My little ballerina

This past weekend was Tater's first recital! I was probably more nervous than she was. First off let me start by saying that this was a much bigger production than I thought it would be. Initially, when I signed her up for dance I had two options: beginner's ballet or a mommy and me class. The beginner's ballet had a recital at the end and I thought: "How cute, a recital! Same cost...how much fun would that be." I had no idea. I did not realize that she would have to have special shoes, make-up, a bun, $14.00 a seat tickets and no flash photography or video (because you can buy a professional video for only $30.00)! Seriously, this was a 3 and 4 year old class, not a Broadway show. Moving on...

(Notice my adorable niece next to Hannah really rockin' the show. She was so serious about dance!)

Like I said, I was much more nervous than her. I thought for sure she would get out there and freeze but she did exceptionally well. From what I could see backstage, she remembered all of the moves! The only mishap was that half of the girls (Hannah included) ran off stage the wrong way. It was so cute, they ended and stood there for a minute looking back and forth and then ran off the wrong way. Meanwhile we were back there trying our hardest to get them to come to us.
Here she is after the "grand ally" holding her flowers. I made sure that Daddy picked some up on the way to the show and she was so proud to get them. However, once her Grandma gave her a figurine the flowers were long forgotten.
Meanwhile, Zander was with Uncle Ty...the bachelor. Notice anything funny about his diaper?

Happy Mudder's Day

I hope that everyone had a wonderful mother's day or mudder's day according to Tater! Were you all pampered with breakfast in bed, no housework and no dirty diapers? No? Well me either! What is that about? We should all be royalty for the day! Seriously though, it was a great mother's day. Time spent with family and an amazing gift for a day at the spa as well as a beautiful gift picked out by the Tater herself!

However, as I was thinking about mother's day I started thinking about all of the mother's that don't get acknowledge and/or women who find mother's day to be extremely hard. What about the first mom's, who chose (or we coerced) into placing their baby with another family. Or those women who long to hold a baby in their arms, and can't conceive. Those of us with are complete family can rejoice this weekend because we are complete!

For others everything about this past weekend (and week building up to it) have been extremely hard. Another reminder of what they are missing. Everywhere you turn it is another commercial, ad or program reminding us that mother's day is upon us and we should honor mom with that something special gift. Can you just imagine being reminded at every turn just what you are missing? I can't even begin to fathom the pain.

On this mother's day, I would like to honor those women. Give them the acknowledgement that they deserve. So, to all those women whose arms are empty...there is not much that can be said to ease your sorrow, but I would still like to acknowledge you. Hopefully, someday soon you will be able to fill your empty arms. Happy first-mom's day, to all first moms! If I were a Hallmark card creator, I would make a card just for you.

Now for a little humor: check out this song.

Scavenger Hunt

Have I ever mentioned that I am a procrastinator? That would explain why at 7:45 I was running around like a mad woman trying to get my pictures taken for the scavenger hunt. I have known about said scavenger hunt since Monday and have been formulating my pictures since then. However, today I kind of forgot about it and the next thing I knew it was 7:45. So, I did not get to do it quite like I would have liked, but oh well.
Below you will find some of the healthiest foods in my house....mmmm, the fixings for a yummy salad!
Here is the most unhealthy food in my house. One of my weaknesses: cake batter ice cream. It is so delicious! Thankfully, we have had it four two weeks and there is barely any missing! (And yes I realize that the flowers are very brown, but Tater just picked them and wanted me to use it in my picture!)

Here are two of my favorite workout must-haves! My favorite shirt for jogging in and my Ipod...although it is rather large and not easy to run with. I would really like to get a nano, but that is neither here nor there.

A picture of part of me exercising:

This one was the trickiest as it was 7:45. However it is usually a nightly ritual when Mommy gets on the ball to do abs, kiddos see it as an open invitation. This was a very hard picture to take, in fact I had worked up a sweat by the time I got this shot that actually shows the ball. I do hate how I look, but time was running low.

To top it off....I lost a pound and a half this week. Woo-hoo!

Hello....?? Anybody there?

Geeze! I cannot believe that it has been so long since I posted! Where does time go? Well I blame it on my computer woes. (Yes I know that is the same excuse Cat used, but it really is true.) Something is up with my computer, first I couldn't leave comments on other blogs, then when I would try to log in it would redirect me a couple of times before I could log in and then it would redirect me over and over again and sometimes I could log in and sometimes I could not. So, I would just give up and move on. Point being, in order for me to post I have to use hubby's computer sometime during the day. If I don't get to it before dinner time, I'm out of luck. How often do you think I have time during the day to sit down uninterrupted? Yes, there is nap time but usually I am doing things like, oh I don't know laundry, dishes, vacuuming, picking up toys etc. I hope you all didn't give up on me...we're still here!

Hannah has her recital tomorrow! She is so excited. I just hope she does ok once she gets up on that big stage and sees everybody looking at her!

My other excuse for being MIA. It has been so nice out that we have been spending a lot of time outdoors. The kids are usually so much happier when we are outside AND they sleep so much better after running around all day. It really makes my life easier.

Weight Loss Extravaganza....Week 1

Well....I did not lose much weight this week. (Little side note: I actually thought I gained weight, but I think I read the scale wrong the first time I weighed myself because I did not turn the light on and I did not have my glasses on. So I was shocked when I read the scale the second time and I saw a 7 instead of a 1!!! At least I'm hoping that I read the scale wrong because I don't think it is possible to gain six pounds in a matter of a couple of days.) I am blaming my lack of weight loss on my Mom. She not only bought a cheesecake from Olive Garden (mmmm, black tie mouse cake) and sent me home with four pieces, but she also baked her awesome chocolate chip cookies and gave us about two dozen! So yeah, I'm blaming her!! Way to be responsible for my actions I know. I did however do very good with getting some exercise. I walked almost everyday (with a pinch of jogging), did some videos online, and of course tons of abs. Unfortunately, the junk food killed me. So my goal for next week is to jog a little bit more and stop eating the junk food! I think I am actually going to keep a log so that I see how much I am eating.

So I am a little disappointed with my results this week, but it just shows me I need to work a little bit harder next week!!

Edited: I just weighed myself again...not because I am obsessed or anything but because I thought that I did a lot of work this week and the scale just had to be wrong. Well when I weighed myself again I was down a total of 2.5 pounds!!! So I'm counting it for the week!

She is a QT!

The Tater got her outfit for her recital on Thursday. Doesn't she make an adorable ballerina?

The outside time-out corner woes. This is what happens when your Mommy tells you THREE times to get out of the neighbors yard and you don't listen!

Because this view is much funnier then the one previously posted!

Missing: One adorable, sweet baby

Found: One Rambunctious Toddler!!!Exhibit A: Climbing out of his stroller.

I do not know what happened. One day I was holding this sweet little baby and the next thing I know someone switched him out with a much more active toddler. This toddler does not sit still, he is always on the go, always getting into something and always climbing! This toddler does not like to cuddle, or be rocked to sleep as he is quite independent. Seriously, what happened to my little baby? Has anyone seen him?


