Preschool!

A good breakfast before our big day!

The all important backpack

Had to Check in with the class "fish" nemo!

Playing house already!

There were no tears dropping him off.. and as you can see by the time I left he was already making friends ;) I'm off to pick up my little man!

*I know there are a few posts missing between the last and this... they will be forth coming I promis :)

Junior turns 2! part two

Lighting McQueen... with minor adjustments I mean body work



 to say he enjoyed his cake is an understatement...







 He got so many toys! We are definitely good for a while!!

Cousin Judge Arrives!

Originally I was going to put all kinds of things in this post... I think it's easier if I seperate them out into their own ( more work for me... but a few less pictures per post this way)

Cousin Boog (AKA Justin) just recently went back to California. We had a wonderful visit with him! He got to spend a few nights with just Chris and the kids (while I was at a class) which resulted in a couple adventures of their own. We also took him to the Naval Aviation Muesum here on the base. He was also lucky enough to show up just in time for Juniors birthday party!

Here are a few pictures from his visit:

I got him!

At dinner

wearing Justin's pants on his head Junior's first backpack for school!

Two Year old photos:

Can't forget the little girl too :)

Visitors!

Nona came to visit right before the Miss Mayhem made her grand entrance. She stayed untill Scarlett was almost a week old. Wish I had gotten some photos of my mom holding her (something I will most definetely rectify at Christmas!!!) but obviously I was pretty tired!




About a week and a half after my mom left Grammie J arrived. One of the highlights from Grammie's visit was a Saturday morning trip to the Kids Park. Everyone had a great time..

Even Miss Mayhem who slept through 90% of the trip to the park!


Shortly after Grammie left... Cousin Judge arrived! But that's for another post!

Boy Oh Boy! That's Our Boy!

If you are friends with me on Facebook you know all about my latest experiances with Junior. For those family members who are NOT on facebook... here is what our boy has been up to.

Over the past couple of months Junior has expressed interest in using the potty. We bought him a potty chair and have not made a huge deal about it but have encouraged him to use it ANY time he shows an interest in it. One night he actually peed in it (we think - no one was in the room with him but there was liquid in it when we came back)! At any rate - this applies further as well (his interest in it).

Normally when Jr wakes up he is content to play in his crib for a while. Mom is pretty content with letting him do this because well I try to sleep as late as I can (or just avoid getting up for as long as I can). Last week he started waking up and playing as per his norm. Then it wasn't so normal anymore. He took his clothes off. ALL of his clothes. Diaper included. When I went in to get him up, you could say I was a bit shocked. I didn't know he knew how to get his pants off let alone his shirt with out help (he had slept in a pair of shorts and a toddler sized "A" shirt - also referred to as a "wife beater"). Luckily the bed was dry. (the diaper on the floor however was full as per his norm). That night - I put actual PJ pants and a shirt set on him. The following morning I walked in to find him sans pants & diaper and attempting to get his shirt off. This was becoming a habit I was afraid.

On the weekends Chris normally gets Jr up for the day. Saturday he had a work function he had to attend early so I got Jr up. Fully clothed when I went in, "YAY!" I thought perhaps it was just a couple time thing. Sunday Daddy got him up - fully clothed (or I would have heard about it)! Yay again!

Then there was yesterday. I walked in to find him naked from the waist down. Oh and the bed was NOT dry. Luck me! This morning agian... completely naked, diaper on the floor (diaper was dry) and the bed was SOAKED. This doing laundry thing everyday is starting to suck! Atleast by the time that Baby Scarlett gets to this point I will now have 3 toddler mattress covers!! I am just at a loss as to what to do. Guess it's time to pull out the family standby. Yes that family implement of "re-construction" -

yes duct tape!

As a bonus - this morning while putting him in the bathtub, (he smelled of urine... blech) he expressed intrest in the potty chair. "Go for it!" I told him. He sat there for about 5-10minutes then when I thought he was done (he got up) there wasn't anything in the bowl. "Oh well - atleast he tried!" I thought. Then he tried to climb in the tub. What he had been attempting to do on the potty chair was stuck to his bottom. We had our first attempted poop in the potty chair!!! I think after we get in a routine with baby sister, this is something we will begin persuing with vigor!

Other than that - the bigger mess he can make (like finger painting in oil that daddy drained from his motorcycle or the MGB that daddy is working on) the better! We now have a selection of clothing that is ONLY allowed for garage play - since I can't get the grease/oil out of it!

Updates Updates... Why am I so bad about updates?

Well there are a few reasons. The biggest two being pregnancy and trying to keep up with a toddler. Both wear ya out QUICK!

Junior Update:
Junior is well Junior. He has an entire post coming up about him following this one and his latest antics. Lets just say - he is 110% boy, who loves his food, to play outside, and help his daddy in the garage and no matter what the messier he can get the better!

