and Then There Were 3....

So we've officially entered the "mutiny is possible" phase of parenthood. :) Sam-I-Am, to keep up w/Dr. Seuss References, (Samantha Marie) joined the group on 7 July 09. In the two months that she's been a part of the crew I've learned a ton.

First of all, going from 2 to 3 kids is significantly easier then going from 1 to 2 kids. When Thing 2 joined the crew, I was terrified of losing control--dishes, laundry, etc. So I tried, unsuccessfully more often then not, to do all things all the time. More often then not, I was INSANELY frustrated w/this baby who wouldn't let me get anything done. Argh! :) So, during my whole pregnancy with Sam-I-Am, I spent a lot of time being internally FREAKED OUT on how I was going to manage 3 of them. I was all panicked until Sam-I-Am made me calm down during delivery...we had a bit of a complicated delivery--I reacted poorly to normal dose from epidural, her heart didn't like pitocin and she enjoyed playing with the cord. :) Good times! So while 2 docs, 5 nurses and anthesiologist (sp???) were discussing emergency c-section, I realized that at some point during my pregnancy, I forgot to Let Go and Let God. So, as I've got docs arguing about c-section, a hubs who is trying to act like he's not nervous about what's going on, and nurses monitoring my way low BP and Sam-I-Am's way low heart rate, I took a deep breath and laughed about how I thought I could control anything, let alone everything, and when docs stopped arguing and started explaining I was able to say "Okay, just let me know what you need me to do". Sam-I-Am eventually stopped playing with cord, liked the pitocin and made her debut at 4:32pm. And I've been a lot more relaxed ever since. :)

Second of all, I've learned the new one makes you appreciate the old ones more. Thing 1 took to Sam-I-Am just like he took to Thing 2. He's got another sibiling--no big to him. He talks about how she has his smile and his ears and anything else cute that she does is just like when he was a baby. He likes to help feed her, even if it does involve lecturing me about how he can only feed her, not burp her, because that's my job. Thing 2 is enamored with Sam-I-Am. Thing 2 had a few issues the 3rd to 4th week after Sam-I-Am came home, but it wasn't bad--just wow cranky with EVERYTHING. It might have been a growth spurt. It might have been final adjustments to her world changing. It might have been the fact that Army Guy went back to work, Miss Cassandra went home and it was just Mommy, Thing 1, Thing 2, and Sam-I-Am. Thing 2 has become increasingly more independent and older in the last few weeks too. She enjoys playing in her room w/her toys (that might have something to do w/them all being put in time out for a week…), she’s started cleaning up her toys w/o me screaming at her (tho only when Army Guy is gone interestingly enough), and she’s just generally a bit more relaxed. She’s so old though. This morning I asked her what she wanted for breakfast to which she replied “A bagel, with nothing on it, cooked for 8 seconds on a paper towel please”. Ta-dah. And I was a little sad because there was no trying to decipher what she really wanted, but relieved that it wasn’t as much of a guessing game anymore. 

Finally, I’ve learned that there’s absolutely NO way to control sibling arguments. Thing 2 will look at Thing 1 the wrong way and he comes unglued. Sam-I-Am gets cranky with Thing 2 cuz she gets too close to Sam-I-Am’s face and it irritates her. Though, the really awesome part is that Sam-I-Am ALWAYS takes her pluggie when Thing 2 tries to give it to her. I think it’s because she just knows that Thing 2 will not give up and just end up shoving it down her throat. So Sam-I-Am at 2 months has already learned to pick and choose her battles with Thing 2. So anyways, I’ve stopped trying to make them all get along and now I get involved only if there’s hitting, ugly words or blood involved. It’s taken a load off my stress level. Next task to work on: tattle telling.

I’ll probably continue sharing Lessons Learned later, but I’ve rambled on for long enough.

