Stephen- Well Stevo is just chugging along over in Spain :) He's still living in a house with tons of other guys and really getting over the whole fraternity setup I do believe. I think it's a great for awhile, but then when we try to talk over FaceTime, it gets bothersome with two other bunkmates in the same room and the lights on constantly and people yelling at the top of their voices. :) I'm pretty sure these reasons are why Stephen steered clear from fraternities in college! But on the work side, things are pretty much the same over there as they have been for him back stateside. He has his job that he does and he will fly some. He has been able to work out a lot more which sounds like that is the norm for most everyone deployed. What else are you going to do with your free time? :) Besides that, I don't think he has done too much traveling. He was able to go out in town one night. I know he had an awesome time eating a 9 course dinner and stuffing himself with gelato and hot chocolate so thick you can rest a spoon on top of it! He is really doing well over there and hopefully passing the time quickly on his end as well. His address is still the same as it's been since August, so feel free to write or send him goodies. I will be the first to say that I have been so caught up in my own little life here, that he has gone these first two months without anything from us. So I need to get on that ASAP!! :)
Amanda- Nothing too crazy to report in with me. I've just been chauffeuring little children back and forth to events and then events for myself as well. My cousin came to visit me for my birthday in March which was such a blast! I haven't seen her or her sweet daughter in over a year, so we had a good week bonding and playing with the children :) I did however turn the big 3-0 the end of March and celebrated it with a wonderful dinner thrown by friends and then a Murder Mystery Dinner after my birthday. Needless-to-say, it went off without a hitch and all of my friends are now addicted to this type of party! I'm hoping to go to another one soon! A couple of weekends ago I was able to participate in an event put on here for the Marine spouses called In Their Boots day. It's basically where we are supposed to be walking in the footsteps that our spouses do everyday and experience their everyday work lives. It was super fun!! We were yelled at by drill instructors and learned to march, stand at attention and parade rest. We then were bussed over to try out simulated weapons and check out the static display of all of the planes on base. After that we performed a modified CFT (combat fitness test) which was amazing!! That was followed by tug of war, MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts) and then the simulators...which we obviously flew the osprey ;) It was so much fun hanging out with my other spouses in the squadron and actually feeling like I know what Stephen knows now. Little things that the Marine Corps sponsors such as these events make me really proud and honored to be a military spouse. I am so thankful for the path that God chose for our lives and how I would never understand or know what it's like to be a part of something so big! Truly blessed! In other news with me...my sister is engaged!! I'm so stinking excited I don't think anyone (besides my Mom) can understand :) She got engaged on Sunday to her boyfriend, Jarrett Cooper, and I'm so excited to help "guide" her in her wedding planning... yay!!
Porter- Little P is doing really well in school. Stephen and I have been back and forth, back and forth as to where we are going to send him to school next year for kindergarten. I have been less than impressed with his current Pre-K program on base, but have heard nothing but rave reviews about the kindergarten teacher on base here. This whole common core stuff has us worried, but we are going to hold off another year before we decide to switch schools. The big news for Porter since the end of February has been t-ball. We signed up the end of February for t-ball but the first meeting with coach wasn't until March 27th. So for the past month I have been listening to an impatient boy wondering when he will meet his coach and his team. So...Porter is on team Red Sox! They had their first practice last week so the season has officially kicked off. I have literally never seen him so excited about something before. He made us practice before his first practice and then when we came home too!! He is so cute out there on the field and is definitely one of the shorter ones. But I'm not going to lie, I believe he is kind of naturally good!! I really wish Stephen was here to help me, because this is such a Dad sport :) But I will have to fill the shoes this season as best I can! I think the games start the 26th of April. So if any of y'all would like to come up and cheer on little P for a game, call or email me and I will make sure to have a bed waiting!
