The daily life...

It feels like I haven't blogged in a long time, but in reality it hasn't been that long. I think its been hard for me to update the blog because I update Jaron almost everyday through email on the daily going ons here at the house, so I forget to post it here. So if this blog is all over the place its because I am trying to recall what's been going on and the funny things the kids have been up to.

I received another bouqeut of flowers from Jaron and it was such a nice surprise. I wonder if I will get one in October considering I will be giving birth to his third child and all.

As for the kids they have been busy playing a lot of dress up as you can tell from the pictures. Ava loves to play pirate, tinker bell, and just about anything she can think of. Elijah got an alligator custome, but insists its a dinosuar so we got with that. He also, plays with the pirate dress up of course. They just run around the house in character playing with one another and talking in funny voices. When Elijah's a pirate he only talks in his "mean pirate voice" as he calls it and will only answer questions if I talk in the "mean pirate voice". Its really pretty funny. Ava runs around singing parts of the Pirates life for me song, so that it pretty cute. She also, says "Arrrr Mattes". When Ava plays tinker bell she pretend to fly around the house making swooshing noise to go along with her flying motions.

"Aarrrrrrr, Mattes"

Perfect pose of a pirate. This was after we got the eye patch and sword....;)

Elijah looks like the Mardi Gras Spiderman. He totally dressed himself up like this.

The alligator...I mean dinosuar

AVA

We finally were able to make it to the beach a couple times lately. Ava of course just loves playing on the beach and not so much in the water. She is getting really good at jumping look at her jumping in the water.

What has Ava been up to this month? Well her imgination is exploding pretty much daily and her memory. She was looking through one of the books we read fairly often and pretty much had it memorized with a little improvisation. It was pretty amazing to hear read/quote the book. She also, if she doesn't know what the words or book she will say, "Once upon a time....". We recently have been reading a book titled, "What makes you happy". When I asked her what makes her happy her answer was "the sun". She is at such a fun age where everything is just so cool. When walking home from a friend house the other night Elijah was afraid (b/c it was dark) and Ava was just amazed by the moon and stars. The kids are both getting anxious about the arrival of baby brother. We were in the commissary yesterday and Ava in her sassy voice asked, "Mom when's that baby coming out", with a big huff and lip pucker at the end. She is also becoming a bit more girly and wants to wear dresses and look "pretty" as she says.

Though Ava has been a ton of fun as you can see in the pictures she can be a real beast. She has taken to the art of drawling on herself and the walls. She wants stickers all the time and they always start off all over her and then I find them in strnage places like under the couch cushions.
Her and Elijah also, have been a few more squables lately and well it always ends with her hanging onto him for dear life as he tries to buck her off. She is also picking up on Elijah terrible eating habits and tells me all the time "that not good for me". The nap situation though has been pretty good this past week she still wants to fight it. Last week I told her after playing at the park tha twe got home she was going to take a rest (nap) and her response was, "I happy Mom, I not need a nap. I happy.". When the kids cry alot I tell them they must be tired and need to lay down in their bed, so I am sure that is where she got this from.

All in all Ava is quite delightful and I thankful to have her. She is a lot of fun!!!

Just enjoying the sand and a little bit of water.

Ava and her friend Kristen at story/craft time.

Sporting her new pretty flip flops (slippers as people call them in Hawaii). She is so proud of her big girl flip flops.

ELIJAH

It's been just amazing watch Elijah grow up before my eyes. He is becoming more polite and easier to steer in a positive direction. We have interesting converstaion almost everyday about anything from what he wants to be when he grows up to skeletons and bones.

One of his biggest things this month is he is really interested in learning how to spell. I had bought some playdough ABCs and asked if we could spell cat, apple, worm...so I had him sound out the words and he DID IT!!! With a little assitance he was able to spell the words. It was surprising moment for me and a proud one at the same time. He learned phonics from the DVD the Letter Factory.

Along with desire to spell is the desire to read. Elijah loves to go to the library and get news books and read and looks at books a lot. I read to him several books a day at home, then he has storytime at school, and then he looks at books on his own all the time. Its so amazing to see him so thrilled with books. He actually got complimented by the librarian at school during a story time for being the best behaved student. What a proud moment for me as a Mom.

The converstaion have been interested lately. He told me when he grows up he wants to be an artist, but then changed it to that he just wanted to wear big clothes like Daddy. Ambition right there...hehe. He is also, showing concern about how this baby brother thing is going to play out. He is consistently asking me is baby brother going to be here soon. Last week he asked where he was going to sit in the car. He suggested in the back at first. I told him possibly in the middle between him and Ava or maybe he (Elijah) would sit by Ava and the baby by the door. He liked the idea of the baby being in the middle better. I posed the question to Elijah what makes him happy and his response was, "you, Mom". How sweet is that. I better soak it up while I can.

This way to the water. Elijah is become quite the swimmer in the ocean with his life jacket on of course. The great thing is he loves the water, but is still cautious and follows directions well while in and around the water. I hope by next summer he can be a good enough swimmer to swim without a vest in the pool.

ME

How am I doing? Well I am doing pretty good considering all circumstances. I am very pregnant at this moment (37 weeks) and ready to have this baby. I feel great most of the time, but feel pretty tired most of the day. My patience is starting to wear thin, especially when I am with the kids none stop for a few days. I just need a moment to rest and I don't get that a lot of the time. But all in all I am thankful to be as healthy as I am and have the energy I have for not getting much sleep. If I got to sleep early I am awake at 3:30am. Then the kids have been coming to visit me in bed during the early morning hours, so sleep around here can be difficult at times.

We are all starting to feel to toll of Jaron being gone. Elijah won't talk to him on the phone and I am not sure why. It's possible he is angry about it his Daddy being gone. We talk about Daddy, but I try not to encourage them to miss him. What I mean is I don't go on and on about Daddy being gone and missing Daddy. The other day I was with ELijah in the car by ourselves and he just out of the blue, "Mom, I really miss Daddy". I told him that miss Daddy too and that it would still be a while before he came home. So we needed to keep talking to him on the phone and sending pictures. He hasn't said anything about it since. Jaron has been gone 2 months and it is for sure starting to wear on me. I miss him dearly and just want him home. The thought of going into labor and not having Jaron with me is starting to really make me sad. It's hard knowing he isn't going to be here this time around and it makes a bit sad and anxious. Jaron wants to be home so badly, but knows there is nothing that will change it. So we continue to email and talk every chance we get.

The Baby Brother

No, the baby doesn't have a name yet. Its been a hard thing to choose for us and doing it mainly through email has not been easy. The things that have been going on with preparing for the baby this month have been a tour of labor and delivery and a sibling class for the kids. The labor and delivery tour was fun. Two of my good friends came with me and we had a great time. I am happy they were there, because I might have cried other wise. They are excited about the baby coming and plan to be there with me at the birth if they can make it.

The sibling class was kinda like a little prep for when the baby comes. The showed pictures of newborn babies and what the umbical cord looks likes (things of that nature), a cute little video, practiced baby massage on a baby doll, swaddling, and being the sharp eyes for Mom and Dad. They are suppose to be the sharp eyes so we keep bad things away from the baby. They also got to do a labor and delivery tour where we were able to find someone willing to let us look at their newborn and sing "Happy Birthday" to her. It was a great course and I am happy that we took part in it.

As for the next couple of weeks I hope they go smoothly. I am hoping the kids behave, that I feel good, and that I continue to hear from Jaron fairly consistently.