Deployment Ceremony Info

Hey All,

Just a quick note to give you details about the deployment ceremony for my unit since I know some of you would like to be there. I obviously don't have EVERYONE included on this email, so please feel free to send it out to others that you think would be interested in knowing about it.

The ceremony will be held at:
Hickory Grove Baptist Church
60150 Hickory Grove Rd
Charlotte, NC 28215

Date/Time: January 3rd at 10AM.

This ceremony is for Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Bn, 113th Field Artillery Regiment. The 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, our parent unit, will have a ceremony later in 2009 closer to actual deployment, although I have zero details about that ceremony.

I intend to blog from deployment to this blog, so please check back regularly. I'll do whatever I can to keep semi-regular updates.

Sincerely,

Jim

Moving Update

Thanks to everyone checking in on me and seeing how they could help. It has been a marathon of a week that's for sure. We've had every type of contractor possible. The boys regularly ask for Chris our electrician or Rick the plumber. But our lights and ceiling fans are fixed and our house is painted as much as it's going to be at this point. The leak has been fixed so after 3 days of no water we are all clean again. The whole kitchen is installed and I'll be doing our first load of laundry tonight. I'm now legal on the internet and not poaching off of our neighbor. We have tv/cable now and I can actually send e-mails instead of only reading them.

I found one last box for the kitchen but it's pretty much done and I'm getting used to where everything is. I even got to cook a huge batch of soup on the new stove and it was awesome. I did manage to get the Christmas tree up and all lit and decorated. Thanks to Staci and Jason Elliot and Poppi there are even presents under the tree!

The boys playroom is last and packed to the brim. I'm thinking about taking a day off tomorrow but we'll see. The boys were getting excited when I told them Daddy was coming home soon. They were saying Daddy...... yippeeeeee! We tried out the new gym and we loved it. They have an even nicer playset there. I did some driving and fell even more in love with the area. I got lost in a golf neighborhood and thought about just moving our stuff into just one room of some of these mansions we came across. Man there are some nice houses in this area.

Hope everyone is getting ready for the holidays. I know I'm not even remotely close or even started!

Quotables

Cooper: "Momma don't touch Bear's towel!"
Me: "Cooper are you bossing me around?"
Cooper: "No!! But don't touch Momma."

This morning the boys climbed into bed with me Bear toting his lovely flashlight. (Thanks Bebba) He starts flashing it in our eyes and cackling....
Me: "Bear if you shine that in our eyes again I'm going to have to take the flashlight away."
Bear: Shines it in our eyes again with a decided glee.
Me: I take the flashlight away.
Bear: Crying commences.
Cooper: "Bear- you gotta say sorry!"
Bear: Crying suddenly stops, "Oh, sorrrryyyyy!"

At Lowes Today
Our last trip was supposed to be 45 minutes but turned into 4 hours and we still walked away without blinds. Coop had grown men on the floor playing cars with him it was very cute. Today though he decided that everyone needed hugs. An older woman in a sari was trying to catch up to her husband and Coop saw her and yelled, "Awwww give me a big hug!" and took off for her. Luckily she was receptive. He did scare one gentleman today as he attacked his leg. So we worked on him asking first before giving hugs to strangers. He seemed so disappointed.

Santa Claus also showed up at Lowes. He was obviously doing some last minute shopping but took the time to talk to the boys. Coop yelled after him, "Thanks for stopping Santa, see you sooooon!"

We've Moved!

I can't believe it's only Wednesday. The last week feels as if it's been an entire month. We have moved out of our apartment that was to be for 3 months but turned into 3 years and into our new house in Apex, North Carolina! I will send pictures once I am out of box hell! We unloaded an entire POD plus an entire apartment. Needless to say we have way too much stuff.

