Our Pictures at the Park

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Big Changes

We have been through several major changes as a family lately, & there are more coming. Most of you probably already know, but my husband Alex left for his army reserves basic combat training on Tuesday morning. He will be gone for 9-10 weeks, then he will get a 4-5 day pass after graduation before he has to be at Fort Lee for AIT (Advanced Individual Training) which can last between 7-14 weeks. I have spoken to him a few times since he left, but he was not allowed to take his cell phone with him & is only allowed limited phone usage in these first few days, then none at all during bt. We will be allowed to write letters to each other, which will take some getting used to in these days of email & technology. I can't even remember the last time I wrote & mailed anyone a letter, but I'm definitely gonna be writing a lot of them now. The kids have both already expressed their desire to see him again, although AJ is really to young to say much or really anything other than Da-Da. Aaliyah keeps asking me where he is, & last night when we got home she went searching the house looking for him, even though I reminded her that he went bye-bye. This is the first time they have been separated from him for this long, so it is rough on them right now. I have been separated from him for this long but it was before we were married & had kids, so it is very different this time, & much more difficult. It is just gonna take me awhile to adjust & learn to do everything myself. OK, enough of that, I don't really want to get into how much I'm gonna miss him. =(
Another big change for us is Aaliyah starting preschool this week. Her first day was Wednesday & she did really good. She is supposed to be completely potty-trained, which she is still having a little bit of difficulty with. So far she has done great & I'm really hoping that this experience will help her to finally decide to be a big girl for good. She is loving all the fun activities they do there. Aj is curious about why we are leaving sissy there of course, but I think he enjoys having me all to himself for awhile also. I am looking forward to all the new developments in her learning that she will make during this next year.
We have also been through some changes in our personal lives & as a couple. Alex & I have been having problems in our marriage for a long time now, & have been trying to work things out, but until very recently we had just about given up hope. We have both made some big mistakes & done things to hurt each other. As a couple we hit bottom I suppose you could say, & that's when we realized how much we really do love each other. Instead of us falling apart, we have decided to move on & do our best to be devoted to each other & better our marriage & our lives. We have truly discovered that sometimes bad things need to happen (no matter how much it hurts) to teach us lessons & to bring us closer together. I'm not saying things are easy now, but it is different & we are both rededicated to making our marriage work & to loving each other. I know every couple has their ups & downs so I hope it is ok to post this here, this is a very personal post, & we are generally very private about these things. I simply want to share with those that genuinely care about us that we are hopeful & looking forward to our future together. It is a rather large part of our lives, after all, & if you didn't care to hear about it, then you wouldn't be reading this now. Haha :) So anyway there's the update on us & if you have any questions, feel free to message me.

Our Mini Vacation to Wichita

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Quick Picture Update

AJ is walking!

So he has been taking steps for awhile, but has been hesitant to really go very far. On Sunday he started walking around much more, taking many steps at a time. He does still crawl a lot, cuz it is faster for him, but is loving pushing his walker toy all over the house. He was quite proud of himself! Here are the pics my dad took on Sunday, & I'll post some more tomorrow.

Kids' Birthday Party

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Pictures of Aaliyah

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Today's Pictures

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Egg Hunt

I would have posted these sooner but I only have my pictures of the egg hunt, & not of Easter day, so I was waiting on those, but apparently I'm gonna be waiting longer on those, so here some of the ones I do have.

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Happy 1st Birthday AJ!!!!

Alexavier Jace Tun officially turned one year old today! I so can't believe it! The time has flown by with him! It really doesn't seem like the year should be up yet. He is still not really walkin by himself, although he can do it, we have seen him take steps before. I guess he's just holdin off on walkin cuz he gets around so well crawling, & walking would slow him down. He just started saying MaMa on Saturday, I was so happy, of course! :) He has been only saying DaDa so I was anxiously wondering when he would finally start saying mama, lol.
Happy Birthday to my baby!!!!
P.S>I have a ton more pictures to upload so I'll be posting more in a while.

Random Pictures

Aaliyah

Aaliyah's almost 3 years old, just 1 more month! She has a very developed vocabulary & is always surprising us with new phrases. Today it's "oh my goodness" or "for goodness sakes"! She is always making us either laugh or cry with her personality. She is definitely a DRAMA queen! She found this old halloween costume that she never got to wear today & had to wear it out, so Grandma let her, I thought she looked very cute. :) She also really loves flowers & picking all of the flowers from the yard & giving them to us.

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11 Months

11 months old, we're almost to the 1 year mark! AJ is cutting 4 teeth on the top & has been very fussy & wants to be held constantly. He gets very upset if he gets put down! He has been having a fever & just been miserable. :( I cant wait till those teeth are all the way through & he gets to feeling better, cuz we are about at our wits end with him right now. I am planning the kids b-day party for April 18th & we are thinking of going with a Backyardigans theme. My mind is really scattered right now, so excuse me this doesn't flow very well. For an update on our lives, I am working at the new flower shop in town & I really love it! It's only temporary for now, but I am hoping it will become permanent. Alex has not yet joined the army, but is still looking to in the next month, so we'll wait & see how that goes. Life is pretty good for us right now, & I'm trying to stay positive about our future. Well, I am going to post some pictures from the last month & be done for now. Alex's aunt, cousin, & grandparents are here for the weekend, so hopefully I can post more tomorrow with some pictures also.

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Just Pictures of AJ

Just postin some pictures real quick, since I haven't posted in a few days. We have all been sick this past week, so I haven't taken many pictures lately, but I decided to snap a few tonight.

AJ decided to help me fold the laundry tonight. :)

I'm not sure what he was doin here, but he thought it was funny, silly boy.

My lil helper ( or maybe I should say messmaker)

He's been doing this a lot lately, I think its his way of givin hugs.

Holding still for 1 second, most pictures he turned away at the last second.

10 months

AJ is 10 months old now & he got his very first haircut on Thursday. I wasn't able to get pictures cuz I was busy trying to hold him still while Alex trimmed his hair. I think he took a little to much off, but hopefully it will grow back soon. It kinda looks like a crew cut.

I was in the kitchen the other day and turned around to find that Aj had found a great new hiding spot. These were taken before his haircut.

He saw the cans of juice & went after them, guess he was thirsty. :)

Aaliyah thought it was funny to close the door on him

here he is after making a big mess with his food

We videotaped AJ last night but I don't have the right equipment to upload it from the video camera on here, so I tried to take some with my digital camera. I was trying to take it while he was dancing, but he saw me & quit. He is so funny when he dances, its so cute! You can see a little of it here.