Who Needs Sleep?

The Baby does! The Baby does! This is what happens when you try to climb out of your crib, but are too tired to stay awake.. You end up half slumped up kind-of backwards and awkwardly grasping the rail....

We still need to lower that mattress a bit..

Let the mobilization BEGIN!!!

No, I'm not talking about any military actions or strikes.. I'm talking about the baby!! He IS MOBILE!!!! In the past few days he has learned more than I can imagine!! He has decided to smack things away from him when he doesn't want them, even throwing a tantrum to keep things away from him. He went from a pathetic backwards scootch to a very slow army crawl/creep to fully crawling with tummy off of the ground to pulling himself to standing.. when Daddy was home, he was only beginning to crawl with tummy up. Since Daddy left, though he has become a lean mean crawling machine!! I don't mind his newfound mobility, except that it means I have to really pay attention. He definitely cannot be left alone in a room AT ALL because he is a stinker and gets into things. As for pulling himself up on things.. I was a bit excited about that as well... until....

Yes.. The terd decided the same day that he learned to pull himself up.. That he was going to try to escape from his crib at bedtime.. Now.. normally I put him to bed and he cries for a few minutes.. The other night it WAS NOT STOPPING!! So I checked on him and this is what I found... The reason why he hadn't fallen asleep in the middle of the crying is because he was STANDING UP!!! He was using the crib bumper pad as a step and trying to launch himself out. Needless to say one project we need to take care of this week is lowering the crib mattress so that he can't do that. My little man is growing up WAAY TOO FAST!!! He has only been around for 7 months, and he is only a few short steps away from walking!! (he does pretty well if we help him out.. and he tries, but falls every time at this point...)

In other news.. Well, I can't tell you!!! I have great great great news.. BUT alas.. As I learned in my anti-terrorism training today.. I already tell you freaks and weirdos way too much about what is going on in our lives... So... IF I know you... then you can post a comment, and I'll email you my super duper wonderful fanatbulous news!! But.. then, if you know anything about the military, you might have a clue as to what it is anyways! ;)

Unfairness, Sickness and other fun things that are life

My husband said.. "It's not fair. I just got here." I agree. He just got here and now he's gone again. We had a great time while he was here. My sister's wedding went really well. It was an absolute blast. She looked sooo beautiful. I hope the pictures the photographer took came out as well as everything looked in person. I hope that we got a few good pics of the two of us. Our weekend was really not long enough... By the time we got through with family obligations, and the wedding there were really only a few hours for the three of us, and really it seemed minutes for just the two of us. Monday was our only day as a family. We spent it well. We had a fairly "normal" day in the life of the baby and I.. only Dad was around to witness it. We got up, went back to napping, went to swimming lessons, ran some errands, etc. Daddy got to witness something first! Normally you would think that since I am around all of the time that I would see all of his firsts.. Daddy watched the baby go from sitting to crawling and THEN back to sitting again. That is a new development. He saw it twice before I did. So at least he got to witness a first when it really was a first.

The other first he got to be around for was the first illness. The baby got some baby crud virus over the weekend and has had a fever for quite a while. Apparently herpangina.. Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. Something I didn't know much about. I have gone over and over in my head where he could have gotten it.. I am guessing it was either at the gym daycare on Friday, or from one of the billions of public places and things he has been at and touched. Grocery carts, restaurant tables and high chairs... The doctor says no matter what you do they are bound to get it at some point. He has had a fever since Monday after swimming lessons. We are giving him a mix of benadryl and maalox to ease the pain from the sores that have grown in the back of his mouth. He hasn't eaten much, but is still thirsty and likes to nurse. Soo, hopefully soon he will be healthy and back to his happier self. I did ask the doctor, because "herp" is in the name if it is related to herpes or anything like that (since I get cold sores and have had one recently) and she confirmed that it was NOT related and it wasn't anything I gave to him. I was very relieved to hear that because I would fee horrible forever if I passed that piece of me on to my son so early.

The husband should be landing any moment now. I miss him terribly already. Just thinking about him being gone again makes me feel sick. That actually also relieves me a bit. Yesterday as I was dropping him off at the airport we discussed how "easy" it had become to just dump him off at the airport/base/ship/wherever without batting an eyelash. After he said that I felt guilty for not feeling sad enough that he was leaving. I wonder... is it a bad thing that we are getting used to being separated? We are going to have to learn how to live with each other again once we get to California. Except now we have another whole person living with us, so it will be different. We have to learn how to be parents together. Usually I just have to give up some control over household things, and he has to re-learn how talk to someone who isn't giving or recieving orders. This time we'll have a whole new lesson to deal with. Sometimes I wonder if we'll survive it. We should, after all we have survived four moves, three states, two six month deployments and one year of separation.

It is very irritating...

...that I have to wait an extra 26 hours for my husband to be home!! Some issue with some plane.. GRRRR!!! I was supposed to pick him up at 1PM on WEDNESDAY... then it changed to 6PM on WEDNESDAY... Then they made it Thursday... BOOOOO HISSSSSSSSSS... I should just be happy he's still coming back.. For a while there was some discussion as to whether it was worth it or if he should have his leave delayed.

Oh well. I think I'll call the in-laws tomorrow. I still owe my mother-in-law her Mother's Day stuff and we didn't go out today... Perhaps I'll offer to bring them dinner even??

