Long time no blog

Well I must apologize to my public...I know all 10 of you have been missing my posts :)

To get you caught up on our trip, I will be entertaining you with this list of the top 10 things I miss about home:

10. Nobody steals my laundry detergent

9. My dishwasher

8. Socks that remain white even after walking on the carpet

7. Deciding for myself when to turn the air on (personally, I wouldn't wait until it's 85 degrees)

6. Three letters-- DVR

5. Talking on the phone

4. Alex sleeping in past 0630

3. Derek not waking up 4 times a night, every night

2. Not sleeping in the same room as my children

1. Did I already mention sleep??



Okay, so the trip isn't going perfectly...but we're managing to sneak some fun in here & there. We've had lots of fun outings with the other spouses & kids here-- the zoo, an inflatable play gym, a trolley ride through downtown Montgomery, a coffee shop with a kids play area (behind a sound proof wall!). We spend hours each day at the playground that is just a few feet away from our room. Alex never seems to tire of it & the monitor gets reception out there so I can listen for Derek to finish his 10 minute naps. I've made lots of new friends with the other wives & Josh is enjoying the guys (and gals) in his flight.

Unfortunately, the little man seems to have seasonal allergies here. We started him on some medicine but he still sneezes and snots his way through the day. And then the little piggie eats his way through the nights-- we've started some bad habits while trying to keep him from waking his sister in the night. Poor guy's going to experience some tough love when we get home.

I'm afraid I've been terrible at taking pictures here, but i do have a couple of shots for you...



Hmmm, sorry to disappoint but I can't seem to get my pics to upload. I will try again soon!

Odds & Ends

Well I think that I complain enough about my kiddos on here, so I guess I should share when they're not driving me nuts too. To start with, Derek has turned into an angel baby the last few days... he sits on the floor and plays happily with toys for really long stretches of time. What a change! He still wants to eat the early bird special sometime between 0430-06oo but I guess you can't have it all. And in another pleasant turn of events, for the last several days Alex has actually been telling me when she needs to go potty and refraining from going in her pants. Yeah! This may have something to do with me telling her that she can't go to school if she's still having accidents. Truthfully, there's no way I could endure another winter cooped up in the house with her so she's going to preschool even if not one more drop of pee lands in the potty-- but don't tell her I said so! We enrolled her in a preschool here and she will go three days a week starting at the end of the summer. She is very excited and tells me often that she will be going to school "after we go to Alabama and after the long, hot summer."
Alabama, you ask?
Yup, it's our idea of a dream getaway :) Ha! We'll all be tagging along to Josh's Air Force school there for 5 weeks. The catch? We'll be staying in one room with a kitchenette. It's been done before by many of our friends (although many of them only had one kid at the time). However, Josh and I are WAY less easy-going than most of our friends so I anticipate much drama to come. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted on all the drama as it unfolds. Sure, what else will I have to do since we wont be able to have TV or lights on after bedtime at 7pm. Oh boy...

Riding in Style

Alex has now gotten over her fear of the Dora bike. The first time she sat on it, she hit the foot pedal by accident and it took off. It's taken her about 9 months to recover from that traumatic experience, but she loves to ride now. Here she is with Cole and Brad McDaniel taking a spin.

Well my first attempt at braiding her hair turned out about as good as my attempt to photograph it.
She loves to do anything with Derek...help him drink, bring him bibs, get him up from naps...anything at all. She's a sweetie.

Derek is a non-stop drooler these days. Today alone he went through 6 bibs! So in an effort to save some laundry time, I bought some more to add to our collection. Alex decided to give them a test run...all 7 of them.
The other day, we had one of those "need to get out of the house NOW" moments, so we threw on some hats and jackets over the pj's and headed out to the backyard. It's amazing what a little outdoor time can do! I didn't have to ring their little necks after all :)
Derek still falls backwards from time to time, so his sweet sissy is sitting behind to catch just in case.
Who knew? Hours of fun with just some soap and water. I eventually had to force her to stop, but she loved washing her tea party plates and cups. Do you notice that in a lot of our pictures Alex is a little....casual? She's finally able to climb onto the potty by herself, so we're making it easier for her to get her underoo's up and down. Pants are overrated anyway!

Well Grandma has come and gone. The kids were sad that the spoiling was coming to an end, so they hopped in her suitcase to try to sneak away with her. They really do look distraught, don't they?
I lifted Alex's spirits with some play-doh. Sorry that you were replaced so easily Boppa, what can I say? She's a heartless little thing.
Here is Alex wearing Daddy's old flight cap. This incidentally is also how I spent my last months in the Air Force...talking on the phone and picking my nose. Hee Hee :)
Can't leave Derek out! What a big nugget you have little man.