Another Month Down

Once again, I'm terrible about updating the blog. It's been another month, so at least that means we are a month closer to moving back home! Hooray!!

The biggest change since my last post is that we received all of our furniture. It arrived mid March, after Jake had left on his DET so it was left up to me to unpack it all with the crazy kiddos running around. So for literally 48 hours straight all I did was unpack boxes, break them down and take them down to the garbage room. It was extremely exhausting, but I did it! I don't know how, but I did it! Our apartment feels more like home now that we have our own things. The only thing I haven't unpacked is Jake's big screen tv. I'm not taking responsibility for that thing if it breaks so it'll wait until Jake comes back home! Jaxon didn't seem to really recognize our furniture at all. My best friend was watching Jaxon while the movers brought everything into our apartment. When Jaxon came back to our own place the first thing he saw was his red tricycle so he rode it around all day long. (He still doesn't know how to use the pedals, but he's getting close.)

As I mentioned earlier, Jake left for a DET. He'll be returning home in a couple weeks. The kids and I have been going crazy without him. I really can't take Jaxon too many places because he just runs away. We've explored a nearby park that is absolutely amazing, but Jaxon throws a big fit when we have to leave.

We've been working on potty training Jaxon since we arrived. He's done so well! We only wear diapers during naptime and bedtime now. He does like to run around in the nude all day long though and when he does have clothes on he'll tell you he needs to go potty just so you take his clothes off. He's something else!

Eva can sit up like a big girl. She has it mastered! She still has yet to roll over from her back to her belly even though we practice everyday. And she has no interest in trying to crawl either. Since we got our furniture I've been trying to get her to sleep in her crib but that is proving to be very difficult. Jaxon won't let me be alone with Eva for longer than 5 minutes before he starts screaming for me, waking Eva up and then we're back to square one. So that's something else we'll be waiting to continue until Jake gets back home.

Eva has been trying new foods, though. She's eaten avocado, broccoli, peas, sweet potato, carrot, banana and spinach. She's doing really well with all these new foods and seems to like them all so far.

I have 18 credits left until I finally graduate with my Bachelors Degree! I'm so excited that I almost can't believe it. It has been such a long, hard road. If they offer enough summer classes, I'll be graduating in December. I'm planning on applying to Arizona State University's graduate program and hopefully, if accepted, will begin this time next year. I'll be getting my Masters in Education Curriculum and Instruction in Applied Behavior Analysis. After it is all said and done, I'll hopefully be providing therapy for military children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. PS- did you hear that it's now affecting 1 in 68 kids in the United States?

Jaxon has an evaluation April 1. They're mainly evaluating his speech to see if he needs to continue speech therapy, but they'll also be looking for other delays as well. I'll keep you posted what they say. I'm 90% sure they will advise us to continue speech.

There's just a quick update on us. We'll be going out to explore the island a lot more when Jake is actually here and can help me manage the kids. I can't wait to check out the beaches. It's beginning to get hot. For example, today was 79 degrees with 70% humidity. In the summer it'll be in the 90s with 90% humidity. As my friend put it, it's hotter than Hades in Okinawa.


I'll add a couple pictures now that I have uploaded a few to my computer. Enjoy! Love and miss you guys!!

Hello from Japan

Hello all!

Wow! It has been such a long time since I last updated the blog. There has been so much to happen since August that I don't even know where to begin. I guess chronologically is the best method to approach this.