Zander had his 18 month (18 MONTH!!!!) well check today. He is looking good, weighing in at 25 lbs, 40% and standing at 34 1/2 inches, 93%.





Exhibit B: standing in the tub (full of water) with his clothes on!



Exhibit C: large bruises can be found on his body at all times!



Well, I guess he is kind of handy to have around the house. He loves using the sweeper, which cuts my cleaning time in half! His vocabulary is really exploding right now it is amazing to listen to some of the things he has to say! (I need to make a list because right now I can only thing of regulars like MOMMEEEEE!)
It is also amazing to see how different he is from Hannah at this age. You would think as busy as Alex is, he would not like to walk in the stroller. However, he loves going for walks and I can take him on looong walks without a single complaint. Hannah on the other hand used to hate going on walks. We would barely get down the street and she would start whining. I would have expected it to be the exact opposite. He is also more adventurous then she was, but he is more shy around new people then she was.

Exhibit D: Eating a bowl of frosting!

I guess I should have seen it coming, you blink and the next thing you know they are grown. However, I am begging here: whoever took my baby and replaced him with this man child, could you please return him to his MOMMEEEE! I miss him and would love to rock him to sleep just one last time.

Weight Loss Extravaganza!!!

So after watching the Spring into Summer Slimdown for two weeks I decided to join in the fun! Seriously, I had my baby 18 MONTHS AGO! and still have all of my baby weight hanging on with the death grip o'fat. I have been saying that I am going to do something about it and as a matter of fact I have. I have stopped buying soda, I try to drink more water, buy more fresh fruits and veggies, and some natural cereals etc. However, the one thing that I have not done is actually get off my bum and exercise. After reading a great post about obsessions that described exactly how I felt; how I get so mad at myself and obsess over losing weight but don't. I decided to actually do something about my fatness...like oh, I don't know, maybe exercise. My goal is to lose 20 lbs! I want to look good in my swimsuit this summer when we go on vacation to the OBX.
So after deciding to join I get out and scout a good route to walk/jog. I only had the boy, so it was an easy walk with a single stroller, however I still was so unmotivated! I got through about half of what I thought my route would be and kept thinking that was far enough and I should just head home. Seriously, I was walking and I wanted to stop! (I should interject that it was a face pace walk, not just your leisurely stroll) Obviously I have a bit of a motivation problem. I just kept pushing on and made myself keep going. I need to figure out what can motivate me to actually exercise this week. Maybe the fact that when I put on a pair of capri's from last summer they did not fit! How did that happen?
Anyway, I will be trying to figure out what will keep me going. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated! Wish me luck. By the way, hop on over to the Baby Tea Leaves if you want to join in on the fun!

Hannah's Story

*The extremely long winded version*

Tony joined the Marine Corps in the summer of 2003 in the delayed entry program, meaning that he did not have to leave for boot camp until late November. He left the last week of November and his actual date of entry was December 2, 2003. A few weeks after he left I found out I was pregnant. This was a complete (wonderful) surprise. The problem was that the only form of communication I had with him was through letters. So I was faced with a choice, tell him in a letter, wait until he got home, or hope that he got a phone call on Christmas and tell him then. We got a five minute phone call in which I told him he was going to be a daddy!
The weeks went by, he graduated from boot camp in February and was home for 10 days before he had to got to MCT (Marine Combat Training). During that time my doctor did an early ultrasound so he could see the baby. At that time the doctor guessed she would be a girl. He left for MCT in NC and then headed to Missouri for his specialty training. Since Ft. Leonard Wood was only three hours from where my Dad lives I "moved" to my Dad's for about five months so I could be closer to my hubby.
Shortly after I got there I had my 20 week ultrasound. My step-mom actually worked at a OB/GYN office so I got a little special treatment. The doctor came in on a Saturday and did the ultrasound so Tony could be there. He spent at least thirty minutes with us, and even gave us a video copy of it! He confirmed that it was a girl and that was that.
At about 34 weeks I went for my doctor's appointment and was having a few problems. (I will spare some of the details here.) I was given a non-stress test and Hannah's heart-rate dropped pretty low during this. The doctor came running in and told me to roll onto my side. I did, it did not help. I rolled to the other side and it came back up. He told me the baby did not like me laying on my back. He also told me I was having some contractions and he wanted to monitor them. He very quickly sent me down to the hospital, I was hospitalized (the weekend of July 4th) to try to get the contractions to stop. Originally I was sharing a room, but when one of the doctor's saw that he simply said "This won't do. I'll get you your own room." Shortly after, I had my own room. (Did I mention I got special treatment?) I was given the wonderful Magnesium Sulfate...which gave me hot flashes, nausea and really was no fun! I was also not allowed to get up...pregnant lady + bedpan = no fun. Seriously can you just imagine trying to use a bedpan at 34 weeks? Anyway, I was sent home on Sunday on bed rest and was given a prescription to take every four hours to keep the contractions from coming back.
I started noticing that my contractions were coming back between the pills. I went back for my weekly appointment at 35 weeks and I was having contractions again. I was hospitalized and the doctor told me to be prepared to stay until I had the baby. Shortly after I was admitted the nurses started noticing that Hannah's heart rate was dropping after each contraction. They just said they would monitor it because for now it was fine. Then my membranes started leaking. Did I mention that she was breech? So, there was no way she was coming on naturally.
My step-mom contacted the red cross in order to get ahold of my husband. Even though he was only at school, during the day I had no way to get ahold of him. The red cross said they could not contact him because it was not a life threatening situation. To which my step-mom put the doctor on the phone and he told them that it WAS a life threatening situation any time anyone went into surgery. Not to mention that the baby was five weeks early and was experiencing fetal distress. So they called him around 1:00pm on Friday. His Sgt. would not let him leave until around 3:00.
Around 5:00 pm Tony still was not here and the doctor said we could not wait any longer. My Dad went into surgery with me. I was really amazed at how fast the surgery was! I could feel pressure, but tried not to think about what was going on. Then I felt the doctor pulling Hannah. He was really pulling hard, so hard in fact that I felt him pull me up off the table and I had really bad bruising around my incision a couple of days later. He finally got her out and she had the cord wrapped around her neck twice, which is why she was stuck. She was also not breathing. They whisked her over to the bassinet where I could not see her, but I saw the blue bag! I was so scared, I remember asking my Dad what was going on. I kept telling him to go check, but he said he didn't want to get in the way. After a few minutes she cried, then they whisked her away to the nursery. She was such a tiny baby, 5 lbs 11 oz and 17 3/4 inches long! (By the time we left she was only 5 lbs).
I went to recovery and on my way out, they stopped at the nursery so I could see Hannah. Just as they brought her out Tony walked around the corner. This was about 6:00 pm so he just missed her! Anyway, I remember how beautiful she was and how much blond hair she had! They took her back to the nursery and I did not get to see her until after 9:00 because they wanted to monitor her and make sure everything was ok.
The next morning my mom and Tony's parents arrived after driving all night from Ohio. Sometime that morning the pediatrician came in (when Tony was not in there) and said she noticed a problem. She said that Hannah's limbs were shorter than they should be, specifically the long bones. She also said that she was born early because when something is wrong this is how it is taken care of. (Although my Mom does not remember her saying that, she says that she said she was born early because she had something wrong.) Anyway, I was devastated that she would give me this kind of news, especially when my husband was not with me and then to say something rude like that. I have an entire different post about that. The rest of our stay was uneventful, except for the fact that Tony got food poisoning and was sick as a dog. We got sent home on Sunday the 11th and Tony had to head back to school that night.
The first week of her life she had so many tests. She had several blood tests, she had an MRI and she had jaundice so she had to stay under the light for the first week. The second blood test was a DNA test to check for the gene mutation in the FGFR3 gene. She was poked five times, including once in the head, before the doctor decided to do an arterial draw. That was not fun. The MRI came back normal and we had a few weeks to wait for the lab results. The DNA tests are 99% accurate for achondroplasia and 80% accurate for hypochondroplasia. The results said "No sequence change from normal" Hmm, what does that mean? The geneticist who ordered the blood tests had said that Hannah had very mild outward appearance of achondroplasia but she still thought it was achondroplasia rather than hypochondroplasia.
When she was five weeks old, Tony graduated from his school and we went back to Ohio for a few weeks. Then we moved to North Carolina which would be our home for the next three years. However, when she was six months old, Tony left for Iraq so we went back to Ohio for the seven months to be with family. During that time we went to the Cleveland Clinic to see a geneticist. He did a full skeletal survey and diagnosed Hannah with achondroplasia from that. He said he would like to find out more about what happened at John Hopkins, but we never heard back from him because by that time she was a year old and we were back in North Carolina.
Since then she has had no serious problems. It was just nice to have an official diagnosis so we knew what we were up against. We had already assumed it was achondroplasia and had researched it, and understood it but now it was official.
Looking back I feel like I was so uninformed, mostly by my own fault. After looking back over the results it now brings up questions that I should have asked back then. There are so many things that I should have been concerned about that I did not really know about. I was wearing my rose colored glasses thinking that everything was going to be ok. Which, up to this point it has and I am very thankful for that. It has taught me that I need to be more informed and I need to be prepared to ask questions to ensure that she is getting the care that she needs.

