100 days and counting...

Here are our beautiful growing boys. They are 3 months now and they are growing like weeds. On May 10th we celebrated their 100th Birthday quietly here at home. Coincidentally enough, their halmoni (grandmother in Korean) also celebrated her birthday. It was just a cool coincidence but it is also something to celebrate.

These guys are amazing. I was gone for only 2 weeks and I came back to 2 different little ones. It really seemed like they grew a lot while I was away. While I was gone they discovered more use for their little hands and Joaquin and Jacob both became more vocal. Joa in particular loves to chat up a storm with his buddy the monkey that is hanging on his vibrating chair. It is the same chair that baby Jake is sitting on in the pictures.

Latrice is also amazing. While I was gone, she totally changed the boys night time routine and it is a HUGE difference from thier past bed time behaviuor. I was just shocked by the amount of time I got to sleep while I watched them the first night back. I got twice the amount of sleep and a lot less trouble during the night. Currently, Joa is adjusting to his bed time routine nicely while Jake is more trouble. He is more maitenance but a lot less vocal than Joa.

These guys are sure sleeping a lot more lately. The time also seems to fly by now with thier new routine. On average they are getting about 12 hours of sleep at night. During the day they get about 5 hours of sleep. So that leaves about 7 hours of playtime for me. But, during those hours I am also at work so my time is very limited with them. However, they are a lot happier now that they are getting plenty of rest. There are still times when we are challenged by their behaviour, but Latrice has become pretty good at interpreting thier cries, needs, and wants. I am still in the learning process but am good enough to be left alone with them for an extended period of time and keep them alive.

Our time here at Quantico is coming to an end. I am very excited to finish up my studies here and continue on my career. I look forward to getting back out to the operating forces and doing my real job- aircraft maintenance. I am also starting to realize that I have less time left that I have time served in the Marine Corps. I will be eligible to retire in 3.5 years and walk away from it all. My biggest challenge is going to be to take this remaining time and find a second career. I need to find something that I enjoy and am free enough to enjoy my family life with Latrice and the boys. My biggest problem is that the things I enjoy such as conjunto music, the accordion, and golf are all hobbies and not really career opportunities. Maybe Latrice can find an awesome job and I will be a stay-at-home dad. It could be in the stars for me...

~Javier


This is an unusual occurrence. Javier and I will both post on the same day. I can hardly believe that the boys are over 100 days old. They are beautiful and thriving. My heart is bursting at the seams with love and pride. I love love love when they start cracking up laughing at something not really funny at all. I wonder what their little minds must be thinking. It's truly amazing to watch them develop.

As Javier mentioned above, we are coming to the end of our time here in Virginia. The countdown has started for our move to North Carolina. I'm not looking forward to all that it involves. It is always a big challenge to move, and I'm sure it will be exponentially harder with the boys. I just hope we can make it as smooth as possible and avoid any traumatic experiences.

Until next time.....

p.s. We miss you Tia Samantha!

~Latrice