What A Bunch of Beach Bums!

POOR US! Ben had a planning conference from Sunday, April 13th til Wednesday, April 16th in San Diego and Truxton and I had to tag along! We were right by the beach and stayed at Navy Lodging. We didn't get the beach hotel (which we are definately going to do next time we go down...$70 a night! For a beach front hotel room! Shyeah!) but we got to stay by the dry docks and see all the HUGE ships get repairs done. Pretty awesome I say!

Happy Are We!

Truxton is now 15 weeks old and doing well. He currently weighs 11 lbs. 14 oz. and is 24 ½ inches long! Tall little string bean! He is such a happy little man. He always has a smile on his face and can’t wait to carry a conversation with anyone who will listen, even if it is just with your fingers.

In the last 3 or so weeks, he has started laughing, rolling from his tummy to his back, rolling onto his side to talk to the animals on his floor gym, and talking as if there is not enough time to say everything he wants. He is trying to sit up and also trying to balance himself when we sit him up.

He loves to be outside and to go for walks either in his stroller or back pack carrier. But he also likes to be in his sling attached to his mommy. He is a big help and likes to get his hands on anything within his reach. He loves his big brothers, Moose and Zeus and they love him. They are very protective over him and like to lay by him and give him kisses.

Two of Truxton’s best friends are Amigo and George. Amigo is a bright green stuffed horse and George is Curious George, the monkey. They have some pretty wild conversations sometimes! He also has his human friends. There is Joshua, who was born the same day. Evan, who is 6 weeks old, Luka who is 3 weeks old and Baby Boy Eselius who will be joining us in 3 ½ months.

We are already fighting off the girls! Every Sunday, all the little girls in our branch come and want to hold his hand, give him kisses and rub his fuzzy bald head. He just sits back and smiles. He loves every second of it! He is a flirt. But he likes his girlfriend, SSG Fiame and Grandma Suzette (from Ben's work) the most. Some of the soldiers Ben works with call Truxton the RC-OPT Mascot!

All in all, he is doing well and continues to bless our home in incredible ways. He is such an awesome kid and continues to find ways to make his mommy and daddy smile all the time.

Moose and Zeus are doing good. Now that the weather is nice and warm they are getting anxious to get outside and play with their friends. We finally got the new dog park approved! Yeah! So hopefully we will be able to go play with their friends again really soon.

Ben and Truxton are an inseparable pair. If it wasn’t for work and nap time, these two would be together all the time!

Ben is doing great. He is enjoying fatherhood and loves his “mini-me.” He is such a good dad. They have an established bedtime routine. Ben enjoys giving him a bath and putting him to sleep at night. He says it is his time to bond with his son since he is at work during the day.

Ben is currently serving at the Branch Clerk. It was quite the undertaking at first but has organized things and now it is a breeze. Our Branch President always tells me how grateful he is for Ben and all he does.

Ben is keeping pretty busy with work. He just recently went to a Planning Conference at Fort Riley, Kansas. While there, he got to spend some time with is little brother, Peter, who just recently returned from Korea.

I am doing pretty good and I am enjoying every minute of being a mother. I feel so blessed to finally have a son. It is a lot of work and even in the most stressful moments, it is worth it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I try to keep myself busy when I am not taking care of Truxton’s needs. I am trying to catch up on a lot of projects that I have gotten behind on.

I was called to serve as the Young Women’s 1st Counselor for our Branch. We only have 7 girls but only 2 or 3 come. So far, it has been really fun and hopefully we will be able to get the other girls to start coming with the fun activities we have been planning.

I am still trying to adjust to the desert, but I am looking forward to leaving. 18 more months……18 more months! I have to tell myself that so I don’t go crazy! Hopefully we will go somewhere a little cooler and a lot greener next time!