We made it to California

Okay, so we got here almost a week ago but I've been too lazy and engrossed in my Twilight books to update the blog. Our traveling went okay, the drive up to Charlotte was no big deal, my dad helped us check our bags (free of charge, always nice to know the right people) and get through security and board the plane. Bailey was an absolute angel in his travel bag, only he kept tipping it over, which was funny, but he seemed to like laying in it when it was on it's side better anyway. The "fun" began before takeoff when we were slightly delayed due to some seating issues. Brian decided that kicking the seat in front of him was the most fun he could think of, and laughing the whole time, kicked the seat over and over with pleasure. I held his legs down off and on throughout the flight hoping to inflict less kicks on the poor man's seat in front of us. Holding down his legs caused him to start kicking, hitting, and scratching me, and of course screaming and flailing about. We fought like this for the first 4.5 hours of the flight. The last half hour he was so exhausted, he stopped caring and starred out the window as the lights of Los Angeles went by beneath. He wanted nothing to do with the various toys and entertainment items I packed for him. Everything ended up on the floor more times than I could count. The only thing he did happily was eat but of course he couldn't eat for 5 hours straight although I would have let him if he wanted just to keep him quiet. Luckily the people next to us had two small children, one of which was a total angel, but their baby cried off and on the whole flight and was actually slightly more annoying than Brian, if that's possible. Also, the poor man in front of Brian and his wife were so nice and sweet about the whole thing, thank god. I'm glad we made it but I am not looking forward to flying back in January. At least I won't have Bailey with me, I wonder if I could fit Brian into his bag.....

Twilight--I'm completely obsessed!

I made a terrible mistake yesterday. I had a book sitting upstairs on our desk for a few months, thinking I'd get around to cracking it open for a read eventually, whenever I had some time. My friends all went on and on about what a good book it is, and how you can't put it down. I honestly thought they were all a little nuts. I'm not the "reading" type, and usually I don't really enjoy ficton. I was actually hoping soon to get my hands on a copy of John McCain's book Faith of My Fathers. But anyway, I hadn't gotten around to getting the John McCain book and I had a little time to kill and this other book was sitting on my desk, so I decided to give it a try and see what the fuss is all about. OMG!!!!! I can't put it down. I'm actually considering stopping this blog right now, skipping my shower today and jumping right back into the book. If you haven't read it yet, you MUST go out today and get Twilight! You need to have nothing else happening in your life because you will not be able to stop reading, not to sleep or eat or clean the house. I can't say I wasn't warned! I now see why all those pre-teen girls would wait outside the bookstores until midnight so they could purchase the next installment, and same for the recently released movie version. On a side note, no future pre-teen daughter of mine will be reading these books, way too suggestive and a little scary. But anyways, Brian and I leave for California tomorrow for six weeks so I have eighteen million things to pack and clean and organize before I leave, but maybe I will manage to sneak in a few chapters tonight before bed....or maybe ten chapters.....do I really need to sleep at all? Anyways, start reading Twilight now!

Our Thanksgiving

Brian says "I hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving like I did"

~----------------------------------------------------------------~

Brian and I drove up to Steve's parent's house in Virginia on Tuesday. Steve's mom, his sister Amanda, and her husband Michael Paul and Brian and I drove up to the family's hunting cabin to meet up with Steve's dad and extended family for Thanksgiving dinner. The highlight of Brian's Thanksgiving Day was a ride with Uncle Tony on his 4-wheeler. Two rides actually. We could hear him laughing and squealing with delight the entire ride. He had a hissy fit after both rides were over, especially the second one. He spent the next 30 minutes whining to go on another ride until we left to go home. Now Steve really wants an ATV! Brian and I had an uneventful drive home on friday and we will spend this week getting ready to go home to CA this sunday for the holidays and half of January. I have alot of packing to do!

