The Last Month and a Half of Life

Greetings from Colorado Springs. It's been a loooooong time since I last updated. Life has been busy busy busy and in case you haven't noticed, we have moved across the country AGAIN this year. Let me catch ya'll up on life.

October started off with Ryan deciding he was all done taking a morning nap. Right there. That's a huge reason why I haven't updated in a while. The mornings were when I'd sip my hot coffee, turn on the news, and have "Me" time. That is no more. I now have to wake up and find a way to get myself ready for the day while entertaining him at the same time. My mornings started consisting of me brushing my teeth with my foot on the toilet lid and leg blocking Ry from the plunger and toilet brush. It was not glamorous. As my birthday approached on the 9th, another major life event occurred.

My 28th birthday was, well, memorable to say the least. The morning of my birthday was the last time I ever breast fed my baby boy. I accredit this to the fact that 1. He really didn't need the boob to eat anymore; he was using straws, cups, and eating solids like it was his job and 2. He had an ear infection so as I went to lay him down and feed him later that day/weekend, he freaked out. It was a big event, and it feels SO nice to be done with breast feedings. I've been pumping my veins with caffeine to get me through the one-nap-a-day lifestyle. It's a great compromise.

Back to my birthday. We decided to spend the day in Savannah.. all 6 of us. We started by walking the dogs through Forsyth Park which is this giant park with beautiful trees and fountains and playgrounds. Of course, with every beautiful, peaceful park comes the insane park dwellers who make you feel like you're about to get mugged.

We had to get a room at Motel 6 to put the dogs while we went downtown Savannah to get dinner at Paula Dean's restaurant: Lady and Sons. Oh. My. Goodness. It was the BEST food I've ever eaten. My mouth waters just thinking about everything we ate. It was a buffet full of southern fried chicken, cornbread, mac n cheese, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, shrimp, biscuits and even more I couldn't fit on my plate. We all stuffed our faces to the point the my birthday butter cake (which the whole place sang for me) and banana pudding barely fit, but I made it work. If I could go back there again, I 110% would, not doubt about it.

We walked around the shops of Savannah then ended up going back to the room to get Ryan to bed. As I mentioned, he had an ear infection which meant that we spent 2 hours trying to get him to get to bed and after endless screaming, we finally packed the car back up at 10pm, dogs and all and drove back home.

Okay, let's fast forward a bit. A week or so later, the packers came. We spent a week in our apartment with no furniture. Let me tell you, trying to feed a toddler without a high chair is probably the worst thing ever. Good thing we have dogs to clean up. However we made it out of there with a full security deposit refund and spent our last night in a Motel 6 before driving to Chicago.

We took our drive in two days. Why? Well, we had to bring both of our cars to CO Springs so G drove with the dogs in his truck while I drove with Ry. He did pretty well. During our long drives, he actually reverted to two-nap days which made driving so much easier on me. We spent our first night in Louisville then got to family by the next afternoon.

Visiting family was fun, yet exhausting. Let me tell you, I am never moving across time zones during a daylight savings weekend unless it works to my advantage. Not only did Ry have to try to change his schedule back an hour to central time, but we had to go back another hour only a few days later. Which means we basically spent the first week of our stay waking up at 3:30 and the three of us hanging out quietly in a room not to wake the rest of the house until about 7. Every morning. And then we'd be ready to pass out by 7. Not to mention we had no idea what Ry's schedule nap-wise was going to look like. Safe to say we purposely did not make specific plans to see too many people. It was udder chaos. But seeing the family we did see was great and Ry got to trick or treat with his cousin.

Speaking of... Ry was the BEST trick or treater. Seriously, the cutest thing I've ever seen. He would walk up to every door, grab a piece of candy, and put it in his bucket. He was so happy to just be getting things to put in a bucket. Such a pro.

Okay, so we saw family, then we hit the road again and took CO Springs in another two days. Let me tell you, that drive is BORING. Once you (finally) hit the Colorado boarder, the land becomes slightly hilly. You don't see mountains until you're about at Denver (hour 14) and then it's an hour til the Springs. But I'm so glad we made it when we did because the day after we got here, there was a little snow storm here and the day after that, all of the Iowa was under tornado warnings. We made it safe and sound and snuggled calmly into Motel 6.

Motels suck. It sucks that we can't put Ry down for a nap unless we leave the room. Which means G and I set up camp in the bathroom multiple times waiting while Ryan went to bed. There wasn't much room for him to run around and play, which means that the small space he did have, he occupied. This also means all the dogs escaped him by staying on the bed. Which means most of the time in there, 5 of us were on the bed while Ry ran around. We all had cabin fever by our last day.

Over the last few months, G and I did lots of research looking for a house to buy. We worked closely with our realtor and we were able to close on our house maybe 3 days after we got here. So we are officially home owners and are already living in our house. We got our stuff the next day. Unfortunately, the movers damaged a lot of our stuff. This includes our bed frame, my file cabinet, G's file cabinet, two new lamps, our coffee table, our steam cleaner, one of our dining room chairs, Ry's cube organizer, they lost hardware to our China cabinet, our couch, and then numerous small items like cups, glassware, and picture frames. It was a terrible move. I was almost in tears by the time the movers left. And it wasn't the guys who unpacked the crates's fault-they were really nice, but the packers in GA and whomever else handled our staff in between. It was bad. We're still unpacking and finding more, but once we're done, we'll file a claim and see what we get reimbursed. I don't understand how we moved from GA to AK then back from AK to GA and had barely anything damaged, just minor scraps or dents, and then we move halfway across the country and everything goes to shit. Unacceptable. I could go on and on ranting but I won't. Time to move on.

Ryan has been such a big boy lately! He keeps learning and doing so much. He's still not much of a talker, but he does know his alphabet sounds when I work with him. Every since we lost our furniture, he has become such a picky eater. He's very weird now about textures and one second he loves something, then the next he's over it. This kid eats lots of Cheerios, bananas, and applesauce. Every meal requires lots of creativity to get him to expand his horizons, but I'd say for the most part, he's still a very good eater. He doesn't stop. We ate lunch for an hour yesterday until I cut him off. He LOVES food. And we're at the point where he'll try things that I'm eating (unless it feels weird..) Now that we're all able to stay up past 7 (and sleep in til 5!!) I'm trying to have him eat dinner with us to see if he'll try new foods. So far, he hasn't liked much but it's still fun watching him try.

I'm probably missing a million things about my life right now, but my time is limited til he wakes up. Here's a summery: We are homeowners! We are still adjusting to time so don't plan on talking to me past 8pm MST. I barely have my phone on me anymore so I'm sorry if I don't respond to people's texts in a timely fashion-I'm working on that. We'd love visitors out here! Come hang out with our crazy little family! Anddddd as of yesterday, we have working internet :)

Okay, sorry this was long and picture-less. My phone is downstairs and none of my pictures are synched to my computer. LOVE TO EVERYONE!!!!

We are officially down to our final month here in Georgia! I am actually pretty glad to be getting out of here. I love to be outdoors, but the Georgia heat in the summer was too much for me. It makes it really hard to stay on track for outdoor running when you step outside and it feels like a sauna. It's not me so much that I'm worried about, rather having my little one out there in the suffocating mugginess. This past week has been cloudy and rainy, but not a fresh rain. The air is still thick, so under the dark clouds, I feel like I'm living in a giant swamp. I can't tell if I'm hot or cold because the sun is gone and there's a breeze, but the humidity is making my leggings and tees clench to my body. I just want some nice, fresh air! Alaska may have been cold, but the air was always clear and fresh and I appreciated that.

We had a 5K this weekend. Ryan just running around pre-race

Another week of madness down. This boy has me on my toes nonstop. He is such a little stinker! He gets sillier and more mischievous by the day. My new thing has been Pintrest-ing toddler activities to do. Let me tell you-this kid could care less about arts & crafts. I gave him jumbo crayons and he only wanted to eat them. I made edible finger paints and he didn't really care at all about the colors or making a mess. I found a homemade recipe for something called Moon Sand or whatever it was-basically flour and oil- and brought some cups over to feel and pour and make sand castles. He didn't really care too much about that either. He just wanted to play with the cups. Well, that is until I tried to clean up and put it all away. Then he was ready to empty the container and spill the "sand" everywhere. Today, I am going to color spaghetti noodles and make a sensory activity. We'll see how that goes.

Finger painting turned out to be me finger painting and him playing with his little person. 

I've been trying to get him out to parks, but this rainy weather has kept us cooped up inside. We've been out to the mall a couple times to use their indoor playground. He has fun there, but then he realizes that when he leaves, I chase him to bring him back. He has more fun leaving the playground than actually playing in there. That's when I get tired, pull my back out and decide it's time to shop for a while.