Baby Scarlett Update:
Her cesarean section is scheduled for May 27th. Nona arrives the day before to hang out with Jr while Daddy and I are at the hospital with Miss Scarlett. I had an ultrasound yesterday, and her weight is estimated to be approximately 7 pounds 2 ounces. The cool thing about the ultrasound was that I actually got to see her "breathe". It is a very interesting experiance to see your baby "breathe" when you know that they aren't breathing air. The other bonus to that experiance is the Dr (who was doing the actual ultrasound) said that is something you WANT to see at this stage in the game and it also means that their lungs are mature. :) Which also means if I were to spontaneously go into labor (ha ha fat chance there) and they went ahead and did the c-section she shouldn't have any lung complications!

Mommy & Daddy Update:
Mommy is tired of being pregnant. Enough said.
Daddy is doing well with work - while being overwhelmed! Last week he had to deal with 3 DIFFERENT classes simultanously! He was NOT a happy camper when he got home. Other than that he's enjoying riding his dirtbike as often and as much as he can because our weekends are soon to be limited in being able to get out to the track for a few weeks!

Photo Blog - On the Ranch #1

Black Dog (aka "Dog Dog") the best dog EVER!

Surveying the land.. plotting his next move.

Playing with a calf through the fence!

Helping Papa fix the fence so he could hang a gate.

Another Update Post!

Okay, so blogging has NOT been my forte lately. Admittedly, it's been laziness on my part and partially I'm just plain tired! Chasing a toddler (he's 20 months now!!! Where oh where did the time go?!) and growing another little one really takes it out of ya!

Junior and I just got back this week from a long visit to CA. We had a blast! It was nice to have some extra help entertaining Junior for a few weeks! While we were out in CA, we were able to visit my Papa (Papa Chas) and my Aunt Shannon. Junior flirted and impressed as always. We were also fortunate enough to get to have lunch with Julie Olsen. Unfortunately due to Jr still being on the tail end of a tummy bug we didn't get to see Cooper (they where headed on a road trip of their own and didn't want to chance him getting sick).

While home, we were able to celebrate not only my birthday but also celebrate Baby Scarlett as well. It was nice to have a shower that all of our family could be included in. It was also great to see so many family and friends that I haven't seen in so long. I will be posting photos from our trip to CA over the next couple days.

Now - on to some excitement: enter your guess in when Baby Scarlett will arrive!


I saw the OB this morning and the date for my c-section was set! Do you think she will make it to her expected arrival date of May 28? (Her due date is 6/4 but due to the fact her brother was stuck and it is going to be a repeat Cesarean, as well as my mom needing to know when she needed to arrive to take care of Jr while I'm in the hospital we set the date for a week early - remember Jr was an ounce shy of 9lbs 10 days early!)

Where does the time go? Surgery, catching up!

Okay so it's been almost a month since I posted. It's been busy around here, what can I say?

Junior had his tubes put in yesterday. He did very well! We weren't sure how he was going to do, and parental worry is what it is.

Here are some photos from our morning. We had to be at the hospital at 0545 and Junior couldn't have a sippy cup prior (he did VERY well with this - surprisingly!)








Junior was un-impressed with the gown we were given for him to wear. We were referring to it as his "dress" :)

Junior was given versaid (sp?) prior to being taken downstairs to the OR. The ride down was interesting (one of us had to "ride" with him on the bed since he had medication) because he was kind of cranky. All of a sudden he just seemed a little loopy. You can tell he isn't quite "himself" in this picture. We were waiting to go into the OR. The nurse was GREAT and he didn't cry going into the OR at ALL!

Post- op: Jr did great. He didn't start crying till he heard me talk to the Nurse in the PACU. The male nurses in there where great too. Jr refused to wear the pulse ox they had taped to his toe. He attempted (and succeeded) at pulling it off a few times.

This picture is when we got back upstairs. Jr wanted to sit with Daddy and watch cartoons. After about an hour of steady vital signs we got to go home.

On the way home, Chris took this picture. As you can see... he was already in a playful mood. He was playing hide & seek with Daddy.

Daddy made all of us french toast, and as you can see Jr enjoyed his (along with his friday morning episode of Seasame Street - yes we were home in time for Seasame Street!).

Post nap, he enjoyed an afternoon of playing in the garage with Daddy and even made a trip to the bike shop and to the auto parts store. By bed time, he was wrestling with dad and being a typical boy!

Choas in a Chaotic household...

Adjustments Abound!

We are adjusting to the dogs being here. The dogs are adjusting to being here. We've already had a few attempts at escaping out of the yard. Junior is adjusting to them being here and they are adjusting to him as well. Sox has learned that Junior isn't all that bad. Junior has learned how to throw the ball albiet not very far, but throws it none the less for him. I wish that circumstances had been different and we hadn't had to leave the dogs in California for 7 months. I think that time away from each other (the dogs & Jr and the dogs & us in general) made it easy to forget who's really in charge and who the top dog really is. Lets just say that the past week has resulted in the ultimate "come to Jesus meeting" of the minds.

Surgery, Travel and more Surgery

Yesterday, Calvin had surgery on his right knee because he had a possible torn ligament. We went through the same surgery with Sox about 3 years ago. The surgery is called TPLO. (click the link for a better explination then I can give. Lets just go with it's pretty invasive and recovery with out a toddler around is rough... so you can imagine what our life is going to be like for the next 6 weeks.) He is currently resting on the dog bed on the floor of our room and will most likely spend the majority of the next 6 weeks there or in his kennel.

