Call in the National Guard we have a snow emergency

I may sound as if I am making fun, but I am not. When I would tell people in Illinois that I don't know how to drive in the snow (I do now since I have lived there) they couldn't believe it. "Well what happens when it snows at home?" I would always hear. "Well if it's bad enough, then we just don't go anywhere." I would respond. I heard comments like oh that's crazy, you can't just shut down the city like that. Or you're just wimpy and don't know HOW to deal with snow. All have been wrong and although this is the worst storms this area has seen in 40 years it proves that we are not crazy or wimpy and yes snow CAN nearly shut down a city...even an entire metro area. Now I have never seen a storm this bad before, but it reminds me of the times we would just stay at home for a day or so. This storm is requiring us staying in a whole lot longer. I have not left the house since Friday and don't know when I will. It is Monday night and it looks as though we may not be warming up until Christmas Day or after. It's crazy. I just looked at the news online and Gresham, OR has been declared a state of emergency and the National Guard has indeed been called up to help. I never thought I would see snow like this anywhere but the mountain, but here it is right in our front yard. On the bright side though we will have a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Snow in Oregon

We made it to Oregon safely. It was a very long car ride, but the kids and dog did well. We hit some bad patches starting in Wyoming, then off and on until we got here to Mom's house. It has been snowing pretty much daily since we got here, which is very unusual for this area. It has been nice and pretty to watch, but I need to get the rest of my shopping done and was not counting on this! Hopefully I will be able to get out without the kids so I don't have to drag them out into the weather. One thing we did was go downtown Portland to see one of Kendra's friends at work. It was kind of icky out so we opted to take MAX down (those in Illinois, think MetroLink) and Mason was very excited to ride the "train". It was fun, but I think it was a bit too cold for the kids. Luckily MAX dropped us nearly in front of the place we were going. Other than that, we haven't done a whole lot.

In other news. I finally heard from Mike after a week of nothing. He is doing well and hard at work in his final destination. He misses everyone and sends his love to all. I have been hearing from him pretty frequently since he reached his final destination and have been a lot more at ease. I will update everyone if I hear anything of significance from him and just on him in general.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and safe New Year's.

It's been way too long...

I really am going to try to update this more often. My only problem is that I have so little time to sit at the computer with these little ones here by myself.

Morgan is now almost 9 months old, and Mason a little over 2.5. Morgan is pulling himself up, crawling and "cruising" around the furniture. Mason does things that amaze me everyday. He is such a smart little guy. Mike is now gone and out of the country. I have not heard from him since Saturday December 6th and am not sure when we will hear from him again. He wasn't quite to his final destination when I last spoke to him and he didn't know what kind of communication resources would be available to them when he did arrive. I am going to try to update when I do hear from him so that I can let everyone know how he is doing.

That was short, but Morgan is demanding some attention, so I have to run. If anyone reads this today, it is Mike's 31st birthday, so give him a little extra thought if you would.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!

Morgan is 6 months old!

I can't believe Morgan is already 6 months old. Where oh where has the time gone. It seems like yesterday I was still pregnant. Morgan is all over the place now. He is trying so hard to perfect crawling. He doesn't do a standard crawl, but he manages to get around. He usually hikes his leg forward, then an arm, then faceplants. He is getting better and has fewer and fewer faceplants. If he sees something he wants, he goes for it and can get to it in no time at all. Mason likes him more and more each day, which is nice. I feel better as a Mom knowing that Mason accepts Morgan and that he doesn't feel left out or any resentment losing all of his one on one time with us.

Both of the boys are doing wonderfully and I am loving this time in their lives much more than any we have had.

