The end is near...

So we got news today that Jack's appeal was denied. This means that we are probably getting out of the Navy in January 2011. The thought scares me to death and gets me on the brink of tears every time the thought enters my head. Jack is so optimistic, which I admire sooo much, and says we will probably be in a better place when we get out, and he is probably right, but the fear of the unknown has gotten the best of me. The economy, the job market, the housing market....it all stresses me out! MAJORLY!

Okay, so I bet you're wondering why Jack even had to make an appeal. I'll try to make a long story short. In 2002 before he and I were even totally serious dating, Jack went on his first deployment and on his first port call got in trouble for a drinking incident. He went to admiral's mast and got found "not guilty" but did get the punishment of switching squadrons. In his punishment document it specifically said, "DO NOT REMOVE HIM FROM ANY PROMOTION LIST!" He was told if he worked hard and had good evaluations (i.e. fitreps) his career would not be over. So for the next 7 years, he's done amazing and gotten great FITREPS. He even got promoted to LT. Then promotion for LCDR came along. The board selected him, but the Secretary of the Navy removed his name from the list because of the incident 7 years ago. We were under the impression that since the admiral who punished him said that they couldn't remove his name, that he was unfairly removed. We talked to a couple JAGS and they said we had a very strong case, and recommended we appeal. We got the results today and it was denied.

To make a REALLY long story shorter, we have another look for LCDR in February of next year. We find out the results in July 2010. We will not get it since the Secretary of the Navy rejection letter is now in Jack's file. What board will go against the Secretary of the Navy? Not many!

Hey! At least we get an AMAZING severence. That should get us through about a year of living if, GOD FORBID, we don't find a job!

So...we are now in search of a new job. I'm stressed just thinking about it. Thank God Jack isn't.

Sundae Sunday

We had our first annual Sundae Sunday. We had ice cream sundaes for dinner. We thought it would be fun for the boys and something they would really look forward to as children, and really remember about our family life. Tre LOVED loading up his plate, but Jack and I learned something interesting. Tre didn't really eat his ice cream. He had two cookies but not much else. I wonder if he really only likes ice cream if it's a reward. We joked with him and said, "If you eat all of your ice cream, we'll make you a hot dog!" Since he hates hot dogs, we were interested in what he thought about that deal! Not surprisingly, he said, "NOOO! I no like hot dogs!!" HAHAHA! Then again, he's kinda had an upset stomach this weekend, so that could be why he wasn't eating it. It was still fun and he loved every bit of it!



William has never been a big fan of ice cream, but surprisingly enough he ate it all. I've never really given him candy or sweets before, but he loved the M&Ms and the cookie. He didn't really try the brownie. He just played with it! I felt guilty after all these sweets and made him some real food and he did eat a little of that too. Jack and I were looking forward to this too, but we were surprised that when it came down to it, we didn't really want the ice cream. We missed having real food. We did join in on the fun, though! It's interesting that it's actually kinda hard to have ice cream for dinner. Oh Well...we can handle once a year!

Joke Tellers

Tre loves for Jack to teach him jokes and then he usually loves to come to me and butcher them, but then it's even funnier. All of us seemed to catch a cold this week, so this is the joke Jack taught Tre. Of course, Tre thought it was the funniest thing EVER!!!

best friends

Tre's had a turn around and will actually eat with bribes. I hate to have ice cream in the house because I just eat it, but I think I am going to have to cave and just buy some or Tre will be going to the ice cream store more and more. Anyway, he ate his dinner (mixed veggies, half of a baked chicken breast, and half of a baked potato) AND he ate all of his lunch at school AND all of his breakfast this morning...so he got what he's always begging for, ICE CREAM! Jack took him to to get some ice cream and on the way home he said, "Dad, I need to go home." Jack asked why and Tre said, "because I need to play with William!" Jack told him that William was about to go to bed and Tre said, "NO! I want to play with William. He's my best friend!" AWWWWW! That just warms my heart.

William had a funny today too. Everyone laughs at me because I am always saying that William is teething, but HE IS! The boy has half a t-shirts worth of drool EVERYDAY! He's always chewing his fingers and he's always fussy! All signs of teething. Anyway, today we were eating dinner and, as usual, William scarfed down all his food quicker than the rest of us, so I let him go play. He immediately ran into our bedroom and the next thing I know he shows up at my chair with the infant tylenol saying, "PEEEEZ, PEEEEZ!" The boy knew to go in my room, go into our bathroom, he knew which drawer it was in (9 to choose from) and brought it out! That's smart!

I love our boys!

Summer Fun

William, Tre, and John Parker play in the baby pool. Great times, with even greater friends.

So Tre Thinks He Can Dance

This video is not very good quality, but you get the idea. We watched "So You Think You Can Dance," and he danced with the tv the whole show. It was hilarious!

Busy, Busy

I am so sorry it's been so long. Jack was in Key West last week, and my long time friend, Erin, invited me and the boys to join her and her family in Destin for the week. The house that we stayed in didn't have internet, so I didn't have a way to update this. Also, I didn't get many pictures because I am famous for ruining my camera with sand or water. Erin took a few and promised to send them to me. As soon as she does, I will post.

We had fun. Tre, of course, loved the beach. His favorite part was walking into the water and running from the waves. William wasn't a huge fan, but mainly because the water was cold. He wanted to like it but then the water touched him and he would yell! He was more into the snacks! Tre LOVED playing with Aiden and Elaina and was such a good sharer. I only had to put him in time out twice for the whole week. That is amazing considering the fact that last year we went to Gulf Shores and he was in time out every 2 minutes for not sharing with Grant. It gives me MUCH hope for our Gulf Shores trip this year. William has MAJOR separation anxiety and would even cry if I left him with Erin's family to bring Tre to the bathroom! I hope he gets over it before schools starts. It's going to be hard to drop him off, but I will :)

Jack is back, but is leaving again on Monday! BOO! He seems to be going out of town so much, but I guess it's better than a deployment so I can't complain! We just love to have him around.

