Introducing...Baby Emmry! Saying good-bye to Dad...and a few things inbetween.

 A lot has happened in the last couple of months.  However, the most important was the birth of our new baby boy.  His name is Emmry Cort Franklin and he was born November 2nd at 10:05 pm. He weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 21.5 inches long.  He's a keeper!

 With his Uncle Curt

 I was so glad that he was finally here.  There were moments where it felt like he would never come.

 Daddy and Sammee with Baby Emmry.  (Sammee always calls her brother baby Emmry and if she ever sees another baby or even a picture on one she yells, "Look Mommy, Baby Emmry!"

 What a proud big sister.  I will have you know though, when she came to the hospital to see him, Sammantha was way more interested in the food her mom was eating than she was about her new brother.

 Emmry's Baby Blessing.  We did it quite early so Camarron's parents could be there.

About a week after Emmry was born, Cam was given an Achievement Medal at work.  We were able to go to the ceremony to watch him receive it.  That was really cool.  I was (and still am) one proud wife!

Then for his birthday present, I took Cam up to Brigham City so he could have his first flying lesson.  He was like a kid in a candy shop.  He was SO excited!

 

Here he goes...

 

Here he is about to take off.  He actually got to fly the plane for most of the flight.

Doesn't he look like this is where he belongs?  I think so!

He had this grin on his face from the moment we got into the car and headed to Brigham City and it was there for the next 2 days after his flight was over too.  You think he had seen a killer whale for the first time with as happy as he was.

Camarron left to go to Korea for a year on the 26th of November.  Before we left to take him to the airport we went to the park so he could play with Sammantha one last time.

 

She loves her daddy and they had so much fun!

 

Now that he is gone, I am trying to keep up on the blog so he can see what we are all doing here back at home.  

Our two babies...being as cute as they can possibly be asleep on the couch!

Notice that Sammee is sleeping with an Air Force blanket that has an F-22 on the front of it.  She calls it "Daddy's Jet Blanket" and she has to have it when she goes to bed or takes a nap.  It is just as important to her as her pink blanket that is tucked underneath her as well.  Did I mention that she loves her daddy?

 

Then after nap time, of course it is time to eat.  And Sammantha loves to eat!

 

Soup with crackers is one of her new favorite things to eat.  She asks for it all the time.  I think she got about half of it in her mouth. :.)

 

Cheese!

 Little Emmry is pretty much the perfect baby. This is what he does most of the day.  He wakes up about every 3-4 hours to eat and then is usually up for an hour just looking around at everything.  He never cries, only squeaks and he sleeps about 5-6 hours at night.  He is a huge blessing for me now that I am by myself.  Plus, he is pretty much the cutest, most handsome baby I have ever seen!

Camarron's favorite time of the year is Christmas time.  He loves everything about it...the lights, the festivities, the FOOD, and especially all the Christmas songs.  So I really didn't want to go through getting everything out and putting up decorations by myself.  I thought it was going to be too hard.  However, my wise mother told me that I needed to do it anyway, for my daughter.  So I forced myself to pull out my tree and box of decorations.  Sammantha was super excited as soon as I mentioned the Christmas tree.  A few days before a couple of my wonderful friends took her with them to the Festival of Trees and she had the best time and she gets extremely excited whenever she sees a Christmas tree.  

I turned on some Christmas music and decorated our apartment, and I actually enjoyed doing it with Sammee.  And it is nice to have a festive home, even if my husband isn't here to share it with me, my kids are.  And to see Sammantha's excitement, ya it was definitely worth it.

 

Here we are in the beginning, just getting started.

Sammantha loves the Nativity Set and the Baby Jesus.  She plays with it all the time.

She LOVED putting on the ornaments!  She also loves taking them off.

 

Our finished product!

 

 

Please note that this only looked like this for about a minute.  Sammantha always has the little figurines strewed all across the table.

 

Our stockings...Cam, me, Sammee, Emmry, and Bear.  Yes, there really is five of us!

 

Yep, still sleeping!

 

Yep, still eating!

And of course Bear is still waiting...and wanting.

She has just recently learned about "Black Fingers", so when she found a can in the pantry she had to have some.  And by some I mean half of the can all by herself.

GRUMPY FACE!  Just for Daddy

Sleepy face...just for daddy too. :.)

Didn't we just do this ten minutes ago?  Aren't you full yet?

Apparently not! 

Cam check out this comparison...

This is Emmry at about 1 month old.

And mommy sure does whaley love him!

 And this is Sammantha at just over 3 months.

I think brother is going to be just a bit bigger than his sister.

I'm going to brag just a little bit....because I am the wife and that is my job!

Sorry about the picture, it is a picture of a picture.  But I wanted to put one up of my husband all dressed up in his dress blues.  

