Life's Stress

Right now David is enrolled in JPME II school in Norfolk.  It's basically a required class for officers when you do your Joint Tour.  We leave in April and he's spending the last weeks of our time in school.  Something that should've happened when we first arrived.  But things never go as planned.  He is gone Sunday night to Friday afternoon.  I'm very thankful that he can come home on weekends to give me a break and so we can spend time together too.  I was hoping to go and visit him once a week so we can see each other more often but it looks like that won't be happening.  He has so much reading to do for his classes that if we were there he'd never get it done.  The boys want all his attention and when he could read it wouldn't be in a quiet atmosphere.  I do wonder though how it would have worked out if the school was close enough for him to come home at night.  He'd have to make it work but because that's not the option we have it's not an issue.  ARGH.

We're trying to plan ahead for our move to Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, LA in April.  I'm focused on finding a home to rent and having no luck.  Everything is gone the moment it is available.  So we've decided to just wait until we arrive to worry about it.  Buying a home is not an option for us and we really need a four bedroom for our family needs.  On top of everything we have to find a home near a great school since JT starts Kindergarten in the fall.  David just thinks about all the stress he'll have with only 3 weeks of preparation when he gets home from school and starts out processing.  When will we get packed up, how many days will it take, will we have to stay in a hotel here, cleaning the house we're in now, whatever else he has to do to leave this tiny town.  We have really great friends here.  We won't miss the small town but we will miss our home and our neighbors and friends.  The only thing we know for sure is we will leave the morning of April 8 no matter what.  That's going to be a long drive from Va to Fl with the kids and a cat who hates to travel!

The plan is to be in FL on the night of the 9th to spend time with my family and return Kristen.  We'll be staying with my brother and his family for the long weekend.  Saturday I booked David and I a room at Henderson Park Inn where we spent our honeymoon.  We're so excited for this night alone together.  We haven't had this opportunity since JT was born.  Not in this since anyway.  I do remember my friend keeping JT over night for me when I just couldn't deal with his colic anymore.  What did I do with that time?  I slept and didn't get out of bed until noon the next morning.  I figure with the grandma and aunts, uncles and cousins in FL my boys will be taken care of quite well from 3 pm to 11 am the next morning!!  We'll have a belated Easter dinner with my mom and grandparents and Sister on Sunday and then we'll be off to LA on Monday.  Luckily only 8 hours of driving for this trip. 

I'm excited about LA.  I've already met some great gals online through the mommy networks!!  They all seem like a lot of fun and they have been so very helpful!  We're looking forward to our new adventure.

I hope to post more here but most of my feelings are always on FB!

Boys Wrestling

Imagine this all day plus with crying. It's cute at first but gets old fast!! Enjoy.

Dancing Boys

Ok, I haven't been on here since November of last year. I totally thought I'd be more active but I guess life gets in the way of that. But I finally having something I have to share. The boys love to dance and JT is always a nut but Ryan actually has his own signature move. He dances the same every time. It's his little stance...you'll know it when you see it! So funny and cute. I am actually thinking of submitting to AFV!! What do you think??

We are watching the Wild Card Episode of Idol.

In this video Ryan really gets into it at the end!

Cutest Sayings

JT has just been full of cute sayings lately.

First a few weeks ago he says his hiney hurts and asked if I could buy him a new one!!

Then the other night he was being so bad and I told him I was going to bust his tail if he didn't stop. He looked at me with all seriousness and said, "Mommy, I don't have a tail." David and I both busted out laughing!

Hello Again

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Well, I guess I'm saying sorry to me! I enjoy this so much but just haven't been in the mood. I have a lot of pics to share. We went to Utah to visit David's parents for their 40th anniversary. It was a complete surprise that was in the works for a year! It was great to have David's family together. It had been five years since the last time and now there are three grandsons to the addition.

It's odd for me because I grew up with my family and lived near them until I met and married David. I of course get to see my family more because of Kristen. I go home every Christmas for almost 2 weeks to visit her which obviously means the rest of my family and some friends as well. But even now it's only once a year. When we were in Hawaii, I saw them a bit more with the summer travel. I miss them more now that I live so close but feel so far away. And now that I'm closer I feel they should make the trip to see me. But I'm done having babies so no one makes the effort to come! That's ok, I know everyone has to work and it's hard in this economy! Heck, I'm dreading the visit at Christmas now because of the expense.