Brian with Granddad and Great-Uncle Tony

The cabin

Colby greating Brian and Uncle Tony after ride #1

Leaving all bundled up on ride #2

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Brian and I are heading up to see Steve's family in Virginia tomorrow. We return home on friday, so we wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holiday early.

And now for his first stunt....

...stuntboy will attempt to jump these stairs....

....on this car....

...and stuntboy completed the jump, but the landing was unsuccessful. There were many tears, but luckily no blood and just a few little red marks on stuntboy's face. It was nothing a little cookie monster eating the letter of the day on sesame street couldn't fix.

Next time I need to sweep out the back porch, I'll do it while stuntboy is napping.

House for Sale!!!

Well, I just listed our house on MilitaryByOwner.com. This is our first step in trying to sell our house in Sumter before we move to Phoenix. Hopefully we get some interest! If you know anyone moving to Sumter/Shaw, let them know we have a beautiful house on a golf course for sale!! You can link to our listing at:

http://www.militarybyowner.com/listings/tourplus.asp?F_BASE_ID=207&F_STATE=SC&LISTING_ID=90709

If the link doesn't work, go to http://www.militarybyowner.com/ and search for homes near Shaw AFB, SC and ours should be near the top of the listings.

Wish us luck!!

Trick or Treat!

Give me cookies!!!!

Brian (Cookie Monster) and I went trick-or-treating with our friend Dana and her son Ryan (Doctor McCutie) and her neighbor Debra and son Gavin (a lion from the front/rock star from behind). We had lots of fun and got lots of candy (most of which got thrown away so myself and cookie monster wouldn't devour too many unhealthy calories, cookie monster didn't even notice). None of the group pictures on my camera turned out but here are some of the boys.

Cookie Monster and his Mommy

The boys--don't they all look so excited to be dressed up?

Super excited Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster has never been more excited about anything!!!!

Doctor Ryan "McCutie" is also thrilled to be heading out for trick-or-treating!

Brian's Favorite Toy

Brian loves his friend Audrey's pink doll and the doll's pink and purple stroller. Usually he ditches the doll and runs around with the stroller. I just had to get a picture for blackmail during his teenage years!

Pumpkin Painting

We went to our Squadron Halloween Party tuesday night and Brian painted his first pumpkin. He did pretty good but just couldn't stand having paint on his fingers, yet he kept touching the end of the paint brush! He'd shove his piant covered fingers into my face, I'd wipe them off until they were sufficiently clean to him and the whole thing would start all over again. Steve would say this is my fault that Brian thinks his hands always need to be clean, I'm sure it is. Oh, and Brian loves to wash his hands now and shows me how he washes his hands even when he's no where near a sink! I hope he's obsessed with cleanliness forever! He really is my son! Here are some pictures from the party:

Yuck, mom, paint on my hands!

Clean my hands!!!

Brian's masterpiece

Brian, Audrey, and Ryan--Now all at once, don't look at the camera and certainly don't smile

Brian's Latest PMO Craft

I love the crafts he makes at PMO, here's his latest creation:

Better than a DNA paternity test!

Brian--20 months Steve--4 years?

Not that there has ever been any question about the identity of Brian's father, but I think the above pictures would prove that the apple doesn't fall far from the genetic tree. On the left is Brian's first "school" picture at 20 months old. He doesn't really go to school but he attends a Parent's Morning Out program at a local church preschool once a week. I think he looks adorable and I want to hug whoever was able to make him smile for the camera! The picture on the right is Steve at about four years old I think. Here are my thoughts: Brian has Steve's hair for sure, his chin, his ears and his bags under his eyes (strangers are always telling me Brian looks tired, even when he just got up from a nap). He also has Steve's lips and nose although it's not obvious in the pictures. By process of elimination, Brian has my eye and brow shape. His eye color is all his own though, a dark blue with brown starburst in the middle. I wish I had a picture of Steve at a younger age but this was all I had to compare them.

Below is Brian's first school picture--the whole thing:

Happy Halloween Week!

