These days...

It's been a few days since I've posted about Brian leaving. I'm sure there are some people wondering how we're doing...and basically, we are exactly how I thought we would be. It was a blessing that he deployed in the middle of the week so that we could get back to our regular routine of getting to school, etc.

I figured that Austin would have a meltdown this weekend, and he did. It was, of course, over something small at first and then just grew and grew. I have to say that it was one of those situations where it just stinks to be a parent! I had told him that if he didn't shape up, we wouldn't go out to eat and then had to follow through on that (even though I REALLY wanted pizza buffet). He got even more out of control and after a chance to calm down and refusing, he was sent to his room for the rest of the night (and even had to eat dinner up there). I'm hoping that it clicks in his head that Mommy means business. I'm sure it didn't though...that would just be too easy! :-)

Anyway, the weekends are going to be hard. Saturday and Sundays are the days that seem the longest since I have all 3 at home, Austin gets bored and Colten starts antagonizing him. We are at the point with Aiden that he really needs to nap in his own bed. He is taking a morning, afternoon and evening nap, so that makes it really hard to get out. Especially when things are all about 20-30 minutes away. I have to really figure this out soon because Saturday was pretty hard in the afternoon/evening!

We have been able to Skype with Brian twice now and that is such a blessing! Technology is just so awesome and is going to help this deployment go by a lot quicker! Brian has posted pictures of the area he is in already and I have to say that it looks like a pretty nice place. He was telling me about a pizza place they have there that bakes pizza in a wood fire oven and that they have fire pits outside for the Soldiers to have a place to relax, eat pizza and visit with their friends. There's a cigar club he's looking forward to joining (yes, he smokes cigars every now and then...that's all I'm going to say). The view from his office is pretty and the internet in his room is pretty good (although pretty pricey!).

So, I think we are all doing pretty well. Aiden is growing, Colten is more of a little boy than a baby and Austin is being a good big brother to both of them (you know, when he's not fighting with Colten). I am going to be adding a few activities here and there for each of us and seeing how we can stay busy without doing TOO much. Austin is looking forward to baseball season and is wanting to take some sort of martial arts class. I'm going to start Colten in gymnastics soon and Aiden is going to enjoy just going places with us. We have MOPS and play group and playdates with friends here and there as well.

R&R is going to be here before we know it. It's supposed to be sometime in July, so we are really looking forward to the summer!

I'll be posting some pictures of the days leading up to Brian deploying in the next couple of days. I want to document some of the things we did as a family. For now, I'll just post this picture of Brian with his boys and their Daddy Dolls that he gave them.

I'll be posting more of the Daddy Doll pictures tomorrow. Now, I am going to bed...and surprisingly, it is BEFORE midnight! Yay me!