Ry is starting to talk! Not consistently. Last week, he didn't say just his first word, but his first sentence! I get him from his crib, we walk into the living room. I go, "say, 'Hi Dada'" and he says, "Hi Dada," clear as day. He doesn't use his words consistently. Sometimes G will come home and Ry will smile and just say, "Dada". I've had him say, "Bye bye" and "Hi" as well-more or less. He uses his words only when he wants to, but it's reassuring to know that he knows them.

On one of those quarter rides at the mall. Hanging in the school bus with Arthur. 

I mentioned a few posts ago that I didn't realize playing Peek-A-Boo was supposed to be a milestone at our checkup. We started playing it and he'll join in and play with me. He's becoming so much smarter, I can't handle it. He'll walk up to me, throw a book at me and expect me to read to him. I don't appreciate the "Bitch, read to me" attitude, but I can't expect much from a one-year old at this point.

He definitely went through a growth spurt. This kid eats like none other. I keep reading about toddlers being picky eaters and ways to trick them into eating healthy, etc. etc. etc. I know one day (especially when he learns the word, "No") he's going to do a 180 and just not want to eat and make mealtime miserable, but for now, I can't picture him ever being picky. Sometimes he doesn't eat green beans, I'll give him that, but he mostly tries anything I give him. I gave him cucumber for the first time yesterday. He put it in his mouth, made a weird face and took it out to look at it. He maybe did that process 4 times.. in, then out-in, then out, before he finally ate it. I gave him another piece and before I knew it, he and I were chowing down half the cucumber.

His new things has been pulling his blanket from his crib and walking around with it everywhere. I think we may have an attachment item. 

When he doesn't like something, it ends up on the floor. And when he's full, food ends up on the floor. I'm thinking I should start a rental service where I lend my dogs out to mothers with toddlers. Every toddler should come with a dog. It's the best clean up EVER. Every little crumb of food disappears. Voila!

We've been keeping up with Tuesdays at the library. Last week, there were two little boys, and they left the carpet area to go look out and bang on the window. Ry went over there with them and joined them with the biggest smile on his face. He was so happy to be part of the group. It was the most precious thing ever. It seems like he's the only one, however, that wants to sit by me and sing and listen to stories. He's always the first to run in the middle and play and he'll join other families and try to sit in other mommy's laps. Great. He's already trying to run away from home. But he enjoys it, I think, and it's great to get out of the house.

I found another running group for moms which I may try out this Wednesday. We'll see how it is, although I only have a few weeks to meet up with them. If only I'd found it sooner.

That's all for now. Nothing too exciting on this end. Just counting down the days and prepping to move cross-country AGAIN this year. I think I'm going to be done with traveling for a long while after this move. So people, get your buns to me because I am just sick of cars, planes and any other mode of transportation. We've put in more miles in a year than some people do in their lifetime. So stop asking me to come visit. I'm done. No mas. Time to be stationary for a little while. xoxo. M

Last week sucked. Sucked! It was one of those weeks where by Friday, I was ready to curl up into a ball and  guzzle a bottle of wine. Have you seen those shirts that say, "I can't adult today. Don't make me adult"? That was my whole week. Each morning I'd wake up and just not at all want to adult in any way, shape or form. Let's go back to the very beginning.. (Yes, I am singing like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.)

Ready for fall weather! (And CO) Loving the cooler mornings

I mentioned last week that I had an appointment on Monday about switching birth control for weening off breast milk and that the POP (progesterone only pill) is only effective while I breast feed. I am SO glad we are moving because I really am not too sure about my doctor out here. I don't really know why I exactly am not too fond of him, but I feel like every time I'm in there, I question his credentials. To sum things up, I'm back on.... The Pill (cue lightening and thunder).

Why? Well, he didn't really talk to me about my other options so I figured, hey.. WTH, I'm used to it. Why not? (Plus, it'll be easier to establish long-term bc with my new doctor when we move if this doesn't work out). I told him why I didn't like the last pill I was on--it made me so uptight and easily flustered at everything and I didn't feel like myself anymore rather a hormonal shell of myself. Not to mention I had no cycle, more like a civil war down there. (I won't paint any further pictures out there). He told me that the pill is usually set up to mimic one's hormones, so it varies each week. I learned something new! He told me he'd give me a kind that won't vary as much and will stay consistent until that last week (the iron pill week). Interesting! He also said that any birth control will take anywhere from 2-3 months to adjust to my body so I may not have a normal cycle or even feel normal for that long of time.

Wow! I learned some interesting things in that appointment. So why am I hesitant about him? Okay, here's a little shout out right now to any doctor with the ability to prescribe birth control to anyone (cause we all know doctors take time out of their busy days to read my blog). Always, ALWAYS tell a woman that she needs a second form of birth control for that first month when switching over. ALWAYS. I know of way too many birth control babies from college because of this, so I brought it up. I asked if I need second protection during the switch. His response, "Yeah.. we're supposed to say you need a back up for the first month. Will you need it? There's a chance. You'll probably be fine without it, but we're supposed to tell people use it for a month." NO NO NO NO NO. Do not tell patients, "You'll probably be fine without it." NO NO. (Of course, these are words coming from a man.) I am in your office for BIRTH CONTROL meaning I am taking measures to prevent more children from popping out of my uterus. Don't use words like "probably" and "maybe" and "supposed to". Just tell people, "Yes, you need a back up for a month." And also, START that conversation. Don't wait for the patient to start it with you. OH MY GOODNESS! I've done my research on birth control so for me, I was already planning on back up for a month, but there are so many uneducated women out there who don't know this and if doctors don't tell them, then they won't know!!! GAH okay, this little rant is over. Just always double book when switching BC.

Practicing weening. This boy eats everything! 

I've only been on the pill since Wednesday, but so far so good! Back to the part about my crappy week. I leave the drs office and head towards the pharmacy on base to pick up my new rx. I get there and the place is packed! I was number c566 and they were only on c505 when I got there. Not to mention those in uniform get priority when they all decided to show up after work. I was in there waiting for 90 minutes! Thankfully, G was able to come to my appointment after work and pick up Ry, so I spend the whole time doing laps around the hospital, since I was obviously going to miss going to the gym, putting my baby to sleep, and dinner. It was so crappy!

It's okay cause the next day, my phone fell out of my pocket on the concrete stairs outside and shattered my phone. It still works and I can see around the cracks, but it's terrible timing because we're trying to use out money towards this move (we need to put new tires on G's truck), budget since we'd been tight on cash lately, plus, my bday is coming up in a few weeks. The last thing I want to spend $ on right now is a stupid smart phone. I'm going to wait until we get to CO because we're debating switching from AT&T to Verizon when G's contract expires or not. Out here, we get a TON of dropped calls and I'm constantly having texts not go through. It's frustrating when you pay so freaking much for a cell phone service that fails you (AT&T is desperate enough though that they lowered our bill because of it, which was actually pretty cool of them.) So I don't want to commit to anything right now until we see what kind of service we'll have out there.

Okay, so a three hour day at the drs and a shattered phone really isn't that terrible of a week. I was just so tired all week and my spirits were killed from a rough start. I also think I'm fighting a cold or something cause my sinuses are active in the mornings/nights again and my body keeps wanting to sleep it off. Yesterday morning, I woke up and literally fell back asleep watching Ry play. Not for long. I was so wiped that I passed out on the floor. Oops. #mommyfail?

Speaking of mommy fail... here's mine. Tuesday was the day that my phone shattered and I couldn't seem to get anything right. Ry and I go to the library for our weekly Mommy and Baby library session. At the end, the kids are playing. He pretty much tramples a girl and starts climbing over her legs. I tried to help him by giving his legs a boost to get over her leg, and he rocks forward and completely bangs his head on the ground. I pretty much just pushed him over.. He starts bawling and immediately got a giant egg on his head. Poor kid, I felt absolutely horrible. I should have just let him continue to tramper that stranger child. Oh well..

My little minion-ha! And check out that bump on the head.. 

I got back into running this week. My body is very out of shape for that. It's amazing how a month off can set you back so much. Actually, I got back into working out more than 2 times a week, which is probably why my body is so tired right now, but in a good way. I'm doing this thing where I'm trying not to be lazy-especially since the weather has been cooler in the mornings (although we got back into the 90s this weekend, ugh). This includes walking the dogs around a little more than just poop-and-go-back-inside and taking Ryan out to the parks to play and just staying busy and keeping Ry moving.

Of course, I'm keeping up with my AH-MAH-ZING What to Expect book and they give all kinds of fun activities to give a toddler exercise. One was to make a pillow pile on the floor and have him climb. He didn't really like that. It was more similar to a foam pit that sucks you in the more you squirm. He did however like it when daddy would toss him into the pillow pile (a game that gave mommy a heart attack).

