Michael's "pacifier"

So, Michael has found a way to self soothe. Some kids suck their fingers, some suck their thumbs, others cling to a blankie or stuffed animal...Michael sucks his lower lip. I found him doing this one night after he had gone to sleep, then I noticed him doing it more and more throughout the day. I think its pretty cute, but sometimes I worry that it will be a habit we will have to break later on. Oh well, if it makes him happy, I'm fine with it. The really cute thing is when he runs his fingers through his hair and sucks his lip when he's starting to get really tired. Some day these baby things will be gone, so we might as well enjoy them while they are here.

Little voices in the monitor

So I am sitting here downstairs taking care of a few things before we start school for the day and I am listening, via the baby monitor, to Gabriel and Michael playing upstairs in Michael's room. Gabriel is being quite sweet, playing so nicely with his baby brother and teaching him everything he knows. At one point he informs his little brother that "dinosaurs live in Africa!" He had explained this to the whole family in the car on the way to church yesterday, so his Daddy and I acted as though it was very interesting and that he was teaching us something new. (We did have the discussion that dinosaurs are no longer with us...and that its a good thing.)

I think its quite adorable to hear the chatter between little brothers. Especially when the older brother is trying so hard to teach his little brother everything he thinks he knows.

Jack Bauer and a Dinosaur

So...

I was messing with my template and erased a bunch of things off my blog in the process. For now I guess I'll just have to have a boring blog...oh well.

SNOW!

So on Tuesday, contrary to usual weather patterns, North Carolina found itself buried in 3-7 inches of beautiful snow. We got about 5 or 6 inches here at our house. Of course we had to take the kids out to experience the snow in their own backyard. In NC this amount shuts down everything. There is no snow removal equipment, so the schools were closed for 2 days and Fort Bragg was closed. It was quite an interesting experience for all of us here in NC. Here's some pictures of our fun couple of days!

Family, family and more family!

I can hardly believe that we are already in December. The house is decorated in Christmas decorations, the tree is up and most of the presents have been purchased. Where has the year gone!?!

In the past month we have welcomed both sets of Grandparents and my sister, Alli, into our home. We will have Brad's parents back right before Christmas along with their two miniature Schauzers, Oscar and Henry. That should be quite the adventure as we have our own mini Schnauzer, Ranger. We love having family over and we are always looking forward to the next time that we can be with them.

Brad's parents were here for the long Columbus weekend at the beginning of November. We did a "whole lotta nothing", which is always fun! Then, my family was here for the week of Thanksgiving. We had a great time preparing the dinner and spending the week playing games and watching football and movies on our new 42" flat-screen digital TV. (Can I just say how amazing the reception is with a digital antenna and an HDTV! I can't believe what we get off the free airwaves!) We also spent some time with Brad's unit and had a Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday afternoon at the Battalion Dining Facility (DFAC). All the officers and NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officers) were dressed in their Dress Blues and served the meal to all the soldiers and families that were there. It was quite good and fun for all. Then on Wednesday we went to watch the Turkey Bowl, which was a flag football game between the Officers and NCOs in our Battalion.
We had a little snack bar set up to make some money for our Family Readiness Group and the kids had a great time playing with the other kids their to watch their Daddies beat up on each other!
The next day was Thanksgiving Day so we spent the day cooking, baking, watching the parade, watching football, and of course eating!
So next we will have Christmas and New Years and many more pictures to share. Merry Christmas everyone!

I really need to stop procrastinating!

I have to admit, I never thought it would take me so long to get back to blogging...but it has. I have posted some pictures of the past few months just to get you all caught up. I will try my best to keep this thing up now. I am finally starting to feel more like myself since Brad has been home. We all have been dealing with so much including health issues, surgeries, and Army stuff in the past few months which have kept my mind fairly busy. I think I'm starting to be able to handle everything better, so I can think about other things now. Enjoy the pictures and I hope to be able to keep up this blog now!

Post blog hiatus.

Obviously since "the Dad" has been home, I have been seriously lax in updating our blog. I realize that there are many of you that would kind of like to see what the little men are up to these days. I am going to try and update you on the past few months. Although I think it may take awhile. As I think back to all we have done and accomplished in the past few months, it is daunting to think about recounting it all in great detail. I will try my best, so please keep checking back...I promise to have something here again soon. I pray that you all are well!

He is here!

Well everyone...the Daddy is finally home!!! He came home on Wednesday the 30th of April. We are all thoroughly enjoying having him home. The boys are starting to bond with Daddy and I am loving watching them interact. I will post pictures of all our fun and of Brad's homecoming...but for now...this is all I can do...just announce that he is here, safe with us, in North Carolina. Thank you all who have been keeping up with us during this long 15 months without Daddy!

It'll all be over soon!

Despite what our countdown says, we are actually about 3 days away from having Daddy back! I haven't been very good about updating the blog since I have been SO BUSY with the FRG and helping our families figure out how they are going to get here and see their soldier get off the plane. Its a huge responsibility and I am trying my best to balance that with my motherly and wifely responsibilies, but right now I feel like the FRG wins out some of the time. It feels like a full time job sometimes! Anyway, we are just days away from the big arrival and so once life slows down again there will be many happy posts documenting the wonderful day and those that follow. Hope all is well with you all! We love you and thank you so much for supporting us through this long 15 month deployment!

Happy Birthday, Gabriel!

Well, yesterday, my biggest little boy turned 4! I do have pictures from his special day, but I have been so busy that I haven't had time to upload them. I will try to do that soon.

We started off the day with a cinnamon roll for breakfast, complete with birthday candle and singing.

Later on in the day I gave him his present from Mommy and Daddy...a big boy t-ball set and Car movie race track.

We then went to Red Robin to have dinner with the Pelikan clan. Gabriel loves that restaurant! He got presents, ice cream and a round of 'happy birthday to you'. On the way home from dinner he tells me that it was the "best, best, best, best party ever!"

I have been so busy with my responsibilies with the Family Support Group of Brad's unit, that I barely had time to think about anything else. I think Gabriel had a special day even though we weren't able to have a true party.

On another note...the Angel Boys' Daddy will be home in about 2 weeks from Afghanistan! Right now this is our top-end estimate, so we are truly down to the last days of this marathon of a deployment! We will be able to party WITH Daddy soon! I will do my best to update the blog in the next 2 weeks, but I can't promise anything...just keep checking in to see our progress toward D-Day (Daddy-Day)!

Happy One

Today the smallest McCoy boy turned 1!


Birthday waffles for the birthday boy.

Here are some pictures from Michael's birthday dinner and cake.

Mickey Mouse ears are great party hats!

Big boy cup for the big boy.

Pretty close...He seems to like this hand gesture.

Yummmmm....cheese pizza! Not bad for a first timer!

Brother with some cheese of his own.

Yay...birthday cake!

Gabriel was waiting all day for this.

Birthday present from Mommy and Daddy.

Mommy put this together in about 5 minutes...sadly, Michael's legs aren't long enough yet :-(



I have been thinking all day today about how quickly this last year has gone. One year ago, I had just had a c-section and was lying in the hospital bed with a sleeping Michael on my chest...that was the only thing he wanted to do that night...no eating...just sleeping on mommy. One year ago, Daddy had been gone for less than two months...now it has been almost 14 months...wow...where has the time gone?! So much has happened in the past 12 months, and I can't believe how fast our little baby has grown. Michael is a sweet, loving, and funny little guy. I cannot wait for this next 4 weeks to zoom by as quickly as the past year has, so that Daddy can come home and finally get to know his littlest boy.