Twas the Night Before Christmas...(Giveaway!!!)

I didn't even know that they had recordable story books, but then the thought of venturing out to the mall, with three children in tow, just seems overwhelming before it even begins.

Hallmark sent me a sample of The the Night Before Christmas, recordable story book, to try out.

My original intention was to send the book to Gunner to tape for the kids.

The problem with this were:
   1.  He doesn't get his mail in a timely manner, in fact on post on fb was "Gunner thinks the Taliban is stealing his mail."
   2.  It would have to be relatively quiet.
   3.  I would have to go to the post office.  (This is yet another one of those overwhelming tasks for me)
   4.  Would I get it back from Gunner?

I decided to bypass Gunner this time, and wait for him to do one when he gets home.  (Sorry babe!)

My mom was staying on a week after she got back from Japan with Emily (or Emily got back from Japan with my mom), so I asked her to record it one day while I was at crossfit.  (Yes, I am still hopelessly addicted)

Recordable Storybooks feature voice-capture technology that records the reader’s voice, which is then captured within the Storybook. When a page is turned, the book automatically plays the text on that page in the reader’s voice. It’s a great way to capture a special moment that can be shared with a child over and over again. And since the recording lasts for the life of the book, it can also serve as a lasting memento of a loved one who is away because of duty or other circumstances.

I didn't get a shot of her taping it, but she said it was easy, very user-friendly, and took no time at all.  After the recording is done, you have to use a screwdriver to remove the battery/speaker area, and "lock" the recording so the kids can't accidentally erase it.  A very nice feature, but meant I had to track down a screwdriver, which is no easy feat with one Abs in the house.

Junior got the first peak at it, and was hooked.

He was so excited to hear Grandma read him the story.  Let's be honest, at this age, he wants the same stories over and over and over again.

He kept reading it.

He continued time and time and time and time and time again.  Finally after about the hundredth time, my mom had him put it away till she left to go home.

They have so many different stories to choose from here.  My dad passed away 4 1/2 years ago, what I wouldn't do to have a recording of him for the kids.  The story Guess How Much I Love You is a favorite in our house, and I would have loved to have had that recorded by their dad before he left for Afghanistan.

So........

Hallmark has agreed to give TWO Christmas recordable storybooks out to my readers!!!  Imagine being able to have your husband record the story for this Christmas while he is home, and to have available to the kids next Christmas while he is overseas.

Entering is easy, and you just need to tell me about your favorite Christmas memory!  I'll randomly draw a winner on Monday, December 6th.  Good luck!

Also, be sure to check out the following video, and around the 2 minute mark is a military family from North Carolina that used the recordable storybooks in their family!

Thankful?

Besides my love of the DFAC--I offered to take the kids there tonight, and they declined--I am thankful that Gunner is on the other side of the world tonight.

If anyone knows me, I don't handle sick well.  While I am sad that he is gone, sick, and having to work, I am thankful that won't lead to an additional 4 people for me to clean up after.

Is that wrong?  Fortunately he loves me and laughs when I tell him things like this.

I think we will need to add immodium, pepto, and some chicken soup to his next package.  What do you send your husband when he is sick so far away?  (I really do feel horrible that he is sick.)

Also, we have a date for his return.  He will get to come home early, and he will be out of the Army sooner than I expected.  Total freakout has begun.  More on that later though.

One more thing I am thankful for????  That Sammy the dog has not become violently ill (knock on wood) from the amount of cornbread that he ingested.  It's the small things around here.

I'm in love....

I did crossfit first thing this morning, and then we headed to the DFAC for our Thanksgiving dinner.  The place was beautiful, huge, packed, and most of all, filled with GREAT food.

I admit, I am in love with the DFAC.

Did I mention the food was great?  Maybe it was because I didn't have to cook it or look at it over the next few days and try to rearrange it into something else my children would eat.

I had suckling pig, prime rib, turkey, king crab legs, shrimp......I had to try all the meats.

There were tons of veggies.

My pecan pie, while not like my mama makes it, it was still good.

The kids ate.

The atmosphere was festive.

The bigwigs were out.

The people were nice.

Most of all, it cost us $7.  SEVEN DOLLARS!

I will never ever, and I mean never ever, cook Thanksgiving dinner again (for the record, I can't really cook and surprisingly have made it 38 years without having to cook a turkey).  I already asked Gunner if they served Christmas dinner, because I want to make sure we hit that too.

I wonder if they would notice if I showed up every night for dinner.

Christmas Cards

How in the world can it be time for Christmas already?  Don't get me started on how I walk the dog and see half the people have Christmas trees up.  I'm never that together, and especially when Gunner is gone playing GI Joe halfway around the world.

Operation Gratitude has come out with a series of Christmas cards, that are being offered through CafePress.  Operation Gratitude is a non-profit organization that sends packages to troops that are deployed.   How can I not support an organization like that?

I was contacted to review some of their Christmas cards that are being offered this year, with a percentage of the proceeds to benefit Operation Gratitude.

They sent me a dozen to sample, and I love them!  Of course it helps that I have such a cute subject to include on them.

This picture was taken when Gunner was deployed the second time to Iraq.  He returned home two days before Junior was born on R&R, left when he was 13 days old, and then resurfaced when Junior was almost 6 months.

If you are looking for Christmas cards this year, make sure you check them out here.

Cleaning House

My mom is still here visiting, and today we tackled Ab's room.  What a mess.

While we are cleaning, she is cooking, which means I am eating what I don't usually eat.

It won't counteract it all, but I am hitting crossfit 5 times a week right now (well that and Abs doesn't have OT one morning like she usually does).

Not a great picture, but I was about to do half a million squats.....or at least that is what it felt like.

