These people…

All day at work, people kept asking if I was heading home for Thanksgiving. Obviously not, it was 5 o’clock on Wednesday. If I was heading home, I’d have left a day ago! Then they would throw in the “ooo, thats too bad.” Really? Are not 95% of you military?! Don’t you realize that not everyone is from North or South Carolina? It really boggled my mind for most of the afternoon that people kept bring this up. Sure, I was a little sad that I won’t be playing in the snow with the rest of the family while my grandma makes the most amazing turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy but I knew moving out here would mean missing things like Thanksgiving, Christmas or Birthday more often than not. It seriously wasn’t until 4:30 today that I was a teeny tiny bit sad about missing my family. 

Now, before you go thinking I’m heartless and yada, yada, yada, know that I do have plans for tomorrow. Conor has to sleep most of the day away so I’ve been really hyping up with Christmas Tree that we will be setting up in the morning. I plan on filling my house with Christmas magic for most of the day before heading over to Nora’s house for a fabulous feast. I’m bring the pies! This is my 3rd Thanksgiving in SC and the past 2 years I’ve cooked for friends. I have wonderful memories from each of them and know I’ll have more tomorrow!!

When we joined the military, the best advice I received was to make good friends so you feel at home where ever you are. I’ve definitely done that. These ladies are my sisters. I know I’ll be having Thanksgiving with family tomorrow, even if we don’t share the same last name.

This just happened…

Ethan has been asleep for about 2 hours when I hear him whine. I go back there to see what’s wrong. I walk into the room to see Lucy laying in Ethan’s bed.*

Me: “What’s wrong Buby?

Ethan, with his eyes closed: “Its okay Mommy, I just didn’t want her to lay on my face”

Me: “She laid on your face?!”

Ethan: “I rolled like this (he turns to his side) and Lucy was on my face. Its okay, we’re** going back to sleep now.”

That was that. He rolled back over (the other way as to not roll into the dog), closed his eyes and went back to sleep. 

*Conor would kill me if knew Ethan had the dog in his bed, EVEN THOUGH I’m pretty sure Sweetie slept with him. (no, he doesn’t look at my blog unless I direct him to it)

**I’m calling the vet tomorrow to make sure we do everything in our power to have the dogs qualify for a 5 day quarantine if we get Guam. If I’m going to change everything in his little world, I’ll do everything that I can to make sure his 2 best buds will be with him.

Happy Halloween!

I had an entire post written with pictures and its all gone once I hit publish.  

So frustrating.

I’ll try again tomorrow.

Blood, Blood and MORE blood!

It all started Friday morning. Ethan was sitting on the dining room chair, working on a fun puzzle he’s currently obsessed with. I was chatting on the phone and unloading the dishwasher in the kitchen when I heard a BAM, Whack, and nothing. No instant scream, I turned the corner to see Ethan taking one of those deep breathes before the loudest scream ever comes out. As soon as he let out the scream and I had picked him up, I realized this was NOT ok. I hung up the phone and ran him to the sink. Blood was pouring out and then I noticed his poor teeth were THROUGH his lip. I pulled his lip up to get his teeth unstuck (*gag) and grabbed some towels. I tried calling a neighbor since I knew we needed to go somewhere since his teeth went all the way through and thought someone might need to drive us while I held his lip. 

It seemed like forever but Conor got home (he has been getting home at 9:15am all week) and was able to calm Ethan down so I could at least hear the nurse telling me where to go. We got Ethan loaded into the car, the bleeding had slowed, and I drove to the urgent care. I’m skipping the nasty story involving a peppermint but you can call me if you REALLY want those details, lol! It took 3 nurses and the doctor but they were able to glue (the new stitches) his lip back together. They put him on an antibiotic since the mouth is such a germy place, especially with toddlers! We even made it to work/school only an hour late! 

After school, we went to Ethan’s buddy’s house. After a few hours of playing gently, we heading home, happy Ethan hadn’t bumped his face anymore. On the way to the jeep, what happened? Ethan trips over  crack in the driveway and busts up his knee! It was awful. Of course, he couldn’t just open a previously existing knee scab, he had to make a huge new gash on the top part of his knee. And, in perfect Ethan style, it was the more dramatic episode ever! 

Once he went to bed, I was definitely relieved my baby was safe in his cushioned room. Until 2 (remember Conor was working 8pm-8am when this happened) when Ethan woke me  up telling me his lip was bleeding. I sat straight up, assuming his had opened the wound. Nope! The poor kid had chewed his swollen lip open in his sleep. It was awful, I gave him more motrin and rubbed his back til he crashed again. THankfully, when he woke up the swelling was down and a few more more doses of motrin, he was back to his crazy self again!

