Good Friends

For the past day or so I've just been struck with the blessing of good friends. Ever since Ryan left on Thursday its just been one thing (or person) after another - doing something big or little - that has continually lifted my spirits and given me a little boost. I've been mulling over how to write this post without it seeming like an attempt to be boastful or showy because really I just want to rejoice in the blessings of the past few days. So, I hope that will come across in how I communicate what I'm feeling.

Where to start . . . on Thursday my friend Troy made a special effort to spend time with me that really was just the relaxation and break I needed at that moment. All day long I was sent words of encouragement and love via email and facebook from dear friends who wanted me to know they were thinking of me. The best had to have been from my friend Sarah who told me to let her know when I needed her to make a Manzanillo delivery to my house. She's a true friend to know how much I love my mexican food and how much I was worried about how to get a fix while Ryan is gone.

On Friday we were treated to a nice pizza dinner at the Remick home and Troy's sister Tarrah was there to constantly lend a hand and keep the pandemonium to a minimum. It was such a nice evening.

On Saturday in the midst of the craziness of soccer pictures my friends Amanda and Stephanie were there to help me herd my kids this way and that. After the pictures we all met at the park and just the few minutes of their company was so nice. Plus I didn't have to lug three kids into the disgusting bathroom when Ainsley decided she had to go potty. Not to mention Amanda's husband Bill who sweetly took Reid up on the playground for me a few times.

Yesterday at church I was surrounded by those looking to give me a hand or a hug. My very pregnant friend Kacy was asking ME if I needed anything on her way home after a long morning. Megan came back to sit with me to help me keep a handle on Jake and Ainsley during the service and Carol and Steve stayed up a few rows to watch her kids so she could help with mine.

And last night I was able to spend some great time having dinner with my friend Kristen. It was so nice to have her company but what was nicest of all was that when my children absolutely all fell to pieces at the exact same moment I didn't have to be embarrassed in front of her. Because she is that kind of friend.

So last night as I dragged myself into bed absolutely exhausted, my spirit was lifted by the blessing of many friends.

What a Day!

Normally when Ryan is gone I HATE Saturdays. With all caps cuz that is how much I hate them. But today has been a really great day and I can't say enough how grateful I am for this blessing. The weather is absolutely beautiful outside - warm, breezy and the sun is peaking through just often enough to keep me happy! And beautiful weather means outside adventures which are just balm for the soul - for all the souls big and little that reside in the home. We played outside, rode bikes and went for an adventure down to the pond to throw rocks. Then we pretended we were Backyardigan spies and looked into the windows of a new construction house that was just finished.

This morning before all that fun began the kids made there own fun in the playroom. Their newest trick is to convert the train table into a slide. It is endless entertainment for everyone. I'm not sure how long the piece of plywood will hold up to their weight but it is SO worth a trip to home depot for a new piece if this one doesn't make it because they so enjoy their new slide. Here are a couple of pictures of this mornings fun:

Its a shame I didn't take these pics yesterday morning because everyone had on matching pj's and they looked so cute and coordinated. Ryan usually dresses them after bath and he does a wonderful job except that he has absolutely no regard for pj coordination. Its somewhat of an abomination.

So, that's kind of whats going on around here these days. As long as the weather is nice I feel like my outlook on this deployment will be sunny. But I know the weather won't hold so . . . I'll just do my best to make it warm and sunny inside. Lot's of great friends to walk alongside during this time and I'll never stop being grateful for the blessing of friendship!

Oh Ainsley!

I often used to tell people that even though my kids were crazy, rough and tumble, we'd never yet had a visit to the Emergency Center and that meant something. Well, I can now no longer say that . . . for as I always knew would be the case, Ainsley broke our streak.