Be on the lookout for my "report" on what achondroplasia is.

Little Person BIG BED

The girl has been "sneaking" down at night and climbing into our bed. I say "sneaking" because we usually hear her, but just let her go. Last night when we went to bed this is what we saw. I had to laugh because compared to her the bed is so big and yet she is in the corner with her leg hanging over the side! Silly girl.
Apparently my kids like to take turns being sick. Hannah just finished taking antibiotics for a double ear infection yesterday and then Alex started getting fussy. So I took him to the doctor and he has another double ear infection. Geese this kid gets so many ear infections (you would think he was achon). Thankfully we are going to the ENT on Tuesday!

On a side note, I am having issues with blogger. I tried to comment on several blogs today and I kept getting an error message. So I'm not being antisocial, I'm just having issues with blogger. Is anyone else having problems? Kim you can add me. (Preston is such a cutie by the way!)

See, I am crazy!

I do not know what I was worried about! We met four amazing families and with so many beautiful kiddos to talk about, I was never in the corner by myself. We spent the majority of the time oohing and aahing over the children and chit-chatting. The kids were all beautiful, here are just a few of the many pictures I took. Unfortunately the older kids were busy running around so I did not take any pictures of he AH kids. First meet the infamous Knoah! Just look at that grin...doesn't it just say "TROUBLE?"
We also met the beautiful Kaela! She is the prettiest little girl with beautiful blue eyes and the sweetest personality.

Here is the handsome Owen. He was the big man, showing off all of his tricks! Look at that adorable face. He reminded us so much of Hannah at that age (except for the fact that he was a boy and didn't really look like her!)

Next up is Aidan, whose Mommy does not have a blog! Just look at those adorable blue eyes. Owen and Aidan both have gorgeous red hair...they almost look like they could be related.

We tried to get the kids all together, I did not have much luck on my end maybe one of the other moms got a better picture. The poor kids had so many cameras flashing at them, they probably were getting tired of it by this point.

Here are all of the Mommies with our beautiful children. From left to right, is Sarah and Kaela, Sue and Aidan, Me and Hannah, bottom: Cat and Owen and Tonya and Knoah.

We had so much fun playing with all the kids and my Hannah absolutely fell in love with Tonya's Hannah! She was still talking about her right before bed. I am so glad we got the chance to meet so many amazing people, thanks Tonya for getting everybody together.

Nerves

If you know me, you probably know that I am pretty shy. When I first meet somebody I tend to come across as being either a snob or a big dork because I am so shy. Don't get me wrong, once I get to know a person it is hard to get me to shut-up. It is that initial awkward phase that I hate. I hate being in large social settings, I hate meeting new people and I hate being the center of attention. I get anxious and worry about every little detail. In fact I even get anxious about simple things...my husband orders the pizza's around here! Sometimes I just want to stay inside so I don't have to meet new people.
I am telling you this because we are meeting a bunch of new people tomorrow and I have been on edge about it all day long. We are going up to Monroe to meet with four other families that also have children with achondroplasia. While I am excited to meet people who are in the same situation as us, I am still as nervous as all get out.
What should I wear? Man I look HUGE in everything, I really need to get serious about losing this weight! What if they don't like me? What if my pies are no good? (Did I mention that I am taking pies?) What if my kids misbehave? What if I have nothing to talk about and I end up alone in the corner?
Seriously people, these are the types of things that have been running through my head all day long. Is this normal? Am I some sort of recluse that should move up to the mountains and stay in a secluded cabin? What has happened to me that I have become such a shy person? Where has all of this fear come from?

Too much chocolate?

I really never thought I would say this but perhaps we got too much candy from our three egg hunts. Take a look at our loot:
Seriously, that bucket is overflowing with candy! Anybody want to place bets on how long it will last? I am guessing that in this house...not as long as it should!

Really, that is a lot of candy...so I decided as of yesterday that I would go on an all chocolate diet. What? I think I hear my father-in-law telling us to just smash it on our hips and call it a day.

An Easter Photo Essay

Our Easter spanned two weeks, as we had Easter at my in-laws on Palm Sunday and then Easter at my parents on Easter. So I thought I would use a bunch of pictures since I have not posted any in awhile due to blogger's picture loader being broken for a few weeks.This was Palm Sunday, our family. Unfortunately my father-in-law only took one picture for us so even though us girls are smiling pretty...the boys have their usual look.

Tater and her Daddy. (Note he has the same look as above photo) Such a sweet picture!