As if that wasn’t enough blood, Sunday afternoon, Milo and Lucy were playing around when they got snappy. (Pretty typical for them) I didn’t think anything of it until I got up to get Ethan something to drink when I noticed blood EVERYWHERE. I screamed for Conor, who had JUST laid down, who cleaned up the blood while I figured out it was Milo’s back leg gushing blood. Milo’s blood doesn’t clot quickly so I was just praying it would stop without a trip to the vet! Thankfully, applying pressure for several minutes, stopped the blood.

Hopefully no one bleeds in this household for a VERY long time!

Homeschool, Houseschool

I’m a teacher. I love to teach and I’m not lying when I say my very favorite thing in life is watching something “click” with a child. I love the moment when they “get it”. I love to teach kids (2nd grade is my favorite) and so naturally, teaching Ethan is fantastic. When I got to stay at home with him and nanny with him, I taught him TONS of things. We went out to explore constantly! Now that I am working those opportunities are limited. I typically work 10-6 and the evening I’m making dinner, laundry or laying on the couch exhausted!! I felt like I was gipping my baby boy because I HAD to work. At first it was a serious struggle balancing work and home. I remember texting my friend “I just abandoned my baby.” I struggle not only because its hard to balance and exhausting  but because the control freak in my wasn’t in charge of his learning. 

I’ve always been the parent with flashcards, using teaching supplies to make new games with Ethan, coloring and overall being crafty. I had been talking with Conor and since we both know I HAVE to work and Conor feels strongly against homeschooling, I’ve felt a little stuck. I was talking to my friend and she mentioned his cousin supplements education. She sends her kids to school but when they come home, she has a little bit more that challenges them. I love this idea of still having a say in a topic to devulge in at home or even just knowing where my child is when we move. Not everywhere we move will have the same standards and some places we move could have awful school systems. I can do more or less to help Ethan (and future babies!) stay on track with where Conor and I want him to be! 

Obviously Ethan is only in a preschool/tot school program. His school is fabulous for learning through exploring. They have dramatic play, all kinds of blocks, science and tons of art! He is starting to make friends there and his best friend Gryph started there a few weeks ago too. I love that he is doing all that but the room he is in doesn’t do letter or number identification, etc. I know my little man is ready and interested for letters and numbers. He is improving his scissor and glue skills and is always up for a challenge. 

I started clicking and clicking online until I came across Confessions of a Homeschooler and her fabulous Letter of the Week Curriculum. It was only $10 and I just print what I want/need as I want/need it. We focus our “Houseschool” as Ethan has been calling it, on about 20 minutes of activity. We started with “his” letter, E. I’m doing to start with the letters in his name and then going in order from a book I have from college. 

Here is some of what we did this week. 

(I’ll post more pictures later, WP won’t let me post them tonight =( )

Its been forever…or like 4 months!

Lots has changed! 

Conor was sick and now mostly healthy and 1/2 done with Prototype. We should find out our orders my mid December. He works crazy shifts and we basically see him 2 weeks, don’t see him 2 weeks. I’m glad this part of time is going fast!

I got a job at the child development center. I am a lead teacher in the pretoddler (1-2 year olds) room. We are still trying to get pregnant, hoping and praying it happens before we get out to sea!

Ethan is totally potty trained and loving going to school! It only took 3 months for him to finally make a friend who he actually plays with in his room. I love that I can watch him play and check in on him all the time =)

We also got another puppy, Lucy. She is “Ethan’s dog” and a corgi/spitz mix. Beautiful dog who doesn’t need to be on a leash. As she gets closer and closer to one, she is getting better at being potty trained and chewing on things that aren’t hers. (The chair, the table, my clothes, sippy cups, etc) 

I’m hoping to blog more seeing as how I love to keep a record of things PLUS the next couple months will be bring lots of change and I love keeping people updated!

Right now

Right now the house is clean. The diapers are hanging, the floor is cleared and the dogs are sleeping. The dishwasher is running, Ethan is snoring and the laundry baskets are EMPTY. Conor is watching a movie in our room, (probably sleeping, who are we kidding) the cars are picked up and the sink is cleaned.

The house is still.

Such a change from 2 hours ago. Two hours ago, Ethan was screaming, the dogs were barking, dishes were overflowing onto the counter and it was impossible to take 3 steps without slipping on a car or dog bone. The diapers had been sitting in the washer so long they needed to be rewashed and my bread dough had been rising for  who knows how long.

