5...4...3...2...1

Five: There are 5 miles to be ran in the morning at the Hellen Keller Annual 5 mile race. I will run those 5 miles through downtown Tuscumbia and Spring Park. We will start the race at 8am and end at the Colbert County court house. It's not a bad course, some large trees shade the road but the heat is sure to be a scorcher. Last weekend, I accomplished the route in about 1 hour. We'll see how tomorrows time differs.

Four: I am 4 weeks post baby! I've had some people (Kryste) think I'm nuts for running 4 weeks post partum but I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't feel like it. I have been up to it since week 2. This was just an amazingly easy recovery for me. I think God was trying to give me a break since my husband is gone and I had a baby without him. Come to think of it, if that's the case, I'm going to ask him to leave next time as well! Besides, all this running gives me an outlet for deployment anxiety and at least 30 minutes a day away from the kids!

Three: Yes, the picture below proves I ordered 3 pair of shoes from Zappos.com. Why not, they have free shipping BOTH ways! I was unsuccessful in finding the running shoes I needed around here so I ordered a variety pack to choose from. Yes, I chose them for the way they looked! If I'm gonna get all hot and sweaty in the AL July heat, I wanna look good doing it! But the ultimate test was how the running shoes felt. The winner was the Brooks Adrenaline. A close second and possible back up pair were the ASCIS Equation. So after a small investment in Asian engineered rubber and fabric, I'm the proud owner of new Shoes! And what girl wouldn't love that!

Two: I'm also the proud mother of 2 boys! Although I haven't ran with both of them in the double stroller, it's ready when they are! We are so enjoying being in AL for the summer. I never knew how much I could love someone until they came along. I'm so thankful for 2 beautiful and healthy boys. I'm also thankful to their father without him, conceiving his clones would have never been possible. It must be nice to have 2 mini-me's running around and get to see yourself grow up all over again.

One: I am ONE woman, on a mission! I've got a mission of running 5 miles tomorrow, hopefully 13.1 before Jason comes home next April and simply making it through yet ANOTHER year long deployment while raising a brave soldiers children. I look forward to saying mission accomplished to the last one the MOST!

Speaking of missions...Jason will soon begin flying actual missions over Afghanistan outside the base. He's been flying and training to progress recently. He's all trained up and his mission status will begin soon. It makes me nervous but happy to see him doing what he was sent there to do. Please keep him and all the soldiers in your prayers...until they all come home!

The Wedding

Jackson has long said that he wanted to "put Alexandra on a big white dress and marry her." He got the idea when he went to a wedding with us and made his decision then. This week, my friend Renee from Ohio and her daughter Alexandra came to visit us here in AL. Lucky for Jackson, he just now got his chance. She was all in for dressing up for the big day! Armed with my mom, the photographer, we had a pretend wedding. I hummed the bridal chorus in an attempt to get the two of them to smile simultaneously. Photographing 3 year olds getting "married" is easier said than done but this is what it looks like. I guess the odd thing is they look more like siblings than spouses!

Marriott mini-vacation

What do you call a one night vacation, 10 minutes from home? We deemed it a "stay-cation". Mom and the kids and I packed ALL our stuff which sufficiently filled the back of my SUV and drove 10 minutes to the local Marriott Hotel and Spa. With rooms overlooking the Tennessee River, this is by far the nicest hotel in town and it just so happens to have the best pool area in the tri-cities too! We packed our food, down to the coffee creamer, each child's own bed, computers, swimsuits and toothbrushes. We actually needed a cart just to get to our 2nd floor room for our unique one night stay. We checked in and set up camp at the pool with our surplus of snacks and baby paraphernalia. That night we ordered pizza delivered by Daddy and watched TV from the hotel room. Mom and I each had our own heavenly bed since dad decided not to stay with us and each child's bed traveled with us. The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast from our cooler in tow. We again made the most of the pool facilities. Jackson really loved the waterslide and I liked the cave and waterfall as did Lincoln. He liked the sound of the water falling and was mesmerized by the warm outdoor air. I even sat for a while in the graded-entry shallow area and read some of my new library book "The Memory Keepers Daughter."
So long are the days of packing light... Who am I kidding, I was never one to pack light so adding a little more kid stuff is no big deal to me! This just goes to prove, you don't have to go far to experience a taste of luxury.

