Evan's 4th Birthday!

Tearing into one of his gifts

Opening up his turtle from Nana and Papa Carpenter

LEGOS!! I can't tell you how much this boy loves playing with legos.

Train tracks!  He loves those trains too!

Blowing out his candles

Yum!!!  Cake and Ice Cream

Logan wanted in on the action as well.

October 28---Evan's fourth birthday.  This was also Evan's very first day of school.  He didn't have the greatest time at preschool, but he came home and enjoyed playing with his new turtle toy from Nana, AND he was ecstatic when he got a new set of Legos from Aunt Sarah.

We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which wasn't very good here compared to eating it every where else.  The boys didn't seem to mind their food at all, but Rick and I were a little disappointed.  After we came home, opened gifts, sang happy birthday, had cake and ice cream and stayed up a little later than usual playing with their new toys.

Okay, I have a four year old.  It's so strange to think of Evan as 4.  I remember very vividly when he was born and all the pain I felt (I don't think that memory will EVER go away!)  And I also remember when he was a screaming newborn, how I was positive I would never have any more children.

But, I can say how wonderful this little boy is.  Evan is such a sweet, special kid.  I've always had a feeling that he's different from other kids his age...not necessarily in a bad way, but even though I sometimes compared him to other kids.  This year he has grown by leaps and bounds.  He is such a smart little boy.

Even with a speech delay, he's potty trained (at least 90%, anyway).  He's starting to talk a lot more, which leads Rick and I to be a lot firmer with him, because we know he can talk a lot more now, so we don't let him get away with just yelling when he's mad.   He's such a good big brother as well---he takes care of Logan and is good about playing with him.

He also has an independence streak about 100 miles long it seems.  I think part of the reason why he doesn't talk a lot is because he just goes and tries to do everything himself.  Lately he's been so good about helping me with cleaning.  He holds the dust pan for me when I need to sweep, he unloads and puts away dishes that he can reach, and he's been doing a lot better about picking up after himself.

It amazes me what he does know, sometimes.  I found out by surprise that he can count from 0-9 while we were doing a number puzzle.  And the other day when I picked him up from preschool, the aide in his classroom told me that he did great at telling her a bunch of letters.  So we picked up an alphabet book that night before bed, and Evan pointed out and named the entire alphabet for us!  I would know if he could do it, if he actually spoke!  He also recognizes several colors and shapes, which I already knew since we taught him that ourselves. 

We are so grateful for Evan, and we love him very much.  We're so blessed to have Evan in our family.  I feel like the first born children are kind of the guinea pigs.  Thankfully Evan is a great kid, and we seem to be doing a semi good job with him (hopefully, lol).    We love you Evan! 

Evan's First Week of Preschool

To my great surprise the school district got Evan in really quickly to his preschool program.  Since he has an IEP for speech and a few "cognitive" issues (really, I think they just have a hard time figuring that stuff out with kids that don't speak), we don't have to pay, and he receives the services that he needs. 

He started on his birthday, and he wasn't happy to see me go, but when I picked him up he didn't look like he had too horrible of a time.  His teacher said that he cried on and off the whole day, but I figured that he would soon get over it. 

His picture for starting his first day of school

He goes Monday through Thursday, from 9:00-11:30 AM.  I am so glad that he got the morning slots because if he had the afternoon that would be cutting into his brother's naptime. 

Logan was upset when Evan left as well.  He kind of just looked around aimlessly at the house/play area for the 2 hours or so until we had to leave to go back to the school to pick him up.  Tuesday, Evan cried even harder when I left.  It was so bad that I had tears in my eyes and was trying not to sob as I drove home.  Of course his teacher said that Tuesday was much better than Monday and he only cried for a little bit. Wednesday was even better than Tuesday and Thursday he didn't cry when I dropped him off at all.  I'm so glad that he's a pretty adaptable, easy going kid and it wasn't too horrible for him.

This morning I talked to him about how we were going back to school and he says, "Evan school?" and he didn't cry when I dropped him off this morning, so hopefully that means that we're over most of the drama until we come back from weeks/days off or what not. 

