Kids

So my little man Alex has been sick sick sick! It all started last Sunday when we were in church. He was so cranky and started feeling really warm. I took the boys home while Ben stayed. Alex had a temp of 102.4 and it only got higher. Poor little guy! His eyes were red and he just slept for the next 4 days. It was awful! And all he wanted to do was sleep and nurse! Yes I'm still nursing! And I was FINALLY feeling like I had a good routine going and then it got all out of whack! So now we're starting all over. He's lost about .5 a pound in the last week because he doesn't want to eat, though today was a good day. He actually ate some rice cereal and fruit. And I'm back down to nursing 4-5 times a day. Nights are still a bummer though. He (Alex) is getting up 2-3 times a night. YES STILL!!! It's quite frustrating but I know it's because he's not getting enough to eat during the day. Hopefully tonight is better! We'll see. He's feeling better though and he's back to his happy self. He really is such a happy kid! They all are! I really am blessed!

Both my boys have started actually crawling, instead of rolling or army crawling. It's been fun watching them do new things! I love it! The just turned 10 months old and are constantly learning new things. They starting to pull themselves on stuff. It's been a little frustrating because I'll lay them down for naps and they'll pull themselves up and can't get back down so they'll cry until I come and help them down. Alex says "dada" whenever he sees Ben. It's just too cute. And Aidan has started saying "mama." It makes my heart melt! They are just too darn cute!

Lilli is getting big too. Our primary program was yesterday and Lilli wanted to go up and sing with the kids so bad! She was mad when I told her she couldn't go up there. Then I told her she could go next year and I just stopped. She'll be in Sunbeams starting January!! Crazy!! She'll be going to Preschool next year. She's so excited! And so am I!! She's just so social and so smart. She needs to go. I need her to go. She loves to watch Scooby-Doo on Netflix and now wants to be Daphne Blake for Halloween. I'm going to make her a purple dress and make her look like Daphne. We'll see how it goes. I'll be sure to take pictures. Like I said she's just too smart! We were at Sam's Club and this lady ran past us in the parking lot and Lilli turns to me and says, "Whoa! She's a good runner!" That same day, Aidan had taken something from her and she looks at him and says, "Hey! What's the big idea!" She's hilarious!

Ben has a new hobby of running 5K's and 10K's. It's fun having him come home excited and so proud. He really enjoys it and I'm so proud of him.

I'll post some pics hopefully tomorrow. We leave Friday for Disney World/Sea World and we'll be gone for a week. I'm so excited. I think I'm most excited to see Lilli's reaction to everything. Like I said, we'll be there for a week and will have plenty to post about. Until then (after I post pictures tomorrow for my sister Bre)..........

Caught up

I think I'm all caught up now. We've been pretty busy and I just haven't had time to blog. A little bit about what we're doing: Aidan is crawling. Alex is still doing the army crawl. I'm down to nursing them 4 times a day (instead of 8). It's awesome! Aidan only eats table food, no baby food. Alex eats table food if he feeds it to himself, otherwise he eats baby food (fruits) and cereal. I can't believe they're almost 10 months! To me they're still my babies. I can't wait though. It's hard but I know it'll get easier. They had their 9 month appointment last week and Aidan weighed 15 lbs 11 oz and Alex weighed 17 lbs 2 oz. And Aidan is almost 3 inches longer than Alex. They're getting big!

Lilli is still her crazy, socialite self. The other day I told her to chill and she said, "Don't tell me to chill, Mom. I'm not a raindrop!" And we were going into the Y and the guy at the desk was in a motorized wheelchair. When she saw it she yelled to him, "Cool chair!" She really is a character and keeps us on our toes!

I'm keeping busy chasing kids, cleaning house, and doing some sewing. I really enjoy sewing and may have found a new hobby. I love making new things and watching people enjoy them. It's fun!

Ben is doing great at his job. He's working with the fitness program here and is doing well. We're changing career fields and he will be flying. Which means more deploying but more places for us to move to. The choices are endless (kind of). We're hoping to go to England. Ben deploys soon and its going to stink. I'm not sure what I'll do. It doesn't look like we'll be moving anytime soon (knock on wood) so I'll probably stay at my parents' house for a few months. We'll see. We're excited for the changes that will come our way.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I think I already blogged about this so I'm sorry for the repeat. We have a few more trips to blog about so until then......

Air Force Half Marathon

Our family before the race. Yes! It really was THAT cold!