Jackson-isms

This blog is to chronicle all the hilarious things my 3 1/2 year old says on a daily basis. He's always been a chatty little guy but never as much as now. We've even had to stop answering his questions or asking other questions to get him to stop asking why after every explanation. He still does it, even if he already knows the answers. I guess he's learning every day but my question is, "WHY?"

-recently during a trip to the river Jackson was remembering his last 4th of July in Birmingham when he rode on a "winter tube" with Papa Rex. That translates to the inter tube pulled behind the boat.

-On Monday, Jackson and my mom were sharing a snack and he came to me and announced that he liked "pepper-mint cheese" and wanted to know that the green stuff was in it, and what makes it hot. That of course, would be pepper-jack cheese to the rest of us!

-While listening to Disney songs for about the 1,000 time in the car, I caught Jackson singing along to The Little Mermaid's "Under the Sea" but his translation continues to be "I'm in the Sea". I guess that works as well!

-Jackson has been infactuated with Michael Phelps ever since the Olympic games and all the gold medal talk. He turned into Michale Phelps every time he bathed or swam. At the last race I ran, he took my medal and proclaimed he was Michael Phelps. He still hasn't caught wind that Michael Phelps might not be the greatest role model anymore, better yet, maybe he's giving him some slack...every body's entitled to have a little meltdown under pressure.

-Jackson is a fan of the music from era's past. We listen to a broad array of music in our house from Elton John to the Eagles, Beach Boys to Johnny Cash. Jackson chooses his favorites and sometimes even makes up new lyrics to them...maybe he'll write music along with all his other ambitions in life. He and his dad regularly listen to a little know blue grass band called Old Crow Medicine Show and he can sing "Wagon Wheel" like no other 3 year old. He also has a fondness for Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire which he knows the entire chorus. Something funny about hearing him sing it. Jason's father's day card even sings "Ring of Fire" at Jackson's choosing. It's also one of those "record your voice" cards which is cool for us long distance parents! Another favorite song of his is the Eagles "Heartache Tonight" but his version sings "there's gonna be a Par-tay tonight, a party tonight, oh yeah". What can I say, like father, like son!

-On a recent trip to an outdoor mall, Jackson wanted to throw coins in the fountains so our friend Nicole gave him a nickel to toss in. When he tossed it we asked him what he wished for and he thought for a second and said...."mmmmm, I wish for............. MONEY!" Now THAT's what I'm talkin about! His idea was more money to throw in the fountain but I'm thinking deep down, he meant mommy some "new Jessica Simpson shoes" money!

-And lastly, several months ago, when Jason was still home we were having dinner together. Jackson often eats before and after us because he protest eating his vegetables and we go into an all out WAR about it. One particularly difficult night, he must have fulfilled his requirement but reluctantly. After Jackson was put to bed we sat down to watch DVR. An hour later, we heard him talking in his room and muted the TV to hear him. I walked over to the door and heard Jackson loudly singing(from the Madagascar movie)..."I like to move it, move it...I like to move it, move it...but I don't like to eat my vegetables! It was priceless and a great laugh for us.
Now that's it for round one of Jackson-isms. There's sure to be more where that came from!

And we'll have FUN, FUN, FUN...

Jackson is really living the good life in AL for the summer. His days consist of riding the 4-wheeler, fishing in "the holler" (yes, that is a real term here), swimming and LOTS of ice cream. My dad and Jackson spend a lot of time together talking about things most 3 year olds don't care much about. He's learned all about the dams and locks on the river, he's gardening and picking squash and learning to drive the tractor.
Last week, Jackson attended VBS each morning. We would walk him there and drop him off. The baby also walked with us, sometimes in a carrier and sometimes a stroller. Everyday we asked Jackson what he learned about and he'd proclaim, "GOD, and Jesus". I guess he got the right idea, he wouldn't be more specific. Me, Jack and Linc went on Thursday to have our hand imprints made. We had our hands molded and will have statues made of our hands together in 12 weeks! Now that tiny little baby hand will be remembered forever.
On Saturday, we ALL went to the waterfall and Jackson walked around in the stream of water. He was supposed to walk in it but before it was over, he was face down in the water on purpose.
Today we went to the local splash pad. Jackson loved it, he said it was like Great Wolf Lodge. Not quite in my opinion but fun is fun to him.
My fun is getting to sleep in to 730 then wake up and feed the baby while drinking coffee in my cool cup (thanks, Mari!) and read the entire paper, cover to cover. I've been scrapbooking several times with girls from church and while Tracie was still here, we got in our sisterly shopping time! I even ordered an awesome new cover for my baby bjorn carrier. It's the cool designer colors and I LOVE that carrier so was excited to get it in. I also experimented with a new wrap/sling that I'm really enjoying. OK, yes I'm addicted to baby carriers! I'm still walking most every day, I hardly even had to slow down with the birth of the baby. I was lucky that the recovery came VERY easy for me. Well, a squeaky baby tells me it's time to eat again and the blogging to end.