OH! Almost forgot, Army Guy’s doing well in command. So far no significant issues….no bat phone ringing at 3am. The guys need some work, but it’s doable. FRG is going…I’ve got a bunch of stuff done and I’m getting positive reviews so yay for that! Unit found out yesterday they are officially NOT going to Iraq. But they’re still deploying so yah, I’ll let you guess where they’re going. We’re potentially 6 months out and instead of being all prepped like I was for last deployment, I’ve prepped as much as I want and have decided to “head in the sand” the rest of it.  I’ve got my stuff together on the FRG front and on the Mommy front, so I can afford to head in the sand some of the rest of it. Good times….good times…

Baby, Move & Homeownership

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so bear with me and this insanely LONG blog. :)

First of all, baby stuff. Baby Girl #2 is due mid-July. I'm still shooting for the 4th of July, but she'll probably show up the 5th. My mom has the 8th on her calendar. So we'll see. I actually registered at BabiesRUs with this one. Army Guy & I laugh at how we're finally doing all those "pregnancy" things you do with our last kid. :) I don't necessarily view it as a registry as much as a list of all of things I HAVE to purchase before baby arrives. I think BabiesRUs should change the name "registry" to "must have's". Ha! We've decided to do ladybugs in her room. By the way, it's INSANELY difficult to find girl stuff that isn't drenched in pink or purple. Sigh. But the ladybugs work and they're cute and they're not too much. We've also decided not to make a formal announcement about her name until her arrival (much to the MIL's dismay). With Thing 2, we announced in September and by the time she showed up in January, I wasn't completely loving the name but we were kind of stuck with it. In hind sight, Rambo would have been a more appropriate name for that child, but that's a whole other boat. Anyhow, Thing 1's very excited about new baby. He's started asking things like "so how is the baby doing?" after my doctor appts, and that just freaks me out. I don't know why but for some reason it's hard to wrap my brain around the fact that there's a human being growing in my body. I still prefer to think of baby as some kind of alien leech thing. Yah, I'm a bad mommy. I'm one of those people who don't necessarily view baby delivery as an awe-inspiring moment as much as a really gross moment. :)

Onto Move: Move went REALLY well. Well kind of. The packers and driver were awesome. I highly recommend transportation at Fort Benning. They didn't even flinch when we asked for packers for March 11 on the March 3rd. Yay! The packers were really nice and chatty (which I always enjoy). More importantly, they packed EVERYTHING! Usually there's some food left and stuff, but not this time! :) So they picked up on Thursday and we cleared housing on Friday morning (which was easy except for the painting of the blue bathroom--mental note--no dark colors again) and headed to Fort Campbell. We spent the weekend at Army Guy's brother's house (who shall be known as Farm Guy) about 30 mins from Campbell. Sunday morning, Porter (the bulldog) got sick. We assumed he'd drank some well water, which has a tendency to upset his tummy. No biggie. So we closed on house on Monday and that went so easily it was terrifying. No one should be allowed to enter into that much debt so quickly. Then began the fridge shopping experience from hell. We got done closing at 4pm and I was adament about not buying fridge until after I've closed cuz I didn't want to be stuck with a fridge if something went south at closing. Yes, I'm insane. But we'd looked at EVERY major appliance store in Clarksville, so we sort of knew what we were looking for and the price. However, that didn't help with the actual purchase. We have Maytag appliances throughout the house, so I wanted a Maytag fridge. I didn't realize how complicated this was going to be. We wanted a Maytag side by side, stainless steel with black handles, with Ice/Water in the door. No biggie right?!?!? Evidently I'm INSANE. We couldn't find a Maytag fridge that matched that description. For resale I wanted to keep with the Maytag thing. So after 5 stores that could order it and deliever in a few WEEKS, I called little local stores and no luck there either. Luckily our realtor had recommended a particular sales guy at a particular store, so as a last ditch effort, we tried him. If you are ever buying applicances in Clarksville, TN, go to HH Gregg and ask for Bobby. HE IS AWESOME! We got contractor pricing, so we ended up with the mostest awesomest fridge at the plain jane fridge pricing! :) We had to wait 2 day for it, but that was still better then the weeks everyone else was giving us. Yay! Our first major crisis adverted! Then the movers call and announce they can deliever on Tuesday! Yay! Exciting times! Only downside is that Porter is still doing projectile vomitting of water. Sigh. I figured I'd give him another day of tap water and go from there. So movers show up next morning at 8:30am and unload us in a flurry. They were awesome!