Ben and Lills before the race

Greg (Ben's running partner) and Ben before the race

The half marathoners from Ben's squadron before the race

Coming to the finish line

Here's Ben with his medal and Lilli

In the middle of September we made the looooooooooooooooong drive up to Dayton, OH for Ben to run in the Air Force Marathon. It was a quite a trip, but so fun. We left on a Thursday and drove to Knoxville, TN. It was gorgeous!! We drove through the Smoky Mountains. They are definitely different from the Rockies. There are tons of trees and hardly any Evergreens. It was so beautiful! I would love to go up there again. Friday we got up and drove the rest of the way to Dayton. We got there and immediately had to go get Ben's packet. There were so many people and vendors. It was crazy! We met up with some friends at the Olive Garden for a carb fest and then went to our motel. I didn't sleep well that night. I think I was nervous for Ben and knew we had to get up early (5:30 am early). But we made it. They started the 10K, then the full marathon, and we met up with Ben before the half marathon. It was so cold! I had us all bundled up with sweaters and hats. I think I've turned in to a woos since being here in Georgia. Anyway, they had F-16's fly-by. Many those things are loud. I'm sitting there covering my ears not even thinking about my kids. It was loud, but really cool. They started the race and Ben was off. We then had 1.5 hours to just sit and wait. We waited around the finish line cheering everyone on. I got chills and a little emotional seeing how motivated people are. I saw a blind man being led by a friend. I saw people in wheelchairs being pushed by helpers. It was amazing! Then we saw Ben and his buds coming and we cheered them on. What an accomplishment! I'm so proud of Ben! It was awesome! He finished in 2:10:00 (2hours and about 10 minutes).

We left right after the race, Ben showered, then we drove back to Knoxville. We were going to stop in Gatlinburg but by then we all just wanted to get home. The next day we drove only 3 hours to Greenville to visit the Meagher's. It was so fun to see them and they spoiled us with steak and corn for dinner and cookies and ice cream for dessert. It was so good to see them. The next we headed back for home. It was so good to be home after driving for 5 days straight. But it was well worth it!

Charleston, SC

Supposed to be a haunted path (this was on our tour)

We had to cross this huge bridge and anyone who knows me well knows I HATE bridges over water! I was white knuckling it the whole way!

This goat was letting Lilli pet him......and then he tried head butting her (this was while we were waiting for our carriage tour)

The boys in the motel, Alex kept trying to put the blanket over Aidan's head

Lilli sprayed Aidan and I with water just as Ben took this picture

Over Labor Day weekend we decided to take a last minute trip to Charleston. It's only 3 hours away and so worth it! I loved Savannah but there's just something about Charleston. It's beautiful and CLEAN. Savannah felt dirty. Anyway, we stayed about 1 mile from downtown. I'm so glad we did. When we first got there, it was later and we ate at a seafood restaurant. It took us about a half hour to find a parking spot but once we did, we were not moving. After we ate we went to the city park by the bay. There was a fountain that was pretty cool and we decided to just let Lilli get wet and play. She had a lot of fun! Then we went to the docks and watched for dolphins. We saw a few but they were just skimming out of the water. It was a little disappointing because Lilli couldn't see them. She still had fun though. She's such a social jibber jabberer (probably not a word but you get the point). Most of the time it drives me crazy, but I'm not going to stop her. So she was talking to all the people around us. It was getting pretty late at this point so we headed back to our motel and Ben took Lilli swimming in the pool while I put the boys to bed.

The next day we got up and headed out later than I'd have liked. Anyway, we ate at a little whole in the wall place that was on Rachel Ray's $40 a day. It was yummy!!!! I got smoked salmon eggs benedict and Ben got sweet potato pancakes with pecan butter and maple syrup. I liked Ben's more than mine. It was called Joseph's and its right downtown. Prices are very reasonable and the food was so delicious! I highly recommend it if you're ever in Charleston. After breakfast I really wanted to take a carriage tour. I was left a little disappointed, because I wanted to see EVERYTHING. I guess Charleston has laws allowing only so many carriages out at one time and gives them different routes. It was was fun to do once. I wouldn't do it again. Though they do give haunted tours and I'd really like to do that once before we leave. After our tour we went to Market Street and saw all kinds of vendors. Then it was off to the beach. We only went because we told Lilli we would. Be this time it was almost 5pm and both Ben and I were so tired, along with the kids. They all fell asleep on our 30 minute drive there. We were at the beach for MAYBE 30 minutes then we were out of there. There were so many people and I didn't even get in.

We had such a good time and I'm hoping just Ben and I can go when he gets back from deployment. I think I would enjoy it a little more. Okay........A LOT MORE! But it was a fun family vacation and we'll have those memories!

Family Pictures

I decided to take advantage of the fact that my sister takes pictures so while we were in Wyoming I had her take ours. She does a really great job. Obviously! The quality of the pics aren't that great on here, but hopefully she can get more edited and we can get some copies (hint hint Bre!). Anyway, I love them! There weren't a whole lot of pictures where all three kids were looking at the camera. We had a heck of a time getting Lilli to look, let alone the boys. They were all cranky and tired and hungry by the end. But it was fun! Thanks Bre!