Hard Labor + Modern Technology = Long Distance Daddy

Ok, so a week has past since Lincoln arrived. The story of his birth and the events that occured were chronicled by my mother on camera. I've wanted to share the details of the birth for a week now but every time I try to blog, someone's hungry. I'm happy to have accquired a new title as milk maid




I had a doctors appointment at 830 on tuesday morning and I went in with my bags packed, I was banking on him keeping and admiting me. I was already at 5cm and I told him I was ready to do this today! I checked into the hospital about 930am.





I had pre-arranged with Jason that today may possibly be the day and was expecting his call at anytime. We had also arranged for him to go to someone's room who has internet access for him to be able to be on webcam. We hadn't seen Jason in 6 weeks and we didnt' know what type of connection we would get from there. I was ready with all my mondern technology....cell phone, check, laptop, check! All the essentials for having a baby!




HE CALLED! He was excited and maybe a little nervous. He waited and rode a bus across the base to the room where he would watch his second child born from a world away.



Me and my birthing coach (aka the sister). She and Mom really came through for me during the tough points of labor.


The contractions were getting stronger and were about 1-2 minutes apart.


At 12:20 we called for the epidural! I wasn't in immense pain...YET but he said when I was uncomfortable to call him.


Jackson came in to visit me and as I imagined, he had A LOT of questions. What's that on your arm? (IV), Why do you need medicine? Are you sick? Where's the baby? When can I see him? Can I be rough with you yet?


We're in full swing contractions and as I had feared, the epidural wasn't working. It was the ONE thing that made me know I could handle this labor and it wasn't working on one side. At 2:05 they had done all they knew to do and called the doctor back up to check on it. I was having to do all the breathing techniques that you've read about, none of which I had to do with Jackson. It was defining LABOR and I didn't like it.


Connected! It was so good to see Jason for the first time in 6 weeks. This deployment left us both in a bit of a whirlwind so close on the heels of his last deployment. I had missed talking to him face to face. It was long after midnight there and he was in a room with about 6 other guys trying to sleep while he was helplessly trying to coach me through some HARD contractions.


Soon after we made the connection, Tracie had to take over the typing because I was concentrating on OTHER things! I hated I hadn't been able to talk to him more but without the epidural, I was basically going all natural and that was NOT in my birthing plan.


After another failed attempt to make the epidural work, the Doctor finally arrives but has ANOTHER delivery to attend to. During that time, the nurse announces that I'm fully dilated and ready to have this baby! The Doctor shows up and 3 pushes later, Lincoln is born! That was actually the EASIEST part of the last 2 hours!




I finally get to hold my baby! It's amazing after waiting 9 LONG months for this moment! He was just perfect. He even made sure to wet the doctor AND the nurses right after he was born.





Now THIS is the person I could NOT have done without. She is a great encourager and besides, she's done this twice before so she's got experience. I couldn't ask for better help with the baby then or now that we are home. I'm lucky to have her AND to have her off work for the summer! How convenient!


I introduced Jackson to his baby brother Lincoln. He said is was HIS baby, and that he would still be MY baby.



Jackson LOVES to hold his little brother, he looks like he's saying, "What do I do with him if he cries?" He thinks if he kisses him, it'll make him All better.



Lincoln Rex deFoor, born at 3:33 pm weighing 6lbs 15oz and 20 1/4 inches long.


Ten perfect little toes! What a wonderful gift from God!


The best soggy chicken salad sandwich I've ever tasted! That didn't change, I was hungry after Jackson and I was starving after Lincoln. Food after hard labor is GOOD!!!
(By the way, some people commented and I TOTALLY planned the makeup and earrings that morning...I KNEW there would be a photographer in the room and there's no reason to not look your best, besides, I wanted Linc to think his mommy was pretty!)



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