He's already learning so much, and I am so thankful that he has the opportunity to go to school here.  One of the reasons why I chose the neighborhood to live in that we did (base housing is divided, and there are two different school districts) is because I had heard better things about the district where we are. 

Housing Stress

So when we arrived at Wright-Patterson, they gave us a four bedroom house that had a lot of square feet.  They had warned me that it was "older, but updated".  Um... yeah.  We stayed there for the weekend before we could get into the housing office to tell them that we weren't going to live there. 

It was so stressful thinking about living there.  My stomach dropped when I walked around the house for the first time.

And, well, here are some pictures:

The rusted kitchen sink drain.

A coil coming loose from the socket.

One side of a shelf held up by a screw (that was painted over)

The other side of the shelf was held up by a nail.

This was the door in one of the boys' rooms. Seriously? 

More rust.

Wall paper pulling off of the border in one of the bathrooms.

Gross tub drain.

Another drain rusted.

This was the shelf in the coat closet downstairs that was falling apart.

 Maybe I'm just picky, but everything just screamed out to me that I didn't like this place.  There were a couple of other little things, like the horrid paint job over the entire house, a detached garage that we couldn't fit the minivan in, a crowded parking lot, the 2 pronged outlets and the very, very outdated appliances. 

We went to the housing office on Monday morning to do our lease paperwork, and we told them straight up that the house wasn't okay.  It was really thanks to my mother-in-law (who I am more and more grateful came out to help with us), that we shouldn't just accept the house.  I was saying that our Fort Meade house was a little nicer, but if we could survive that we would be fine.  Lanelle pointed out to me that we were junior enlisted at the time, and now we're junior officer--we shouldn't settle for less.  (Rick's dad was enlisted for a time in the late 80s, early 90s, so she's familiar with the different types of housing).  I kind of feel the same way.  Maybe I'm elitist, but I swear that Rick has worked really hard to move from enlisted to officer, and I feel like he deserves it. 

The housing office was really good about it.  They took us to two townhomes that were much smaller, with attached garages, driveways and just a newer construction.  We lost about 700 square feet with the townhomes though.  One of the townhomes was on a cul-de-sac and the backyard was actually fenced.  (unlike most of the other houses!)  So soon as I entered the house, it was like my heart completely lifted.  I felt so much better, and it felt like a home that we could live in for at least a couple of years.  It's a beautiful home, and I am so glad that we stood up for ourselves and got a new house that suited our needs better.  No pictures of the new place yet.  I promise that it's much better (3 pronged outlets!) 

The trip to Ohio

We made it to Ohio!  It was crazy last week and I am finally starting to come down from all that adrenaline. I thought that  I would just write down everything that happened from last week until a couple of days ago.  About a month ago we asked Rick's mom Lanelle if she could come out and help with driving.  I figured that I could make it, but I would feel a lot better if she was there to help drive.  And she ended up driving most of the way, which I was totally okay with.

On Tuesday the packers came and finished by around 3:30 or 4:00, and Rick and the boys picked up Lanelle from the airport an hour or so later.  I went to my last Relief Society meeting in the Biloxi ward which was a multi-cultural night that I took a raspberry tart to (store bought) because I didn't have anything to bake with!  I had a great time and after I visited my good friend Jill at her house for an hour or so.

On Wednesday, the boys, Lanelle and I went to get Tato-nut Donuts for the last time, and went to do some shopping.  By the time we got back from driving around for a little bit, we found that the movers were just finishing up.  They had finished by 11:00, which to me, was incredible.  They've never been that quick before.  We then started cleaning a bunch, and I was definitely getting stressed about losing a bunch of our BAH money for having a house that wasn't perfectly clean!

On Thursday we woke up somewhat early and we finished all of our cleaning and sat around waiting for the housing person to come by around 10:00.  Thankfully all we had to do was pay for the blinds, since there were a few windows we couldn't find the right measurements for.  We then spent some time in the BX and commissary before Rick had to go in to do the last of his out-processing.  Lanelle and I went with the boys to get some frozen custard, and then we got a call that Rick was already done with out processing and he was in TLF already (Temporary Lodging Facilities).  We joined him and went one last time to Sicily's, our favorite restaurant near Keesler.

Sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning a horde of ants found there way into my overnight bag.  Stupid bugs.  Our departure time was delayed a little that morning as I had to shake out all the ants I could from each and every article of clothing I had in there.  They even got into the laundry bag of clean clothes that we had washed that night.

Anyways, the trip up to Ohio was BORING.  Really, not a lot to see on the freeway, but lots of trees and such.  We stayed outside of Nashville that night at a Drury Inn and Suites.  It was my first time staying at a Drury Inn and I didn't realize how nice it was going to be.  It was a little pricey for what we usually get, since I also made it a suite so Rick's mom could have at least a little privacy.  The bathroom was huge, with a big tub, and the rooms were really nice.  We had dinner at their little happy hour thing and it was good enough for us!  We were tired and didn't want to get back in the car anyway.

We then put the boys to bed, who didn't do bad at all.  They're always surprising me like that. And then we fell asleep quite quickly after.  Drury Inns are so nice, I'm pretty sure that's where we're going to splurge and stay on occasion.  So nice.

We got to Ohio on Saturday and someone from the office gave us the keys to our house.  And....well, the house issue is for another blog post, with all the stress that it caused! 

So we made it to Dayton, Ohio, and it's freezing cold.  The end. 

Ramblings (again)

Lots of things on my mind lately.  First and foremost, we found that we are going to be having our first little girl in 2014!  We are so excited!  We found out via an elective ultrasound because I wanted Rick to find out with me, and I guess the ultrasound people here don't let the spouses in until the very end, which is lame. We celebrated by going out to Target and buying a few little things for her.  We are very undecided about the name.  I want to use Adelaide for the middle name (because that was my grandmother's middle name), but the first name is still a mystery.  

The doctor that I went to a couple of weeks ago said that I was gaining weight a little too quickly, and recommended that I cut back on sugar to hopefully prevent me from getting gestational diabetes.  I haven't had it with either of my other pregnancies, but I am still a little concerned about just because of how quickly I am putting on the weight.  Since cutting back on sugar, I have already lost almost 7 lbs in a little under 2 weeks.  I am going to keep cutting back on the sugar, because I have been feeling better not eating so much of it anyway. 

This week we finally were offered a house at Wright-Patterson.  As much as we looked forward to living off base, we couldn't afford the size house we wanted in the areas we were looking at.  The base housing is giving us a large house with a great set up and four bedrooms, so we are excited about that. The house is older, but I really don't care about that as long as it's been renovated, which it has. 

Rick graduated his class in Florida as a distinguished graduate and an academic excellence award, which doesn't surprise me at all.  We said good-bye to Florida this past Friday.  It was fun, and I don't think we'd mind actually being stationed there sometime.  It is really a beautiful place and we loved the ward we visited while we were there.

The next couple of weeks is us getting ready for our PCS to Ohio, and I have a feeling it's going to be a whirlwind of a few weeks.  Tomorrow is our housing check-out pre-inspection, and a week from Tuesday the packers are coming.  Assuming all goes well, we should be leaving on October 11 and getting there on the 12.  Personally, I feel like we're going to Ohio at a great time in the year.  We're really going to see the seasons change and I think it's going to get COLD!  I've been trying to get my boys used to wearing closed toe shoes and socks once again instead of there sandals.

And, that's about it for now.  :)  

Trips to Florida

I thought that I'd record a couple of things about the past couple of months.  Rick has been on a TDY in Florida.  We didn't plan on coming out with him, since Rick was most likely going to have to stay in billeting on base.  We traveled with Rick over the weekend that he showed up though, because he wanted us to.  So, we took the trek to Florida, and on a Saturday it took forever! 

We hit horrible weather and bad traffic so it ended up taking almost four hours to get there.  When we got to Hurlburt, Rick went into the lodging on base, and they told him that they had no rooms available.  This was excellent news for us, because it meant that we didn't have to get a second hotel room for the night since Rick could live in a place off base.

We found these condos in Fort Walton Beach that gave the government rate, and Rick had heard good reviews about it.  Plus it only takes him about 8-10 minutes for him to get to base for his class. 