First, I gave birth to Evalyn Jane Lester on September 5th, 2013. She was 7lbs 12.5 ounces and 21.5" long. My mom arrived to California a little over a week before I gave birth. We, of course, were hoping that it would have the perfect timing like Jaxon had so Nana could maximize her time with Eva. Even though Nana was there for the birth, she almost missed it! I had my last OB appt in the morning on September 5 where my doctor swept my membranes in hopes to induce me. On the way home from the appointment I started having contractions and they increased in intensity to the point where I went back to the hospital a few hours later in hopes to be having my baby. Once in triage, my contractions decreased in intensity and I was checked for dilation. I had made zero progress from my OB appointment in the morning so I was sent home even though I was having regular contractions. Instead of going home, we walked around Lowe's (Guess whose idea that would be? Not my husbands, right?). I got to the point of barely being able to stand or walk so we went back to the hospital where I had dilated to a 5! Hooray! Labor was finally happening. Eva was finally going to be here!! To make a long story short, I received my epidural, labor slowed down and I had an incompetent nurse. We sent my mom home to let our dogs out and then return to the hospital. We thought we'd have plenty of time for my mom to make the 20 minute drive home and back because the last time the nurse checked me I was dilated to 8cm, I believe. Well, while my mom was gone I was checked again and fully dilated! The nurse told me to give a practice push to see how well I would do and when to call the doctor. Turns out, I'm a pretty good pusher. She yelled at me to stop and she had to call the doctor immediately. Jake was trying to get a hold of my mom to tell her to hurry back to the hospital. After all was said and done, I'm trying to hold Eva in because my mom wasn't there. The doctor shows up, my mom walks in literally a minute later and two pushes later, Eva was born at 11:26 pm. I got to  hold my princess right away and noticed her long, skinny fingers like her Momma has and how well she held her little head up.

Beautiful Evalyn easily fit right into the family. Big brother, Jaxon, had a very hard time accepting the fact that he wasn't mommie's one and only anymore. He was quite mean to Eva and frequently hit her. Jake left for training when Eva was two weeks old, so I didn't have much time adjusting to two kids. It was very, very hard balancing the two. Eva was colicky and would get overtired very easy which led to an exhausted, screaming baby for hours on end. That led to a jealous, needy toddler who didn't understand why mommy had to spend so much time with this baby that just cried all the time and why Daddy wasn't home. Just typing that out gives me anxiety all over again.

But as they say, this too shall pass, which it did. We all got into a routine, Daddy came home, we had Grandma and Great Aunt MaDonna come visit and Evalyn was baptized. It certainly wasn't easy, but it was better. I forgot to mention with all this going on, we also got official word we were moving to Japan so we were trying to get everything ready last minute to get paperwork and health documents together for the military. Oh, and we were also selling our home. Wow! Talk about a lot on our plates!

We had our good friend, Eric, sell our house. Man is he a miracle worker! He was able to sell our house with only one showing and it wasn't even on the market yet! We were very blessed to receive a full-price offer on our house and we just count our lucky stars that that turned out to be a smooth process. If you happen to be in the San Diego/Inland Empire area, please use Eric Tomlinson as your realtor. He is truly the greatest!

I finished my last class of the semester in early December, oh ya, I was also still taking classes with all of the above mentioned. Then finally it was vacation time!
I flew with the kids by myself to our hometown to stay with our families for a month before our big move overseas. Jake (and Shawn) had a little more work left, such as packing up the house, before they drove back home with our dogs. Being home was such a jumble of emotions. I was so incredibly happy to see everyone and introduce Eva to her family, but at the same time I was devastated because I knew it was the last time I'd see them for three years. (And here come the water works just thinking about it) I can say without a doubt that we have the best families. Our immediate and extended family have been so supportive of us and we're so lucky to have so many people that love us and the kids. I'm so happy everyone got to meet Evalyn and that Jaxon got to spend much quality time with family as well. As most may know, Jaxon was in speech therapy in California. During our short month home, he exploded in his vocabulary and understanding. It was a night and day transformation. All he needed was to be around his family, apparently. I also think while we were home he realized that Evalyn was here to stay and he became so nice and gentle with her. That was another huge transformation I was impatiently waiting for. But, as you know, all good things must come to an end. So our days were ticking in Kansas City and the day to say "see ya later" arrived. Let's not discuss all those emotions because I've already cried enough just typing all this out.