We experienced a little bit of Ike ourselves

Okay, so we are not affected anywhere near the magnitude that Texas or Louisiana was but we did get a TON of rain and wind. The news stations had been saying we would receive the remnants of Ike and that in a short amount of time we would get from 3-6 inches and possible more in some areas. I heard the rain start last night. I heard the rain this morning when Morgan got up. I didn't look outside though until Mike got up for the day. After Morgan had gone back to bed I fell asleep on the couch and woke up to Mike asking if I wanted anything from the store. (To which my answer was, "No, I want to keep sleeping.") When he opened the door he said, "Our street is flooded." So I got up to look and sure enough there was water up to/a little past the sidewalk. Great. Our next move was to the basement. Luckily our basement is fine. I instantly started thinking of our neighbors who I know have had bad luck before. After talking to neighbors they have anywhere from just a little wet to inches reaching up into her dryer. Next I called Jamie and Steven and they had a bit in their basement but the bigger problem was Mike's grandma's house was pretty much taking on some water. She lives on a little lake and it was rapidly approaching the house. Mike went up with his two brothers and they sandbagged it so it would not create more damage. As it stands right now, I just heard from Mike and the water was all the way to her basement but I didn't find out if it was indeed in the house or if they had managed to get it taken care of in time. I will just have to wait until he gets home.

That has been our Sunday so far and it's just barely 1:30pm.

Another problem is GAS!!! Gas stations are running out of gas and only have Premium available....hmmm I think that's pretty convenient for the companies. It kind of pisses me off, but hey what can you do? I'm not going anywhere today, saving the gas I do have and hoping that I will NOT have to purchase gas at an insane price. Hopefully by the time I need gas the price will have went back down. And that's about all I can do.

Morgan's updates

I haven't been very good at writing Morgan's new achievements down, so I thought I would update here and document his new things while I am at it. He is almost 6 months old and just in this fifth month he has started doing so much more. He is eating baby food twice a day now. He started with green beans (after cereal) and then we did peas, sweet potatoes, squash, applesauce, pears, peaches and carrots. The only one he hasn't seemed to like is carrots. We are finding out that he is so different from Mason. He is HUGE compared to where Mason was at this age, he moves around a lot more, although this may be because we have carpet and put him on the ground and with Mason we had hardwood floors and didn't. Another difference is food. When I first started giving Mason solids (which was about the same age), Mason would only eat half of a stage 1 container. Morgan started off eating the entire thing. I think we are going to have to move to Stage 2 sooner rather than later. Morgan is rolling all over the place. He is now an expert roller and can get from point A to B in no time at all! He is also trying to crawl. He gets up on all fours and kind of sits there like he knows what he wants to do, but just hasn't put it together yet. It's amazing at how fast time has gone. It's been almost six months and he is getting so big and doing so much. I think that's all I have for now.

House stuff and our camping trip

A few weeks ago we had a realtor come over and tell us what we needed to do to make the house better for selling. Mike has gotten most of it done (it was surprisingly not that much) and now only has to get some stuff out of the basement and paint it. Hopefully this will all be done this week and we can list it next week! Woo-hoo!!! I am super excited about this!

We took a break from house stuff to go camping over Labor Day weekend. Jamie, Steven and Logan went with us. Mike, myself, the kids and Scout got down there Friday night. Our campsite was extremely small and very rocky. We were not very impressed, but we set up camp and were settling in. I had to get some stuff, so Mason and I headed to the store once camp was set up. While I was gone Mike called saying that the camp sites were filling up and that he didn't think Jamie and Steven would get a site next to us and that I should call them. So I called Jamie and she called the place to reserve it and told them we wanted to be by each other if at all possible. Well they had to move some stuff around and were able to get us in neighboring camp sites. So, when I got back from the store we took down camp and relocated. Man am I happy we did. Our new campsite was HUGE compared to the last one...at least three times the size and there weren't nearly as many rocks (pretty much none). Mike got a fire started and we roasted some hot dogs on a stick over the fire for dinner. The next day about mid-morning Jamie, Steven and Logan arrived. Mike helped them get their camp set up and we had lunch and just enjoyed the camping. Overall, it was a good trip. We basically hung out at our sites, the kids ran free, Scout was amazingly good and we only headed into town once to venture around. The only thing I can complain about it the SPIDERS! I HATE spiders and they were EVERYWHERE. I have been camping numerous times in my life and I have NEVER seen this many. They were daddy long legs, but they were, with legs and all, sometimes the size of a softball. And at any given time there were at least five on our tent. They would crawl up your legs, drop from the trees onto you and were in general all over EVERYTHING. It was gross. But I obviously made it through okay, but really they were bad. I almost forgot,Sunday night four different resorts set off fireworks over the lake and we went up to a lookout where we could see all four at once! It was awesome.