The house was far from still.

I don’t know which way I like the house better. All day I try to keep it clean or make it clean but I really don’t know why. The mess is evidence of the fun we’ve had today. The kitchen was a disaster because I was teaching Ethan how to knead bread. The cars were everywhere because Ethan raced and had a parade with them. The dogs were crazy because thats just how they are after we went for a walk…which Conor got to go on tonight…because he is home!

Right now, however, I will soak up my still, clean house and brace myself for the fun/chaos/mess that tomorrow will bring.

Tonight

Tonight I had a moment out of a book.
The ‘I’ll love you forever’ book.
One of my favorite.

Ethan fell out of bed a while ago so I went in to tuck him back in. He looked confused so I ask him if he wanted me to rock him. He didn’t really respond so I picked my 33 lb baby with his blankies and we rocked. We rocked and we rocked and we rocked. His eyes quickly shut but I just kept rocking.
I didn’t want to stop; my mind was flooding with memories of this exact situation. Me rocking my baby boy. The very first day he came home from the hospital kept running through my mind. Our itty bitty apartment was filled to the brim with people so excited to see Ethan at home. He needed to eat so our tiny family snuck off to Ethans room/office/storage room (it was a small apartment!) to nurse him.
He ate and then I wrapped him in his blankie and we rocked. We rocked and we rocked and we rocked. I couldn’t stop staring at my 7 lb 6 oz baby boy.
My heart was flooded with all the times I rocked Ethan and his blankies while we nursed, when he was sick or just because he wanted 12 stories before bed.
I know that all too soon I won’t be rocking him so I will rock him while I can and take the moments in, trying not to get too emotional about it all! It was a very special night for me tonight, I know I will sleep well, even if I have to rock him 4 more times tonight!

Edited to add: We all slept til 8! That little bit of rocking must have helped everyone!

Courage

I’m attempting to participate in the Momalom Five for Ten Event and the first topic of the five is titled “Courage.”

Hmmm,I could write about the time I moved across the country to a state I’d never visited or when I moved to Nebraska for college when 98% of my high school stayed in Iowa. I would write about the time in 7th grade when my little brother got dishwasher soap in his eyes and I almost called 911 and I freaked out but still took control of the situation because I was babysitting. (Wow, even writing that I got tense.)

Instead, I am choosing to write about something scary. I had to step up, take a breathe and do what I had to do in the moment I needed to. What was this courageous, turning point in my life?

Taking my sons rectal temperature.

Yep, it was scary and nerve-racking. My grandma talked me through every moment of it. But I did it.

See, Ethan was only 20 or days old and he was feeling warm. I was certain he had RSV or pneumonia or something deadly .(even though he had never even coughed.) So in new, frantic mother fashion, I called my grandma crying. I was worried and my mom wasn’t answering. I opened the brand new thermometer and fancy rectal tips. I turned it on, took off his diaper and just shook. I didn’t want to hurt my baby boy. My grandma assured me he would be fine so I pulled back his legs and went in. Poor kid, screamed like I was killing him. I cried too. We were both one big puddle until I heard that “beep, beep!” I looked down, expecting to see 103.4 or some other awful number.

I knew I had achieved a new courage badge on my mommy vest when the whole rectal thermometer episode ended with a healthy 98.7 degrees.

Recycling

I had a really random thought Wednesday when we were taking our garbage out. Conor opened the trash can and informed me there was only one bag in it. I then looked down my street and 3 of the houses had cans outside their house with so much trash the can couldn’t close. I would call this normal for our street and I noticed it even more as I drove down the street. I was pretty grossed out at how much trash people had outside of their house, especially since a 3 person home is the biggest on my street right now. I know some weeks are party weeks, etc but bulging trash cans are not uncommon here EVERY WEEK!

I was mentioned it to some of my neighbors/friends who all said they wished we had recycling. I reminded them we have a recycling bin on base but you just have to drop it off. Then I got this response. “Well, if someone wants me to recycle then they should bring a truck to me. I shouldn’t have to take my recyclables somewhere.”

Really?

You go out every week, drive your car and buy things. Things with packaging. Most of the packaging is recyclable. So if you can go drive to buy the waste, you don’t think it is hard to drive  .5 miles to drop your stuff off that would half your waste? The laziness infuriates me! Everyday so much is wasted that is easily recycled. I’m not crazy who insisted that we recycle when out and take my recyclables home from friends house but I am home more often than not. So at home, we recycle.

There. I feel better now that I’ve gotten that off my chest!