They've Landed!

Just a quick update - the guys have landed in Kansas! They need a few days to outprocess and then he should be home on Saturday...hopefully. I'll post again when I know more.

No News is Good News

I am still waiting to hear from Chris, he should have gotten on a plane yesterday sometime...I think.... I talked to him Monday morning and he wasn't sure if they were actually going to be leaving Kuwait then or not. I haven't heard anything all day long, so I'm assuming he's either in the air or really busy. The last I heard they were being released from Kansas Friday morning, and we are hoping he can make the right flights to make it home to Crescent City that night. But as all military wives know, things change on an hourly basis and nothing is for sure until after it's happened. In other words, when I see him get off that plane, I'll believe he's coming home....:-)

You've GOT to be kidding me

I have always wanted boys. Really. Although now, I think I must have been insane.

As I was getting out of the shower this morning Aiden tells me he wants to take a bath. Okay, no big deal, it will occupy him for a few minutes while I get dressed. I get him in the bath and go get dressed. I keep checking in on him, he's fine, he's singing, blah, blah, blah. I go get Jack dressed and then poke my head in the bathroom again.

"How are you doing, Aid--WHAT is that smell??"

You guessed it, in the 3 minutes between my bathtub check-ups he pooped in the tub. And no matter how many times I deal with this particular mess, it's still gross. So I strap Jack in the baby seat that I keep in the bathroom, get Aiden out of the tub and give him another bath in the bathroom sink. Not an easy feat with a 35 pound, almost 3 year old. So I get him cleaned up and take both the boys downstairs. I put Jack in his bouncy thing and put on a movie for Aiden so I can go clean up the tub. They'll be fine downstairs for 20 minutes. I mean, how much trouble can they get into? Right? Yeah, you know you're laughing....

I sanitize the tub, put the toys to soak in bleach water and come downstairs. Something's not right. Jack is now crawling on the floor and Aiden is in the bouncy thing. I'm pretty sure I left them the other way around. Not only that, but Aiden is now stuck.

"Mommy, I'm stuck!"

"Let me get this straight - you took Jack out of the bouncy seat by yourself, and put him on the floor so you could get in there and now you're stuck? Serves you right."

But wait - it gets better. I leave Aiden in there for the time being and pick up Jack when I realize that he smells. Great. I take his pants off to change him and he's pooped out of his diaper and all over himself. I just took a deep breath and told myself that Daddy will be home in a WEEK. And then he can find out just what he's been missing....

Boys Will Be Boys

We have a good routine going. Aiden wakes up around 7 and plays in his room until I get up around 8. I'm usually awake during that hour, but I like to just lie in bed and slowly wake up before facing the chaos. So this morning I hear Aiden wake up in his room and start playing and babbling and just generally having a good time. I'm cuddling with Jack in my bed, he's such a sweet snuggle-bunny. Then I hear this from the other side of the wall....

"I'm Lightning! Lighting McQueen!!! KA-CHOW!"

Thunk!

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

I jump out of bed and run to Aiden's room. Now I'm not exactly sure what happened. I don't have my contacts in but I do manage to make out Aiden half hanging off the bed with blood everywhere. He's screaming. I get him into the bathroom and start cleaning up the blood so I can figure out where its coming from. Somehow he fell and smacked his mouth and you know that little piece of skin that attaches your upper lip to your gums? Yeah, his is no longer attached. That bleeds A LOT. As far as I can tell he didn't knock any teeth loose, and he's fine now. Grandma inspected it too and in her best "already raised three boys" voice proclaimed him fit for duty.

What a nice way to start the day!

Landlords

I found out today that our tenants moved in over the weekend. While I am so thankful to finally have renters, knowing that other people - strangers - are living in my house is kind of weird. It's no longer MY house. Yes, we still own it, but other people are making memories there now. My son's room belongs to someone else. My kitchen will cook other people's meals. Another family is "living" in my living room. Bizarre....

