1 month down...8 to go

So we have officially survived the first month of deployment!

Only eight left to go. It is going smoother than I anticipated. Maybe I worry to much, but I thought it would be much worse than it has been. Don't get me wrong, we miss Dave terribly and he misses us, but keeping busy has kept us sane. I will say, I am dead tired every night, and the hardest part is knowing I am the only one around to be responsible 24/7. I have decided it helps me to look at it from a month to month basis, or even a week to week, because that is so much easier for my brain to process than 9 months.
The good news from Dave this week is that he will be able to come home for the babies birth! Wahoo! Horaah! (If I knew how to cheer more in type I would :) We are so thrilled! It sounds like he will leave Iraq July 3rd, and be here around the 6th for two weeks. So here's to hoping this baby doesn't come early, and the army doesn't change plans on us.

Yesterday the kids were asked in primary to be thinking about what they wanted to do for their mom's for Mothers day. So when we came home, Amanda and Maren had a little pow-wow and then proceeded to "get ready". You have to know that when Amanda gets an idea in her head it is always complicated and usually terribly messy (To give you an idea...it took her an hour and a half to get a gift bag ready on Saturday for a birthday party).
By the time they were done "planning" all the stuffed animals were on the stairs, and all their nice sunday dresses had been taken off of hangers and were on the floor. Maren was crying because she didn't want to do what Amanda had in mind for her to do, and Amanda was beside herself because she can't figure out why her sister doesn't just "do what she is asked." Wheew! All on a relaxing Sunday afternoon... yeah right. Stay tuned for what the real deal will be like next Sunday.

That being said, I am so glad Amanda really likes to read (she just read the Spiderwick series in three days!), and that keeps her occupied much of the time, because her projects get way to out of hand. And I am equally glad Maren is standing up for herself more and more. She has regressed back to more tantrums since Dave left but we are making progress. And her speech is helping to bridge the gap some.

Spencer went in for his 2 yr old check up this week, he is now 32 pounds. We were referred to a Pediatric Orthopaedic to have look at his legs, they still bow terribly, and we have been concerned with a few other related things. He didn't like having x-rays done, but was a trooper. We'll see how the appt goes this Thurday. Hopefully all will be well and we can just continue to observe. It doesn't slow him down much, but he does still trip over himself all the time.