We stayed in San Diego for a couple days before our international flight and got one last chance to say goodbye to the United States.

Now we're lllleeeeaaaavvviiinnngggg on a jet plane.

We flew from San Diego to LA (30 minutes), LA to Tokyo (13 hours) and Tokyo to Okinawa (3 hours). The military can be a very frustrating and dumb organization. Whoever booked our tickets had all 4 of us separated during every flight. Who puts a 4 month old baby by herself on an airplane? Anyway, we were able to rearrange some seats, but in the end it wasn't perfect. The flight to Tokyo was a rough one. Jake was with Jaxon in the very last row and I was with Eva three rows ahead of them. Jax had a really hard time getting comfortable so he slept for maybe an hour the entire flight. When he wasn't eating, he was whining. He would whine for whichever parent wasn't sitting by him. Jake and I switched off a few times throughout the flight. Poor Jaxon just isn't used to be constrained for such a long time, especially with how active he is. But we survived and then we all slept the entire 3 hour flight to Okinawa. Our best friends, the Schmidts, greeted us with their beautiful, smiling faces at 9pm in the airport. Believe me, I'm leaving out many, many details, and maybe I'll go into depth some other time but I'm one busy momma nowadays! 

So now we've been in Okinawa for over a month! (Wow that went by fast!) It took about a week and a half to fully adjust to the time change. We've learned to drive on the left hand side of the road and not turn our windshield wipers on when we mean to use our blinker. We have the most beautiful ocean view from our apartment. It's cramped, but it'll be doable. We have yet to still receive our furniture that the military packed for us. Hopefully we'll get it the second week of March. Jake leaves on his first DET since joining the new squadron on March 5. He'll be gone for about 6 weeks. There's many ways to define strength, one is: grocery shopping with a baby and a toddler who runs away, by yourself, in a foreign country.

One day I'll update with more details to the stories and pictures. I thought I'd let you all know that we've arrived. We're safe. We still don't know Japanese. And most of all, we miss our families more than they'll know! xoxox

Much love,
The Lester Family

Life and Family Update

It has been quite a while since my last update and a lot has happened between now and then!

First off, little miss Evalyn Jane is gearing up for her big arrival! I'm 36 and a half weeks pregnant and she is about 6 lbs and 18" long by now. I had an OB appointment yesterday and I am a fingertip dilated and 50% effaced. I was more dilated and effaced this time last pregnancy with Jaxon, so she might stay in there longer than he did. She is quite the little dancer still, always moving and bouncing around. Unfortunately, her head isn't as low as expected and she's sunny-side up, like Jaxon was when he was born. That means if she doesn't flip over soon I am going to have horrible back labor again, which I wouldn't wish upon anybody! Her nursery is slowly coming together nicely. I have sewn her curtains and one crib sheet for her. I have yet to even start on her crib skirt, and I'm not sure when I'll find time to with Jaxon running around! I should probably start packing my hospital bag, but I've been procrastinating on that as well. Ready or not, she's coming soon!

