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.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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| The beach |
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.
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| Standing in my basket of laundry |
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 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!
Saturday, June 6, 2015
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!)
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!)
Saturday, May 23, 2015
The Apartment
I have been the worst friend/relative to everyone ever since we moved. I hardly have my phone on me all day-in fact, I don't even know where it is half the time, and I rarely even check Facebook. I have so many people I need to catch up with, it's ridiculous. Life has been ever-going. We have an apartment! I hope for our next station we look to buy because trying to rent with three dogs is nearly impossible. I think the hardest part about looking for somewhere to live was that people would post, and when we'd call, they'd say the place was already taken. Hello! Take your post down!! Is it really that hard?
We ended up getting the apartment we wanted! It's in a gated community and it's the same company that we rented with in Columbus, GA. It has a pool, fitness room, free coffee and snacks in the main office, and a dog park. Our apartment itself is 3 bedroom, 2 full bath, granite counter tops, and we have a garage (not attached to the unit, used for storage) and a porch. Leave it up to us to find a way to complicate our lives. Obviously, we don't have a yard, so the dogs do have to go out one-by-one, down the stairs on a leash. So far, it's really not bad. They've been trained during the road trip to do that, so they have been extremely good at adjusting.
We still have boxes everywhere. We have so much stuff. It's refreshing to go through everything, though, to purge. We have two boxes of stuff to get rid of and we've thrown things away. The hard part is the baby! Ry has sooo much stuff. And I don't want to get rid of things in case we have a second boy in the next couple years. We're still undecided. I feel like I hardly have enough time to take care of everyone at this point-I'd need a nanny or a live-in dog sitter if we have a second. I barely have time to cook, take off my chipping nail polish, shave my legs, and working out? It's an effort getting in a hour everyday. In fact, the only way I was able to blog this morning was because I've been up since 3:30. I'm so grateful G got work off this week to help unpack. He's helped out so much with Ry that I think I'd have had a meltdown trying to put this whole house together by myself.
As for Ryan, he's moving everywhere!! This kid rolls all over the joint and is on the edge of crawling. He already army crawls if he sees something he wants, and he can go in circles to no end, he goes backwards, and he gets into plank position, downward dog, and a few other yoga poses. He's so strong! I swear, he's going to stand up before I even know what hit me. Another problem with unpacking is trying to baby proof the house as I put things away. We have lots of nice things and lots of low shelves. Right now, it's like a giant game of tetris-perfectly fitting the pieces together.
He's also in a process of sleep regression (which explains my 3:30 wake up). He wakes at about 4 every morning. Poor kiddo. He's skipping on afternoon naps and trying to get him down at night is impossible. It's a phase that I know he'll grow out of. Right now, he's learning so many exciting new things that sleep must seem miserable. He's also babbling up a storm. This kid just talks to his toys all day. It's so precious. We've heard a few words come out of him-but of course he has no idea what he's saying. Just sweet little conversations.
Breast feeding is still a struggle. I feel like if I have one off day where I'm not consistently pumping, feeding, or stuffing my face with flaxseed and gatorade, my supply drops. Good thing Ryan's been eating more food. I feed him solids about 3 times a day now on top of breast feeding. I'm hoping to make it 3 1/2 more months so we don't have to switch to formula.
This has just been a quick update because I haven't had time to talk to anyone. I don't even have time to sit and finish this post. I do have an address for anyone that needs it. And I'm ready for people to come visit :) Time to brew some coffee and continue unpacking. Ready, break.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
AKtoGA Finale
The eagle has landed. We arrived in Augusta yesterday afternoon. It's funny how the last two days (13 hrs broken up into 8 and 5) seemed longer than the whole week we drove from Ak to Chi. I think being out of the car visiting family was the biggest tease and we both detested the idea of driving any further. Despite side roads, construction, traffic and losing our sanity, we made it! And so far, we're really liking Augusta.
G really appreciates the southern hospitality. Not me. I may be midwestern, but I am the kind of her who does not want strangers talking to me about their lives. I don't want to sit and chat in the store, I want to get in and out and on my way. I've still got some of that city blood in me no matter how far away I go. Or maybe it's east coast blood. Who knows. Just don't call me ma'am and be all social when I don't even know your name nor will I probably ever see you again. I'm too rude for the south. But I do enjoy the heat, the pools, the sun, and the greenery.
