Typical lazy Saturday

The boys decided that it would be nice to wake mom up at 6AM on Saturday. Needless to say I wasn't happy along with being half asleep. I really need one of those mornings where Aaron would let me sleep in! I just want a day where I can sleep until I just can't sleep no more! But that won't be happening anytime soon. From the moment Logan opened his eyes he started asking me to take him to play with Logan Joshua. I tried explaining that it was rude to invite yourself to someones house. Thankfully he never asked why he couldn't just come to our house...cause then I would have to explain that mom has been extremely lazy when it comes to the house cleaning and NO ONE was allowed in our house at this point! So on we go with our day with the highlight being the Alabama game. Which we did awesome as usual! The score was 36-0!!!! On and the last time we shut Auburn down, was in 1992 when we also won a National Championship....soooooo we shall see if it happens again. Gators we're coming for you next!!!!!!

After the boys napped Logan was still asking to go play and I needed, didn't want to, but needed to go to Walmart and get a few things that I didn't want to fight the crowd for the day before. So before going I finally told Logan that he could call Amy and see if it was ok to come play. He was so excited and didn't like that I told him he had to wait until after dinner and Walmart. We did the shopping and got Aaron a pillow and then we ate dinner at Subway. Then off to Amy's for playtime. The boys had a blast as usual playing with the guns and killing the bad guys. You know what they say, like father like son! When we got home I got Lane in bed and of course Logan held his eyes open as long as he could. He was acting a little funny and he told me that his belly hurt but he didn't let it slow him down. He was sleeping on the couch when he started whimpering and I could tell he was about to get sick. I woke him up and we ran for the bathroom...we almost made it all the way. I don't know why he got sick. He said he felt much better afterwards and he fell right back to sleep. I prepared for another night like Tuesday night but thankfully all was well and he slept all night only waking up to get some water. So who knows, hopefully it's nothing.

The tree is up

Well as Potter tradition the tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving and I felt the need to follow on this year as normal. Logan helped, sometimes a little too much. It was hard hanging Aaron's ornaments because I could hear him telling me to just do it..."it doesn't matter who hangs them" as I tell him that they are his and he needs to put them on the tree. But I couldn't help but smile as I added each little piece remembering just how special some of them were. Logan really enjoyed hanging all my brass ornaments that Grandmother has given me over the years. He was "ooohhhing" and "aaahhhhing" over all of them. He thought they were really pretty and was really excited to find that 3 of them were his! I decorated Lane's stocking and some of the ornaments that we had bought throughout the years but held on to a few "blanks" ones because we knew the little guy would be here one day. Lane slept through the majority of the "putting up of the tree" so when he got up he had to explore. Heather already has hers up so he had seen a Christmas tree before but with ours he was still curious. After telling him a few times to leave the lights alone he decided the best idea was for him to sit right under the tree. So I guess for now that is his new favorite spot...until the tree touches his head and tickles him! We ended up meeting Amy for a lovely dinner at Taco Bell. The boys had fun and we even got compliments on how well behaved our children were. She said we moms were doing a good job...something nice that I really needed to hear, to give me some hope that I'm not doing as awful of a job as I sometimes think!

Bama plays Auburn tomorrow!!!!!! ROLL TIDE ROLL....we ARE number 1!!!!!!

Black Friday

Wow, people are soooooo crazy. I have never in my life wanted something as bad as some of those people wanted those TVs. You would have thought there was a million dollars packaged inside! Susan and I got up way to early, what were we thinking, apparently we weren't! But Susan had to work later in the day so it worked out well. I got up at 4AM and Lane woke up himself at 4:15. I guess he's going to be my little shopping buddy! We go to Walmart just a little after 5AM. That place was a mad house! Parking was horrible. I guess when snow hits people forget that you still have to park reasonably sensible so that everyone else can park too. The place was packed and I was getting really annoyed with people running over my feet with their shopping cart...but to top it all off the two big things I was looking for were not on sale! (Sorry Aaron, your not finding out your Christmas present until it gets there for Christmas!!!! hehe!) But Old Navy had some good sales and I was able to a lot of Christmas shopping done. I was pretty pleased with the morning. I think the gift I'm most excited about is Logan's guitar. I can't wait to see him try to play it and then hopefully I will find someone who will give lessons to an almost 4 year old. He's going to love it! The boys were such troopers through the whole shopping experience, even with all the sneaking that Susan had to help me with, and we came home around 8:30 and after talking to mom we headed to bed for a nap.

Thanksgiving

So the first countdown of my many mini countdowns has finally come. I've found that's it easier to have lots of short countdowns instead of one really long seemingly never ending countdown. Thanksgiving was first, and Christmas is next! But either way, countdown number one is over!!!!! I got to talk to a lot of my family back home. I talked to Aunt Pam and she said Matthew was doing good. They had gotten him all dressed up for Thanksgiving. Mom said he was wearing one of his Jacksonville T-shrits. I miss him so much...I can't wait to finally get one of his big bear hugs! It's been way to long.

