had to skip out on a "girls night in" last night because I am not supposed to be mobile and active. Talk about a bummer...

Remember the Meaning

So, my 4th of July was as fabulous as ever! I wish the weekend didn't have to end. Got to spend lots of time with my boyfriend and all of our family. We had a blast. I would post pictures, but I left my camera in his car. So give me a couple days to get it back and I will share photos! I hope you all had just as wonderful of a weekend as me. And I hope everyone really remembered the meaning behind it all. The weekend was a little bittersweet for me, seeing as this was the last holiday I will get to spend with my man before he leaves for deployment.

Sidenote: The Casey Anthony trial, really? Innocent?? I am so angry with the judicial system in Orlando. Not reporting your child missing after 30 days isnt child endangerment or anything. Completely rediculous and I do not agree with the verdict. What is your opinions?

Military Monday

So, Happy Military Monday!

Today, I am extra thankful because my man comes home in 4 days, yes count them

4 days! I am excited to see him, finally. Its been a really long month. We have a

lot to discuss and work through, but were both really happy. And besides, I have

to enjoy all the time I have with him before that dreaded D word appears in our

life.

On to my day today, I went to work for a hour and a half. Yes, you heard that

correctly. Biggest waste of my time, ever. I spend more money in gas driving

there and driving home then I actually make. Serving is not a hard job, but

the place I am at just isn't busy. Don't get me wrong, the food is wonderful,

just bad location. So needless to say, I am job hunting with full force again.

I never stopped, just wasn't so pro-active because well, I had a "job".

Well things are changing, so say a prayer for me, that I get this job that has

great potential, and its looking good in my favor because I REALLY

need it! Until next time...

Oh & PS, hiii to all my new followers. Be sure to leave comments,

so I can follow back & get to know you :)

A Year Later?

So today I was talking to boyfriend about what our living arrangments were gonna be when he comes home next year from his upcoming deployment. I know, I know, its still a while away but its still something that needs to be talked about. Anyways, he thinks we should get a place in our hometown and live here. I think we should stay in Columbus. Heres the pros and cons to staying "home":

Pros:

Both of our families are here

Our friends are here

Just the comfort of "home"

Cons:

His job that he LOVES is in Columbus

I don't want to live here anymore

The weather is crappy ALL the time

I'm sure I got some more to add later. But to be honest, I am perfectly okay with living away from my familiy. We are not far enough away to where they can't visit, but were far enough to have our own life. In fact, I can't stand to be around my family all the time. I can only handle them in small doses. I get annoyed and frustrated quickly with what can be petty things sometimes, I try not too, but I just can't help it. Which is why only visiting would be perfect!

Reason #2, he loves his job. He won't come out and say this right now, but he does. And now he is persistant on finding a job in our hometown. Im not saying he won't find something, but I don't think he will find anything that will compare to his job now and how much he enjoys it. And make the same about he is making now.

I guess I don't really have many good things to say about this place, because I am ready to be out of here. If I had it my way we would leave the state of Ohio. I know its still a year away, but with him leaving soon and being gone for so long, some of these things just need to be brought up. And besides, my actual friends would come visit us. And I know his would too!