We still have no house, however we're working on it. Our three dogs are our downfall. Everywhere has a 2 dog policy if they allow pets. We found apartments that allow three dogs. It's a gated community and it's actually the same one we lived in down at Ft. Benning before we moved to AK and we loved it. We looked at it today and think that we'll enjoy it out there. The only part I'm sad about is that it doesn't have a huge pond like the one in Columbus did, but other than that, it has a pool, workout center, FREE coffee and snacks up at the office whenever I want, dog park, and we'd be able to get a three bedroom apartment to give us enough space for our dogs and visitors. It's awesome. It's going to be far from work for G, but he said he didn't mind the drive. It'll probably be about 45 mins with traffic I'm guessing-25 without. But I think we're both excited about it. Oh! And the pool has grills and a fireplace that we can use whenever we want and entertain guests if people come visit. Hopefully we'll get to meet some nice people in the neighborhood. I'm just so ready to unpack a little bit and get somewhat settled in somewhere.
I must say, if you're traveling with dogs, motel 6 is the way to go. Yes, it's a bit rundown. If you're looking for luxury, this is not the place to be, however pets stay free and there's no limits on weight, numbers, etc. Plus, when you've been stuck in a truck for 12 hours and just need a bed, you really don't pay attention to much else. The motel 6 we're camped up at right now has a pool. We took Ry for his first swim yesterday!! The water was a little chilly so at first he was timid. After his body adjusted, he had fun letting daddy float him around the water. Today, we went to Babies R Us and bought this giant giraffe pool raft. It's awesome!!! This thing is going to be my best friend because I can put him in it and pull him while I swim laps or jog in the water. Plus, he had fun. I'm being extra cautious about putting our arctic baby in the sun. He's got hats, multiple sunscreens, his raft shade, and his swim shirt. I'm hoping I can keep him burn-free all summer.
Ry is such a little wiggle worm lately! He's close to crawling and he's starting to try to pull himself up. He's going to be moving before I know it. Today, we were playing on the bed and he just kept rolling all over the place and using my body as a jungle gym. He's in such a cute little phase right now. I always think I love the phase he's in the most until he hits a new one and I somehow love it even more.
I had my first mother's day on Sunday!!! It wasn't quite as I pictured it-sleeping in, breakfast and coffee in bed, not having to deal with a cranky baby or changing diapers, and getting to actually do what I want to do for the day, but it was still pretty great. G got me an AMAZING gift-the Fitbit Surge, which is basically a watch that will track my calories, running distance, steps, and a bunch of other stuff. I've been using it for three days and I'm obsessed with it. I can track how much I eat on the ap on my phone, which is soooo perfect because I don't really get to work out when we're on the road all day, so it helps me not to overeat like I had been. I can't wait until we're settled a bit so I can go for a run and test out the GPS. We also spent the day hanging with family. I ended the day perfectly with a fire pit and wine :)
I never get time to update and when I do, I never know what I want to say. I want to be settled. I want to cook. My stomach can't handle eating all this fast food. I get sick every time we eat somewhere. I even tried "healthy" Subway. Those sandwiches are so disgusting. I don't understand how people keep some of these places in business. This is why I cook. My goal is to be super healthy while we're here. Now that Ry is eating solids more and more, I want to set an example. People always ask me stupid questions. This morning, we went to Krispy Kreme to get donuts for breakfast and a guy asked if Ry liked donuts. Um.. why the hell would I feed a donut to my baby? And this happens any time I eat a dessert out in public. People have asked what kind of ice cream he likes and if he'll eat cookies and other stuff too. So ridiculous. I want to set the example of health and teach my child that food is fuel and not a stress reliever or an activity when you're bored. It's a way to supplement vitamins and minerals throughout your body to keep it going. You know, the opposite of what our country believes--that every meal should be considered a "treat". I guess that's why I'm in the fitness industry.
The puppies have been so great! Denali sits in the windowsill at our room like he's a cat. There are two cats a few doors down that do that. He's such a peanut. They all have been listening really well and I've tried rotating taking them for walks. The heat seems to be getting to them a bit because all they've been doing is sleeping. That, or they really don't have much to do in this small room. After we got settled here yesterday, I laid on the bed and just cuddled them all. At my parent's house, they were in the basement or outside so I didn't get to spend much time with them. I missed them so much. I'm very happy to have my little loves back.
Internet is slow here, and I still have a few more glasses of water to get in before the end of the day, so I better start attempted to upload pictures before bed. No editing, so if there are typos all over this thing, then just deal with it. This whole time change thing makes me feel like I'm cool for staying away til 9. I'm lame, but I love every second of it :) xoxoxo.