BUT, as long as they pay their rent on time and don't completely trash my house, I guess I can live with that. I guess this makes us officially homeless for the time being. Since we can't go home to our house now, and we don't yet have another one. We are living with my in-laws...how sad....:-) Oh well, I guess that's life in the Army! And so far our visit has been pretty good, the only people who aren't getting along are Aiden and Aslynn, my 2 year-old sister-in-law. She's not thrilled with this gross boy who has moved in on her territory and who plays with her toys and takes some of her Mommy's (Aiden's grandma) attention away from her. We hear a lot of "NO!", "It's MY TURN!" and "STOP!!" in this house. Aiden's been pretty good about sharing, although he doesn't like Aslynn playing with "HIS baby Jack-Jack". In short, there is a lot of 2 year-old drama. And of course, Jack is just as happy as ever, smiling and giggling at everybody. Although Chris' mom told me that Chris was exactly the same way when he was a baby - very easygoing and happy all the time. So I have a feeling that I may be in trouble with this one later down the line....:-)

I'm working on a slide show of pictures from the last couple of weeks, I hope to get it up tomorrow or the next day. There are lots of people and only one computer, so I don't get to just sit and play like I used to! Anyway, I'm going to go attempt to clean up the living room before Prison Break comes on.

Good News!

We got some good news this morning, we have renters for our house!! This takes such a load off our shoulders, now we don't have to worry about trying to make an extra mortgage payment every month. I've heard all the horror stories about people renting out their houses and then they get trashed, but we really don't have much choice. With the current housing market, there was no way we could sell, so we had to rent it out. We have a property manager, so there is someone acting on our behalf. We are planning on renting out for the the next few years, and then hopefully we can sell it later on down the line. In the meantime, we get to keep that nice tax break!

Tagged

I got Tagged by Roxxi, so I'm doing my bit:

Here are the rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog
2. List 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post

1) I can't stand people touching my feet - it freaks me out.

2) I started college at 16.

3) I met my hubby when I was 9 years old.

4) When I was little I thought a werewolf lived under my bed.

5) My nickname in kindergarten was "Shy Violet".

6) I have never once smoked a cigarette in my entire life.

I'm tagging....

- Sara
- Trinity
- Mom
- Heidi J.
- Lindsay
- Chris

Have fun!

Day Eighteen - Crescent City, California

I would just like to say that WE MADE IT!!!

Yes, I skipped Day Seventeen, because all we did was lounge around at my Grandma's house and do nothing. Well, almost nothing, my mom and I both woke up with a cold, so I did go to the store for some medicine. I ended the day with a killer headache - bordering on Migraine territory - and went to bed at 8 o'clock. I actually was in bed for 11 hours! I can't remember the last time that happened - probably before I had kids. Anyway, I felt much better when I woke up this morning.

We left Grandma's house about noon, and after a quick stop at the airport to pick up my Mom's rental car, we caravaned to Crescent City. My Mom went to the Hampton Inn for a few days of R&R before flying back on Wednesday, and I headed to Chris' parent's house. Sunday is family day around here, where all of the siblings and family that are scattered around town come over for dinner and to hang out together, so Aiden and Jack got to see all (almost all) of their several dozen Aunts, Uncles and cousins on this side of the family. It was pretty crazy, but the boys are worn out and sleeping peacefully in their beds. Their beds for the next month, anyway....

I just want to say thank you to all of my friends and readers who have been following our journey out here. It's been a wild ride, and it was nice to know that so many people were thinking about and praying for us. We made it safely with no car trouble or serious problems, and I'm grateful. Chris should be home in about 3-4 weeks, and then we will continue on down to Fort Irwin. I'll keep posting as much as I can, so I hope you all keep reading!

Day Sixteen - Medford, Oregon

Well, we finally made it to Medford, to my Grandma's house. We'll be here 'til Sunday and then take off for the last stretch to Crescent City. Since we only had about 75 miles to go today, we took our time getting going this morning, not leaving until about 11:00. I had to go get my makeup bag out of the car and I brought Aiden with me. Now, we were on the fourth floor of the hotel. Aiden has become an expert in elevator operation during this trip and he ran ahead of me down the hall to "push the button". I didn't worry about catching up with him since it usually takes the elevator a few minutes to get there. Well...apparently somone had just gotten off at our floor because the doors were open when he got there. He ran onto the elevator and I realized too late that he had pushed the button for the first floor. Yep, you guessed it - the doors closed and Aiden was on his way down to the lobby all by himself. I pushed open the doors to the stairs and ran down four flights in about minutes to be there when the doors opened in the lobby. I was trying not to pass out when the doors opened and Aiden waltzed off, feeling rather proud of himself. I got a "hi Mommy!" when he saw me standing there and he had no clue what he had just put me through. And that was just the beginning....