My poor Zandey on the egg hunt. He had a fever all day, and we just assumed it was a combination of teething or ears. So, he was a bit clingy and unhappy for most of the day. When we got home we took his temperature and it was 103.0 under his arm. It ended up he had Rosiolla and had the fever all of Monday and Tuesday then got a slight rash on Thursday.

Little Zandey collecting his eggs at the egg hunt at grandma and grandpa's. I think he did have some fun despite the fact that he had a fever.

Tater finding an egg...notice her facial expression she takes after her Daddy quite a bit in this department. Quite the excitement on finding eggs.

Here she is right after she found her basket. She is showing me her Duckie Fur-real. I forgot to mention that she just had to have a polka-dot dress. I looked all over to find a cute one for Easter, this was a second favorite as it was not the spring colors. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures on Easter Sunday when she was in her dress:(

Is this how I use the bucket mom? This was Easter Sunday and he was feeling much better. We had our egg hunt after we got home from church because my kids do not like to get up early (and neither does mommy).

Here is Tater finding an egg with another goofy face. If I would post pictures of my hubs you would understand that it comes naturally. Also please don't mind how busy the picture is because I was too lazy to crop it.

Apparently I need to be more clear with my directions. He is looking for his basket "under the desk." I laugh just looking at the picture because the basket is just staring him in the face and I had to point it out to him.

Hannah had much better luck finding her basket. She learned how to play the hot and cold game at Grandma Chips house practicing egg hunts. It was so funny because the first time Grandma said you are getting hot...you're burning up, Hannah asked why Grandma said she was going to start a fire. It took us a minute to figure out what she was talking about. Here she is exclaiming that she got "Pongo mobee." Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures at my Mom's Easter...not sure why because I had my camera!

Overall it was a great Easter. We celebrated with family and it was not too busy. I did make three pies from scratch and it took me a lot longer than expected. Of course I waited until Saturday night to start them, but that is typical. I made an apple, coconut cream and a sugar pie. Overall they turned out good, but the sugar was not what I expected. And we got a BUNCH of candy!

He looks so much older!

We took Alex to get his very first haircut here. We mainly went for the fun chairs, for pictures...however I did not really like the chair he was put in. He did a great job at first.
Check out that wicked mullet! If we were back in the 80's he would be stylin'. That is why we decided it was time to get his hair cut, we did not want people referring to our son as Joe Dirt.

We got to pick out a move for him to watch. So of course we picked out the Wigg-les. As you can see below, he was zoned out for the first part of the haircut.

If the stylist would have been faster he would have done awesome, however it took her almost an hour. Seriously, I am not exaggerating it took an hour people. If you know my son you know he does not sit still for five minutes....imagine an hour long haircut.

Here is where it started to get interesting, I held him on my lap, held his head and finally gave him a sucker just to keep him still. At one point the hubs was holding his head down so that the slowest stylist on earth could finish. It would have been a great experience if she was not so stinking slow. Would I recommend this place to a friend? Well, yes as long as you do not get Ashley as your stylist. Unfortunately I did not take an after picture because by the time she was done he was hysterical and I was just ready to get the heck out of there! We did get a cute certificate with a picture and a lock of his mullet and now he seriously looks all grown up...sniff, sniff.

The right place at the right time

When hubs was scheduled for his second tour to Iraq, we debated on what to do with our house. Should we put it on the market when he leaves so we have plenty of time to sell it, or wait until he gets home. If we sold it when he left, we would not have the extra costs and could save up money. However, when he returned in October, he would still have two months and if we sold it we would not have a place to live. Not to mention the fact that I had a baby and that the market was so good in our area we decided to wait. Mainly because I wanted to be with hubs when he got home!
So we waited. We figured we would sell our house in no time flat. When we were buying our house, houses were selling after only being on the market for a few days so we were not worried. The problem was that we had no idea where we would go. Hubs did not have a job lined up so if the house sold we would have had to put our stuff in storage until something came up. We put our house on the market towards the end of October. Then November came and went with no offers. Then December, of course things would slow down during the holidays so we had only a couple of people walk through the house. By this time I was really starting to get nervous! Our insurance had went up, making our house payment almost 300 dollars more expensive. January started off slow as well, then we started getting calls.
Well, hubs was officially discharged on January 1, 2008. We had decided around Christmas, that to save money we would pack up our clothes and go to Ohio to stay with family during our time of transition. In the meantime Tony's Grandma was getting ready for a three month visit to her daughter's house in South Dakota. In mid January we got an offer on the house, after a few counter offers, we sold our house! Our closing date was February 22. However, we were still not sure what we would do with our stuff.
About the time we accepted the offer, Hubs' Grandma decided that she was going to move to South Dakota permanently. Meaning we would have a place to stay! Isn't God good? The week before our closing, we boxed her belonging and Hubs and his Dad drove her belonging to her. THE WEEK BEFORE! If things had happened in our timing it would have been a big mess. We would have not had a place to live and would have had to move our stuff twice. However, God saw the big picture. He knew that Grandma would be moving and that it would be a perfect opportunity for us. I am so thankful that He is in control!

Welcome Leah Grace!

We would like to welcome the newest edition to the family, Leah Grace. She was born at 8:28 am and was 7 lbs 13 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Proud sisters Anna and Abbie (above) were so excited for her arrival. Anna and Abbie were at my house waiting for the big news, my Mom dropped them off at 7:00 am. Starting about 7:30 Anna kept asking when her baby would be born and when she could go see her etc. We finally got to go visit at noon and we could not get there soon enough! They are so precious, and we are so excited to have a new niece!

Dude, don't be so moto!

As our house is being (very slowly) packed up I have been reflecting on the past four years of military life. Mainly reflecting on things that I have learned, some deep such as how I can be a strong "single" mom of two while hubby is deployed for seven months, the pride of being married to one of the few, and some silly. For now let us focus on the not so serious. The followings are words and phrases that I had never heard of prior to enlistment and for those of you not in the know I will give you the definition:

Head - bathroom

Field-day - sounds fun, but really it means cleaning

Rack - bed

Moonbeam - flashlight

Go fasters - tennis shoes, you know cause you can go faster in your tennis shoes then your combat boots

Semper Fi(delis) - Always faithful

Devil Dog - a nickname for any Marine

Oorah (not to be confused with Hoorah) - can mean a number of things, like if somebody asks a group of Marines how they are doing, it is usually answered with a loud oorah!

PT - no not physical therapy, physical training

Various ranks

The significance of 10 November - The Marine Corps birthday in 1775, which is to be celebrated every year with a ball

Commissary - Grocery Store

Exchange - a mini mall!

Boot - Usually refering to somebody fresh out of boot camp who is still in that deer in the headlights phase. Commonly used like so: "That guy is so boot!"

Skate - referring to not doing any work, just skating by

Moto - Referring to somebody who is really motivated

Key Volunteers - A network for wives, sometimes really, really informative and others not so much

A few phrases my husband picked up:
That's a negative, or sometimes he just says "negative."