I had to leave that Sunday with the boys because I had an ultrasound scheduled for early Monday morning.   Evan called and cried out for Daddy so much on the ride home.  When we pulled up to Keesler at the gate, he started crying out for Daddy even more.  The next day, after the ultrasound, he started looking throughout the house for Rick, including the pantry, the closets, and the dryer. 

I decided right then and there, that we would go and see Rick that weekend.  And so we did.  And the trip was much easier.  Just over two and a half hours, no traffic, and we got to see Rick that weekend.  The next weekend was my birthday and Rick was planning on coming out for that weekend, but something happened with the condo they were moving him from, and he couldn't leave early enough.  So, I went and saw him with the boys.

The next weekend Rick did come home.  And we were able to go to church together in our ward and pay tithing, finally.  :)  The rest of the weekends, I have come to see him.  I know it's kind of crazy.  We usually left on either Thursday or Friday and would stay until Monday or Tuesday.  We came home for Evan's speech therapy appointments on Tuesdays, did our laundry, cleaned the house and checked on other stuff and then twiddled our thumbs while we were completely bored. The past couple of months things have revolved on going to see Rick. 

 I wanted to take advantage of Rick being so close for his TDY and the fact that he was off base, so we didn't have to pay for extra lodging.  Plus, Evan's not in school yet, so it really is an ideal time.   The boys have really loved seeing him, and I think it's been beneficial to them.  Although it's been a crazy transition period, the boys are really great at adjusting and I think it's been more of a benefit to them to see Daddy every weekend and go home, then just staying at home and only seeing daddy maybe once or twice during the TDY.  And last, but not least, I'm not sure when Rick will deploy, but if it happens sooner than we'd like, at least we got to spend a bit of quality time with him while he had his class in Florida.

Florida itself is really pretty.  There is a lot of stuff to do here, the seafood is great, and the beaches are beautiful.  We love going swimming in the pool at Rick's condo too.  The ward that we got to with Rick is super nice and I really like this area quite a bit.  I was telling my mom the other day that I didn't think I would mind getting stationed here another time. 

But now, we're having Rick's last weekend.  He graduates next Friday, and I am staying with the boys through the whole week.  After this little vacation from real life, we have two weeks until we move!!!  So much to do, so little time.  I've been trying to update the boys' wardrobes as well as I can, since we're going to be moving to Ohio in the fall.  I have no idea what the weather will be like!  We're also hoping that we won't have to wait in Temporary Lodging for too long before they can assign us a house. 

MIA

I've noticed that I've been slightly MIA from this blog.  Whoops.  Well, I am going to say it is because I am pregnant with baby #3.  The nausea and food aversions this pregnancy have been killing me.  I don't want anything healthy to eat, and I've just been craving carbs, carbs and more carbs.  (I seriously ate a whole loaf of potato bread last night...after dinner).  I don't want to gain A LOT of weight this pregnancy, since I plan on getting right back on the working out hard wagon and getting leaner.  Oh well.  I'll just do the best I can.  It's really sad though, I've already worked out a lot more with this pregnancy than I ever did with Evan and Logan, even though it's a lot less than what I was doing before I got pregnant. 

For the first time, I don't think I really care all that much about what the sex of the baby is.  I would love a little girl, but I definitely would not mind another little boy either.  I just want him or her to be healthy.  No ultrasound pic yet. I had to go the ER around 7 1/2 weeks for severe back pain and cramping.  Turns out that I had a UTI, which the doc said can cause that.  I had an ultrasound there to make sure the baby was okay, and the doctor told me that there was a heartbeat and baby looked good, but I didn't get to see the sweet little tadpole myself.  The ultrasound technician had one of the worst bedside manners I've ever seen.  "Don't ask to see the baby or any questions.  I won't tell you.  I report to my supervisor, who sends the pictures to your doctor."  I understand, but the way she said it!  Next Monday is my first 'official' ultrasound, (I'll be almost 11 weeks). 