Homeownership: Meanwhile, neighbor guy gave Army Guy a recommendation for cheap sod for backyard. So we call Sod Guy and he's going to be out our way that day, so we luck into sod that afternoon. Yay! Kind of.... We are in a new subdivision, so we have neighbors to the right and two empty houses to the left and then an empty lot. Well Sod Guy shows up with 5 pallets of sod (mental note--small yard takes lots of sod) and a forklift to move them. Well we tell him he can just put pallets on driveway cuz we didn't want forklift on front yard sod. He says "Oh, we can just go down to the empty lot and then bring them through the empty houses lots next door, it's no big deal" So a logical person assumes it's no biggie. Sigh. 5 pallets go in and Army Guy, Farm Guy, Farm Guy's kiddo, and Neighbor Guy spend the rest of the day laying sod. Whoo-hoo! Yard is beautiful. Best $450 ever spent! More importantly, dogs can be in Farm Guy's dog pen in backyard until fence battle is won and not be all muddy. Yay! Wednesday started with a list. First mistake. First on the list was to enroll Thing 1 in school. To enroll Thing 1 in school, his shot records must be on a State of Tennessee form. To get that taken care of we have to go to Fort Campbell's hospital. So I figure, we'll just go by Tri-Care and take care of enrollment while we're on post. Army Guy decides it would be best to do that before going to hospital so if hospital throws a fit, we have documentation that proves we're assigned there. Yay! So into Tricare he goes and 10 mins later out of Tricare he comes. I'm pleasantly surprised at how quick it went. Second Mistake. Army Guy announces that Ft. Campbell's policy is that if you live off post, you have to be seen off post. WTF?!?!?! So they give him a list of providers and we have to pick one. At first, I'm peeved, but then it was like okay well let's get the kids taken care of and then I'll look into the OB side. So I start checking providers in Clarksville. Out of the 40 providers they gave us, 2 are in Clarksville. 2!!!!!! The rest are 15-45 miles away. WTF?!?!?!! There's some significant swearing. I call one of the local providers and they have plenty of openings, they just ask we fill out our patient information sheets before we try to schedule appts. No biggie. They also said it was no biggie to put Thing 1's shot records together either Wednesday or Thursday. Yay! Then I look at OB's. Swearing begins again. 3 OB's on list and all of them are 45 mins away. I literally had 2 hours of labor with Thing 2. I'm planning on camping out at hospital from 36 weeks on. I need a doc who is actually in the same freakin town as I am. So at this point, I'm steaming kind of peeved, so back in the Tri Care office I go. After waiting for 15 mins, I finally get helped and then get explained that all OB patients are seen on post, but I have to have an off post doc refer me back on post. Sigh. Okay. No biggie. We decide to go out to new doc's office and make me, Thing 1 and Thing 2 patients. New doc's office is INSANELY helpful. INSANELY! They manage to get me & Thing 1 in to see someone that day. Which is wow exciting cuz Thing 1 had to also get a physical because someone at Benning FORGOT to date his last physical. Sigh. Anywho, so there Thing 1 and I sit in doc's office waiting to be seen when my phone rings. It's the realtor. Roll call to voicemail. I put my phone back in my purse and it starts buzzing again. It's Army Guy. At this point, I'm thinking it's weird that Army Guy would be calling me knowing I'm at doc. Roll it to voicemail and send a text "what's up?". Army Guy calls again. So I ask nice nurse if I can take the call and she says "yah that's fine". Army Guy is irate and wants to know when I'm going to be home. I explain that I have no idea and what's wrong. Evidently the lead contractor has stopped by the house to discuss damage that was done by the Sod guy's forklift to the empty lot and the empty yards. $300 per yard and he wants money like NOW. So I say "okay, well he's just going to have to wait and we'll talk about it when I get home". So 20 mins later after we're done with appt. I call Army Guy back, by this time, Contractor has chilled a bit, realized it wasn't Army Guy's fault and has asked for Sod Guy's phone number and he'll just get money from him. Army Guy feels a little bit guilty of that because we didn't stop Sod Guy, but I figure Sod Guy is a business, he should know the rules. Army guy agrees and sacrifices Sod Guy to Contractor Guy. :) No biggie. Finally get Thing 1's paperwork together for school. Next on the list is DirectTV guy comes out. Yay! TV FINALLY! Or so we think. So DirecTV Guy shows up and immediately asks to put dish on front of house. Ummmm...NO! Army Guy hollers at me (snickering the whole time) and explains that Directv guy wants to put dish on house. I go to make a "sure make my house look trashy" face but I catch it and say "Um, the subdivision rules say the dish has to be in the backyard." Directv guy says "well you've got trees in the back". Yah, I have trees--possibly 12 between my yard and neighbors--they're tall but they're no bigger then 18" diameter and most of them were severly injured in the Ice Storm. So we're not expecting major blooming this spring. In fact, we had tree guy come out and clean out our 2 trees