Airfare went up $40 roundtrip to FL in a day. I was honestly thinking it might go down a bit with gas dropping but nope, airlines dropped flights instead so cost went up again. I wouldn't mind driving if Ryan was better in the car. I know JT can do the ride with minimum complaints but Ryan can't even make it to the airport (an hour and a half) without complaining. SO, David and I have to decide what's more important. A 14 plus hour drive with a night at a hotel and Ryan miserabe the entire trip, which makes me insane and hard to ride with, or an expensive but quick 4 hour plane ride to FL. Guess time will tell!

Enough of my ramblings. Just wanted people to know I'm still here and I hope to get pictures from the trip up soon. You can always visit my sister in laws blog to see them first though!

Happy Halloween too!

VOTE!

It's time to vote for the kids again!
You can vote from each individual computer you have access too!
Kristen won with a landslide last time, so please help our boys out this go around!

JT and Ryan are both #1 in their category and Kristen is up against a boy this time around!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mary

www.christisullivanphotography.blogspot.com

Help Pass Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act

We only have two weeks to make this happen! Please help. It's fast and easy.


http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators

Here's the letter:

Dear Senator:I know that you believe, like I do, that we must do everything possible to protect children from sexual predators. That is why I am asking for your help.Last year alone, U.S. law enforcement identified over 300,000 criminals who were trafficking in movies and pictures of young children being raped and tortured. Experts say that one in every three of these criminals has local child victims. Child pornography trafficking over the Internet has given us a trail of evidence that leads straight to their doorsteps, but the vast majority of these children will never be rescued because investigators are overwhelmed, outnumbered and underfunded.As your constituent, I urge you to do everything in your power to pass the PROTECT Our Children Act (S. 1738, Biden-Hatch). This bipartisan legislation passed the House 415-2, but it is now the victim of petty partisan politics.Now that we know where these children are and how to protect them, there is no excuse for the Senate to fail to take action this session.(Your name here)

September 7 - Ryan's Day!

Well my goodness!! Our boy has had a busy day of giving us lots of smiles! We have a few videos to share!

He's just jabbering up a storm! It seems to be the same animated story each time he tells it!



He's learned to shake the car to make noise by watching his big brother! He forgets he needs to put it on the floor to make it go though!



And he's walking! He'd always take a step and then fall to the floor smiling. Well today he just kept getting up and trying again! He was so eager to please us! I should have filmed his Daddy afterwards! He missed JT walking because he was deployed. So seeing his "baby bear" walk brought tears to his eyes! It was amazing to watch!






He's waving now as well but I don't have that on video. He's just about off formula. We are finishing off the last can now. It's easier giving him that during a early morning wake up call than coming downstairs for milk! Oh, and he's loving the big boy sippy cup. He's just growing up so fast. AND, he's finally eating!! It seems that clearing him out is just making him feel so much better that he's just willing to give everything a try!!

I hope these give you all a big smile just like they did us.

First Birthday's!

JT's first birthday!


Ryan's first birthday!

Ryan's Birthday!

He had a fun party! After the drama of going to Urgent Care with JT it was nice to have a fun evening!! Lots of good food, friends and fun!

I made him a turtle cupcake cake! A friend from my mommy's network came to help out! She did a great job! It gave me the confidence to try this again on my own...someday! What do you think???

Ryan had fun eating the cupcakes too!

He had a great time opening presents. Although JT thought they all were for him as well! Ryan's favorite turned out to be a stacking light toy that David and I almost put back on the shelf!

I'll send out all the pictures on snapfish once I have them loaded!
I can't believe my baby boy is one!

Thanks to all our friends who made the party so much fun. And to the family who wishes they could have been there as well!!

Thank Goodness for Tricare!

Well, three visits to the ER this week! Good grief!

