My current Obessions

writing letters....since I have no other way of communicating with Jason right now I spend a lot of time writing Jason about my day and what the kids have been up to...my blog has been put on the back burner lately because I have been spending so much time writing, playing with the kids, showing them pics and videos of there Daddy, and just trying to stay as busy as possible!

with Jason gone I have been using my video camera a lot more.....Brielle seems to be hitting a lot of milestones lately and both kids as well have been doing some cute things lately that I just don't want Jason to miss

eating at home.....this last month we ate out so much with moving, vacations and just never being home, so lately I have loved being able to cook a meal and eat at home....don't get me wrong I still love eating out, but there comes a point where is just gets old.


I have just recently tried yoga, and surprisingly I really LIKED it! Its been such a nice switch from my typical cardio and weight routine.

Green Tea! I wasn't to sure at first about this....But I LOVE IT!

these have come quite handy being out an about with 2 little ones, especially when you have a 10 month old that puts anything and everything in her mouth and has to touch anything and everything!

Washington D.C.

We also took a little mini trip up to Washington D.C. we spent the night in Tysons Corner and visited Arlington Cemetary, The Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial. The first day was pretty cloudy and overcast but it made for a perfect day of sightseeing, but the second day warmed up quite a bit and made visiting Arlington a little more difficult, now if any of you have ever been you know its a little bit of a hike to walk around there and pushing a stroller with 2 kids didn't make it any easier, plus the kids just wore out so much faster that second day with the heat and humidity, so I'm glad we got the bulk of sights to see done in that first day. The only thing that we would have done different is not try and park in the city again.....our best bet would have been to park a little further out and take the metro everywhere, we made the mistake of parking in the city and it was a nightmare, I can't tell you how many times we got lost trying to find our way around.

We got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

Virginia Beach

We took a day trip down to Virginia Beach, the weather had been crazy that week so we didn't dress to actually get in the water, we thought we would just walk the beach and boardwalk and just stick our feet in. Well, Daniel had other things in mind, he wanted to just jump right in, this boy LOVES the water and loves the beach, we literally had to drag him away to leave. Even though we wouldn't let him dive on in, we let him play at the edge of the shore and he loved watching the waves come up and splash him, and Brielle surprisingly loved it too, although I think she wanted to eat the sand instead of play in it.

Williamsburg

After Jason left on Sunday my parents flew in that night and we stayed another week in Williamsburg. We spent the week visiting Colonial Williamsburg, D.C and Virginia Beach, I almost feel like I need another vacation after this one. But we really had a lot of fun and it was great to Jasons Family as well as spend a week with my parents.

Rick and Nancy came down to spend some time with us in Williamsburg the night before we left

This is how these 2 took naps....in the car between seeing things....but even with the lack of sleep they were so good! I couldn't ask for better kids!

In Colonial Williamsburg

Virginia

Before Jason left for Basic we decided to head back to Virginia to visit Jasons family. It was the perfect way to spend our week together before he left, I didn't have to worry about chores, laundry or cooking, I was able to spend all my time with Jason and the kids and we had a blast. We finally got to meet our cute niece and nephew that were born just after Brielle as well, little Ethan is 3 weeks younger and Sophie is 5 months younger, so Grandma and Grandpa Carroll had a very busy 2008 visiting grand babies and going to blessings. But the kids were great and Daniel and Brielle had a blast with all the attention they got and having so many kids around to play with. When the trip started I was kind of worried, the morning we left started out pretty rocky, with 2 changes of outfits from diarrhea and throwing up in the car, I remember thinking to myself this trip could be very interesting, but lucky for us we had no more incidents once we got to the airport and while flying, although once we got to Jasons parents house she had a few more episodes, but after 2 days we were healthy and eating again and playing like crazy.

Grandpa with the Grand kids born in 2008.




All of us (minus a few) at Olive Garden the night before Jason left.

napping with Daddy.....Daniel will NOT do this with me, this is a Daddy and Daniel thing, and I love it.

The Hardest DAY

The day finally came, Jason left for Basic Training at Fort Benning on Sunday May 3rd.....now lets just hope time goes just as fast as this day came. We got to spend our last week with Jason in Virginia, we lounged, helped his sister move, and got to eat at all our favorite places we just love. On Sunday we had to be up at 430 a.m to get him to the airport, and then the it came time to finally have to say good bye, the part I had been dreading all week, and needless to say I was wreck, seeing him walk away and knowing it would be 10 weeks before I see him again finally hit me and I finally broke down. Going into this we both knew what it meant, a lot of sacrifice on both our parts, and as much as I am going to miss him, in the reality of it all, once we are able to join up with him we'll have a better future and have so many more opportunities for our family. I love you Jason and can't wait to see you......9 weeks and counting!