A few of us wives got together and had a wonderful dinner. We ate at the Taylor's house and all the kiddos played. Poor Lane was fussy because of his teething but other than that all was really good. We all had a lot of fun talking all kinds of girl talk. I ended up leaving around 7PM and headed home to get the kids ready for bed. Lane was out not long after getting home and Logan as usual stayed up as late as I did. I kept meaning to go to bed early because we were getting up early for Black Friday shopping but as usual good intentions get me nowhere. Aaron called a little later. He was in a good mood...which of course made me in an ever better mood. I was so glad to hear that a few of their plans had changed and he ended up being at a FOB with a chow hall so he actually got a Thanksgiving meal! But to top it all off he said he wasn't to hungry so the main part of his meal was a rootbeer float! That sure is some diet he's on. But he said he was doing good and it sounds like they are staying pretty busy. Thanksgiving wasn't as lonely as it could have been thanks to my good friends, but there was still something missing and no one short of Aaron himself could have filled it. He's my hero!!!!!!

While he's gone, Can't I have one good day???

Last night was another bad night. After getting the boys out of the bath I started feeling really sick. I get Lane in bed and then it hits. I had the full blown stomach flu. I'll save you all the details as I guess you can imagine but I was just praying over and over for it to be over. Then to top it all off, Logan gets it and starts throwing up around 2AM. So on top of feeling like I can't hold my head up I have to figure out how I am going to clean him and the bed up. I manage to do it and spend the rest of my night trying to sleep as best I could and listen for him so that I can wake up him before he gets sick on the bed. Then morning came and Lane was up and ready to play at 6:30AM and I of course can't hardly move. My whole body hurt. I was completely dehydrated but I had finally started to be able to keep some water down. I get Lane some breakfast and realize that there is no way I can take care of him the way he should be taken care of. So I call Heather and ask her if she can come get him so that I can rest and get myself better. So being the great friend that she is, she comes to get him and me and Logan go back to bed of course after calling into to work for the second time this week. Have I mentioned what a great place I work for! I think I slept all day except for the times that Logan woke me up because he had a question or something. He seemed to feel pretty good. We picked Lane up around 4:30PM and came back home. I had finally started to feel the life come back into my body. I got things started for the deserts I am making tomorrow. So at least I feel like I accomplished something today. Aaron called to tell me Happy Thanksgiving. He said they were getting ready to head out. Poor guy doesn't even get a Thanksgiving meal. Man, I can't wait until this deployment is over. It seems like the boys and I haven't been perfectly healthy since the day he left. And we all never seemed to get sick before. I have enough stress without adding sickness to it! Oh well, we will manage!

Northern Lights

So I just happened to notice that the Northern Lights were out tonight. It's unusal that I get to see them since we live in town and usually you can't see them to well unless your away from the city lights. But tonight they were out and dancing all over the place. Heres a few pictures that I took.

Wow, I'm amazed

Today didn't start off to well. At 1AM I woke to Lane crying. He had thrown up all over his bed. So in my sleepy haze I cleaned him up and stripped his bed. Put him in my bed and hoped it was a one time thing. Well it wasn't and before the washing machine had finished washing his sheets the threw up on my bed. So up again, cleaning up the baby and doing laundry at about 2AM. After this time he seemed to feel better. So much better that he didn't want to sleep. He sat up and clapped and talked to me for about an hour. About the time I got him to settle back down, Logan gets up and tells me he "had a good nap." His saying for when hes up and ready to not go back to bed. Well I had to explain that it's still night and this time of year in Alaska you can't just say "look it's dark out so it's still bedtime" because it's dark out until about 9:30AM right now. So I finally convince him to go back to bed. Lane is finally falling to sleep again and as I finally start to drift back to sleep, he starts throwing up again...except this time there is nothing left to throw up. I felt so bad for him. He cries for a bit and finally goes back to sleep. At this point I had decided I was not going to go to work. So I check the clock which was now nearing 5AM...the time I would normally wake up for work...and changed the alarm to 7:30 so that I could get up to call in. Lane slept most of this time unless he was waking up because he felt he needed to throw up again but couldn't. I called in and tried to go back to sleep only to have Logan crawl in my bed and beg to watch cartoons. After trying to fall back to sleep over and over I finally manage to drag myself out of bed around 9AM when Lane starts smacking me in the face. I got breakfast ready and only let Lane have a little just to see how he would do. Well he did fine and didn't have anymore sickness for the day. He seemed to feel fine all day, which is great. We went to the Commissary and PX this afternoon to get some stuff for holiday cooking and then back home to be lazy before bed. I put Lane in bed and 30 minutes later took Logan to bed. Surprisingly, Logan went to his bed and went right to sleep. No crying at all!!!! I'm so excited. So now it's 8:32 PM and I have had 30 minutes of alone time so far!!!!! Now I'm going to eat some of those browies we made and get myself ready for bed, hope for a phone call, and pray that tonight is much better! I really want to go work...I need a break! :)

