You Will Be a Big Kid and Do Whatever You Want To Do...

Advice from my oldest son to the baby.

He is so wise and encouraging don't you think? :)

Our Fun Filled/Crazy/Productive Weekend

What a weekend!!! Just as the title says, it was a fun, crazy, and productive weekend.  It is hard being back from vacation, but now we are moving forward with a plan! It always feels good to have a direction to move towards don't you think?

Highlights of the trip:

-We left Friday morning around 6 am.  We had an apt to see an apartment at 1, so we had to hit the roady early to make it to DC on time.  Deagan woke up saying he had a soar throat, and I suspected something was up.  We had to get on the road though, so we just prayed that he would be healthy enough to travel.

-We got into the area we were looking at in plenty of time.  However, the Maryland side of DC was not really our favorite, so apt hunting on Friday was a flop.

-We started heading to the house where we would be staying and got caught in DC traffic on a Friday afternoon.  Not smart.  It took us 3 HOURS to get to the house when it should have only taken an hour.  Lesson learned!

-A motor cade drove past us while we were stuck in traffic.  I swear it was the President, but both Deagan and Greg doubt me.  I am sticking with my story though:)

-We stayed with the nicest family I have every met. They were so good to us, and made us feel right at home.  We only met them this weekend (they are family of some friends of ours) and they feel like family to us.

-We had to take Deagan to the ER on Friday night because that soar throat turned into much more.  He could hardly eat or drink, and I think he was getting dehydrated.  He was diagnosed with strep throat, and has been battling that ever since.

-We fell in love with the VA side of DC and found a place there! I feel in love with our apartment as soon as I saw it.  I can't wait to move there now! We have the apartment as of May 1st, but we can't move in until the 17th. Which means we will end up paying rent for our place here and that place in May.  Not the greatest thing, but what can you do?

-We went to the National Zoo and saw gorillas! Really, that is all we saw.  The zoo was packed the day we went, and we had promised Deagan we would go see them.  So we saw them and left.  We figured we will live close to it this summer and will go back a lot to make up for that;)

It will take some time adjusting to life over there, but we are excited for the change.  It is going to be a crazy month though as we get ready to move! Wish us luck!

Good Thing He's Cute!!

This little guy has had a rough month it seems.  He has been sick off and on for a while now, and I think he is getting teeth.

He has been super grumpy and hard to please, and while at times I feel like I want to scream and throw in the towel, I look at him when he smiles and my heart melts.

I think I'll keep him; boogers and all.

Scary Afternoon

The weather in our area has been really lovely today; almost a high of 80 degrees! Because it has been so nice, the boys and I spend the afternoon in our little back yard that is shared by the complex.

At one point, it was just Deagan right on our back porch because I was doing something in the house.  He was just playing on the porch and Kayden was watching him out the back door.

I had my back turned to him for 1-2 minutes, and I had a thought to look out back for him.  I turned around and he was gone.  At first I didn't think too much of it because there is a long stretch of grass in our back yard, and I figured he has just walked further away from our apartment. He wasn't there either. 

I grabbed Kayden and went out back and started calling his name.

No answer.

At this point I am panicking because we live in a busy complex with a lot of crazy drivers that come in and out of this place, and I was thinking the worst; maybe he got hit by a car or something and that is why he is not answering me!

I started running around out complex calling his name with no answer from him.

I finally found him on the other side of our complex; which meant that he had crossed the parking lot all by himself.  When I found him, I was so upset and seeing me upset made him cry.  I took him inside and we talked about what had happened.  Come to find out, he was following a family of ducks.  They started walking into the parking lot, and he wanted them to be safe, so he chased them to the other side of the rode.  I explained to him that while it was nice of him to think of the safety of the ducks, he put himself in a lot of danger by not going with an adult.

Luckily, this story has a happy ending, but it made me think of all the horror stories I have heard of parent not being able to find their children.  It gives me chills just thinking about what could have happened.

It also makes me feel guilty because I had turned my back on him for a very short time when should not have been focusing on the house work, but on him in the back yard.

There are times when I feel pulled in to many directions and I am trying to get too many things done at one time, and while I think I am really good at multi tasking, I am not.  This is a big eye opener to me, and I have promised myself to not get too caught up in trying to get stuff done, but to take the time to play with my kids.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has finally come to our part of the country, and we took full advantage of it today! We went to Palmyra and enjoyed a day out together as a family.  It is so nice to spend time together because during the week it seems like we are all going on a million directions.  

We found out this week that we will be moving in about a month, so this could be one of the last times that we will be able to visit Palmyra before we move. We have been blessed to be able to go a lot since our first visit here.  It is hard to believe our 2 years is up here, and that we will be going out into the "real" world soon.  We truly have loved our time here and have loved living near such a sacred place. 