Have you seen the new plans that they want to have for retirement?  Now they want to change them to apply to everyone with less than 15 years of service.  We won't fall into that category, but I would be upset.  I'm looking forward to that retirement check coming in every month.  We won't be using it to live off of (I hope!), but one of the main reasons Gunner stayed in was for the retirement pay....It just frustrates me because it does affect a lot of people that I know.

I am switching my plan on MyCaa.  We'll see if it gets approved.  I need to use it up before Gunner retires.  I wasn't aware of that little caveat, but rest assured I'll put it to good use.

Oh, and we have ONE more IM appointment this week and then we are done!

War Shamoor

I think one of the hardest things about being a military spouse is not hearing from your Soldier.

I was miserable about a week, but not about to complain since it had been a month for a friend.

How long do you go?  When the war first started, the first 6 months, we had 3 ten minute phone conversations during that time.  That was hard.

While I will never complain about not hearing from him too loudly, I still miss him terribly.

Gunner's facebook status tonight.....

Gunner "is just thinking of home".

Sometimes I like to pretend that I have it harder.  I don't get packages, bills are all that come in the mail, and seriously, I have the three kids.  There's crossfit, cooking, cleaning, laundry, appointments, schoolwork, potty training, changing diapers because someone refuses to potty train, and  a million other things.

On the other hand, while I deal with snow, crazy drivers, walking the dog in the cold, and doing mountains of laundry.......I am not going through what he is, or even close.  But, cause there's always a but.....he loves his job.  (Mine's not so bad either of course, but Junior potty training would make my job much, much, much, much better)

While no one likes to be deployed, how many of your husbands love what they do?

He keeps telling me that one day he will have to grow up and quit playing GI Joe.  Heck, every Halloween he was a Soldier when he was growing up.  So what he once pretended, he has been living for the last 23 years.

But soon it will end.

In the meantime, if the war could slow down every once in a while to let me GI Joe call, I would really appreciate it...

What's the hardest part of deployment for you?

So much...

for blogging every day in November.

Em is home from Japan and is working hard to catch up.  She had a great time and has beautiful pictures and gifts for us.  I missed her.  A lot.

Gunner has been busy with everything going on in his neck of the woods.  Enough to give anyone gray hair.

He ended the day by being doused with fuel during a refueling (obviously).  Thankfully he had his eye pro on.  That with full battle rattle, I bet the guy is ready to come home.

No dates for R&R, kind of depends on the whole retirement thing.

I'm worn out.  Tired.  Exhausted.

Interactive Metronome

I love the program, and it really helps Abs.

Today I thought we had our last session, but they extended it another week, so we have another three sessions.

That's an additional 4.5 hours of sitting there and waiting.

I know it helps, but another 4.5 hours?  Ugh.

On the bright side, the two ladies that have kids in the program at the same time, are wonderful to sit there and talk with.

The OT is really recommending that we go gluten free for Abs.  We have tried it, but with Gunner gone, it's so much more difficult making sure that I have a well cooked meal, and not to mention when you have 6 appointments a week, it cuts into what you are able to do.

She understands, but thinks Abs will really benefit from it.  I guess I will start in January and try to make it happen.

After OT this morning, Sam's, and a short nap, we were just hanging out.

I could have cleaned since Em and my mom come back tomorrow.

Instead I loaded up the car and took the kids to the outlet mall.  Mama needed new jeans.

Junior was great, and Abs was less than thrilled to be dragged around from store to store.  Luckily at the last store she found a great pair of boots--imitation uggs in patent leather.  Her face lit up.  I couldn't say no, they were so "Abs".

I got those, and found some great deals at The Children's Place.  $2.99 for halloween pajamas....who really cares what they sleep in?  Em spent almost a year sleeping in a red tutu.  I don't know how she was even comfortable, but she loved that drippy thing.

I'm excited to see Em tomorrow and hear all about her trip.

Oh, while we were at Sam's, Junior saw some older lady and got really excited.  He was waving and telling me it was the lady who had to watch him in his "afternoon-in preschool" as he calls it.  She came over and introduced herself as the behavioral therapist that would be working with him, and Junior was so ecstatic.  I think they'll be a good fit.

I had the following conversation with Junior today:

Me:  I don't think Santa Claus visits little boys who aren't potty trained.
Junior looked shocked.
Jr:  Really?
Me:  Yep, we should probably work on that.
Jr:  Or not.
Me:  You don't want Santa to visit?
Jr:  He's got a busy night, it'll be okay if he takes care of all the other little boys that are potty trained, he can get me next year.

I have officially given up on potty training.  He did insist on getting some new underwear at Gap though, so maybe there is hope down the road...

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In (a little late)

I was just going to say screw it and not blog today, but I am trying to do it.  Just had a rough day.  I at least hit crossfit 5 times this week.  It's starting to be my saving grace.

1.  Were you named after anyone?  Nope, not that I know of.  Queen Elizabeth was visiting Australia when I was born, so that is my middle name.  I always knew I had a little bit of royalty.

2.  What color, if any, are your toenails usually painted?  If I am paying someone to do my toenails, I am going to make them work, and I get french tips.  I'm not much of a color person, and I never have my nails painted.  If I paint my nails, on that rare occasion, they are a maroonish color.  (Don't let that make you think there is any Aggie in me!)

3.  How do you flush a public toilet?  Hands?  Feet?  Something else?  I am a germaphobic person.  I use my foot or toilet paper to do it, then wash my hands, turn off the water with a paper towel, use the paper towel to open the door, and I still sanitize.  It's okay, I know it's weird.

4.  When you were a little kid, which TV character did you have a crush on?  Are you ready for this?  Ricky Schroeder in Silver Spoons.  My sister and I used to watch that show all the time.

5.  Let's say you had to lose one of your five senses.  Which one would you choose and why?  Definitely smell.  Why?  Because then maybe I wouldn't smell that Junior pooped in his pants and it would bother him.  My first pregnancy with Em, my sense of smell made life awful.