Well, I'm off to bed.. I was supposed to be not sleeping right now because I was too excited about picking up my husband... Now I'm just too ticked off... Oh.. If I ever say "DH" that means Dear Husband... silly me!

This started out as a short update....

For those of you who are wondering where I've been. I've been in "weddingland." That's what I'm calling it... Bachellorette Parties (pictures to come on flickr.. fun!), planning, tying literally hundreds of bows, etc. The little man has been good lately. Sleeping is still an issue. I assume it will remain one until he's in his own apartment/college dorm? This next week should prove to be very busy. Swimming lessons, typical dinner with the in-laws, dress pickups, husband pick up (yay!!), family photos, Wedding Rehearsals, Weddings, etc. And then it will be time to drop off the husband at the airport (boo!!)

Update on the kid: We had his 6 month appointment last week. He is 21 lbs 10 oz, he's grown almost two inches, and he's got FOUR teeth ready to emerge. I guess that explains his most recent cranky spell. Or perhaps he's just trying to keep me on my toes. He said "mama" the other day. CLEAR AS DAY. He was trying to get my attention, but wasn't really saying anything, then out of the blue.. he said Mama, It was so sweet. I'm not sure he meant it, but still.. It was nice to hear it. So so cute. He is crawling/creeping all over the place. We really need to start baby proofing things and get a baby gate. For now, I just pay close attention to him. His new favorite toys are a dog bowl, a mixing spoon, and two cardboard ribbon spools (minus the ribbon). I almost forgot about the plastic Easter egg. He seems to like playing with that as well.

In my photography world, I haven't had much time for photographs. I have taken some new ones, and they'll be posted soon. BUT I must say that I am very proud of one photograph. The banner at the top of this page was taken by me! Yes. I took it, cropped it and added it. I have to come look at my page every once in a while just to see it. I am still looking for a good digital SLR Camera... But I don't want to spend too much more than 1000 dollars after everything is said and done.. So it won't happen for a while.

Mother's Day was great. I got a card (and a gift, which has yet to show up at the house.. Not his fault, he ordered it mid-April) from my husband. My son (with a bit of help from my mom) got me a Boyd's bear figurine which I LOVE.. A mom holding her baby boy. And my mother-in-law bought me two pairs of capris, a shirt and a dress... Well, she provided the funding along with a GREAT coupon I had! It was a very very happy shopping day. I got into a size 4 very comfortably, which I honestly thought I'd never see again. I just hope that once I'm done nursing I STAY in that size? This is the second time that has happened, though. The first time I thought it was a fluke. Guess not so much? I made cute little pots (I hope my mother-in-law isn't reading this!! -- I haven't seen her to give her the gift yet) with the grandkids for the moms. I spent Saturday running around which included going over to my brother's house to paint the pot. The kids painted flowers and then I applied paint to their little fingers or toes and we turned their prints into ladybugs. We did this in my preschool class and they turned out so cute! I made a similar one for my mother-in-law which includes a couple of caterpillar toe prints (my favorite!), and one for my sister (the godmother). While we were out we also ran into Happy D. Klown and the manager of the Osco (CVS) store gave me a free Mother's Day balloon. We got my mom a really nice reclining lounge chair for the lake/to read in at home. I think she likes it a lot. She is afraid to put it outside for fear it will be ruined.. So I guess that is good. For the Mother-in-law, well, you'll have to wait. I can ruin the cute gift, but not the one I bought!

I have rambled on long enough. I won't be updating again for a few days... unless I am unable to sleep the next few nights because I'm too excited about the husband's visit!!

Cinco de Cuatro?

So... There has been a LOT of wedding drama. I don't know if I blogged about it at all, but to make a long story short. I am now the matron of honor, and the maid of honor and best man are no longer in my sisters wedding. It has been a horrible couple of days for her... My mom and I had already planned on getting Chipolte and having margaritas tonight as an early Cinco de Mayo celebration... Which, I mistakenly called.. "cinco de cuatro" not once, but twice.. Then my mom accidentally called today cinco de cuatro.. So.. "CINCO DE CUATRO" it was.. It really isn't funny... But after you have a few margaritas it gets funnier.. Since we had planned it anyway we invited my sis and her fiance over to join us. It was awesome. Everyone was relaxed. Even the little man had a good time until we had to put him to bed. We had a great time tying up some of the whole "wedding planning" loose ends that needed to be done...

We also went to the zoo today... We had a blast.. My mom, the monster, my sister-in-law and three of hers came. It was great watching the kids run around and look at the animals. I was surprised at how small the Lincoln Zoo seemed. I swear it was larger when I was a kid... But then, everything is larger when you are a kid.. However, for a trip that included four children and three of them being aged two and under, it was perfect. We fed the goats, and the Camels. The camels were too cute. The best part of the trip was the fact that the oldest of the three there responded to everything with "I know." So at one point, my sister-in-law asked him what the water trough was in the camel pen. He said.. "I don't know." But then changed his mind. He did know. HE knows everything. THAT was the camels' bathtub. (see photo above) Two hours was all it took to see everything. Anything longer would have been too much for the kids... As it was my monster crashed by the time we left. Here's a pic of all of us... The monster was clingy so I had to hold him, otherwise it would just be the 'grandkids.' I think we are planning on doing it again...