Big Update!

So i thought i would take a moment and give our big news....Aaron finally got his orders! we will be going to...drum roll please...

SASEBO, JAPAN

we are way excited but i am also unbelievably scared! different language, drives on the other side of the road, and have you seen their toilette's? (and im not talking about the cool ones that heat up) But for the most part we are excited and just happy to know where we are going next. if you want to snoop more on where we are going this was the best website i could find. not a ton of pics but it does have a lot of good info.

Videos!

ever since aj figured out how to jump he loves to do it!

We also went through an Owie phase. it was not so cute when i would try to put him in the cart at the store and he would be yelling "OWwwww"

japanese patty cake

lots of pics!!!!

So of course i am computer retarted and put these pics in backwards so they go from newest to oldest. i had almost 100 pics on my camera that i downloaded...shame on me for waiting so long!

Aj last sunday he just looked so good had to snap a shot

Mia on sunday, almost two months old!

so cute!

we went to sandy creek park last weekend and they had a lake w a beach area. aj looooved it!

"i love water!"

Mia chillin' on a blanket

my crazy children

she was havin a bad hair night

the easter egg hunt on base. he's thinkin "i dont know whats goin on, one min dads w me then the next he is off gettin eggs"

arn't they cute!

easter morning w their baskets

one month old. i swear she has like a million other dresses so i dont know how i just happen to get both of her pretty pics in this one. its a cute dress though...aaron says she looks like a baker with the hat on.

look at our pretty pink toes for the navy supply ball

usin the potty. i took a pic of aj and his wee wee in hopes that he would get excited about using the potty

st. patty's day

We had green eggs and bacon for breakfast (i didnt have any ham). it is aj's favorite book (in fact he calls every book "ham") and i thought it would be good for st pattys but he wouldnt try the eggs...guess they looked to weird.

one rare day i was on the computer blogin and aj was just playin around me when i realized it had gotten really quiet and when i looked under my chair i knew why. his head was laying against my foot. what a goofy boy!

quick Updates

So im glad i started my first "improvement week" a little longer cuz its really hard to smile all the time. its easy for me to do it at my kids and aaron but its really exhausting to be smily and happy all the time. i got my first salute the other day (for those who dont know, our car has an officer sticker on it so the enlisted are suppose to salute it but nobody really does especially if im driving since im not the officer, but i guess the marines are really strict about it) Anyways...i went to pick up aaron from work and there was a marine trying to cross the street so i stopped and waved him on and he saluted me. i was so confused, for a second i thought he was waving me on so for a few seconds we did the awkward whos going to go first dance. aaron was outside and saw the whole thing he said i had the weirdest look on my face, like shock and confusion. i thought oh shoot i should have been smiling.

Mia has been getting so big! she can coo and say ah-goo now. she loves to smile. right now shes looking at herself in a mirror and talking to herself. aj has been getting so big. he is really start to talk in small sentences now and can start to really hold a conversation. the boy will never stop teething though. he just got all four of his 2yr molars so i thought i was finally going to get a break but NOOO now he is getting four more molars. im not even sure his mouth has room for them. needless to say they have been extra painful for him. we are not sure if he has an imaginary friend or not (i think he is still too young for that) but we catch him talking to himself all the time. especially in the car he will just go on and on and on.

Our most exciting news is really news to come...we are waiting for the results from aarons billet list but we are 90% sure we will be going to Sasebo, Japan next. we are way excited but also a little terrified! it will be a lot of work just to get there and then there is the whole two small children that we will have to juggle as we pack and fly the long long LONG trip to japan. im pretty sure we are going from like one side of the world to the other...crazy. it will be an adventure! we find out for sure on Friday so i'll keep you updated!

