First Presidency Christmas Devotional

I was able to talk with Aaron just for a little bit this afternoon, he was calling to let me know he would be going to break the fast and than to listen to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. As I was thinking about our 11 years together it occured to me that, we went to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional together. It was I want to say like our first date.
So we were talking about our first year at Ricks and how Aaron almost did not come back for the 2 term, and how different our lives would be if he would have not decided to stay. I am so very grateful that he did. He has made my life so much better. We have two wonderful little boys with one more on the way.
I am glad that the both of us are able to listen to this years First Presidency Christmas Devotional, we may not be together but we are still able to hear the message. I am getting the boys ready right now to sit down and listen to the message. We are so very blessed to have the gospel be the same where every you live. What a wonderful thing to have.
Aaron and I have learned so much during these 9 months that we have been away from one another. We have learned how much each one of us means, how much we truly do work as a team and how we depend on one another. The past 9 months have not been easy by any means for our little family. The boys truly miss their Dad and how he plays and loves them. He misses them as well, I told Kodi today that he is a just like Daddy and I thanked him for giving me hugs so I can feel Daddy's love and Kodi's love.
We are blessed to know that our family is forever and that we will always be together, whether we are apart or together. We are blessed to have these past two months go very fast. I am still not looking forward to being a "single parent" while Aaron is in training, but with the Lords help and prayers from our family and friends, we will be just fine. Both Aaron and I can feel the prayers and we thank you for them.

Let it Snow!

Winter finally made it's way here, we woke up to snow, it was not a lot but enough to really stick but both boys thought it was pretty cool. Pa also put up a Santa in the front window last night, and when the boys woke up it was a pretty cool surprise.
When I was little we had a house elf that came and left us little gifts during the month of December, well now that I have kids he has decided to come and do the same thing for my boys. Kodi really gets into trying to see Nutmeg and will find his footprints around the house. We love when Nutmeg comes to visit us. Kingston is not sure really who Nutmeg is, but still like the toys he brings. Each boy got a new stocking and a toy, Kodi got two ornaments to paint and Kingston got a ball that lights up. Both were a Huge hit, of course they had to understand that Nutmeg only comes when they are going good, and listening to us.
It's the beginning of our weekend, and I am actually looking forward to this coming week. It was suppose to be our Huge Family trip to Disney world, but because of Peyton we ended up going in October and the rest of my family is getting ready to leave on Sunday, which means it will just be me and the boys. I love my parents for letting us living with them, but it's not us and it's not always how we work. So this next week it will just be us, I can't wait. The boys and I do very well being just the three of us. Than two weeks after that Aaron should be coming home for Peyton to be born and Christmas.
Kingston is not liking the fact that I am putting my foot down when he is starting to act up, but I have to nip it in the butt now before Peyton comes. He is starting to understand that the No hitting rule will get him a spot on the stool for time out.
Dakota is also seeing that I am putting my foot down with him as well, and did very well with the No TV rule in the morning, we will see how well he does with that tomorrow, but this morning was a great morning. I have been praying lately that Kodi and I have better morning, he is pushing all my buttons and getting me very upset very fast which is not good for me or Kodi.
The Lord is blessing me with better patience and as I was listening last night after my prayer I was flooded with ideas on how to make our days go better with Kodi and I am so very grateful for the Lord and being able to talk with him and tell him my problems and concerns. We are so blessed to know that he will never stop listening to us.

Families what can I say! Warning letting some steam off.