My energy is starting to come back a little bit more now, and I am beginning to feel a little less nauseated during the day, which is good, since Rick will be leaving for 2 months of training.  I really wish that we could go with him to stay in Florida, but we don't have orders yet, so we can't break our lease.  Plus, Evan should be starting some early intervention services for his "developmental delays".  Whatever.  He had a speech and language delay, but they seem to think that he might have a cognitive delay as well. An IEP goal is to put together a four piece puzzle...umm, he's been able to do like, 12 piece puzzles since he was 2! Another one is to point out basic shapes and he can already name them.  We're working on colors, but he's doing well with identifying letters also.  So, really?  It drives me crazy that they think he's behind in EVERYTHING because he has a speech and language delay.  And I still feel like most of the issue is his stubbornness. And things we haven't bothered with teaching him ourselves yet.... I don't deny that he needs speech therapy, because the words that he does say are sometimes a little hard to understand. 

I feel what he really needs is to be in preschool, so he can learn to socialize better with others.  And I have a feeling the more time he spends with kids his own age, the more he'll start talking.   Unfortunately, Mississippi is currently ranked #50 in education here in the US, so I'll just have to deal with his getting one-on-one intervention with an adult because the school district here doesn't have a special pre-k.  Oh well.  At least I know that almost all the areas we're looking at in Ohio have special ed pre-k.

Logan, however talks a ton, at least compared to Evan. He says mommy and daddy, uh-oh, car, go, hi, juice, goof (goofy), binky, and a few others that I really can't remember off the top of my head.  He puts his diaper in the trash after I'm done changing him, will grab his binky if I tell him to get it, marches upstairs on his own when I tell him it's bedtime (most of the time), and he brings me a clean diaper after he goes #2.  I guess he's uncomfortable.  He also LOVES stealing his brother's food, throwing his food on the ground, and throwing huge temper tantrums (already). 

Seriously, this kid throws the biggest fits.  "Logan, spit that out."  Squawks, lays down on the ground and starts wailing.  Evan touches him or almost touches him?  The same thing happens.  Such a little brother, he instigates more than half the time, and poor Evan is always the one to get caught.  Logan is sneaky, while I don't think Evan can sneak around quietly if his life depended on it.   

Getting ready for our PCS has been a little crazy.  After we found out that Rick has a 2 month TDY that we wouldn't be able to join him for, we purchased our first car as a couple.  A 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan, navy blue with automatic sliding doors.  The doors are amazing. The boys love the car, and I love driving it! 

We didn't anticipate how much paperwork we were going to have to do before we got orders this time around.  Rick blames it on Keesler, but I blame it on the fact that Evan now has an EFMP.  I had to get a bunch of paperwork completed.  I even had to take Evan to the dentist for the first time.  Thankfully, there is a wonderful pediatric dentist who was great with Evan.  Apparently, my little guy has an extra front tooth.  The dentist called it super something or the other, which is why he has so much crowding in the front.  Evan was just super happy to get a bouncy ball and new toothbrush. 

There was a little drama getting the dentist to fill out the paperwork.  He was in Ocean Springs for our appointment (which I forgot the paper in a rush to get out of the house on time).  He told me that he was going to be in Biloxi the next day and would fill it out for me then.  I went to the Biloxi office the next day, and the front office people told me that they couldn't do it since his chart is in Ocean Springs, not Biloxi.  I asked if they could at least ask him, because he told me that I could come in.  They answered by saying, "The first thing he'll ask for is the chart".  Of course, I thought of the perfect retort AFTER I had left, which I hate (So you know better than the dentist now?)  I left, telling them that this was a complete waste of time. 

We went back to Ocean Springs the next day (which is about a 25 minute drive one way, while the Biloxi office is only 5 minutes away).  The Ocean Springs people apologized for the other office and told me that the dentist was going to be informed of how rude the other office was.  And finally had it all done.  Now we meet with the EFMP person to see what else we have to do. 

AND, last but not least, about Rick.  Rick graduated last Thursday (Finally!)  I pinned on his wings (I don't know why computer nerds get wings...) and then I was surprised that Rick won two awards in the class.  The first award was top graduate (highest GPA for tests) and the second award was Distinguished Graduate(95% or higher cumulative average).  It was a really competitive class, and Rick just barely edged out a guard member in the class.  We're really proud of him.  And it makes the long days of studying worth it (sort of).

The next time I update might well be when we're moved to Ohio.  I don't know if blogging is going to be that much of a priority over the next few months!