Months of Blog Neglect

I know I've been neglecting my blog for quite some time now, but I promise I have a good excuse! A few actually! First of all, I'm more than happy to announce (as if everyone didn't already know) that we had baby #4! Joshua Michael Capra was born May 28th, 2011. He was 7 pounds 6 ounces and I can't imagine him being any sweeter! He's always smiling and always content. If he isn't sleeping, eating or smiling - he's sucking his cute little thumb. Yeah - we finally got ourselves a thumb-sucker. :) It doesn't bother me - for now - since he is SO good at self-soothing, but I know that little thumb is going to be an issue later!! Katie is still sucking her two middle fingers every now and then and I don't know how to break her of it!  Anyways - I can't believe Joshua is already 5 months old!  Time is going by so very fast and it makes me so sad!  The kids all seem to be growing up too fast and I can't make time slow down!  I need more time!  Speaking of needing more time with the kids, I need to get this post done, so I can get back to them!  :)

So the last time I wrote, it was mid-May or so and a lot has happened since then, so here's a quick recap! Quick...HA! :)

May
- My Dad drove my Mom and Grandma down from WA State and then flew back home the next day (poor little Daddy always having to work).
- Celebrated my Mom's birthday - even though the poor thing was sick for one week straight!  It was so sad - she seemed to feel worse knowing that she had come down for the sole reason of helping me with the house and kids before and after baby #4 and I ended up having to help take care of her (and Grandma too since my Mom usually does everything for her).  Seriously though - who can help getting sick?  Silly Mommy!
- Jason's brother Mike came down to visit on the 14th to go crab fishing with Jason (since he was still TDY down in southern CA and only a few hours away).  We celebrated his birthday too (although it wasn't much - just some boring white cupcakes, but hey - it's the thought that counts right?!)

Kristin and Katie with Uncle Mikey on his birthday, MooMee on her birthday and a random picture of the kids in their swimming pool

- Spent a good chunk of time going through stuff and throwing things out (to get ready for our upcoming move - since I knew I'd be busy with the new baby soon and probably wouldn't have as much time on my hands)!
- Thankfully my Mom had come down - because I ended up getting sick too for a couple of days.  Ugh.  Even if I hadn't gotten sick - she was such a huge help with all of the laundry and cooking!  Thank you Mommy!! 
- Jason's Mom and Mike both arrived on the 27th in the hopes (and after much prayer) that Joshua would come that weekend while they were both visiting.
- I went into labor early the next morning, got ready, left the house (with Jason, his Mom and my Mom) and checked into the hospital around 730am on the 28th with light contractions every 3-4 minutes.  The nurse had trouble getting my IV in, so after she left the room (to find an anesthesiologist to help her), Jason jumped up and put it in right before the nurse and anesthetist returned.  :)  He's good at what he does folks...he's good at what he does...  :)  I don't know what I would have done without my two mommies!  :)  My Mom killed her wrists rubbing my back during contractions (while I leaned over the end of my bed) and Jason's Mom prayed and talked me through everything.  Who needs a doula or mid-wife when you can have these two wonderful women on your birth team??!!  :)  Thank you Jesus that He gave me huge breaks between the contractions!  I dilated to 10 fairly quickly and pushed the baby out pretty fast as well - all without an epidural!  Yay!  I'm 3 for 4 so far!  I'm not quite sure why I just said "so far" because I feel quite content with 4 kids - mostly because Caleb became more than a handful after I found out I was pregnant with Josh!  Yikes!  He's more work than the other 3 combined!!  Lucky for him - he's a cutie and he has his sweet moments...so I still love him.  ;) I am amazed at God's awesomeness!!  Everything went SO smoothly!!  I had so many answered prayers!!!  One being that I'd have no pain (unbearable pain anyways), the labor and delivery would be fast and the baby would be healthy.  Another being that we'd have someone to watch the kids while we were at the hospital (thank you Michael!!!!!!!!!).  The last being that Jason's Mom, Mike and my Mom would all be there when the baby came.  I mean seriously - it was so obvious that God was at work!  Jason's Mom and Michael were ONLY going to be in town from the 27th to the 30th and I wasn't due until June 7th.  I had Joshua on the 28th and still had a couple of days to visit with Mom Capra and Mike before they left.  Thank you Jesus!!!  My first night and next day at the hospital was so much more comfortable with my Mom there with me - doing everything for me of course (including midnight/early morning diaper changes)!  She took such good care of me and she didn't even complain about her wrists hurting from all of that massaging she did during labor!  ;) This was my Mom's first time being at the hospital for one of our babies being born, so she was running on adrenaline!  Jason's Mom has been my personal mid-wife for 3 of 4 births (she would have been there for all 4 if Katie hadn't come a day earlier)!