I can not believe that the Christmas Season is here. My boys have been watching a lot of Santa movies, Kingston loves Santa and Kodi is at that age asking for EVERYTHING he sees on TV.
Last night was our Christmas Relief Society Party, it was a lot of fun, and a very good time. Kodi and I did not get home until almost 10 after cleaning up and making sure everything was good for us to leave the building. They ladies in our committee won't let me do a lot since I am about ready to pop. So I just helped in any way I could.
This is my favorite time of year, as most peoples, not because of the presents and Santa, but because for me it is a time that my family is together, we pull together and make our own memories. This year will be a different one, for we always spend Christmas Eve with my Dad and two wonderful young brother and sister I have to say I am not happy at all with the choices my "Father" is making, it was hard growing up and being up on the back burner and having to deal with not being important at all. The three of us have learned that if we want him in our lives it's us making the calls for him to come over not him. It's very hard to sit back and which him start to make those mistakes again the big sister wants to protect them from getting hurt. My Father informed us that he will not be around for the holidays and will be out in Idaho with his new girlfriend, spending that time with her. Of course he wanted Tara to call the siblings and let her tell the bad news. The part that is one of the hardest is that he is drinking again, I truly believe he thinks we have no idea that he is drinking, but when he continues to call us all the time telling us the same things over and over again is sad. At first I did not mind talking to him, and now I just get very upset, my poor sister, is the one who he has been calling 5 or more times a day to talk to her, and doesn't have a clue that he has already told her everything.
I pray each day that he will get a clue and stop what he is doing, but I also know that it's a choice he is making. The little girl in me wants to him to stop and becoming a wonderful father to Eli and Ashley and not have them feel those feelings as I do, but I can only pray for him.
It also makes me so very mad that his new girlfriend HAS no IDEA this is a problem, she just thinks he is inactive member and that she is going to reactive him. She has no idea that he is an Alcoholic and that when he is not in Idaho with her he is at home drinking. She thinks we have this GREAT relationship with him, let me tell you I have never had a great relationship with my Father. When I think of what a father should be it's not my dad that I think but of my step dad and how he is always here for me and my boys. He may not agree with our choices but he is always willing to help us out and loves us so very much.
At times I truly hate being a grown up and the decision that comes with it. It truly does sadden me that he is throwing his life away to drinking. He has 7 soon to be 8 wonderful grandchildren who love him and he has 5 wonderful kids. Who do need him.
This year we will be spending Christmas Eve with Eli and Ashley, at Tara's house and making a very good memory with them. I am so very blessed to have them in my life as my brother and sister.

Another day down

It's been a fair good first part of the week for us. Dakota only had school on Monday, which is was very sad with he loves school and I tried to explain why he wasn't going the rest of the week and it did understand "Thanksgiving break".
But the rest of his week is pretty normal to what he usually does. I talked to Speech Therapist about his re-eval and she is very happy with how well he scored on his test. He is in the "normal" range for children his age. Which both Aaron and I are very happy about, Dakota has been working so very hard the past year, and it has really paid off. When you talk to him you can tell that is still has a long way to go with his speech, and some words are hard for him. But he is getting it. The Lord has blessed him so very much with all the help he is getting. We are on Disc 3 now for his music therapy and he likes this one so I pray it won't be a problem of getting him to listen to it twice a day. But we will see.
Kingston is loving the word "NO" and is continuing to put more and more words together. He goes and goes all day long. He right now is my snuggle bunny actually both boys love crawing into my lap and just hugging me and being with me. I love it, I believe all of us need that extra love right now.
We ran to target tonight so I could get another foam pad for my bed, I think I have a total of 3 on my bed, My hips are so very bad at night, and I can't wait to be able to sleep on my back. I knew that Kingston was in need of some new shoes, and I thought maybe Kodi was as well, so of course when we went to look at shoes for Kingston, Kodi found some too and than told me his tennis shoes were too small for him. Which they are, so both boys got new shoes and love them.
I did see the OB on Monday and things are good and Peyton and I are just fine. We did talk about pre-term labor, and the signs to watch for it, since I am 33.5 also 34 weeks along. Which I can't believe.
We continue to talk with Aaron in the afternoons on the web cam and the boys love it. It truly makes a difference being able to see him. He is doing well, a little tired of all of the filing he is doing at the clinic, but at least he is not sitting around and waiting for them to decided on where he will be while he is stationed in NC.

A pretty good weekend

The weekend for us was a pretty good one. We did nothing all weekend long, my parents went on a small trip for the weekend, and it was just my boys and I. I loved it, and I think they did too. The best part of the weekend was on Saturday when Aaron got his web cam up and running and we were able to see him and talk with him. The boys loved it, Kingston just loved being able to see Daddy, and talk to him. Kodi showed Aaron all of his projects he has done in school, and enjoyed just talking to him.
I think on Saturday we spent a good portion on line the boys just played in the computer room while we talked. They did not want to leave Daddy. It was Stake Conference on Sunday, and I was not up to taking both kids without help and battling Kingston running around, so it was another day of just resting. Kodi was not feeling well and so it was good for just him just to rest, he is back to his good old self today. Ready for School and playing.
I go and see the OB today which starts the weekly appts, I can't wait. I am so very ready to have Peyton. We have about a month left and he will be here. Both Aaron and I are very excited.
I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and Iwant to thank you all who pray for our family while we are apart.
Thank you!

