Flight Suits and Fairytales

What's New??

A lot has changed in the past 6 months. Our babies are growing, we're settling into our new home, we've finally found a church home that we absolutely LOVE, we're making friends in our community (not just military ones), and I feel like we're finally getting into the groove of being parents of two. That last part is still a work in progress! I thought I'd share a little bit about where we are individually...so here it goes:

Little Man....

Our little guy isn't so little anymore! It's so funny when people meet him and find out that he's not quite 6 months old yet, the first thing they ask is how big he was when he was born. They're always kinda shocked when I tell them a measly 7lbs 12 oz! I'm anxious to see what he weighs at his next Dr's appt...at his 4 month check-up he was almost 17lbs, and I'd guess he's gained at least 1.5 since then! If nothing else, his cheeks alone have doubled in size :)

I could tell from an early age that E was going to be super sensitive (just like her Mama). In the same way, I think M is going to be a super happy & very cuddly little boy. He has the biggest smile, and his little eyes just light up when he starts to play. He's eating 6 oz about 5 times a day, and we've been doing oatmeal in the morning and baby food at night. So far he has liked everything we've tried...totally different from his sister! He can roll both ways, LOVES his bounce-a-roo, sticks everything he can get his hands on in his mouth (we've had to really watch E with her goldfish. She wants to share with him so bad she can't hardly stand it!), and he likes it when I sing to him. He takes 2.5 naps a day (usually), and he's still working on the whole sleeping through the night thing. And when I say "working on it", I mean he's not quite sure he likes the idea. At. All. At first it was frustrating. Now it's just gotten to be my routine, I guess. No worries...I just got new under-eye concealer, so I'm all good :)

E girl...

My precious girl is getting to be so big! She's a huge help w/ her brother, and loves to make him laugh. She seems to surprise us with something new she's learned every day, and her new mantra is "all by myself"! I try to encourage her as much as I can, but I find myself trying to hurry her along every now and then b/c her speed is a snails pace most of the time...par for the course in toddlers :) She's never satisfied with the number of books we read at night, and always wants "just one more story peas?". It's pretty cute, and super hard to say "no" to! She's been completely potty-trained for about 3 months now, and though we were really anxious about giving in to her request for "big girl panties" during the night, she's never had an accident. That's kind of her style though, she decides what she wants and by-golly, she's going to make it happen!

Miss Priss will be starting swimming lessons in about a week, and we're both super excited! Me, because I love to swim and I'm anxious to see if she'll feel the same way. Her, because she found her new swimsuit the other day and it has sailboats on it...and she's pretty stoked to put it on! Ha! She'll also be starting pre-school in September, and after lots of searching, I think I've found the perfect one for her. I want her to learn and to be engaged, but to have fun and form good relationships most of all! I think the one we chose will provide opportunity for all of those things, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how she does :) And she'll only go 3x per week in the mornings, so I won't miss her too much! All in all, she's a really happy little girl who loves to sing & talk & dance & have tea parties...and I wouldn't change that for the world :)

My hubs...

C has been in his squadron for about 4 months now, and the pace is about what we expected...pretty intense. There's definitely never a dull moment! We've been fortunate lately about getting to spend little snippets of time with him throughout the day. There's nothing worse than having him leave for work before the kids wake up, and not get home until well after they're in bed, so we take all the little moments together that we can get!

He found out about 2 weeks ago that he got selected to promote to Major!! WooHoo! We're pretty proud of him :) And about a week ago he got to be the Wingman of the Base Commander (so the #2 jet) in an "Elephant Walk" that our base did to commemorate its role in WWII. Pretty awesome! After lots of thought and prayer, he's decided to go ahead and pursue his Master's degree (I like to think I had a little bit of an encouraging role in that decision!), and he's in the process of narrowing down his school selection.

Me...

(With Wendy in DC)

Hmm, well the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about myself is that I'm really, really, REALLY tired! Ha! Funny, but oh-so-true! But to take the edge off, I've gotten back into doing things that I really enjoy: sewing, crafting, reading and writing. I recently taught the squadron ladies how to make headbands/hairpieces for the Warrior Banquet that we had last night. So fun! I don't know what happened, but I kind of went on a sewing hiatus when we moved here. Now that I'm back in the crafting groove, I've taught myself how to do applique, made gifts for 5 friends who are pregnant,

made 2 birthday gifts, and made a spring wreath for our front door out of yarn & felt (sounds weird, but it turned out super cute!). I'm happy when I'm creating things, and I gotta be honest...I've been super happy lately :)

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend! The weather here in NC is gorgeous, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it this afternoon. Blessings for a great week, friends!

The "D" Word

Deployment.