Ry did the cutest thing ever yesterday. Right now, he's in the kissing phase. We were sitting at the table stuffing our faces with chips and queso and the dogs, of course, were laying at our feet in case we dropped anything. Ryan comes over, looks at Cato, bends down and gives him a sloppy open-mouthed kiss on the nose, then giggled feverishly. Cato is the only dog of the three who is nurturing enough to allow this, so Ryan bent down and did it again. He probably gave him a total of four kisses, followed by endless giggles while Cato sat gently and appreciated it. Ry even pet him afterwards. It was so silly and unexpected that I was crying laughing at his cuteness. I'm always extremely cautious with him around the dogs. It's Denali and Belle that would have moved to the opposite side of the room before the even saw him coming. And I'm okay with that.

At the mall play ground. Giving kisses to the caterpillar.. 

Oh, one thing to bring up... my baby is a boy!!! I dress Ryan up in boy clothes. He's always wearing blue or sports or just little boy clothes and I have so many people come up and call him a her. Excuse me! If I had a girl, she'd be in tutus and glitter. I don't understand how people are confused.

Ry in his track suit! He got confused as a girl in this.. Ugh.

I think this week's focus will be on getting the weening process going even further and having him drink some whole milk instead of breast milk. It's so routine to nurse him that sometimes I forget that I'm trying to cut back. It's instinct. Hungry baby, boob. I keep forgetting he can go eat an actual meal. It'll be one more thing for me to perfect. I know this post hasn't been too exciting, but neither has my life, so deal with it! But thanks for reading, my people. It makes me feel better about the fact that I have zero time to call everyone I know and say HI. xoxo ~M

What?! I'm updating only a week later? "How in the world did you find the time to do that?" you may be asking. Well my friends, this brisk Monday morning, I put my child down for his first nap at 5am. 5AM! This little boy is draining the soul of out me slowly, but surely. And thanks to the "on this day" section of Facebook, I saw that one year ago today I was posting about my successful first week as a mom. It was touching to go back and read and see just how far we've come. It's also a great reminder to re-live that pain and exhaustion I was feeling back then, in case I start thinking about a second child.

Speaking of second child... I have a doctor's appointment today to go over birth control options for when I start weening Ry. I am SO ready to ween. We have zero issues with breast feeding and it's been such an amazing experience, but we're both just ready. He gets too distracted to drink these days. Plus, he drinks out of sippy cups, straws, and regular cups so we really don't need to worry about transitioning. We hit our recommend ended 12 month mark at the breast so it's time to move on. The main reason I want to ween (other than being sick of pumping!!!!) is we are getting ready to move to CO next month. They won't ship one of our cars this time, so we both will have to be driving and it's going to be a hell of a lot easier and safer to not have to worry about pumping while behind the wheel. I'll still stop to feed him regular food every couple hours because I'm not comfortable with him eating alone back there in case he chokes, but it'll just be much easier on everyone to have him off the breast at this point. Plus, I think we're both just kind of over it.

My happy boy

With that being said, my whole BC roller coaster has been nothing short, so I'm a little nervous as to what lies ahead of me. Before, AK doctors took me off the PO pill and the dose of estrogen about killed me. I was so angry and moody and got frustrated at the tiniest things. When I came here, the doctor took me off that and said I'd be fine going back to the POP while I'm still breast feeding. I really don't want to be Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide again.. so I'm considering an IUD (which I rejected last time) even though I'm still pretty iffy about having something just hanging out in there all the time. I know there's a shot too, but if we do decide we want to go for #2 in the future, I don't want that in the way. We will see how the appointment goes and what the doctor recommends (did I mention I hate talking to men about women's bc? Oh well.)

We had more family in town to see Ry this past week. I feel like every time he hangs with someone new, he immediately matures. He's so grown up and I can't stand it. His walking is so much more refined than it was a couple weeks ago and he's definitely into that toddler phase of imitation. His uncle stuck his tongue out and spit at him, so guess what Ry started to do back to him? Too funny! He's got so much personality, I can't take it. I think my boy is the most loving being on this planet.

Although, he's also getting that tantrum thing down pat. He whines like crazy when something doesn't go his way. He's still not saying "Mama" and "Dada" to us, but he's saying the words just in general. I'm pretty sure his new cry is now just, "Mamamammaamama." I think it's because I call snacks, "Yum yums" and "Mama" is his way of saying he's hungry. Not because he wants me.. So we'll see. He understands words and phrases but he's not really showing signs of wanting to communicate. I think his favorite command is, "Go get Stitch." He has this giant stuffed animal from Lilo and Stitch and he'll stop what he's doing, walk to his bedroom, and give the thing huge cuddles and kisses. He's OBSESSED with Stitch and it's adorable.

Ry and Stitch

He's cutting more teeth on the bottom. His next two incisors are coming in. Mix that with the shots from last week and I had a very grumpy baby for two days. Two days of grumpy baby + sleepy mommy = face broken out this week and body run down for the rest of the month. I feel like I'm losing energy and the will to recover these days, but I'm pushing through and working on it one day at a time. I keep telling myself, "Tomorrow will be the day!" and then 4:30am comes and I'm ready to just curl up and hibernate til Spring. I think I sometimes confuse my child with a T-rex because I have that thought process that, "maybe if I stay still, he won't see me." I need to learn-he always sees me.

Tuesday baby and me library time started up again last week! FINALLY. When you have a child under the age of 2, it's stupid to have a "summer break". Most of us are first time moms so we don't have a "summer break". Our babies aren't in school so.... let's just keep the program going so we can socialize and not be ostracized by society during the hottest months of the year. We went last week and Ry mostly just wanted to play with the toys in the middle of the mat instead of sit in my lap and sing. Understandable I guess. I'm not nearly as cool as I used to be, in his eyes.

Of course, I bought the book What to Expect the Second Year. And, of course, I praise it. Unlike the first two books, it's not broken down into months. It doesn't go, "Okay, month 13 you'll expect these to be issues," rather it just is a huge book full of information about everything in the second year. It's awesome, yet overwhelming at the same time. I don't like to jump around when I read, so I have this urge to just read from cover to cover this month to have all the information I could possibly need for the next year. Unlikely. I'm only on page 40 of like... 500. But I have learned a lot so far! Thanks to this book, I may try to make a dental appointment for Ryan in the near future. We used to do what we called, "Happy Visits" at the office I worked at, and it's just to get the little one accustomed to the dentist. I should probably wait until we're in CO, but i know once we get there, we're not going to be settled in until we find a house, which could be a couple months so I don't want to keep putting it off. I may as well book and appointment while I have time to kill out here.

But it's given me really great ideas about getting Ry in the habit of brushing his teeth (which we've already been doing since he got his first 2 teeth) in the morning at night, and our next step is flossing and learning to rinse and spit. Not an easy task, but I think repetition will help instill the mindset of good dental care throughout his life-mostly because my "family has bad teeth" (really, my family has bad dental hygiene practices) and he'll be prone to lots of cavities like I had as a child. Really, I'm trying to save him from paying thousands of dollars worth of dental work when he gets older and realizes insurance only pays so much. Now if only I could get my husband on board...

I've been doing most of my reading on hygiene in general-skin care, teeth, hair, baths, etc. Also about weening. Lots of good info. I know this is the last book in the What to Expect line, but I really wish it would continue every year for the rest of his life. Especially since none of these military doctors out here have gone over ANYTHING. Everything is like, "Wait for your doctor to okay these items for your little one," and I'm over here like.. crap. As I mentioned, our whole appointment was mostly Ryan freaking out and us trying to console him so naturally, I forgot to ask most of my questions about what he could or couldn't eat. The doctor seriously didn't go over anything other than his height and weight statistics (the nurse already did that) and answered my question about the blemish on his chin that's been there for a few months (he claims it's an inflamed capillary that will fade as he grows). He didn't say anything else. Just poked a bit and told us he was healthy. So you can understand why these books are so useful to me.

Okay, I better quit while I'm ahead. This little munchkin should be awake within the next 20 mins and I have a little more relaxing (or dishes) to do before that point comes. I love everyone that reads this so thank you for taking your time to hear me rant about motherhood. Xoxoxo

How far he's come! 

ONE YEAR MARK

We survived the first year!!! Between deployments, last minute travels and moving across the country, it's been quite the journey. This boy has probably seen more than any other 1 year olds have seen. May he live the rest of his life full of experience and opportunity.

He's 1!