We head out in the morning for Virginia! Can't wait! While we are there we will be

Doing a lot of this

to get Jason ready for Basic
Visiting Washington D.C.

Saying good bye to Daddy for 10 weeks! :(

shopping at the outlets till we drop

visiting Colonial Williamsburg

So stay tuned for a lot of new post when we get back!

Date NIGHT!

Jason and I got a Date Night Friday and sadly it was probably the last real date we will have in a long time.....We leave Tuesday for Virginia, and from there Jason leaves for Basic Training, so before life gets all hectic with packing and getting ready to leave we got my parents to watch the kids while Jason and I had some "us" time! It was so nice to be able to go out, enjoy our dinner and actually be able to have a conversation, and can I add the fact that I got to eat my meal while it was still hot! I love you Jason, thanks for always making me feel so special! I will miss you like crazy, and I will definatley miss our Date Nights, but I'm so proud of you!

9 Months

I'm a little behind on this post but our little Brielle is now 9 months old! I took her to her 9 month check up last Monday and of course she is growing like a weed and it right where she is suppose to be developmentally. Here are a few things about Brielle at 9 months: She weighs 19 lbs 5 oz (53rd percentile) and 29.25 inches long (93rd percentile), she is crawling everywhere and is INTO everything, she can pull up in her crib and pack and play but is still working on other objects. She is very sensitive, if you even look at her wrong she will scream! And one thing that has definitely not changed is she is still a MAJOR mama's girl! As of lately she has mixed emotions about Daniel, one minute she loves him the next minute she is screaming and crying when he even tries to touch her. She says mom all the time, and babbles da, da and ba ba constantly. She loves sticking her tongue out at us and blowing rasberry's. As feisty as this little girl is, we just love her!

The Good and the Bad

As I posted earlier Daniel was having some hearing tests done.....and today was the day. The day started out rough, because he was going to be sedated for the test we had to deprive him of sleep so that when they gave him his sedation medicine he would fall asleep easier, lets just say keeping him up hours past his bedtime and waking him up at 6 a.m and not letting him eat or drink anything was not easy or fun, but by doing this he was able to fall asleep very easily and the Audiologist was able to do the test and get all the information they needed, and with that we have good news and bad news. The bad news is Daniel is suffering from some hearing loss, the good news is that his hearing is not completely gone, his left ear seems to have more hearing loss than his right and as of right now we know that he can not hear higher frequencies which are neccesary for speech. So until we are able to meet with his Doctor we won't know the full extent of everything or what the next steps are for us. But for now we have some answers and although it very hard to deal with right now, I am very happy because we can now move forward and get him the best care possible!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter this year, we are finally moved in at my parents house and were able to really enjoy the day, we started out with our Easter breakfast and then it was off to church, in which I spent most of my time wrestling with Brielle, she has got to be the squirmiest little thing, and actually this was the first Sunday since Brielle was born that we made it all the way through all 3 meetings, I mean it only took 4 adults to do it, but we did it! It amazes me though that even though I spent most of my time taking care of Brielle and only hearing the lessons and talks here and there, I still was able to feel the spirit, and really focus on why we really celebrate Easter. After church my brother and his family came over and we enjoyed a yummy dinner and then we just hung out and lounged the rest of the night....what a perfect way to spend Easter Sunday, time with family, church and lounging around, what more could you ask for? oh....and did I mention, other than the few toys the Easter bunny brought, Daniel has not touched his Easter basket....this kid has no interest in candy, seriously....I think he is the only 3 year old that doesn't eat sweets....that's right, no candy, no cake, and occasionally he might have a cookie, but he just doesn't have a sweet tooth, I guess I shouldn't complain, I just think its a little strange! We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

After trying and trying I figured these will do.....besides it shows how they really are! Cute as can be!

We have decided to have some more tests done for Daniel, this time for his hearing. On April 16th we will have an ABR test done, they will have to sedate him and then perform the test attaching electrodes to his forehead and behind his ear and then a small insert will be placed in his ear canal. Daniel is still not talking and to be honest we don't know if its because of his developmental delay or if he does have any form of hearing loss, I know he can hear, but what he is hearing we don't know. So hopefully once this gets done we can finally get some answers so we know how to proceed. I'm just glad he we have Primary Childrens right here to help us and I am so grateful for all they have done for our little guy, I would be completely loss without them! On another note here are a couple random pics of Daniel as well....I have been terrible at taking pictures and blogging lately, packing and spending as much time with Jason as possible has taken over most of my time, so if you see less posts for awhile you'll know why, we have about 1 month left until Jason leaves.

Daniel comes home from pre-school exhausted, this time we didn't even get his shoes off before he fell asleep.