Roger that

The phonetic alphabet, you know like alpha, bravo, charlie which sometimes gets a bit annoying when I want a simple answer to a simple question like how do you spell...

Funny story about hubby field-daying. When he fresh out of boot and at his specialty school he would call me whenever he got a free minute. Usually when asked what he was doing, he would say that he was field-daying and wasn't supposed to be on the phone. With my limited knowledge of such terms I just assumed it was something recreational, like jogging or something. I mean don't you remember when you had a field day at school and would get to be outside all day doing various fun physical activities? It took me a few weeks to realize what he was talking about. Mainly because he started being so specific, saying he was field-daying his room and that his roommate was a slob. Um, ok! I don't know if I ever told him about that or not.

Seriously, it has been a great experience. Being here has made me sad. I miss the community, the instant family, the (ahem) steady job, great benefits and most importantly seeing my cute husband in uniform. Have you ever seen a man in uniform? Seriously, almost any guy looks good in uniform, so take my cute hubby + uniform = hottness!!! That being said my husband is happy to be a civilian. However, I think once he gets a "real" job he will be shocked at how easy he did have it. I mean how many jobs do you know of where you go in at 7:30 get a two hour lunch and usually be home by 4:30? Of course that was not always the case as they "owned" him and technically he was on-call 24-7. It has been a great ride, we have had our ups and downs but we would NOT trade it. So, good-bye Havelock. Good by Marine Corps, Semper Fi. I will miss you...(sigh)

Come join our club! It's really, really fun....REALLY!

Zander had managed to pass his misery on to all of us. We are all plugged up snotty messes. Except Tater, she just has an ear infection. It is really strange that she had no symptoms she just started complaining that her ear hurt on Sunday. So the very next day we took her to the Doctor and she had a BAD ear infection, so bad her ear drum had popped. Yikes! How is it that she did not complain about anything until it was that bad?
This all leads into our wonderful night we had last night. Tony took me out to OG for my birthday (yummy) and we had a great time. Unfortunately I did not have all my homework done. So when we got home, we put the kids to bed and I had to finish up the rest of my homework. I got it done around one and went up to bed. I was so exhausted from the yucky cold and I just wanted to sleep! I swear that I just got comfortable and I hear Alex crying then coughing then crying some more. So, I went to get him only to be greeted by the smell of throw-up. I get Tony and we start the clean-up process. I clean Zandey and he cleans the sheets. It was pretty funny listening to him rinse the sheets and gag. We get everything cleaned up and Daddy decides to sleep in the chair with Zander. I give him a towel and he looks at me questioning what it was for. Trust me, you'll need it was my response.
I just started to fall asleep and I hear Tony calling me because he needs my help. It is around 3:30 by now and this time Zander got Daddy. He was finally initiated into the club after three years and seven months of being a parent. It was the first time Tony has been around when the kids have been sick, so it was the first time he has ever been the target! I have been thrown-up on countless of times and I told him when he got back from Iraq it was his turn! We start the whole process over again. Get everything cleaned up, I throw all of the sheets, blankets, towels and jammies into the washer. Tony takes Zander back down to the chair and we repeat it again. By this time there is nothing left in the poor guy's stomach. We decide that we don't think that he is really sick, we think it is all of that mucus in there because it is brought on by the cough.
It is now 4:00. Hannah wakes up because her ear hurts. She wants to be in bed with me. Ok, I put her in bed with me. She tosses and turns so I give her motrin. She finally falls asleep and Daddy comes up with Zander. We switch and I take Zander into the other bedroom. Time is now 5:30. Are we going to get any sleep? Hannah wakes up at 9:00 and starts crying because she wants Mommy. Tony brings her into the room and she wakes up Zander. Tony takes Zander downstairs and I lay down with Hannah. Not long later the dog comes running in and wakes up Tater. By this point my eyes are burning and my head is pounding. Thanfully, I have a wonderful husband who let me sleep until noon and then let me take a two hour nap with the girl. Without that sleep I do not think that I could have made it through the day.
I did have a wonderful birthday though, just not a good birthday night. I got my camera and I have enjoyed playing with it. We had my party with my family on Saturday and then my dinner with his parents tonight. So I got to enjoy two amazing meals, two very yummy chocolate cakes and a dinner out with my hubby all in four days. Now on to valentine's day...

Stuck in the matrix

Things are such a mess right now. We came up to Ohio a couple weeks before Christmas without any definite plans on how long we were going to stay up here. We packed a bunch of clothes and took off. Now, two months later we are still here. Living one week with my parents and the next week with his. It is such a hassle to move back and forth every week. Not to mention I never know if I lost something or if it is just at the other house. Right now I am missing two hairbrushes...two! If I was smart I would have left one at each house and been done with it, but instead I had one in my diaper bag and the other I would pack. Well now I can't find either of them.
Not to mention the strain it has on the marriage. You know, being treated (and some of us acting) like you are teenagers again can also put some strain on the marriage. I keep telling myself, just a couple more weeks...just a couple more weeks. You can do this! However it does not seem to be working. Everyday I get a little more frustrated, everyday I hold that frustration in. We don't want our families seeing what a crazy person I am! So for now I just feel stuck. Wishing that things were different. Wishing for that ocean breeze, wishing for a stable job, wishing for health insurance at least for the children. I am just stuck wishing...

Yucky, yucky, snot, snot!

Little Zander woke up such a grouch today which is so not like him. Normally he is Mr. Smiley in the morning. All day long he would not let me put him down, he was whiny and would not nap. He was full of snot, his nose would not stop running, he was coughing and his eyes were all puffy and red. Eventually we resorted to a car ride just so the poor little guy could get some rest. I knew it was his ears, it is always his ears....but hmmm, we do not have insurance. So we have the big debate on if he should be seen or not if he should suffer. (Of course I am the one voting for him to go and hubby is voting for suffering) It was also a debate on whether or not we should pump him full of antibiotics every time he gets the "sniffles." We eventually went and guess what? The boy has a double ear infection.....AGAIN! Not only that but when the doc looked in his ear she said it was "wicked." I believe she said that a couple times. Then she said she wished there was a med student there to see it because it was so bad. The poor baby, it seems like he has only been healthy for a week. Of course the free antibiotic does not clear him up. Oh no, he needs the expensive shot, three days in a row! The doctor wants us to start thinking about tubes, but hmmmm...NO INSURANCE!!! Which is an entirely different post, so please don't get me started on that. For now I would just like everyone to pray that Zandey sleeps through the night. I really do not want to sleep in the chair tonight.

It was bound to happen sooner or later...