On Wednesday night Ainsley and Jake were upstairs watching a movie while we were downstairs beginning our study with our Community Group. Every now and then we'd hear some playing or rough-housing but in general things were good. Then all of the sudden I hear a big crash and Ainsley start to wail. Well, Ainsley wailing is nothin' new to be honest with ya but I thought it was time for them to hit the sack anyway so I came up to check and then put them in bed. As I'm walking up the stairs I can hear Jake apologizing profusely and by the time I arrived Ainsley was sucking her thumb and no longer crying - she gotten engrossed in the movie again already. But as I walked up I see blood running down her face from a pretty big gash in her forehead. I picked her up and ran downstairs to Ryan where we applied some pressure until the bleeding slowed and then took a group consensus and decided she needed to be seen. So off Ainsley and I head to the urgent care centered followed by our good friend and pastor Richard (Ryan was going to stay home with Jake and Reid in case we were there a long time). When we got there the wait wasn't too bad and Ainsley was really in pretty good spirits but when we peeled off the bandage I'd stuck on we could see that this was truly a deep and pretty significant cut. The doctor concurred and told us it would need stitches (crap!!! I'd really been hoping they could just glue it) and they produced the papoose - which is the closest thing we have to a torture device in modern day society. If you know my Ainsley at all you know she did not like the papoose one bit even though we made sure to strap lovie into her little hand. The stitch procedure was long and horrific and I won't go into the details other than that it made more than one person in that room queasy and light headed. In the end it took one deep stitch and 5 on top to cover it all over. We rewarded her at the end with Dora stickers and a lollipop which Ainsley felt were a mere pittance for what she'd been through but accepted them anyway. I asked the staff if she was the loudest patient of the day and the just laughed. And then said, "oh yeah". Hmm, maybe she was the loudest patient so far this year. Its hard to imagine a more powerful set of lungs than Ainsley's and she screamed from start to finish with brief breaks when I could think of a song to sing. But as soon as I'd take a breath she'd scream again which was totally distracting to my train of thought.

The next morning when I had to change her bandage Jake took one look and took off for downstairs crying. Maybe the guilt was setting in? Turns out that as best we can tell they were running around and Jake pushed Ainsley and she fell and hit her head on the corner of the TV stand. At least that is the current story and, so far, Jake is stickin' to it.

Looks like the little princess is going to be ok although I might be tempted to finally cut some bangs on her while the scar heals. Meanwhile she can tell people she is related to Harry Potter.

It's Monday

Wow, what an original title to this blog post. Clearly this post is going to be inspired. I swear, if I spent half as much time actually blogging as I did stressing about what to blog, or the fact that I haven't blogged in forever or whatever . . . then this blog would be on a roll. But its not. I think the main problem is that I don't want this to be a blog where I share with you what errands I ran that day or the latest sick list around here. I want it to be creative and funny and cool and lately I am none of those things and so the blog has been dormant. Ooh, maybe it needs to go into hibernation. I wish I could go into hibernation lately. Especially with Ryan's departure drawing closer and closer - I just want to crawl in a hole or hide my head in the sand or something because I am absolutely dreading it.
This weekend was so nice but cold! We drove down to Nashville on Saturday and as we were leaving the mall I was thinking how nice it felt outside! I mentally started to make plans for what I'd do when we got home - vac the van out, sweep the garage - stuff that I hate to do when its freezing. Our car said it was 59 degrees as we were pulling out of the Cool Springs Galleria. Well, over the next 40 minutes I watched that temperature gage drop 20 degrees!!! By the time we pulled into our driveway it was 39 degrees with freezing rain that eventually turned into snow. Not cool. The only thing that was cool was how awesome my husband is. I have this total fascination with crazy weather so every time the gage would drop another degree I'd get all excited and he was totally making fun of me but laughing with me at the same time. We were laughing so hard I was hurting trying not to wake up Reid who was dozing peacefully in the back seat.
On the pregnancy front the nausea is much better which is good - although it also means my jeans won't fit for too many more weeks as I'm sure my ass expansion is imminent. I ate some dessert last night watching the Oscars with Ryan and it still didn't taste that great but I did it for the comraderie and the experience. Isn't that stupid? I'm just tired of being left out of the good dessertness. I just hope this and my disdain for coffee will pass. I shudder to think of life without a desire for dessert or coffee. Some may see it as a blessing but I see it as a life less worth living.
Well, gotta go fetch Reid from his nap. I'm dragging him to Wal-mart for the umpteenth time as my latest craving is commanding me to make more Chicken tortilla soup . . .

Knocked Up

So the word on the street is that I am, yet again, knocked up. Well, the word is true and we are thrilled. I almost said we "couldn't be happier" but that would be a lie because I feel pretty crappy and therefore without the crappy I would be happier. But I guess if I was just talking about adding another kiddo then I could use the term "couldn't be happier" and I wouldn't be lying. Hmmm, what to do, what to do.
I think what I should do is move onto another paragraph before you get any more confused by my rambling. I have been incredibly blessed through my 3 previous pregnancies that they were basically easy with few problems. I'd feel a little queasy here or there and certainly tired but never something that really slowed me down. Well this little egg/sperm combo has knocked me out like a kung fu fighter and I still don't know which way is up. Pretty much every single food disgusts me. I cry when I have to come up with meals for my family because it involves thinking about food. I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. And I'm a smidge more emotional than usual. On the positive side my complexion hasn't completely exploded (yet) and I've gained nary a pound. Usually I bulk up a hefty 10 pounds or so in the first trimester because all I can think about is cheese and new and exciting ways to consume it. This time Ryan has become my personal shopper - making countless trips to the store to get whatever I think I can stomach. One weekend it was Won-Ton soup. The next it was french bread with mozzarella cheese. Another time it was a Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuit. That guy is a trooper.
Well, I feel myself dozing off so I guess that is a good sign its time to wrap up this post.