Ryan went Wednesday night due to his cronic constipation! He was given a supository (adult dosage!) and went three times right there in the room! He's now on a nightly liquid stool laxative and every other day he's getting miralax in his bottle! He's doing good now but still has a hard time going poop!

Friday I go to our clinic for a strep test and there is no longer a lab tech. I threw a fit and a nurse did a test "old school" and it came back negative!

Saturday morning I took David to the ER after the babysitter showed up. He thought he broke it playing soccer for PT. After 5 hours we're told it's only bruised and and most likely sprained. So, they wrapped it with a bandage and gave him crutches and Tylenol with Codine.

Sunday I'm preparing for Ryan's birthday party for that afternoon. JT starts complaining that his ear hurts. He only complains when it's an ear infection. So, instead of going to the ER we looked up the Urgent Care. I took JT and after a long wait we're finally seen and given a prescription for his ear infection. He fell asleep on the way home. He was cranky at first when we got home but then all his friends were showing up for the party and he had a good time!

Now, I'm just waiting for the cat to need to go to the vet to complete the family trip!

Ryan goes tomorrow for his one year check up and then I hope we're done for some time!

Potty Training!

I am so proud of JT. I decided to keep him home this week since David is OOT. It would be easy getting him to daycare but Ryan is always napping when it's time to pick him up at noon or 12:30. So I felt this was the perfect time to bite the bullet. I'm so glad I waited until JT was ready. He goes every now and then for fun but I finally told him that he would have no more diapers! Daycare has him going to the potty with everyone as well and was sending him home in pull ups. SO, I feel if he can do it for them, he can do it for us! And he is. He's finally loving it too. Even wants to stand up like a "big boy!" He still won't do number 2. It really takes him a long time to finish so when that needs to happen he does get his diaper on. But he wears his big boy undies all day and goes to pp all the time! He's so proud of himself. He gets one chocolate about every other time. He loves to just run around in his underware at home but I got a great shot of him out in the backyard riding his tractor! Since it's not appropriate to take a picture of him going potty, I thought this was the next best thing!! So, we're done with diapers for JT.

I am done buying formula for Ryan too! He takes milk with no problem. Unlike JT, where I had to slowly introduce milk to him with his formula. I'm hoping that once Ryan is on milk only he'll finally get hungry enough to eat real food. He still take a couple of bites of whatever we give but doesn't eat enough for a meal. I keep trying but it doesn't work. He starts spitting it all out and makes a mess. SO, he's still a snacker! That's ok, he's certainly not malnurished! It's just going to be nice to save about $100 a month now...no box of diapers ($20) and no formula ($75 plus!)

Ice Skating

Well this is way past due since we went on Aug. 10 but better late than never! We loaded everyone up and went the iceskating rink in Central Park. Kristen's friends met us there and we had a couple of hours to play. David had to hang on to JT the entire time. He did use the bars in the beginning but later found it easier to just hold his dad's hands. Ryan and I just watched the entire time but we had fun. The girls had a good time skating and checking out the cute boy they found. I should have snapped a picture of him but didn't. At the end they all wanted to play video games. I couldn't believe we were finally there to skate and they wanted video games. It was a fun afternoon though. Here are a couple of pictures and two quick videos for fun! I'll have all the pictures up on Snapfish at the end of the month. I'm trying to take more day to day pictures. We'll go weeks sometimes without taking a single shot. Of course Ryan's birthday is the 31st so there will be lots on that day. I keep hoping he'll start walking. He thinks about it and then stops. Either falling straight down on his tummy or decides to crawl instead. No real attempt yet!!

Ryan has his own version...so cute and he had fun.

It's Always Something!

Well Kristen called this morning and said her bag made it but she's missing clothes. Not her skates, or new school clothes or shoes but her stuff she brought up with her! So I went to the dryer thinking David forgot to pull that out when he packed everything up for her. NOPE, not there and not in our bedroom either. So I asked her if she did empty all her drawers in her dresser and she thought she did. NOPE! Two drawers have all kinds of clothes in them. We asked if she had everything out to be packed and the answer was yes. This is the first time we haven't gone behind her to make sure everything is empty. She is 12 now. Well, guess the jokes on us! I'm not laughing. So now I have to pack everything up and mail it to her. She might just wait until the next time we see each other. That'll learn her. Yeah right! I am happy though that her bag was delivered. That was a huge relief.