Ryan's first birthday was great! We had family come in town for the long weekend to celebrate with us. We kicked off the weekend with a trip to Atlanta's aquarium and Ry loved looking at all the fish and remained somewhat in tact for the dolphin show. Sunday was Ryan's actual birthday plus the party. Our house was a Dr. Seuss wonder world. I coordinated all food and decor to fit in with any of his books and the place ended up looking great! I really want to be a party planner one day, or a wedding planner or something, but I'll look more into that once we live somewhere for more than just a few months.

Green Eggs and Ham, Poodles with Noodles, Cat in the Hat Kabobs, Roast Beast Feast, 1 Fish 2 Fish have some Goldfish-only a handful of Seuss foods

The worst part about planning a birthday party when all the guests are in from out of town and staying with you is that there is no official beginning or end. I made everyone leave at 11 and enter as if they were just showing up (party was from 11-1). I didn't make anyone fake leave-ha! Instead, we all went to the pool and swam and came back to watch movies and play games. I wish the weekend could have lasted longer.

My sister and the boys left Monday and it was up to my bff and mom to spend the day together with me... Oh, what would three ladies do on a day off with a one year old boy? If you guessed SHOPPING then you would be correct. This boy is so incredibly loved. His wardrobe is entirely filled for the next size up! Okay, not entirely.. he could use some hats and shoes (the devil, in his eyes) and of course, once it comes out, holiday gear! I cannot wait for Colorado so he can start wearing his fall outfits (it's still hot and grossly humid out here.)

Oh, speaking of spoiled.. this kid got some AMAZING birthday gifts! Our house looks like a  toy store. Let's see.. he got a police car (which my mom is on the lookout for a policeman outfit for him to wear in it lol!), a ball pit fort with a tunnel leading to it, a personalized step stool (ours broke in the move so I'm extremely happy about this one!), a sports center (from mommy and daddy), giant building blocks, a new puzzle, and all that new clothes! You'd think he'd have enough at this point to play contently all day, but no. He still needs mommy as a play mate. Oh well. Safe to say that I'm getting nothing accomplished every day. Except aiding in the development of a child.

Ry has gotten so sweet! He figured out how to give kisses, so he'll come up to me, give me snuggles, then open his mouth and touch his lips to mine! And then he giggles when I kiss him. It is the most adorable thing he's done thus far. Just when I thought the first year was going to be the best of my life, he uses his first days of "toddlerhood" proving me wrong.

We had his one-year appointment yesterday. It was HORRIBLE. He did not want anyone to touch him. Lately, he's been hating putting on or taking off clothes, so it all started going downhill when we had to undress him. He didn't want the nurse measuring him, taking his blood pressure, checking his temperature, or anything having to do with touching him. And what made it worse was I went in to give him a kiss and he head-butted me and freaked out even more :( Then the doctor came in and wanted to check his body, the bump on his chin, and check his heart beat. Ry was not having any of it. He was miserable. And then.... came the shots.

At the aquarium getting photo bombed by the divers

This poor boy started his day off by falling into the door and getting a big bump on his head, head butting me, being traumatized by the doctor, then he had to get three shots. I was so annoyed at the technicians. They seemed like they'd never administered shots for a baby. At JBER, they had the bandaids placed and everything quick and ready to go. It was shot 1, shot 2, shot 3, close bandaids, done in 20 seconds max. These people were like.. okay, let's stick the needle in, then we inject the vaccination, take it out. Okay, where's the next one? Okay, stick it. Oh wait, my finger fumbled trying to push the injection, okay there it goes. Number 3 now. Got it in, let's push. All done. Okay, where's the bandaids? Gotta open them. Oh, there's blood dripping, I guess I'll put the bandaid there. Where are the other two? Let's open them. Okay, all done. Luckily for me, G was able to get off work to be there for the appointment so he was the one this time who held Ry down as Ry choked on his own tears. Such a traumatic day. He usually spikes a fever after shots so I'm holding my breath that he'll be okay this round since he's bigger.

As for his stats, he's a little shorty. He's measuring at 28.25 inches (the 8th percentile LOL!) and weighing in at 21 lbs 4 oz (26th percentile). Doctor said his growth curve looks good and healthy! Although, he claims they mis-measured last time because he "shrunk" which isn't possible. One thing that really annoyed me were these supposed milestones Ry is supposed to hit when he's one. I was asked, "Does he participate in a game of peek-a-boo?" My response, "Um.. we don't play peek-a-boo, so no?" I didn't realize that playing peek-a-boo was going to be apart of the one year old test. Or how about, "Does he wave goodbye?" "No, but he sometimes waves hello." Then we were asked if he does daily tasks. I didn't know what that meant... I mean, he's not vacuuming or anything. We just said yes. The technician didn't really know what it meant either.

Overall, he's such a healthy boy and of course, he's the happiest baby I know. Oh! He finally ate birthday cake. He picked at the icing and ate a few chunks of it. I think he was sugared out because once he got to the cake part, he was more happy throwing it around than eating it.

He took the whole cake!

I probably have a million more things to say but I am wiped. He's been waking up between 4 and 4:30 everyday and it's killing me. I haven't worked out in so long because I've been running around prepping for company and his birthday and now trying to recover. I am just tired and my energy is running low. I'll get back at it at some point. For now, I'm just enjoying play time with my little nugget. I can't believe he's one!!! I love him!

The Month of August

Wow! What a month it's been. It's been so full, lively, energetic, and fun that I'm soooo ready for a nap. However I have a little over a week until Ry's FIRST birthday, so I must pull through and nap in September. Where do I begin? I'll start with a little shout out to my hubby because I didn't mention in my last post that we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary this year. Year three=leather which means I officially ditched my giant diaper bag and got a new small leather cross body and my dear got a new leather computer bag. We fancy.

Okay, so G's birthday was week two of this month. And what did I get him? I crossed a "to do" off our bucket list and we went... (drumroll please) SKYDIVING!! We had a blast!! It's funny because the first thing people ask me is, "Were you scared?" The answer is: no. I really wasn't scared. I didn't think I was going to die nor even get hurt. Things like that don't scare me anymore. What scares me the most these days is losing Ryan. Comparatively, sky diving was a piece of cake. It was fun and exhilarating. I know G had an amazing time and I would do it again if we had the opportunity.

After birthday festivities, I packed and prepared to leave for Orlando later that week. My mom came down to help out with Ry while G was at work, and I drove myself down that Wednesday-Sunday for the Zumba Convention! It was 4 days of nonstop Zumba and dancing. It was a single community of instructors from all over the world with one passion. It was inspiring. It was motivating. It was beyond words can describe. To me, it was a bigger rush than skydiving and I can't imagine not going back every year. It was incredible. The hardest part is trying to remember anything I learned. I wish I had a class to apply new choreo, but once we get to Colorado, I should be back in the grind of teaching.

Two days after I got home from ZinCon, I drove back with my mom and Ryan to go home for my cousin's Bat Mitzvah. We stopped in Tennessee for the night at stayed at Opryland resort after touring the Grand Old Opry. That resort was fantastic! It was huge and even had waterfalls inside which generated the ecosystem growing inside the hotel. There were trees indoors which grew a multitude of fruits and the entire atmosphere was quant yet extravagant at the same time. Then we left the following day to head for Chicago.

Ry did really well considering his life was scrambled up for over a week. We drove during his nap hours and then I'd sit in back and feed/play with him in between. Our life saver was a CD of three single songs: Uptown Funk, Part of Your World (Little Mermaid) and Let It Go (Frozen). These three songs are miracle workers. Ry will stop mid-cry and listen to these songs. My mom and I may have heard these songs over a hundred times, but it was so worth it. And somehow, I'm not even sick of these songs yet, which is a double win. Another thing I discovered he loves: Clifford the Big Red Dog books. Those came on my trip as well.

Anyway, we made it home and got to spend a little time with my two nephews who had a blast seeing their cousin and then came the family parties. I got to see cousins I hadn't seen in years and I didn't even realize how few people on my mom's side had actually met Ryan. I guess we'd only been home a couple times, so it makes sense, but I keep forgetting we are so remote from everyone. But the weekend was awesome. All the kids played so sweetly together and they mostly wanted to include Ryan. I was like he was one of the kids and not just a little baby. He was social (except for the fact that he missed out on some naps and nighttime and got a little cranky at times) and bonded with the kiddos. It was so amazing to see him be included with family members. I sometimes feel so forgotten because we spent so much time in the remoteness of Alaska, but being back with everyone felt so good.

