In the Box

The other night Aiden was playing in his room, and sometimes when he's doing that, he shuts the door. I guess he just feels the need for some alone time. I know the feeling! Anyway, he'd been playing in his room for about 30 minutes and I got up to check on him. I slowly opened the door and this is what I found....





He had literally taken like every toy out of his toy box and scattered them on the floor. I managed to sneak these pictures without him noticing me, and I just shut the door and let him be. When your toddler is occupying himself in his bedroom, it's a good thing!

The Cause?

I've mentioned before how much I hate clowns, but I never really knew why. I've always hated them, for as long as I can remember. At one point I heard a story from a relative about how she remembered being at a parade with me when I was 3 or 4 and I completely freaked out when the clowns came by - the first inkling that they weren't my favorite. I've often wondered if I was just born with an ingrained aversion to them, or if there were some buried childhood memory involving clowns that was so disturbing I've blocked it from my mind. This morning, I figured it out.

I was listening to the radio and people were talking about what their personal hell would be like. I know, nice happy fare for a Monday morning, right? Anyway, one lady called in and said her personal hell would be filled with clowns. I had to agree with that. When the hosts asked her why, she said she had hated them ever since seeing the movie Poltergeist, with the little clown that runs around the room and under the bed, terrorizing the little girl.

At that point, it was like this flood of recognition for me. While I don't remember the movie in full detail, I do remember seeing Poltergeist when I was very young, and I remember the clown scene in flashes. I know, right now you are asking what I was doing watching Poltergeist when I was a toddler, right? Well, let's just say that I have an "aunt" who failed to understand that watching movies like Silver Bullet and Poltergeist while babysitting small children is not recommended for healthy development. And Susan, if you're reading this, I think you may have contributed to several of my neuroses...but it's okay, I no longer believe that werewolves live under my bed.

Anyway, after listening to this caller talk about her fear of clowns, I suddenly knew that's where it came from. You know how sometimes you just know things? That's how it was this morning, I know without a shadow of a doubt it was that movie, even though I don't remember it in detail. I suppose I should watch Poltergeist again to confront my fear and get rid of it, but it's turned into not so much a fear of clowns but rather an intense hatred of them altogether. And really, what's wrong with that, I mean, they're evil, right??

What NOT to Say....

I stole this from my friend Roxanne's blog, it was too good not to share. This is for all of my fellow military and former military wives! Hooah! Especially to number 6, and number 14.... :-)

Things NOT to say to a military Spouse or Girlfriend!

1. 'Aren't you afraid that he'll be killed?'
This one ranks in at number one on the 'duh' list. Of course we're afraid. We're terrified. The thought always lingers at the backs of our minds ---but thanks brilliant, you just brought it back to the front. Maybe next you can go ask someone with cancer if they're scared of dying.

2. 'I don't know how you manage. I don't think I could do it.'
This is intended to be a compliment. Though, its just a little annoying. Here's why: it's not like all of us military wives have been dreaming since childhood of the day we'd get to be anxious single moms who carry cell phones with us to the bathroom and in the shower. We're not made of some mysterious matter that makes us more capable, we just got asked to take on a challenging job. So we rose to the challenge and found the strength to make sacrifices.

3. 'At least he's not in Iraq.'
This is the number one most annoying comment for those whose husbands are in Afghanistan. What do they think is happening in Afghanistan? An international game of golf? Guys are fighting and dying over there.

4.'Do you think he'll get to come home for Christmas/anniversary/birthday/birth of a child/wedding/family reunion, etc?'
Don't you watch the news? No! They don't get to come home for any of these things. Please don't ask again.

5.'What are you going to do to keep yourself busy while he's gone?'
Short answer: Try to keep my sanity. Maybe there's a military wife out there who gets bored when her husband leaves, but I have yet to meet her. For the rest of us, those with and without children, we find ourselves having to be two people. That keeps us plenty busy. We do get lonely, but we don't get bored, and drinking massive amounts of wine always helps keep me busy.

6. 'How much longer does he have until he can get out?'
This one is annoying to many of us whether our husbands are deployed or not. Many of our husbands aren't counting down the days until they 'can' get out. Many of them keep signing back up again and again because they actually love what they do or they VOLUNTEER AGAIN and AGAIN to go back to Iraq b/c there is work that needs to be done.

7. 'This deployment shouldn't be so bad, now that you're used to it.'
Sure, we do learn coping skills and its true the more deployments you've gone through, the easier dealing with it becomes. And we figure out ways to make life go smoother while the guys are gone. But it never gets 'easy' and the bullets and bombs don't skip over our guys just because they've been there before. The worry never goes away.

8. 'My husband had to go to Europe for business once for three weeks. I totally know what you're going through.'
This one is similar to number two. Do not equate your husband's three week trip to London/Omaha/Tokyo/etc. with a 12-15 month or more deployment to a war zone. Aside from the obvious time difference, nobody shot at your husband or tried to blow him up with an I.E.D., your husband could call home pretty much any time he wanted to, he flew comfortably on a commercial plane, slept between crisp white sheets and ate well, paying for everything with an expense account. There is no comparison. We do not feel bonded to you in the slightest because of this comment and, if anything, we probably resent you a bit for it. Comparing a 12 month combat deployment to a few weeks business trip is like comparing a shitty ford taurus with mercedes convertible.