The boys are doing absolutely amazing. I took them to the apartment to clean out the last bits and turn in our keys and they didn't even bat an eye. I asked if they wanted to say goodbye to the apartment and Coop said, "Let's get outta here!" They have named the new house Peggy Sue. Whenever we are coming home they are shouting for Peggy Sue. They LOVE the front yard and are constantly asking to go outside and play on their little scooters. I can't wait to get a fence up and feel safe letting them run around. So far the neighbors have been wonderful. I couldn't find the keys to the POD locks and the locksmith got stuck in our very wet yard. Neighbor comes out and in about 3 minutes has him towed out it was so cool. Turns out there are a lot of families in the neighborhood so I'm looking forward to meeting them. I have sliced my thumb with a knife and feel totally helpless without a thumb!!!! BUT tonight I have 94% unpacked the kitchen and successfully hijacked a neighbors wireless internet. Meg, our new babysitter, and I had to go through every box to find my battery to the laptop and I kid you not it was in the very last box we looked in. Tomorrow we have the dishwasher, fridge, stove and dryer being delivered. No washer in stock yet so the dryer will just look pretty. The cable company is scheduled as is the plumber so we won't be leaving the house tomorrow. The boys bathtub is broken so I had to turn off water to the whole house tonight. I was so proud of myself for figuring out how to do that!!

I had a class to teach on Sunday- still not sure how I pulled that one off. With out Bebba here this weekend I'm sure I wouldn't have. They came to deliver the stove and it turned out I didn't have the right connection- just so happened to have the electrician there who could fix that but while we waited to talk to him Cooper pulled out all the instruments we had and had all of the guys playing music and dancing. We went to drop off the cable box and Coop announced to the whole office as he barged in, "I'm here!!!" As we made a quick dash to the bathroom he interrupted some folks giving a presentation to tell them he was going to go potty now. Oh and on move night I asked the movers not to put his crib back together so he is now in his big boy bed. He fell out once but has been fine ever since. The new routine in the morning is for both of the boys to jump up on the bed and fly into my arms. Good for me as I've not been able to work out in a week!

I'm hoping to get a bit more situated before Jim comes home for the holidays so we can focus on enjoying our time together. I'll be sending out an e-mail with our new address and new phone number shortly!

First Week Without our Jimbo

After our whirlwind Thanksgiving trip we rushed home to get Jim packed and ready to leave for the first leg of his deployment. (When I say rushed I mean we tried but every 30 minutes Coop would yell, "Stop the truck I need to potty!") I think he loved the hub-bub. I'm still not sure how Jim packed his whole life in a rucksack and a bug-out aka backpack but he did. We did our normal night ritual and he put the boys down and said good bye. He's gone away for trips before and I'm not sure how to describe it but it just felt really different and really final.

Jim's normal work day before being deployed consisted of him leaving at 5:30 am and not getting home until 6ish. So the week days had a touch of normalcy to them. He could still text and call so there was still connection which made it quite bearable. It was hard in the evening but they adjusted very nicely to Jim reading them their books over the phone. Jim would tell them to get into bed and off they would go. I'm not sure I can explain the adorable factor when they hug the phone but it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

One day as we were getting home Cooper said, "Oh yeah, I get to see my Daddy!" Saturday morning both the boys woke up asking for Daddy and both said to me, "Momma you lost Daddy." I replied he wasn't lost he was just at work and they said, "Oh ok!" and that was that.

Between packing, wrangling with our loan processor, scanning over 100 documents, working at the daycare, and a surprise visit from Poppi it was a very hectic week. I almost adopted a puppy but ws able to talk myself out of it when the cute factor faded and I thought about having to walk the dog in the winter and not being sure if the boys could handle it yet. This next week promises to be even more nuts as we close on our house, paint, move, get our POD (after 2 years!!) and teach a class I don't think I'll get much more sleep this week. I do have to work on a bit of a balance for me. I can't function on this little sleep or the poor quality food I'm eating. I don't want to end up sick that's for sure.

So overall we survived our first week I think with flying colors. The boys are truly the most amazing little guys. Whenever I needed a hug they just seemed to know and I would find them giving me the most wonderful hugs and kisses. I can get through anything with hugs like that!

Stop And Smell The Roses

A Bandage

Coop's new thing is to tell you something hurts and that he needs a "bandage". I happened to find some old gauze and obliged him his need for a bandage. As soon as he had it on he said he felt better.

A Date To Remember

With only about a month to get Jim ready for his deployment we decided to squeeze in a date to spends some time together where we were not allowed to talk about bills or the kids. So after a wonderful dinner Jim thought it would be fun to go ice skating!

We were trying to pretend like we were young and hip but a random teenager asked us for help getting his skates on. We knew then we looked like parents and not one of the kids squeeling with delight over the strobe lights flashing with music we'd never heard of.

Autumn Leaves 2008

I will miss our complex here in the fall. We are surrounded by trees on every side and when fall arrives it literally snows down leaves. It's breathtaking and hours of fun for the boys.

