I live in North Carolina.

I've lived here before.

I was pregnant with Noah. We lived in this awful 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom duplex thing. The floors were all hard tile and cold. But it was home. It's where Noah was born and raised for the first 11 months of his life.

At the time, I drove a blue, 2000 Jetta. Aaron had a Wrangler. Times were simple. There was a possibility that Aaron would be getting out of the Marine Corps, and we'd be headed back to NY with a one year old.

There was also a possibility that he would re-enlist and we'd be headed to our next duty station in Virginia.

In the end, Aaron chose to re-enlist. I'm not going to lie. The re-enlistment bonus had a lot to do with it and we were just very lucky that he was in when they were giving it. With that money, we paid of his Jeep and bought a Cherokee. Oh yea, and the fact that I was 2 months pregnant with our second child.

Base housing in VA was almost a 10 month wait at the time. So Aaron sent Noah and I back to NY to live with my parents until our number was up on the list.

I went home and got a job at the nursing home down the road from my parents house. I worked there for 3 months. Being away from my husband was awful so I begged him to find a place to live out in town. He did. And at the end of January, we moved into a town home right outside the base gate.

We lived there for 2 years. Aaron had orders to be there for 3 but they were cut short. He came home one day and told me he had orders to 29 Palms, California. Let me just tell you, there is NOTHING out there. It's just sand. I think the nearest Walmart is a half hour away. I've heard horror stories about 29 Palms.. and when he told me we'd be headed there, I flipped. The wait for base housing was 5-8 months and from all the stuff I Googled, it seemed like living out in town was scary. He was set to deploy that spring and the boys and I would be stuck living in temp. housing  until something was available on base. Not to mention the 3 day drive to get there with two boys and a dog.. there was no way in hell I was going to live out there..

We talked about the boys and I staying in NY until after he got back from deployment. I said, "no way. There is no way I'm going to have these boys miss out on their Daddy if they don't absolutly have to.."

So, Aaron went to the career planner and luckily for us, they changed his orders to Jacksonville, NC.

I was pretty darn happy. I was excited to live on base again and my good friend, Erica was already down here.

The wait to get base housing was, (again) a 5-8 month wait. Aaron's orders were cut for April, and here it was, January. Our lease was up at the end of January in the town home and to go month to month would be too expensive.. soooooo, BACK to NY the boys and I went.

While I was home, I got a job at The Home Depot. I worked there for 3 months. Made some money of my own.. it was nice..

April came along and we found a place to rent out in town. Turns out, this place had a smell. It was BAD. It made me very sick with migraines and headcolds.. so we got out of our lease and made the HUGE decision to buy a house!

We house hunted for just a month until we found, "The one" - all I can say is, there is a whole different feeling.. I guess you can call it pride.. about owning a house. I take the time to make sure things are done and that it looks nice. The grass is mowed every weekend and my flowers are watered every other day.

Anyway, I don't know why I decided to write about this.. I guess it was bordom. Just a little look into the last 4 years of our life I guess...