Deagan picked our picnic spot today, and he chose the big brown spot in the middle of the green grass.:)

Loving the sun!

These two were so funny together today!

Beautiful Sun

Deagan found this huge walking stick today.  What a find!

Cuddling

Mommy and Kayden

Playing tug-a-war

Kayden did not want to walk on the grass.  It reminds me of Deagan's reaction to grass the first time he was on it too.  

Trying to keep himself entertained on the car ride home

The next month will be busy trying to find a new place to live and with trying to do all the things that comes a long with moving! Wish us luck!

Saturday Update

Since this is our family journal, I felt like it was time to give a brief update on our family along with some really adorable pictures of the boys!

Greg

He graduates from Grad school on May 15th! He has an internship planned for the summer in DC that we are desperately hoping will turn into a job. He has to get a top secret security clearance, so until that goes through he does not know where his office will be located.  Because of that, we really don't know where to look for housing quite yet.  We are hoping to know by at least the beginning of May, but who knows when we will hear.  Sometimes it is hard to be patient!

He works a couple of part time jobs, so on top of school and work he is busy.  He is home a lot more than he has been in the past few semesters though which is really nice! I know I am being spoiled and I will really miss him when he has an 8 + hours work day a long with 1-2 hour commute time.  But that is "real" life I guess!

Me

I am still working early mornings at a local daycare, and I really do enjoy it.  The kids there are really sweet, and it has totally changed my perspective on working mothers and daycare for the better.  It has been a really good experience, and I think I will miss it when we move.

I am in the mood of getting rid of anything we don't use right now, and we have managed to get rid of quite a bit so far. What a good feeling! Moving is daunting though, so I am getting nervous about it.  We will probably move quite a bit in our life though, so I guess I better get use to it!

Deagan

Deagan is a happy, healthy, and energetic 3-year old! He is so smart and so social.  He is just at a really fun age.  He has the funniest imagination, and sometimes I stare at him in awe because he surprises me every day with new things he has learned.  He is just so fun!

He loves going to preschool, and has really become good friends with all the other kids in his class.  It is cute to hear him talk about them outside of school.  The other day I was in the car with him, and he started getting really sad about having to move because he was going to miss his home and friends.  We have been talking about moving a lot lately, but I guess I didn't take into account how he was processing it, but I guess he was paying attention a lot more than I thought.  It made me sad that he was sad, but the reality is that we have to move.  

Funny Deagan story:  We were checking our at the grocery store this morning, and the cashier had a very visible physical disability.  I was hesitant to go to her line because I didn't want Deagan to say something mean about her. (Not that he would try to be mean, but he would just be honest.) There was no other line open, so I asked him really quietly to try to be a really nice boy while we were in line.  After we were done and we were walking out the door, Deagan told me, "Mom, I was a really nice boy wasn't I? I sang a song so I wouldn't say anything mean." It made me think of the Primary song, "Hum your favorite hymn." He is such a sweet boy!

Kayden

Kayden has seemed to turn a corner in his development.  He doesn't seem like a baby to me anymore, and acts a lot more like a toddler.  He throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way, and has figured out that if he gags himself he gets a reaction out of me.  Our kids must have come equipped to earth knowing that I hate that.  He does it when he wants out of his high chair and we aren't getting him out quick enough.  Not cool!

He is stil not walking, but has taken a few steps.  He says "ba" now for ball, and "du" for ducks.  We have a few ducks that visit our back porch several times a day because they know the boys will feed them, and he loves to watch them.  

He is still nursing, and I love it! I don't have any plans on stopping anytime soon, and I don't think he does either.

He loves to play with Deagan, and has become a much more fun playmate to Deagan I think.

His hair is starting to get curly, which is fun to see! I love that our boys have curly hair.

He is also a great joy to have in our family!

Today I Was a Bad Mom

No I did not punch my child and give him that gigantic bruise, but I do blame myself for it.

I went to the grocery store to get some food for Sunday.  When we got home, I was grabbing all the bags, and went over to his side of the car to open the door.  I did not realize that he had unbuckled himself and was leaning against the door, but when I opened the door he fell hard on his face on the hard asphalt.  I screamed.  He screamed. I dropped the groceries and ran inside holding him in a panic.  To be honest I was afraid to look at his face because I thought he might have busted his head open or something, but luckily it was just a bad fall with little blood.  I was so shaken up afterwards, and so was he apparently because he took a 3 hour nap this afternoon, and he NEVER naps anymore. It was an awful feeling watching him fall and there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening.

This experience is added to my list of moments of sheer panic with him.  Another notable one was right after we moved into our apartment here, he fell down our stairs.  I remember screaming as he fell because I was watching his body twist and turn in all sorts of directions, and I was sure he broke something.  Luckily he was fine then as well, but that was another awful moment.

I know kids are suppose to fall and get bumps and bruises, but I hate it when it happens.

Tough Face