This is the face I've been stressing over...

LOL bet you thought it would be a kiddo huh? This is Arthur the donkey. And I am getting paranoid over him. He has gotten severely ill twice since December. For those who understand horse terms...it's COLIC ugh!!! Anyway anytime he lays down, rolls, or even lifts his tail to pass gas I am worried that he is blocked again. I stress and stress and for the past tow days this poor donkey has looked at me like I am out of my mind!!LOL. I'm poking and prodding and pouring oil on his food. I have added a heater to the water...everything I can think of. Strange how when we got him I thought of him solely as a companion for Gunner, our horse, but it's official...we love him and his is a part of the family. He seems fine now..lets just hope and pray he stays that way!

Days of Love

Well yesterday was my birthday :):) I really didn't expect much out of it since Joe was gone and I hadn't made plans with anyone. But Little Joe remembered right away (he has an awesome memory of numbers) and he was so excited for me. It was the first thing he told his bus driver and I thought that was too sweet. Big Joe sent a gift (a George Foreman 360 grill ...tooooo cool) and I have loved it. And a couple of friends called and gave me birthday wishes. Joe called in the middle of the day which was sooo nice because that meant it was like 3am for him. And he sang to me :). He also had asked if I had gotten a cake for myself and I said no. He told me I should go get one so I took his advice and got some yummy cupcakes :):). Lil Joe sang to me with a candle on my cupcake and it was so much fun. And my Dad and his lady friend got me a gift certificate to one of my fav stores...Bath and Body Works..Woohooo! It was really a wonderful day. I hope to have several more just like it...just with Big Joe here :).

So for Valentines Day Joe and I had discussed not to really exchange anything. Although I sent him a care package anyway :). But since he had gone all out for Christmas while he was home and my birthday being so close to Valentine's we decided he didn't need to do anything. He has also JUST gotten out of the field. But yesterday a beautiful arrangement of roses was at my door with a sweet note. Just made my day even better. I am so blessed to have such a caring hubby. When I married him...I didn't think I could love him anymore than I did on that day. After nearly 8 years of marriage...I really had no idea how much I would love him now :)

4 month check up

Wooohoooo!! After the experience I had last week this was 100% better. The NP that saw Katie took time to address everything I wanted and even complimented me this time :) Katie looks great!! She was 12lbs 8oz. I didn't get to see her length, but she is staying on her curve just right :). I talked with the NP about reflux saying that the boys were very fussy with spitting up but she is not. She said since she is gaining weight fine (even if she is on the smaller side) then we don't have to start meds!!! Woohoo!!! Katie screamed like crazy throughout the entire exam. She looked more scared than anything. And of course when the pokes came out it wasn't fun either. But she settled as soon as I could pick her up and the NP and nurse cracked up at the "evil eye" Katie gave them....hehehe. Can't believe it's been 4 months....wow.

So thankful.

The past couple of days have been rough around here. I've had sick kids, a very sick donkey, a car that needs to go to the shop, and a not so good visit with a doctor. Katie is really fighting this congestion stuff and I took her to the doc yesterday where I evidently "do not dress my kids properly". It made me feel terrible to hear the comments the doc had made. My donkey has been ill for the past couple of days again....really ill. So that means even less sleep and lots of time spent in a cold barn trying to get meds down him and hauling a bunch of water because it is so cold. Joe's car is in huge need of a new fan belt. And just the stress of all this alone has really hit hard...especially yesterday.

But I prayed....hard. And I could feel God's presence. I turned on the radio and a very uplifting song came on. My Dad and his girlfriend came over to help manage the donkey wrestling. And She brought homemade applesauce and doughnut holes for comfort food (and didn't even know about the other stuff going on beside the colicy donkey). Then when I open my email there is a wonderful letter from Joe that melted my heart. I started to feel much much better. Ok, God, I hear you. I am not alone in this. Thanks for Your comfort.

Whirlwind of kids and weather!

So out of the blue last week Garrett starts showing interest in potty training. He acted like he wanted to sit on the big boy potty and wham bam....he went!!!! So I have done the redneck training with him like I did with Joe. I just let him run around naked. He hates to pee on the floor and I have hardwood so it's not too bad to clean up when he does. The first day he had several accidents....but as of today he has had one accident!! This kid is a genius! heheheh I just think it's great especially because he's only 20 months old. Maybe I won't have to buy stock in Luvs after all ;).
The man of the hour!! :)

All three kids have been pretty ill and just when I thought everyone was better Garrett got it again (nasty head cold/congestion). He ended up with a fever Sunday evening so I took him in Monday. Poor kiddo has two ear infections now. The doc thought it was probably due to the fact he had been sick with congestion for three weeks prior. Ugh. Poor kid.

Katie has also hit a couple of milestones. She has figured out how to roll from her front to her back. I always love seeing the state of shock on a baby's face the first time they do that :). And I think I may have gotten a lil giggle out of her last night and today. Doesn't last more than two seconds but it is so precious to hear.

My gosh can she get any cuter?!!?

On top of all of this an ice storm has hit TN/KY. We got about half an inch last night and it has continued today and we are supposed to get more tomorrow! Craziness. It's beautiful to look at but makes me nervous since I need to drive to Nashville tomorrow.

3 month pictures

So I took Katie to have her three month pics yesterday. She did so well! Poor girl I changed her clothes so many times and she didn't even bat an eye. I just love having a little girl right now. Garrett sat out in the lobby in a stroller playing with toys and my cell phone. And he was soo good too. We walked around the mall a bit and did a little shopping it was a lot of fun :)

I have made a decision.

Joe has been gone nearly two weeks now after R&R. And I am not sure why but I was more nervous about this deployment than the 2 to Iraq. Not about his safety, but the length of time he would be gone and how I would handle it. With the Iraqi deployments I was working and only had Little Joe. I focused a lot on my job and Little Joe's health (which was pretty poor at the time). With the Iraqi deployments the longest we were apart was 7 months. Now I am now faced with at least a year of not seeing my husband and staying at home with three children full time. The first 5 months of this tour I have basically locked myself in the house with the kids (granted I was very pregnant some of that time) and I only ventured out to grocery stores and some Mom's Club activities. The fact that we live in the country on some beautiful property made this even easier. After a lot of prayer and a particular sermon that has struck me I have decided this is MY year. I was praying for God to show me what to do. I was praying for for strength and purpose. Then I heard God say, "This IS your purpose. Think of the role model you could be. Think of the MOTHER you could be." And that was it...I decided...I will not let the fact that Joe is gone keep me from living. I will go out with friends. I will go see movies. And I will be the best Mom AND Dad until my husband returns. I want to amaze him at what we have done and how we have grown. And I want to show other spouses of deployed soldiers that 12-18 months can be done. I will not put life on hold until 2010. 2009 is my year :).