I wanted to try my hand at decorating a scary gingerbread house kit this year. It was much harder than I thought but it turned out cute and smells great. I have a craving to attack the house everytime I walk past it!

And our next assignment is.....

LUKE AFB in Phoenix, Arizona!!! I am so excited! Steve sounded very happy and very relieved when he called this morning at 5 am! Luke is a great assignment for us because he will be an Instructor Pilot for 3 years. There is a small possibility of deployments but not like here. Also, it's a controlled assignment, meaning no one leaves early, so we are guaranteed 3 whole years there plus the four-month-long Instructor Pilot upgrade when he first arrives. We'll be moving super fast, Steve gets back from the deployed location at the beginning of February and our report no later than date to Luke is March 20. I'm excited that we won't be moving in the heat of summer but it sounds like I may be doing the majority of packing! Anyways, we are thrilled! Here we come West Coast (sort of)!!!

Freaking Out!

Okay, I'm totally freaking out right now (and when I'm freaking out, I sound like a valley girl, using words like "like" and "totally"). Anyways, the reason for my "freak out" is that I just heard from Steve and all is well there but he has heard that the assignments are "out" and everyone where he is knows their assignment but of course he doesn't know his, mostly because he is in a different location than his squadron right now for a planning thing (I know this seems vague but I honestly don't understand what exactly he's doing at this different location, something about planning something?) He's still in a "forward operating location" as in, somewhere in the Middle East. But anyways, this assignment, as all assignments are, is a big deal for us. This assignment will determine whether or not Steve will be staying in the AF. We are hoping to stay in. When you are in the AF, my AF friends will agree, that your life is laid-out in 2-3 years chunks of time divided up by assignments. The assignment Steve gets determines alot of things for our lives--more babies, jobs, location, selling a house, buying a house, how close or far we are to family. All of these things are up in the air until you know where your country is sending you next. UGGGGGHHHHHHH, I hate waiting to find this out! Man I am not going to sleep tonight!!!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun?!

Are we having fun yet?!

My mom came into town this weekend to visit. She flew into Charlotte and so did my Dad, but he was there for a checkride so Brian and I drove up on Friday and picked up Mom from the airport and spent the night up there so Brian could see both his Grandparents. The next day, Mom, Brian and I drove home and Mom just left from Columbia today. We didn't do much this weekend (there's not much to do in Sumter) but we did go to the Pumpkin Patch. Actually, not quite a patch, more of a church parking lot with hay bails and pumpkins of course. It was cute though. What was not cute was Brian's attitude. He didn't enjoy any of it, well, maybe the part where he thought he was going to run across the parking lot to play on the playset. He wouldn't sit still for pictures and wouldn't be picked up. Didn't want to go through the maze made out of hay bails. He did touch a few pumpkins and run around a little and we did manage to buy a small $3 pumpkin for him to paint. Maybe it will go better next year?

We are both thinking "uggghhh"

I'll let you hold me but I'm not looking at the camera!

Oh, look, a play ground over yonder!!!

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Grandma is trying to distract me with the hay maze (I'm smarter than that)

Daddy came along and was perfectly well behaved!

At home playing with Grandma

Me and Grandma

Me and Grandpa--the Brians

Bald Steve

He always shaves his head when he's in the desert but usually just with a one clip on an electric razor. This time he went all the way with a bic and some shave gel. I had heard from the wives at this week's coffee that their husbands all said he looked funny. He finally sent a picture....

And yes, that is a deployment 'stashe on his upper lip!

Brian is Superboy!