I didn't give Aiden any medicine today since it was a short drive. Big mistake. The road was REALLY windy, and about 20 miles outside of Medford, I looked back at Aiden and realized he was about to blow chunks. I frantically told my mom to pull over, and we made it to the side of the road just as his breakfast came up. So here we are in the rain, on the side of the road trying to clean up vomit. Lots of fun, trust me. We get back in the car and make it the last 20 miles and end up at Grandma's house. I get Aiden out of the car and immediately stick him in the bath, while my mom gets Jack out of the car. Aiden is playing in the bathtub with all of his cars when my Mom realizes that Jack has pooped all through himself and has gotten it all over the place - including Grandma's shirt. Great. So I clean him up in the bathroom as well and take him out to the living room to feed him. I'm just getting comfy in the recliner when my mom yells from the bathroom where Aiden is playing.

"Oh Jenn!!! GROSS!!!"

I close my eyes, for I know what's coming. Aiden has pooped in the tub. Seriously, is there anything else involving bodily functions that these kids can come up with today? Geez. So I spent the first hour or so of our visit cleaning up vomit, cleaning up poop (from 2 kids), scrubbing the bathtub and sanitizing all of Aiden's cars in bleach water. What a day, I am SO ready for bed.

Here are today's stats:

Miles traveled: 75

Number of items we left behind in the hotel that we had to go back for: only 1!

Number of times Mapquest was wrong in our directions: 2

Number of times we thought "I can't believe it's almost over": 12

Tomorrow we rest and then it's off to Crescent City!!

Day Fifteen - Klamath Falls, Oregon

We arrived in Klamath Falls, Oregon today. We are only about 75 miles from Medford, but we just couldn't go any further. So we are going to chill out in the morning here at the hotel and take our time getting ready since we only have a couple of hours left. We once again made it with no major meltdowns during the drive, Aiden saved them all for the hotel. We did have one tense episode where Aiden and I had a little screaming match in the car. He was yelling at the top of his lungs so I just got in his face and yelled right back. It seemed like the thing to do. It made him laugh in spite of himself and then it was all good.

The highlight of the day was the herd of wild donkeys that we saw crossing the road somewhere along HWY 140. They were not shy at all and we pulled up right along side of them and took some pictures. I'll try to get some of them up later. We drove about 300 miles today and there was literally nothing along this road. Once you leave Winnemucca there is just nothing. After a hundred miles there is a little truck stop (and I do mean little). Then another 100 miles after that there is a small town with a gas station and not much else. Then a hundred miles after that is Klamath Falls. It's the loneliest stretch of road you will ever see, and I'm glad it's over! One more day left and we will be in Medford for a couple of days visiting my Grandma and extended family, then it's about a 2 hour drive down to Crescent City, where I'll spend the next month until Chris comes home. Our cross-country odyssey is almost over!

Today's stats:

Miles traveled: 300

Number of cars we saw for 20o miles on HWY 140: 3

Number of Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies we fed Aiden, hoping to induce a sugar crash: 3

Number of hours Aiden slept after said sugar crash: ZERO

Almost there!!

Day Fourteen - Winnemucca, Nevada

We left Utah this morning and made it to Winnemucca, site of Butch Cassidy's infamous bank robbery in 1900. We had a long day today - 360 miles or so - and we made it through the entire drive without a meltdown! Yay, Aiden!! Of course he had one as soon as we got to the hotel, but I'd rather have one in the room than in the car....

Today we drove through the Great Salt Flats of Utah. Talk about ugly. Although the giant piles of salt were pretty interesting. And there is literally nothing along interstate 80 through Utah and Nevada. It is the most barren stretch of land I've ever seen. At least Wyoming had some random cows here and there.

Once we got to the hotel, Jack decided to demonstrate a new trick for all of us - he SAT UP. By himself! I just set him on the bed and he sat right up like he'd been doing it forever. Of course then he fell over, but I couldn't believe it. I sat him up on a blanket on the floor and he just sat there for a long time, looking around, pretty proud of himself. I'll always remember that my baby sat up for the first time in Winnmucca, Nevada at the Holiday Inn Express! Next thing you know he'll be crawling....

Today's stats:

Miles traveled: 360

Number of times Aiden called me "Honey": about 15 (whenever he wanted something)

Number of Pilot Gas Stations we stopped in today and were offered free cinnamon rolls: 3

Number of weird "architectural features" (according the guidebook) that we saw on the side of the road: 1

Tomorrow we are hoping to make it to Klamath Falls, but it will be a long day of driving so cross your fingers that we make it!