Swimming Lessons!

Last week I took Kenneth to the pool at the gym that I work at and he really liked it... after he gave it a chance! He cried for about 10 minutes because he was scared of it, but then calmed down. And then some nice old lady came and gave us advice about how he could feel better in the water. Shortly there after she told me that because I work there that I can put him in Swimming lessons for 17 bucks instead of the 35 everyone else pays. So I did.

He started his lessons on Monday and it is so cute to see how excited he gets when he sees the pool and his teacher! He has mastered getting in and out of the pool. That's his favorite part... well that and the free time after class on the kiddy waterslide that they have. He walks over to it himself and then he climbs the steps and slides down. He's such a big boy now! He loves the water. If only I could get him to float on his back, that would be great! He'll do everything else, just not that.

I think that more than anything else I put him in the swim lessons for the next two weeks because I needed something to fill my schedule. Paul has been gone tons of times but he's never been so miserable while TDY, and I'm not used to him hating it, so I in turn hate it too. Swim lessons fill an hour and a half of every morning. And he likes it, which is great!

Paul is staying in a hotel in Florida that hasn't had internet since he got there. He's having to share a car with a Msgt... guess who gets it the most... and today he found himself dropping off dry-cleaning and then for no apparent reason just driving to WalMart. He thinks that Iraq was easier that this TDY... even if it is only 1/6 the length of time. At least when he was in Iraq he was over seas, not 6 hours away from the closest family, while not able to go and see them, not stuck around Spring Breaking College students who drive him crazy because their lives consist of nothing more than drinking and acting like idiots with no real responsibility. In Iraq everyone had a common purpose even if their jobs were different. But he's stuck state side in a hotel room when he's not working wishing that he could see family, wishing that he could see Kenneth and I. I really feel badly for him. Maybe this is a sign that our love affair with the military is winding down? Who knows? Only the next 3 years and a phone call to Church Security will tell.

Oh so many things!

Alisha has given me a hard time on occasion about not updating my blog page! Well, simply put it has been too exhausting at home to add one more thing to do! But tonight I felt like sitting down and typing so here goes!

It's hard to believe that Paul has been home from Iraq for 5 months now. In some ways it feels like he just got home, in others it feels like it has been an eternity since he has left for an extended amount of time. He's been gone for a week out of 4 1/2 now, and suddenly I'm realizing that deployment 2 which is beginning to stare us in the face is going to be much more difficult to get through. We should find out any day when he leaves and where he is going, we are expecting August, but hopefully it will be later in the year. WHen he left the first time we had an infant, not really sitting up yet, most definitely not the kid that I have now who has suddenly surpassed the toddler stage and gone strait to little boy! He runs all over the place now, he jabbers all the time, and has the funniest personality! He dumps out the garbage cans, and tries to clean my toilets... accept with the toilet brush and the holder if I don't keep those darn doors closed! He is using a fork and spoon pretty well now, and refuses to sit in a high-chair that has a tray on it. He wants to be up at the table with his own plate like Mommy and Daddy! No other way will work. On weeks when Daddy is away I really wish at times that I had the infant back, the one that would just let me hold him when he slept, the one who just sat there and didn't keep me running all the time! But at the same time I wouldn't trade a moment of the memories that he makes for my mind every day! It is truly precious time.

We FINALLY bought a house! We love it! It's in South Ogden, UT and has the most beautiful hardwood floor in the front room that I've ever seen! It has a great back yard with room for a garden, and lots of room for Kenneth and Luna to run! AND Paul and I have a master bedroom! In all the houses that we've been in it's been a shared bathroom between the bedrooms, but not here! We have our own! We've been in it about 3 weeks now and everything seems to be just the way that it ought to be, now if only the boxes could unpack themselves right? That would truly be the life!