G really appreciates the southern hospitality. Not me. I may be midwestern, but I am the kind of her who does not want strangers talking to me about their lives. I don't want to sit and chat in the store, I want to get in and out and on my way. I've still got some of that city blood in me no matter how far away I go. Or maybe it's east coast blood. Who knows. Just don't call me ma'am and be all social when I don't even know your name nor will I probably ever see you again. I'm too rude for the south. But I do enjoy the heat, the pools, the sun, and the greenery.
We still have no house, however we're working on it. Our three dogs are our downfall. Everywhere has a 2 dog policy if they allow pets. We found apartments that allow three dogs. It's a gated community and it's actually the same one we lived in down at Ft. Benning before we moved to AK and we loved it. We looked at it today and think that we'll enjoy it out there. The only part I'm sad about is that it doesn't have a huge pond like the one in Columbus did, but other than that, it has a pool, workout center, FREE coffee and snacks up at the office whenever I want, dog park, and we'd be able to get a three bedroom apartment to give us enough space for our dogs and visitors. It's awesome. It's going to be far from work for G, but he said he didn't mind the drive. It'll probably be about 45 mins with traffic I'm guessing-25 without. But I think we're both excited about it. Oh! And the pool has grills and a fireplace that we can use whenever we want and entertain guests if people come visit. Hopefully we'll get to meet some nice people in the neighborhood. I'm just so ready to unpack a little bit and get somewhat settled in somewhere.
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| Home sweet Motel 6. We finally made it to our destination! |
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| Giraffe Raft! My little water bug |
I had my first mother's day on Sunday!!! It wasn't quite as I pictured it-sleeping in, breakfast and coffee in bed, not having to deal with a cranky baby or changing diapers, and getting to actually do what I want to do for the day, but it was still pretty great. G got me an AMAZING gift-the Fitbit Surge, which is basically a watch that will track my calories, running distance, steps, and a bunch of other stuff. I've been using it for three days and I'm obsessed with it. I can track how much I eat on the ap on my phone, which is soooo perfect because I don't really get to work out when we're on the road all day, so it helps me not to overeat like I had been. I can't wait until we're settled a bit so I can go for a run and test out the GPS. We also spent the day hanging with family. I ended the day perfectly with a fire pit and wine :)
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| My first mothers day with my peanut! |
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| Took G for his first Krispy Kreme experience this morning. Ry did not have the donuts, only the paper. |
Internet is slow here, and I still have a few more glasses of water to get in before the end of the day, so I better start attempted to upload pictures before bed. No editing, so if there are typos all over this thing, then just deal with it. This whole time change thing makes me feel like I'm cool for staying away til 9. I'm lame, but I love every second of it :) xoxoxo.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
The Roadtrip
We made it to Chicago. We drove 4100 miles in 6 days from Alaska, but we're still not done yet. We got in Thursday evening, but luckily we're hanging out here for another week before we attempt our final 13 hour drive. 3 dogs, 1 baby, 2 parents and 1 extremely stuffed truck. Oh, and all three of us were extremely sick during the whole trip which made it that much more fun. We managed.
The road trip went a lot better than I thought it would. We plotted out our stops for each day. On day 1, we were supposed to stop in Tok, AK (a 7.5 hour drive) but by the time we got there, it was only about 2pm so we said, "Let's just keep going," and we made it to Haines Junction, Yukon after about 14 hours of driving. We put in about 14 hours for the first three days and it completely cut out an entire day of our planned trip.
On day one, I discovered that Ryan's bottom teeth started popping through!!!! I didn't discover it until we were past Tok and had zero service before hitting the border, so I couldn't even tell anyone until days later when we were out of Canada. Sweet boy! He was having trouble sleeping the week earlier and I thought it was because there was so much going on, but it was his teeth! I knew something was up though because when I'd feed him with a spoon, he was purposely trying eat with only the top of his mouth-not allowing the spoon to touch his bottom gums. And here they are! I'm so incredibly in love with his sweet smile when his tongue isn't covering them up, but I'm super sad!!! I LOVE his gummy smile. I'm NOT ready for baby teeth and him growing up. I can't handle what a grown up he is becoming! Although I must admit, being home right now with my little nephews calms my nerves. Seeing what cuties they still are gives me hope that it's okay for Ry to not be a baby forever. But I'm still trying to absorb every moment I can.
