1/10 - Pre-deployment days

We have been focusing on spending time as a family so I haven't had much time for the blog. We've had a great last few days before Brad leaves. We had family pictures done on Friday morning and they turned out great. I can't wait to share them soon.

Brad packed his bags on Friday night and we took them to base on Sunday morning before sunday school. The boys weren't really sure what to make of all of daddy's bags.

We got great news on Sunday on the way into church that Brad doesn't have to leave until Tuesday (he was supposed to leave Monday). In church on Sunday, Brad and I become members of our church which was good. The top picture is Aiden in his Awana-bees shirt. He goes to AWANA on Sunday night and is very excited to have shirt like all the other boys and girls in his class. He wanted to daddy to put on a matching shirt so Brad found an old softball one. Aiden wore that shirt, home and also to bed. He wanted to wear it on Monday too but I convinced him I had to wash it.

The boys went to daycare on Monday and Brad went to work in the morning. Brad and I hung out in the afternoon for a bit and then got the boys and went to Chic-fil-a for dinner. The boys had a blast playing with daddy and Eli didn't get another black eye this time. I felt so blessed God gave us another day and night with Brad.

Brad leaves tomorrow morning for his deployment. The boys and I are going to take him to base and say our good-byes.

1/5 - Family time

This first picture was taken a few days ago at Target. Eli was being so cute. We played chase all through the men's clothing department and it wore the boys out some (that was the goal). Eli and Aiden are starting to play a bit better together. Brad has been spending lots of time with them which is great. Brad has also managed to build an awesome track for Aiden to play with. He's refined it some since this picture to make a few less curves so the long trains that Aiden make do not fall off the track. I had to take a picture of it to see how he did it so I can do it while he's gone.

Eli is still healing from his ear infection. He is going to be an awesome drama king later. He can throw a fit like no other and can sometimes get over it pretty fast. Other times, he likes to drag it on and on and act like the world is going to end. It's safest to set him up against a wall when he's going to throw a fit because he launches himself backwards and that could be very bad when he's on the tile floor.
Brad got me the Wii Fit Plus for Christmas and I love it. I was thinking I would use it at night when I get lonely when Brad's gone. It's better than just sitting and watching tv or reading (although those things are okay sometimes). Brad and I are super competitive and we've been playing around with the wii during naptime and after the boys go to bed. Aiden caught us playing it when he got up from his nap the other day and wanted to try it. The video is too funny because while Aiden is adorable, I am moving and acting like I'm the one playing it. Aiden has the controller in his back pocket and his movements make the tv character move.

I am happy to report both Brad and I have completed the Advanced level on the obstacle course and can resume normal functioning after obsessing about the wii for a few days. Brad is finishing up some "honey-to-do" stuff and he added some hooks on the wall for the boys coats and backpacks. Aiden wanted to help of course!

Brad and I have been taking turns spending one-on-one time with the boys since they won't get much of that while Brad is gone. While I played with Eli, Aiden and daddy played Candy Land. Aiden won!

This picture of Eli actually makes his eye not look so bad. He fell at chic-fil-a on Saturday playing in the preschool playhouse and landed right on his cheek. It was pretty red and he was screaming his head off for a while. On Sunday it started to turned a little black/blue.

I snapped a picture of Brad and the boys before he left for work on Tuesday.

Eli was very upset when Brad left for work yesterday morning. After he left, Eli went to the door and tried to open it and when he couldn't succeed in that, he stared out the window.

Aiden came over to see why Eli was crying and I told Aiden that Eli was looking for daddy so they both looked for daddy for a while. It was very sad. They are gonna miss their daddy so much. Aiden has just recently started saying daddy and mommy. It's so cute. He puts an emphasis on the end syllable and it sounds adorable.
This is Eli's eye as of yesterday. We also took Eli to the dr to get a checkup on his ear infection and some lab results back that were done in St. Pete at the hospital. He doesn't have some parasite they were worried about but we did have to repeat the lab. Brad took it in this morning and they are going to re-run it to see if this sample has the same results as the last (to be gross for a minute - he had blood in his poop). The dr also gave us a script to get an MRI of his brain to see if there are any answers to his wobbliness. I will cancel that if he stops falling over once the ear infection clears up.

Brad has been able to be home a little more this week so we are enjoying every moment together and preparing for him leaving. Time is passing fast and I hope it continues that way on deployment! I just figured out Brad was gone 164 out of 365 days last year (that 45%). This year will be a lot more so please keep us in your prayers that we remain a tight family and the boys will always remember their daddy. He's been reading books to Aiden and we've been taping that so Aiden can still have daddy read him books while he's away.

1/1 - Happy New Year

Happy New Years!! Brad spent an hour on New Year's Eve babyproofing our kitchen cabinets (some of them at least). I mainly wanted the one with the chemicals and cleaning stuff but Brad did a few of them. We could have gotten by without some of the being babyproofed but it makes my life a little easier. Our neighbors had a gathering yesterday to celebrate. We took a Target trip in the morning and then after naps, I took Eli for a rollerblade and then met daddy and Aiden at the playground. The kids started playing on the street around 4:30pm and our boys joined in. Everyone brought something to eat and our boys ate a second dinner!
Eli is always hungry. We are starting to think he's got a tape worm. I'm not sure if we are kidding or not. He can easily eat twice the amount of Aiden, almost the same amount as me.
You can see Eli begging for food from Brad. He ate his weight in food last night I think.

Here is our New Year's Eve family photo. I cherish family photos right now and am hoping to get one more before Brad leaves.

Eli loves to have Brad drive him around on the scooter. He's gotten pretty good about staying on the scooter and not stepping off.
Aiden has a few toys that the kids like to play with. We had his old scooter out, bike, and his mower. Eli finally got a turn on Aiden's bike and he really liked it. He was very curious how the pedals worked.
The kids asked to get the slide out so the boys had fun doing that too.

We are also pretty excited that Aiden is starting to figure out how to use pedals, or at least trying to. He's never even wanted to put his feet on the pedals and the past few days he has tried it out. Last night, his friend, Jayden (she lives 2 houses down and is about to turn 4; she is adorable) was pushing him.

Aiden then tried pushing her in the stroller but Aiden isn't quite strong enough to push her too far even though she's tiny.
We put Eli to bed around 6:45 because he was exhausted. Aiden found a party hat somewhere and decided to try and wear it. He very briefly paused for a picture with the hat on.
Aiden tried to play cornhole. He had fun watching the other boys and girls throw the bean bags and eventually joined in himself.
He didn't really like trying to throw it in the hole so he would walk up and drop it in the hole! It was too cute.
By 7:45, Aiden was exhausted and asked to go to bed. We all had fun and then Brad and I watched football for an hour until I fell asleep on the couch. Maybe once the kids are older we will try and stay up until midnight but until then, the boys don't sleep in so staying up late isn't fun at all because we are so tired.