Thanksgiving 2008

We packed up the boys and headed up for a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with the Monihan's. The boys did fabulous on the car ride. Cooper had to stop every 30 minutes to go potty. He would yell, "Daddy stop the truck and pull over!" Grandma Kathy prepared a feast and we got to spend some much needed time with family. We headed back home this morning to finish getting Jim packed and ready for the first leg of his deployment. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love. We are counting our blessings and remembering all that we are grateful for.

Halloween 2008

This was our first Halloween where both boys asked to get dressed up and picked out their own costumes. They ended up switching costumes though and asked to dress up for a few days after Halloween.

Boys Update

POTTY TRAINING
Coop’s potty dance- he is doing a great job he just likes to have an audience at all times. He refuses to go to the bathroom by himself. If you don’t make it in time he will pee standing up with his pants down running around the bathroom frantically breathing and yelling at you to, “Come on!!!”

Bear’s potty stubbornness- Bear goes back and forth potty training but still prefers diapers. Some days he asks to use the potty and others he demands diapers. We could force the issue but I figure I’ll be patient and let it happen more naturally. Besides we have a lot of change coming up I’m not going to stress out on this one. It is adorable though to have them both sitting on potty’s at the same time.

FAVORITE TOYS
Flashlights. If anyone has leads on really inexpensive flashlights I would be very grateful. They break them constantly but have to have one with them at all times. Coopers favorite thing to do is close himself off in a dark room and ask you to “Come play dark with me!” Coop will ask and take you on a tour of any dark room but he’s clear to say, “Don’t scare me.”
The baby. We have this little baby doll that we purchased to help Coop adjust to having a baby around the house. Well now the boys take turns with the baby and try very hard to take care of him. Often they will ask for him to be in a diaper and yesterday Coop asked for a bottle for the baby. Right now Bear just brought him to be saying, “Baby’s diaper.” Coop picked him up and said, “Oh baby!” and is now burping him.

LINGO
Backyardigans translates to “Fardigans”
Gym translates to “ym”. (Think gyro but how people say yro.)
Wal-Mart translates to “The City”
Whole Foods translates to “The Castle”
Kroger translates to “The Kroger Castle”

BACKSEAT DRIVERS
There is nothing worse than a backseat driver. Ask Jim I drive him nuts every time someone breaks too fast in front of us. But how do you argue with two toddlers who yell, “Go, go, go!!!” at the top of their lungs every time the light turns green. How do you not scratch your head when Coop tells me to turn right or left at every turn and most of the time he is right. But the funniest is when they argue over where we are going. Bear will determine “The Castle!” and let up a little cheer. Coop will respond, “No Bear, NO CASTLE we go to the ym!” Bear usually will say, “Oh ok.”

IN A MINUTE
This little phrase has saved my tail countless times. When they want something they want something. They don’t understand it when I say later, or tomorrow or not tonight. But if I tell them, “Not yet,” or “In a minute,” they 99.9% of the time calm right down and know that they will get it eventually.

TRAINS
They are train obsessed that is for sure. They each carry little lunch pails EVERYWHERE we go filled with little trains. Bear also has this little green basket filled with toys he carries with him all the time. If another kid at the gym daycare even dares to come close I’ve watched Bear put his hand out and say, “No baby, no touch!” The only issue we face is they both want to sleep with Thomas. Not Gordon who is also blue but only Thomas with the Number 1 on the side. I tried to trick Coop once and he kept saying, “No, not the number 1!” So Jim found 2 more Thomas trains that we will hope to combat any arguing until they lose those. If they weren’t so expensive I would have asked him to buy 6!

You Gotta Wiggle It

Ooookaaaaay....

So, obviously, Abbie spends more time with the boys than I do. Well, today, I saw a hint of what to expect when I get back from deployment.

The boys were sitting at the table eating breakfast and they wanted some slices of an apple. They kept asking for "pieces of green". So finally, Abbie pulls out the apple...then says, "okay, Boys, dance...dance." And guess what? They all start to dance in their chairs. "You gotta wiggle it, just a little bit!" and they keep wiggling it.

Its wonderful to know that the boys exist just for our amusement. Abbie was like, "yeah, they'll be in school in the lunch line and just start wiggling it. They're friends will all be like 'what are you doing' and the boys will be like 'what, don't you dance before you eat?'"