Many of you already know about what has happened to Camarron the last couple of months, but I wanted to blog about it anyway because I think it is kind of a big deal.  

While we were up in Alaska in June, my husband got a call from his squadron, needing some information about him so they could put him up for an award.  That was basically all they said so we didn't really know what that meant or what to expect.  Because we were on vacation, we forgot about the whole thing quite honestly.  When we returned home and Cam went back to work, he was pleasantly surprised to find out that he had won the award he was put up for. They had to explain what the award was for, because, again, we had no idea what was really going on since we had been out of town.  So this is the award that he won...Airman of the Quarter for the 388th fighter squadron. He was the airman picked out of about 100 or so.  Pretty cool huh!?  Well it gets better...

So because he won at his squadron level, he got to go up against all the airman in the 388th Maintenance Group.  This time it was against about 300-400 airman and yes, he won again.  We just so happened to be out of town for our own little vacation at the time, so when Camarron got back to work we were again surprised to find out he had won at the next level.  This time he not only came home with a trophy, but a cool blanket and some gift cards too.  Hooray!  But it gets even better...

The next award level was for the entire fighter wing of Hill Air Force Base.  This was probably close to 1000 airman that could have been eligible for this award. And Camarron was chosen again.  By this time we were in a little bit of shock to tell you the truth.  We were both super excited about the whole ordeal, but found it very humorous that he just kept moving up the awards ladder when we didn't even know what it was all about to begin with.   So yes, he came home with another trophy.   And it continues...

 

We knew that there was only one more level after the entire fighter wing and that was the entire base itself.  By this time, Camarron was going up against around 11,000 airman.  This award is a pretty big award and they have a huge ceremony for it.  Of course the ceremony had to be on the day I was leaving to go to Montana for a seminar that I had been planning and saving for for almost 6 months.  We tried everything we could think of to rearrange things so I could be to this awards ceremony, but it just didn't work out.  So, yes, I felt like the worst wife ever because I was missing this once in a lifetime moment for my husband, but I planned a little surprise for him anyway.  

I had been on the road for almost 5 hours when I got the phone call from my husband.  At first he tried to tease me and he told me that he didn't win (which he tends to do quite often with stuff like this) but then he told me the truth and explained that he had won Airman of the Quarter for the entire base.  I was SOOOOOOOOOO excited and proud of my hard working husband!!!!!  As soon as we were done celebrating on the phone, I immediately called my friend Harmony who I had already plotted with, to let her know that Camarron had won the award.  So she went and bought 50 balloons, confetti, streamers, a big sign, and a bunch of goodies for Cam and decorated our apartment.  That way, when Camarron came home, it wasn't to just our dog. So he was very surprised and ended up having a fun day of celebration even though I wasn't there. 

 

 Even though this was the biggest award, I think they gave him the lamest trophy for it.  However, we have been told that there is supposed to be a cash prize with this one, so we will see if that ever comes about. :.)

 

 Now that my husband has won all of these awards he is eligible for two other awards that his commander has already put him up for.  He is now going for Airman of Year at Hill AFB as well as the Lieutenant General Leo Marquez award which is an Air Force wide award and the ceremony is in Washington DC.  How cool would that be?  Pretty exciting! 

I must tell you though, with all of this that happened to my amazing husband, he tried to act like it wasn't a very big deal.  Of course he got anxious and excited every time the next award would come out, and he loved coming home and telling me all about it, but he counted every single one of those awards as a blessing from Heavenly Father.  He looks at all of this as stepping stones to help him become an officer and a pilot...and he is right.  My husband is an amazing person who loves to serve others as often as he can and is an extremely hard worker who will work as long as he needs to and as hard as he needs to to finish the job right!  The last couple of months he got recognized for that by his friends, co-workers, and commanding officers.  But instead of gloating himself, he turned everything back around and recognized it all as a huge blessing from God.  That is why I married my husband, because he puts God first in everything he does, and I couldn't be more proud!  

Camarron I love you and I couldn't be happier to be married to such an amazing person as you!

Alaska!

Last moth Camarron and I went to Alaska to see his family one more time before he goes to Korea for a year.  He isn't leaving to Korea until the end of November, but we wanted to go in June because I am going to have our little boy the end of October and Cam's brother Colt came home from his mission while we were there.  

 We all went out to the beach and it was the first time that Sammantha had seen the ocean.  She thought it was great!  She wanted to play in the water until she felt how cold it was.  Then she just turned to the rocks and sea shells.  She loves playing at the beach just as much as her mom. :.)

 She loved filling up the sea shells with rocks and then dumping them back out.

 Grandma Franklin found some fun dress up clothes at a garage sale.  Sammee wore the little tinkerbelle skirt around everywhere!