These last two weeks, being away from home and then visiting family was exactly what Ry and I needed. He had been super clingy to me during those predecessing weeks-he wouldn't even let Daddy hold him some days. But giving us space and bonding time with Grandma then going on a trip with the three of us then having a ton of new family to meet allowed us to bond in a new way-one where he wasn't just attached to my hip. We danced together at the reception, we played with cousins, we even got to go for a walk at the end of the week in a wagon just the two of us and played at the park and he loved it. Not gonna lie, "cold" weather made a huge difference! Georgia is so hot that 79 degrees and windy was freezing. We forgot to pack any clothes for something other than humid and sweltering. Luckily we had some long sleeves to borrow. But the fact that at the end of the day, we could just be OUTSIDE without wanting to melt in a ball made it a lot more fun. I'm so excited for fall weather! It's already cooling down into the humid 80s out here this week, so that's good.. I guess.

This month has really shown how much Ry has matured. He started walking yesterday!!! Oy! I have my mom to thank for that. She started walking him around holding just one of his hands instead of two and that helped with his balance. Other than that, he's just so much smarter. He's now coordinating his toys by putting rings back on the holder, cars into the "car wash" to make noise, cooking food on his toy grill and closing the lid, cups in the bigger cups, etc. He's understanding more words and if I tell him to give me something, he gives it to me. He's got such a personality and he's so silly. On the plane ride home, I was feeding him crackers and had the next pieces in my fist. When he was ready, he'd take the piece from my palm and eat it. After a while, he kept putting the food back in my hand and then taking it back again and laughing. He'd do that with each piece giggling away until finally I closed my hand and put it back. So then, he'd grab my fist, turn it over, and open it and put his food back in there and giggle again. So grown! I can't trick him anymore.

Speaking of... he did really well on the plane rides! I came equipped with lots of snacks, Clifford books, toys, songs, and of course, nipples. The first flight I nursed him at take off and he slept the whole time, but the second time didn't work so we played for our 40 min flight into Augusta. I am so thankful for such a good little boy. I think we both understand each other enough to get through stressful situations.

Now I'm finally home and prepping for his first birthday party in a week and a half!! I'm getting so excited. I'm doing a lot of DIY things so we'll see house this ends up. I'll be sure to post pics on my next post!!! Time to enjoy the rest of Ry's nap--I think I'm coming down with a cold so maybe I'll get a little nap in there too. xoxoxo (Not edited for typos.)

Oh Look, It's August

I haven't updated in forever. I could say that I've been super busy and motherhood is exhausting and I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off preparing for this busy month ahead of me and had zero time to update, but that would all be a lie. The truth is this: I got addicted to Pretty Little Liars on Netflix and binge watched it for 2 weeks to catch up to season six-which I watched on TV last night (live broadcast). Over the years, I've seen maybe a billion previews for that show while indulging in numerous Harry Potter weekends. I always thought, "That show looks incredibly stupid," but after I watched Parks and Rec on Netflix... twice.. I thought I needed a new show so I thought-eh, why not? The first 5 minutes of the show sucked me in and I couldn't put it down.

Baby snuggles in bed

I haven't been completely useless. The binge started for three days straight because I was under the weather with migraines and sinus crap and I felt like I couldn't move off the couch-so I kind of meshed perfectly with my new addiction. However after that first weekend, I realized I needed to get my life and my role as a parent under control and gave up all day binges.. on week days. But I've also been reading in the mix (mostly because my eyes started to die on me after staring at a screen for oh... 100 hours). I re-read To Kill A Mockingbird. I hadn't read this book since 7th grade. Literally-it had my "annotations" from school still in there. They were not deep and meaningful whatsoever. But that book is amazing! I'm also reading a new book I'm trying to finish by Monday for a book club called The Martian. It's fantastic. If you're into science, science fiction and space, it's definitely a good read (so far).

Okay, okay, enough about me. People care more about my wonderful little man who turns 11 months TOMORROW! Where has the time gone??? He's SUCH a big boy. I cannot handle it. He's still not walking, but he sure is close. I'm terrified. He walks with his walker, he cruises along the couch or tables, he stands on his own without holding on to anything. My goal for this week is to baby proof the next size up-he's now reaching higher places and making messes everywhere he goes. There's no turning back now. It's only just begun.

I love this face! Up to no good

My days consist of following him around and moving him from places I don't want him to be. Those include: touching any of the tv stuff, eating any dog toys, or by the front door where he somehow always finds dirt to put in his mouth. He's definitely a little stinker and keeps me on my toes but I love it oh so much. My house is getting dirtier and I'm learning to accept it. It's hard to do dishes when every half dish I rinse off in interrupted by Ry getting into mischief. I haven't dusted in forever either. Oops.

Everything will change this week though. My mom is coming on Monday night so she can watch the baby all week while I got to Orlando for a giant Zumba convention!!!! I'm beyond belief excited. When I get back, I'll have a few days to recover then I'll drive home with my mom for a weekend of family events. Then I'll fly home that Tuesday with about a week and a half to finish prepping for Ry's FIRST BIRTHDAY!! It's going to be huge!!! Well, guest list, it will be small. I have my parents, sister and her kids and my bff all coming in (we have a small apt and it's Labor Day weekend so I didn't realistically think people would fly in-plus I didn't want to send out invites knowing people won't come cause it looks like I'm in it for the gifts, which I'm not. We have a zillion toys right now and enough clothes til the end of the year.) But the right people will be here and that's what matters. It will be huge in the sense that I am going over the top with decorations and loving every second of it. It'll be a Pinterest birthday party, so to speak, with Dr. Seuss as the theme. I've already started a ton of DIY projects with hope that I won't be overwhelmed the day off.

Dr. Seuss Decor

I'm being rather narcissistic today-I keep shifting back to my lame, grown up life (I actually love being an adult, thank you) when people care more about my boy. His teeth are coming in! Holy moly are they ever! His top left lateral incisor popped through first and now his central ones have poked through and if I'm not mistaken, his right finally made an appearance through the gums. This kid takes teething like a champ. I know he's in pain because he gets very fussy about stupid things. I swear, I have the most content baby in the world, so when he's fussy and he's not hungry, wet, or sleepy, it's gotta be the teeth. Plus, it also takes him FOREVER to fall asleep when he's teething. I give him a couple teething tablets and he's good to go. No girly looking amber necklaces for us.

Top teeth coming in!!

He's not talking yet, which is fine. I know (like walking) once he starts, it's never going to stop. He makes almost every sound though. I'll say alphabet sounds like, "aaa aaa aaa" and he'll repeat it back and we'll go down the list and he gets about half of them right. It's adorable. He says "yeah" a lot and I realized it's probably because I always say that to him! Whenever he makes sounds, I go, "Yeah? What else?" and G does too, and I think he's picked up on it. That is his main sound now. It's hilarious. People keep asking me if he waves yet. He doesn't. Why? I don't see enough people to say "hello" and "goodbye" too. I've been trying to practice with strangers or when G comes home from work, but this is a new thing that we've never really implemented before.

I haven't clipped more than 2 nails in the last month. If anyone can tell me how in the world they get their child to sit still these days to do so, that'd be awesome.

More seuss decor. Still need to make a sign out of it..

Okay, what else.... what else? G's bday is this weekend!!!!!! I can't give away what I got him, but I will definitely be updating afterwards with Ry's 11 month "bday" and G's 26th hopefully before I go off to my convention. Cato had his 4th bday a couple weeks ago!!! I can't believe how big he's getting. He's still such a puppy at times. Those times usually include whenever Denali is not inside. Seriously, Cato turns into a completely different dog. G let Denali out the other day and Cato grabbed a toy and ran around happily and came up to me and played fetch. Denali came in and Cato went back into his depressed role as a parent. Denali is a psycho. I love him so much because of it, however he is a toy hog. He always wants to play fetch and if you throw the ball, he is insanely (and I mean this in a like-a-psyco way) way and always has to get the ball first. Belle is also a toy hog so if he fetches a toy she wants, she waits until he gets closer and steals it from him, so that leaves Cato rarely with toys. My sweet baby. He always gets neglected. I took him on a 2 mile run last week-with the stroller- and it went surprisingly well! I mean, the stroller went off roading a few times and some a-hole lady with her dog at the bottom of a steep hill stayed still so we could pass which meant that after gaining speed, I had to try to bring the stroller to a complete stop so I could attempt to hold Cato back from trying to play with the other dog and I was so ready to just yell at this idiot woman. Don't stop, keep walking so we can get past you faster. UGH.

My birthday boy!!! xoxoxo 4 years old :)

It's been in the 90s/100s with high heat indexes for the past.. oh, month straight. I heard some people say that GA summers out here usually aren't this bad, but I wouldn't know if that's accurate or not. I chopped all my hair off. Honestly, I don't like it that much because I have a long face, and long hair distracts people from that, but it feels amazing in this heat to have all of that weight off my shoulders, literally. I don't regret it. It will grow and I will cool off.