Monday morning we got up and packed up and left. We got home gave kids and dog a bath. Mike and Morgan took naps while Mason played with his toys and I got my much needed shower. When I was ready I woke up Mike and we headed to his Dad's for a Labor Day BBQ. The food was amazing as usual and it was nice to hang out in the house! Then we came home, did NOTHING and then went to BED!

That's all for now. Just thought I needed to update before my next post ended up being twice as long!!!

Morgan is 5 months old

I can't believe he is already 5 months old! Where has the time gone. His favorite thing right now is his toes. Every chance he gets they go straight in his mouth. He is currently eating them as I type. He also loves to play in his exersaucer, he plays on the ground, grabs for things and is really starting to like to sit on your hip when you carry him. He is getting so big so fast. Yesterday I had him in a 9 month outfit and it fit PERFECTLY!!! It's crazy!

I need a vacation from our vacations!!!

Well, we are back! Florida was a lot of fun, tiring but fun! We had an early flight out of St. Louis and got to Orlando at 10:30am. After getting our rental car and some food we headed off to SeaWorld. Both of the kids fell asleep in the car and we actually had to wake up Mason so he could see the animals. Mason loved all the animals and had a great time and Morgan tolerated the heat very well. After SeaWorld we headed out to Daytona Beach. We got stuck in some traffic, but that only lasted for about 30 minutes. Towards the end of our traffic fun, I realized we left Morgan's pack and play at the airport. Neither of us could believe we did it, and we decided that we would NOT be going back to get it since traffic was bad. I still can't believe we grabbed everything else and just left that! We got to Daytona and checked in, got to our room (which was huge and nice) and got the kids settled for the evening. The next day we took to boys to the beach and pool. Mason loved the water (as he usually does)and Morgan also liked the water. I put his toes in the ocean and he stood there and loved it. It was a bit windy and sand was everywhere (duh, I know) so we headed up to the pool area. Morgan liked the pool a lot better than the ocean so we hung out there for a bit longer. Amazingly enough that was the only day we went down there! A lot of our vacation was dictated by nap times. On Thursday we went to the Ocean Walk Village where there are some shops and got some t-shirts from this really cool store. The shirts look black and white, but when they are in the sun light it fills in with color. Then we ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. . It was raining that day so we headed back to the room and all napped until the evening. Since we were leaving the next day I cooked dinner and started some laundry while Mike took Mason on a late night swim in the pool. The next morning we got up left and was on our way out of Daytona. We stopped at Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse and it was very neat. We climbed to the top which was 203 steps! Mike was carrying Mason and I had Morgan. Needless to say we were both VERY sore from that, but I think it was worth it. Our next stop was Kennedy Space Center. Kennedy Space Center was probably the coolest thing we did on this vacation. There was so much to do that we didn't even manage to fit it all in. Had we not been leaving the next day, we would have went back for day two. After spending the day there we drove to Orlando, checked into the resort there. I had to drive to the airport to pick up the pack and play since they would not be open when we needed them to be at 5:30 am the next day. After I did that I came back, repacked bags got everything ready for an early morning wake-up of 4am. We got back into St. Louis at 9 am, came home and got ready for Mike's cousin Andrea's wedding.

It's all been crazy but we had a blast. I must say that I am glad it's over and am happy to get back to normal life again. With that said...normal life consists of decluttering this house and contacting a realtor so we can get this place on the market. Not so normal after all......

We're back.....but not for long!!!

Vegas was a blast! We had such a great time. Leaving the kids was easier than I had imagined, but it was still hard. I was very excited to see them when we got home. We got home on Thursday, then jumped right back into wedding stuff.

The wedding was last night and it was awesome. Jamie was beautiful, Steven was handsome and it seemed that everyone had a wonderful time. We had a sitter come help with the boys and she even brought them home and put them to bed for us. We were out a bit late and are very tired today, but it was fun and worth it.

That leads us to our next adventure. It is now Sunday and we are leaving Tuesday for Florida. That means I have a lot of stuff to get done and packed today and tomorrow. It will be busy leading up to it, but it will be so much fun. I am very excited to be taking the boys with us this time on our trip. I will update when we get back!