Yuck, I hate that word. No seriously, I hate it. It's a word that strikes fear and dread in the heart of every military spouse. Well, every military spouse I know, at least :) But it comes with the territory, I guess. And so, as hard as it is, I have to gear up & accept it. Embrace it...no. But, accept it...I guess I can do that. Which brings me to the planning part. Honestly, it's the part I like the most if there's such a thing. I like looking at the calendar and planning out things to fill our days while C is away. I've never gone through a deployment with kids before. Some people say it's easier because the time goes by so much faster (they never mention that it's because the work you do seems doubled!). Some people say it's harder because you have these sweet littles who continuously ask where their daddy is. I think it's the same whether you have kids or not. Deployments. Just. Stink.

My quest lately has been to find things that will make this one coming up a little bit easier on E. It will be her first, and I want to start out on the right foot. I want to be intentional, to have a plan, to have some answers for the questions that I know are coming. C & I recently took at little mini-vacation and left the kiddo's with their grandparents for 2 nights. When we got back, we quickly realized that Elli has major separation anxiety. To my utter dismay her new favorite words are, "don't leave me". Add big blue eyes, and little blonde ringlet curls to that and well, it's hard not to just throw in the towel! Ha! But seriously, it's made me very anxious about the time that her daddy will be away. To be completely honest, it breaks my heart.

But, the best way to tackle that (in my opinion) is to plan! Chris is taking her to make a Build-a-Bear that will have his voice recorded in it, we're going to get her a Daddy Doll (which I've heard is all the rage!), we'll be video taping her reading some bedtime stories so that they can still "read" together at night and we're doing the recordable books as well. We'll be heading back to Texas for a big portion of the time that he's away, or we'd do a count-down chain...I think it'd be kinda hard to travel with it. Do you guys have any other suggestions? I'd love to hear about some things that you've done with your kids, or that you've heard have worked with other kids! I've been scouring the internet in my search of all things deployment related, but I'd really like to consider some tried & true things that worked for "real people/kids" :)

We're still a ways away from C leaving, and we're cherishing every single moment with him until the time comes for him to go. I guess that's another "good" thing about deployments...it teaches you that there is really no time to take things for granted. If only I could remember that the next time I get frustrated that his clothes didn't quite make it into the laundry basket...again!

Ephesians 4:32

My friend Wendy posted something on FB recently that really intrigued me. It was a link to a website called Kindness Girl, and the topic was Guerilla Goodness. Think random acts of kindness, but funner! (Yes, I know funner isn't a word, but it works in this case!). If there is one thing that I want to teach my children (besides to love the Lord), it is to be kind. It's an attribute that I hope people think of when they think of me, and it's a legacy I pray that I'll leave with my kids. Kindness. So simple, yet so lacking in society...if you ask me. And this girls website is AWESOME! Totally inspirational. In fact, as soon as I wiped my eyes after watching the videos (I'm a emotional crier), I told Wendy that our little town was about to be taken by storm, DDD style. Oh, you'll have to watch some of the videos if you want to know what DDD is :) See how sneaky I am?!

So, my first mission is to spread some thankfulness to those who aren't thanked often enough. This morning, as I watched the trash men working their way down the street at 7am, I got an idea. Next Wednesday (that's our trash day), E and I will be waiting outside with a box of donuts, a carton of OJ and a big 'ole thank-you card. I'll let you know how it goes :)

My plan is to spread a little love once or twice a month to some people who least expect it. The gate-gaurds, the DMV workers (if anyone needs a little smile, it's them!), and the people who work at the Social Security office (I had to go there 2x last month and I'm thinking they are some of the worst treated people ever!) are all on my list. Do you have any other ideas? Any people working in jobs that you think are thankless that might deserve a little smile? I'm all ears. I think that will be part of the fun...trying to think of something that will make a particular job-group happy. I was thinking a bouquet of daisies for the DMV...just something bright and happy :) Let me know what y'all come up with...and better yet, if you decide to do it in your town, blog about it so I can see!!

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32

Christmas 2012

Christmas was awesome this year...seriously, the best one yet! We decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, and this year I was pumped b/c Chris got us a new tree! I'm a HUGE nerd, and super allergic to real trees, so ours was fake...but FABULOUS! It was pre-lit, had a button that you push to turn the lights on, was the perfect height, and it looked awesome in our front window. But, I digress...enough about the tree!

Christmas was so great this year because we started (and continued) some of our very own traditions. Not the ones that we necessarily had when we were kids, but special ones just for our family. We have a snowman advent calendar that we bought in Germany a few years ago that we talked about every night (we even made up a song, but my hubs would KILL me if I told you about it!). I got out all of the Christmas books that my mom has collected for me over the years and those were the ones that we read to Elli at bedtime. We got dressed up and went to the Christmas Eve service at a church we had never been to before. We woke up on Christmas morning and sipped hot chocolate while we opened our stockings, ate some yummy monkey bread, and then opened presents around the tree while listening to carols. It was like a dream for me, just the way I imagined it would be for my children. And I remember just looking at both of them in awe, praying that they treasure these times when we're all together because I know that Chris's job makes holidays as a family a little bit uncertain. We let the kids play with their toys all day, and then I made a birthday steak dinner for Chris that evening. We don't do the traditional turkey at Christmas yet...I'm still a little bit intimidated!