I think that's all I really have to update on for now. No wait! I do have one more thing. I read this article about stay at home moms. It was basically saying how when asked what the author does, she says she's a stay at home mom and people respond with, "So, nothing?" or something alluding the fact that she doesn't have a job (which is rude for people to correct anyone on in the first place). She then goes on to state her point of how much work being a stay at home mom is-which it is. Guess what? When I got my hair cut, the woman asked me what I did and I said, "Nothing." She knew I had a baby and she corrected me, "Oh, so you're a stay at home mom?" (I know there should be dashes in this phrase but that's too much work right now.) What I do with my baby everyday is exhausting and takes a lot of patience, effort, and pretty much every second of my day. If I get a break, it's usually spent taking care of dogs, eating, or cleaning. I'm lucky that I'm able to blog right now (yay for morning naps! oops, the dogs haven't been fed yet, crap). But it's a lot of work. This woman was saying that people should be proud to be a stay at home parent (I am) and not consider it a "nothing" job. And I agree...now that I've read her article.  I should be more confident in my role right now cause if you think about it, if I had another job, then I'd be paying someone else to do what I do everyday. If you say, "I work in a day care," that's considered a job (I used to do that) so why not, "I am a stay at home mom"? The only difference is I can't make a living taking care of my own child like a daycare worker would taking care of others. I just found it interesting-I really don't even know where I'm going with this (my coffee hasn't sunk in yet). But my point is: I need to be prouder of being a house mommy so, according to the article, it can be considered nation-wide as a job.

Okay, Molly..out! Got to go get the dogs fed, Belle's drops, and attempt to do some dishes before getting some exercise in with the kiddo. LOVE YA'LL! (No time to edit.. sorry grammar police!)

10 Months and Vacation!

Wow! Ry is officially 10 months, which means I only have 2 months left to plan his first birthday. Not nearly enough time it feels like. I can barely get through each day accomplishing all on my list. I feel 110% guilty because I was sick yesterday and slept for almost a good 24 hours. I would literally wake up in the afternoon, breast feed Ryan, then pass back out. I have no idea why I've been so tired. It could be the heat, it could be I'm overworked and recovering from our awesome vacation, or it could be sinuses. My eyes were so itchy all week and I've been sneezing a lot more than average. Super frustrating. Which reminds me-why even invent Benadryl for anything other than a nighttime medicine? There's really absolutely no point in attempting to take it during the day to make you feel better. You don't even get to stay awake to enjoy feeling better. Such a joke. It will be nice getting to take meds that are actually helpful once I finish breast feeding. In the meantime, I slept it off and I don't plan to be sick again until winter.

Okay, back to my baby being a giant 10 month old child! He's so big!!! Not for his size. Actually, he's in the 40th percentile for weight and height, but he's losing his baby features more and more each day. He popped another tooth!!!! I can't believe it. He popped a top, side incisor. My heart literally broke when I saw it. His sweet, gummy smile always made my day and now it'll never go back. He's never going to be my gummy toothless baby and that makes me so incredibly sad (for those of you who don't know, this boy gave me major baby fever-I love this stage so much!) Of course, every step back he makes that breaks my heart G sees as a step forward towards him having a football buddy. He's way more excited for the kid stage than I am. However I stay positive and remind myself that I love Ry Ry more and more every single day which means there's no possible way that him growing up can take that away. I'm probably just insane and emotional- or a mom...

He's such a stinker! He's ALL over the place. He stands up on everything and is getting used to moving with his steps. He's going to be walking before I know what hit us. He's also getting into climbing. We don't have stairs, but we have a table that has a bottom tray that he likes to climb into. He is also a huge fan of climbing all over my lap. I wish I had an obstacle course or something for him. This Georgia heat is insane so there will be no parks introduced until at least fall. He's learned sliding. He slides his toys all over the floor from one side of the room to the doorway. And he loves the magic of gravity. Toys all get dropped over and over again.

What else is new with him? He's no longer a vegetarian! We've introduced chicken and fish which he loved. I think he loves any food we feed him. He's definitely not a picky eater, which is awesome considering how much variety I eat. Now I'll have an eating buddy who will try new recipes with me :) He did the CUTEST thing the other day. We were at a mommy and baby library reading time, and a little girl touched his head. He looked at her, looked and me, and then crawled over into my lap and sat there in a you-are-my-mommy-and-you-keep-me-safe kind of way. I'm holding onto that moment as long as I can. He really is just so precious.

We went to the doctor out here for our "9 month" check up. Long story short, he was already 10 months. All I can say is I really, really miss our last pediatrician. I forgot how... shall I say... traditional? the south is. Anchorage was WAY more my lifestyle in the sense of developing with technology and modern practice. I'm sure our doctor is fine, however he really didn't seem to be up to date with things my last dr said or any of the books I'm reading. He made it seem like it was weird that I was feeding Ry actual food 3 times a day. He still gets plenty of breast milk, so it's not like he only eats solids, but he was kind of like... oh? You're feeding him? Um... yes... like I have been for 4 months. And then he said Ry was to get the flu shot at 12 months and I told him we got it right before we came here. He was like... no, he shouldn't have gotten it until 12 months you probably had a different one. I told him no, it was the flu shot that was introduced at 6 months and we had to do it in two parts and he seemed super confused by that. Idk. Maybe Alaska was wrong about stuff, but I'm fairly confident. All I know is that the whole 9 month appointment was a huge waste. There was no point to it. That's probably why JBER said they wouldn't need to see Ry until his 12 month appointment if we were staying there. LAME.

Other new stuff: we did our FIRST FAMILY VACATION over the 4th. I know you're probably thinking: how is this the first vacation? You've been to Chena and across the whole country. How is it the first? Well, the hot springs was awesome! But it was a quick one day getaway. We didn't even leave the state. It was more of an adventure than a vacation. And as for our road trip... more stressful than anything. But this weekend was awesome! We went to Universal and stayed 3 nights in a hotel and didn't have to worry about driving, doing chores, worrying about the dogs, or spending money (we had our vacation fund saved up). It was pure relaxation and it was THE BEST. I am so tempted to start working again just so we can vacation like that every year. Totally worth it.

And we took Ry on his first rides! He went on the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express (which takes you from one side of the park to the other) and there was a screen so it looked like you were looking outside from the train, and he had a blast watching that. We also went on a carousal-he was all smiles. We thought we'd be really stressed having to switch off on rides and worry about Ryan in the heat, but it worked out perfectly. We got there early enough that most rides didn't have long lines. Since we went solo, we got to go on the single riders lane which meant we almost always got right on the ride then switched. Easy peasy. Ry loved looking at things and when he got tired, he'd sleep in his stroller. We took afternoon breaks at the hotel to avoid excessive heat and giant crowds, then came back around dinner time when things slowed down. G and I had such a blast and we think Ryan did too. Like I said, it was perfect. I look forward to so many more family vacations in the future! My boys are the best.

Okay, these posts are pretty worthless without a mommy fail so here it is: Ry and I rent books from the library every week (let's face it, reading the same books over and over gets rather dull). I grabbed a few books that looked cute (yes, I judged the books by their cover) and took them home. The first one I picked up had balloons all over it. It looked cute. I opened it up and it said something like this, "Losing someone is hard work. Dying is hard work, too." Apparently it was a book for kids dealing with a chronic illness. TERRIBLE thing to introduce to a baby! We did not finish the book. I felt so stupid-definitely a fail.

As for us, we should probably get our orders in the next couple weeks so we can have an idea of where we'll be for Thanksgiving this year. A few people in G's class already got theirs. I'm terrified. One second will completely change our lives. I really hope we don't go overseas. I'm dying to go to Hawaii, but the thought of getting three dogs overseas plus flying all day long with a little one literally makes me want to claw my skin off. I'm crossing my fingers that since we were just overseas we won't get it again. As much as I hate to say this, I'd almost rather have G get assigned somewhere overseas for a year where we can't go with than all of us have to pack and ship. I'm still not recovered from this road trip. I'm hoping for somewhere here in the lower 48. We will see what happens. I'm terrified and excited all at once.

The dogs are.... a situation. If there are two words to describe them right now it would be: vet bills. We got Belle back from the kennels with scabs all over her body. We took her to the vet and she's on meds now. 1 antibiotic 1x a day. 1 pepcid 2x a day. Plus 9 eyedrops all day long. Plus a cough. She is such a problem child. The only thing we can conclude from everything is that they all freaked out being locked up for days in a room surrounded by barking dogs. Our three are all very spoiled and pampered because they are my children and I love them very much. Denali has been extremely into Belle lately. He gets all up in her face and is constantly trying to lick her anywhere from her mouth to her shoulders to her hooha. He does not leave her alone. I've even found her hiding in her cage while he waits outside for her to come out. He's a little psycho. My poor little girl. They've never been violent with each other but that's the only thing I can conclude. The boys beat up on her. She usually holds her own but who knows what happened in a stressful situation. She seems much better now thankfully. My little princess.