Morgan's Four Month Stats and some things about the boys to share

I completely forgot to post these after his appointment. It was July 25th and he is huge! He is now 17 lbs 13 oz and 28 inches long!!! He is off the "curve" (still on the chart) for his height and at the very top of the "curve" for weight. So he is proportionate...just a little taller it sounds than weight, which is just how it should be. He's huge though! We have all of Mason's clothes still because we figured Morgan would be able to wear them considering they were born a little more than two weeks difference at the same time of year. But NO, Morgan is huge. Mason always fit into clothes for his size and was usually towards the bottom of the range. So in a 3/6 month he could start wearing around 3-4 months and wear until he was past six months. So all of our 6/9 month clothes are fall and winter. Nope, not Morgan. He is four months old and already in 6/9 month clothes. Some of those are even a little snug! Looks like we will be buying more clothes that we had planned. Oh well, he is happy and healthy and that's all we can ask for. Plus, what Mom doesn't like shopping for her babies???


And on a another note, Morgan now constantly rolls over from his tummy to his back. Every morning when I go in to get him he has flipped over. If we goes down for tummy time, he flips himself right over. It's pretty exciting!

One more thing...Mason seems to have taken an interest in taking care of his little brother. The other day I was in my room putting laundry away when Morgan started fussing from his bouncy. I only had a few more things to put away, so I hurried up and got it done and then went to tend to him. Well in the short time that that took he stopped. When I saw why it melted my heart. Mason had gotten Morgan's bottle and was feeding him while Morgan was in his bouncy seat! It was adorable. Another not so exciting thing (but still cute as long as I can prevent it from actually happening) is Mason wants to pick Morgan up. Luckily every time he has tried, I have been right there, so he doesn't get his hands completely around him. But it's still cute. I guess being a big brother isn't so bad after all.

My first "kidism"

When Mason hears Morgan crying he usually looks at me to tell me that Morgan is crying. Well yesterday Morgan started fussing and Mason looked at me, so I asked him what was wrong with him. Mason looked at me and says, "Broken" I thought it was so cute that he was telling me that he was broken just because he was crying!

1 week until Vegas

Next Monday we will be off to Vegas! While I am excited, I am still freaking out. A little more anxiety each day. I wonder if I am going to be able to do this. We will go and have a good time, but I already know that the flight and probably first day are going to be horrible for me. But oh well, I know it will be fine.

Enough of that. I have so much to do this week. I have to/get to go shopping for clothes for our trip and the dreaded bathing suit.....blah! I did not get down weight loss wise where I was really wanting to be, but I did lose an additional 22 pounds since I really buckled down and got serious about it. So I am happy with that and plan to keep on trucking along!

I am also going to try to lots of fun stuff with Mason, because he is a good kid and deserves it. Plus, yes I am feeling guilty.

I think it just hit me that I have to leave my kids to go on vacation without them...

I was thinking last night about this. I am going to be leaving the kids for three nights/four days....was I CRAZY to think I could do this without some medication??? How did I so easily forget crying on the way to the hospital to have Morgan because I was leaving Mason for two-three nights? Why was I thinking this would be possible? So yes I am FREAKING OUT about leaving the kids. It's not that I am worried about their safety. My Mom is coming in town to stay with them, so that's not it. I am worried about what they will be "thinking". I mean how scary it must be for a two year old for his Mom to be gone. In his life (two years and will be four months when we go) I have left him for a grand total of 6 nights. Three of those nights were when I was in the hospital to have Morgan. And I do still remember how hard that was on him. The other nights were short at that. We left in late afternoon and were home by 10 am the next morning, not even a full 24 hours. And then there's Morgan. What will he be thinking? I am his primary caregiver. Will he adapt well to a new person? He is such a mama's boy with certain things, is he going to be alright with all this? How will Mom handle two mommy's boys? She will be fine. She is an awesome Mother and Grandmother, she will do great. I am sure the boys will be fine. But how will I be? I am quite attached to these boys, I am sure I will feel like something is missing the whole time we are gone. I am not sure how enjoyable leaving will be, but I am sure the vacation will still be fun. I am just freaking out.....