A lot has been going on with Jaxon since the last update as well. Some people may know this already, but Jaxon was evaluated after his 18 month check up and found to have a speech delay. He was at a 12 month old level and was recommended to start speech therapy. We have a lovely lady come to our home every Wednesday to work with Jaxon for an hour and he has progressed so much in the last 5 weeks! Jaxon went from only saying "dada" to now saying dada, mama, ball, bubble, dog, and poop (which is extremely helpful!). He can also say some other words, but really only Jake and I know what he is talking about when he says them, such as: Leila, truck, and duck. Jax is also signing a lot more words now too like: please, help, more, eat, and shaking his head yes. We are so proud of Jaxon and the progress he's made lately. He is quite the chatter box now and will tell everyone he sees his life story, which is a world's difference compared to a month ago! He still isn't technically caught up to his age yet, but we expect him to be there soon. Also something we've been keeping under wraps lately is that Jaxon has a mass on his back. Jake and I noticed it around 15 months or so and I forgot to mention it to his pediatrician at his 18 month check up. Well, it started growing a bit so we took him in to get checked out. Neither pediatrician at his office knew what it was so we were referred to a surgeon who could tell us whether we needed an ultrasound or MRI to look at the mass closer. The surgeon thought an MRI would be best, so on August 1st Jaxon went into the local children's hospital and had an MRI done. He was such a good little boy that I can't speak highly enough of him. His MRI was scheduled for 10:30 am and he wasn't allowed to eat any foods after midnight the night before and no more liquids after 7:30 am. Oh, and we had to check into the hospital by 8:30 so I was just imagining this horrible day where I had the grumpiest toddler in the world that I had to keep restrained in a little waiting room for a couple hours. To mine and Jake's surprise, Jaxon was a complete angel!!! He did start to get cranky a little but we were able to easily distract him. I would've been way worse than he was if I were in that same situation! Well, finally around 11 we went back to talk to the anesthesiologist because they had to put Jaxon to sleep in order to keep him still for the test. The nurses told us that all kids hate when the mask is put over their face to make them go to sleep and to expect a tantrum to occur, but of course our little boy was a trooper and did fantastic! I'll admit that that was one of the hardest things I've ever had to watch. As Jaxon was breathing in the gas he started making weird noises and just before he fell asleep he turned to look at Jake and I. Geez, I'm crying just replaying that memory in my head. Jake and I were told to leave at that point while they gave him the anesthetic through an IV. A little over an hour later Jaxon was done and awake and as happy as could be! He was such a brave little boy and we couldn't be more proud! As far as results, we won't know until the 19th, but we're thinking that must be a good thing because if it was serious we'd be seen much sooner. Overall, Jaxon has had a very busy last 6 weeks and we're hoping things will calm down a bit soon.  Hahaha! Joke is on me! We're about to have a newborn!!

Jake's unit left for deployment in mid July so he is now with a new unit until we leave for Japan in January. In a way, he got a promotion at this new unit, just in terms of more responsibility but not in pay. darn! He is the head crewchief in the shop and helps write up the flight schedule for the whole unit. Pretty much what this translates to is working a ton and leaving often. It is so sad that he barely sees Jaxon now because he doesn't get home until after I put him to bed. Right now he is gone for the week, but hopefully this is the last time he leaves out of town until after Eva arrives. We are just taking things day by day and hope each day that Jake will be home in time for dinner or bed.

We had maternity pictures done last weekend and I should be getting the CD back of those within a couple days. I do have a couple sneak peeks to show you all that I'll add at the end of my post.

All in all, the Lester family has been extremely busy and things are about to become more hectic in the next couple weeks as we finish preparing for our daughter's arrival! I hope everyone is doing well and I'll try to remember to update more often. (I say that a lot, don't I?)

Lots of love,
Lester family

Third Trimester!

Well, we've finally made it to the third and final trimester! Evalyn is a little over 14" long and weighs over 2 pounds. She's blinking now and putting on some fat for her big debut. She is still a little ballerina who likes to practice all day, every day. She definitely reacts to Jaxon when he is squealing or kissing her. She is in love with her big brother already and Jaxon is already in love with her. I bought some fabric to make her bedding since I couldn't find anything that I was in love with that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I still need to purchase a ruffler foot for my sewing machine so I can make her ruffled, tiered bed skirt. I'll be sure to add pictures of it all when I'm finished. I keep putting it off but I realize Eva can really come any week now so I need to get myself in gear.

Jaxon has his 18 month check up on Friday. I can't believe my little man is almost a year and a half! I think we're going to give him a cupcake for his half birthday. Let's face it, who wouldn't want a cupcake on their half birthday?! Jaxon is quite the sprinter. He can run pretty darn fast for his age. He's also mastering all other motor skills. He can climb onto ANYTHING and he has recently learned how to do a somersault, so he likes to do those a lot.