She goes to get her shot today for school and to Open House to meet her new teachers for the 7th grade. Goodness, 7th grade. I swear I was just 12 myself. Time flies.

Kristen's Home

Well yesterday was a crazy day.

Today Kristen got off without a problem. The planes all boarded on time and landed on time. She arrived in Florida and was off to get her luggage that should have arrived the night before. Note that I said should have! Well Shaun takes her to get the luggage and it's no where to be found. It seems that it might be in Atlanta somewhere. The lady feels that it's there because they noticed she didn't board the flight. Excuse me, but people get delayed and transferred all the time but the luggage still travels on. Well not hers of course. So they are hoping it arrives tomorrow or the next day or the next day! Good grief. Her luggage doesn't have anything major but that's not the point. Her chargers are in there all her new clothes for school, plus her regular stuff, pictures and her inline skates. I really hope she gets it soon.

She goes to open house tomorrow to get her school assignment. Plus she gets her vaccine shot tomorrow! School starts on Monday.

Until next time! Mary

Good Grief

I was already stressed today about having to send Kristen home and of course the day just got worse. Ryan fell down the stairs AGAIN. We didn't even know he was back upstairs. We were watching him and then turn around to see where he is and we hear thunk, thunk, thunk. Not sure how high he was up. He's trying to come down the stairs now and it just freaks me out. He has a huge bump on his head and he's been favoring his right leg all day. He cried for a long time. We called his doctor and she said take him to urgent care. Good grief. I called a nurse friend and she said to give him tylenol or motrin and see if he would nap. He had calmed down by this time. So we gave him motrin and he went right to bed. He is crawling like a champ, like nothing is wrong. But when he tries to stand up it takes him a bit and then he won't put any weight on the right foot. So I don't know if it's his foot or hip or leg. We touch everything and pull a bit and no tears or signs of pain. I'm thinking he's got a bruise somewhere. We might just end up taking him to the ER for X-rays. Just for peace of mind.

Kristen had her friends over again this morning to hang out before we had to leave. Of course they are more important than mom and her brothers. For once we are loaded and on the road on time. I couldn't believe it. I didn't ask David to speed up once. We get to the airport at 2:00 and go to the counter. I wait and wait and wait while the ONE lady checks in the guy before us. We get up to the counter and she takes all our information and prints everything out and takes Kristen's bag and puts it on the conveyor. But then she tells me there isn't enough time to process her and she'll have to take the 5:00 flight to Atlanta. I am so mad at this point but say fine we'll wait. Then she gets the manager. He says the flights to Pensacola are all booked for the night and she has to leave TOMORROW! OMG! I was furious. He tells me I needed to be here at least 30 minutes before the flight but they prefer an hour. I told him I was there at 2 for her 2:45 flight but had to wait 20 minutes for the ONE lady to process the previous person. He was surprised that I was there in the time frame and annoyed that the lady sent her bag through. There is no getting it back. So it gets to make the 2:45 flight but not Kristen. I have been through the processing with her 3 times now, it doesn't take long at all. But they made excuses. So we drove back another hour and a half home just for me to do it again tomorrow morning alone. Oh, and David is taking tomorrow off too so that I don't have to Ryan with me. He doesn't do well in long car rides. JT will be at daycare. So I am thankful to have her with me one more day (actually she was originally supposed to leave on the 13th-but that's another story) but it's $$$ to have to drive another 3 hour round trip. Plus we have to get out of the house at 7:30 a.m. It's a huge task to wake up a 12 year old girl and 10 am much less 7 am!!

Hopefully tomorrow goes better. I hope to have a better update tomorrow. But it just means I have another day to be all emotional over her leaving.

Sneak Peak!