We have a HUGE family. The kids have four sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-grandparents, and then us...it makes for quite a lot of presents! Now I'm not anti-present or anything, but I want to make sure that in the midst of all the holiday hoopla, the kids understand the REAL reason that we're celebrating. This year we (Chris and I) decided to do 3 "Santa" gifts to represent the 3 wisemen's gifts to Christ. We then did 4 smaller presents sticking the the theme of: Want It, Wear It, Need It, Read It. Micah was so young that we didn't really do it for him, but Elli got a microphone, a dress, some big-girl panties, and 3 books. She was thrilled, and it's definitely a tradition that we'll continue!

Here's some pics from our holiday season...

Guess who loves Santa?!

The kids first picture with Mr. Claus

My little guy and I at the Kids Christmas Party on base.

Our little family

Elli's present from Grandma & Granddad...can you tell that she LOVES Cinderella?!

My precious girl ready for church

Mall Santa...I might have cried :)

This might be my favorite picture of the season! I love Elli's face, and how Micah is just laying there...I want to remember it forever!

Merry Christmas from The Duncan's!

Micah soaking it all up on Christmas morning.

I know it was awhile ago, but what are some of your favorite holiday traditions??

Graduation!

Chris has spent the last 2.5 years in training. When we came back from England, he went straight into Pilot Training. From there, he completed an officer's school and then we moved to NC where he started training in his specific plane. Well, it was a long ride...but he's finally finished!! A lot of people think that it would be rough spending that much time training...both for the one actually doing it, and the family supporting them. At times, I would agree. But you know what? That was 2.5 years that I had my husband home almost every single night. 2.5 years that he was able to spend with Elli, and 2.5 years that he did not deploy...not.one.time. And I think that's pretty great!

Elli on Chris's graduation day...sportin' her "do I HAVE to?!" smile :)

Our little family getting ready for Red Carpet Day

My handsome pilot husband and I...I'm so very proud of him!

Cheesin' at Graduation Dinner

Yay!!! He did it!! He's officially a Fighter Pilot!!

**I have to add, because I'm so stinkin' proud, that he won quite a few awards that night!! I have pictures, but I thought that might just be rubbing it in :) Ha! And, at one point I actually DID a fist pump. Yep, I admit it!**

Micah accompanied us to the dinner b/c, well...he was only a few weeks old!

Chris's Dad & Donna were able to celebrate his graduation with us! What a blessing it was to share that night with them.

The Duncan Clan (minus a very cute Elli Girl!)

A Growing Boy...and more visitors!!

December definitely held some challenges for our little family. Micah had really bad reflux/colic, but he also wasn't getting enough to eat (which I would learn at about the 6 week point). It was hard to see him so uncomfortable, especially since we couldn't do anything to help him!

But, my favorite holiday is in December so it wasn't ALL hard!! We put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving (a tradition of ours), and it was so much fun watching Elli really get into it. It was the first year that she "understood" the whole Christmas thing, and we did our best to talk to her about it every single day.

She LOVED the lights!

PaPa and Micah hangin' on the sidelines :)

My sweet boy and my Daddy...love them!

I love this picture!! Elli wanted to be just like me, so she wrapped a towel around herself and put her stuffed reindeer in it. She's precious :)

I'm 1 Month Old!!!

Our last set of visitors, Chris's Dad & Step-mom...this was Donna getting some snuggles from our boy :)

Our kids LOVE Grandma!

Heehee!! Where's Micah?!

I can hold my head up...kinda :)

His first vest...I thought it was important to capture!

Is this not the most beautiful smile?! He started doing it around 6 weeks, and it just lights up a room!

Month 1 with Little Man

Admittedly, we might have had a few too many things on our plate the month that Micah was born. Looking back, I'm surprised that I survived it! Ha! In all seriousness, we had some MAJOR life changes that month, and it was really hard at times. Thankfully we had a lot of help, and the sweet Lord brought us some peace :)

Nana & Micah

This was taken at our old house. The one that was being packed up the week that Micah was due b/c we were in the middle of buying a house. It wouldn't have been so bad, but Miss Naive' over here thought that all movers were like military movers. You know, the kind that pack your whole house up one day, come back the next day to load it into the truck, and then deliver it and unpack on the third day. (If you're not military, you probably think I'm crazy b/c this is NOT how it's done in the civilian world!). So a week, yes 1 WEEK, before we're supposed to move I wise up to the situation and we face either paying an obscene amount to hire someone to pack and move our stuff, or we do it ourselves. Guess what we chose? Well...it wasn't QUITE as bad as doing it all ourselves, we hired someone to help with a truck, but Chris & his mom (yep, she's a saint!) did most of the packing and hauling to the garage!

So, in November we packed up our old house, I had a C-Section (and was literally NO help at all during the moving process!), we signed on our new house, we moved in, we had 3 different sets of visitors, we had Thanksgiving Dinner, and I totally lost my mind :) Ha! I didn't really, but at times I totally felt like it!