Home Sweet Home

Well I am writing you this wonderful evening with laundry going, both kids asleep in their OWN beds and my house picked up.  I would definitely say today was successful!  Our little family of three are trying to get everything together for our FIRST Charleston visit post-deployment :)  Porter has seriously been asking for his cousin Jonathan for about a week now.  "Jonathan lives in Charleston.  That's far far away.  Can we go there tomorrow?  Can he play with me?"  Needless-to-say, someone is biting at the bit to get down there!

I have been chatting with Stephen a lot about all of the goings-on here.  Mainly I've been dealing with a lot of defiance issues with Porter.  For some people, Porter's behavior would be deemed "normal" for a 4 1/2 year old.  However, I know my son very well and he is definitely acting out.  I feel all I do every day is yell at him, chastise him or spank him.  From sticking out his tongue, to literally throwing a temper-tantrum to back-talking me and tell me 'no'...I am drained come bedtime.  And none of that is counting Joshua's non-sleeping self ;)  So, I started an eight week session called the FOCUS Project that the military provides which is Family Resiliency Training for Military Families.  Normally this is done with the military member right before they deploy and then with the family afterwards, but we didn't have time to even think about it.  The lady I meet with is basically a therapist and goes over ways to improve our home life and basically survive with each other through the deployment.  During the third session, the lady will meet with Porter without me and only tell me things if it's pertinent for his well-being.  My first homework is to set aside 5-10 minutes every day during the same time (which is after the bus drops him off from school) to have Mommy and Porter time ALONE.  Lock up the baby, because little Porter is the only one that exists during those minutes :)  Porter has also been using the excuse that he is the "man of the house" lately for everything.  I believe he honestly took that literally.  He told me, "I can't sleep in my room because I'm the man of the house and I have to protect you Mommy.  So I need to be like Daddy and sleep with you."  He has also in some form every day said, "You can't make me _________ because I'm the man of the house!"  We're having serious issues here people.  And this stuff happens every. single. day. all. day.  I can't take it anymore and need a serious break!

So, when I told Stephen I was thinking about going to Charleston the last weekend in September for a long weekend, he told me that I needed to go NOW and for at least a week.  So...I decided I could swing Wednesday until Tuesday :)  We'll head out once Porter gets off the bus around 11:30.  I want to see as many people as possible, but I'm also not planning on wearing myself out.  I really wanted this visit to be relaxing and helpful.  So I would LOVE for Porter to be around some men since he's not getting that love at home right now.  You should see all of the kids at church jump on the men who are volunteering in the kids ministry.  So many children's Dads are deployed that they are yearning for that manly relationship.  If any of you men out there are around and would like to have some bonding time with Porter, please let me know.  He would absolutely love doing anything and everything!  As for me and little J...we have no plans while we're there.  Just call me or shoot me a text and we can probably make something happen.  I am staying with my Mom, so I will be on Johns Island while in town.  Hopefully I can see a lot of y'all while there and let Joshua meet everyone too!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful and cool week!  See y'all in a few days!!

This is a sampling of the photos that we had taken the week Stephen left.  I will hopefully be printing some out soon to send to everyone :)

This is Porter's Daddy Doll.  We finally got it in the mail on Friday!  Porter's is Deserts on the back and Joshua's is Woodlands print.  Porter talks to Daddy all the time.  "Come on Dad.  Let's go get my book." "Dad! No hitting.  You have to sit in time out for four minutes!" "Mom, I love my Dad"  So so glad we got this for him!

This is Aubrey.  She lives three houses down and calls me Porter's Mom.  Her and Porter ride the bus together and are in the same class.  Every day she gets off of the bus and tells me she is going to eat and then come to my house, ok? If you ask her her name she will say Aubrey Chicken Boo Boo, but you can just call her Boo :) LOVE my neighbors!!

Aubrey and Porter having baby time.  The neighborhood kids come over just to hold the baby.  It's pretty hilarious :)  I think Joshua loves it though!

One Down

Happy Friday family!