He did great on the trip! For the most part. We'd wake up in the mornings, feed him, pack and while he played, and when he was ready for his first nap, that's when we'd feed him and leave so we could drive a few hours while he slept. Whenever he woke up, we'd pull over, G would let the dogs out, and I'd get in back and change him then stay back there to feed and play with him. Our truck was so incredibly packed that I couldn't get into the back seat without moving a giant tote to my vacant seat. It was not easy. The good news is I was able to pump while plugged into the car. I'd pump while he slept, then feed him a bottle while we drove. It made the drive much easier and the stopping minimal. We had our own cd's of kid's songs for Ry that we'd pop in on occasion. BEST PURCHASE EVER: There's this car mirror that is set up so we can look back and see him. But the best part of it is it has a remote that turns music on. That music was magical. As soon as it played, that kid calmed down and was content. I don't think we'd have made it without that music mirror. Amazing.
I'm starting to believe that bears are mythical creatures. I have the worst luck with animals. We drove through the remainder of Alaska and didn't see ONE animal on the whole drive (other than eagles and some road kill). I may as well have been looking for unicorns, because bears DO NOT exist in Alaska. Greg has tried taking me bear searching so many different times, yet I never got to see bears when people were claiming they were all over the place. It wasn't until we were a few hours into Canada that we saw our first animal: some caribou. There were three of them and they crossed the road right in front of our car. It was pretty cool. Another time, we found another caribou that was just standing in the road, until our dogs discovered it and barked-scaring the crap out of it. They also tried barking at bison (who didn't really care) and a motorcyclist who was behind us at a red light. This sounds crazy, but one of my favorite animals we saw was in Canada. I woke up and was taking Denali out, and there were three giant rabbits eating grass out there. But they weren't brown rabbits like I see in my parents' yard, they were white with grey spots-they looked like they could be someone's pets. Giant pets. They were beautiful and so free. I loved them! We also saw some elk, deer (or antelope?) a porcupine, and a billion cows. I'm officially over red meat-those cows were so adorably sweet. I never really ate red meat before, but now I'm definitely done with it. I just wanted to gather them all together and cuddle them. I love cows.
I know I complained about not seeing bears, but we actually did see a bear! Just one for about 10 seconds and it was gone. It was awesome because it came from a really crappy situation. Ryan did really well on the trip, however he had a few moments where he freaked out. This particular time, he was screaming and we were in the middle of nowhere, Canada. There was no where to stop so G just kind of pulled over into this grassy spot on the highway. He went to go check on the dogs while I took care of Ry, and jokingly, he said, "Let me know if a bison sneaks up behind me." Well, I looked up and suddenly across the road, this small black bear walks out of the woods. I was in disbelief! (I seriously didn't think they existed) so I kept knocking on the back window to G to warn him. He finally figured out what I was saying and ran out just in time before the bear went back into the woods. If it weren't for Ryan screaming his face off, we'd never have seen the bear.
The dogs did GREAT on the trip as well. We set the back up so that our luggage was all on one side, and the dog beds were on the other. Belle enjoyed her little beds, but the boys were king of the castle and slept on top of our luggage mounds. They were all so adorable and whenever we'd walk near the truck, they would want to get back into their little apartment. They would just look out the windows at everything until their eyelids drooped and they fell asleep. Such angels.
Traveling with three dogs is such a challenge, though, because most hotels that are pet friendly only allow two, or they have a weight limit. There were only a couple times we had to lie about how many we had. The good news is 1. Cato and Denali look the same. We just didn't have them out at the same time. And 2. most pet friendly rooms are in the back, near doors, away from the entrance. That way, people never really saw the dogs anyway. One of the hotels even gave us a welcome basket for the dogs! It was adorable. Our dogs are good and don't generally bark too much, but when we were in a room and people would walk right past our door talking, then they would bark, which would wake up the baby, which would make us miserable. It made me feel good though because sometimes we'd have a room next to one dog who would bark like crazy, and ours were quiet. It makes me feel like I did something right with these little nuts.
Okay, these paragraphs don't really flow well, cause I'm going back to traveling through Canada. I LOVED Canada!! So we get to the US/Canada border (from Alaska traveling into Canada) and we see the U.S. check point on the other side of the road. However, we don't see one going into Canada. We kept driving and I couldn't figure out if we were in Canada or not. Then we starting seeing signs in kilometers and litres (yes, spelled that way) and I knew we were in Canada, but there was no check point! It was at least another 30 minutes until we hit their check point. So weird! It's like they don't even care if people are illegally in their country. Ha! But I loved calculating our distance in kilometers better than miles because they go by more quickly! And the accents when we got lunch at Tim Hortons-so adorable. I didn't get to try any donuts in Canada like I wanted to, but that's okay. We've had enough donuts in the last couple weeks to last me a while.