Jason putting in my IV/contractions, pushing and delivering Joshua Michael 7lbs 6oz

Me and Joshua Michael/Jason's present for Joshua/Me and my OB doctor and nurse

Meeting Joshua Michael

Grandma Christie, Grandma Capra and Daddy with Joshua

- Uncle Doug, Gala and their girls came down to visit the day I got back from the hospital, so they could meet Joshua and visit with Jason's Mom while she was here.

My welcome home banner/Pictures with Mommy, Great Grandma Jackson and Daddy

Caleb and Joshua

June

- One week after Joshua was born, we drove 3 hours south (with my Mom and Grandma in tow) to visit Uncle Doug and Gala, so we could see them and their kids one last time before they moved away to South Carolina.  Mike drove up from southern CA and met us there.

The girls with Jason, Uncle Mikey and Cousins

- Watched a couple of movies at the drive-in.  The easiest way to watch a movie with kids!  Is CA the only place that still has drive-ins??  They need to make a come back!  

- My Dad flew back down to visit for a week before bringing my Mom and Grandma back home.  I'm so grateful to him for sharing my Mommy with me for SO long!  Thanks Daddy-man!  I wish you had been able to stay with us the whole time too!

- Went to San Francisco one last time with my parents.  I'm pretty sure I've had my fill of San Francisco this past year in CA.  I should be good for a while.  :)

-Jason's sister Rachel delivered her 2nd baby on June 14th - Phoebe Joy Lee (a.k.a. Starfish).  She's such a cutie!!  Thankfully, she came a couple weeks early - because Rachel was her sister Sarah's matron of honor and she was originally due July 2nd on the day of the wedding!

-Went out to tea in Menlo Park with my Mom, Grandma, the girls and Joshua while my poor Dad stayed home with my animal child Caleb.  Sadly, the headed back home to WA after our tea party was over.

Joshua and his silly Grandpa Neil

Time for Tea!

Joshua's first bath/Time with Mommy and Big Baby Kristin

Last day of gymnastics in CA for Kristin and Katie (that's Kristin coming down the gym rope - after reaching the ceiling!)

- Flew from CA to VA for Jason's sister Sarah's wedding.  It was a tough thing to do with a new baby, and our upcoming move, but we couldn't miss it!  I still haven't gotten over missing my only sister's wedding (which I couldn't go to because of a mandatory college course that I couldn't miss for graduation), so I've made sure that we've never missed weddings since then!

July
- Sarah married Robby Johnson on July 2nd.  It was a beautiful ceremony and Sarah looked gorgeous! Kristin was overjoyed to finally be a flower girl.  She has been waiting for quite some time now!  :)  I remember her being sad that she wasn't in her Uncle James' wedding 3 years ago and I remember her asking her Uncle Joe (when he got married 2 years ago) if she could be a flower girl at his wedding and he said, "Aw...we already have a flower girl.  Maybe you can be Uncle Mikey's flower girl when he gets married." She was heartbroken.  Poor little big baby!  :) Well - the wait is finally over Kristin!  ;)

Taking Sarah out for drinks and appetizers a couple nights before wedding (Angie and her sister Christy, Me, Danielle, Mommy Capra, Dillon, Rachel and Sarah)

Joshua meets his little cousin Phoebe (see why she's nicknamed Starfish?)

Caleb's first haircut with Daddy

Kristin the Flower Girl/Tiny Twig was slightly disappointed that she didn't have a pretty dress to match (poor thing)/Sarah - the beautiful bride - right before the wedding

Misc pictures before the wedding

Wedding ceremony

Dillon, Joe and Josiah/Joe, Mike, Josiah, Jason, Josh, Mark and Caleb/Family picture with Mike :)

Kristin and Uncle Jake/Jason, Mark, Joe, Josh, Caleb and Josiah/Capra Family minus spouses/Sarah and her sisters

After-wedding photos

Reception (I didn't get as many pictures as I'd hoped since I was so busy socializing...and dancing!) :)

Danielle at AE and Joshua with Grandma Capra

- After the wedding, we spent a few days visiting with family in VA until the 7th.

- Jason and I celebrated our 33rd birthdays on the 8th and 10th.  Eek! Yikes! Sheesh! Where did all the time go?!?!  

- Jason's brother James' wife had their baby Nina Ruth Capra on the 14th.  Nina became Jason's parents' 13th grand-baby (4 grand-babies in one year!)

- I spent the rest of July setting up our move and getting the house ready while taking care of the kids.  Jason was also TDY in Maryland for an acupuncture course the last week we were in our house (which meant the movers were coming while he was gone and I had to do it all alone with the 4 kids)! Yikes! Luckily for me, I have a wonderful Mom who knew I could use some help (without my asking) and she drove down to help me the last week before we moved.  She's so sweet - I don't know what I would have done without her!  I was really sad to see her and my Grandma leave - they were such a big help our last couple of months in CA. I miss them!  :(

- Jason finished up his fellowship on 28 July!  He's finally finished with 13 years worth of school and training!!  FINALLY!!!  Jason and I went out for drinks and dancing that night to celebrate while my Mom stayed in the billeting room with the kids.  It was so nice to be able to spend some time alone with him - that doesn't happen often!