Yesterday was such a great day because this family has hit the one month mark! Woohoo!! I can't believe we've finally made it a month.  Through ER visits, weird sicknesses, acting out and no sleep...this Momma will be having a wonderful glass of wine tonight and kicking up my heels to wish this first month of deployment so long!

As we're entering month two, things are starting to look better.  Porter has started school and is in a routine and I'm filling my schedule with meetings, playdates, bible study and everything in between!  As my friend Staci said, always stay busy :)  Sometimes I feel simply stretched thin, but I would rather have too much to do than sit at home and watch the clock tick slowly by.  It makes me feel normal.

Porter's school is going well.  A little bumps in the road with his first incident on the bus.  After giving Stephen the low-down and a little FaceTime disciplining from Daddy-to-son...I think Porter will never do that again :)  I was hesitant at first about his new school since I wasn't familiar with any curriculum, teachers or other students, I feel much much better now.  Porter is coming home every day and telling me exactly what they did in class (which never happened at his old school) and trying to sound out letters and singing songs.  I am so hopeful for what the school year is going to bring!!

Joshua is continuing to grow :(  We had family pictures taken the week Stephen deployed and I just received them back today.  Little J is SOO much bigger than he was then.  I can't believe it!  Today was a big mile marker because he finally rolled over from tummy to back!  And I say this with confidence because I definitely made him do it three times in a row and then later this afternoon.  So definitely not a one time thing.  We don't do tummy time around this house because I just don't have as much time to do it that I did with Porter.  So I was super excited when Joshua decided to do his milestone.  I was able to video tape it too to show Stevo later thank goodness!

As for Stephen he is doing well.  We actually talk every day now on FaceTime which I'm super thankful for.  We've been able to keep each other up-to-date on all of the important stuff and goings-on which has made the long distance feel closer.  Stephen did in fact get his hair all shaved off.  And he just thought that this was a perfect time to bic his hair since he would never be able to do it again.  All I can say is ugh! My girlfriend came over and looked at a pic we have of Stephen back in the dating days and said...."yeah. Stephen looks so much better with hair!" Agreed. Enough said :)

I hope everyone is doing well and that y'all are getting ready to start off this Fall season wonderfully.  I just have to keep drinking my Pumpkin spice latte to make it feel like fall since it is so incredible warm EVERY day!  I'm excited for tomorrow as it's only supposed to be in the mid-70s.  A perfect day for a shopping trip in Wilmington! Take care y'all!

This is Joshua at our 1-month mark!  I swear he has Stephen's eyes.  He is seriously always such a happy baby now...so so thankful :)

 Each month we are go and get ice cream to countdown the months.  This is Porter at our 1-month mark  at Chick-fil-A of course :)

This is our other countdown we're doing.  The container says "A KISS a day while Daddy's away."  It has the number of kisses in it that I'm 'assuming' is until Stephen comes home.  Every night Porter takes one out and eats it.  So it gives him a better visual of exactly how many days are left :)

End of Summer

Well it's been awhile since I last posted all of our craziness so it is time again to update everyone!  I know summer has just come to an end with Labor Day and school is back in full swing for students AND teachers :)  Our days are definitely stacking up with school and activities galore!

Porter started his first day of Pre-K today! We had orientation yesterday which was a full hour tour of the school, principal, nurse, class, etc.  It was super informative and made me feel great seeing the classroom and all of the other parents.  Great eye-opener for how next year will be at the school!  This morning however I was an emotional wreck! We were all prepared for school: packed the book bag, were dressed and ready well before time and even had time to play.  However, we walked outside about 15 minutes before the bus picks up for school to take pictures and low and behold...here comes the bus!  Mr. Dennis, the bus driver, stopped and motioned Porter on and I was super dumbfounded.  Apparently the schedule provided by the school was from last year and the times were wrong! Good thing we were outside when he happened to drive by!!  Needless-to-say Porter jumped on the bus without even so much as a goodbye to me or looking back and he was off!  I practically ran inside and just lost it!  No school picture, no goodbye and totally gone!  That was just way to quick that he grew up and left me alone with little Joshua laughing and giggling.  Good thing I had a party at a neighbor's house down the street to pass the time this morning.  Porter came home and said he played with "the kid with the hair?" (what does that mean) and read books for two hours.  I guess in the mind of a four-year-old, that was a great day!