My family surprised me the other week. I thought my Dad and Debi were flying out to visit Jake, Jaxon and I but it turns out it was my Dad, Kyle, Missy and the kids! Everyone was a part of the surprise and they all kept it for a long time. I have no idea how they pulled it off, but it was a dream come true. We went to the zoo and Disneyland while they were here. Everyone had a great time and left with amazing memories.

We officially got our new Japan orders. We'll be reporting to Okinawa in January 2014. We have a few months to get all of Eva's paperwork and passport in order before we leave, which is great because I was really stressing about not having enough time to do that. It's still surreal that we'll be moving to another country, let alone continent on the other side of the world! Our good friends, the Schmidts, leave in two weeks for Japan. We'll miss them a lot, but we'll see them in a few months. I'm glad we'll all have at least one friend out there before we take the plunge! I better start brushing up on my Japanese and Kanji now. The plan right now is that me and the babies will fly home in early December and Jake will stay back at the house with the dogs until our house is packed up and the movers come get our things. Jake will then drive back to MO with the dogs and we'll all be home for a little while before leaving for Japan at the first of the year.

We just participated in a garage sale with our friends to get rid of some of the things we don't use anymore. This effort to downsize for the move helped a little bit, but it really just made us realize how much stuff we really own! I have no idea how we accumulated so much. We'll have another sale when it gets closer to moving time.

Baby Eva is telling me she's hungry so I better go feed her.  ;)  We love you all!

28 weeks with Evalyn Jane

Halfway there, sweet baby!

First off, I'd like to say that we all need to say a prayer for the people in Boston today. I can't believe something like this has happened on US soil again.





Next, we are so proud to announce that Jaxon is going to have a little SISTER! We had an early elective ultrasound done on March 7. The ultrasound tech knew within 30 seconds that we were having a sweet little girl. I cried, of course. Jaxon couldn't have cared less at the time and Jake was overjoyed as well. Here are some pictures we took to announce that baby Evalyn was on the way:

Here are a couple of the ultrasound pictures. None of them are great quality, but we will have more ultrasound pictures in a couple weeks as I have my level 2 ultrasound on April 30.

Well, today marks 20 weeks of pregnancy. That means I'm halfway there to meeting our baby girl and can't believe time has flown by so quickly. Little Miss Evalyn Jane Lester weighs about 10.5 ounces now and is about 10 inches long from head to toe. She is quite the little squirmy wormy in my belly! I started feeling her move around 15 weeks, but I wasn't 100% positive it was her until 16-17 weeks. She is also such a little kicker that Daddy can feel her already!

Jaxon and I visited Jake in Yuma over Easter weekend. He only had Sunday off, but we arrived Saturday evening and left Monday morning. It was great for Jaxon to see Jake again since he had been gone for several weeks at that point. He is due back April 29, just in time for our next ultrasound. Also over Easter weekend I started getting lovely Braxton Hicks contractions. I got them frequently with Jaxon starting around 22ish weeks I believe, but they started earlier this pregnancy.

I signed up to compete in my first race on May 19. It is a 4 mile run over the Coronado Bridge. Once I started training for it, I realized something wasn't right when I went running. My uterus would get so sore and crampy after only a minute or so. It would then be sore the entire next day, sometimes two days- just like a sore muscle would feel like after a workout. I talked to my OB about it and she said that I was going too hard and that I shouldn't be running or jogging anymore. So now I'm back to doing low-impact exercises and will be pushing Jaxon in his stroller on race day.

Still no official word on Japan. We turned in a Naval message to delay our orders since Eva is due right after we're expected to arrive on the Okinawa island. We're hoping it pushes our orders back to December/January time. We will be putting the house up for rent at that time and pray that we find good quality renters and that our house isn't vacant for long.

