My Handsome Sailor

Jay was supposed to participate in the Change of Command ceremony when they hit their first port.  Sadly he didn't get to because they didn't need him.  So as a result before he left he had to update his ribbons and get his medals as a just in case he did partcipate.  The Change of Command ceremony happened because the now former captain was made Admrial and so they needed to get a new Captain.  Well Jay made sure to take a photo and send it to me of him in his ribbons and medals.

My handsome sailor in his dress whites with ribbons and medals.

Now, when he wears his medals then the ribbons that he would normally wear as those medals are taken off his ribbons side.  So here he is all dressed up and sadly not smiling.  Don't worry, he promised me another photo of him in his dress whites where he is smiling.

The many blessings

Since Jay left for his deployment it seems like we have been recieving many blessings in our lives.  One of those blessings deals with Kaden.  About 2 weeks ago I got a call from a place that specializes in ABA therapy.  They had just recieved approval from the Regional Center to start doing the intake process for Kaden to recieve his ABA.  Now, this came as a huge surprise to us because in all honesty we thought that the Regional Center had dropped us.  Well that turned out to not be the case.
Last week Kaden and I went in for his initial meeting.  My mom (who happens to be in town at the moment) stayed at my house and watched Annabelle.  This initial meeting was to see where Kaden needs their help so that he can improve in those specified areas and improve overall.  I answered the same dozens of questions that I've had to answer every time we do one of these types of meetings and then it was on to the one thing I was even at that point wondering if we would get, approval for ABA.  This is huge news.  They are coming in on Thursday morning to do a in home observation so that they can see exactly where he needs their help for ABA, and since all ABA is done in the home as it is this will also give them a feel for the family dynamics.  Once that meeting happens then we'll start ABA!!!!!!!!  Along with ABA they also will be doing parenting classes with me once a week, also in the home, to help me better help Kaden.  While I do a lot to help him as it is, there is always room for improvement and I look forward to seeing what I can learn from them to help Kaden and I get to a better place. 
With ABA they will come into the home a few hours each week and work with him in several areas: self sufficentcy in dressing himself, bathing himself, brushing his own teeth, listening better to what he is asked to do, table manners, speech therapy, toliet training, behavior areas that we need to help in with (so that he doesn't get frustrated and have super meltdowns) and overall to help him so that if all goes well on the school end he'll be able to join up with a non-special ed class for Kindergarten next year (2010).  Both Jay and I are thrilled with this news.  And we both feel tremendously blessed by it.  This news last week resulted in me getting a surprise phone call from him because he wanted to hear all of the details again and talk to me about how things would be changing here at home because of it. 
I'm not sure exactly when his ABA will be starting up, but its coming up soon so I'm now in the mode to find all of the supplies I'll need for him as well as some special activities for Annabelle for while he is in ABA therapy.  I already know that he'll need a child's size table for it and so that is now priority one for me to find and get for him.  The entire time Jay has been gone so far has been a whirlwind and a time of many blessings in our lives.  And for that we are nothing more than tremendously greatful for all that we have.

Deployment Preperations

Since Jay is officially on deployment I thought my first deployment post would be about what it takes for us to get Jay ready for them.  To get ready for a deployment that is 6 months takes a lot of work and time.  We have to buy 6 months worth of supplies for him, like shampoo and deoderant and body wash.  Well luckily for us we live just up the street from Sam's Club and we were able to go there and get a lot of what he needed there which helps cut down on costs.  Then we have to make sure he has snacks and entertainment for the times when he has down time. So about a week before he was to head out we started the packing process.  He took on books, games, snacks, his nessecities, camera, and laptop.  Not to mention his uniforms and civilan clothes.

Now, just to get everything on the ship took 3 trips. 

The ship doesn't have the greatest pillows so Jay took one of our spares with him.  He also took a few blankets and a sleeping bag since it gets very cold in his birthing (sleeping area). 

The box has his books and other stuff that he needed to get on the ship before he went.

This clothing bag carries his Dress Whites/Blues (whites are summer and blues are winter), working whites and blues.  It is part of the manditory clothing he must have with him on the ship at all times.  It is part of his sea bag.  Though the working whites and blues will be changing to a new uniform once he gets back from this deployment.

This is his sea bag.  It holds his utilities (uniform he wears for day to day work), coveralls (this can be worn while on deployments so that the utilites don't get ruined), and the other manditory clothing that he has to have on the ship.  He can also put his week of civilan clothes in there for when he hits ports.

This is what trip 2 to the ship looked like.  It was a lot of stuff and we still had one last trip before he was fully ready for the deployment.

Kaden wanted to go with Jay on the ship.  Instead he settled for posing with Jay's stuff.

So now the deployment has officially kicked off.  We have had minor bumps along the way but overall we are dealing with this deployment much better than the last two.  Jay made special movies for the kids and I for while he is out and he tries to call at least once a week to talk with at least me, and sometimes the kids if they are awake when he calls.  As he hits ports he'll be sending me photos that I can put on here of some of the fun things he will be doing in each of those places that he will visit.  We miss him, but we are strong and we know that we can make it through this. 

Congrats to Jay!

Jay has yet to be gone a week on this deployment and he has already accomplished one of his goals.  Earlier today he took the board for one of his qualifications.  That meant going before a few Chiefs and doing oral questions about the information needed to pass.  Well the results were:  HE PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!  He has been preping for this for the last few underways and today when he took it the Chief's were very impressed with how well he not only did show his knowledge of the information but he also didn't mess up with it at all.  So some big Congrats are in order for him!  I couldn't be more proud of him for this. 
Next on his list: advancement test next month.

Grandma's visit

Back at the beginning of July my mom came out for a visit. Not only did we got to see fireworks on the flight deck of the Nimitz, but we also went to the Wild Animal Park. The last time my mom had been there was back during 1993 during horrible October fires that they had that year. We all had a great time. Right now at the park they have something called Dino Mountain where there are life like automatronic dinosaurs. Kaden loved it.

The kids, me and grandma. Kaden was attached to mom the whole time she was here visiting.

All along Dino Mountain they have stamp area's for kids to stamp in a special passport book. Kaden loved doing that with Mom.

This is one of the T-Rex. They made noises and some even spit water.

Annabelle enjoing some time out of the stroller.

Of course we did the tour ride while we were there. Annabelle sat on Jay's lap happily through most of the ride. Kaden was sitting next to Grandma.

Just some photos of some of the animals we saw during our day.

"Look! Steak!"

Today was one of those days where Kaden said something too funny to not share. If you've seen the ATT comercial for their air cards where this guy is standing by his car with a cow pasture in the background, well we did today. I happened to have the news on and that comercial came on. Kaden ran to the tv and said "Mommy, look steak. Cows give us steak!" Ahh the wisdom of my 4 year old. He already knows that steaks come from cows. It was just too funny to see him sitting there point at the cows and saying "steak".

Stop Health Care Reform!

These politicans are out of control.  And my big issue with them at the moment is the massive health care bill that is being pushed through the commitees at an alarming speed.  These morons wont even read what is in it.  Well luckily some in the media are and this morning I heard a very disturbing claim on Fox News about what is in this bill.  Well I checked it out for my self and what was reported on is completely true.  On pgs 389-390 they use the term "mentally retarded" to refer to those with mental disabilites like Kaden.  This bill should not be allowed to go through.  Health care should be left in the private sector and not run by the government.  Check the bill out for your self and see what I mean: http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/aahca.pdf