August

- We left CA for FL on the 1st, the same day my Mom and Grandma left for WA. Our first stop was in Las Vegas at Nellis AFB.  We drove 2 cars, so it was slightly rough - but it wasn't too bad overall.  Kristin was a huge help with Joshua.  She seems so much older for her age!  Older than I remember being at 7 (almost 8)!  I can't believe I moved to Turkey when I was her age!!  I don't even think I understood why the heck we were moving to a place that sounded like a poultry product!!

- The next morning, we left Nellis for Michael's house at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico.  He was such a good host!  He was so excited to have visitors coming that he paced his living room for 10 minutes before we got there!  He's too funny!  :)  He has always been the one to visit us and he has visited us quite a lot these past 5 years and this was our first time coming to his house to stay!  We stayed 2 nights and he took such good care of us!  He made homemade lasagna, garlic bread and salad the first night, a big breakfast the next morning, up a mountain for lunchtime site-seeing and pizza for dinner. :)

Visiting Mike in New Mexico

- From Mike's we drove on to Aunt Shelly and Uncle Jim's in Dallas to visit for a couple of days.  Oh how I miss being able to visit them every couple of months!!!  It was so good to see them!!!  I wish we lived closer!!  Unfortunately while we were there, Jason's Grandma was in the hospital for some issues and I'm sad that we didn't get over to the hospital to see her.  We didn't know she was doing so badly and would soon pass away only a couple of weeks later.  I've never been more happy for someone to pass away though.  I know I'm wording that ALL wrong, but I don't know how else to say it!  I just mean - I've never known anyone more ready to go home to Jesus than Jason's Grandma!  For the past few years, she would always mention it at least once when we'd go up to visit Aunt Shelly's house - and we visited quite frequently!  She was ready to see Jesus and also Grandpa Capra - who had passed away when Jason was only about 10.  That's a long time to have been without her husband!  I just know that she is much happier now - but who wouldn't be happy to be in God's presence for all eternity (and no longer have to deal with physical pain, sorrow or disappointment )?!

- We finally arrived at Eglin AFB in FL on the 4th.  I think it's great here!  I'm glad so many people had so many bad things to say about this area (before we moved here) because I was prepared for the worst and ended up being pleasantly surprised!  It's like a laid-back beach town with a lot of local places, but then it's also big enough that it has all the usual places I've become accustomed to...like Target, Walmart, mall, some chain restaurants (Chick-Fil-A included - yay!), a nice-sized church with a lot of groups and activities.  The gym selection is somewhat sparse (they must think all the locals run on the beach for exercise or something), but I've found a gym with 2-hr per day of childcare, exercise classes and a hydromassage table - so I think I'll be okay.  ;)  I'm also happy to be back on a full-functioning base with a huge commissary and BX.  It makes such a huge difference!  

- The kids and I met Jason's colleague, Scott, for dinner our 2nd night here and he was great!  Jason actually knew him during his residency in San Antonio, but I had never met him til now.  He took us out the following weekend on his boat and we spent some time at the beach watching all of the kids play in the sand.

Spending the day at Crab Island with Scott and his kids

- While I was out and driving about one day on base, I noticed the street sign that was named after Jason's brother Tony (since he was stationed here a few years back).  It's just around the corner from the EOD building.  I pulled over and had the girls jump out to take a picture.  I knew I probably looked weird and a little suspicious, but I did it anyways.  My suspicions were confirmed when I didn't even have a chance to pull out of my parking space before a base police car beeped his siren at me.  Two of them got out of the car and made their way to my door.  Ugh.  They said, "We couldn't help but notice that you're taking pictures and there's a small part of the flight line that may be in your line of sight."  I felt awkward and said, "I knew it would look weird taking pictures of a street sign.  The sign is named after my husband's brother who was killed in Iraq."  They both seemed to be at a loss for words and all they ended up doing was backing away in a bowing-type motion as they repeated, "Fair enough.  That's understandable.  Fair enough.  We're sorry." Aw... poor guys - they were just doing their job.