Joshua- Oh wow...I don't know where to start with this kid. Let's see. Joshua is a whopping 16 1/2 lbs and just turned 9 months old. He has two bottom teeth, one top and the other top waiting to poke through. He has been dubbed by all of our friends as the sweetest, happiest baby ever. All you have to do it look at him and he will pop that ear to ear smile and a giggle every time! He is a hip baby and will reach up to any female that opens the front door. Although he is super short, he stands up by himself and has started taking his first steps. Every time he pushes himself up to standing he will always take one step, but yesterday he took two steps and this afternoon he did it again. I'm thinking this walking thing is going to happen quicker than I can imagine. :) His favorite activity is wrestling with his brother in the living room or on the bed. Anytime he is within reach of that bleached blonde head of hair, he dives into a grab and starts rolling! Porter is kind of rough with him, but somehow Joshua seems to get on top and grab Porter in a perfect wrestling position and start rolling. It makes my heart so happy to see them loving each other :) In other news, Joshua saw the pediatric surgeon on my birthday and discovered what is really going on with his little belly button. He indeed did have an umbilical granuloma initially, but it wasn't treated so skin grew over it and it has now turned into an umbilical polyp. So, since it continues to grow and the base is rather large, he will have to be under anesthesia to surgically remove it. The Naval Hospital on Camp Lejeune does not do anesthesia on children under 2 years old, so we will be going to Portsmouth, VA to have the surgery. The doctor said I can wait until Stephen gets home and we can plan to do it in the Fall. :) Nothing is ever super normal with these children! :) The most recent oddity with little J has been his shudder. It is actually called Infant Shudder Syndrome. Randomly Joshua will widen his eyes, cock his head to one side and shake back and forth like a chill ran down his back and give a slight exhale. This shudder happens, oh, at least 5 times a day. Scared me of course, but then discovered that it is non-epileptic and a spasm of his immature nervous system. So if you see him do this, he is ok!! :) haha
The only other news to relay is that we are heading to Charleston tomorrow! Porter has Spring Break next week, so we will be spending it in the most beautiful city on the east coast. If any of y'all will be around, please get in touch with me so we can meet up! We will leave Monday morning after Easter. I hope all of y'all are getting ready for a break next week of some kind too :) If there are ever any questions about what is going on with Stephen or us, do not hesitate to shoot me an email, text or call. I would love to answer anything or chat for bit when I have some down time. Take care everyone and if I don't see y'all before, have a Happy Easter!
Our tradition is we go on a family walk/run (for me) and bike ride (for Porter) around the 3-mile loop on base by our house. Halfway through the loop is this workout station. Porter ritualistically stops and does his "workout" before we can continue. Below are just a few pics to capture our Saturday afternoons :)
This is Joshua's routine every morning as we get Porter ready and out the door to the bus. He stands here by the door while I walk Port to the bus and waits and waves as the bus drives by :) He loves watching outside!
Joshy's first time in the infant swing at the playground. Although you can't tell it here by his expression, he LOVES it!
As part of our deployment countdown, we go to a frozen yogurt store near our house called Sweet Frogs for monthly countdowns. This is a brotherly picture outside of the shop.
Porter rocking the 1 for 1 month down!
Joshua's favorite kitchen toy is definitely the mixing bowls in the cabinet. We decided to put little J in the bowl and spin him around for kicks and giggles. Everybody was giggling that night! :)
Cousin time at none other than Target!! This is little Olivia and Joshua...cousins!! All Olivia wanted to do during their visit was be everywhere Porter was and all Joshua wanted to do was climb up Olivia. I think Olivia had had enough of little babies by the time she left our house :) She is too adorable though! I'm so thankful to be able to spend time with my cousin Dawn and stay so close even though we are 6 1/2 hours away!!
Movie night!! Notice again, Olivia had to be by Porter ;) This was Olivia's first time watching Frozen. We definitely own this movie and Porter and our neighbor Aubrey are constantly pretending to be Prince Hans and Anna. Hilarious!
Just have to post this sweet picture. I'm so glad I got those Daddy Dolls for the boys because Porter sleeps with Daddy every night and Joshua wrestles and giggles at Daddy in his crib everyday!
Here are just a couple of pics of Porter's first t-ball practice!
Here are some pics from my In Their Boots day! These are two of my girlfriends whose husbands are also in our squadron. This was definitely at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. The event was from 7 a.m.- 2 p.m. In the middle, Kat (she lives 5 houses down from me) and on the right is Kara (she has two boys, one is Porter's age, Daniel. They are pretty much bff and the same person :)
Us on the bus going to the simulated weapons and static display.
Me shooting the big thing! haha, totally forgot what it was called. I did hit the hashtags on the bottom of the screen which was sweet!
And, I think this is the M-4 that they carry. Not 100% though. It was fun shooting something with continuous fire though!
Everyone from our squadron that participated on the Osprey :)
We have friends that fly the Cobra, and I've never sat in one so I had to try it out. There is no way a guy can sit in this thing and not feel extremely confined! Crazy!
This was t-ball practice this past Wednesday. This is Porter's "baseball ready" position waiting on the batter :)
LJ hanging out in the grass at big bro's practice. He is getting so big now that I'm looking at these pics! :(
I know you can't actually see too well, but this is Porter catching one of the grounders!
My big 5 year old :) Love him!
And lastly tonight! We went to Sweet Frogs and again and celebrated 2 months down! Porter's throwing up the deuce and Joshua is trying to decide if he likes the frozen yogurt :)