As for little Joshua, he is doing well.  He is 100% over his sickness and turned the big 2 months last week :)  He just went to his two month well check up and weighed 10 lbs. and was a little over 22 in. long! He's just a growing little boy.  He is also super duper strong! All that kid wants to do is stand up in your lab and flex every muscle in his body...I think he just wants to keep up with his big bro :)  Little J did have his first round of shots on Tuesday and I totally forgot how that all worked.  He was such a trooper with just a little bit of tears and was happy go lucky the rest of the day.  By 9 o'clock that night though, he was screaming louder than I've ever heard him cry and feverish!  Well a nurse hotline call later, Joshua was doping up on his first bout of Tylenol and sleeping.  After two days of pain from the shots, he is back to normal and as happy as ever!  He finally outgrew his newborn clothes and is wearing 3 months and is in a 1 size diaper....which means cloth diapering 101 is about to happen!  (Look for that experience in the next post hopefully!)

And we can't forget about Stephen :)  I lucked up last week and was able to FaceTime with him if not everyday, every other day.  We never talk about him because he always says he can't tell me anything so we don't even go there.  But he looks great, still has hair and is chugging along on his job trying to get all of the groundwork done for this deployment.  I did ask him if there was anything specific we could pray for him for and he mentioned one thing.  He is looking for direction.  Direction as to what to do next and where the Lord is calling him in the next couple of years.  I will add prayers of safety, encouragement and steadfastness in the Word to that as well :)  I haven't talked to Stephen at all since Monday and I'm getting pretty anxious.  Times like this morning sending Porter off to school make deployment hard and real when all you want to do is call your best friend and pour out your heart to them.  My guess is they have shaved his head (first deployment ritual) and he's waiting to FaceTime until he gets more hair per my request :)

Below I have some helpful pointers when sending care packages.  My girlfriends that have just experienced their first deployment have provided some helpful tips about sending food overseas! I hope this help y'all out a bit.  We're hoping to make a trip to Charleston sometime this month, but it's looking to be at the end since school just started up.  I'll give y'all a heads up once I've pinned something down!

Care Package Tips:
If you send cookies, brownies, etc.. use a pringles can. Put a piece of bread on the bottom and on the top and seal it really good all around the edges of the top with packing tape. That worked for us. I also baked cakes and breads in mason jars and sent them. Paul loved that. I would just send icing with it. You basically just make whatever cake or bread you want and use the mason jar the same as you would a pyrex dish. I reduced the cooking amount a little and would just check on it periodically to make sure it hadn't gone over the top or got too brown. You seal it RIGHT when it comes out of the oven. The heat from inside the cake will seal it correctly. The top of the jar should pop out and you know its sealed right. ~Staci Lancaster

Also, single serve oatmeal cups were a hit since breakfast got cut. ~Anne Green

I sent photos, zoe's drawings, and cards. I took the easy way out and shipped food from Amazon. The chocolates with "liquor" in the middle were a hit! ~Becca Tole

Porter's first dentist appointment! It was super awesome and he did AMAZING they said for his first time.

It's a pediatric dentist and they definitely have TVs above their heads on the ceiling to keep them entertained.  You could tell Porter was already zoned in!!

This was how we spent our last days of summer!  Joshua enjoyed the pool too and was representing his Dad with his little lifeguard swim trunks  :)  

Joshua's 2 month birthday!! He looks so different from just a month ago! He is able to support himself in a chair which is HUGE!

These kiddos keep me smiling!  Porter's favorite thing to do is making silly faces and Joshua just wants to be with his bro.  Typical day in the King household :)

This was orientation at Porter's school yesterday :)  He was totally talking when the teacher was and chatting it up with his new friends....this could be a long year (I hope he learns to listen!)

Porter's first day of Pre-K!  I made him take the picture after he got off the bus today since we missed everything this morning.  You can tell how amazingly excited he is with me!