What else do I need to update on? Let's see. We are adjusted to time! It was not fun. Ryan adjusted first, which means waking up at 5am meant waking up at 3am AK time. That got us adjusted pretty quickly. His sleep has been so off and it SUCKS. He slept so much on the drive, which was nice for us, but by the time we found a room at 9 and just wanted to lay down and pass out, he'd be up and ready to play for the night. No bueno. And now that we're around family, it seems like no one really gives a shit that he needs to sleep. "I want to see the baby." "Wake him up." "I want to play with him." That's freaking great that they all want to see our bundle of perfection, but it seems like people failed to forget that we didn't take a 6 hour flight to get here-we took a 6 day drive and we're TIRED and we really don't want to deal with a fussy baby all day long because he won't sleep. It's actually really frustrating not being on schedule and having to plan events that are either at night when he wants to sleep or during the day when he needs to nap. I'd get a sitter, but noooo... everyone wants us to bring the baby and I'm not from here! I don't have a sitter I can call. And no one cares about being quiet either when he naps. This kid gets waken up more times than I can keep track of.
It's honestly just really hard not having a place to live, no quiet rooms for Ry, and not having a place for the dogs to be happy. They LOVE my parents yard, but they are also social creatures. They're only allowed in the basement-when they're used to being able to cuddle and hang out with us all day. Denali is high anxiety and a mama's boy, so he just sits by the gate at the top of the stairs and whines when he sees me. It's heart breaking. The first night here, he woke up a couple times in the night howling. My babe. I feel so terrible. We don't have a house down in GA yet either. We literally just have our dogs, the baby, our luggage and our truck. And now that its' rainy out today, they won't get to just run around today, so I think there's going to be a lot of whining. And Cato! He's normally our good dog, but he's been acting out lately. I don't know if it's the stress of the move or he's upset that he's being kept downstairs and not getting enough attention, but he's been disobeying and destructive! When we play, he's been getting overly excited and trying to attack any toy we play with (not dog toys, but the kids' toys). He's so naughty! And he's not listening to the commands that we give, when normally he's very good about that kind of stuff.
Before I said I loved that G's and my family were so close so when we go home, we can see everyone. Now, I hate it. It sucks because we now have to see everyone. We have to find time to see both sides. By day one that we were home, our schedule was booked Fri-Wed. And this weekend is mother's day and my dad's bday. You'd think that since we drove 4100 miles to get here, people would be more than happy to accommodate their lives to our schedules, but there are some who are just being totally inconsiderate and I want to slap them in the face! If I don't see you, then I'm not going to sit here and feel awful about not squeezing you into my schedule. I feel like the people that care most about us will find a way to see us-and guess what? So far they are. There are people who I haven't talked to in months, have seen my posts on Facebook so there's really no possible way that they couldn't have known I wasn't coming to town, then last minute, try to make ME go out of MY way to try to see them. Um... no. I'm sorry, but this trip isn't going to work like that. So frustrating!
Okay, I've been trying to update all week and now I feel super distracted. Ry's awake. I feel like I have a million things I have to do today. I don't have time to just sit and relax anymore when there's constantly someone jumping down my throat about something. I'm sure I've missed about a billion things I wanted to talk about, but oh well. That's life. I can't believe we have to get back into a car in less than a week and figure out the next 6 months of our lives... then do this all over again. The good news is my man hit his promotion and is now officially CAPTAIN! I'm so proud of him. Okay, enough. Need to work out since everyone is trying to fatten me up back home. I can't wait til we have our own house again and I can cook. xoxoxo. The joys of the army life.
The road trip went a lot better than I thought it would. We plotted out our stops for each day. On day 1, we were supposed to stop in Tok, AK (a 7.5 hour drive) but by the time we got there, it was only about 2pm so we said, "Let's just keep going," and we made it to Haines Junction, Yukon after about 14 hours of driving. We put in about 14 hours for the first three days and it completely cut out an entire day of our planned trip.
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| Oh look, only about half our drive |
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| Baby teeth popping through |
I'm starting to believe that bears are mythical creatures. I have the worst luck with animals. We drove through the remainder of Alaska and didn't see ONE animal on the whole drive (other than eagles and some road kill). I may as well have been looking for unicorns, because bears DO NOT exist in Alaska. Greg has tried taking me bear searching so many different times, yet I never got to see bears when people were claiming they were all over the place. It wasn't until we were a few hours into Canada that we saw our first animal: some caribou. There were three of them and they crossed the road right in front of our car. It was pretty cool. Another time, we found another caribou that was just standing in the road, until our dogs discovered it and barked-scaring the crap out of it. They also tried barking at bison (who didn't really care) and a motorcyclist who was behind us at a red light. This sounds crazy, but one of my favorite animals we saw was in Canada. I woke up and was taking Denali out, and there were three giant rabbits eating grass out there. But they weren't brown rabbits like I see in my parents' yard, they were white with grey spots-they looked like they could be someone's pets. Giant pets. They were beautiful and so free. I loved them! We also saw some elk, deer (or antelope?) a porcupine, and a billion cows. I'm officially over red meat-those cows were so adorably sweet. I never really ate red meat before, but now I'm definitely done with it. I just wanted to gather them all together and cuddle them. I love cows.