About two weeks ago Missy Tater cut her hair. Thankfully it is not noticeable at all, she mainly cut some hair close to her bangs, so it looks like she has a little framing going on. However, it could have been much worse. She was upstairs working with Grandpa in his office when Grandpa had to run out and move his car. After a couple of minutes I got worried when she did not reappear. I was thinking that she probably got her hands on an important contract and it was now covered in pink marker. So I ran upstairs and yelled her name and she appeared from Grandma's room. My first thought went to makeup. I gave her the once over and she had no evidence of makeup. Hmm, I thought I must have caught her in time. I followed her down the steps and we snuggled up on the couch to watch some Dora. A few minutes later I notice a bunch of hair covering the blanket. Odd. So I ran my fingers through her hair and a bunch fell out. Hmmm, what is going on. I ran my fingers through her hair again and even more fell out. By this time I was mentally FREAKING out because I started thinking something was wrong with her. Her hair was falling out, what kind of disease did she have? My heart started pounding and I was getting ready to call my mom (the nurse) to ask her what I should do. I ran my fingers through her hair again and a big clump fell out. Before I really wigged out, it dawned on me that she cut her hair.
Me: "Hannah, did you cut your hair?"
H: "Now Mommy, don't yell at me."
Me: "Hannah, DID you cut your hair?"
H: "Mommy, don't get mad."
Me: "HANNAH, DID YOU CUT YOUR HAIR?"
H: Nods her head and quietly says "Mommy, I said don't yell at me."
Really, how can you be mad at such a sweet girl? We went through the whole conversation about how you don't cut your hair, only the stylist can cut it...yada, yada, yada.
I kept the big chunk to put in her baby book. I would take a picture of it, but I cannot locate my camera at the moment. A picture will follow. Actually a picture can't follow because my blogger is not working right, but when it starts working then a picture will follow.

An American Solider

It is only fitting that on my first RWBF I pay tribute to my husband Sgt. Fries. Although he is no longer active duty, he served for four years with two deployments to Iraq. I feel like there is so much to say and so many people to pay tribute to. He is my rock and I am so thankful that he was able to return to me. Although his sacrafice was not as great as some, his greatest sacrafice was missing so much of our children's lives, before he left for his second deployment he kept talking about how much he was going to miss. Yet he was still an amazing father while he was gone. Like most that were with him, he rose to the occasion and went above and beyond what was expected of him. So, to him and to all of those Workhorses, I would like to say a big THANK YOU!!!

Follow me through a bunch of rabbit trails...and some poo

Miss Tater-Tots had her first ever dance lesson tonight. She was so adorable! Her Grandma Chips bought her a cute little leotard outfit with matching slippers. The bummer deal is that is in an enclosed room so we watch them on a little tv which means no pictures! It was cute to watch though, the floor has little blue squares to sit on and since her cousin Anna is in the class they sat next to each other. One problem she had was when they went to the ballet bar and Missy Tots could not reach it. Her teacher told her to just touch the wall. I think she did pretty good for it being her first class. I was a little worried about how well she would listen, and on occassion the teacher had to personally get her attention but I think that is normal for a three year old. I think that she likes the class and we plan on signing up for three months as it was our trial night. There was one little incident that happened after the class. There was a little boy there who was probably 8 or 9ish, who was a rambunctious little fellow. (As a side note I would like to think that my children would be able to sit still or at least do as asked when they are that age as it was only a half-hour class, my second side note is that he had nothing to do so was probably bored) Anyway, after the class let out Hannah walked past him and he said "She has a really big head!" Thankfully Hannah did not hear him, but that is the first time that we have ever really had anything like that happen. I was not prepared for it. I just let it slide even though that is not what I wanted to do. Up until this point she just looked small for her age, now it is starting to be noticable. I have to question myself as to how we are going to deal with this. I would like her to be able to just shrug it off and not let it bother her. To be able to stand up for herself and say, yes my head is big so what? Or when people call her shorty she can just laugh because she is short. I want her to be the strong one, even though on the inside I want to protect her from the hurt that it will cause her, the sneers of the uninformed. It hurts my heart when I think of all she will be up against, but I know that she has spunk and she will get through it.

********This next part talks a lot about poo!********
So, we are almost there I can feel it. At least I hope we are and I am not just getting worked up over nothing. Maybe she won't be the first one to have to delay entering the public school system because she won't go "poopy in the big girl potty." Because I was seriously starting to wonder if it would ever happen. Tuesday night she actually pooped in the big girl potty...all by herself. With no coaching, coaxing or forcing. She just went in there and pushed it out. Of course we sang and danced and jumped around, she even got a prize out of the deal. Then later that night she pooped in her pull-up. It is sort of like take one step forward and two steps back because she'll poop and then will refuse to sit on the potty for months. Then tonight she wanted to try again and bless her heart she tried, and tried and tried. She tried for over an hour with little success (just a few little "poops" came out). Poor girl was so tired because it was past her bedtime, she just started crying saying that it hurt and she wanted her diaper. I talked her into trying some more with no luck. I still made a big deal about it and she will still get a prize in the morning, but I just wish it was not so hard for her. I sometimes wonder if it has anything to do with her short stature. I mean how would you like to try and poo when your legs are straight out in front of you?

Smarty Pants

It all started a few months ago when Alex would say "me" whenever he wanted something. Me turned into "dis" (this), he sees something points with one finger and says dis! Now he is starting to say more and more everyday. Here are some of his words:

Dada
Mama (only when crying...little stinker!)
Ball
Dog
Alllllll d (all done)
a-choo
uh-oh
Abbie

Yesterday it sounded like he said cheese, but I have not heard it again so I can't be sure if he said it or not. He is so smart and is learning everday. I just cannot beleive that he is 15 months old already!

Jingle Bells

We FINALLY got a tree on Sunday. There was much debate at the Tater-Tot household; get one, don't get one, artificial, real.... So while hubby was at a friends watching the game I made an executive decision because my little girl wanted a tree. She was so excited to pick out a tree, although I was a little bummed because going to wally world is not the same as going to the real tree farm in Ohio. Anyway, the entire time she kept talking about jingle bells. "Are we going to put jingle bells on our tree mommy? I really want jingle bells!" Mind you I had no idea what jingle bells were. The next morning we could not find the tree stand, hmmm maybe the shed. I braved the spiders to look for the stupid thing. Not there. Hubby went to storage, not there. Well maybe the garage, yep right where he said it wasn't! Well our tree stand is from the lovely tree farm in Ohio. It is the kind with a spike in it that you pound into the tree. Only at the farm they do it for you, well obviously that was not going to happen. So hubby pounded away. After not much progress I suggested that he should hit it harder. Well that is all it took to crack the water bowl. Next step, improvise. While I was telling him to go get a new one, he had it in his head that it would not be that hard to make one. So when I was not looking he took one of my nice big plastic mixing bowls and drilled a hole in it. Nice. For now it is holding its own. So, a couple of hours after planned the tree was up. Which actually worked out nice because it was Alex's nap time. As I opened up the bin with all of the decorations Hannah exclaims "Jingle bells! Are we going to put them on the tree?" I was kind of surprised to see that they were the actual bulbs that she must have noticed when we put up the rest of the decorations last week. When I told her we were, she shouted "Cool dude! High five!" It was so cute.