My mind is drained

So tonight was quiet possibly the worse night since Aaron left. Logan was is normal hyperactive self throughout the day but as night came it got worse. It started with dinner and he as usual didn't want to eat. "I don't like vegetables." Well since he chose not to eat he didn't get to have one of the brownies that we had made earlier. So he was really mad about that. Aaron got on the computer and we tried to use the web cam but the connection was horrible and everything kept freezing up. He called instead and since Logan was mad so he wouldn't talk to his Daddy. The whole time Aaron and I were trying to talk Logan was picking on Lane and just aggravating him. So while I was trying to talk to Aaron, Logan was making it impossible to concentrate on a conversation. Not to mention Aaron had to listen to me, "Logan stop," "Get off Lane your going to hurt him," "Stop throwing that towel at your brother." When we got off the phone, feeling like he had not even called, I put the boys in the tub. After they were done I told them it was time for bed. Well that's when the downhill slide came crashing down. Logan has been scared to be upstairs by himself since Aaron left. I have been unwilling to fight the battle to get him back in his own bed which I know wasn't good for either of us. But tonight I had had enough and put my foot down. I told him he could lay down in my bed but he cried and got up after about 5 minutes. So I told him he could sleep in his bed. After an hour of crying and getting up and down and me putting him back in bed more times than I can count...he is sleeping in his own bed and he fell asleep there by himself. Even though I feel like I've made a bit of an accomplishment, I feel like a horrible mom. He went to bed crying and that breaks my heart. Lane on the other hand found the whole thing funny and laughed at Logan the whole time. He didn't go to sleep until Logan did but yet he stayed in his bed during the whole crying fiasco. I just hope that this will be a turning point. I don't want him to be scared in his own house.

This pictures was taken after I ask him if he was eatting the uncooked brownies and he said no! Little did he know...the proof was right there!

And my night is complete...

So after the movie and after picking up the kiddos, Amy and I decided to brave the cold and take the boys out to eat. They were begging for ice cream and neither of us wanted to cook. So off we go, two mommies and 4 kids, to Denny's. This is always an adventure that makes us question our sanity of why we went in the first place. Not only are both Logans (Amy oldest is named Logan as well) complete boys in ever sense of the word, they both seem to be having a hard time with Daddy being gone and they feel the need to rebel against mom. It never fails that when one is being good the other is having a fit. And tonight was no exception to the rule. I was so proud of my Logan when we got there. He sat so nicely and colored and when his food came he even ate...usually a fight in itself...and so we ordered desert. I guess this put him over the top because his loudness got louder and then that sweet little boy I brought in became this wild crazy kid I'm embarrassed to have in public. He was running around...which he knows is unacceptable...and acting like he was a monster. Lane was sleeping in my arms so he knew I couldn't do much about it at the moment. I gave him my best "I'm going to tear your butt up" look but it did nothing to help. So I got him and Lane bundled up as best I could and took off running for the door feeling like I should have apologized to the other people around us but they had found him humorous which just added to his behavior. Thankfully on the way home Aaron called. I love it when he calls when I'm at my wits end. At least then I can vent to him. Not that it always helps because he thinks it funny and says "that's my boy!" or "he's a boy, he's suppose to act like that." But no matter what, talking to him always makes me feel better and puts a smile on my face. He was doing good and had just woke up and was on his way to eat breakfast. Right now he is at a place where he has a little more access to the "normal" things in life...like hot showers and toilets...so I feel a little better when he's there even if it is for only for a few days. Too bad he can't be there for Thanksgiving. Guess the snacks I sent and an MRE will have to be good enough for a Thanksgiving meal. Poor guy. But he doesn't mind. He has a much better attitude about it than I would. He said it was raining so that was putting a damper on their plans for the day. But even though he hates being bored...I kind of smile at the thought...just because if he's bored...I kind of feel like he's safe. At least that's the justification I give it in my head. But overall he is doing good. I told him the other day that we had hit the 2 month mark and his reply was "really, that's all, it's feels longer." Which makes me sad because I know that even though I like it when he gets bored it makes his time go that much slower and I know how bad he would like to be home with us. But we will get through...he's strong and an amazing soldier...and I love him so much so it wouldn't matter how long he had to be gone...I would be here waiting when he got back. I found this great quote that has kind of become my motto: "You never know how strong you are, until being strong in the only choice you have." Thankfully, God is there and listens to my never ending prayers...and he pulls us through one day at a time!