We've decided to finish this enlistment in UT if the Air Force will let us. And depending on how things pan out I don't think that Paul will re-enlist, if he does it will be for the bonus, but then will get out after that 6 years. We really love it here in Utah, which I never thought that I'd say... I expected to hate it here! But I find myself falling in love with the people, the land, and weather! If we could just up the humidity a LITTLE bit I would be completely sold to stay here forever! Paul has talked a lot lately about his desire to work for the Church someday. He never knew where he would fit in to that spectrum when we first got married but knew that after he retired from the military that that was where he wanted to be. Now he is trying to get his foot in the door with Church Security, working to protect the General Authorities of the Church. It's a secure job, the only thing that we are looking into is the pay, with military we are given a housing allowance, 100% insurance, and a GREAT retirement, but we don't know what the Church pays in those areas, and honeslty we feel terrible for even considering that side because he wants to serve the church, but to serve it as a career there would have to be monetary pay... just feels weird thinking that we would be paid by the Church... so we would in essense be paid by the Lord, yeah? Anyway, it's on our mind, and we'll see. If that ends up going through we'll probably try to move to Draper or somewhere around Jordan.

Over all we are doing well, I'm missing Paul like crazy since we haven't been apart for this long in months I'm finding it a lot more difficult than before. But we are making it, and we are keeping ourselves busy... as busy as we can, but the nights are definitely still lonely. But thanks to cellphones we are able to talk to each other each night and say our family prayers together. That helps us both a lot.

Life and Everything That It Is

Well, the holidays are upon us, and I am spending my 3rd set of holiday's without my family back in Georgia. It makes it hard being so far from them. Especially around the holidays, but I am learning to make Utah home. Little by little it is becoming more and more of a place that I love. We are looking at buying a house, I have a wonderful group of friends here, and more importantly this is where my boys are. Paul has been back from Iraq for about a month and a half, and it has been wonderful. But we are back to our normal schedule of him coming and going all the time even when he is in the states. Kenneth has officially turned 1, he's walking, trying to articulate words of all kinds, and he's getting so independent! Our Luna is almost 2 now, and she is starting to calm down a little, finally! She's a good dog. So I guess that I really have a ton of what I need here! As long as I'm with my boys I'm good!

I am about to start the first job that I've had in 2 years! I'll be working at the daycare in the gym that I go to a couple of days a week! And the best part of it is that I wil still be able to be a full-time Mommy! Kenneth can go with me and it's free for him to be there. I'm really excited about it, it's a little extra money, half off my daycare on the days that I go and work out, and half off my gym membership! I whould be starting as soon as my background check come back from the UBI.

On December 12th Paul and I leave for a cruise to the Carribean for a week and a half with his Dad and Sister. Kenneth will be staying here. I'm going to miss him, but it sure will be nice to be a wife for a week instead of a wife and a mom. i've never been on a cruise, but I'm excited to go! Julian got us balcony suites!

So over all life is going well! I will miss the friends who are moving, but will be making new ones, so all balances out!

5 Down, 25 To Go!!!!!

I'm so proud of myself, I lost 5 pounds in my first week of Farewell to Fat! I cut out soda, and I'm trying to eat more.... yes I said more.... I realized that the reason that I wasn't losing weight in the first place was that I was starving my body... not intentionally, I just was. I was so sporadic with eating that I would unintentionally skip meals. But even now I'm struggling to eat more than a 1000 calories a day. I'm really keeping track, and even when I'm not hungry I'm forcing myself to eat a snack of fruit or nuts. The nutritionist told me that that was the best thing to eat to add calories that weren't empty. I'm pretty excited about all of this! Who thought that by eating you would lose weight? Not me, but wow is it nice! I haven't kept myself from eating anything that I wanted, I've just made sure I didn't eat to much of it, but that I did eat. I could really get used to this!

In other wonderful news!!!!! I am only 8 pounds away from my pre-baby weight! Finally it has literally taken almost a year to do it, but I have! So hopefully by the time that Paul gets home I will be about 5 pounds under that weight!

Last night after I weighed in, and between the class times I took a spinning class.... and let me tell you today I am itching for something to do on my feet because it hurts to sit down on my butt! Ah the things that we do for good health! Now if only this cold would go away!

Farewell To Fat!

Tomorrow begins a competition that I entered at the gym I go to. It's called "Farewell to Fat." It's an 8 week competition to see who can lose the most weight. We get trainers to work with, and we are on a team with 4 other people, the goal of course is to lose as much weight as you can in 8 weeks. They have this specialized formula to find the percentage of whatever they are looking for so that it is a fair competition. I'm REALLY excited about it, if there is one thing that I have always thrived on it's competition. So tonight I had my last hamburger and soda for 8 at least 8 weeks. Probably longer, because once I try to bring them back in I'll probably get sick from looking at them!