Morgan is 4 months old

I can't believe it has been four months since I had Morgan. Time has flown by and I already know that before we know it he will be one. I was looking at some pictures from when he was first born and he has gotten so big! He has also lost some hair. I didn't realize that until I was looking at the pictures. He has done so many things in the last four months, he giggles, smiles, sleeps well, will roll from tummy to back if given enough room and time, has found his hands, and has tried cereal. He also loves his big brother. If Mason is around, he looks up at him and just smiles. Most of the time Mason is oblivious to the fact that Morgan is even looking at him, but Morgan will still be smiling at him. Morgan is kind of getting the hang of rice cereal. I'm not sure he's real sure about it yet. But for now, we are just "playing" with it and getting him used to it.

We have adjusted quite nicely to being a family of four instead of three and can't imagine our lives without Morgan here! I guess 6 months is right around the corner....where does the time go???

Giggles, vacations and a wedding...

Morgan is now a giggler. He is ticklish, and will immitate our laugh with his own baby giggle. It's so funny and cute when he does it. He is a very happy baby and we have been blessed with two happy and healthy children. I just gave Morgan rice cereal for the first time today. He actually took to it rather well. He turns 4 months on Saturday, and while I planned on waiting, I think he is ready for it. So we'll see how this works out for us. I'm sure it won't be a constant yet, but we will play around with it for the time being.

Our vacations are coming up quick and we are sooo ready! Only 18 days until Vegas and 26 until Florida! We have our tickets bought, activities planned and now all we need is for the time to get here so we can go!

Ahh, weddings. Jamie and Steven are getting married in less than a month. We just had Jamie's bridal shower on Saturday and it went very well. Aunt Virginia and I threw it for her and we had a great time putting it together. Next on the list is the bachelorette and bachelor parties. Us girls are having ours first, then the guys are doing theirs the next weekend. It will be fun and a nice way to send us off onto Vegas. When we get back from our trip to Vegas the wedding will be two days later. We are excited for Jamie and Steven and can't wait to see the ceremony and how pretty everything will be.

Well, that will have to be all for now. Mike just left again for three days, so the kids and I are going to be back into our routine of just the three of us. I guess it's something we will have to get used to. Luckily though this time is only three days...not bad at all. It's funny how I know he won't be home tonight, so I already feel like he's been gone. But he would normally be at work right now anyway! Funny what your mind does just when there is different circumstances!

The future

I know that we don't even have our house on the market yet, but we know we are moving. I am getting very excited about what the future has in store for us. After my last post Lindsay wrote me a comment about camping trips and beach trips with our kids and our families and it made me so happy to even think about that. I am so excited that our kids get to grow up with so many kids around their own age and around all the family activities that my own family likes to do together.

I really need to update more often

It's been a while since my last post (or at least it seems that way). We have been very busy and things are just now starting to settle back down.



First Susan flew in to visit us. That same night Mike got home later in the evening. The next few days were very hectic and busy. We took Susan to the touristy St. Louis places and had a lot of fun. We finally made it on a brewery tour at Budweiser and thought it was really neat. We also went to the Arch and Grant's Farm. We realized that we really do need a bigger vehicle, but are going to tough it out for a while with the one we have. We had to take two cars over to St. Louis, which with gas prices wasn't really our favorite thing to do. But we had fun, and it was all worth it. Having Susan here made me miss home even more. I have truly missed my friends and forgot how great it was to just sit and talk. Susan left on a Monday and I relaxed at home with the kiddos for a few days before we started our 4th of July weekend running.



It was very nice having the 4th on a Friday this year. Mike had Friday off and we went to Charlie and Betty's for their yearly party. The weather was perfect and we were able to keep Morgan outside all day without him getting overheated. Mason and Mike went swimming. We were planning on putting Morgan in but with the nicer weather (meaning not blistering hot like it usually in on the 4th) and recent rain, the pool was a bit too cold for him. So Mason and Daddy had a blast playing in the water. After Charlie and Betty's we went to Jason's parents house and finished off our night there. They had invited someone who purchased a ton of great fireworks. After the fireworks were over we went home and crashed. The next day was our nephew Logan's first birthday party. We ended up getting there a bit late because Morgan was napping and with all our running the previous day we thought it best to let him sleep. We ended up staying at the party (which was at Jamie's parents house) until dark and Steven set off some of his fireworks that he saved for Logan. Unfortunately Logan didn't make it for the fireworks, the poor little guy was too tired and fell asleep before they got started.
Then on Sunday we went to Logan's Roadhouse for Logan's birthday lunch since that was his actual birthday. We then ran all over doing some shopping and ended the night back with Steven and Jamie and their house. Both of the boys handled the running very well and we managed to have a great time with everything we did. Our weekend was very busy, so we enjoyed a very nice simple day here at home today.