Mr. Jaxon is such a big boy now. He was 23 lbs 9 ounces and 30 3/4" tall at his 15 month check up. He turned 16 months old yesterday. He is so smart and understand so much of what we're saying. He can follow some simple 2-step instructions too. He is a little behind in his speech. They wanted him to be saying one word other than mama and dada consistently at his 15 month appointment. He still calls everything dada in one form or another. At his 18 month check up if he doesn't have 3 other words besides mama or dada they're going to get a hearing test done and look into some options for us. So far everything is still dada but he is using mama more frequently. No new words besides that, though. Like I said, his comprehension is terrific, he just has trouble with the vocal part of it all. One thing Jaxon is great at is being a big brother! I can ask him where his sister is and he'll lift up my shirt and give my belly a big kiss. Well, lately, he's been blowing raspberries on my belly instead of giving Eva kisses, but I'm sure she loves it either way. He's only got a few more months to practice until she's really here!

I'm planning our first trip to Disneyland. We had it planned out to go in early November, but Jake just got word that he might be back at WTI in the Fall to be an assistant instructor. Hopefully that is not the case because he would be leaving shortly after Eva is born and returning late October, early November. Sometimes I think the military has an evil plan to always keep us separated!

My school is going well. The two classes I'm taking now end in May. I am wanting to take 15 credits this summer to get as much out of the way before Evalyn arrives, but Financial Aid will not be disbursed until July, so I may have to scale back on those 15 credits since we'll be paying out of pocket for them. I'm hoping to graduate in the Spring, as long as I can juggle a toddler, newborn, husband, dogs and a house. It won't be the end of the world if I have to finish up during the summer, but I'd really like to get my Bachelors degree ASAP.

Little Miss Eva and Jaxon both woke up from their naps. I've got one kicking me telling me she's hungry and one standing up in his crib throwing his stuffed animals out in protest. I really will try to keep this updated as much as possible. I'll leave you with a couple pictures. The first is of my belly today with Evalyn and the second is a side-by-side comparison picture of my belly 20 weeks pregnant with Jaxon and Evalyn.

Love and miss you all,
Mommy, Daddy, Jaxon and Eva

SURPRISE!

Jaxon is going to be a BIG BROTHER! Yes, as a surprise to us all, God has blessed us with another bun in the oven. We found out the night of my last blog post, but have been keeping it a secret until we knew baby was healthy and doing well. I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant, as of Monday. I've had one OB appointment and little one has a strong heart beat and looked great during a quick ultrasound. The baby is measuring a full week behind, which is okay. The doctors aren't wanting to change my due date though, so September 2 (or probably earlier) we will be expecting the arrival of a little brother or sister.

Speaking of brother or sister, I'm pretty sure this baby is a boy. So far everything with this pregnancy has been really similar to when I was pregnant with Jaxon. I even crave the same foods: Wheaties and oranges. Yumm! Excuse me while I go fix myself another bowl of cereal. The only thing that has been any different this time around is that I have been breaking out on my face like a teenage boy. I have about the same amount of nausea this time, but I have actually thrown up once this time. So who knows, maybe I am just one of those lucky people who don't really get sick during pregnancy and I am actually having a girl! Jake and I are getting an early elective ultrasound done right before Jake leaves for Yuma, AZ. I'll be 14.5 weeks along during the ultrasound so we're hoping they'll be able to tell us the sex of the baby.

Speaking of Jake, he's going back to Yuma, AZ for WTI in early March. He'll be gone for 7-8 weeks again, but he's hoping he'll be able to come home for Easter weekend and I'm sure Jaxon and I will go out there to visit him again. The new baby will change our orders to Okinawa. It seems like the date we will have to leave is getting pushed back and we're hoping it'll be after the holidays. We are still trying to get our orders cancelled in all though, but so far it's not looking like that's going to happen. We'll be sure to keep you updated on everything.

