May 12th

I thought I better hurry up and get this on here because another month has come and gone and it's almost June 12th.  I didn't want to end up doing another two for one.  I'd like to say I'm going to get better and post these in a timely manner, but I'd be lying.  Things are going to be quite hectic around here in the next couple of months so it might take me a while.  Then again, I've been known to procrastinate when there are important things to be done.  When I'm stressed, I tend to focus on the not so essential things, so I might be on here more often.  Anyway, here are our pictures from May 12th.

This was one of the days on our "normal" routine.  Asher starts his days sitting on Gammy's lap.  He's such a happy little guy after he's gotten some milk into him.  He is growing so fast!  That sleeper is so cute, but he'll probably be out of it in the next week or two.  He's passed the 19lb mark and he's not even 7 months old!  Noah normally has two mini muffins for breakfast.  He won't let me heat them up so he eats them frozen.  For some reason he usually eats one at home and wraps one up in a paper towel and eats it on the way to school.  We pass the 526 sign toward Savannah every day, and I was feeling slightly nostalgic since we won't be seeing that sign anymore in the very near future.  I also had to take a picture of the entrance to Charleston Air Force Base.  Believe it or not, we'll acutally miss it.  I took a picture of myself.  Is it sad that I look my best at 6:30am?  After work and school, we came home and watered our herbs.  Noah and I planted basil, oregano, chives, and parsley a few weeks ago, and now we're watching them grow.  We're also getting some blueberries!  Then it was time for dinner.  Asher is digging solids.  He sits in his little chair on top of the table.  I know, I know, but I don't have a highchair.  I'll be doing something about that soon though.  He is ALWAYS on the go and he's about to bust out of that seat!  Noah loves his trains and he's usually playing with them, or at least holding them, at any given time.  Sometimes he wants them to "watch" him while he eats. Then it was time for a bath.  The boys usually get their baths together, and they like playing with each other.  Asher truly enjoys the water and if Noah is taking a bath without him, Asher will practically jump out of your arms to get in there.  I think he might be our little water baby.  Another day down, and another day closer to Billy coming home!

Fethiye

Billy is getting ready to come home.  He'll be home during the first half of July and we're all eagerly awaiting his arrival!  Things are very busy with preparations, but for now Billy is trying to make the most of his last few weeks in Turkey.  He was able to enjoy Memorial Day weekend in Fethiye.  I'm insanely just a little jealous!  But really I'm happy he's getting to enjoy himself.  He sent a short e-mail and a picture to share his paragliding adventure with us. 

I just wanted to show you a couple of pics that I took while paragliding. We were 1.5 miles up!! Crazy scary at first b/c a guy just before we were supposed to go fell once he took off....his paraglider shoot just collapsed and he fell a long way down...they had to call all kinds of people to get him and finally got him on a stretcher and took him off the mountain with a neck brace on....don't know how he was though...not something you want to see just before you take off because they say a handfull of people die there every year. They also say it's the best paragliding in the world. I believe it! Take a look at the view.

He's already 6 months old!

Okay, so it's really more like 7 months old at this point, but things have been a little hectic around here.  I really thought we'd gotten through the worst part of the one year deployment, but I'm not so sure anymore.  Even though we have less than two months until Billy gets back (woohoo!), it's going to be VERY busy.  Anyway, I digress.  This is a post about Asher and just how perfect the little guy is.  He had his 6 month appointment not too long ago.

Weight = 17 lbs 9 oz = 48th percentile
Height = 26.5 in = 49th %ile
Head = 16.5 in = 7th %ile (don't let this little head fool you, he really is a smart kid!)

Unfortunately, Asher got sick a couple of weekends ago and we had to take him to an urgent care facility on a Sunday afternoon.  He seemed to get over it really quickly, but everyone couldn't get over how "big" he was for 6 months old.  When he was weighed (less than 2 weeks after his 6 month appointment), he was 18 lbs 7 oz. I realize that some of the weight might have been from the time of day and the recency of his last bottle, but seriously, the little dude is growing like a weed!

Two for the Price of One

March

 Okay, I have to be completely honest.  These pictures aren't just from the 12th.  Things were too crazy to take all of them on the one day, so it's split between the 12th and the 13th.  Besides, that was the only way we could get Billy in there too.  I worked all day on the 12th.  There are pictures of my usual morning tea and Noah eating his breakfast on his chair.  Asher had a normal day playing on his mat and getting his bath.  The normalcy of the day ended when we got home and it was time to get serious and pack!  The island and its surrounding area was the headquarters for all organization.  On the 13th we headed out of town bright dark and early.  Noah, Asher, and I embarked on a traveling journey from Charleston to San Antonio.  Everything went well and we were all thrilled to see Billy!  Of course our first stop In Texas was for Mexican food!

April

Another month down.  Today was a typical day.  It started out with getting up and getting Noah ready for school.  Between getting dressed, eating breakfast, and getting out the door, there is invariably a tantrum.  Some are short and some are long and drawn out, but there's at least one.  While we're getting ready to go, Asher usually wakes up and Gammy has his bottle waiting for him.  He'll lift his head up while we're making a commotion and then he'll watch us as we walk out the door.  This morning we took a little extra time so I could get a picture with my boys.  After school Noah was glued to the television, watching Finding Nemo.  Asher found some of Noah's trucks and enjoyed spinning the wheels.  We had a yummy dinner and Asher really enjoyed eating his oatmeal.  By eating I mean swallowing about 75% of it and blowing rasberries with the rest.  There have been some problems with Noah washing his hair, so we're trying to get him to lay down in the water, and he seemed to like it, at least for today.  He has so much hair, it's almost time for another haircut.  After all the usual day's events, the boys headed to bed and I couldn't resist sneaking in to take some pictures of the little angels, because what baby doesn't look like an angel when he's sleeping?

Our trip

Wow, where has the time gone?  I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post, but it has been one busy month.  Obviously we survived our trip to San Antonio.  Like I imagined, getting through security at the airport was a nightmare.  I got more dirty looks than I got help and I ended up spilling milk all over their equipment... oops.  Noah and Asher both did great on the flights and we had no major accidents or mishaps.  The flight attendants on the first flight were awesome and helped us make it to our connecting flight.  Unfortunately, they ended up losing a very important bag of luggage that we didn't get until the 3rd day we were.  It had my breast pump, most of Asher's clothes, and the power cord to the computer, among other things, so that was pretty awful.  But we got to see Billy and lots of good friends.  It was definitely a good trip!

Here we are on the first plane

The boys together again

 

There wasn't much to do in our little room

Noah loved "his" yellow plane

Without our toys, we had to make our own enterainment!

We went to Sea World and saw Shamu

We saw a Sesame Street show and Asher LOVED it