The girls under Tony's street sign/Misc pics of the kids and Joshua in our Florida room.  :)

- We traded in Jason's tiny roller skate-for-a-car-Yaris for a Hummer 3.  Yikes!  What a huge difference in gas mileage!!  It's a good thing the hospital is only 4 minutes from our house!  But when I think about it that way - it doesn't make sense that he has a car at all!  He should have a little moped or maybe ride a bike! ;)  I guess he does have to drive off base to jiu jitsu a few nights a week and maybe a work dinner here and there.  But still...  Oh well - I actually really like it.  It's much better than what he originally wanted - which was one of those 2-seater sports cars...I didn't want him to look like he was going through some kind of mid-life crisis or anything... ;)

- Thankfully, we were offered a house on base at the end of the month.  Of course Jason was out of town for a week-long oral board prep course to get ready for his oral boards in Sept.  I'm glad he had a chance to get better-prepared, but sheesh!  That boy is never home!  The movers delivered our household shipment while he was gone.  It went more smoothly than I imagined it was going to with Jason gone and me alone with all of the kids.  It then took me about 3 weeks or so to get some walls painted and everything in its place.  Last year it took me a month to get settled into our house in CA, so I'm excited to have shaved a week off my time - and with an extra kid too!  :)  I'm starting to get tired of moving all of the time!  We moved 3 times in four years when we were living in Texas and then we moved to CA for only one year and now here we are again!  I'm excited that we'll be staying put for the next few years!

Sept

- Got Kristin and Katie signed up for their gymnastics classes, piano lessons, Awanas group and our home-school co-op group.  

- Jason took and passed his oral boards for anesthesia, so he's now officially board certified and also done with studying!!  Yay!

- Jason's brother, James, surprised us with a visit...after he figured out that he was TDY at Maxwell AFB, AL and only a couple of hours away from us!  We were able to visit with him a couple of weekends in a row while he completed some 5-week course.  

James visiting/First day of homeschooling - 3rd grade and Pre-K for Kristin and Katie (Caleb didn't want to be left out)

Misc pics of the kids/Caleb has an obsession with lining his cars up in all sorts of patterns.  :)

Finally finished with unpacking, painting and decorating - it's old and not much to look at from the outside, but it feels cozy inside and it's WAY easier to clean up a one-story house (that's all that matters)! :)
Living Room/Florida Room (off the formal dining room we don't use)

The girls' room/Caleb's room (he's got it all to himself for now)/Master Bedroom and Bath

Kitchen/Laundry Room/Dining Room/Hall Bath/Florida Room/Back porch and front entrance

October

- James' wife Tish decided to fly in from Italy with their new baby girl to visit James while he was in Alabama, so they could visit family and introduce their new little baby (since they won't be able to come back for Christmas).  Their daughter Nina is adorable and has a full head of hair!  Lucky!  :) Anyways, they stayed with us for a couple of nights.  It was so nice to see them - nobody sees them much since they're always living overseas in places like Germany and Italy.  Hmph!  So spoiled!  ;)

Caleb meets Nina/James and Nina/Caleb with Uncle James and Aunt Tish/Kristin and Nina

Caleb and Jason getting haircuts (Caleb loves getting his haircut)/Another misc picture of Caleb and his cars/Kristin and I with Kristin's newest idea of fun - making Cake Pops (which she wanted to make for her Awanas group)

Misc pics of our little cutie patootie Joshua/Pics of the adorable quilt that Joshua's Grandma Capra made for him

- I've also found a bible study group and a MOPS group (both with childcare) at our church.  I'm so excited to finally get involved!  I've always wanted to be in a bible study and join MOPS, but we've always lived so far away from our church, so it has always been a bit difficult to get up in time and get all the kids together.  Now we're only about 10-15 minutes away and the boys wake me up early, so I have plenty of time to get ready.  :)

So that's all we've been up to so far.  For now, we're keeping ourselves very busy with a tight schedule of home schooling, the gym, gymnastics, piano, Awanas, home school co-op, bible study and MOPS to name a few.  I am also patiently (as patiently as I can anyways) awaiting the news as to whether my friend Laura will be moving here with her family in July or not.  I'm really hoping they get stationed here!  I miss my L-poo!  I know Florida is 2nd to their 1st choice - which is Hawaii, but I can't imagine why they'd want to go there... I mean who in their right mind would choose Hawaii over ME??!!  ;)  Hahaha!!  God's in control, so that's all that matters.  I'm just not very good at waiting...  :)

I'm sure I'll have more to write about in November - especially since this is the first Thanksgiving that Jason's parents and 4 of the kids are coming to visit!!  I'm so excited...and just a tiny bit nervous about preparing the whole Thanksgiving meal myself - especially since the most I've ever cooked for is us and Jason's brother Mike!!  Eek!  I've done it before, so I know it's doable - but I hate that I don't have much practice with all of it!!  Thanksgiving only comes once a year, so that doesn't give me a whole lot of practice with rolling out pie dough and all of that turkey-roasting stuff!  We've been other family's guests a lot of times, so I don't even get practice every year, so we'll see how this goes...  My Momroo better prepare herself for a lot of phone calls for help!!  ;) Maybe I should just fly her here, have her make it all for me and then take all of the credit for it!  Hmmm...I wonder... ;)