A little rant a little rave

When I say rave I mean it in the positive sense so I'll start there. I just got an email that THESE are finally on the way to my home.

Well, obviously not all of them but the pewter pair in the bottom left. I ordered them forever ago and they were backordered but its ok because I got them for a STEAL and I've been in love with them my whole life. Ok, not really. But as long as a I've known a certain friend (ahem) who turned me on to Garnet Hill and many other wonderful delights that grace my mailbox. Who knew how wonderful catalogs could be? And, of course, the thrill when Mr. UPS man delivers them. Gives me shivers.

A little rant because our computers are all dying on us and its ugly. I hate when technology goes bad. Its just SO much work to change over to new computers and while some find that kind of work rewarding I do NOT. I find it annoying and consuming of time I'd rather spend doing something else. I am so over PC's. Our next computer is going to be a Mac and I'm excited to give it a try. I'm praying it doesn't let me down.

Little more rave. Ainsley had her parent teacher conference today and she is pretty much the only kid who can do all her colors and shapes. I am so proud. After constantly being the parent of the kids who are behind its so nice to finally have a great report. Its mostly due to speech therapy that she is such a superstar on it so I can't take credit but still . . . the kid knew "rectangle" when she was 2 and darnit that makes me proud. I won't go into some of the other parts of the conference, ahem. Let's just say NONE of it was a surprise :) I was telling Ryan about it and he said he was pretty sure she was the only kid in the 2's class who could completely decleet (its a soccer term, think about it and you'll get it) someone twice her size with her two armed shove. I haven't had Jake's conference yet but his teacher told me I was going to be "very happy" the day she did his testing!

Little more rant. The Army opens early, right? I mean - formation is at o' dark hundred and the day just runs on from there. It opens early and then it ends a little early (usually). So WHY do the clinics at the hospital there not start answering their phones until 8:30? I don't get it! Its called Blanchfield ARMY Community Hospital, right? I don't care when they go home I just want their butts in gear when I want them in gear. But don't take this rant as a rant against Army medicine in general because I could go on a rant against THAT on its own. I'm proud that my husband is part of the Army medical community. I'm proud of my many friends who are also medical providers in the Army. They are wonderful providers and wonderful people and my negative experiences are so few and far between I don't even remember them because there are SO many good experiences. So when people just dismiss Army medicine on principle or make a snooty comment about how they "go off-post" with disdain in their voice it makes my blood boil.

OK, I guess I need to end with another rave so I don't seem like a bitter, ugly woman. Hmmm, thinking, thinking. I just ate buttered noodles and they were good. That was weak. Oh well.

My sweet Baby Reid

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday Dear Sweet Baby Reid

Happy Birthday To You



This post might be a little late but its not a reflection of how excited I am for this opportunity to brag on my sweet baby boy on his birthday. Its a reflection of our rapidly deteriorating computer situation.


Last Thursday my beautiful boy turned one. What a joyous day to celebrate a year of knowing and loving this little boy. And to remember the beauty of a year ago where I had the most beautiful birth experience surrounded by my newly returned husband, my mom, and a dear friend who came to take care of me. It was truly one of the most magical days of my life. And this boy has brought so much magic into our home so its only fitting.


Here are some of my favorite things about my Reid:

- His smile. Its always ready and it will just warm you from head to toe.

- His voice. He is my little talker and although most of what he says is just babbling he says it with such feeling . . . he's going to have lots to say one day.

- His hugs. My boy gives real, honest to goodness hugs. He throws one arm around your neck and lays his head down on your shoulder and just loves.

- The way he lights up when he sees me. The best feeling in the world.

- The way Jake and Ainsley make him laugh. He just rolls with laughter when they are doing something silly.

- The way he is so busy. He's always got a mission.

- He is so ticklish. If you tickle under his arms he absolutely squeals with laughter until he is out of breath.

- He smells SO sweet. I could sniff his pumpkin head right off.

- The way he just relaxes into me completely when I nursed (or now bottle feed) him. Its wonderful.

- The way he loves to smile and flirt with other people and then burrow into my shoulder and hide when they smile back.

- How he loves to eat cheerios and popcorn out of Ryan's mouth (well, lips I guess). Its hilarious. The more he wants it the more aggressively comes in for the kill.

- I love that everyone that sees his face can't help but smile.