Hopefully we won't be quite as busy in the near future and I can keep up on this more frequently. Hope you have enjoyed a day to day rundown of our lives over the last week!

1 more week, a giggle and some beach gear

Ah, 1 more week and Mike will be HOME!!! I can't wait! It's been two weeks so far and I am ready for him to be back home. It will be nice to be a family again. The thing that sucks is that this is NOTHING compared to what the deployment will be like. The only thing that will be better is that hopefully the boys and I will be back home by then. But it will still be hard for Mike to be gone and for him to be in danger. I worry mostly about that and the kids. It has got to be so confusing when he leaves like this. Three weeks is one thing, but then two months and then almost a year? I often wonder what goes through Mason's head when Daddy is gone. We are going to do some things so that the boys can see Daddy everyday. We plan on having Daddy read a bedtime story every night, which we will record on the camcorder before he leaves....he has a lot of reading to start working on!!! I guess for now we must enjoy our time together and soak up as much Daddy time as we can!

Another thing we are looking forward to next week is Susan is coming to visit! Susan has never been here to see us before, so we are so excited to have her here. We have lots of things planned and hopefully will be able to do them all.

As for the giggle, I think Morgan giggled at me today! I say think because it's the first time he has done it and I always wait for it to happen more frequently before saying he giggles now. So for now I am excited to say that I "think" he giggled!!!

I am getting very excited for our trips. I have ordered some gear on-line and I received our first order today! It just made me very excited, knowing we have that to look forward to. I bought Morgan a little swimming trunk and rashguard outfit that is Mickey Mouse, and Mason got a Cars tank top and Mike and Mason got matching tiki Mickey Mouse swimming trunks! I love the matching trunks for Daddy and Mason. They are going to look so cute matching! Now, they aren't all Mickey, they actually have Mickey kind of "hidden" in the print, so I think Mike will be okay with wearing them. You have to be pretty close to notice the Mickey. So now I am waiting on our new beach towels I ordered from Kohls to get here and we will have our beach gear almost set. All we will need is another pair of trunks for Morgan and suits for me. I am not buying suits for me though until right before we leave, as I am trying to lose weight before our trip.

That's all for now. Lots of random topics that don't really flow together, but hey that's life for ya!

More about potty training....and some about babies and babies growing up

After I wrote my last blog, the day went downhill. Mason kept going into either his room or ours to take his diaper off and then go potty. I couldn't get him to the bathroom. It was so very frustrating. So yesterday I kept the doors closed to those two rooms during the day and he went straight to the bathroom! We had many successful potty trips yesterday and I was even able to keep putting the same diaper on because he wasn't even going in it!!! I was so excited. So, now we shall see what today has in store for us!

Another thing that has changed around here with Mason is the baby gates. We used to have a baby gate up to the bathroom and kitchen. We had one up for the bathroom because we have old doors that while they shut, don't "latch", so Mason could just push it open and would get into everything. We also had one up to the kitchen. The basement stairs are in there and so is the dog's food and water. It was easier to just keep him out of there than to always worry about him going down the stairs.
About a month ago Mason figured out that he could climb the gate if he put a toy up to it to use as a step. Great. The first time it happened, I was in another room with Morgan and Mike was downstairs. Mike heard Mason say," Daddy!", right there in the basement with him. So we got him to stop and thought we were good. Fast forward to this week. Mike has been gone for about week and Mason is constantly going over the gate again! This coupled with his new interest in the potty I decided to take the gates down. So far, so good. While I have to holler for him to stay up here, he has not ventured past the first step to the basement. He does like to play in the animal's water, I caught him driving a monster truck in it the other day, but for the most part the whole house freedom is going a lot better than I had imagined. He's growing up so fast and I can't believe everything that is changing so fast with him.

