Mommy Update

It's not often I write about what I'm up to.  But I figure it's about time.  I haven't been up to a whole lot.  At least it doesn't feel like it.  But when I step back and look at all I do, I am pretty busy.  I keep the house in order, drive Ben to all his appointments and various places he needs to go, chase my baby around trying to keep her out of stuff, and do whatever else needs to be done.  All in all, I do stay pretty busy.
I am about 2/3 of the way done with my photography course.  I just need to take the photos and send them in for Unit 4, and then will only have two more units to finish.  My goal is to get it done before we are done with the Army, so I guess I should stop procrastinating and get it done.  I did just get a new lens for my camera in the mail yesterday so that is a bit of motivation to take some pictures. Because who doesn't love to play with new toys?! :)
It looks like I will be going back to school once we move back home.  Right now I'm leaning towards Nursing I think.  I know it's not the easiest program to get into, but I'm kind of feeling that's the direction I need to go.  I've been looking into different programs, and there are a few I can apply to back in Boise.  We'll see what happens though.  I'm not totally thrilled about working outside the home.  It makes me feel kinda sad knowing that I'll have to leave the kids with a babysitter or someone, when I had always planned on being a stay at home mom.  But ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  And I know things will work out they way they should.
I've been working on losing weight the past few months.  And so far I've lost 15 lbs! I've been losing 1 -2 lbs a week, most weeks.  I've been counting calories, watching portion size and walking more.   It feels like such a slow process, but I know it's the best way to do it.  I just have to stick with it and eventually I'll get to where I want to be.
So that's the biggest news with me.  Not nearly as much going on with me as there is with Ben and Kaylin.  That's life though.  Everything I do usually revolves around them, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  :)

Daddy Update

In my last update about Ben, I mentioned we were waiting for the final paperwork to be sent to Seattle.  Well it was sent just a few days later, and that's when the real waiting game began.  The first thing we were waiting to hear back on was whether he was fit or unfit for duty.  We just found out Friday that he is unfit! I know, it seems kind of silly to be so happy that he is not able to continue with duty, but when you've been through everything we've been through it's kind of easy to understand.  Anyway, it received all the signatures it needed and was sent to the next phase around July 14th.  Now we are waiting for our rating, which is how much they are going to give us for the rest of his life.  We get this from both the Army and the VA.  And as long as it is at least 30%, it will be considered a medical retirement.  Which is what we want.  Of course we would like a higher rating, but as long as we get that retirement so he continues to receive his medical benefits we'll be ok with that.  We should have our rating 60 - 80 days from July 14th.  So we are looking at mid September to early October.  Then we should be receiving our orders to go home shortly after that.  We'll have 30 days to clear and we'll be home.  So it's very possible that we'll be home for Thanksgiving, if not Halloween.  Not saying we will be home that soon, but it is a possibility.  I would love to be home by then, but we'll see.
So that's where we are with the Med Board.  In other news, Ben is completely off all narcotics again.  His pain still typically sits between a 4 and 7, but actually being on the narcotics was causing more issues and pain than it was doing good.  His pain doctor had put him on methadone, which is the strongest narcotic out there and what they use for heroin addicts.  But the side effects were making him sick, throwing up several times a day for over a week which was making the pain worse.  We tried telling his pain doctor that and instead of taking him off of it, he doubled the dose.  So we went and saw his regular doctor and we got off it.    And he's doing better now.  We saw his pain doctor again a few days ago, and he was surprised to hear that he was off and doing better with out the narcotics than he was doing with it.  Now there's not much else he can do.  We've pretty much tried everything.  We are going to try some alternative treatments now.  Acupuncture and medical massage, to be exact.  We'll see if either of those give him some relief.  Hopefully it does.
We are still working on what we are going to do once we get out of the Army.  I think we've decided he wants to be an ultrasound tech.  We are working on getting the necessary papers for him to start the Vocational Rehab program.  The VA will actually pay for any schooling or training that needs to be done, so we are working on that process right now too.
That's pretty much what he's up to.  Not super exciting, well ok almost being done with the army is pretty exciting.  He continues to hang in there though. :)

Kaylin Update- 10 Months

  I can't believe how much my baby has grown in just the past month!  She's getting so big and independent!  We had her "9 Month" check up last week. (Yes I know, she's 10 months, but our doctor was gone for a couple months and where she's not having any problems we weren't too concerned about it.)  She is up to 19 lbs 5 oz, and 30.3 inches long.  She's put on 11 lbs and grown 10 inches in the past 10 months!  Holy cow! 

 According to the charts, she is pretty tall for her age, but she is considered underweight.  How she's underweight, I don't know.  She loves her food!

She doesn't eat much baby food anymore.  She's perfectly happy eating what ever mom and dad are eating. We're ok with that, and her doctor is ok with that, so we're not too worried.  It's pretty funny when we go to Costco.  If we get a sample of something and don't give her a bite first, she'll let us know she wants some too.  She is very vocal about it.  Some of her favorite foods right now are noodles (especially ramen noodles), biscuits/bread, ice cream, licorice (as seen in the picture above), and apple juice.  We don't nurse much any more either.  We'll nurse at bedtime, if she gets up in the middle of the night and occasionally at nap time, but that's about it.    We're not really trying to ween, just kinda letting it happen naturally.  And still no teeth yet.  I want to say we're getting close, but I've been thinking that for a while.  Our doctor said if she doesn't have any by 12 months to take her into a pediatric dentist and have them do xrays to make sure she has the buds there, but until then it's not too concerning.  So we'll keep waiting.

She loves to play in the water.  We got one of the little cheap pools from walmart and she loves it! She can splish and splash all she wants!  She loves taking baths too, until you wash her hair.  She does not like when you rinse the shampoo out of her hair.  But other than that, it's ok.  We take Daddy to the pool to do PT three times a week and you can tell she wants to go jump in with him.  We still haven't gone to the community pool with her.  Need to do that one of these days.  I can't wait until we can play in Grandma and Grandpa's pool next summer! 

One of her favorite games is Peek-A-Boo.  She'll sit there and play with herself.  Putting her blankie over her head, pulling it off, putting it back on.  She'll catch us watching her and just get a huge ol' grin.  She's so funny.  She'll sit and read to herself too.  I picked up some Sesame Street books at a yard sale a couple weekends ago, and she will just sit there on the floor or in her playpen and talk to herself as she flips through the pages.  She's getting better about sitting still when I read to her too.  She will sit on my lap and look at the pictures while I read, without trying to grab them (most of the time anyway).  I just ordered a bunch of books from ebay.  Some Disney princess books and a lot of Dr. Seuss books.  I would be ok if she has the same love for reading that her daddy has.  

She is a sneaky little thing!  About two weeks ago she decided she doesn't need to crawl any more.  It is now walking and running all over the house.  Makes it a bit harder to keep her out of stuff.  Her favorite places to play are: Mom and Dad's room (the nightstands are just the right height to pull everything off of), the bathroom (because that's where the bathtub is, the toilet seat is easy to open, the toilet paper is just the right height to unroll, and daddy hasn't put latches on the cupboards yet), the laundry room (that's where mommy moved the puppies' food and water to, and it echos in there), the kitchen (umm hello, that's where the food is!), and of course outside in the yard and at the park (what little kid doesn't like to play outside?!). She still likes to play with the shoes, although she doesn't eat them as much as she used to.  I caught her the other day throwing my flip flops in the dryer.  Silly girl!

She is still a happy girl with the cutest smile! I can't help but smile when she looks at me with those big blue eyes and gives me the sweetest smile.  What a blessing she is to us!  I love this little girl!