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?