My Self-Improvement Journal

As i feel my sanity slipping away from me a little more everyday i felt the need to do something for myself. of course saying that i have to laugh a little because i cant even pee by myself anymore. in fact at this moment i can think of about a million other things i should be doing right now instead of writing this post. like clean the bathrooms that desperately need it or wash bottles or clean the oven which may need it even more then the bathrooms! but as i was putting clothes away, my eyes scanned over our book shelf and i found a self-help book that i had bought when we first got married. it is a 52-week "journey to inner happiness" written by a mother who also felt her sanity slipping from her. more importantly it is a book of goals to improve both spiritually and physically. Im not going to lie i know that my closeness with my Father in Heaven has slowly deteriorated. On Sunday when i wake up im not excited to go to church but rather stressed to get everyone ready and out the door on time (which doesnt always happen). My prayers are no longer conversations but quick pleads of survival. I wonder at night what can i do to squeeze in daily scripture study when i didnt even have time for a shower.

SO...to force myself to make it through all 52 weeks (i only lasted 4 last time) i am going to blog about it every sunday...i know what you are thinking but its thursday today...i know, im not that crazy...yet. so my first week will be extra long. i figure i will write the goals at the beginning of each week and then write my progress at the beginning of the next week. i guess this is kind of my belated new years resolution. if anyone wants to do the goals with me feel free, i would love to hear your comments of your own progress. So here we go Week 1

Week 1

Smiling

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things..."

D&C 123:17

Goal: A smile can turn the world around. Make a conscious effort to smile all the time- force it if you have to.

Smile when you are alone, in the car, in the shower, talking on the phone, when you are making dinner.

Smile to everyone you see: the man who cut you off, your family, your friends, people you pass on the street.

Amelia Sue and big brother too!

here are some pictures FINALLY! i know it took me forever but i got them up!

you cant really see it but aj's shirt says 'I'm the big brother' and Mia's says 'I'm the little sister' It was a gift from grandma harpel

This is aj's blue glow worm he has had since he was a baby. Grandma Jordan also sent one for mia (the pink one!) aj just loves them both he carries them around and plays them at the same time. but he will always point out that the pink one is "baby's"

aj holding mia. i know she doesn't look happy here but they really do like eachother. aj loves to hold her!

Her first bath

One of her first pics in the hospital...she looked so much like aj only her hair is longer and like a dirty blonde color

She's here she's here!

Well since my last post i had one more fun trip to the hospital. It was the weekend before she was born. even better then the first time, they sent me home while i was still in labor! the dr, again, said i was just movin too slowly (i was there for a like 3 hours and only had gone up half a cm) so they gave me a sleepin/pain pill and said go home till my water breaks! well it didnt break, shocker right? and i had to suffer until thursday which was my induction. the tues before i had my last checkup at the dr and he was all "now i know you are probably really mad at me and i dont blame you but its better for mia this way" Ugh how can i be mad about that!

So thursday (feb 25th) was the big day! i went in at 6am. it took them a while to get me all ready and getting the iv in (they only stuck me twice though), so the pitocin wasnt started till like 8am. things were going good. i got my epi at about 11 (the dr was comin in at 12 to break my water and i wanted to be plenty drugged up by then!) that didnt go so hot. it took her 4 trys to get it in and it really only worked on my right side. it was a really weird feeling cuz i could still feel contractions on half of my body but nothing on the other half. the dr came in and broke my water, i was a four, within minutes i was a five. jokingly he was like "you could be all done in like 45mins" but figured it would take me atleast another 2hrs to get to a 10. no joke 45mins later im just hangin out and then i feel this horrible pain...so i call in the nurse and she checks me and mia is right there and ready to come out. the nurse is like "dont push the dr is at his office!" it took him like 10mins to get over (which was the worst 10mins of my life) i pushed for a totally of 15mins and she was out! it was much better then my first labor and didnt need too many stitches so the recovery has been a million times better too.

Amelia Sue was born on Feb 25th at 2:58 She was 8lbs even, 20 3/4" long, and 14cm head

I wish i had pics to post but they are still on the camera, i promise my next post will be all pics! Aj just loves his baby sister. he wants to hold her all the time and will do anything to help. i try to get him to say Mia but it comes out as "Meow" so she is "baby meow" its pretty cute!

well that is all for now, i figured thats enough of a book! like i said ill post pics soon!