18 Days

It's been a crazy few months and we are finally settled in at Whiteman AFB. Boy did we luck out with our new house. We love it. I'd still like to live off base in the near future though.

A few highlights:

Rowen started Kindergarten on time with the rest of his class. He's doing great. He really is thriving and learning so much. He's made a ton of friends and loves living closer to Kaiden and the rest of the fam back in Columbia. 

Jack turned one! He's not walking yet but he is pushing himself up to standing position without holding onto anything. He also cruises along the furniture. He loves his mommy soooo much! It's very apparent and clear just how much of a momma's boy he is. He gives kisses, lays his head down on warm shoulders, and is starting to play "bumble bee" with mommy. 

Addison is more or less potty trained! She has an accident here and there but she tells us when she needs to go pee and gets up on that potty and goes. It literally took all of 3 days to get to the point where we dont have to make her sit on the potty all the time. We have quite conquered going poop in the potty.. but we'll take one small victory at a time. ;) She also has a new found love of Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Daisy and the rest of the bunch. 

Chris is doing great with his new position here at Whiteman. The transition of being part of such a large family of weather guys at Scott to a handful of people here at Whiteman has been a little weird. 
Chris is also going in on Wednesday for a vasectomy! Woohoo! That's right, now more babies for the Steward Fam. We love the children we have and want to be able to spend quality time with each of them. Besides, babies are expensive. =)

I'm doing okay. Trying to get back into "before babies" shape. I've got a lot on my mind lately. I've got a friend back home thats in dire need of support and guidance and I'm doing my best but feel very overwhelmed at times. My family can be dysfunctional just like many families around the world. We've got a few obstacles to overcome in the near future but i believe everything will work out for the best.  Working out definitely helps take away some of that stress though. 

And of course the biggest stressor of them all; Andre's birthday. Which happens to fall on the same day that he was taken from us. I wake every morning and freak that we're all one day closer. I go to bed thinking, "tomorrow, we'll be another day closer." 18 days left. 

It absolutely amazes me to see just how much one person's death affects everyone around them. My family has been forever changed by losing Andre. We will never be the same. We all cope differently and a select few of us are still drowning in grief. But I believe we've all become much closer and more accepting of each others faults and differences as well. Andre taught us how to love better. And I love him for that. It's so hard, especially right now. But time heals all pain right?

In 18 days we plan to have a Birthday Party for Andre. We plan to celebrate his life and eat cake and ice cream. We're planning for a HUGE gathering, seeing as how so many people loved and still love Andre. We plan to have a balloon release. We plan to share good stories and fond memories of him. We plan to hold his baby boy close and remind him how much his daddy loved him. 

Thats our plan.