There you have it, five interesting useless facts about me.

Time for bed, it's cold and we have OT bright and early in the morning.

Veteran's Day

‎"On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind. " ~Dan Lipinski

Thank you to Gunner, my uncle, my FIL, my three brother-in-laws (Gunner is one of 4 boys, can you imagine?), my niece, and all of our friends.

Veteran's Day is also special to Gunner and I, because 17 years ago today, November 11th, we met.  He had a 4 day weekend, and I was introduced to him.  His big brown eyes, his scruffy face (hey, it was a 4 day weekend), and cute smile got me.  Never in a million years did I imagine my life would end up like this, by a chance meeting so many years ago.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Two Old Men

This picture reminds me of two old men...

The Life of a Circus Clown

I almost forgot to blog tonight, but this is a post I found saved under the drafts, so since it is cold and snowed tonight, plus we had OT till almost 8, it's all I have.....

Sometimes that's how I view my life.

I wouldn't trade these kiddos for anything.  They are so different, and there is always some sort of chaos going on.

Yesterday we went to a book reading on post through the "Tell Me a Story" event.  The parent to parent coalition finds some bigwig to read a book and then they talk about it with the kids.  At the end every family gets a free copy of the book.

It gets us out of the house, and goodness knows my kids love to read.  They had a visiting Zoomobile, a craft, and even discuss the book with the kiddos.

Since they were so well behaved, I surprised them with going out for ice cream.

Everything was still going smoothly, so I decided to check out Ross since I knew Em needed some sweaters for her trip to Japan.  We shopped for a while, and then it came time to try on clothes.

We had two carts--one for Junior and one for Abs, who was reading (and seriously, she just needs to be contained).  While I was trying on clothes, Em asked Abs if she would switch carts with Junior because his cart was so hard to steer.  She agreed, and Em was helping her out of the other cart when it started to tip.  Em got it straightened out and all was well.  I didn't hear anything about it.

Till later.....

After we had tried on clothes and meandered back to one rack to look at a few other things, the lady from the dressing room was hanging up clothes.  She talked to about 6 employees, about what a bad mother "that mother" had been, how she had to step in to "save the little girl", how some people "shouldn't be mothers", and on and on and on.

Okay at this point I don't even know that she is talking about me, but I turn to ask Em if there was an incident with the cart.  She said that there had been a small one, but that some lady overreacted.  During this time, my kids were sitting there quietly, and not being their usual selves.  I asked her to point out the lady and she showed me who it was.

I was fuming.  She was making this huge production for little old me.  Heck, my kids were well behaved at this point, she has no idea what they are capable of sometimes!  So I check out and ask for a manager.  I send Em to the car with the little ones, and I go over to the lady in question to read her name tag.  She asked me what I needed and I just turned and waited for the manager.

I explained the situation to the manager, who was furious.  Maybe it was all an act, but she seemed sincere, and she said she would handle it.  She told me she was the single mother of 4 kids, and no one deserved to be treated like that.

I felt better.  I left.  I hope I never see Cheryl again.

Do you ever find when you are out sometimes that people overreact?  Heck if my kids had been screaming, horsing around, or doing something they shouldn't have been, I would have walked out of the store.  For once, they weren't doing anything wrong.  Sure you can argue that Abbie shouldn't have been in the cart, but if she was reading and being calm and hanging out, what's the harm?  People need to take a second and look at the big picture.

Monday's Musings

To follow along with Em's adventures in Japan, read here.  Heated toilet seats?  I don't think I have ever seen one.  My 13 year old daughter has it good, really good.

Here is Em at the beginning of the journey.

Here is Em as of yesterday.

Which finally led to this...

It sounds like it could be what happened at Disneyworld this summer, a torn meniscus.  That took a while to heal, and I wish she wasn't in pain while she was so far away.

After a busy day of crossfit, OT, and making dinner, I learned the number to poison control.

I told Andrew it was time for his medicine (benadryl for his itching with the eczema), and he went to the kitchen to wait.  I ALWAYS put the medicine up.  Always.

I'm just thankful it was the benadryl I left out and not anything else.

I ran a towel up to Abs in the tub, then ran back downstairs to give him his medicine.  I started looking for it in the cabinet way above the sink, and he said it was in the trash.

Me:  Why is it in the trash?
Jr.  Because it was empty.
Me:  It wasn't empty, there was still some left.
Jr:  I finished it.
Me:  (starting to panic and cursing child proof caps that aren't childproof)  What do you mean finished it.
Jr:  I was helping.  I poured my own medicine.
Me:  How much did you take.
Jr.  One cup.
Me:  Which cup?

He pointed to a medicine cup.

I ran to the internet, googled poison control, and called.  The nurse was so nice and didn't make me feel bad while I was sitting there crying to her.  She asked for his weight and the type of medicine, and the concentration before she told me that it would have taken 15 tsp to be toxic.  There was no way there was that much in there.

By the time I got off, Junior was crying.  "I was just trying to help mommy, I'm so sorry".

Stories and a big hug and kiss seemed to make it all better, but don't think he wasn't passed out in less than 5 minutes when he got to bed.

Another busy day tomorrow, but I am hoping it is a little less stressful!

Home

What a long weekend.

We discovered that Erin's son gets carsick on winding roads.

I am thankful for leather seats.

We stayed at the Grand Lodge, and while the room was nice and cheap, the taxes on everything were not!

Had good, but cheap mexican food.

Abs slept through the night.

I heard from Gunner.

Sammy had a good time playing with Erin's dogs and he is wiped out.

I cleaned the car, the house, and am doing piles of laundry.

I'm ready for bed.  Night all.....

Headed Out...

I am headed out for a night away with my friend Erin and her son.  Destination...