Here she is with her jingle bells. The entire bottom of the tree was full of glass bulbs, which I explained we had to move so that Alex could not reach them. She did not mind, she thought she was big stuff helping and kept saying "I put this high so Alex can't reach." She was quite proud of herself. In the end there was this small group left.

OVERWHELMED

I have been feeling a little out of sorts lately. A lot of it has to do with our life circumstances, it seems like everything around me is changing and my personality hates change. Not to mention the stress of not knowing what the future holds. Not knowing if hubs will find a job in time, not knowing if we will sell the house before we run out of income, not knowing in what city to start looking for a new house etc, etc. So I am feeling overwhelmed, beaten down, low and basically depressed. Which is such a bummer because it is Christmas and I want to be all holly and jolly but I can't. I am trying to just breathe and trust that God has it under control. I am having a hard time trusting. I am really just trying to take it day-to-day and just enjoy having my husband home but, every day brings us one day closer to not having an income. That freaks me out just a little bit. I am really at a loss, I have never felt this way before and it is starting to scare me.

Nothing but a house full of sick kids

It started on Friday with a routine check-up for Tater. I took her to her new PCM in order to get a referral to the endocrinologist. During the check-up the doctor looked in her ears and said that it was so full of wax that she could not see into it. She gave us some ear wax softener and sent us on our merry way. Saturday shortly after I put the drops in she started crying saying that it hurt. I looked in her one ear and it had blood in it. I was a little freaked out by this, but hubs did not seem to think it was that big of a deal. When asked if it her Tater always said no, but she would not let us touch or clean out either ear. Normally she loves getting her ears cleaned so this kind of worried me as well. We ignored it for the night thinking that if she complained that it hurt we would take her to ready care. Then today when I put the drops in her ears she did the same thing saying that they hurt her. So at about six I convinced hubs to let us go to ready care. We got there and the doctor looked in her right ear, the one with the blood and said it was fine. He looked in her left ear and she SCREAMED, and fought because it hurt. She then would not let him finish the exam without a fight, that girl is a tough one. Daddy held her arms, the doctor her head and I held her legs. Fun times. The problem: a badly infected ear. Not sure what the blood from the other ear was, he said it possibly ruptured and is repairing itself but he just saw some scar tissue.

As we are about to leave I decide that maybe Alex should get checked out. He has had a cold since we were in Ohio. Whenever he has a cold that drags on like that it is always the ears. So, once again I convince hubs that we should stay at ready care to get the boy checked out. His story is slightly less dramatic as he had an ear infection in his right ear and a "slight" upper respiratory infection. So antibiotics all around!

By this time it is a little after seven. Hmmm, I wonder what pharmacy is open on a Sunday night? I take out my phone and start calling every pharmacy under the sun, to find out that all of them close at six or seven on Sunday. As I am calling hubs is driving through town to all the ones that I have yet to call. Apparently, you can go to the auto parts store, get a tattoo, get fast food, rent a video, and go tanning BUT if your kids are sick you cannot get them antibiotics.

Ball

Here is a picture of us last night at the Marine Corps Ball. I was a little sad knowing this would be our last one, and the last time I see hubby all spiffy in his dress blues. He on the other hand was very excited knowing that this was the last ball!

The pirate and the princess

Alexander has been making this face lately, we call it the pirate face. He makes it when he is mad and fussing and he makes it when he smiles. It is quite the face!

Here is the princess, showing off her outfit that Grandma Fries bought for her. I put it on her to see how it fit and she did not want to take it off!

In the blink of an eye...

Just the other day it hit me how fast my children are growing up. It started with a conversation between some friends about sleep habits. One of the gals was talking about how she loved to rock her three year old to sleep because that is the only real snuggle time she gets with him. Another, who has teens, said that she missed that age and how she wished she could rock her kids again. That started me thinking, it won't be long before I do not get to hold, snuggle, hug and kiss my children like I do now. I was holding Zander just eating him up, when it hit me that one day I won't be able to do this. One day he will be a young man embarrassed by his mom's kisses and not long after that he will be a man. Once he is a man I will only get the hello hug with a kiss on the cheek; no more snuggles! The same with Hannah, she is such a big girl already that I have started laying down with her for nap time. Just so I can smell her hair and snuggle close for that little bit of time. I mentioned this to hubby and he got nostalgic, saying that he too misses cuddling with Hannah. He said how much he enjoys it when she crawls up on his lap and reads a book or watches a movie with him. He too noted how it will not be long before she no longer wants to do these things. I remember the day she was born so vividly, how could three years have passed so quickly? It saddens me to realize how much I take for granted during my time with them. How often I shoo them away so that I can "get something done". Already they are so big, no longer babies but a toddler and preschooler. I know they are still so young, but before I know it they will be tweens, teens and young adults. So, for now I have decided to stop worrying so much about homework and keeping the house spotless and instead focus my attention on them. However, when I fail out of school and I cannot show my house because it looks like a tornado tore through it, at least I will know that this season too shall pass.

The crazy man has moved in

I never knew the craziness that was involved in selling a house. I mean seriously people, do not call and expect to see a house in 20 minutes! As a mom of two young children I need more than 20 minutes to frantically run through the house and shove a bunch of junk into hiding places, um I mean put things in their rightful spot. This has happened twice now. Once yesterday in which I obliged and once this morning. This morning I told them no way, the kids were still sleeping and the kitchen was still a mess from supper last night. There was no way it could be ready to go in 20 minutes. So, we kindly asked them to pick a later time, for which they no showed. Ah well at least my house is spotless again.

Also, the house knows man! It knows that we are trying to sell it and is working against us I swear! Since we put the house on the market we have had: the dishwasher break, the hot water heater start to leak and the tub faucet start to leak. Therefore we have spent a lot of money in plumbers lately.

The worst part of it all is that we do not know where we will be relocating to. This of course means that we cannot start to house hunt. I mean the best part about selling your house is knowing that you are going to find a bigger house...hopefully a much bigger house.

