Been a LONG Time!

Wow, has it been a long time since I have blogged. So long, that in fact I forgot I had a blog going. Since the last and only entry, I've had another child, Colin, for a total of three little munchkins. Caitlyn is now six and in the first grade, Nathan (Nate) is 2 years and Colin turned six months on Saturday. So needless to say, that life is busy. But that is okay though because Mommy likes busy.

I'm finally adjusting to "stay-at-home" motherhood after 2 and a half years out of the military and no work outside of the home. I had always worked since I was 16 years old, so I have to admit, it was a long road to find my comfort zone and things did NOT come easy. I'm really thankful now that we are getting into a groove. I guess having three sort of forces you to have some sort of a routine and system going or you would go crazy. Preparation has been essential, as well as organization and trying not to put things off has really helped me stay on top of everything on the home front. Thankfully Chris has not had anymore deployments and doesn't foresee any in the near future. For those of you that don't remember, he was deployed when Nate was just two months old and didn't get back till he was almost a year. That was the worst. I'm welcoming his new position.

So what have we been up to since Winter of early 2010? Hmm...Well, Chris came home in April of 2010 and we got readjusted to having him back and then in June of 2010 we went to the beach south of the Outer Banks in NC for a week with his mom and the (at the time) two kids. They had a blast at the beach. We went on a cruise to Shackleford Banks from Beaufort, NC and got to venture onto the small island that includes beautiful wild horses and large whelk seashells. It was an experience of a lifetime. We even saw an oyster population. Beaufort is a great town by the way if you are ever in the area. If I could pick any place in the United States to live, Beaufort would be in my top five, possibly top three. The town has a vast history, to include Blackbeard, the pirate. We stayed at a timeshare on Atlantic Beach right down the road. It was a great vacation and the kids had a blast. Then later that month, my aunt and uncle had a place in the Outer Banks of NC and when my mother came down to visit me, the kids and I accompanied her down there for a few days. We are only about two hours from the OBX. It was a beautiful place and we had a lot of fun visiting with family and just getting away from it all.

A trip to NY and our summer was complete and we soon found out that our family was not. In August, I found out I was expecting again! We were a little scared at first with all kinds of your typical worries but ended up really just being thankful and excited. We found out a few months later, that this bundle of joy was a "bundle of BOY". It could not have worked out anymore perfect. The boys would be 21 months apart so the best of friends and Caitlyn would still have her princess status in the house. My due date was the 20th of April in 2011, so NOT another July baby (my first two had the same due date and ended up being three days and four years apart) so we were thankful for that! We ended up spending Thanksgiving of that year in northern VA with my Dad and Step-mom and family and we stayed home for Christmas.

As my due date approached, my expanding belly was not correlating with my pregnancy progression so we had to monitor the situation and it turned out that my fluid was low. Then the day came. I thought I noticed some fluid so we rushed to the hospital. I was 38 weeks along and about three cm dilated and 90% effaced. After 36 hours of pitocin induced contractions and virtually no epidural (after the med ran out I was too scared to keep pressing the button) we had to make a decision since I was only 6 cm and not progressing. I elected for the c-section because it was looking like we would have had to do one anyways, and I would prefer to not do one in an emergent situation. At 6:21, we were blessed with our littlest angel, Colin Matthew. Colin spent 10 days in the hospital with respiratory distress and jaundice in the NICU. He truly was our little miracle. Now he is healthy as a horse, over 20 pounds, and almost sitting up. He has a very fun loving personality and is, we anticipate, a future trouble maker. We say this because every time he sees his brother jumping on the couch or doing something he shouldn't be doing, Colin starts laughing his head off. It's the cutest thing. Nothing like seeing brothers together. Big sister is great too, and very protective and loving. Seeing your children love one another is one of the greatest gifts. I can't explain the love that I have for these kids and they are truly a blessing.

Since Colin came along it's been a small adjustment and not nearly as difficult as I anticipated. He's been my most easy baby to date, and I think part of that is due to birth-order. Having three, I can't give him the non-stop attention that I was able to give, say, Caitlyn when she was a baby. He is a very calm and chill baby, and unlike the other two who did not start sleeping through the night till 11.5 months old, Colin started around four months. It was such a welcomed change!

In September, Caitlyn started the first grade and she is doing great and started reading. It makes me so proud to open up her backpack and see 100% on her science or spelling test. She's a smart cookie. Nate is very smart too and is talking a lot more. He says the funniest things. One of his newest favorites is "NO WAY!" or when he sees the moon he says "crescent moon"...it's too funny. All three of the kids love music and it's priceless to hear them sing a long to familiar tunes and kick their feet to the beat. Nate is really into anything with wheels, but nothing as much as Thomas the Train. He's got endless energy that I wish would rub off on me some days :)...

Chris is doing well. It's been a busy year with home improvements but finally things are almost done and getting into place. There is never a shortage of work as a home owner. He just hit his twenty year mark in the military last month which basically is the point that you can retire from the military if you so choose. He plans on staying in till at least 24, but you never know.

I joined a MOPS (Mothers of Preschool) group at our church and love it. It's amazing how you can bond with perfect strangers of similar circumstances and life experiences. It's helped me put life into perspective, and give me a little needed change of attitude. I have met some great ladies and look forward to developing those friendships as the months go by. We have Bunko night coming up. I've never played but they say it's really easy and a whole lot of fun, so I can't wait! We also are going to be going back to church. I was raised Roman Catholic, but after some soul searching and experimenting with different churches, I have decided that Lutheran was best for us. The church is very family friendly, they have Sunday school for the kids during our service and the beliefs are very parallel to the Catholic church. I have felt so at home at this church and have met some truly genuine people along the way. We are very blessed. Chris and I have also been running in our free time and the boys and Chris and I even completed our first 8K in September (ironically I came in second for the 30-34 ladies age group)! We plan on doing the one at Busch Gardens in December. I love doing the runs and used to do them all the time before the babies came along.

So that's that. School is in session so it's business as usual right now. Have a couple weekend trips planned, and just got back from a trip up to see my Dad and my Step-mom Jan and brother Zack. It's always nice to see family. I just wish we lived closer, but compared to Omaha, this is nothing! Chris's family is about three hours away and even my hometown in NY is only a nine hour drive for us.

Life is good and I'm feeling very content and happy with what we are blessed with. I have a sense of completion that I have never had before since Colin came along. I really think our family is complete with the five of us. Perhaps a dog in the future (at Caitlyn's persistence)???