Image from Google

We're going to Crested Butte.

I can't wait!  We haven't gone anywhere overnight since the big trip to Disneyworld, so it's time.

I wish Gunner and Em were here to enjoy it.

I still have to finish packing, clean out the car, get gas, and hope that the GPS knows the way.

I'm sure I'll take lots of pictures, and we are hoping that we can find some snow and get some sledding in, which means an additional 50 pounds of clothing and equipment. 

By the time you read this, hopefully we are on the road.  A road trip with a 2 year old, 4 year old, and an Abs.  It will be an adventure...

Junior & Potty Training

Those words shouldn't even go in the same title, as they just aren't happening.

The doctor told me to lay off, and I have been.  We went back to pullups and I haven't really pressed the issue.

Preschool doesn't feel the same way, and they put a lot of pressure on him.  One teacher in particular, who has to be all of 19, is on his case to potty train.  Bottom line......Junior can't stand her, and I don't push that either.

Well the lead teacher decided that my sweet boy needed to have a behavioral therapist come to observe him.

My response?  Bring.it.on.  I know he's stubborn (like his dad).

She came to observe him, and brought along three interns.

What did they find????  NADA.  She said he was so excited about learning, was inquisitive, curious, and even though he was wiggly, it was well within the typical range.  She said that he had already created techniques to control himself, which she doesn't see a lot of at 4 years old--i.e. putting his hands in his pockets to keep from taking something or sitting on his hands during circle time.  She thought he exhibited characteristics of a gifted child, and that she thought the pace of the preschool was probably too slow for him.  (I agree that I could probably find a better preschool other than the free one through the school district, but when your kiddo isn't potty trained, they aren't an option. Sigh.)

The behavioral therapist could not find anything wrong with him other than he was not potty trained, and that this one particular teacher had gotten into a power struggle with him over it, and it made it worse.

They (the teachers) insisted something was up.  They sent her in to observe again.  Once again, rave reviews, and now the behavioral therapist is in love with my boy.

So what's the end result?  She did suggest play therapy to get him to work on the potty training.  I looked at her like she must be smoking something if she thought I had time for another appointment with all of Abbie's stuff going on.  She is now coming to the house and working around my schedule.

Heck, if they can get him potty trained, I am all for it.  Goodness knows we have tried everything else, so maybe they can get through to him.  Plus the behavioral therapist is great, and I really like her.

Wish them luck, and wish me a diaper free time for the first time in about 13 years.

Gunner

I'm missing this guy. A lot.

Em goes to Japan

I figured I better set a post for tomorrow before Abs did something else I had to blog about.

Last Saturday I took my mom and Em to Denver to fly out on their Japanese adventure.  We stopped to feed the hungry lions, and my mom realized that she had forgotten her purse with their passports, id, tickets, etc.

We drove an hour and a half back, and thankfully my mom had her car and made the return trip and did the extended parking, because it was after 9 pm and I was pooped!  Abs and Junior wouldn't have made it much longer in the car either.

Now Em is safely in Japan, and from the sounds of it having the time of her life.  They immersed themselves in the teen scene the first two days, and have now started their cultural tour of Japan and will even spend 5 days in Okinawa.  I'm totally jealous!

What an amazing experience for her!  I also got some pictures of her eating with chopsticks, and she claims it is her strong fingers from texting that allow her to use them correctly.

I can't wait to hear more about her trip and see all the pictures.  Maybe one day I will make it over there!

Where do you shop?

For Abbie, I shop at the thrift stores, or only on deep clearance.  Why????

Last week it was a pair of jeans colored in black marker.

Today she got a "snag" and then there was a strong wind.  Glad I wasn't around for that.

Just to make sure you aren't seeing things...

I might take the suggestion of Annemarie and make her wear them for an entire week.  She informed me that she was sure her Grandma could fix them.

She was horrified that I made her wear them to OT tonight.  The two other parents that I sit with for an hour and a half, had never seen anything like it.  Welcome to my world.

I honestly wasn't surprised or shocked.

Tuesday she wore a pair of leggings with little "jewels" down each side of the leg.  She returned home with plain black leggings.  Knowing her, she was probably trying to convince the other kids that they were worth something and was trying to sell them.

One day she will do great things....one day she will do great things...one day she will do great things.....one day she will do great things...

Conversation with Abs

I hope everyone voted today.

Like I said on fb "Gunner has spent years away from us to make sure that other people could vote in their own countries, why wouldn't I take the time to vote in my country where I am safe?"

I took Junior with me to vote.  We stood in line while he whined "I don't want to go boating".  When he saw the voting booths though, he was hooked.  He asked for a ballot, so one of the workers gave him a piece of paper and he went to town.

He was making a "boating map".  To think that Tricare won't pay for speech for him.

Ummm...yes, that would be a pullup on the kiddo.  Don't judge!

Anyway, on the way home from Interactive Metrenome tonight we were listening to talk radio for election coverage.  (Sidenote, it was like my dad was in the car with me as Abs was whooping and hollering as they gave results.)

Then they broke in with some other news, and they started talking about a study related to men and women and depression.  Basically the results said that women are more depressed than men.

Abs:  They act like that is surprising.
Me who had been half listening:  What's surprising?
Abs:  That women are more depressed than women.
Me:  Why is that?
Abs:  They should be, they do more.
Me:  What do you mean do more? Daddy does a lot.
Abs:  Well they have to stay home and take care of the house and kids.  Let's be honest mommy, you do a lot of work.
Me:  You say it like it's a bad thing.
Abs:  Not bad at all, I think of it like we are back in the olden days.
Me:  Well times have changed, and lots of people work, and I think that they are talking about women in general, not stay at home moms.
Abs:  Well I'm just saying that I'd be depressed if I stayed home and had kids like you.