before closing and he said that all of the neighbor's trees are dead. So off to the backyard we go with Directv guy and his compass thingy. And he stands in 4 different places in the yard and then announces "yah we can't do it". Sigh. At this point, I know that the subdivision hasn't been wired for the most popular cable provider (Charter). The lines are run, but they haven't hooked them up. I literally have lines at my driveway for Charter, but no luck with service. So at this point, Directv guy is calling his manager telling him the story and they say "yah sorry". Okay, well I know there's another cable provider, but you get half the channels for twice the money, but it'll work till Charter figures out how to run wires to the house. So off I go to call CDE. I talk to a really helpful CDE guy, who can "hook me up with the best pricing" which is HORRID expensive for the lack of channels. But at least it's something. We get through all of the questions and then CDE guy says "okay we can be there May 1st to install". At which point, I have a hemmorage. "MAY 1ST!! SERIOUSLY?!?!? I CAN'T HAVE DISH AND CHARTER ISN'T WIRED AND YOU ARE MY ONLY OPTION AND YOU CAN'T WORK ME IN BEFORE MAY 1ST?!?!?!" And CDE guy says "Nope, May 1st is the earliest date I have" to which I reply with some comment about customer service and cancel order and hang up. Directv guy, who is still in my house for reasons I don't understand, says "yah I think it's going to be 2 years before Charter is out here" Why would you say that to a pregnant woman with 2 kids are trying to actively kill each other????? So I call Charter with sheer desperation in my voice. I get a really nice guy on the phone and I explain to him my situation and that I will buy the biggest monthly cable package they have if they will just come hook it up BEFORE May 1st. Please. Please. Please. He chuckles and then proceeds to check everything and he is fairly certain they can do it. YAY! So I'm getting like 8000 channels for $100 a month, but they should be here on Thursday to install. He sent a tech out to verify they can do install and yes according to tech they can install. I'm not going to believe it till I see it. Then onto Fridge. Army Guy and Farmer Guy's kiddo decide that they can just go get fridge and save the $70 delivery fee (mental note--always pay the fee). Evidently, picking up the fridge went smoothly. The bringing in of the fridge not so smoothly. Luckily Neighbor Guy showed up to help struggling Army Guy & Farm Guy's kiddo. We ended up having to take the handles off and my wood floor in the entryway got scratched, but it is the mostest prettiest fridge on the planet so it's all good. So Wednesday ends finally. Onto Thursday. Thing 1 decides he doesn't want to go to school until Friday, which works because I didn't get the enrollment paperwork completely filled out until after 4pm on Wednesday. So I take enrollment forms to school on Thursday and everything is set for Friday. Yay! So we head to Lowe's for fence help. We actually find someone who is very helpful and we decide on doing panels (it has to be privacy because of subdivision rules) instead of picking individual boards and we get a list of all the materials and Lowe's will put together and deliver on Friday. Yay! At this point, unpacking has gone well, but we have a surplus of boxes on the front driveway. But then a neighbor from down the road stopped by and asked if he could have the boxes. We said "YES!!!" and then neighbor cornered Army Guy for a good 45 mins talking about Army things and neighborhood things and pretty much anything. But it was worth it cuz he took all of the boxes! Yay! Then onto commissary shopping. Fort Campbell has the prettiest commissary of all time. They have a HUGE selection of stuff!!! It was like Christmas all over again!!! More importantly, it meant that we didn't have to go out for food! Yay! But of course I had to check out every isle, so it was late by the time we got home. So groceries away, kids to bed, and all was good and right in our world. But I realized my plant was still outside, so as I opened the door to get it I noticed a note on the door. Note says "The dumpster that you dumped all of your boxes in costs me $400 to dump, so you need to either split this with me or remove all of your boxes tomorrow". Sigh. Luckily, note writer left a number that I promptly called at 9:45pm and explained that we gave our boxes to a guy down the street. She accepted that explanation and said she'd talk to him about it. At this point, I've decided that the people in this hood are nice, but contractors/builders and all those of the like suck! Friday was better with fence material delivery going fine. Army Guy about killed himself getting all the post holes dug and he's still working on fence, but it looks good and hopefully no one will complain. More importantly construction of fence has deterred neighborhood Great Dane from pooing in our yard. That and I yelled at her and her owner was all "oh, I didn't realize she was down there". How do you NOT know where that dog is? :) Saturday started well, but ended with me doubled over with some lower intestinal bug from hell. Sunday consisted of me laying on the couch, sleeping and being made at Thing 3 cuz she decided that Sunday was an awesome day to be the most wiggly.

