Thank you...

For all of you who took the time to share some insight on how to cope with stress, your advice was appreciated, and taken. I am exercising a bit more (ok, I didn't so much today because I hurt so bad from exercising yesterday), trying to really put forth the effort to live better. I am glad to have so many good friends!

This is NOT a pity-post

Okay. If you are reading this, please consider leaving a comment for me. I am asking for help, with absolutely no pity from ANYONE, as I already have had enough pity parties on my own. It is time to fix some things. I realized yesterday that I have been experiencing a number of stress-related symptoms. Physical, mental, emotional. This 'deployment' the hardest have been the physical symptoms (ie: chest, stomache, muscle pain). Now, I am not going to the doc to ask why this and that mysteriously hurt when I know why. So, what I want from you is some real advice. How do you deal with your stressful situations? We all experience them, and some things are definitely harder than others which result in different responses for everyone. I am not sure why this time has been a little tougher for me than previous times, but I suspect the Lord is trying to answer one of my 'please make me stronger' prayers by providing me with the opportunity to grow. I asked and received, and am now asking you for some good tips. (A good foot massage, while nice for relieving stress, would not be a good tip right now :)

Makeup

I am sure that is what she was thinking when she started coloring on her eyelids and cheeks with a marker. I guess it is time to buy new crayons-in BULK!

Sundays

Sundays are usually hectic for me. Especially lately. Honestly, I dread Sundays, when I used to get so excited about them. A day to relax, visit family, go on nice walks, read, nap, make a fun treat. That is what Sunday used to be. I have not been doing my job of teaching my children that Sunday is a special day. After 12:00, we dart out of church, have a hectic and tired lunch, then I spend an hour or more trying to stay awake long enough to get Grant to fall asleep so I can fall asleep. It's complicated. I am sure most of you understand. I stumbled across an article that has made me want to do a little better. Read it if you have time. Maybe you'll find a gem in it too!

What a handsome sailor!

I'm in trouble now!

So, Alex is crawling now. Good. Right...whatever. I am way less worried about infants and mobility than I was 3 years ago when Grant was doing the same thing. Yesterday, Alex decided to pull himself up to standing. Not only that, he thought he give stair-climbing a try.

2 Things

We decided to take the kids camping before Shawn left. Of course, my camera batteries died right after I turned the camera on, so I only managed to get 2 pictures of us playing at the beach. It was a lot of fun. Aside from the rain first thing in the morning, it was a great camping trip. We went to the beach twice, once to play in the sand and water, and once in the evening to watch the sunset and chase these tiny little ghost crabs. Very fun!

The other thing is exercise. I have always managed to get some good walking exercise in to 'bounce back after baby'. That is, until after I had Alex. How do you take 3 little kids power-walking? You don't. I did not want to get another stroller, I already have 2 doubles, and 2 singles. So, this is what I finally managed to come up with. We only last about 30 minutes like this, but hey, it's better than nothing. I am glad to finally have exercise as part of my daily routine without getting up before the birds!

Here we go again!

Well, here goes. Today the kids and I dropped Shawn off at the ship, went to church, then went back to see the ship off. It was a first for us, and we were pretty excited. Shawn, however, was not actually on the ship. He was on the rhib. Okay, I don't really know exactly what he does on it, although I know he has told me before. Anyway, the kids and I walked up to the edge of the parking lot where everyone was waiting and watching, and the rhib driver looped around and we got to see him on it. It was so cool! I forgot my camera (at least I didn't forget a child!) but here is a picture of a rhib. No, Shawn isn't on it.

Well, should you choose to peruse my blog over the next 88 days, you will surely hear more about this 'non-deployment' and if you have any wonderful words of wisdom, I am ALL-EARS!