Great.

I questioned her more, and she admitted that she felt bad that I spent so much time taking her to appointments.  She told me "I'm glad you do it and all, but I wish you didn't have to and I was normal".

My heart broke.  We had a long talk on the way home (heck, it's a 40 minute drive), while she and her brother slurped down milkshakes.  We got home and I tucked her into bed and she told me "I'm lucky".

Then I hugged her, kissed her, and turned out the light.

Then I put up the three baby gates.  Normal is all relative.  I'll keep my normal.

I'm Still Alive!

With the introduction of Interactive Metronome into our schedule, we are never home.  Ever.

Add in Crossfit 4 times a week, orthodontist appointments, preschool dropoffs, occupational therapy appointments, and everything else under the sun, and we are home even less.

I decided that I was going to blog every day in November.  I've got a lot I need to say!  A lot of changes taking place.  Em is off traipsing around Japan for just over two weeks, so I am trying to keep Abs and Junior occupied.  Actually I spend my time lugging a box of toys to Ab's appointments so that Junior is kept occupied.

Tonight we went to see the play "If you give a cat a cookie".  The tickets were free, and they have free activities for the kids before the play starts.  Please tell me why I see this one lady from the FRG at all these functions, and every single time the kids are acting like wild animals.  I assured her that they only acted like this for her, even though they have no clue who she is and they probably didn't even notice that I was talking to someone.  Ugh.

The play was great, and they were both enthralled with the performance and participated as it was requested.

Gunner has dropped his retirement papers.  Do you know what this means?  If you do, please share as no one seems to be able to point him in the right direction of what is to happen next.  I totally forgot that he was in the reserves for years before I met him, so he has that time in addition to the 20 years of active duty.  He's done.  Well he will be by this time next year...actually sooner.

If you have any input on retirement, please let me know so we know what to expect!  Thanks!

When your daughter steals the camera

Not a very good picture, but the evil eyes worked. Well actually the little imp Abs told me that she was more concerned that they were going to pop out at her, and she didn't want her appetite ruined.

Surrogacy

I know that this has been hit on several different sites lately, but I found something interesting this morning.

I stumbled on a blog of a Navy wife who has been a surrogate mother to 5 children, and also given birth to four of her own kids.

My boss, way back when, adopted a little boy, and the birth mother had insurance but wasn't able to care for the child.  There are people in the military that put their children up for adoption, should they be denied having their pregnancies paid for because the baby is going to someone else?

I mean heck, Tricare is paying for a ton of people to have babies, that don't need to be having babies.  I read one comment somewhere, where a woman said she would have done it at one point, but after 6 boys and no girls, she wouldn't be able to give up a girl.  That opens a whole other can of worms for me, so I won't go there.

Anyway, check out this blog.  Fertile Inspirations

So, is it surrogacy that you have a problem with or is it that Tricare is paying for a portion of it?

Crossfit

I admit, I did it.  I tried a crossfit class.

After 14 sessions with a personal trainer, I just was burnt out on everything to do with the gym.  I was looking for a change, and so I went to one class.

After that first class, I had that "exercise high".  I even had it when I couldn't walk for the next 4 days.  So once my personal training sessions were done, I quit the Y and signed up for crossfit.

I'm 9 sessions into it now, and I am not looking back.  I have been sore almost every day.  I go 4 times a week, and I get a lot done in one hour.

The coach is incredible, the other people are very encouraging, and even though I am weak as can be, I feel myself getting stronger every day.

Call me crazy, but I can already tell a difference in my abs, arms, and legs.  Let's add the butt in there too, based on the number of squats that we do daily!

Obviously my ultimate fitness goal is to be in shape, run races that I enjoy, do triathlons that I enjoy, and be able to get out and enjoy myself.  The coach knows my goals and is going to help me incorporate those things that I need in order to be successful in what I want to do.

I still can't do a pullup or a double under.  I may never be able to climb the rope, but I do know that I am getting stronger every day, I feel much better, and I'm a much happier person to be around when I get in a great workout.  I love the feeling of being smoked at the end of the hour and thinking that there is no way that I can walk to my car.

So consider me one of the crazies, because I can see why people love Crossfit, and count me as one of those too!

The Wishing Rock

Junior has been returning from preschool with pockets full of rocks.  I didn't think anything about it since Abs is always hauling them around.

Today I picked him up and his pockets were stuffed full.

We started walking out towards the car, holding hands, and talking about his day.

Then Junior dropped my hand and picked up a tiny purplish rock and held it tightly in his dirty little palm.  (Seriously, anyone that has a boy that isn't always dirty, please tell me how you do it.)

I started buckling him in his carseat.

Me:  That's a pretty rock.
Junior:  This one will work.
Me:  Work?
Junior:  Yep, the other ones were broken.
Me:  You keep bringing home broken rocks?
Junior:  I didn't break them.

I got in the car.  Buckled up.  Started driving home.

I hear Junior in the backseat.

Junior:  I wish I wish with all my heart....for my daddy to come home.

He waited a few minutes and then I hear his tiny little voice.

Junior:  Oh man, this one is broken too.

My poor little guy....

Heroes at Home Wish Registry

This fills up quickly, so make sure you take advantage of it!

Sears collects donations for military families, and sends them out in an email to you, kind of like a gift card, and you take it into Sears, Land's End, Kmart, and a few other places to spend it.  We got two last year, and it was a great help during the holiday season!

Check it out here.

September 30 Day Challenges...October already?

I only had TWO 30 day challenges for September--eat vegetarian and clean the garage.

I thought that eating vegetarian would be the hard part.  I actually really loved it.  I did slip and have a few tamales and a hot dog when we were out and there was nothing else at the "hot dog dinner" and I was about to pass out from hunger.

