9 Months Old (And a Goodbye)

Greyson turned 9 months old yesterday! It was a sweet and sad day. My middle son left for Army basic training yesterday. He was able to text me a few times today, but once he gets to his station, that's it.. I've been sad since yesterday.. I had no idea it was going to be THIS hard! My house is so quiet now.. I'm so used to my boys having their friends over and making so much noise that I have to yell for them to "keep it down!" but no more.. I guess once Greyson gets older, it will start again with him and his friends, but that's a ways down the road. I think he can sense his brother is gone as well, he's been pretty good today and hanging on to me tight. I turned on his favorite show and instead of standing while holding on to his toys and dancing, he crawled over to me and put his head on my leg and just stayed in my lap while watching. Such a little sweetie.. My son will be in basic for 9.5 weeks, followed by approx. 5 months of AIT (school/training for his job) before he gets his first duty station. Sigh... At least he isn't too far away for basic and AIT, he's within 6 hrs driving distance at each place..

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.. 

The  three brothers together!

Big brother getting some last minute time with baby brother

White transport van that took my baby to boot camp!

 And as promised here are pictures of all three of them at around 3 months. Lots of people differ on who Greyson looks like. Some say one brother or the other, most people are divided on me or John. What do you think?

Kyle 3 months

Greyson 3 months

Greyson 3 months

LJ 3 months

John (No idea how old)

Me (no idea how old)

I forgot to add this last month!!

Asking For Help

Asking for help is something that is hard for me to do, When it's for myself. Asking people to help others comes naturally to me. I think I should have been a healthcare worker.. Anyway. I am reaching out to the blog world to ask for help to send my sister-in-law's niece on a Church Choir trip in December. A little backstory: My sister-in-law is a caregiver by nature. There is NOTHING more important in this world than her family. As you know, she was our surrogate and carried our precious Greyson and helped turn our dream in to a reality and there is nothing I wouldn't do to try and help her. Even though she has FOUR young children at home, she has opened up her home to her sweet (and shy!) niece McKinzey who is just starting 9th grade this school year. McKinzey has been living with their grandma, but she is no longer able to care for her, so Christy stepped right in, without hesitation and took her in. With that, she is getting McKinzey in school and church and McKinzey is thriving. She is enjoying church and opening up and it's wonderful to see. 

McKinzey joined the youth choir and they have qualified to sing in FL! The other members of the choir have had MONTHS to fund-raise for this trip, so McKinzey is a bit behind, since she just got settled in her new home. The goal is $500 by November since the trip is in December. She is about $200 behind since they make payments on the trip. McKinzey really wants to go and I am asking you all to help send her. There are a few ways you can do that. First, you can DONATE! Any amount will help her. If you can't donate monetarily, please share her link anywhere that you can, so that someone else might be able to help her towards her goal. If you wish to share the link or donate you can do so here: 
Help McKinzey Go On Her Church Choir Trip

Like I said anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciate by Christy and her sweetie pie niece! THANK YOU ALL in advance! 

 

How Can This Be? (I Have a 20 Year Old!)

My first born turned 20 years old today! How is it possible that I have a 20 year old child?!?! I don't feel a day over 29 (well not so much nowadays, but once Greyson starts sleeping through the entire night, I am sure I will again!) Since he is away we won't get to spend his actual birthday together, but he will be home this weekend and we plan on grilling and catching up! Here is my handsome guy then and now:

3 months old

Senior Pic

Nothing much going on right now. I am still recovering from my surgery (getting better every day!) and trying to get Mr. Greyson to play with his toys and not everything else that says "Dangerous to babies, don't touch me"

I have a friend coming to visit next week from Te.xas and I am super excited about that!

That's about it for now, will update again soon!

 

Happy 18th Birthday!

My middle son turned 18 today! It's a very bittersweet moment. It seems like he has grown up in a flash! He graduated in June and had already enlisted in the Army's delayed entry program (DEP). He leaves in TEN days.. I do not even know how I am going to handle that.. Life is going at the speed of sound it seems and we will have two empty rooms in our home in less than two weeks. :'( 

3 months old

 

 

 

 

Senior Pictures

 I still can't wrap my head around the fact that my BABY, is actually a man and is going off to serve our country.. I am SO proud of him, but the Mom in me worries. I know he will do great and become a wonderful man.. Happy Birthday, Kyle.. I love you!