No pictures because it's taken me way longer to update than I planned. I never have time for anything anymore. I can barely squeeze in a phone call most days :/ Oh, and just a note: I generally make my nights after 7:30 phone less. I usually leave my phone on the charger so I can't be reached and I can just enjoy time either alone to my own thoughts or with my hubby. I don't want static and distractions. So if I don't answer or respond, it's because my phone isn't on me-not because I hate you :) Okay BYEEEEEE.

Father's Day and other stuff

I miss updating my life on a weekly basis, but ever since this kid starting moving around, I have not sat down. I'm slowly losing my sanity, but it's totally adorable at the same time. This weekend we had our first FATHER'S DAY along with a few other firsts that I'll catch ya'll up on. Father's Day was awesome!! Well, at least I had a good time with it. Ryan got his daddy remote start for the truck (we drop it off this week) along with some other car accessories (wipes, wash mitt, air fresheners) and this pretty sweet picture frame that is in the shape of the letters D-A-D. He also got a slice of cookie cake and some orange cream sodas. Not going to lie, I had a BLAST shopping and putting random stuff together for him. I can't wait for his birthday in August!!!! I already know what he's getting. Anyway..

That morning, we woke up way too early. I think Ry is beginning to get a few more teeth starting to poke through 'cause he was miserable last week/weekend. He woke us up before 5 (which isn't abnormal) but then he was too fussy to play yet too fussy to sleep. After a while, we put him down for a nap and even tried to lay back in bed ourselves and get extra shut eye. I don't know if during that hour of in and out snoozing that Ry slept at all. We finally got our butts out of bed and got ready to go to the lake!!!

There's this big lake not too far from our house (which is awesome!) We had been to one part of it for a family day for G's work, but this time we were going onto a part of it from the South Carolina side. We got dressed and I took my man to get McDonald's breakfast as part of the celebration. (Side note: it took me almost 20 mins to get out of there with my order-worst McDonalds employees ever. I don't usually eat fast food so I don't know if this is the norm or not, but I was not happy to have to wait that long for my morning caffeine. What a cruel, cruel joke.) After a couple hash browns and some overly sugary coffees, we were off!

I didn't realize how incredibly big this thing was! I mean, it's no Lake Michigan or anything, but it was a heck of a lot bigger than my first impression. We met a couple friends at a less popular side of the beach so we could take the dogs without getting into trouble. Oh how I've missed the beach and sand between my toes!!! (My feet are super exfoliated btw). We brought Belle and she LOVED the water. It's amazing how our laziest dog can act like a little crazy, energetic puppy when she gets to go anywhere and meet new people and other dogs. She was so tired, but she just kept swimming to her little hearts desire and snorting like a piggie to fight the exhaustion. The water was so warm, so we took Ry in and let him swim around. It was great! Although, a fish bit me on the ankle. I was not too thrilled about that part. I think a part of me hates nature a little more each time I get out there cause something ALWAYS happens! Don't get me started...

After the lake, we were wiped. Ry and Belle passed out completely (he had drool as I took him out of the car and I'm pretty sure Belle has been in a coma for the past 48 hours). G had to work on a paper for class the rest of the day, which kind of sucked, but I let him break our 1-pizza-a-week rule for lunch, and then I made him lasagna for dinner (one of his favs). Other than the homework, I think it was a pretty successful Father's Day!

The beach

As for our baby-he's getting so grown up! I know, I know, I say this every time. He's starting to pull himself up a little bit. The only problem is that we don't really have any furniture that's his height to pull up on, so he doesn't get to practice as much as he'd like. The first time he did it was in the bathtub in the laundry basket (he takes baths in a laundry basket so his toys will stay close to him, allowing him to play more). Then yesterday, he found our baby gate and pulled himself up by the bars. Today while doing laundry, I decided to put him in the basket, and he kept pulling himself up and down over and over. Oh my! I can't believe we're already to the next phase. I'm still trying to catch up with his crawling.

He's an explorative crawler, too. He's now trying to discover every nook and cranny of the apartment. If I leave the room, he can come after me. This weekend, G discovered him nestling himself behind the couch (which is against a wall, but it leaves a little crack because of the couch's angel). I'm so glad he caught the stinker because I never would have found him back there! He's so mischievous and adorable. I can't handle his cuteness. Oh, and today he tried to pull himself up to standing by using my hair. He was so proud of himself as I was trying not to go bald.

Standing in my basket of laundry

Today, we did another first. We played catch together! It wasn't fancy-we were maybe 18 inches away from each other- but I'd bounce him a ball, and he'd pick it up and do his version of throwing it to me. We went back and forth for a good 5 minutes. It was awesome. So fantastically, unpredictably awesome.

My mom came and visited us a couple weekends ago. We had a great time! We went into downtown Augusta and took a boat down the canals. It felt so historically southern. I loved it. Other than that, we relaxed and she got to take Ryan swimming and just to have her be with us was a treat. She's officially retired!!! Which means I'm counting on her for more Grandma duty! It was funny because at first, Ryan didn't really know how to take her in. When she Skypes with us, he's all smiles with her on the computer. I think he was confused as to why she was 3D. But he warmed up to her and got to have some good one and one time with his grandma.

xoxoxo

I feel like these past few days have either been extremely good or extremely terrible. I lost it the other day. Ry woke me up super early the whole week straight. I was exhausted. It was 5:30 and Cato threw up. We ran out of paper towels the day before, so I was lucky enough to have small napkins from Sonic that didn't quite absorb anything rather spread it around, followed up by a round of Lysol wipes. Ry was just super fussy, wasn't pleased at anything (like I said, could have been teething), it had been the third day in a row that he'd made my workout either cut short or nonexistent, it was already too hot to go for a run by 6:30, tried to get him down for a nap and then Belle threw up, and it was just a hectic morning on top of an already stressful week. It sucked. I think I vented to G more times last week than I have in our whole relationship. Luckily, he's very understanding and has really stepped up to try to help me out these past couple days.

I signed up for this boxing fitness center called 9Round. It's a 30 minute workout with 9 stations (or rounds) and they give you workouts to do for 3 minute rounds, then you rotate. It's a lot of fun and I got pink boxing gloves. What I've been doing is waiting for G to come home from work (since I can't go with the baby) and he takes him, gets him ready for bed and stuff while I go work out. It's honestly so helpful knowing that I can leave and just get an hour to myself and beat the crap out of my stress. Today, I shin-kicked the shit out of the swinging bag and it felt good ;) Since it was probably 90 degrees by 7am today, I also stopped by the gym in our complex and did a quick 2 1/2 mile run on the treadmill. I came home in the most wonderfully exhausted state. Something I hope I can make happen every day somehow.

I think I'm going to just come to terms with the fact that I won't teach Zumba out here. We're only here for 6 months. The summer schedules were already done by the time we got out here, and if I even attempt looking to get on the fall schedule, then I get 2 months of teaching and have to break it to everyone that I'm leaving. Maybe these 6 months are my way of just finding something new (boxing had been one of my new years resolutions for a while now) and focusing on other aspects of my life until our next station. As much as I absolutely love to teach, I think I'm okay with having a 6 month break. Plus, I still do Zumba in my living room every week.

Those are all the updates for now. It has been insanely hot out every day. Like... 100+ degrees every day. My goal is to be as naked as possible this summer without showing my personal parts to anyone. My body made an adjustment to Alaskan winters, so humidity and heat are killing me right now. But I love it! xoxoxoxo!

9 Months

Ry is officially as old as I was pregnant! Wow. So much has gone on these past 9 months-I can't believe I actually let him live inside of me for that long. Pregnancy is a LONG thing. You almost forget how never-ending it seems when you are sleep deprived and trying to get through one day at a time.

Let's see, what has my little man been up to lately? He's a creepy crawler. He explores everything and I absolutely love watching him try to crawl out the room. He's so incredibly tiny when you compare his little chunk legs to the expanse of a doorway. He's just such a person. He sees something, wants it, and just crawls towards it. I love it! I still remember trying to enclose his fingers around a toy and getting excited when he'd hold it for 3 seconds. It's amazing how young mischief begins. This boy's favorite things to crawl to are dog toys. I don't understand. He has balls. But if the dog has a ball, that's the one he will crawl halfway around the room to get. I don't know if it's wanting what you can't have, jealousy, inability to share or maybe all of the above. I'd be lying if I said this boy has never has a rawhide in his mouth.