Usually when I planned ahead, it all worked out.  What I found is that when I added back in red meat a the end of 30 days, I felt sick again.  I'm not saying I will never eat meat again, but I do know that I won't be eating it every day.  I'll stick with fish and all that other healthy stuff.  I haven't tried pork chops yet, but I am thinking about making some pulled pork today for dinner, so we will see how that goes.  (Update:  It's cold and I am getting sick, so I am having chicken and dumplings!)

The garage.....

It was a HUGE undertaking, and I am sad to report, that it is not done.  Once Abs had her issue crop up, I had to put cleaning on the back burner and focus more on her.  I did make a HUGE difference.  I can get into the garage from both sides, put in some shelves, and took over 6 carloads of stuff to the thrift store.  I moved piles of crap from one side to the other.  My mom will be coming at the end of the month to take Em to Japan and Okinawa for two weeks--her life is soooo rough--and I am passing on a lot of scrapbooking stuff to her, plus all the other "treasures" that she passed on to me, that I just can't deal with right now.

So what's in store for October???

I'll still be working on the garage.  It's already the 10th, so I can't say that I will blog every day.

October will be lame.  I'll continue working on getting Abs sleeping through the night, Junior potty trained, and  continue going to crossfit 4 times a week.

On the bright side, we are over 2 months into this deployment, but we unfortunately still have plenty of months left to get things done.

Still here...

Sometimes I don't even realize that I haven't blogged.  I write blogs in my head and then never take the time to actually get them online.

I composed a blog about a plate I made in second grade for my Grandma, and how it hit me one day, that it was symbolic of a relationship that wasn't there when I was 7 years old.  Now 31 years later, it's still not there, except I have exhausted myself trying to create a relationship.  Now that I have decided it's just not worth it to me to continue trying and getting hurt, I feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders.  I'll leave it up to that person to figure it out and make an effort.

I've been busy with my darling little Abs.  Something happened, that was mindboggling, and we have been trying to sort through that and figure it all out.  She can never be easy.

I'm still potty training Junior.  Actually I have just given up.  He as a few boy pullups left, and when he gets out of those, he will have the choice of pink girly ones or boy underwear.  He is distraught about wearing pink on his bottom.  Maybe this will work.  If not, at least it's a different color to look at every time I change him.

Em turned 13!  I have a teenager!  It's hard to believe that she's not the tiny little baby back in Germany, who was 20 pounds at three months old and too pudgy to move or roll over.  Now she is 5'6", and is mistaken at the gate every time we go through.  The MP's smile at her and ask for her license.  I smile at them and tell them she is 12, and they stop looking.

More pictures to come, but we have hit the Botanical Gardens, the King Tut exhibit, ran in The Great Pumpkin 5k, and I tried out crossfit and loved it.  Em's had a sleepover, Abs started up Interactive Metronome again, and now that it is about to start snowing and freeze, my garden is in the process of growing.  Figures.

More to come!

Junior

Although he may never potty train and his face is never clean.....I still love him. I wish his sisters would let me take pictures....

Some Random Thoughts

Three nights ago.  Abs slept.

Two nights ago.  The 5" crack was enough for the little imp to slither through and escape.  I'm recommending her to be recruited by the Navy Seals.

Last night.  I made the crack smaller in the middle, so she managed to get out the bottom.

I give up.

While she was out of bed, she opened up a box of brownie mix and tried it out.  She didn't like it, and did what every other 9 year old does with it in the middle of the night and stuffed it under the couch.  Making a mess.  

I'm pissed.  Pissed that I can't sleep.  Pissed that she gets into the food and we can't keep anything sweet around here for anyone else to eat.

I'm pissed that her dad isn't here to help.  I'm pissed that other people have never deployed and he's going on his 5th year of deployment.  I'm really pissed about that last one.

Word on the street is that Gunner can retire soon.  At first I went into a panic.  Where would we go?  What would we do?  The only people that help us with the kids are my outlaws.  Could I handle that?

Now I am looking at the bigger picture.  He would be home.  We would make it work, and we could live anywhere that we want.  I wouldn't need help from the outlaws because he would be around more.  

In the meantime, I am at a loss as to what to do with Abs and open to suggestions.  Also if anyone wants to have her over for a sleepover.....just sayin'....

Sibling Love

Desperate for Sleep

So in the great "Quest to get Abs to sleep 2010", I decided to try a few new things.

Melatonin--what a joke!  It has no effect on her.  None.  It was a nightmare. 

I was cleaning out the garage, and found 2 baby gates.  These are the really tall ones, so I thought that they would be perfect.

The first night, feeling all proud of myself, I put one gate up.  I made it high enough where she couldn't go underneath it, but it would still keep her contained.

*****Disclaimer******  Abs knows full well that she can kick down these gates in an emergency and escape, so don't give me any grief about that people.  On the bright side, if she kicks them down, I will hear it and rush to her room to bust her before she gets downstairs.

Okay, back to the first night--SHE SLEPT!!!  Of course since she had been up over 24 hours, I wasn't surprised, she was exhausted.

The second night (Tuesday), I put the gate back up like the first night, and she escaped.  I didn't hear her, but I did hear the tv at 2 am.  I chased her back to bed, then spent the next few hours chasing her back to bed again and again and again.  

ABW 0 Abs 1

The third night, I was not going to be a fool, so I put up TWO gates, one on top of another.  At 2 am I heard Abs open the door and she called out for me because she had to potty.  No problem, I opened the gates, let her potty, and then put the gates back up.  I went back to bed.  I slept.

This morning I woke up and was patting myself on the back again about getting some sleep, and I went to get the kids up and I noticed that Abs had left her door open, but the 6 foot high gates were still in tact.  Score one for ABW.

I mean, look how tall that is!  There was about 6" of clearance at the top.  I would be able to hear it if she kicked it down.  She could call for me and I am such a light sleeper, that I could let her out if she needed to potty.