Mean Ole Mommy

Poor Alexander Jay has been subjected to a very mean mommy the past five nights. I decided that it was time that he be weaned from the rocking, nursing and paci all in one shot. I figured that it would be easier than doing one at a time and that he would be so upset about being put to bed awake that he would not even notice the paci being gone. It all started when my friend called to tell me she was going to get rid of her sons nuk that night and she wanted some moral support. We went back and forth for awhile talking about the pros of doing it and so forth. I talked about how I wanted to get rid of Zander's soon and how I should start placing him down awake and she encouraged me that now was a good time. So on Sunday night we went through our regular routine and I nursed him and started to rock him, but he was fighting me. He did not want to go to sleep, so I gave him some extra snuggles and kisses then I placed him in his crib. I did however nurse him beforehand. (I have yet to decide if we are ready for a complete wean, he does not seem ready and I'm not sure if I am either.) He cried his little eyes out for maybe fifteen minutes. It was not that bad.....the bad part came at around 1:30 am when he woke up for his midnight snack. He screamed and screamed. It broke my heart to hear him cry like that but I knew that if I went in it would only get worse. So, husband went in and it got worse. We knew at that point the best thing to do would be to let him cry. Thankfully, after that he slept until 7:30. By then I was so engorged I caved and brought him to bed with me. Monday for nap, he barely cried five minutes. Monday night, same thing maybe five minutes. By now I think he is getting used to being put to bed awake, but he still makes noise about it. He also still wakes up around 1:00 every night, but sleeps until 8:30-9:00 which is much better than before. He is also taking better naps now as well. So I know that he is getting better quality of sleep, but it is still hard to hear him cry and know that I need to let him cry. I do not remember it being this hard with Tater. She basically weaned herself, so that was not a problem, and she was already sleeping through the night when we started putting her to bed awake, so maybe that makes the difference. We tried to skip the nursing part tonight, actually hubby tried and it.did.not.work. Mr. Zander was very upset, worse than usual and I could not stand it, so I rescued him. At least we are down to only nursing at night, for awhile it seemed like we would never get there. Before Sunday we were down to before bed, then usually 1, 3ish, 5ish and 8ish. Which is a lot, but he did not nurse during the day. It is sort of funny because when he was nursing all the time I remember thinking that I could not wait to be done with this and now that he only nurses once I don't know that I am ready. Like I figured he has not missed the paci at all. Maybe he does and he just cannot vocalize it, but he does not act like he misses it. He is more of a blankie guy anyway and I figured it would be easier to do it now then wait until he is older and more attached to it.

My girlie-girl has been really into lip gloss, purses and anything girlie right now. So when we are at the store she always asks to pick something out and depending on the day we let her. (I am trying to teach her that she does not always get something every time we go to the store but that is an entirely different post.) Lately she has been choosing these little make-up bags only they are full of the plastic make-up. Which is actually good, only I wanted her to be able to play with the real stuff as well, so I pointed out that she could get a little box full of make-up. It had lip gloss, lipstick, eyeshadow, rings, earrings, brushes and nail polish...everything a little girl could want. When we got home that night she put some on and was so happy to have her own make-up. Shortly after it was bath time so we cleaned her up and put her to bed. I meant to move the make-up somewhere high so she would not see it in the morning, but I forgot. So of course first thing in the morning she wanted to put her make-up on. I obliged and she put her eyeshadow on and some lip gloss. She was gorgeous. Then we spend all day working around the house and I forgot all about the make-up. Until bath time when I went to wash her up and noticed that her eyes were all red and a little swollen. I do not know if it was from wearing the make-up all day, or if it was from being outside around the mulch, but her little eyes were red. She looked pretty awful, I almost wish I would have taken a picture just to post it here, but I did not. We gave her some benadryl, but they were still a little red this morning. Needless to say the make-up went in the trash just to be safe....plus now I do not have to worry about her getting into it when I am not around...BONUS!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After seven LONG months of cute husband being gone, he is finally home. In case you were wondering, he has actually been home for almost two weeks now, but still he's home. As the time drew near there was much to be done. The most important thing was getting all our junk packed up and ready to make the long trip back to NC. I was so stressed out about that, anyone who knows my son knows that it is not possible to get anything done when he is awake. He is in constant motion and always getting into something. You can't leave him alone for more than two minutes as that is the window of opportunity for him. However, I did manage to get everything packed, somewhat organized and ready to go. Thankfully, my parents went with me for the long drive so that I would not have to try to do it on my own. It was sort of a bittersweet end to our time in OH, as we do not know what the future holds for us. That could very well have been the last time that we were up there for that long of a period. On the other hand my husband was coming home, so that excitement outweighed the sadness. We split the drive up over two days and the kids did surprisingly well.

We arrived in NC on a Saturday and cute husband was coming home the following Friday, less than a week to get all of our junk, I mean stuff unpacked and to make signs for Daddy. Luckily my parents stayed through Tuesday giving me a little help with both. The kids loved making the signs....well Hannah did, Alex did not get to get too close to them. We made two big sheets for Daddy, the one pictured above that we hung on base and the other (that I do not have a digital picture of) we hung on our porch. We also made a couple of smaller signs, one for at the end of the road, one for in the yard and one for on the stroller. There were quite a few hung on base and a couple really creative ones. My mom and my favorite was one that said Iraq: 120 degree, our bedroom 1,000 degrees. Welcome to the heat! We laughed for days over that one.

By this point Hannah was getting very excited about the idea that Daddy would be home soon. I had explained to Hannah that Grandma and Grandpa were driving us to NC and they would stay with us for four nights, then when they left we would have three nights left until Daddy came home. I think that in her three year old mind she took this to mean that the sooner Grandma and Grandpa left the sooner Daddy would be home. Everyday she asked them if they were leaving, when they would say no she would say "Yes, I want you to go and my Daddy to come." It was a little bit cute and a little bit sad at the same time. Anyway, Daddy's plane was scheduled to land at 11:15, then they had two hours of processing and we could see them at 1:15. Unfortunately their plane was delayed...of course and they did not land until 1:15, meaning we could not see them until 3:15. I had struggled for days with what time we should arrive on base. After all I had two children and I did not want to end up sitting there for two hours with two crazy kids running around. At the same time I did not want them to end up being there early and us missing him. So, I decided I would leave my house at 2:00, planning on getting there around 2:15; only an hour to waste.We were in no hurry and kind of took our time, I dropped off some videos, got gas, got Hannah something to drink at McDonalds, and then went to the designated area. When I unloaded the kids it was 2:30, and I was like great, what am I going to do for 45 minutes? By the time I got the kids in the stroller, the sign attached and over to the homecoming reception the guys sea bags were already unloaded and sorted. Hmmm, maybe we wouldn't have to wait long after all. I took a few pictures of the kids waiting, took some video and the buses were pulling up. What?! It was not even 2:45!

I actually sort of ignored my husband and video taped Hannah's expression as he walked up. She was so excited and she jumped right into his arms. Alex was a little wary but went right to him as well. In fact it did not take him long to warm up to this guy called Daddy. As you can imagine, Hannah was Daddy's little shadow for quite a few days. She would even sit in the bathroom while he took a shower. She was worried he was going to go back to "Myraq" and kept asking about it. I explained over and over that he would just be going to work on base and would be home for lunch and then home for supper and to spend the night. I think she understands although she will still ask sometimes if he is working in "Myraq". We are somewhat adjusted to being "married" again, now if he could just find a job we would be all set.

So much to do....such little time

I have not had much time to get online lately....there are so many posts swirling around in my head right now. I just need to make the time to get online and do something about it. For now I will leave you with a video of Zander walking on the beach. I just love it when babies are learning to walk, they look so cute toddling along.