OH! I forgot to finish the Porter Story! So by Wednesday, Porter is still projectile vomitting (which is an awesome thing to experience by the way). At that point I decicded it wasn't well water or moving nerves but he must have some kind of stomach bug. So I call Farm Guy's wife for a vet recommendation and she hooks me up with an AWESOME vet. I take Porter down there and they do an x-ray to determine if he's eaten something he shouldn't have. Lo and behold there's a dark spot on the xray but it's in an odd spot and they want to keep him for a couple of hours and take another xray. This is Thursday morning, so I'm all "yah that works--let him puke on you for a bit". :) So I leave and tell Army Guy the story and he's all "this is going to be expensive", but I don't care. After lunch, vet calls to confirm that xray shows dark spot and they gave him a shot of stuff that should help stomach get rid of whatever dark spot is, but they want to keep him over night and xray him again in the morning. I'm thinking "okay, no biggie". Army Guy is thinking "more money". The next morning, vet calls and says that he passed some kind of greenish, spongish thing and has been acting tons better and the xray appears to be clear, but can they keep him until noon to verify he's fine. Yes, you can. Yay! So I head to the vet at noon fully prepared for a $400 vet bill. Of course that's before I know he has to have meds for a week and special food for a week. Great. More money, but at least there was something really wrong with him and it's not just all "well, hmmm". Little chick actually winced when she gave me my total of $238!!! Yes!!! I did a dance. :)Porter is doing much better now and the vet actually called on Monday to make sure Porter had a good weekend. Love them!