I know I complained about not seeing bears, but we actually did see a bear! Just one for about 10 seconds and it was gone. It was awesome because it came from a really crappy situation. Ryan did really well on the trip, however he had a few moments where he freaked out. This particular time, he was screaming and we were in the middle of nowhere, Canada. There was no where to stop so G just kind of pulled over into this grassy spot on the highway. He went to go check on the dogs while I took care of Ry, and jokingly, he said, "Let me know if a bison sneaks up behind me." Well, I looked up and suddenly across the road, this small black bear walks out of the woods. I was in disbelief! (I seriously didn't think they existed) so I kept knocking on the back window to G to warn him. He finally figured out what I was saying and ran out just in time before the bear went back into the woods. If it weren't for Ryan screaming his face off, we'd never have seen the bear.
The dogs did GREAT on the trip as well. We set the back up so that our luggage was all on one side, and the dog beds were on the other. Belle enjoyed her little beds, but the boys were king of the castle and slept on top of our luggage mounds. They were all so adorable and whenever we'd walk near the truck, they would want to get back into their little apartment. They would just look out the windows at everything until their eyelids drooped and they fell asleep. Such angels.
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| The little pups cuddling in back |
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| The doggie welcome basket! |
What else do I need to update on? Let's see. We are adjusted to time! It was not fun. Ryan adjusted first, which means waking up at 5am meant waking up at 3am AK time. That got us adjusted pretty quickly. His sleep has been so off and it SUCKS. He slept so much on the drive, which was nice for us, but by the time we found a room at 9 and just wanted to lay down and pass out, he'd be up and ready to play for the night. No bueno. And now that we're around family, it seems like no one really gives a shit that he needs to sleep. "I want to see the baby." "Wake him up." "I want to play with him." That's freaking great that they all want to see our bundle of perfection, but it seems like people failed to forget that we didn't take a 6 hour flight to get here-we took a 6 day drive and we're TIRED and we really don't want to deal with a fussy baby all day long because he won't sleep. It's actually really frustrating not being on schedule and having to plan events that are either at night when he wants to sleep or during the day when he needs to nap. I'd get a sitter, but noooo... everyone wants us to bring the baby and I'm not from here! I don't have a sitter I can call. And no one cares about being quiet either when he naps. This kid gets waken up more times than I can keep track of.
It's honestly just really hard not having a place to live, no quiet rooms for Ry, and not having a place for the dogs to be happy. They LOVE my parents yard, but they are also social creatures. They're only allowed in the basement-when they're used to being able to cuddle and hang out with us all day. Denali is high anxiety and a mama's boy, so he just sits by the gate at the top of the stairs and whines when he sees me. It's heart breaking. The first night here, he woke up a couple times in the night howling. My babe. I feel so terrible. We don't have a house down in GA yet either. We literally just have our dogs, the baby, our luggage and our truck. And now that its' rainy out today, they won't get to just run around today, so I think there's going to be a lot of whining. And Cato! He's normally our good dog, but he's been acting out lately. I don't know if it's the stress of the move or he's upset that he's being kept downstairs and not getting enough attention, but he's been disobeying and destructive! When we play, he's been getting overly excited and trying to attack any toy we play with (not dog toys, but the kids' toys). He's so naughty! And he's not listening to the commands that we give, when normally he's very good about that kind of stuff.
Before I said I loved that G's and my family were so close so when we go home, we can see everyone. Now, I hate it. It sucks because we now have to see everyone. We have to find time to see both sides. By day one that we were home, our schedule was booked Fri-Wed. And this weekend is mother's day and my dad's bday. You'd think that since we drove 4100 miles to get here, people would be more than happy to accommodate their lives to our schedules, but there are some who are just being totally inconsiderate and I want to slap them in the face! If I don't see you, then I'm not going to sit here and feel awful about not squeezing you into my schedule. I feel like the people that care most about us will find a way to see us-and guess what? So far they are. There are people who I haven't talked to in months, have seen my posts on Facebook so there's really no possible way that they couldn't have known I wasn't coming to town, then last minute, try to make ME go out of MY way to try to see them. Um... no. I'm sorry, but this trip isn't going to work like that. So frustrating!