Mmmm-hmmmmmmmm.

Say Thanks To A Veteran Today

As a future veteran of the Middle East wars, I felt it appropriate to post here information about the organization, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). They're a veteran-created non-partisan group dedicated to helping the Veterans of our two wars.

If you are a veteran, or know someone that is, please pass on to them this organization's website.

www.communityofveterans.org
www.IAVA.org

I'm sure I speak for many of my peers when I say, Thanks for all of your support.

November 2008 Update

We stopped posting updates because it was more of that hurry up and wait! Back in January we made the decision that Jim would go back into the Army. Snafu after snafu somewhere along the line we shifted to him joining the National Guard and then more sanfu's ensued.

Jim has now officially been sworn into the North Carolina National Guard and received his orders yesterday!! What that means is he will be deploying for 16-18 months starting December 1st. So while we knew this was a possibility and knew it would eventually happen it's now REALLY happening and we have a lot to do! We are looking to buy a house and finally get our stuff out of storage and have a yard to play in. That may or may not happen before Jim leaves but we sure will try. We will be in NOVA for Thanksgiving as well!!

The boys are doing absolutely amazing. They are speaking to each other in their own language and Cooper likes to translate for me. Yesterday we went to the playground and they could see the early moon out. As they were swinging they kept reaching for the moon saying, "Momma I can't reach it!" They watch Thomas the Train and Coop will point out each train and get Bear to repeat each one after him. It's quite adorable. The boys even celebrated their first Halloween with costumes that they got to pick out. (Although they switched them when it came time to wear them.) I'll post those pictures soon.

I spent most of October getting my new office set up and I'm lucky to have some classes scheduled that keep me busy and distracted. I picked up some work at my gym daycare to help on our cutting back program. I get my gym membership (as long as the boys) for free plus a little extra. I'm still amazed at how little we pay those to take care of our children!

We'll keep everyone posted now as things should start moving along (FINALLY).

Persistance Pays Off

We are a Superfood family now!! This is the most amazing stuff in the whole wide world. It has all the vitamins, minerals & nutrition a person's body could possibly need. It doesn't always taste good at first but man you feel so great when you have it. It has been a key factor in the healing of Cooper's health issues and I can rest at night knowing that even if we aren't perfect in our food choices if we are getting our superfood in our body is getting the nourishment it needs. Coop drinks two Superfood drinks a day and would drink even more if we let him. Bear picked up Coop's bottle one day and took a sip expecting water. You can imagine the face he made when it his his taste buds. That was a year ago and he's refused to drink anything that isn't clear water. No juice, no kombucha- nothing. I had been sneaking it into Bear's cracker recipe since he's stopped nursing but one day he pulled his chair up to the counter and poured himself a bowl of Superfood and proceeded to eat it!! They love to have it now with breakfast and as an afternoon snack!!!

Butterfly Kisses

Ride?

It still amazes me how much we all are creatures of habit. It's fascinating to watch in the boys as they set up certain things that they expect. After the gym they expect a bag of crackers. Before bed they know that there is bath, a show, books and then they wait for marshmallows and chocolate (names for supplements they take). If you miss any part of their ritual they will let you know about it and it's very difficult to recover from the error.

Over the past two weeks a new habit has emerged. They will not step one foot into their bedroom if they know it's time for books. They will scream for their ride and one of us has to get both of them on our backs and give them a ride into their room.

Inspector Sullivan

Spontaneous Naps

You know how I love these spontaneous nap times!!!

Emmy's Visit

The boys got a chance to have another Emily visit this summer! This time they got to have their very own moon bounce in the back yard, fun rides on the inflatable bed, a trip to the park where they all wanted to sit on their own benches instead of play and of course there was the infamous lollipop incident! Can't wait for another visit!!

Rainy Days

)

One rainy day we were trying to think of something fun to do with the boys- we had some fun tunnel things that Mary Burden had given us ages ago but we had been waiting for them to get a bit older (and to have more space! The boys LOVE this thing!! I'm talking hours and hours of hide and go seek and a great way to pass a rainy day by that doesn't involve puddles :-)

September 2008 Zoo Trip

The Monihan's and most of North Carolina took a trip to the Zoo over Labor Day Weekend. It was hard to see most of the animals and the boys refused to walk much! The most fun was watching Coop try to scare the monkey statue! "Boooooo!!!"

