Clog on the Blogging... sorry!

Oh where to start? I haven't blogged all week in large part because we are in the final week of the semester with exams being given next week and I am up to my ears, no scratch that... eyes, with grading essays. I HATE this time of year - it is go-go-go time and the pile of grading never ends until grades are due. Anyways, my nights have been consumed with that after the kids go down. Unfortunately, based on the size of the stack, you would never know that I have been deligently working all week. Oh well...

New news on the Heck front:

1. Abby has been sleeping ALL night long this entire week. When I say "all night", I don't mean 6-8 hours. I mean "all night"... she is fast asleep by 6:30pm and hasnt' been waking up for a middle of the night bottle at all. Matter of fact, she hasn't been waking up until I get her up at 5:30am to get her dressed and head out the door to school with both of them. Crazy, I know. On top of that, she is absolutely content at daycare until Ms. Betty gives her her morning bottle at 7:30am. Whoa... I don't remember this happening with Thomas this early? Can I get an Amen? My prayers to the Sleep Gods have been answered. Now if I would just get my butt in bed before 10pm each night (grading and M.Ed classes), I would get even more sleep before the alarm goes off at 4am.
2. Our better half, who is off traveling the world - not really... just the Middle East - has been jumping locations for the past 2 weeks or so. Few spots in Iraq, Kuwait and now he has unpacked his bags in Afghanistan for probably the remaining part of the deployment. Not happy he now has to be "there," but as Brian has reminded me... it is ALL a war zone and no place is better than the other. That is his opinion... he has been over there at least a dozen times.... he is used to all of that. Me, on the other hand, can only go based on what I see in the media and what he shares with me. Really, I just want him home safe with us. I guess soon enough. Which does lead me to the next thing...
3. We are 65% done with this stink'in deployment... almost there. Less than 90 days; Really less than 80 days at this point. Problem now is by the final month, things will come to a screeching hault and a day will feel like an entire week. Oh how I hope school continues to keep me busy and mentally occupied.

Ok... I've rambled quite enough at this point so I had better give some pictures. Here is Thomas last weekend waiting for his breakfast on Saturday morning. Facial expressions are a bound with Thomas. Whether he is trying to make Abby laugh or he is being dramatic with his tantrums or he is saying "sorry" for accidently hurting you - his face says it all. Hmmm? Where does he get this from? He is certainly my silly goose...

Thomas and Abbigail

Oh how could I forget? If you haven't tried this series (Playschool Prep) - I highly recommend it. Last Christmas, Nana bought Thomas the "Numbers" DVD and once we watched it (late spring), Thomas knew his 1-10 numbers really in a matter of days. We would just pop it in the car DVD player when we were going somewhere and then of course, we would talk about numbers when we read different books... but wow... what a great enhancer. Well, this Christmas, Nana bought him the "Letters" and "First Sight Words" DVD. We have already seen the "Letters" two times and he seems to like it also. The difference this time is he already knows his letters so this one is now just reinforcing what they are. I'm anxious to see what he thinks of the last one, "First Sight Words". I really do want him to be able to read those kind of words before he heads to kindergarten. I hope I'm not pushing too hard. I'm really not pushing, its more like exposing him to as much as he is interested in. We read books ALL the time and we are always "talking" about the stories as we are going through the book. Like any mom, I just want to give him every opportunity to learn.

Video Clip - She is quite the "busy bee" now that she is practically sitting up by herself. I still put the pillow behind her because eventually she gets tired and will just fall back or be leaning too far to one side to get a toy and will just topple over. Anyway - here is Abby enjoying one of her new Christmas presents that she just LOVES; notice how determined she is to get that one dang toy that just won't fall down...