I found a solution.

I peeked inside to wake up my beautiful 9 year old well rested daughter.

I didn't see her.

I opened the top gate.  Opened the bottom gate.  She was nowhere to be seen.  

I looked in the closet, under the bed, in all the covers on her bed.  Nothing.

The little imp CLIMBED over SIX FEET of gates and escaped.  She was sitting downstairs watching tv in her bucket of beans.

ABW 0    Abs 2

What I Want....

I want to be four again.

I want to make grass angels and think that everything is right with the world.

My Wild Thing

Why I shouldn't read blogs

I was perusing a blog this morning, and she talked about how homemaking was her job, and she took it seriously.  She gets up early, cooks, cleans, prepares delicious meals, blah, blah, blah.

I wanted to choke her.

The next blog in my reader, was describing how to create HANDMADE love notes for your child's lunch box.  Seriously?  Write on a napkin or buy the ones premade, never mind that my kids always buy their lunch.

I didn't attend any bible studies this week.  Or last week.  Or the week before.

We had cereal one night for dinner.

The laundry isn't done, the floors aren't spotless, and I don't get up early to make my kids a hot breakfast.  I fix something for Junior, and the girls are on their own.

I think it's okay if my kids wear the same pajamas more than one night.  (I don't think they should wear the same clothes every day, but luckily that's not an issue here!)

I don't handmake my husband cards.  I don't send a letter every day to Gunner.  I don't make cute countdown chains or calendars or any of that stuff.

I don't water my lawn, because if it dies then I don't have to mow it or go through the trouble of getting housing to do it.

I don't save everything I am getting rid of for a garage sale.  If I didn't like the person who gave it to me, am I going to want money from the sale of said item?  Not hardly.

I do love my kids, take care of my kids, workout, keep the house reasonable clean, and make sure there is always toilet paper.  The dog gets walked, fed, and watered.

I don't spend my free minutes scrubbing, cleaning corners with qtips, or making sure the underside of my chairs have no spots on them.

I did take my children ice skating, to the What If festival, to the Cool Science event, on a walk, had a movie night, and took them to Burger King because I didn't want to cook.  (Pictures to come)

Life is good, and if my baseboards are a little dusty, at least I know it's for a good reason--Em, Abs, and Junior.

Happy Birthday Gunner!

It's already September 18th in Afghanistan.....

When Gunner was born, he was a little guy, tipping the scales at just over 3 pounds.  He was 6 weeks early I think.  In this picture I believe he was a few months old.  When he was first born, his dad was able to hold him in the palm of his hand.


Gunner with his 3 brothers.  He's the cutie on the far left.


A shot of when Gunner was home on R&R, just in time to meet his son.  (His son, who outweighed him by 7 pounds at birth, yikes!)

He's no longer that little kid.

He's a wonderful father, husband, and Soldier...and no longer the little guy.

Happy 40th Birthday Sweetie!  We love you and miss you!

P.S.  Thanks for all the great suggestions, but as luck would have it, he got this....or he will when he gets home.  It was a moment of weakness on my part....

How in the world?

I look back when I blogged last deployment, and I had a full time job, worked out like a wild woman, three kids, and was going to graduate school.  How did I have time to blog?  I never slept.  I could function on 5 or less hours of sleep, and now I am two years older, and that just isn't happening.

I could easily be happy with 8 hours of sleep a night, and that isn't happening either.

Abs is killing me.  She's up all night, and for some reason after all this time, it dawned on me.....she doesn't know how to go back to sleep.  All that self soothing as babies is useless when they are older, and she for the life of her can't figure it out.  

This should have been totally obvious to me, but it hasn't been, and I blame it on the lack of sleep.

We had a long talk about it, and I explained some things to her, and talked about relaxation techniques, and then did what I always do.

I went to Amazon.

I found a few very highly rated relaxation cd's, that tell stories, and get the child to calm down.

I'm hoping it works.

I let her listen to the clips on amazon, and she said she preferred her current cd.

Can you guess what it is?  It's a CD made from an old record, that I absolutely loved--the story of Jean Lafeyette.  I memorized it as a kid, and Abs has memorized it now.

She thinks that is relaxing.  Somehow I don't think the songs and story behind their battle of the British is relaxing, so she said she'd try things my way.

I hope it works.

I have pictures to post from all our fun this past weekend, but while at a festival, we met a Holistic Clinical Nutritionist.  After I gave her the 3rd degree on the phone today about credentials, I am taking Abs for an appointment this Friday.

Maybe this will give us some guidance.....some help....some sleep?

A Day in the Life of ABW

I meant to post this last night....

I hear Em up way earlier than usual.

Finally find out from her that she's not feeling so well.  I order her back to bed with threats of bread and water all day and she can't come out unless she's ready to go to school.

I lysol the house.  Em comes out.  I lysol again.

I get Abs moving because of course this is the first time that she has slept in, in forever.

Get Junior up and moving.  Put him in underwear, but he refuses to go potty, so back in a pullup so he won't pee in the car.  Yeah, it happens.

Load up Abs and Junior, take Junior to hourly care.  It's a new month, so that means more med cards to fill out.  I walked in, they asked his name, and the girl was like "Oh, the boy with all the allergies and meds".  Ummmm.....no.

Finish up there, race to Ab's school because I was supposed to meet with the teacher and the principal.  (I was kind of glad that we were late and it didn't happen)  Drop Abs off.  Race back to Em.

Lysol the house again.  Add more lysol to Sam's list.  Check to make sure that all bathrooms are cleaned and well stocked.

Find lost mail keys that I just paid $40 to replace and go gather days worth of mail.

Em starts rumbling that she's bored.  Finally she decides that school is better than being home.  Load her up and take her to school.  Run into principal who wants to have meeting then, but I have to get Junior.  Schedule meeting for 2:30.