He sits up on his own and he drinks out of cups. I bought him a cup with a straw and he drinks it all on his own. It's a kid's cup so it's pretty much the size of his face, but he drinks it like it's his job. This morning, he started sticking his tongue out and spitting at me. Such a stinker. Nothing like celebrating your 9 month bday than making toot noises at your mom. What a boy. But he's honestly such a silly, kind-hearted boy and I love him more and more to pieces. I honestly don't think my heart can take anymore. I feel like I want to break down crying anytime I see something that has anything to do with loving your child.

There was a book in Target named something along the lines of Stay My Baby. It was saying things like, "I want to you to stay my baby forever so we can cuddle forever. But if you were a baby forever, then I'd never get to see you.." and then described a bunch of milestones that kids hit as they grow up. TEARS. Tears streaming down my face in Target. I got so choked up because it hit home base. I really don't want this boy to ever grow up because right now, we're having the most amazing time together, but I know it's inevitable and I know that more great things are heading my way (until he's a teen, then I grit my teeth til he's off to college).

As for life in GA, it's interesting on a few different levels. I thought I'd miss Alaska a lot more than I do. Honestly, I don't even think about it. I don't miss the mountains. I don't miss the sunlight and the beautiful Alaskan summers. I don't miss a lot of the people there. There are a few, yes, but the majority-not really. Alaska never felt like home to me, and I feel like I have more bad memories of my experiences there than good. Which is saying a lot because that's where I got married, twice and we got two of our babies (Denali and Ry) there. And I honestly thought I was happy there, but looking back, I think I did a really great job at just kidding myself and staying positive and now that it's done, I can say how much I hate the state, the people, and I never see myself going back. Ever. Alaska is a bad taste in my mouth and it took leaving it to realize it.

I do love Georgia. I do love the sun, the heat, the pools and the nice people out here, but I'm awfully lonely. I don't have a job nor do I really think I'm going to have one. We're only here for 6 months. When it comes to teaching Zumba, the summer schedules are pretty much all out, and if I start teaching somewhere in the fall, it's like.. September, October, okay bye! We're off to wherever it is next. To me, this is a big issue. I now am just a housewife. There's nothing wrong with being a housewife, but this isn't what I went to school and got a degree for (I know teaching Zumba isn't either, but I was using that experience to open my own studio or gym one day). And it's extremely lonely. During the work week, my car is the only one left in the parking lot. Our neighbors all work. Without a job, I don't have people that I can go out and meet. I don't have a group where we have at least one thing in common. And I'm a shy person. I'm not really good at going up to someone and asking them to hang out. I know shyness is one of my biggest flaws and it often makes me come off a a bitch, but I'm a very closed person and I think I always have been. I like to get to know someone before I let them into my life and I absolutely hate big groups and social events where they just expect you to show up and meet people. I need intimacy. And I'm torn between needing friendship and thinking maybe I should just be a hermit for these 6 months so I don't have to do goodbyes all over again before the end of the year.

Not only is it hard to meet people, but I'm disappointed in my current family and friends situation. SO many of my friends gave the excuse, "Alaska is so expensive to get to! I'm sorry I can't visit. Let me know when you're in the (lower 48)." Or, "Once you get to GA, I want to come visit!" But no one is really making any initiative. Of course a few are, the ones who would go to the moon and back just to have drinks with me on my bday, but it's really making me realize that Alaska was only an excuse for, "I really don't have time to show you that we're friends. Thanks for going out of your way for me in the past, but I'm over it." And you're probably saying, "hello! It's a two-way road!" No. I still have a baby and I think people fail to realize how incredibly hard it is for me just to get through every freaking day with him and these dogs, let alone get on a plane. I don't have grandma and grandpa down the street to help out. Hell, I don't even have friends or a babysitter to call. We barely even have money right now because we had to re-stock our entire house with food and toilet paper and stuff and we're waiting on reimbursements from our move out here. I feel like every day is a financial struggle. And the fact that I don't work only adds to my stress. But I guess like me, we're all busy.

My mom is coming out here next week though and I'm beyond belief excited. It'll be so nice to have someone to talk to about things. Real things. Not the ABCs or, "did the dogs go out yet?" I will have someone who can just watch Ryan while I take the dogs outside-individually without worrying if Ryan's choking on electrical wires of some sort. Maybe I'll even be able to take them to the dog park! It'll just be nice to have someone. And not just anyone, but someone whom I love and like hanging out with. Someone who is my family and friend at the same time and doesn't care that I have psycho little dogs who drive everyone nuts by invading personal space for attention 24/7. Plus, not many people care about babies unless it's their own. I know some people go, "oh, he's cute" but Grandma is the only one I can really go on and on and on about the stupid little things Ryan does every day and know that I'm not completely boring her. Grandmas are pretty great.

Back to GA life. The thing about living in golf country is that going for a run is dreadful! The hills are ass-whooping! Trying to run 1 mile uphill in the heat is enough to make nap time want to crawl back into my life. Oh, and then add the stroller with a 20 pound baby to the mixture. Excruciating. I've been running 2-3x a week and I'm just now starting to feel like I don't want to die halfway through my 5K course. I'm hoping these hills will give me some extra strength and buns of steel. It's hard staying motivated to work out at home when I don't have a gym to go to or childcare to drop Ryan off and have some time to just do me. But I've been on track for the most part and I'm hoping I stick to it. Exercise is the only thing I have right now that's mine. Thankfully, Ryan loves going on runs in his stroller. He stays super content in there and sometimes even doses off. It's great.

The dogs have been behaving very well. For the most part. They are doing really well going out about 4 times a day, individually without a yard to run around in. Cato and Denali are doing really well off leash. Belle, on the other hand, it a bit of a loose cannon. The other day, the most embarrassing thing happened. I went to take Denali out. I'm putting the leash on him and as the door is closing, Belle decides to push her way through and take off downstairs (we live on the 2nd floor). I have to unleash Denali and get him inside because me calling her back was not working. I sprint down the stairs, yelling at her and she runs up to a family who is packing their car for a vacation. The door is open. There are children inside. The moms are looking at me like, "Get this dog away from us" but refusing to hold her or help (my sister is extremely allergic to dogs, and she can't touch them without breaking into hives, so my first thought was maybe they're allergic. Nope, just useless.) I see Belle hesitate. I'm getting closer and I say, "Don't you dare get into that car." She gets in. She jumps in next to a little boy and makes herself at home. I'm sitting there yelling at her, but not to the point that I look like THAT lady, and apologizing profusely. The woman who was not helpful wouldn't even get out of the doorway to let me try to get Belle out. So I went around to the other side to the other woman who was at least trying to get her by the collar. I get her out. Appologzie for the millionth time, and drag her ass up the stairs by the collar. I was so incredibly livid. She was disciplined and caged for the remainder of the day. I rarely let her off leash anymore. The cute part though is that at the end of the day when I finally freed her, she spent the whole night sucking up to me and trying to stay by my side and give me kisses. Such a ham. I'm still waiting from a call from management saying that the neighbors have been having problems with our dogs off the leash. They're still on vacation so we'll see.

I just finished reading Amy Poehler's book, Yes Please. Amazing. I bought this book as a Christmas present to myself, hoping to read it at the beginning of the year. I finally cracked it open a few weeks before the move, hoping that life without cable/internet would give me some downtime to read. Nope. I finally started chapter 1 last week and couldn't put it down (except the million times that Ryan made me because he was crying, screaming, fussy or crawling towards another dog toy.) I don't really even know why I bought the book because I didn't think Amy was funny at all. I'm not a huge SNL chicks (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, etc.) kind of girl. But I do love her now. I do. She has wonderful insight about life and it was very inspirational. She not only gave me inner peace with my self and my life, but she gave me confidence. However, the only downfall is that having confidence when you don't have any kind of socialization is useless and practically non-existent. It's hard to believe in myself when I'm at a point in my life where every single goal I have is on standby until our next station. Like, "Yeah, you'll be a really great instructor! And I bet you'll get a great job and meet amazing people! In six months..." Hopefully her smart words stick in my brain for next year. I doubt I'm going to have people telling me, "Wow! You did those dishes so well today. I know it was a huge challenge but you stepped right up and showed us your true talent and strength." But this is where life has currently taken me and I have to accept it. Like most things, it's just a phase and this too shall pass, so I may as well live in every moment with my boy while I still can.

Okay my wonderful people. I'm going to leave you with a quote from Amy's book that I loved. Come visit. Keep in touch. Xoxo.

"If you can surf your life rather than plant your feet, you will be happier." ~Yes Please. (If you want further insight as to why this is, read her book!)