Broken Promise

Ugh- What a lame brain I am.  Anyway, no excuses. Just an update.

I think it'll be easiest if I start on the most recent events and work my way back. 

Lets start with some great news because some of the other stuff isn't as fun....  We are EXPECTING!  Expecting what?  A BABY of course!  Haven't you been keeping track?  Keith is 19 months old and that means its time for a new Montague. The boys are very excited and each one of them is hoping for a little sister.  Its not just me, I swear.  Right now I'm almost 9 weeks along so I still have 11 weeks of waiting for that all important ultrasound. I'll keep you posted. Oh and if the rest of this  sounds too depressing...keep reading. It does get better.

Christmas and New Years were relatively lonely.  I mean, I love having my boys around and we even got to have Sam's mom here for a few weeks which was great but a holiday without my better half is just bound to be not quite as great as others.  Luckily, he was able to Skype in on Christmas morning and that was a unique experience which wasn't a total loss. Which leads to the next noteworthy event.

Deployment.  And worse yet....the dreaded FIRST deployment.  As an Army wife, I knew it was inevitable and I've done what I think is a pretty good job of coping and preparing myself for it.  But it's really hard and in ways that I didn't really count on. The good news: 1 month down, just 8 to go :)  Sam should arrive back home just a few weeks after the newest addition makes his/her debut.

Sickness:  I've been pretty lucky and have managed to steer clear(fingers still crossed) of the strep, ear infections, pink eye and other general cold symptoms that have plagued my house.  This is one of those tender mercies that Heavenly Father gives Army Wives when their husbands are deployed:  Supermom powers to fend off weariness, evil, morning sickness and all other infirmities to herself that may incapacitate her ability to be mother and housekeeper to three extremely rambunctious boys.

Moving.  Yes, we moved houses within El Paso just the weekend before Sam deployed.  It was a good decision for us to move but that doesn't make it any less of a pain in the butt.  All in all though, our new place is bigger, less expensive and closer to everything that we enjoy the most.

For Thanksgiving we enjoyed having my Dad and Madre in town. She made so much yummy food and even did some quilting. It was great. They finally treated themselves to iPhones this year and we got a good laugh over the fact that we all had computers sitting in the background while we each goofed off on our phones instead. We enjoyed having Sam home for that holiday even more knowing that we wouldn't have him around for Christmas.

Connor and Bear had birthdays in November and December.  Connor is now 6 and Bear is 4.  They are growing so fast, I can't believe it.

In the beginning of October we took a trip up to Utah to visit family and get away for the Army for a little while. It was much needed and we enjoyed seeing some of our friends on the way.  We did some shooting, rock climbing, hiking, general conference watching, and lots and lots of driving. It was really fun and Sam is looking forward to a similar trip upon his return.

In the beginning of September I started homeschooling Connor and Bear.  I've had some really great mentors down here and I truly believe that Heavenly Father sent us to El Paso so that I could meet them.  I really enjoy taking my children's education into my own hands and love being able to continue my education with them. We read lots of classics, Color, paint and create lots of pictures, Say the pledge of allegiance everyday and are memorizing The Articles of Faith.  There are new challenges and new accomplishments daily.  I treasure those moments when Connor's eyes light up and he suddenly grasps a new concept.

His independence level has grown leaps and bounds over the past 6 months and he keeps surprising me with new ways to be helpful.

While homeschooling Connor, I decided to teach Bear right along with him. They love to do things together and separating them is nearly impossible.  Bear is extremely intelligent and loves to see how things work and why they work that way.  They received a set of magnetic letters for Christmas and his favorite thing to do right now is to put a bunch of letters together that don't spell anything and ask me what it says.  So I read it for them, just like they put it.  They laugh and laugh but its helping them learn that a letter isn't just a symbol. It has a sound to go with it. It means something. He is learning his letters and letter sounds VERY quickly and will probably learn to read at about the same time Connor does.

Keith is a ball of happy energy.
He is a HUGE source of happy for me.  He is a ALSO a HUGE source of CRAZY for me.  We have a game chest.  And I really need to lock it. Because every morning, afternoon and evening he proceeds to empty the contents of every game and puzzle onto the floor in the living room.  The problem with this?  He looks so stinking happy doing it! So I can't even stop him until he's turned his terrorizing attention to something else, like the fridge magnets which he swipes everywhere, or the boxes of cereal that he empties onto the floor, or the stoneware bowl that just looked too peaceful sitting there empty on the table(I bet you can guess where that one ended up).

Sometimes he's less destructive and likes to dance in circles, put things in and out of containers over and over again, or play outside. A pretty normal 19 almost 20 month old who is driving his mama insane, slowly and painfully. He's also got a pretty excellent vocabulary for his age too which is worth documenting.  He'll parrot a lot of things the older boys say and it's pretty amusing at times. Luckily, both Bear and Connor haven't spouted any really awful things yet.

I think that pretty much updates things.  We are doing well and surviving together one day at a time which I guess is the best we can do right now. I'm encouraged by the many women who have been in similar circumstances and pray that I can keep it together like they did.

P.S. Sorry for lack of pictures, I have yet to upload them from phone.....