And now Morgan. He is three months old today and doing great. He is actually on his floor gym right now "talking" to the hanging animals. He sleeps all night, has since he was about 6-7 weeks old, and is in general a very happy baby. He is a little chunk. I got on the scale here at home with him the other day and it said 15.2 pounds!!! He smiles all the time, and I am working on getting that first little giggle out of him. Morgan moved from our room into his crib the night of Father's Day. At 15 pounds he is right at the weight limit for the bassinet part of the pack n play, so the move was necessary. I was VERY nervous having him that far, especially because our movement monitor has gone off once, but so far it has been good. So now both boys are in their beds and I have the bed to myself (well until Mike gets home). I told Mike that when he gets home there will be no kids in our room and he seemed pretty happy about that. You see, Mason has slept with us from just about day one. He slept in his crib until he when he started teething, I would bring him in with us for a night or two because he needed comforting at night. Then Mike left for a week or two for training and I let him sleep with me the whole time. Ever since then he was with us. So now it is huge that they are BOTH in their room and sleeping in their own beds ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!

That's all for now, I will try to update more often as this seems fairly long....

Potty training...oh what fun

Mason has started to show an interest in potty training, so here we go! So far potty training has proved to be rather difficult. Mike is gone, so trying to take care of the boys alone has been somewhat of an adventure, but now Mason seems to be telling me it's time to potty train...why not add that in right? He is ALWAYS taking off his diaper. He doesn't like it being "dirty" in the least bit. So I put him on the potty and he was going, even if just a little bit. Now though he seems more obsessed with flushing the toilet and washing his hands. I put him on the potty and he says, "All done!" and then "Flush!", even if he didn't do anything...then that is followed by "hands". I have started not letting him flush if he doesn't go, because let's face it, I don't have the time to let him "play" in the bathroom. So, when his diaper is taken off, he sits on the potty and if he doesn't go, then that's it bathroom time is over. It's kind of sad that I have to use flushing the potty as a reward for actually going on the potty, but let's hope that works!

The next 6 months are going to be crazy ones....

How do you cram a years worth of family fun into 3-4 months? We are going to have a crazy few months that's how. For those who don't know, which most should by now, Mike is getting deployed...again. (Now I won't ever be posting any specifics, because I think we can all agree that we want them all to be safe and don't want to put out any information out on the internet that could potentially be used the wrong way. ) He is leaving sometime in the next six months and we want to have as much fun with the kids as possible before he leaves. So tonight I finished booking our two vacations we are taking. We were trying to space them out over a couple of months, but resort availability didn't let us do that so we are going on two vacations in two weeks with wedding in between and another right afterwards! I told you it's going to be crazy around here!

Our first vacation is going to be Las Vegas. This is the third vacation to Vegas we have planned and will hopefully be the one that Mike finally gets to go on. I went on the last one that we had planned but Mike had to miss it because of drill for the Guard. I pregnant with Morgan and brought Mason along as it was a family trip. This time we are going kid free. I think I am going to have a hard time leaving them behind, but I think it will be a good trip for us to take before he is gone for so long. Mike thinks I am weird when it comes to leaving the kids (because I never want to), so he is excited that I am doing it this time. I know we will have fun and my Mom is going to come stay with the kids, so I know I won't have to worry about anything there either!

Our second vacation is about 5 days after we get back from our Vegas trip and we are going to Florida. Mike said he wanted to take the kids to the "real" beach before he left. Now, both the kids have been to the beach on the Oregon Coast, but Mike doesn't think that qualifies because it's cold and not "tropical", so we are taking them to the east coast. It will be fun and I must say will be nice to be able to stand in the water and not have my feet go numb! We are also taking them to Orlando to Sea World. Hopefully Mason will enjoy it as much as we think he will. And we get to go for free! There IS an up side to this whole military thing :) I'm kidding of course, there are a lot of good things, but it is nice that we will be able to go and enjoy ourselves and that Mike can be recognized and appreciated for all he has done and is about to do. (although I don't think Sea World admission nearly comes close to paying him back, but it is a nice bonus, and I'm not complaining!!!)

I can't wait to start our family adventure and spend some quality time with my hubby before he has to leave us. But to do that we have to get him back from his 3 week AT.

Why we are starting a blog.....

A friend of mine started a blog and after reading it I thought starting one of our own would be a great way for our families and friends to keep up with what is going on in our lives. We have a myspace but some of our family members do not have one and cannot access the new developments in our lives. So here we are. This is all still new, so we'll see how well blogging goes for us.