This blog is out of order, but whatever, I wanted to tell this story. On Sunday we were at the park on base with the other wives and children in the afternoon. As soon as Brian had a snack of cookies and juice, I released him from his stroller and followed him over to the playset. He was about 8 feet ahead of me because he runs everywhere these days, but he stills need help and supervision on the play set so I stayed close by. He ran straight to the stairs to climb up and when I looked over at him, he was holding something tiny between his thumb and forefinger, reaching out to me to take it. I thought, 'oh, probably a leaf, or twig, or pebble, or other some such gift he always gives me.' Boy, was I wrong. As I started walking over to see what he wanted to give me, I realized he was holding a bee by it's wings!!! It was alive and thrashing about between his tiny fingers. The next two seconds were like slow motion for me as I ran toward him to grab the bee out of this hand. He let go of it right as I got there and it flew away. He continued his stair climbing, unstung, and I stood there in shock trying to get my heart rate back down. So, when I told Steve this story, we decided that Brian is "Superboy--master of bees," and his kryptonite is milk (he's lactose-intolerant)!!!

Pictures from the Deployed Location

Steve sent some pictures of his room and the area around his "pod". He says if you want to know what the rest of the place looks like just imagine more sand and concrete barriers.

His bed

His locker

View from the parlor?

The front stoop with extravagant landscaping?

The view from the grand ballroom?

We survived the first week!

(But just barely). Steve has been gone one week today. Both boys have been to the doctor this week--Brian to the pediatrician for a mild ear infection and Bailey to the Vet for some bowel issues. Both are on the same antibiotic actually! The Vet said Bailey has something wrong with his colon but between Brian screaming at me and throwing toys and the Vet mumbling in almost a whisper, I'm not clear exactly what his colon problem is. But I did catch the part about what pills he needs how many times a day and that he needs to go back in for xrays. Apparently this problem he has with the colon could be caused by anything from diet to cancer to "dietary indescretions" (meaning he accused me of feeding Bailey human food, I barely have time to eat human food, Bailey certainly doesn't get any). But we did have some fun this week--Brian had his last swim lesson for this year at least. He showed off his kicking skills, played around with a water noodle, and enjoyed playing "humpty dumpty" falling into the pool from the side wall. We also had a fun playdate with Brian's friend Audrey, Brian went to PMO (Parent's Morning Out) for the first time this school year, and we went to Gymboree this morning. Steve called one time this week but we've been emailing daily. He says he lost a tooth filling, sounds like his week went about as well as ours! I'm hoping for another call soon, in fact I wore my bluetooth during Gymboree today just in case! Oh, Brian tried to kiss a cat in the waiting room at the Vet's office. Don't worry, I jumped in before it got ugly. Actually I think the cat didn't mind at all. He was very interested in the cats but really didn't think much of all the dogs. He of course said bye bye to each one as they left the office. Hopefully we don't see the Pediatrician or the Vet next week at all!

Little Puppy Deploys!

Little Puppy was a gift to Brian from my mom at my baby shower. He is tiny and soft and came with his own little blankie. Little Puppy got his orders to deploy this week and began his trip today to the deployed location along with some treats, toiletries, homemade cookies, and the following letter:

Dear Daddy,
I miss you! This is my little puppy. He’s been mine since before I was born. I thought you could use some company and this little guy is small but cuddly. I was hoping you could take him places with you sometimes and take pictures of him wherever he goes. When you and little puppy get home, Mommy can make me a book of all the pictures of the places you and little puppy went together and the adventures you had. This will help me understand what a deployment is when I’m older. Take little puppy as many places as you can! Here are some ideas mommy had about where he could get his picture taken—your room, the bathrooms, the gym, the mess hall, the squadron, the BX, on the wheel of a really cool Army vehicle, in the jet, and anywhere else you can think of. Be creative Daddy! I will love to have a little book about where my puppy went with you!!! I love you so much and miss you already. I kiss my daddy doll a lot and ask about you whenever I’m on you and Mommy’s bed! Your little boy, Brian

The following is a note from mommy: I know this is weird and you’ll be embarrassed to take pictures of a stuffed animal but Brian will love this book one day. Try to aim for at least 20 pictures (that’s only one a week). It could always be worse, I could have picked a larger stuffed animal or something pink ;) I love you, Kelly

I tried to get a few pictures of Brian with little puppy before he was shipped off but he wasn't having any of it, he's not really a stuffed animal fan (you can't loudly bang a stuffed animal against the coffee table and see wood chips fly off it, therefore stuffed animals are boring). Here are some of the funny ones:

Mommy, here's this stupid dog thing again

Little puppy whispering sweet nothings...