Colts triumphant return!

Sammee all bundled up warm on a cold and rainy day.

 Camarron surprised me BIG time with a special whale watching tour.  He was downtown hiking with his brothers when he got a phone call from his cousin (who is a captain of a whale watching boat) asking if he wanted to go on a whale watching tour.  He didn't think he'd make it back in time, so he called me and told me to go anyway.  Of course I jumped at the opportunity!  My hubby was super sneaky and got back to Auk Bay where the tour left from just in time.  However, he let me sit all by myself, wait for the boat all by myself, and he jumped on right at the last moment and surprised me.  It was so much fun and the very first thing we saw was a transient pod of KILLER WHALES!!!

It was AMAZING!!!

Four Kids And One On The Way

 The week of the 4th of July, Camarron and I had the opportunity to watch our 3 little nephews.  When my brother Joshua asked me to do this I had two feelings go through me.  The first was, "Are you CRAZY!?" and the second one was, "This could be kind of fun!"  Well let me tell you, going through the experience, there ended up being a really good mixture of both.  We had the boys for just about 7 full days so our 3 bedroom apartment was filled with Cam and I (who is 24 weeks pregnant), North (5 1/2 yrs), Railay (2 yrs), Sammantha (18 months), Rowan (14 months I think) and Bear our dog.  What an adventure! There were many things that we were able to experience that we never had before.  For example:

Morning of Day One:

We woke up to Railay having wet the bed, and Rowan having had a poopy explosion in the crib.  So our whole apartment had a very pungent smell and baths were very much in order.  This happened to be Sunday morning, so it gave us a jump start to all the baths that we had to do anyway.

Meals:  As many of you know, the regular diet that Cam, Sammee and I eat is quite different than most families.  So I was concerned about how these little boys would do eating the food I prepared.  However, Railay is allergic to many foods and is currently eating a very strict diet himself to see if he can start feeling better.  For the most part the boys were champs and ate what they were served (or at least tried what they were served).  However, there were several meals that were saved by the good old western family Mac n' Cheese.  We did have a few nights where there were little ones who sat at the table until bedtime because they didn't want to finish dinner, but interestingly enough they didn't whine or complain about it, they just sat there and quietly played by themselves until I told them it was bedtime. I won't lie though, it takes much more energy to prepare dinner, dish it up for four little kids, and help two, and sometimes three of them actually eat it.  By the time I got to eat and dinner was over I was ready to collapse and go to bed myself.  There were many nights (most of them actually) that Cam would come home from work and have to do all of the cleanup in the kitchen because all of my gas had run out.  

Diapers:  Let me tell you, when you have 3 children in diapers, that means there is a lot of poop to clean up.  A LOT!!! Cam would say every morning when we woke up, "Yup, it still smells like poop in here."  The other thing we learned really quick is that boys, unlike our very innocent little girl, have weapons, that you never know if they are loaded or not, when you change them.  If you aren't careful or quick enough, they will use those weapons of attack and spray all over the place.  Thankfully, we never had to deal with that, but we have a little boy of our own on his way and we are sure that that isn't going to be the case with him. 

Bedtime:  My favorite part of the day!!!!  After dinner I would clean all of the kids up and put the two little ones to bed.  Then the two older ones and I would play for another hour or so until they went to bed.  After they were all in bed, I prayed that everyone around us would be quiet so they would all stay asleep.  We live on the ground floor with a playground right outside our front door.  There are lots of little kids who stay out playing until it is dark, and they aren't quiet.  We also have very loud neighbors above us.  So I would hold my breath every time the noise escalated.  However, the only child who had a hard time sleeping was my daughter.  And for some reason I found that much less stressful than if the boys weren't sleeping.  

Movies:  As you can see in the pictures, there was plenty of time spent watching movies.  The very first day I told the boys that I would allow one movie a day and that was it.  That sure changed fast!  For the most part, all of the little kids were great at playing with toys, coloring, doing puzzles, and things like that.  But in the afternoon and around dinner time it got difficult because I couldn't take everyone plus Bear outside unless Cam was here and since he goes to work at 2:30 in the afternoon, there was a lot of inside time.  So that was when the movies turned on.  They usually always watched a Disney movie while I cooked dinner and sometimes that is what happened when I made lunch too.  I have to admit, I felt a little bad about how often they ended up watching Disney movies, but they sure were a lifesaver for me.  That kept everyone occupied long enough for me to go to the bathroom, shower, sit down and breath for a minute or two, you know, some of those things that you obviously take for granted when you only have one child.  