Let the nesting begin

I can certainly tell that my pregnancy is coming to and end, all this week I have been nesting. It's not too bad yet, but all I want to do is having this clean, of course once I start to clean and organize something I get very tired and stop. Needless to say I am not taking the nesting to far yet.
Kingston is sleeping now in his bed until about 4:30 and than will wake up looking for me. I am hoping and we can brake this before Peyton comes next month. Dakota is sleeping great, he loves his "tunk bed" as he calls it. Kingston does thing he is a big boy now that he can climb down the stairs of Dakota's bed.
At school Dakota has been working very hard on the spelling of his name. He has figured out that Kodi start's with a "K" now where we go he looks for a "K" and tells me there is a Kodi store. It's pretty cute, he loves school so much and hates when he doesn't have school.
Kingston is putting more and more words together, tonight we went swimming with Tara and Scott's family at my cousin's apt and Kingston was swimming with Tara and said "scott, look at me" Tara could not believe it. He is just talking away, I can now stop worrying to much about Kingston having the same speech problem as Kodi.
Both boys love sitting next to me and talking to Peyton, Kodi will put his hand on my belly and tell me that Peyton is crying and waiting his Big Brother. KK just say's "baby" and pats my belly.
Both boys are missing Aaron a lot this week. I am not sure what is going on with that, but KK has been calling for Daddy during the day and then crying afterwords. Dakota just will telling me he is sad, and misses Daddy and that is why he is having a fit.
He is making a great progress with Jenn his therapist he seeing for missing Daddy. They work great together and just with in a month you can tell that she is really helping him. The ideas on who to keep him calm and use his words are great, and Kodi is starting to be able to tell me when he is upset and will not just start to "fight" me but rather go in his room and take some time until he calms down. Of course he still does have some fits and is out of control but no where near what it was before.
I am so very grateful for Jenn's help with Dakota. I am grateful that I am able to help him out, as his mother I am taking the steps that Aaron and I both feel he needs. We have a wonderful little boy and I am always thanking the Lord for his help with Dakota, and for pointing us in the right direction for getting Dakota the help he needs.
I can not believe that Thanksgiving is around the corner, and how each and every day the boys and I talk about why we are thankful for the thing we have.

Counting down the days!

I went last week to see my OB who is wonderful, she wants to make sure that Aaron will be able to be home when Peyton is born, which means she will induce me before 39 weeks if his lungs are ready. We both are praying that Peyton will be ready to come out.
Aaron is now in NC and working finally, he was moved to a different side of the base and only have 5 other sailors with him. He was not to happy about having to leave the Navy side of the base, but what can you do. He is processing H1N1 paperworkd today for the Marines. At least he is keeping busy, last week he was just sitting around waiting for them to move him. Now he actually is doing something.
This month is going by pretty fast and I can't believe that Thanksgiving is almost here. We thought for a minute that maybe just maybe we would be able to fly Aaron home but as we looked at the price of the tickets we quickly decided that was not going to happen. So we will just have to do with talking to him on the phone. I am not sure what he will be doing.
He really likes the ward that he was in and hopes that with this move he will not have to switch wards.
The boys are doing great, Dakota is loving school and enjoys going each day, I get asked all weekend long is it time to go back to school? He has made a huge improvement with this Sensory Processing Disorder, Megan his OT is very happy with how well he is doing and loves the progress, we are now working again on his eatting, it's a long road but I hope that he will continue to do as well as he is diong with this other skills they are working on.
He also will be working on Hand writting that is going to be very hard thing for him and Megan wants to start now and see if we start to help him now instead of later.
Kingston is growing like a weed, He is wearing wither 2T or 24 months and is so very tall. He is starting to put 3 word sentences together for me. He asked me today " I want Gum". He wants to be just like Kodi all the time. I have moved out of "Our" bedroom and into the playroom and turned the boys room into a playroom. We have been trying to figure out how to build the ball pit, but with us moving we all thought it would be best to put that on hold until we know what our next house will be like. So we bought Kingston a full bed that is under Kodi's bed and the boys can jump off onto KK's bed, they love it. I will have to take a picture and post it. Kingston is also now sleeping in his own bed, and makes it most of the night.
I am grateful for being able to have my own bed back, I am not sleeping well at night my hips are killing me and I turn about every 3 hours each night. But soon enought Peyton will be here and I won't have to worry about that.