Go get Junior, race home, have lunch, play, convince him that going potty is fun.  Put him in underwear.

Take Junior to preschool, go to school to have meeting with teacher and principal.

Meeting occurs.

Pickup girls.  Come home to find smoke alarm chirping.  Leave girls, get Junior, go to commissary to get "batteries".  That leads to a cart full of groceries.  Go home, insert new battery and chirping continues.  I start messing with it, it chirps more.

Kids unload groceries.

Call housing.  Housing said they will come check it out.

Feed kids.

Gunner calls.  Military one source calls to schedule appt for Abs.  Tell military one source that I will have to call them back after I have been waiting for them to call for two days.

Junior pees on the floor.

Maintenance shows up, so I pass Gunner off to the kids.  Junior lets the dog in who then goes crazy and the maintenance people are scared to come down the stairs.  I assure them he won't bite and go to get him outside.

Maintenance leaves and the fire alarm starts chirping.  I go outside to wave down the maintenance people.  Sammy gets out.  Neighbors and I are chasing the dog while I am trying to still talk to Gunner and trying not to run too far so I lose the signal.

Neighbor catches the dog.  Abs puts dog in backyard.  Maintenance comes back in and disconnects the alarm and tells me it is an electrical problem and they will have to have an electrician come tomorrow.  (I have to say that I have never met nicer maintenance men than I have at this post.)

Talk to Gunner a bit more.  Bathe Junior, supervise Abs so there are no Eiffel Bubble Towers, and rotate Em through before the hot water is all gone.

Call back military one source and put kids to bed.  It takes an hour to get through their process.  More on that later, because we can do a self-referral with me looking someone up in the phone book for a lot less of a hassle.  She was nice though.

Kids are still asleep.  I might need a glass of wine tonight.  I want to run tomorrow to try out my new forerunner.  I hope I can fit it in.

Mail Question

While I am sorting through 16 years of crap in the garage, I came across tubs and tubs and tubs and tubs or mail.

When Gunner deployed to Bosnia, he was gone for a year, and we had little to no communication by phone and email was not available.  We wrote hundreds of letters.

Now that you can add three deployments to Iraq in there, and in 11 months a tour in Afghanistan under his belt, that leaves me with more mail than I can haul around.

So my question is.....what do you do with it all?  What do you do with his letters?  What about all the other mail that he was sent while over there?  People have sent letters, cards, cartoons, etc.  No worries, he kept it all!

When I say tubs, I mean those big blue rubber maid containers that are about 36 inches x 12 inches x 18 inches.  I haven't ever gone through it, and I know it contains a lot of memories for him, because some of those cards and letters from random strangers appeared on a day that he really needed them.

If I mention them, he might just tell me to toss them, but I thought maybe y'all would have a better idea of what to do with them.  I'm open to any and all suggestions....except scrapbooking, I am getting rid of my thousands of dollars worth of supplies because I have no room or time!

Is there a way to organize it?  Do you just keep the stuff that y'all write back and forth to each other?  I'm sure our cards and letters back and forth are 2-3 tubs alone.  We've been apart for 4 years and this will make year number 5.  Help!

Life With Abs....

It's never easy, and lately it has been harder than hard.  It's not one thing in particular, but a million things at once.  How does that child sleep at night?  Oh wait, she doesn't.  A non-sleeping Abs means a non-sleeping ABW.  I'm worn out.

I'm in the throws of personal training.  I did a 5 K this past weekend and took this girl.

She wanted to run around the track to warm up.  I told her to conserve her energy.  Good thing I did, because .1 miles into the race she decided that we should go the pace of a dead snail.  I did what any parent that wanted to finish would do and put Abs on my back.  I carried the girl for 3 miles, all 68 pounds of her.  I'm still sore.

I've been tackling my 30 day challenges head on.  Remember this picture...

Well I worked on it for about 8 hours.  There's a slight difference.  Two trips to the thrift store.  A full trash can.  I sent the after picture to Gunner and he said "Boy, you have a long way to go".  Thanks babe!

At least you can see some of the floor!  See all those bikes?  This is what happens when you step over the same bike in the same place, and fall once each day because you can barely maneuver due to all the crap.

It looked worse when it happens.  Darn mountain bikes.

I don't want to move anything out of the garage, but I need to in order to get to the front right corner to make some headway.  How come I don't want to?  Because when I am tired and want to quit and not move it back in, I don't have Gunner to come help me.  This might turn into a 365 day challenge at this rate!

The vegetarian eating is going well.  I grabbed a piece of Em's beef jerky yesterday and spit it out when I realized what I was doing.

I took Abs to get her haircut again today.  She had it cut a week ago, but it seemed all uneven, etc.  My girl did it, and explained to me what happened.  She's got my thick hair, and it's straight as a board (that's from her father).  You could cut my hair a million different ways and never be able to tell, I guess that's one benefit to curly hair!

I have a meeting tomorrow morning with Ab's teacher and the principal.  She's actually not in trouble (that was Friday), but I am still not looking forward to it.

Oh, I also had to go get new mailbox keys.  My new garmin gps is sitting in the box probably, if someone didn't find the keys and go take everything.  It's $40.  I will be putting each of the three keys on different rings, in different locations, and not near Abs.  Apparently the one time I sent her to check the mail, she lost the keys on the way to the box, but had forgotten to tell me on the way back.  Did I mention this trip took 20 minutes?

The dotted line is representative of how Abs travels.  She once told me that straight lines were boring.  (Don't bother enlarging, I borrowed this from chamotlabs.com, and the wording was changed to fit their company and makes no sense to me)

Maybe tomorrow I can get Ab's Mr. Potato head project back so I can share some pictures from it, it's cute!