What we've been up to

Ok, so it's me (Rob) again. Just figured we would update you on what's been going on as of late. Well we've been really busy, and I'm finishing up my leave, prior to going on deployment. We tried to do as much family stuff as we could while I've been off. You know just spend time together, I've let the kids pick what they want to do, and we managed to do a few things, except the beach. It seems like on the days I wanted or planned to go, the weather didn't cooperate. So here is what's been going on in paradise:

The kid's report cards (Mariano's was more of a Progress report, along with a parent /teacher meeting). Both Mya and Mariano have recently received their report cards. Mya's was excellent as expected. But it's weird the way they do report cards now. They don't give letter or number grades any more. They grade by "More than adequate progress", "Adequate Progress", "Limited Progress", and "No Progress". Mya received grades of "more than", and "adequate on everything. At the end of the report card, the teacher writes a summary. Mya's was almost identical to last time (which annoyed Dayna. She thought the teacher slacked on that one) and her last one was outstanding. The write up says she "uses time effectively... shows respect for others... is very bright... and she completes assignments quickly and accurately". We are very proud of baby girl.

Mya's latest developments: She's working on riding her bike with no training wheels. She can balance for 5-10 seconds at time, but she has crashed a few times, and I think it's made her a little skiddish. She is reading chapter books, and loves it! She read a 10 chapter book in about an hour, then was able to tell me all about it. She's also very conscious about the environment, and encourages me to walk when I can, and not drive when we take her to school. Lately she has an attachment to a bracelet that I brought back for her when I was in Iraq. It's a little handmade thing, that says "Mya" on it. I had them made for her, Mariano and Dayna when I was there. She wore it to school the other day, I was outside her class waiting to pick her up, when one of the mom's told me she was upset and crying. I looked into the classroom and just watched. One of the boys in her class was very sweet, and asked her what was wrong, and why she was crying. She replied "I lost my bracelet", he rushed off to try and find it for her. One second after that, her best friend Corie (who is a sweetheart and just like Mya) , asked the same thing. She rushed off to find it, which she did. Mya stopped crying, but was still visibly upset (she's very sensitive and takes a while to calm down). I asked her about the whole thing on the walk home, and why she was so upset about it, she started to cry again, and said the bracelet was very important to her, because I brought it back for her from Iraq. It broke my heart!

Ok, so then there was Mariano's. If you remember from last time I blogged, I touched on how crazy and funny Mariano was. Well he still is. A few days ago, I had been trying to talk to the kids about me leaving, you know to prepare them. Mariano doesn't really get it, or at least I don't think he does. But it really upset Mya and she cried...ALOT! So I turned to my son for help. I asked him, to say something funny so Mya wouldn't be sad anymore. He was pensive for a moment then pointed at Mya and said "What's that? Your Titty!". We all laughed, and it actually cheered Mya up.

Mariano's favorite words as of today, Poody (the word in our house for Vagina), and to a slightly lesser extent butthole, and cornhole (both my fault by the way!). When I asked him why he likes to say "poody" so much he replied "because they are cute!" Great, the boy is already obsessed with Vag. His latest joke thing to say is "Whatever" in response to almost anything. Except when he says it it sounds more like "Whatebber". Like I might say "Mariano it's time to eat" and his response would be "OK, dad, whatebber" It's really funny stuff. You have to hear him

It's Mariano's inclination toward comedy, that had me a bit worried about the meeting with his teacher Mrs Yolanda. So I sat down with Mrs. Yolonda, and braced myself for the news. I waited for her to tell me that Mariano is the class clown, that he is disruptive, and that in the middle of story time he shouts "POODY, BUTTHOLE!", and when Mrs. Yolonda reprimands him, his response is "whatebber". Well, to my suprise Mariano is a great student! I guess he leaves the clown at home when he goes to school. She told me that he has an excellent memory! She explained time to him, so he would understand that the parents come, when the big hand is on the 12 and the small on the two, a few days later when one of the other kids asked about mommy coming, Mariano said "No, the big hand isn't on the two yet". She said he's very social, and plays very well with others. He loves jigsaw puzzles, and is one of like 4 (of 24) kids in the class that can do them. He also loves to paint, and doesn't make a mess when he does so. He's very self motivated, and speaks and understands very well. So it looks like Mya has rubbed off on him. I'm really proud of my Boy. He can still be very hard headed at home, and not listed sometimes (which drives me nuts!) but at school he's awesome.

Valentino. That boy is huge! I don't think he was an infant for longer than 10 minutes. He's in the 87% for height and weight, and is already wearing Mariano's hand-me-downs that Mariano was wearing less than a year ago. He's crawling around like a lunatic, pulling himself up on things, and always wants to be on top of his big brother and sister. He's adorable. He always smiles when you make eye contact with him, he has almost 7 teeth already!

Recently Dayna and I have decided to go green. We've been recycling for a while, but we are going to slowly go totally green. Dayna is switching over all of our household stuff to Melaleuca (Tia Susan and Sabrina should be proud), and recently we started using cloth diapers, and Dayna is going to start making her own baby wipes. I'm very excited about the whole thing, and can't wait until we are as green of a house as possible. I love Dayna's dedication to the whole thing. I can't wait until we are able to by a Hybrid and get rid of our gas guzzler. Here are some pics of "Fat White Baby" in his cloth diapers.


I also have pics of some of the stuff we've done since I've been on leave.
We went fishing:
(Mariano has since had a haircut, by the way)


Had "make your own pizza" Night

And here are just some random cute pictures of the kids:
Here you can see Valentino's teeth and his "Mya" gap...
And Valentino didn't much care for the lime popsicle...

Deja Vu ...

It's almost here. Deployment is rearing it's ugly head again and before you know it, he'll be gone. How am I going to survive? That is the day that my caring, compassionate husband, my support, my shoulder to lean on, my rock, my safe haven leaves me for deployment again. The one who will do anything for me to make sure that my burdens are never too heavy. The man who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty with some housework when all I want to do is sleep. The one who even when he doesn't fully understand the emotion coursing through my body, is always willing to listen. I've got so many emotions running through me these days, that I don't know what to think. I am feeling so stressed and pressured over the coming months that I am becoming paralyzed emotionally. Right now it feels like a 200 pound weight is crushing my soul. How many milestones, anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays are all about to hit in the next 6 months. I find my mind drifting off and wondering "how"? How am I going to do this again? It's half a year for goodness sakes! I married him because I love him and I need him and this just isn't fair that our family has to suffer this way. What am I going to do with out my best friend? My confidant? The love of my life second only to our children? I digress. I imagine the lonely days of his last deployment. How it seemed to never end. How did I manage, how did I cope? Was that a different Dayna? I'm scared this time. I know what to expect and I know how hard it is going to be. Not only on me, but the kids. How am I going to fill in for the greatest dad in the world? Those are big shoes to try to fill. I am trying to stay optimistic and think that we still have {this} many days left as a whole family. Then the glass turns half empty once again and I realize that our days are numbered and before I know it, we'll be dropping Daddy off at work for good. It's going to be so hard on Mya & Mariano. I pray. There are so many things I pray for. Please pray with us. Pray for Rob because it is going to be hard on him too. I am getting overwhelmed with the big picture, and I keep having to remind myself to start small, one step at a time. One event at a time. It’s a hard thing to remember when the mountain seems so high. You look up at the top and think there is no way I’ll ever get all the way up there. I might as well just stay here...One step at a time. Lord, please give me strength.