Wednesday, March 17, 2010

bits and pieces

Brent is off on another trip to an "FOB" (forward operating base) to do more exams. So far he's completed around 1000 out of 3800 total. His goal is to examine each member of his brigade before they begin to return home in May, so that when they all get home, each can have their dental work done quickly and efficiently.

Of course he's just as frustrated as ever. He and his friend Brad (a physical therapist) wrote up a whole "redeployment" plan - a proposal of how to get everyone medically ready to return home. The leadership there seem to work well with Brent's ideas - IF he presents those ideas in a way that makes the leadership think that they came up with the plans all on their own. His take is that even after doing this for nine years, his brigade tries to "re-invent the wheel" each time they re-deploy (return home).

On the homefront, we're trying to decide if we should BUY or RENT. We'll be at Fort Lewis for five years, providing Brent doesn't get called up to a residency program early (meaning someone scheduled to start July of 2010 drops out). At this point in time, I just don't know if it's wise to buy. My big fear is not being able to sell when we are transferred in five years. I've heard financial planners and "real-estate gurus" advise that it's fine to buy if you'll be staying in the house for at least 3 years. But seriously - this economy is NOT going to be recovering any time soon. Then again, the city that we're looking in is probably the best in the area for re-sale. There aren't many homes on the market, or for rent. It's the closest city to the hospital on base. Our mortgage payment would be less than we'd pay to rent... blah blah blah. I keep running the same things through my head.

Here are a few houses that I'm dying to go and check out:






In other news, Dolly Babe and Stinky were the only ones to escape the nasty bacterial infection we had ravaging our home earlier this month. But don't worry - they're getting caught up now, each with a nasty cough to enjoy. We sure are ready for summer!!!

Stinky is almost 14 months, and happy to be crawling. Every now and then he'll take a few steps, but crawling is so much easier and faster! I'm not in a hurry for him to grow up. I like my baby, and know that it won't last much longer. I am, however, looking forward to this July when he will go to the nursery at church!!! I will shout for joy when I no longer have to wrestle him for 3 hours every Sunday. Mostly, we just hang out in the hallways. He's not one of those kids who will play quietly on the floor. Last Sunday I put him down for a minute in Sunday School and 30 seconds later he was trying to untie the teacher's shoes. Nice.

Mini is finally adjusted to primary (at our church, it's the meeting for kids 3-12). For the first few months he didn't want to go and had to sit on his older sister's lap. Now I'm hearing from all of the teachers how well he's doing: sitting quietly, singing the songs, paying attention. It just takes boys a little longer, right? He still refuses to have anything to do with the toilet and LOVES his diapers. I think that we may have to eventually just lay down the law and refuse to buy diapers for him. He's the stubbornest kid there ever was, and I'm just not ready for the fight. He's letting go of nap-time, which is nice, and still loves his brother and sister to pieces.

Dolly Babe is just a joy. She tries to do what is right. She is loving and kind and thoughtful. She loves her friends fiercely, but is learning that sometimes other kids can be mean. She seems to be handling the situations very well. A few of the girls on our street get snotty and catty and she's started finding other friends to play with. I'm grateful that she's not an "exclusive" type of girl. She really loves to play with anyone - young or old, tall or short, light or dark, fat or thin, boy or girl.

I'm grateful to be surrounded by loving and gracious people. I've been given so much help this past year, and it's been wonderful to be near family again. I'm grateful that when we do move, we'll still be within driving distance!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

light

I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And so does the capt., I hope.

People over there are getting stir-crazy and losing it. Breaking rules. Basically losing control of themselves.

He's been working really hard to get exams done for each of the soldiers in his brigade, so that when they get home it will be quick and easy to get them all fixed up and ready to move on. For him, working really hard means starting exams and operative procedures at 6 or 6:30 am and working NON-STOP until 7 pm or later. It's like he's in dental school again.

And finally "the powers that be" (or the surgeon cell, who decide where all of the medical officers are needed) realize that the captain needs to be home with the first wave of returning soldiers, so that they can be treated immediately.

So he will be returning early or mid-June!!!! He'll have two weeks of leave (which we'll spend moving to Ft. Lewis) and then he'll get back to work.

