MY GIRL

Here's a few pics of Anna that I took the other day.  They really show what a happy girl she is. We are so blessed!

 

TALK, TALK, TALK

Alexander, like a lot of boys, started talking a little late.  I was kind of worried about it for a while, but at about 22 months, right about the time we left Texas, he really started talking.  And he pretty much hasn't stopped since.  He now talks in complete paragraphs with great sentence structure.  I think that there are still a lot of words that people who are not his parents don't understand, but overall he is doing amazing.  And apparently all of the lessons on manners have really been sticking.  Here are a few phrases that he has said recently: 

• "Thank you so much for making this dinner, Mommy.  It is delicious." (Word for word, I swear) 
• The morning after Chris and I went on a date, "Daddy, what did you have to eat?" Chris said, "Steak and potatoes".  Alexander responds, "That sounds delicious!" 
• When Chris came home from work the other evening, "Hi Daddy!  How was your day at work?"
• "Daddy, I go fly in the green airplane with you?  I be your co-pilot."
• "Daddy, you go play trains with me?"
• The other day we were driving down the road and had to pull over so an ambulance could pass.  Alexander asked, "Mommy, what are we doing?"  I explained to him the proper protocol for emergency vehicles.  After a few minutes this was his response, "I have a good idea.  What if we get a rope to pull the ambulance, the police car and the fire engine truck past.  Is that a good idea, Mommy?"
• One of his favorite phrases, "Oh!  I almost forgot (fill in the blank)...
• For a while every time you would ask Alexander what his daddy did at work he would respond, "Eat.  Eat chicken."
• Just a couple of weeks ago he says to his sister, "Hello Anna.  My name is Alexander." 
• I know he has said a million other funny things, I just can't remember then all now.  I hope to post more funny Alexanderisms in the future.  Our boy is quite the character and absolutely full of life.  He cracks me up on a daily basis! 



I don't get very many good pics of him these days.  He rarely slows down long enough.



I can't even remember what he is saying in this one. 



Making cookies with daddy.



Eating the finished product!



Clean Up!!!



Daddy loves cookies too!!!

FUN WITH CLOUD DOUGH

Today I suprised Alexander after his nap with a box full of cloud dough.  I saw this stuff on several "mommy blogs' that I follow.  It's just flour and baby oil mixed together that ends up similar to sand.  It was a bit messy, but it provided 2 hours of very calm entertainment for him.  I would say it was definitely worth the mess.  Here's a few pics to show you the fun!

The big box of Cloud Dough.

This was pretty soon after he started playing...still pretty clean.

Building and moving his trucks.

This was towards the end...It's in his hair, his eyes, his mouth, his socks.  Good Times.

ANNA'S 5 MONTHS OLD? ALREADY?

5 months ago today Anna was born.  I cannot believe that this much time has passed already.  She is an amazing little girl who seems to be growing and developing by leaps and bounds.  Here are a few things that she's accomplished in the last month:

Showing off that beautiful, toothy smile.

• She is officially mobile.  She has linked her rolls and can now roll across the floor.  She also loves to spin around on her belly so that she can see whatever her big brother is doing. 
• She has 2 teeth.  We saw the first one popping in right after Christmas and now she has 2 little chompers on the bottom.  So cute! 
• She found her feet and they are her favorite toys.  This girl is trying to put her feet in her mouth all day.  She has a bit of trouble with the cloth diapers since they are a bit bulky, but as soon as you put her on the changing table and take her diaper off they are in her mouth.   Her socks are constantly wet now.  It's pretty funny. 
• She blows bubbles.  For a while she was constantly blowing bubbles with all of the extra drool that she has, but she doesn't do it as much anymore.  But when she does she is just so proud of herself. 
• She is getting pretty close to being able to sit up by herself.  She can kind of prop for a few seconds, then falls. 
• She loves to stand on your lap.
• She has started doing this thing where she throws her butt up in the air and is on her hands and toes.  I think she's trying to figure out how to crawl. 
• She still loves it when you sing to her.  It doesn't really matter what song, just sing and she smiles. 
• She LOVES her big brother so much.  He makes her laugh without even trying and it is so sweet to witness. 
• She just loves to laugh.  She is such a smiley, happy little girl.  You can't help but fall in love with her.
• She is really empathetic too.  Sometimes when Alexander will be crying and really upset over something she'll pout her bottom lip and start crying too.  It's really sweet.
• She loves her Sophie the giraffe.
• She's eating on a pretty good 3 hour schedule which is nice and still only nursing for about 4-5 minutes at a time.  She naps about 3-4 times a day still though.  She seems to like to nap for about 1 hour at a time. 
• She's still getting up 2 times/night most nights.  Boo.
• She loves to sit up in your arms and look out and see what is going on. 
• Bottom line, she's absolutely wonderful and we love her so much.  I couldn't have asked for a better or more perfect little girl. 

Here is a video of her latest "move".

Yesterday was the day that we saw the specialist for Anna's kidney.  We saw a pediatric urologist at UNC Children's Hospital and were very pleased with our experience.  The doctor is not really very concerned with her condition.  He said that about 1 in every 20 kids with this type of kidney will develop an obstruction that will need to be dealt with by the time they are 2 years old.  But he doesn't think that Anna will have that problem.  He does want to continue to monitor her to make sure, so we are going for another ultrasound in 5 months.  Chris and I feel very good about the outcome and feel really positive right now.  Hopefully in 5 months things won't be any worse. 

