Too much change

Alison and I have been working for the last several months on a scrapbook of our trips over the last year.  As excited as I was to get the project done, it made me realize how much has changed since Ben deployed...and more will still change before he comes home...blech.  I don't want to be a mom who is always dwelling in the past, but too much has changed recently!

Grandma sent warm pj's and they both look older.

Apparently this is the coldest winter in over 10 years.

Eli decided it was time to start running one day; monkey see, monkey do.

"Just going for a quick run mom!  Gotta fill up my water bottle..."

My new philosophy of deployment, or maybe of life: if you can order it off Amazon, do it!  Prime Pantry rocks and it's SO nice to have everything dropped off at my door.  Now my time in an actual store has dropped significantly.

A house full of friends, watching Star Wars.
 Tolson asked to help me make popcorn and it cracked me up that he jumped on the counter just like my kids do.

 

Alison and I went on a special date.  It was a "my little girl is turning into a lady" kinda date.

Eli has been up at 7am on the dot pretty much his whole life, but now he's started asking me to double make sure I get up early too so we can snuggle.  I know these mornings will eventually come to an end or will involve drinking coffee together and not snuggling, so I want to soak them up as much as I can now.

Even the dog is changing.
She comes and digs her nose in my hand now when she wants to play.  She'll essentially turn my hand in circles until I get up and throw a ball for her.

P.S. Eli is "lightening man"

Colin's favorite game with Maya: lay on top of her ball and laugh hysterically.

Alison's learning about Ancient China so we worked on our chopstick skills after her test.  She's been wearing my North Face a lot and it always surprises me that it actually fits pretty well.

I dreaded this day.  I knew the day Eli lost his front teeth would be a leap in change as they've been his signature look.  They have been wiggly and lose teeth is something I just don't enjoy dealing with.  Eli decided to take matters into his own hands when his friends were over playing.  They built a hot roads track and Eli said, "Hey guys!  I'll put my mouth at the end of the track!"  The car zoomed down the track and Eli came running downstairs with a mouth full of blood.  I was so thankful my friend Laurel was here!  While I teared up, she jumped in and made it an exciting moment.  The second one will be out soon...

The moment the scrapbook was done, Alison wanted to break out the sewing machine.  Nana gave her a fun sewing project kit a long time ago and I confess we never got to it.  The cool thing about doing it now though, is she's old enough to do it all on her own.  The book is great and walks her step by step in learning the basics of the machine and how to stitch.  She practiced so diligently last night and was right at it again first thing this morning.  I love her initiative and desire to work at a hobby, but it also gets me that she's old enough to do it independently...cool and scary all at once.

I would say that I feel exactly the same, but Ben said I changed the most last deployment, so I'm curious what he says this time.  Change can be good and is inevitable, but what got me this week is that our normal has changed and that just gets me.  As much as I wanted everything to stay exactly the same until Ben gets home, I can't stop kids from growing.