Playmates: Another thing that I really came to enjoy was the fact that when there is more than one child, they tend to occupy each other.  There were many times during the day that just out of habit I would go and check on what Sammantha was doing because I couldn't see or really hear. Normally when this happens she is quiet because she has gotten into something she knows she shouldn't have.  But every time I found her, she would be playing with the boys and having a wonderful time.  She loved having them here and got so excited every time we got up in the morning and the boys were still here to play with.  She did however, feel like all of her toys were only hers and we had to explain how to share...many many times.  In all reality though, I was quite impressed at how quickly she caught onto the concept and when I told her she had to go get something else to play with she did.  I wish I had a picture of the face she would give me though.  Almost every time I made her go find a different toy because Rowan or Railay were playing with what she thought was hers she would turn and look at me with this look of, "but MOM, that is MY toy!"  And sometimes the look was joined by a shout of, "MINE!" But she learned quick and I was quite proud of my little sharer by the end of the week.

My Sister-in-law Lindsey is one amazing woman!  She has some very well behaved children who are helpful, and for being little kids, are extremely obedient.  I was quite concerned that my apartment would be turned completely upside down by the time the week was over, but those boys, especially North, are great helpers.  They always picked up their toys and activities when asked and they helped me with little chores as well.  So when they went back home I didn't feel overwhelmed at all because my house wasn't a disaster.  Those boys have TONS of energy, and I am amazed at all of the things that Josh and Linds do with them.  They are so much fun and we had a great time with them here.  I do have to admit though, the day after they left, Cam, Sammee, Bear, and myself had major nap time and we all slept for 4 hours in the middle of the day.  It was heaven!

Thanks boys for coming and staying and giving us a taste of what we will get to have coming our way here in a few more months!

 All of them playing together with Sammee's toys.

 There were many times where North and Railay would find a toy they like and just lay on the floor or the couch and play with that one toy for hours it seemed like.  They would make their little explosion noises and make up characters and such while they just lied there and played by themselves.  I thought it was so funny!

 The little ones LOVED bath time.  They would scream if the older boys got baths and they didn't.

 Rowan is one very laid back little man.  I was grateful for that since my babe is a little high maintenance at times.

 Rowan and Sammee loved to play together.

 Movie time, and as long as they all had something to snack on, they sat and watched the entire movie.

 This one happened to be Hurcules

 Sometimes watching a movie was the only way I could get little Railay to fall asleep for a nap. :.)

 Railay had little hummus packs that he enjoyed eating.  We also found out that Sammee enjoyed them as well.  She thought the little container was so cool and she is getting to be VERY independent and headstrong like her mother, so she insisted that she eat them all by herself.  It kept her occupied for quite a while, then I just had a big mess to clean up afterwards. :.)

 Railay would do these puzzles over and over everyday.  Thank heavens for Grandma's puzzles!

North and Rowan playing ball together.  They did this for almost and hour.  Rowan would chase the ball and take it to North.  Then North would kick it or throw it, and the cycle continued.  They were super cute together!

There are two things in life that from the eternal perspective are worthless and do not matter. So why are they so important now?

For a very LONG time now, I have despised money.  I know that sounds silly, because who doesn't want to have a little more of that in their pocket right?  Well, I am right there with you, money would be nice to have, but MAN, does it sure drive me crazy!!!  Everything in this life is determined by money.  The only thing that we don't have to pay for is the air we breath (unless you want clean air, then you have to pay for it.)  We have to pay for our food, our water, our shelter, and everything that goes along with it. 

Ok, so you might say that love and affection is free.  Your family isn't run by money like the rest of the world.  At least it shouldn't be.  However, the biggest cause for divorce is financial issues and pornography is one of (if not the biggest) the biggest money making industries in the entire world!  Of course this isn't the case with everyone, but the very large majority of people deal with this problem in one form or another. 

The other thing that I am having an issue right now is time.  How to balance time between my husband, my daughter, my dog, my work, and time for myself.  Why can't we just do it all?  Eventually time isn't going to exist right, so why is it such a big deal now?  There are so many things that I would like to get done in a day and I never feel like it happens. 

Now I am not writing this, complaining about this, or sharing this because I have no money and no time for anything.  We are extremely blessed in our life and have the ability to pay all of our bills and are able to spend a good amount of time together as a family.  However, I sure feel like we are limited in so many ways because of our lack of money and the fact that time is continuous.  Camarron and I talk all the time about things that we would like to do to help others and how it would be so nice to just be able to do it, if we only had the time and money. 

So I have been thinking about this a lot lately, because time and money are the two biggest stressors in my life.  I am sure there is a reason that we have both of these things here on earth, but I just don't understand why.  I definitely believe that God knows what he is doing and that there are genuinely important lessons to be learned from these two necessary evils, but I just haven't figured them out yet. 

So my whole purpose in writing this post is to hopefully get feedback from someone older and wiser than myself that has discovered some wisdom in what brings me stress.