Where o where has father time gone?

These past few weeks have been just slipping right by us here in the Hughes household. With the excitement of the new puppy, the new bible study group being held at our house, and the upcoming deployment mixed with taxes, Chases dentist's appointments, and me trying to figure out how to wrangle and feed kids while I am supposed to be on bed rest, icing my knee every two hours for thirty min interverals, and complete physical therapy...... We haven't had much time to just "pause".

(Were you holding your breath through all that like I was?)

Yesterday morning I went to the doctor for some problems I was having with my knee. I was in some serious pain for a little over a month when ever I sat to long, or went up and down stairs. At times I would need to assist my leg back into the straight position. I figured, being a mother of three, and running around with the two dogs, I had to have just bumped it at some point. Turns out that was not the case.

When my doctor told me that I had to be on bed rest and go to physical therapy three times a week, I could not help but laugh out loud. "How possible is this for you?" He asked after my laugh. "How possible is it that you can keep my husband home from deployment so he can take care of my one, two, and seven year old?" He quickly understood my situation, and came to a different form of treatment. Physical therapy at home, on my own time, pain meds, and bed rest until my husband leaves.

My sweet husband has been such a champ about letting me nap when I need it, taking care of the kids solo for the most part, and not complaining one tiny bit. How did I get so lucky?

We are gearing up right now for the not so welcomed deployment Chase is about to leave on any day now. Purchasing new uniforms, up-dating identification cards, and preparing power of attorneys, and possibly preparing an early easter. The closer it gets to the day, the more it feels like we need to accomplish and do. Those legendary "shoulds" start coming back to bite us in the butt. All those times we stated something like " we "should" go up-date our power of attorney", or "I "should" go buy new uniforms". We hate those notorious creepy "should" statements at last minute prep time. We always make it work in the end and accomplish what needs to be done.

With the new puppy in the home, I feel as if I am a mother of five. I absolutely love it. It is quite entertaining to hear one of the kids (or all) come up to me and inform me that the puppy is stealing their toys. As I was washing the dishes the other morning, I start to hear "NO Jackie!" Followed by a tormented cry from Charlotte as Jackie ran out of the playroom with Charlottes spin top secure in her mouth with Charlotte running right after her. Of course, I had to go and scold Jackie (with a straight face trying not to laugh) and give the top back to Charlotte. Charlotte ended that incident by hugging the top tight to her chest, looking at Jackie screaming to her "MY TOP!" It looks just like a dispute between siblings.

Charlotte has been doing very well with her potty training. It is now to the point where when we are out of the house, she let's us know she has to use the restroom. It is a big deal for her (and us) every time she uses the bathroom in the toilet. Her grin is always from ear to ear, and she shakes a little from excitement as she screams "YAY!" Each time. She is drawing shapes now (square, triangle, rectangle, oval), and even cutting paper with scissors (child ones of course). She also has taken a liking to sleeping with her brother each night. Every night, after bath and story, we tuck them in inside their own individual beds. We always watch on the baby monitor as Charlotte makes her way to Williams crib, climbs up, throws in her sippy cup, and then begins to throw her legs over like a champ. We sit and watch as the two of them shuffle around until they find there spot next to one another,and chit chat until they both fall asleep. It truly is so sweet. Chase and I figure, "who are we to keep them apart if they want to be together?" We let them sleep and dream, together.

This is a pretty long posting for me, so it is time to say good night, and enjoy my husband. We have much to do around the house tonight to prepare for bible study tomorrow. Thank you all for reading.