There are a couple of pictures available to see on Christi's website! So check them out. It'll be a few more days before they are all available for purchase.

www.christisullivanphotography.blogspot.com

Picture Day

Today turned out pretty good. Not as stressful as I had planned on. The boys slept in a bit so that made it nice to start the day. The weather is just amazing! Kind of sad though because the leaves are already turning yellow and falling from our trees. I just know that means an early winter. Yuck! Then everyone got ready and went to the pool (except me!) for JT's next to last swim lesson. Even Ryan went and played in the outside kid pool. I went to get my hair colored and styled! I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I got home around 1:15 and both boys were still up! I said, "Oh NO!" and we promptly put them to bed. At 4:15 we woke the boys up and got them dressed. They looked so handsome. I got Kristen's hair dryed and styled a bit and we were off to take pictures.

Christie is just so nice. Her husband was a lot of fun too. She has her studio in her home basement. We got some good shots before JT went into "goofy" mode. He had a chance to show off a bit and I hope the crazy shots come out cute. Ryan wasn't really into it as much. I think having so many people around was too much for him. But I think I will be happy with the way they all turned out.

It will be about a week before they are available for me to view and order online. Then another couple of weeks (maybe?) before they come in. We'll be getting pictures for friends and family. As soon as they are available I'll let everyone know. I hope that they'll be viewable by everyone. That way if there is a particular picture you want that I'm NOT getting, you can order it yourself!

Only three days left with Kristen. It's just gone by so fast. Makes me sad.

Here's a couple of cute pictures from today. The full load will be sent out at the end of the month.

Scrapbooking

I am so excited to finally get into scrapbooking! I have gone through all my pictures of Kristen since she was born (before digital days!) and put them in an order of sorts. I purged a lot and I'm even sending my ex the duplicates. I found a bunch of pictures from all her birthday's and Christmas days that her PeePaw put on disk for me. I'm so thankful for that. I didn't have very many since I was busy running around. So I have to go through and print what I want out for the books. It's funny though. JT is 3 and has twice as many pictures than Kristen and she's 12! But again, we're in the digital age now!

My neighbor is a Creative Memories consultant so she is hooking me up! I'll get the stuff this evening and should be able to get a page or two done soon! I'm going to work on Kristen's book first. Birth to age 7. Her Florida years! I had a friend redo her album for me of her Hawaii days. That's what made me decide to do it myself! I love looking at all the pictures. Then I'll do a Virginia album once we move from here. I think that will make it easier. Plus that will let me concentrate on JT and Ryan's books. Then I need to do one for myself of everyone! When the kids grow up I want them to take their books with them. Once they are "mature" enough to handle them. Just because they turn 18 or get married doesn't make them responsible! LOL

Anyway, I'm looking forward to learning all this crafty stuff. Maybe eventually I'll be able to do a wedding album for us! I love the book that all the pictures are in but it would be nice to personalize it a bit! I want to be an expert by the time Kristen gets married. But that's still another 15 or 20 years away! One can be hopeful!

Another Monday!

Kristen is sick now. She has strep throat again. I have no idea where she got it. Unless it's what David has had all this time but his came back negative. She's on medicine for 5 days now. At least we are getting it treated before school starts on the 18th.

David goes out of town on the 18th for the week to Shaw for a TDY. Another week alone with the boys! Yeah. But I am going to take that opportunity to TRY to potty train JT. He's definately ready and will go pp often if I start it in the mornings but he's still refuses to poo poo. Not sure how I am going to tackle that one. But I just want to get started. I'm tired of buying diapers for both boys.

Ryan is taking milk! I'm so happy about that! I give it to him with formula (2 oz with 4 oz formula) and also once a day he gets just milk with water. He likes it. I'm hoping that once he stops formula he'll want to eat more "real" foods! And that will hopefully help his constipation. I can't believe he's almost one! He's standing on his own and will stand still for a moment or two. He refuses to take a step though. I know it's not far behind though!

We go for family pictures this Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing them. It's been 3 years since our last family photo. We'll be updating these now once each summer!

I go to the doctor again for the colposcopy on the 25th. I'm sure it's all going to be fine. The doctor didn't seem concerned either since this happened after having JT as well. I'll update when I know more there.

That's about all for now. Hope everyone has a great week. We're trying to enjoy the little time we have left with Kristen. Summer just flies by. Until next time.