Now onto big brother Jaxon!! He is growing like a weed! I'm guessing he weighs about 24-25 pounds but I'm not sure how tall he is. He is finally WALKING too! He is almost done crawling 100% but every once in a while he'll fall when he walks then just continue to his destination by crawling. He's already trying to run and we have to constantly remind him to slow down or he's really going to hurt himself. He already loves his baby sibling so much too. We can ask him where his baby is and he'll rub his belly. We'll then ask him, "Where is Mommy's baby?" and he'll kiss my belly and lay his head down on it. He's so stinkin' cute! He is still babbling away and talks all the time. He says dada, mama, bye bye and ni-ni (for night night). He still calls many things dada consistently too, like the doggies are both 'da' or 'dada' and he likes to dip his food into ranch, bbq sauce, ketchup, etc... and he calls the dipping sauce 'dada' too. He understands so much of what we say it's crazy. "Hey Jaxon, go let Lucy inside" and he'll walk over to the door where he can see Lucy on the other side and bang on it trying to let her in. We are very proud of the little boy he is becoming and the BIG personality he has already.

I'm sorry I don't update as often as I used to. It's hard work keeping up with Jaxon, taking college classes and keeping the house looking decent with the dogs and toddler. I'll try and do my best to keep you all in the loop through the blog.

Talk to you all soon,

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Jaxon and Baby

I'm ONE!

Sorry for such a hiatus from my blog. It's been pretty crazy around here lately. My "little" boy turned one in December and now is almost 13 months! He has done nothing but bring joy to our lives this last year and I can't wait to see what this upcoming year has in store for us.

At Jaxon's one year appointment he weighed 22 pounds 3 ounces. He finally grew too! He was 30.5" long which is a huge sigh of relief since he was "stuck" at 28 inches for many months.

We're still working on Jaxon being able to stand by himself. He gets jello legs when you hold him up to stand and he just refuses to try. I think he's just perfectly content with crawling and he's going to stick with that for a while. Jaxon did say Mama a total of 3 times now! Everything is still Dada around here. He primarily says Dada and Ya. He understands what we say to him but he just isn't good at communicating back with us. He does finally have down the ASL sign for "all done", which is what he'll do when he's done eating and sometimes he'll do it during bath time. All we can do is continue working with him and hopefully he picks up some more words, or at least sign language soon.

I want to thank you all for such a successful birthday party! Jaxon had a blast and the pictures prove it! His airplane theme turned out so fun and I'm glad so many family members and friends were able to attend. I'll add pictures to the blog down at the bottom.

Well, it seems as if Jake's orders for Japan are here to stay. It'll be a crazy, stressful, fun, and overwhelming time in our life. We're set to leave in August and be in Okinawa for 3 years. Jake does get 30 days of leave before we're supposed to check into his unit, so we'll be home in July for at least a couple weeks. I am extremely nervous about a 15+ hour plane ride with an 18 month old. Hopefully he sleeps most of the time and realizes he can't get up and run around.

I should find out if I'm accepted into nursing school here within a couple weeks! So if by some fat chance we don't end up going to Japan I'll be able to go to nursing school here. I plan on getting an online Psychology degree while we're in Okinawa and then when we come back to the States I can attend an accelerated nursing program. (fingers crossed that that plan works out)

On a totally different note, Jake and I are remodeling our kitchen! We bought new kitchen cabinets and granite countertops this past weekend. Hopefully install will happen later this week. We're so excited to spruce up our old, outdated, damaged kitchen and ugly tile countertops. I will definitely post before and after pictures after renovation is complete. We also are installing new flooring for our whole downstairs. We also bought that yesterday. Jake is installing that himself, so it'll be more than just a weekend project. I'm so excited to have more countertop space and more storage in our kitchen!!

I'll end this post with some pictures from our trip home and Jaxon's birthday party. Thanks for hosting us, KC!

Until we see you again,
Alycia, Jake and Jaxon