So ta-dah. Welcome to my life!

I'm hiding--why not blog...

So Thing 1 currently has a friend over and they're causing all kinds of ruckus in the back of the house. Army Guy has gone into deep hiding in the bedroom with tv as loud as humanly possible. He's also determined that if he lays VERY still he's some how camo'd into the bed. I'm trying to figure out how he thinks that his blue/white shirt is any way camo'd into the greenish comforter, but hey, he's the one in the Army. :) Anyways, in an effort to sidetrack my brain from the utter destruction that may or may not be going on in the back I'm blogging. I'm brilliant.

I haven't blogged in a while for reasons I don't understand. I need to be sharing my stories more often. Thing 2 is giving me plenty of material these days. For example:

Army Guy to Thing 2 as he wraps gifts: I do know what I'm doing
Thing 2 to Army Guy: Are you sure because I'm not so sure.

Thing 2 and Army Guy have recently decided it's more fun to pick on each other then try to get along. It's GREAT (she says with so much sarcasm it's almost painful to say)! I'm trying to convince Army Guy that he's actually an adult, so he's SUPPOSED to not stoop to her level, but so far I'm completely unsuccessful. Completely.

At least Thing 1 is past this phase. Although, Thing 1 has recently resorted to the stomping/door stomping actions to demonstrate exactly how much he doesn't want to do chores, homework, or generally anything I recommend. Sigh. As goes my life. :) Thing 1 is still excelling in school and can I just say God Bless School and the 7 hours he's not under my feet.

As an example of our insanity, we'll be welcoming Baby #3 in June. Yah, I'm not completely sure what we were thinking. It was one of those "well let's try for a few months and if it works it works and if not that's cool too" and 1 month later it'd worked. Surprise!!!

Well the noise has subsided and I think I've worked up the courage to go peek down the hall. Wish me luck!

Fall is here!

Fall is here! :) Yay! After spending two years without seaons, we finally have seasons again. Thing 2 pointed out that the leaves were getting old today and it occured to me that we haven't seen leaves get old in two years. Who are we kidding, we haven't seen leaves in two years. :) Ha! So, welcome cold mornings and Pumpkin Spice coffee creamer!


Thing 1 has started riding his bike to school. He had a crash and scraped up his elbow, but he got right back up, got on the bike and (I quote) "worked through the pain". He's so dramatic. Hehehehe. School is going very well for him. His teacher is still awesome. He's making lots of friends in the neighborhood too. For his Birthday, he asked to go camping, so we did our First Family Camping trip mid-September. It went well--Thing 1 caught a fish, we saw an alligator in the pond, and we munched on Smores! Then for his actual party, he requested a Lego Party. Yup, we actually INVITED kids over to make a Lego Mess. :) He had an awesome time and I successfully made a Lego Brick Cake...wasn't quite thinking when I used blue icing, but oh well.







Thing 2 has been attending pre-school twice a week. She seems to like it, after the initial drop off scream. :) She's mastered the "meltdown" fit. It's pretty entertaining to watch. Ha! She's also started using her imagination a TON more these days. She "cooks" dinner on a regular basis. She has a new friend "Teddy"--her favorite stuffed animal. Teddy has to go EVERYWHERE that we go. More importantly, Teddy has to be buckled EVERYTIME that we get in the car. So yes, we have a new routine--buckle Thing 2 and then buckle Teddy. Army Guy discovered that is the new SOP the other day when Thing 2 came completely unglued because Army Guy was driving away without Teddy being buckled. Army Guy was then lectured for a good 20 mins about how unsafe it was to drive with Teddy being unbuckled. Hehehee....


Army Guy is half way done with school. He'll be off to Ranger School in January--64 days of VERY limited contact. If he gets through it in one shot (which is VERY rare), we'll be moving to Fort Campbell around April. However, his new unit isn't expecting him until July. Kids and I are planning random roadtrips during Ranger School. I'm not sure that's sane, but when have I ever been sane. :) Ha!


I've discovered I'm being anti-social thus far here. I'm not sure why other then we're only here a short time and I feel like I'm recharging here. :) All is good!

Okay, I can't figure out how to move my pics around so I apologize for the randomness of their placement! Ugh! Sometimes technology kicks my butt....sigh....

Army Guy is SO old!

Hey all,

For those of you who don't know Army Guy turns 30 on Sunday. I know...he's SOOOOO OLD. ;) It's the first birthday in I can't remember how long that we were all together at, so of course, I went all out. :) He got a birthday gift he wanted...not needed. And for the first time in at least 3 years, it wasn't TA-50 (seriously...the Army has issued him that on his bday for the last 3 years). :) I guess that's also a sign of things being good--getting bday gifts you want...not NEED. Anyhow, we had a small bday party here tonight. It was great...close friends, good food, lots of beer, and the bestest cake ever! Pics are below.