Anyway wish me luck at being the skinny woman that Paul married again!

Breaking Heart For Hurting Friends

When we get pregnant with our first child all we can think about is the perfect little baby that we will be bringing into our home. How he/she will have 10 little fingers and 10 tiny toes. How we will watch our baby grow and progress, from their first smile, laugh, time rolling over, crawling, sitting up, walking, talking. We never think immediately about what could go wrong with that child. All we see is a perfect gift.

Last year when I met Crystal she had just found out that she was pregnant and I was getting close to delivering Kenneth. She was 18, newly married, in the greatest time of her life because she was able to get pregnant despite doubt from doctors. She was full of questions, of excitement, of hope and faith that everything would be fine. Then when she hit the third trimester it seemed like little Sidnee wanted to come out long before her due date at the end of May. She was in the hospital for what I think was about two weeks with them trying to stop her contractions. She suffered through the pain trying not to take pain medicine that could potentially hurt her baby. She was a trooper! While there they gave Sidnee steroid shots to help develop her lungs in case she came early so that she would stand a fighting chance. Sidnee cooperated and didn't come out before she had "fully cooked" being born on May 30th as a perfectly healthy baby girl.

She was however born with a bump on the top left side of her head. They told her that it was nothing to worry about. Now almost 4 months later after having a brain scan yesterday her young parents have been told that their perfect little girl has a brain tumor, and that she has a hemorrhage, and that she has had some bleeding on the brain.

What do you say to your friend who often calls for parental advice when she tells you such devastating news? How do you console her? How do you show optimistic support without seeming to play down the seriousness of the situation? How can you tell her that everything will be okay, no matter what the outcome? They are so young, and they have felt so blessed to have a baby against the odds, and now they have been devastated by news that their 4 month old will have to have a major brain surgery and/or risk permanent brain damage. Even if you aren't a praying person, give it a try for this little family. They could sure use the love and the prayers lifted on high for their little Sidnee. I just pray that God will bless them with the comfort that only He can give them. This is so heart breaking.

PICTURE EXPLINATION: These are pictures that Kristy and I had done of us and the boys on Monday. They turned out so cute!

I am finally back in Utah after a wonderful month back in my home state of Georgia! I have never been so happy to see my son's bed in my whole life! He slept all night, he was happy to do it, and as soon as I put him to bed he just laid down and went to sleep! Tonight didn't even take a bottle! And today he only had one bottle! Could it be that I will soon break him of the bottle? He wouldn't take it at all today, he ate like such a big boy! This morning he had Activia Yogurt and Cheerios for breakfast (I am trying a more natural approach to dealing with the stomach issues that he has, we'll see if it works, at least he loves the taste of it!), then for lunch he ate Chicken and Carrots Ravioli's with a cup of whole milk and a couple more Cherrios, and then for dinner tonight he had a jar of carrots mixed with oatmeal and the rest of his Chicken and Carrot Ravioli's with water and a bite of Mommy's taco! You might think that this is a stupid thing to write about but there are a couple of things that I have realized lately. I'm going to call it, "You know you are a parent when..."

1. You don't remember what a warm meal tastes like for trying to feed a baby that you can't shove food in to fast enough.

2. You get a full night's sleep and wake up the next morning more tired than if you had had to get up 3 or 4 times.

3. You catch yourself talking about bowel functions at the dinner table and it doesn't ruin your meal.

Ah how I love being a Mom! Oh and I think that I have found the perfect PT "job" for me!!! Needles don't bother me at all. AND did you know that people still pay you for blood platlets? $55 bucks if you go twice a week here in Utah.. That's 22.50 an hour. So I will be contibuting to my family's financial stability by giving platlets. If nothing else that will allow us to go out to dinner as a family or save for Christmas. I'm excited about it. And the best part is that while I do it, I won't have Kenneth so I'll donate while watching a movie or taking a nap! What could be better?