CATCHING UP!

So it's been over 2 months since I last blogged, but we have been very busy.  Here's a quick catch-up and then I will try to be more on top of things in the future. 

KENTUCKY
Basically right after my last post my mom flew in to make the drive back to Kentucky with the kids and me.  She is wonderful!  Who would actually sign up to be locked in a car with 2 kids 2 and under and their sleep deprived mom for 10+ hours?  Well she did and I am very grateful!  I'm not sure how I would have made the trip without the extra hands.  All in all it went well.  Alexander is an exceptional traveler and Anna did alright.  She could do better, but she wasn't even 3 months old then. 

We spent Thanksgiving in Bowling Green with Chris's family even though he was still deployed.  The whole family was able to skype with him on Thanksgiving Day which was a treat.  He was greatly missed. 

Anna with Great Grandma and Grandpa Troyer



Decorating his 2nd Christmas tree with Grandpa Mike

  We then went to Louisville for about 3 weeks with my family until it was time to get back in the car and drive back to North Carolina.  My mom came with us again and we arrived on the 19th of December.  My mom flew back on the 21st and then on the 22nd came the day we had been waiting for for 2 months! 

Making cookies with Frostine in Louisville

REDEPLOYMENT

When Chris originally left for Afghanistan we thought he was going to be gone for 5 months, but right after he got there we heard that they were bringing back some of the guys/girls 3 months early.  Lucky for us, Chris was on that list.  On the morning of the 22nd we headed out to the squadron to meet the jets on the flight line.  Surprisingly his group of jets were right on time which is very rare!  All of the families and other squadron members were all lined up outside while the jets taxied past us.  Then they parked and we were allowed to run to them.  As soon as Alexander saw Chris he started to sprint to him and threw himself at Chris.  It was one of the most precious moments I've ever seen.  I wasn't sure how Alexander would react upon seeing his daddy again. I think he spent the last 2 months pretty confused.  But he was absolutely thrilled to see his daddy.  Then I reached him and there were lots of hugs and kisses and then he got his hands on Anna.  She was only 6 weeks old when he left and she had gotten so much bigger while he was gone.  Needless to say, it was a wonderful reunion. 

Waiting in the squadron before they landed.

Waiting on the flight line.

Being that this was 3 days before Christmas (Best Gift EVER) Chris didn't have to go back to work for 2 weeks.  This was wonderful!  We were super lazy just hanging out and enjoying having our family back together again.  It took Alexander a few days to really start letting Chris do things for him again like putting him to bed, changing his diapers, and fixing him food.  But now he's a total daddy's boy!  He follows Chris around and wants to do whatever he's doing.  It's really really sweet! 

Happily Reunited!

I am so happy to have my husband back home.  It's really impossible to describe what it feels like to have your love go off to war.  Every moment that he's gone you are scared for his life.  But you can't spend time thinking about it because it will consume you.  And this time we had 2 babies that needed me to be calm and together.  I will say that they helped me.  It was hard.  I mean really hard, but they helped keep me from focusing on all of the bad things that could happen.  They helped keep me smiling.  But the moment that I was able to put my arms around him again was wonderful.  It was the first time that I relaxed in 2 months.  To know that he was safe.  Really and truly safe.  It really puts things into perspective for you.  Makes you realize what's important.  Family.

CHRISTMAS
This was the first Christmas that we spent at our own house without any guests and I have to say that it was exactly what we needed.  We just did things our own way and in our own time.  Christmas Eve we left out food for Santa and his reindeer and Alexander was adamant that he leave popcorn for the reindeer.  It was really cute and I have no idea where he came up with it, but that's what we left. 

Christmas morning was magical.  This was the year of the train for Alexander.  He has a bit of a train obsession right now.  He talks about them all the time, and would always play with a train whenever possible.  Well, Santa left him a train table and train set for Christmas.  He was delighted and surprised to say the least.  It was all set up in the family room when he walked in the room and he did nothing but play with it for at least 45 minutes before he had any interest in opening any other presents.  It was a wonderful reaction.  In fact we left it in the family room for over a week and he pretty much did nothing else but play with his trains.  We still go upstairs at least once a day and play trains.  I would say it was a big hit! 

He just saw the train table!

Anna's first Christmas was spent being pretty mellow.  She did a lot of napping and playing with her new exersaucer and other toys.  Alexander helped open most of her presents and still helps her play with them all. 

Yawn!

ANNIVERSARY

Chris and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary on December 27th.  I can't believe we have been married 8 years already!  So much has happened it the past 8 years.  We have moved 5 times, had 2 babies, survived 2 deployments, sold 2 houses, bought 3 houses, and had a lot of fun adventures together.  It's amazing!  I love him more today then I did 8 years ago and I never knew that would be possible.  I have to say, I am the luckiest girl in the world.  Never has there been a better man. 

ANNA'S 4 MONTH WELL BABY

On December 29th we took Anna for her 4 month well baby appointment and all is well.  She was 24" long (30th %) and 13.9 lbs (43rd %).  She's little but very strong and happy.  She had to get a couple of shots, but did pretty well.  She didn't have as bad of a reaction after the fact as she did at 2 months.  Thank goodness! 

Happy as ever!

NEW YEAR

Since ringing in the new year, we've just been getting back into the groove.  And it's been wonderful being able to include Chris in our routine again.  He was greatly missed.  And  I think it's safe to say that he's happy to be home as well.  It's wonderful that we were able to start the new year as a family.  As it should be.