The kids have gotten to the point (he's been gone since August) where they talk about him non-stop. When he first left, they could go days without really minding his absence. They didn't talk about him much, other than the, "please bless daddy that he will be safe" in their prayers each night. They've got Grandma and Grandpa and Gram and Grandpa B. and Uncles and Aunts and Cousins here to keep them distracted and feeling loved. But at this point, they feel like me. We all just want to be with daddy. We want to be in our own home (we've been staying with G&G C.), with our own toys and beds and rooms and kitchen and make as much noise and mess as we want without bothering anyone. We're also anxious to get away from the snow - something we're not really used to (nor do we want to be).

So now we can make plans! We can find a place to live because we know when we need to be moving in. Ahh. Just feels so good to be able to plan. And to finally see the light.

gossip

So yesterday afternoon as we were getting ready to go to Wal-Mart, my 7 year old, "Dolly-Babe," said to me:

"Mommy, did you know that Miley Cyrus is having a baby?"

Ick. To even hear those words coming from my sweet, innocent little girl was, quite frankly, disgusting.

I made the mistake of letting her watch "Hannah Montana" back in the beginning, when Miley Cyrus seemed to be a sweet, innocent little girl herself.

My reply?

"No way. I really don't think that's true. Where on earth did you hear that?"

"Sophie told me." (Sophie is her best friend's older sister).

"Well sweetie, I don't think its true."

And we dropped it.

But the aftertaste has stayed with me. Yuck.

(BTW, I don't know where Sophie is getting her info, or if it's true, but I really hope that she's wrong.)


Wednesday, March 10, 2010

moving day

So... we're moving.

Blogs, that is.

You can catch us here from now on.

Hope to see you there!

boom boom pow


What is it with boys?

When I was pregnant with my first boy, I was scared. What would I do with a boy? I REALLY didn't want to get sprayed while changing diapers. At the time I had a friend with some WILD boys. Boys who ran around like crazies and screamed in the car and stole toys and opened the rear car door when I was driving in the carpool lane on the 134 in Glendale. Boys who definitely rattled me, as I don't handle chaos well. (I mean, I loved them to bits - but being with them for very long was a bit overwhelming).

Luckily, I didn't get sprayed by my first boy, and I quickly fell in love with all things "boy." Trucks, cars, trains, balls, dirt, etc... But I'm just now getting a taste of real testosterone. I mean, my 3 year old "Mini" is getting violent! He thinks that it's funny to call people "stupid" (gets a total laugh out of it, in fact), giggles and says "poo poo barf," and is SO ROUGH.

On our drive home from WHOLE FOODS today, Mini was entertaining himself by kicking (or as he calls it, "booming") his 1 year old brother.

"Mommy, I just boomed Stinky's sock!"

"Do NOT touch your brother!" I replied in a threatening voice.

"But I want to!"

"If you boom your brother, then I will boom YOU."

"Then I will boom Stinky's face!"

In a more exaggerated threatening voice: "If you boom Stinky's face, then I will boom your head so hard, it will fall off of you."

"But mommy, if you boom my face off then I will not be able to talk!"

"Exactly. Sounds good to me."

"Well, then I will boom YOU!"

At this point, I could no longer contain the laughter. It erupted.

"Mommy, stop laughing. I'm not kidding. I mean it real, I mean for reals!!!!"

A few minutes later, "Mommy, I love you. I will not boom any people."

"Oh thank you! Then I will be so proud of you!" This is what he likes me to say. He often tells me not to say, "good job." He wants me to say, "oh, I am so proud of you!" So I do.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

digger

Today we were all in the car, on our way to the mall. Lincoln's finally started growing (now that he's eating FOOD), and needed some new shoes.

This fall I fell in love with the "GLEE" soundtrack. Every once in a while I get a "music turn," and today I chose Glee. Contemporary songs, "musical" style. Some of the songs are ones that I wouldn't normally find myself listening to. So the song "gold-digger" comes on and the kids start kicking their legs and dancing their arms... and then I hear it: "digger!"


I really never expected to hear one of my kids singing along to a song like "gold-digger" (orginally by Kanye West). If there's a kid of mine who will repeat something, it's Cooper.

In fact, for most of the drive home he screamed and yelled and hit and kicked (low blood-sugar), and then started with: "Mommy, you are stupid! Hahahahaha." He really cracked himself up. Everyone got a turn: me, Lincoln, and then Mercedes. "Lincoln, you dummy!" Every once in a while, Cooper will get really excited about saying "naughty" words. Words like: "poop," "barf," "shut-up," "stupid," and "dummy." He thinks its super-hilarious. That's a total boy-thing, isn't it? At least, I think it's mostly a boy thing.