Twilight

Well I don't remember the exact date that I started reading the book Twilight but I remember that I finished the first book in 3 days, went out and bought the second, finished that in a little over 24 hours, and then bought the last 2 and finished those within two weeks of starting the first book Twilight. Since then I have become obsessed. I LOVE these books and knowing that the movie was about to come out I was so anxious to see it! So as I got ready for the movie to open I reread the first book to brush up on everything that happened in it. I was just as engrossed the second time around! So finally the movie came out yesterday, November 21, and thanks to my wonderful friend Cassie I had a sitter today and got to head out to the movies, kid free, to watch Twilight with Amy. I don't think I have been this excited about a movie since Titanic came out when I was in the 9th grade. (I think that's right.)

Of course the movie was no where near as good as the book, which is normal, but I was disappointed at some of the things they left out. But over all, I loved the movie and I can't wait till it's out on DVD so I can buy it and watch it again. Sorry Aaron, but you will have to suffer through it at least once and watch it with me! The love story is just so magical. And it doesn't hurt that Edward is completely perfect...well except for the fact that he's a vampire. But in these books...is that really such a bad thing?!?! Now I can't wait for the second, third, and forth movie to come out. I'm so easily amused!

Surprise Baby Shower

Last night was my first girls night out in a LONG time. I went to a baby shower which was a surprise baby shower for my manager at work, Billie Jo. The girl who planned it, Christina, who also works with me is an awesome party planner. In fact she would make a killing if she started a business. The invitations she made were so pretty and she had everything planned out to the last detail. Including a timeline on when we were to start certain games and so on. She also had planned everything so that Billie had to do nothing. She had a list and had everyone sign in at the party and write next to their name what they had brought. This way there didn't have to be a list maker for the thank yous and everyone could enjoy the fun. Then we played a few different games, one being baby pictures of all of us in attendence and then everyone had to guess who was who. How she had managed to do all this without Billie knowing is beyond me. Especially since they share an office! There were over 20 people who were invited and no one leaked the secret. The shower was held at the Westmark hotel and the suite that they booked is completely awesome. I should have took pictures but I didn't even think about it. The bathroom in the master suite is my dream bathroom. The shower has 12 heads and one more in the ceiling that falls like rain. The bathtub doesn't have a regular faucet, the water falls from the ceiling in a stream and fills the tub. The tub is made to over flow and it just beautiful. There is even what looks to be a mirror that is also a TV. I was so amazed. One day I will have that bathroom in MY house!!!! But besides the shower, Billie's second surprise was that the hotel was hers and her man's for the night. Their parents were taking their other kids and they got to have alone time. So sweet! But it was a fun night and top it off the boys stayed at a new sitters who they both loved. In fact Logan is already asking when he can go back. The picture is of a diaper cake that my friend and coworker AJ made. It was soooo cute and I took a picture because I want to try to make one some time. This was first one she ever made and I thought it turned out completely beautiful. So creative!

Tooth number 3

Well Lane has gotten teeth A LOT faster than Logan. Poor Logan was 10 months before his first tooth decided to pop through. Lane on the other hand got his first tooth on September 14th (he was 6 months) and the second one followed on September 28th. And now today, exactly 2 months after Daddy leaving, Lane got his first top tooth. His left central incisor...or what we in the dental world call tooth letter F! He was fighting me today when I tried to look so maybe tomorrow I will be lucky and get a picture. Don't hold your breathe though!

Welcome

You know you never really realize just how eventful one day is until the person you love most is unable to share those simple "little" moments with you. Just the normal things like fixing the kids breakfast and getting them dressed for the day. The always questioned filled drive to school and work. The strange little questions that are formed in the mind of an innocent 3 year old could boggle the mind of even the smartest people in the world. "Why is the snow white and why does it sparkle in the sun." "Mom, GO the light is green," as I try to explain that I have to wait for the people in front of me to start moving. He's my very own little backseat driver. I can never write down all his comments and I certainly can't remember them all. But I want to. I want to be able to capture every little laugh and every little question so that Daddy does not miss any of it. And when Daddy comes home to his inquisitive little boy and the one who will be beginning his questioned filled rides he can work on trying to come up with good answers to their never ending questions! So this is my page for him...for the Daddy who is a hero to our wonderful country and at the same time the best friend to a little boy who sees him as perfect. A Daddy to the little boys who don't understand why he can't come home and why he has to be away. But some day those same little boys will understand and their hearts will be full of pride just as mine is now. I hope that by doing this blog, he will see that even though he was thousands of miles away from us, he was still with us, everyday, and in everything that we did. We miss you so much and love you with all our hearts!