Junior and I are flying home next month for about three weeks! I am looking forward to him having others to entertain him and getting to spend some time with family. When I was pregnant with Junior both our families only got to see me in person very early on. Grammie J and Aunt Claire visited for my shower, and so they got to see me about two months before I had Jr. So this visit will be fun so that everyone will actually get to experiance part of this pregnancy. Plus it will be the last time I'll really get to travel till after little Miss Princess arrives.

When we get back in April, Junior will be having tubes put in his ears. So yes, there is no lack of surgeries going on here in our chaotic little household. Luckily tubes are not really a big surgery. His will be done a little bit differently then normal - instead of just using gas to put knock him out our ENT wants to intubate him so that they will be able to go through his nose and get a really good look at his adnoids. (the suspected cause of his loud mouth breathing, snoring and "snorting"). This should also eliminate the ear infections we have been battling. (4 or more times on antibiotics a year for the same thing [ear infections] is a bad thing, according to the Dr). IF he still has his "uncharacteristic" symptoms but his ears aren't infected then they will be able to elimenate his ears and figure out what's really going on.

So, that in a nutshell is what is new around here.

Photo Blog: Our Visit to Louisiana...and Back Agian!

We spent the weekend with Aunt Claire and Uncle Bill and lots of other extended family memebers celebrating Aunt Claire's birthday. It was a big party!

Chris, Jr and I ended up leaving very late Thursday night/very early Friday morning to drive the six and a half hours to N. Louisiana. We arrived about 630am - just in time to surprise everyone by letting Jr run around the house and "talk". ;)



These two pictures are perfect examples of what happens when mom goes upstairs to take a nap. It's a good thing that little boys, dogs and clothes are all washable! Jr is covered in "swamp" mud. (Uncle Bill is attempting to make the "swamp" into a pond...)

As you can see in the pictures... Aunt Kathy is very proud of her handy work ;)

Uncle Bill took Jr for a short tractor ride...

Aunt Claire taking Jr down to the "swamp".

(I loved this picture in color, but absolutely LOVE it antiqued!)

Aunt Claire made out! The Dreaded "Blackish" Flamingo even made an appearance - more then once!

Chris, Papa Stan and Junior all working to put in a dog door for the boys who are now here at the house. I was supervising ofcourse ;)

While Grammie and Papa where here, Junior finally got his first tricycle. We are still learning to pedal...

But having a Papa to push you helps alot!

If Last Night Is Any Indication:

Today is going to be a very long day. Yesterday evening Jr had a meltdown of gigantic proportions for no discernable reason. I'm talking full blown screaming and crying to the point that we thought he was going to make himself sick. He didn't want to eat dinner (not unusual lately) and wanted nothing to do with anyone really. We had gone to the Dr earlier in the day to have his ears rechecked (more on that in a minute) but didn't seem to have any other issues going on. Normally when he gets upset in the evening a bath will usually calm him down. He wouldn't take a bath. However Daddy was nice enough to get in the tub and shower with him, and that was deemed acceptable. In true uncharacteristic fashion, Junior was in bed by 730 - a full hour before his normal bed time.

He woke up at about 330, Daddy changed his diaper and he got in bed with us. It took almost an hour to get him settled and just about back to sleep. Courtesy of being in Florida we just happened to have a thunderstorm settle over us and let go with a rather loud clap of thunder. It took another hour or so for him to settle back down. (normally he has slept through thunderstorms, atleast they have never woken him up) By the time he fell back asleep, he knew what the loud noises where and even attempted to say "thunder". I'm pretty sure we fell asleep about 5am and Daddy had to get up for work at 6. So its going to be a loooooooooong day today!

Dr follow up
As I mentioned earlier, we had a follow up on Jr's ears yesterday. One of his ears was still filled with wax and the Dr was unable to really look at the other one (even with Daddy holding him down!) so we are getting referred to ENT to have his ear cleaned out, and have a consult on tubes. We should be getting a call in the next couple days to make that appointment, and since the odds are they will need to sedate him, I am considering doing it while Grammie and Papa are here next week since Dad won't be able to get off work to go with us. Never hurts to have moral support right?!

On the Road agian
Tomorrow we are leaving in the morning to go visit Great Aunt Claire and Uncle Bill. It was supposed to be a surprise, but the beans have already been spilled! We are looking forward to getting to see family agian so soon after Christmas! Thank You Great Aunt Claire for having the courtesy to turn 60 and to give us a reason (not that we need one) to P. A. R. T. Y!

We are also meeting up with Grammie and Papa there who are traveling in my car back from CA with our two four-legged furbabies to bring all of the above here! It will be so nice to have not only our doggies back but mommy's car as well! And visits from family are always appreciated!

Photo Blog - A "Boy's" Afternoon

Who doesn't love an afternoon of just

"The Boys"

doing what boys do?