Last night I finally got the chance to sit down and watch General Conference via the Internet. I sat through a couple of talks and then looked around the house at all of the toys strewn across the floor and dishes left undone, and decided that I would do some cleaning up while I listened to conference. As I finished up wiping the table down, I heard Kami awake in her bedroom (it was probably about 10:30PM). So, I went in to check on her, expecting her to have fallen back asleep, or thinking maybe she was talking in her sleep. But, when I went to her room, she was standing in her crib and wide awake. Not wanting to fight with her to get her to go back to sleep, I carried her out to the living room, sat on the couch with Kami on my lap and watched conference while enjoying my daughters company. I was so surprised that she just sat on my lap and watched with me. I did break out some M&M's and milk while we watched. But....it was just such a peaceful feeling. It's been a little rough this last month since AJ's birth. Last week we had, what I call a "mass exodus" from our house. My sister and niece who had been here for over a month left for home and Drew left for a 3 week class in Mississippi all on the same day. So, I've been a "single mom" for a little over a week now. So, AJ being so little and monopolizing a lot of my time and energy, I cringe when I'm trying to calm him down or when he's nursing and Kami comes up to me asking to sit on my lap. I hate having to say "no" when there is no one else around that can play with her. Anyway, I enjoyed the opportunity that presented itself last night. It was the best mommy/daughter time Kami and I have had in a while.
We're faring okay here by ourselves, for those wondering how we're doing! ;^) Although, I do happily admit that I've had a lot of help! Friends bringing dinners by, inviting us over to their homes to do laundry, just a couple of days ago, I was in need of some rubbing alcohol for AJ's umbilical cord that hadn't fallen off yet so I sent an email out to the sisters in the branch to see if they had any to spare (the commissary and BX had been out for quite a while) and I was amazed at the emails that poured in and the phone calls I started receiving. Our Branch President and his wife ended up being the ones to bring some over, but not only that, they sat and chatted with me for a little bit! Yay! Adult conversation! How I miss that the most at night when Drew's gone. Yesterday morning I took the kids with me to the church for a Relief Society brunch and to watch the General RS Broadcast. Kami played in the nursery where a couple of my beautiful YW watched the kiddos and AJ came with me. He, however, started to get pretty fussy....and just as I was contemplating packing up and going home, our District President who is also in our Branch came up to me and offered to take AJ while I finished watching the broadcast. AJ cried the entire time, of course, but I cannot begin to tell you how spiritually fed I felt not only from listening to a wonderful messages, but also by being served. It made me think about Cain's comment to the Lord just after slaying his brother and the Lord asked, "Where is Abel thy brother?" and Cain answered with, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" I guess why I was thinking about this comment is because I think the answer is a resounding "Yes! Yes, you are!!!" We, not only as Latter-day Saints, but as Christians are fully responsible for the well-being of our fellow man. Do we know where our brothers and sisters, our friends, are? Do we know how they need served? If God came to you now and said, "_________(insert your name), where is ___________, thy brother/sister?" Would we know how to answer that??? I think with the amount of service that has been shown to me and my family, I am learning how to serve. My friend Ruth made a comment after the RS broadcast as to how I could stand letting someone else take care of my crying baby. Other than perspective....I get a crying baby all day long (okay, not really, he's actually a pretty good baby), but Pres. Hilton knows that after the hour is up, he can give him back to me and his work is done!.....I guess I could also say that by being served, I am learning how to serve.
ANYWAY....holy smokes this is a long blog post! I'm not sure any of it made sense, but, as you can see, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. My heart is full of gratitude for so many things and so many people! So, if you're reading this and you've brought dinners by or picked something up at the commissary for me or offered to take Kami for me or let me do laundry at your house (or offered) or made me laugh or asked how I was doing or let us eat at your house or came over to mine and chatted, etc. etc. etc. I just wanted to say, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are heaven sent!
Okay. Here's some random pictures that I though I'd share from this weekend. Enjoy!
Monkey see, monkey do. Since AJ was laying on his blanket, Kami decided she had to as well!
My conference watching buddy!
AJ's favorite past time, and how I settle him down if he's super fussy! Also, check out the little fat rolls he's getting on his legs! SO CUTE!
Well, luckily the apple didn't have a spell that put Princess Kami to sleep, but it must've had some kind of sibling effect because the Princess' little brother slept all through the party and for the majority of the day!
After eating lunch at Burger King and taking care of some laundry, I took Kami Trick-or-Treating. Her first real experience! My friend Tori watched AJ for me while Kami and I went up and down the halls of one of the base housing towers. She caught on pretty quickly that if you knocked on peoples doors tonight, they'd open their doors give you candy. My original plan was to trick-or-treat down just one of the halls, but Kami was having so much fun that we ended up knocking on five floors worth of doors. I love look of realization on Kami's face when my friend Amy showed her the candy.
We also visited our good friends Bernie and Rich....across the hall lives Angela and Vic, who became Kami's friends pretty fast after bringing out bubble wrap to pop and LOADING her up with candy! Thanks a lot, guys! ;^)
And here's the Princess, the Pea, and their VERY tired looking Mommy. Three weeks of single parenthood seriously shows in my face more that I thought! *sigh* Drew's home tomorrow! And, yes, I did get my hair cut and I love it! And this is my favorite look AJ gets every once in a while. I call it his "worried" look...he must've gotten that from his dad!
And of course a Birthday shout-out to one of my very best friends....my sister Rachel! Happy 31st Birthday, Sis! We love you and miss you! We hope your days was fantastic! 