We went to the children's museum today because Jack is off until Thursday. We had a good time and it was fun to see the difference between our kiddos. We've been members there since we moved here (almost two years, which is HARD to believe) and EVERY SINGLE TIME Tre runs straight to the train table and doesn't want to leave. William, however, really doesn't even go to the train table. He goes to EVERYTHING! He loves everything there and since it's pretty child proof, it's fun to just watch what he does and where he goes!

Tonight we had our first Mommy and Me swim lessons with William. My friend Frankie and John Parker are doing it with us too. William, of course, loved it! The boy thinks he can swim already (so different from Tre, who is very careful in the pool), so I think it will be good for me to learn how to handle him in the pool. It's nice to have some one on one time with him. He is so precious...and TAN, as Frankie won't let me live that down! I promise I am putting SPF 50 on him...he's just naturally tan!!!

Good weekend, going to be a Great week!

We went home to Lafayette this weekend for two reasons: Jack went to Key West for the week, and my twin sister was registering for her first baby! I certainly didn't want to miss the latter, especially since she has been trying for this much wanted baby for 4 LONG, LONG years.

The boys had fun. We went swimming in my parents pool and it was the first time I felt totally insecure in the pool with them with just me. Tre has finished swim lessons and while he used to be cautious and stay on the steps, this time he wanted me to work with him. That is totally reasonable, except for the fact that William thinks he can swim. He is such a dare devil and I need to have my hands on him at every moment and, therefore, kinda leaves Tre hanging and I feel bad and he isn't happy. NO MORE POOL with just me! My hands are too full!

We got back today and are leaving tomorrow for Destin. My high school friend, Erin, invited us to join her and her family at thier condo for the week. She has two kiddos and I think it will be fun to spend some time on the beach with her and her family...especialy since they are about to move to Korea and we won't see them for a long time! Tre is super excited! He keeps saying we are going to the "Florida House" tomorrow.

Not much else to report! I've been bad about pictures! SOOOORRRRY

I need throw up!!

Tre is soo funny! He woke up this morning asking to go back to that ice cream store. I told him that if he ate ALL of his breakfast, ALL of his lunch and ALL of his dinner, we would take him to the ice cream store. So, he ate ALL of his breakfast. Then he asked to go to the ice cream store about a million times after. I explained over and over again that he had to eat lunch and dinner too! I picked him up from school and, sure enough, the teacher said he didn't have ONE bite! On the way home, though, he begged for his sandwich, ate the whole thing and then ate his chex mix. I wasn't feeling hopeful for dinner since he finally ate lunch at 2pm! Anyway, dinner was served and we had left overs....grilled chicken, mac and cheese and vegetables. He ate all his mac and cheese (but VERY slowly), and then Jack asked him to eat his chicken. Tre's reaction, "I need throw up!" HAHAHAHAHAHA! Like he ate sooo much that he needed to puke! Yea RIGHT! So, I told him to go throw up and then get back to the table to finish his chicken and veggies. He went to the toilet, went potty (not throw up), and then finished his chicken and veggies. We're about to go get him some ice cream.

On a different note, I was gonna write today about how smart William is! I know, I know...I am the typical mother and a typical bragger! O'well! I don't care. Anyway, William is such a great listener. I tell him to lay down so I can change his diaper and he lays down. I tell him to turn off the tv and he does. I tell him to go get his shoes to go "bye bye" and he does. I tell him to go get in his chair to eat and he runs to his chair. I tell him to go upstairs to go to bed and he goes upstairs. I tell him to go to the bath tub for bath time and he does. I don't remember Tre doing that at this point, but, like I told Jack, I think I didn't really know what to expect with Tre and, therefore, didn't expect much. With William, I think I have higher expectations. Poor Tre, I hope he didn't get the short end of the stick as far as mothering is concerned! O'well I am not too worried. Tre is a VERY smart kid too! (If I do say so myself, anyway :)

Anyway, William is also saying so many words. He says hi, bye, uh-oh, ball, please, thank you, mom, dad, shoe, down, choo-choo, train, all done, beep beep, Nay (for a horse), help, car and so many more that I just can't think of right now.

He also knows where his belly, head, eyes, nose, lips, ears, tongue, and penis ;) are located. We are so proud! :)

Brotherly Love

Today the boys did so much better at the gym. I went early and sat with them for a bit to make sure they were okay. I told Tre before we left that William was scared and he needed to make sure he was okay while I was working out. When I was sitting with them before I left, William was snuggling with me and Tre was telling him, "It's okay William!" He's so sweet.

I told Jack tonight that I am just seeing us having our kiddos so close together starting to pay off. I've been noticing Tre being a lot sweeter to William lately. He is such a great big brother to him. He really LOVES to have William around and is always asking him to play with him or chase him or watch tv with him. He likes to try to help him get out of his car seat when we go places. We always say prayers at night, but we usually do it separatly but lately, Tre's wanted William to lay in bed with him so they can say prayers together! Tre is constantly helping William put the food on his fork and feeding him. Today, when we got home from running errands, William was walking slowly to the door, so Tre went and held his hand and said, "Come on, William. I will help you!" Jack was snuggling with William this afternoon (Will is our snuggler) and Tre came and hugged William and said, "I love him!" We've just been noticing these small gestures and are so appreciating the fact that our boys love each other!

Don't get me wrong, they both have thier moments, but they are fewer and farther between. I love our boys so much and they are so fun to watch grow together!!