Take this mommy and give me something hard to play with

You tricked me!

Happy Birthday Aunt Laura!

Happy Birthday Aunt Laura! She's 22 today and going to "Dinneylannnn!"

Steve has arrived

Steve just called from the deployed location. He said they got there without any problems but he's only had one night of about 6 hours of sleep since friday so he's tired. They are in tents but he says they will move to the "pods" soon. They have single wide trailers divided into three rooms and they call these "pods" for some reason, he'll have one roomate. He got to say hi to Brian and Brian was all smiles as he listened to Daddy talk, then he spent the rest of our 15 minute phone call running around wildly yelling and singing "dada." Steve says internet is very hard to come by right now and they start flying in two days so he's not sure when he'll get to call again but it was nice to hear from him. As for Brian and I, we had our last swim lesson today. He can kick and put his face in the water now but overall he was in a bad mood throughout the lesson because he has a cough and chest congestion and a possible ear infection. I thought the cough was getting better but whatever is bothering his ears is getting worse, so this afternoon we will be heading to the doctor and then I'm sure to the pharmacy which means we won't have time to mail Steve the cookies we made him today, maybe tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just eat them all myself!!!!

Spoon, Spoon in my hand, who's the fairest in all the land?

While eating lunch today, Brian discovered his reflection in the back of his spoon, said "hi, da!", admired himself for a few moments, and then said "bye, baby" and went back to eating his soy yogurt. This picture is of course a reenactment but he was just as delighted with himself the second time! Oh, and after a trip to Target and Michaels, we returned home to faucets of flowing water and toilets that flush!! Completely off topic, but I got an email from the squadron commander's wife that the guys made it to their refueling stop in Europe last night and were enjoying one last pint of beer (probably a guiness if I'm guessing their location right) before heading into the Middle East.

UGGGGHHHHHH!!!

Just got up and we have no water!!! Why would we have water!? I should expect this by now! Steve leaves and some major convenience item like water would go too. I found a neighbor though and they don't have water either so it's not just us. At least we still have power and cable, two out of three ain't bad! I'm off to "wash" my hands with an antibacterial wipe and brush my teeth with some bottled water. I'm so glad we haven't gone completely green yet and actually have some bottled water in the garage! And now to convince Brian to eat something besides milk for breakfast!

We Miss Him Already!

Steve/Daddy left today for his 4-month-long deployment to the Middle East. He was supposed to leave yesterday but things got pushed back and we got an extra day together! We spent alot of time just hanging out at home and Steve wanted some last minute favorite meals (both made by me and dinners out). And also Brian is getting over a little cold so we mostly hunkered down at home this last week for some quality time together. It was sad to let him go but now besides missing him of course, I feel relieved that the hard part of seeing him off and the emotional build up to it, is over finally. Now Brian and I just need to get back into our routine here and get the hang of holding down the fort without the daddy around. I know Brian is too young to understand that Daddy is going somewhere for a really long time but I know he will miss him and all the fun things they do together. I can't even wrap my mind around how Steve feels leaving behind his little guy, you couldn't pry Brian from my hands now matter how hard you tried!!! Steve really is making a sacrifice for our country, in that he is giving up seeing his "baby" for four months! I know I couldn't do it! But of course this deployment is not a choice for him, nor are alot of other things in his life with the Air Force. We'll get through it though and we will reunite again in four months, thrilled to have our daddy back! We have been really lucky in that this is only the second time he has deployed to war and been gone for this long. Hopefully this will be the last time for a while! Below are some pictures from the farewell today. Brian is asleep an hour early since we had to wake him from his nap to bring Steve to the squadron, the wine has been broken out, and I think the DVR is holding a few episodes of mindless entertainment for my enjoyment, so I'm off for now....