9. 'Wow you must miss him?'
This one also gets another big 'duh'. Of course we miss our men. There are some wives who do not and they're now divorced.

10. 'Where is he exactly? Where is that?'
I don't expect non-military folks to be able to find Anbar Province on a map, but they should know by now that it's in Iraq. Likewise, know that Kabul and Kandahar are in Afghanistan. Know that Muqtada al Sadr is the insurgent leader of the Mahdi Army in Iraq and that Sadr City is his home area. Know that Iran is a major threat to our country and that it is located between Afghanistan and Iraq. Our country has been at war in Afghanistan for seven years and at war in Iraq for five years. These basic facts are not secrets, they're on the news every night and in the papers every day ---and on maps everywhere.

11. 'Well, he signed up for it, so it's his own fault whatever happens over there.
Yes, ignorant ass, he did sign up. Each and every day he protects your right to make stupid comments like that. He didn't sign up and ask to be hit by anything, he signed up to protect his country. Oh, and by the way, he asked me to tell you that 'You're welcome.' He's still fighting for your freedom.

12. 'Don't you miss sex! I couldn't do it!'
Hmmm, no I don't miss sex. I'm a robot. Seriously...military spouses learn quickly that our relationships must be founded on something greater than sex. We learn to appreciate the important things, like simply hearing their voices, seeing their faces, being able to have dinner together every night. And the hard truth is, most relationships probably couldn't withstand 12 months of sex deprivation.

13. 'Well in my opinion.....'
Stop right there. Yo, I didn't ask for your personal political opinions. Hey, I love a heated political debate, but not in the grocery store, not in Jamba Juice, not at Nordstrom, not in a bar when I'm out with my girls trying to forget the war, and CERTAINLY NOT AT WORK. We tell co-workers about deployments so when we have to spend lunch hours running our asses off doing errands and taking care of the house, dog, and kids, they have an understanding. We do not tell co-workers and colleagues because we are giving an invitation to ramble about politics or because we so eagerly want to hear how much they hate the President, esp. while we're trying to heat up our lean cuisines in the crappy office microwaves.

Last but not least....

14. 'OH, that's horrible...I'm so sorry!'
He's doing his job, he's a badass, and he loves his job. Don't be sorry. Be appreciative and please take a moment out of your comfortable American lives to realize that our soldiers fight the wars abroad so those wars stay abroad. If you want to say anything, say thank you. After all, we are sexually deprived for your freedom.

Almost Done!

Well, as of today I have 3 weeks left at work. Yeah!!!! Although I see the next 3 weeks being very busy, as we have tons of projects up in the air right now. That should make it go by fast, right? I have an interview today with a lady for my position, I'm hoping she works out because I don't have any other prospects right now! And they can beg and plead all they want, but I'm not sticking around any longer if they don't hire someone. I did tell them I would be willing to work part-time for 1 extra week if they needed me to, I'm hoping it won't come to that because I'm ready to be at home.

We had some more heavy storms last night, I heard on the radio this morning that there were 30 unconfirmed reports of tornados across the state, but I haven't heard if any of them were in our area. We had lots of rain and thunder and lightening, and a lot of NASTY wind, but as far as I can tell, everything is still standing! We didn't lose power or anything like that, so I don't think it got too bad.

Anyway, I'd better get to work now!

Indiana Jones

If you are like me and have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the newest Indiana Jones movie, you are going to love the trailer! Just hearing the music makes me feel like I'm 12 years old again!

Desperate Times....

....call for desperate measures!

I heard about this story on the radio this morning, and I had to share it with you. Some woman in Poland was so deperate for a man that she made over 700 calls to the local town council, emergency services and the Army demanding that they send a man to her house to -ahem - take care of her. Now, I know for a fact that in this country, unless she is REALLY UGLY, if you called up the Army demanding a serviceman (ha ha, that's good - serviceman...) there would be no shortage of volunteers!

I can just imagine the guys at the CQ desk taking THAT call!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aiden is having a Valentine's Day party at daycare tomorrow, and the kids can bring Valentines for the other kids if they want to. I was going to stop by Target on the way home and get some for him to bring, but then I ended up feeling really lazy and I didn't want to stop. After I put him to bed I felt guilty, so I MADE Valentines for him to take to the party. How domestic and creative am I, huh??



So....I get extra Mommy points for this, right?

You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

I came home yesterday to a package on my doorstep from Chris. It was my Valentine's Day present. It was a gift basket from Godiva Chocolatier. And let me just say, WOW! It was full of chocolates, truffles, shortbread cookies, chocolate-covered strawberries, candy bars, you name it. Was I ever impressed! You know how it is with guys after you've been married a while, they tend to let that stuff go a little bit....you're lucky if you get a card. The first Valentine's Day we were together, I got a proposal - kind of hard to top that. After that I usually got a card, and maybe some flowers, and that was after several days of me going, "you know, Valentine's Day is coming up....HINT HINT!" But he has never forgotten, so points for him (although I'm sure there have been a few early morning runs to the flower shop on the day of...) But this was awesome, I didn't have to remind him, and I got it on time, from Iraq! And it's something that he knows I love - good chocolate! So this is proof that you can train a man, it just takes about 8 years!