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| Took a detour to see Mt. Rushmore. |
Monday, April 20, 2015
7 1/2 Months
I suck! I haven't updated in so long!!! Things have been crazy, insane, psychotic busy. Once we (finally) got our orders, we've been in full gear trying to prep for our move to GA. Okay, that actually only accounts for 50% of my excuse. Another huge occurrence that kept me from updating was Game of Thrones Season 5 started up a couple weeks ago. That meant I not only had to catch up on season's 1, 2 and 4, but I had to finish reading book 5 so there were no spoilers. Priorities.
We move on FRIDAY!!! That's like... 4 days away. I cannot believe how quickly time is flying. Tomorrow, we have our final inspection of our unit on base so we have been cleaning, cleaning cleaning that thing. I wish I could say we were finished, but we aren't. We're waking up early to try to do final touches before our 10am inspection. Ay ay ay. We moved into temp housing yesterday (cleaning with dogs in the house is impossible) and although it's a little creepy, bland, long and creaks like a haunted house, it gives us plenty of room. Ry has his own bedroom, there are two bathrooms, a sitting room with a fridge and microwave and coffee maker, and our own bedroom. Not too bad. The pups freaked out yesterday- being in a new environment and whatnot, but today they've calmed down and they're being little angels.
Ry's been a little on the cranky side. And by little, I mean lot. Poor kid. Not only is his environment constantly changing, but my milk supply has been on the low side. I can't help it. We've been so busy that I have no time to pump/hydrate/eat "enriching" foods. This little boy uses his sweet little fingers to push my boob to try to squeeze out as much milk as he can, but my sensitive skin can barely handle it. I am mutilated. My poor lady parts are completely red and scabby. His tiny nails have even drawn blood. I'm even starting to dread having to feed him-it's like those first two weeks all over again. But I want to breast feed. I don't want to have to go to formula. I like the convenience and the bonding time and the fact that breast milk is in fact the best thing for him. I just need to figure out how to power through these next 4 months.
Ryan got the second part of his flu shot today. Surprisingly, he hasn't been nearly as grumpy as I thought he might be today. It still broke my heart. I cannot look him in the eyes until it's over, because the most devastating part is having him break out into his huge, gummy smile then immediately seeing his face drop like I allowed the pain to happen. But the second I pick his sweet little body up, he stops crying and I get to wipe the tears from his face. It's quick-thankfully.
I can't believe how fast this boy is growing! He grew again a few nights ago. I think his height is catching up. His face is looking so much less like a baby and he's thinning out (although, he's still such a chunk!) I love him. He's been in a new phase of sleep where he tends to wake up at 2am needing to be flipped cause he's stuck on his tummy. When Ry turned 3 months, he learned to roll from his tummy to his back, but after he learned to roll from back to tummy, he stopped rolling the other way. He just decided he was over it. So now, when he's on his tummy and doesn't want to be, instead of rolling over, he just fusses until someone gets him. And he's been taking 2am rolls lately. What a stinker! I love him.
There really haven't been too many updates over here other than us prepping to leave. I've been so busy attempting to just get through each and every day that I haven't had time to stop and enjoy things one last time. I really hate goodbyes, so I kind of want to just dip out and avoid it, but people aren't letting me! I had a friend tell me she wanted to get dinner with us on Friday-when I got there, ALL of my fellow base Zumba instructors were there to surprise me and say goodbye and got me gifts. It was so amazing. I got home and cried-lol! I'm such a lame-ass but I'm really going to miss them. And my wonderful students. This is the place that I got licensed to teach Zumba. This is where I quit my job and tried to go for my dream of teaching. I did Zumba with these people all throughout my pregnancy (I took my friend's Zumba class the day before my water broke). My students have bought presents for Ryan and were there for me when G deployed. They watched me get back into shape these past 7 months. This has been such a giant part of my life that I can't believe I'm leaving them all behind and having to start it all over again somewhere new with a whole new group of people. But that's our life. That's how it goes. And guess what? It just gives me the chance to meet some more amazing people to impact my life :)
Okay, as much as I need to update everyone on my life, I'm too tired to continue. I'm starting to get sick so I need to try to sleep whatever this is off before our road trip. If I don't get to update again this week, I'm going to throw it out there that we'll be driving through Canada for about a week and we'll have no internet or phone service. Don't try calling or texting me and don't get offended if I don't respond. ;) And if you never hear from me again, send the Canadians to look for us.