No Nap!

Cooper has been phasing out of his lovely nap time in the afternoons. Why kids want to give this up is beyond my comprehension! Although he's doing quite well now without his afternoon naps there are a few rare occasions when he sneaks one in.

Quotables

Cooper: "Momma I'm frustrated."
Me: "You are?"
Cooper: "Yeah really frustrated."
Me: "What do you do when you are frustrated?"
Cooper: "Stop, freeze and THINK!"

Quotables

Cooper: "Momma I want a green drink."
Me: "Okay baby give me just a minute to finish eating my lunch." I am rushing around eating my lunch over the sink!
Cooper: "Green drink Momma."
Me: "In a minute Coop."
Cooper: "Mommmaaaaa greeeeeen drink!!!"
Me: "In a minute Coop."
Repeat about 5 more times then.....
Cooper: "Mommmaaaaa greeeeeen drink!!!" Now pulling on my pants leg.
Me: "Cooper honey you see me trying to eat, please stop!"
Cooper: "Hmmm okay Momma- chill out. Chiiiillllll out Momma."

I Wanna Be Like Daddy

E.T. Phone Home

Coop has been figthing taking naps the whole month of August. I would hear him for an hour talking and playing and eventually falling asleep but then not waking up till after 5. So last week we made the transition and Cooper has given up his afternoon naps. This was his last nap when I was trying to wake him up and he had wrapped himself up in his blanket and all I could think of was E.T.

Coop's Figured It Out

As we continue this potty training saga our life continues to get more and more interesting. There are now adventurous stops on the side of the road to pull out the potty. It's really fun when you try to get him to use a real toilet at a store and he literally about climbs the wall (backwards) in fear trying to get away from it. It's even more interesting to carry the potty to the gym where all the mom's laugh knowingly with me.

Yesterday Coop was playing outside on the patio and I hear him yell, " Help me momma, gotta stinky momma, help me momma, help me momma, help me momma!!!" The word help as he says it is missing the 'L' so I just hear in his little twang "Hep me." I come running to meet him at the potty and he is doing a dance stomping his feet around. We get off his shorts and underwear and we have our very first success with taking the underwear off to go stinky!! We do a dance and he gets a treat all is well in our little world.

Until of course he's realized if he yells, "Hep me Momma, gotta go potty!" I come running. After the 4th or 5th time of this I realized I'm getting played here. He's doing the gotta go now dance but as soon as I arrive he's smirking at me and he is just fine and can hold it. Little stinker. What made me write about this was this morning. He's usually up a bit earlier than me and I leave him in the room for a few minutes as I get my morning started. I heard him call out for me to come give him a blanket and that didn't work so he yelled, "Hep me Momma, gotta go potty!!" So I know he has the overnight diaper on and it would be fine but I like that he doesn't want to use it when he's awake. So go get him and I just have this pit in my stomach that now he knows what to say to get me to come get him whenever he wants! I'm a goner. For 3.5 years old they really know how to work you over. If he's this good at 3.5 imagine when he's 5??

Play-Doh

Emphasis on the "Doh". Cooper directed and I obliged his little snowman creation!

What do you notice?

Olivia Visit

August was a busy month with visits! Olivia (and her mom Jamie) came down from upper Maryland by train and stayed with us for 4 days. It was actually a nice and relaxing time. Jamie got one of my headaches and was out of commission one day. Some event in town sucked up all the rental mini-vans except one that was going to cost us about $600 so we couldn't do much with everyone but we made do. We took a trip out to show Jamie where we were house hunting and she got to meet my teacher Wanda. It was really sad to see the train coming in to pick them back up. Olivia was such a dream baby and really held her own with the boys.

Emmy's Visit

Emily (and her mom Katie) came to visit in August for two days. The boys had such a good time taking her to the pool and playing. (Of course I had a blast hanging out with Katie too!)

Favorite Sayings

Coop's favorite sayings right now:
"No momma I can't, I quit." (We no longer watch NiHao Kilan anymore.)
"Super Cooper to the rescuuuuuue!"
"Turn around momma, spin me."
"No Bear, not a toy."
"You dance Momma."
"Look I'm doing the nanna dance."


Bear's favorite sayings right now:
"I'm sad."
"Dat you." i.e. thank- you.
"No."
"It's mine."