February Belly Shots

Okay, here are some pics that my Mom took the other day. Chris called while we were over at their house, and Aiden was chattering away on the phone. They are some pretty good shots of my belly too, so here you go!

Who Needs Cable....

....when you have a 2 year-old?

Aiden slept really well last night, and as a result, so did I. I actually slept all night, I'm not sure I even moved. The last time I did that was about 7 months ago or so. I remember it well because it had not happened in quite some time - like, before I got pregnant with Aiden. I remember thinking, YES! We are finally moving into the stage where Mommy can sleep all night again. About a week later, I found out I was pregnant. And there went that. And let me just say, when you are 7 months pregnant, and you sleep all night long, you RUN to the bathroom in the morning!

Anyway, because Aiden got almost 12 hours of solid sleep last night, he was full of energy this morning. I mean full of energy. After scarfing down a nutri-grain bar and some orange juice, he got down from his chair to watch the Wiggles. I went into his bedroom to get his clothes for the day and when I came back out into the living room, he was dancing and jumping all over the living room floor. He was doing his best to copy what the Wiggles were doing on TV, and he was getting pretty good at it! He was trying his best to jump, and he actually managed to get both feet off the ground a couple of times. If you've never watched a toddler try to jump, it's hilarious.

Then he caught me watching him and ran over to me with lots of hugs. "Wiggles, Mommy! I dance!" Then he giggled and started to run around in circles on the rug until he got dizzy and fell down. I really think that sleep to a toddler has the same effect as Speed for the rest of us. I watched him for about 10 minutes just running around and being generally crazy, and the energy was fairly crackling around him. When did I lose the ability to be that energized in the morning? I mean, I got a better night's sleep last night than I have in months, and all I wanted to do when I woke up was roll over and go back to sleep! Oh well....

He really is free entertainment. I'm continually amazed at the amount of life that is stuffed into such a little person. Every day he does or says something new that just amazes me all over again. I don't think there is anything better than watching your child blossom, and just be happy. As crazy as our life is right now, he is happy. And that makes me think that maybe - just maybe - I'm doing something right.

Scrapbooking

Here are a few of the pages I've done for Aiden's scrapbook, what do you think?? I'm not going to post all of them, because that would be a bit much, but these are some of my favorites. I'm getting there, slowly but surely!! If you want to view it larger, just click on the image....

Jack's First Photos

Here are the photos of Jack's 4D ultrasound, I hope you like them! This video does have music, so make sure your sound is turned up!

Getting Ready

Can you believe this baby is due in 10 weeks? It's going by really fast for me. I've started buying all the things I'll need for the second time around, trying to get prepared early.

I bought a SIDS monitor earlier in the week, it's a flat sensor pad that goes under baby's mattress, and senses breathing and movement while they are asleep. If he stops breathing for 20 seconds, then an alarm will sound, alerting me to the danger. Pretty cool, huh? Hopefully this will give me some peace of mind at night, so I can sleep a little better than I did when Aiden was a baby. I am totally PARANOID when it comes to SIDS.

Chris and I are big fans of the "family bed", or co-sleeping, at least when they are little. I think it helps everyone to sleep better, and promotes early bonding. The only drawback is, you don't have a whole lot of room in the bed! So I fixed that situation this time around and ordered the In Arms Reach Co-Sleeper, a separate bassinet that hooks on to the side of our bed, the mattress is flush with our mattress, so the baby can be right next to me, without taking up any room in our bed. It makes all those middle of the night feedings SO much easier! It was actually delivered yesterday, it was waiting for me when I got home last night. I brought it in the house and dumped the box on the kitchen floor (it's heavy!). Aiden looked at it and said, "what's that?" I told him, "that's Jack-Jack's bed, so he can go night-night like you." He looked at it for a minute, then laid down on top of the box. He laid there for a minute, then looked at me with a really confused look on his face. He shook his head and said, "nooo....." as if to tell me that I need to reconsider this, cause it's not very comfortable! Kids are so literal....

My next big purchase is going to be a double stroller. I have my eye on one that has 2 full regular seats, can accomodate an infant carseat, and then also converts to a sit n stand stroller (one where the smaller child sits in a seat, and the older child can either stand on the back on a platform, or sit in a jumpseat). It's pretty nifty. What did parents do before they had all these cool toys, huh?

Then of course there is the mad stock-up of newborn diapers, since they go through like a dozen a day. More pacifiers are also on my list. And I keep finding really cute clothes that I just have to buy, even though I really don't need any baby boy clothes. I also bought a wee-blocker. It's exactly what it sounds like - a little sponge that goes over the top of little boys' wee-wee's to keep Mommy from getting sprayed during diaper changes. See? I have done this once before....

My 4-D ultrasound is tomorrow, so I should get some definitive proof on whether or not that wee-blocker will be coming in handy or not. Check back tomorrow night for photos!!