I may type as we road trip via Microsoft word and copy and paste into posts as we hit internet. We'll see if I have time. Next time I update, I may be in the lower 48 :) :) Here's to new experiences, adventures and a fresh start. Farewell, Alaska. This has been unforgettable. xoxoxo.
We move on FRIDAY!!! That's like... 4 days away. I cannot believe how quickly time is flying. Tomorrow, we have our final inspection of our unit on base so we have been cleaning, cleaning cleaning that thing. I wish I could say we were finished, but we aren't. We're waking up early to try to do final touches before our 10am inspection. Ay ay ay. We moved into temp housing yesterday (cleaning with dogs in the house is impossible) and although it's a little creepy, bland, long and creaks like a haunted house, it gives us plenty of room. Ry has his own bedroom, there are two bathrooms, a sitting room with a fridge and microwave and coffee maker, and our own bedroom. Not too bad. The pups freaked out yesterday- being in a new environment and whatnot, but today they've calmed down and they're being little angels.
Ry's been a little on the cranky side. And by little, I mean lot. Poor kid. Not only is his environment constantly changing, but my milk supply has been on the low side. I can't help it. We've been so busy that I have no time to pump/hydrate/eat "enriching" foods. This little boy uses his sweet little fingers to push my boob to try to squeeze out as much milk as he can, but my sensitive skin can barely handle it. I am mutilated. My poor lady parts are completely red and scabby. His tiny nails have even drawn blood. I'm even starting to dread having to feed him-it's like those first two weeks all over again. But I want to breast feed. I don't want to have to go to formula. I like the convenience and the bonding time and the fact that breast milk is in fact the best thing for him. I just need to figure out how to power through these next 4 months.
Ryan got the second part of his flu shot today. Surprisingly, he hasn't been nearly as grumpy as I thought he might be today. It still broke my heart. I cannot look him in the eyes until it's over, because the most devastating part is having him break out into his huge, gummy smile then immediately seeing his face drop like I allowed the pain to happen. But the second I pick his sweet little body up, he stops crying and I get to wipe the tears from his face. It's quick-thankfully.
I can't believe how fast this boy is growing! He grew again a few nights ago. I think his height is catching up. His face is looking so much less like a baby and he's thinning out (although, he's still such a chunk!) I love him. He's been in a new phase of sleep where he tends to wake up at 2am needing to be flipped cause he's stuck on his tummy. When Ry turned 3 months, he learned to roll from his tummy to his back, but after he learned to roll from back to tummy, he stopped rolling the other way. He just decided he was over it. So now, when he's on his tummy and doesn't want to be, instead of rolling over, he just fusses until someone gets him. And he's been taking 2am rolls lately. What a stinker! I love him.
There really haven't been too many updates over here other than us prepping to leave. I've been so busy attempting to just get through each and every day that I haven't had time to stop and enjoy things one last time. I really hate goodbyes, so I kind of want to just dip out and avoid it, but people aren't letting me! I had a friend tell me she wanted to get dinner with us on Friday-when I got there, ALL of my fellow base Zumba instructors were there to surprise me and say goodbye and got me gifts. It was so amazing. I got home and cried-lol! I'm such a lame-ass but I'm really going to miss them. And my wonderful students. This is the place that I got licensed to teach Zumba. This is where I quit my job and tried to go for my dream of teaching. I did Zumba with these people all throughout my pregnancy (I took my friend's Zumba class the day before my water broke). My students have bought presents for Ryan and were there for me when G deployed. They watched me get back into shape these past 7 months. This has been such a giant part of my life that I can't believe I'm leaving them all behind and having to start it all over again somewhere new with a whole new group of people. But that's our life. That's how it goes. And guess what? It just gives me the chance to meet some more amazing people to impact my life :)
Okay, as much as I need to update everyone on my life, I'm too tired to continue. I'm starting to get sick so I need to try to sleep whatever this is off before our road trip. If I don't get to update again this week, I'm going to throw it out there that we'll be driving through Canada for about a week and we'll have no internet or phone service. Don't try calling or texting me and don't get offended if I don't respond. ;) And if you never hear from me again, send the Canadians to look for us.
I may type as we road trip via Microsoft word and copy and paste into posts as we hit internet. We'll see if I have time. Next time I update, I may be in the lower 48 :) :) Here's to new experiences, adventures and a fresh start. Farewell, Alaska. This has been unforgettable. xoxoxo.
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