Near and Far

For years now my mom, sister-in-law, and grandma have gotten together to go Christmas shopping in Oklahoma City. I missed out on going with them the three Christmas' we lived in New York, but was always taunted by the Cheesecake Factory picture :) Since we are back in OK I was able to join in on the shopping fun for a day this year. The event as a whole has not changed much over the years (except that now we are buying for a LOT more kiddos), but this was the first year to ever take kids along. I learned a few things both about shopping with kids and about my insane two year old. I have been told that Levi resembles Ralphy from "A Christmas Story" a few times lately. He's blond, round faced, blue-eyed, and has an ornery look most of the time. I get the resemblance for sure, but there are moments when I'm terrified that he may really be Ralphy. Levi looks oddly similar at times. Every Christmas Eve I try to take in the movie "A Christmas Story" a...

This whole pregnancy thing really puts a damper on buying clothes and liking the way they look. And why must they make so many maternity shirts with horizontal stripes? As if we didn't feel wide enough, let's put fabric that will create circles around your ever growing belly. Cool. Thanks "designers". But thankfully I have discovered something that is the perfect size and is typically on sale! Bath and Body Works candles and Wallflowers. I do not have to worry about the size I purchase, because it is already done for me. I don't have to worry about it shrinking in the wash and being too short or too tight. I do not have to look in the mirror at yet another grey shirt with horizontal stripes. And I am happy. On a particularly bad "I'm pregnant and fat" day, I waddled myself into the mall and spent a silly amount of money at Bath and Body Works. When warning Ross before he could tease me about it when he saw it on the bank statement, my exact words...

If you have ever wanted to know what kind of insane things will continually come out of your mouth as a parent, just wait until you have a mocking bird of a 2 year old to repeat it all. We have encountered certain things coming out of Levi's tiny mouth that make us laugh hysterically and some that make us cringe with shame. Ah parenthood, how you humble us so. Levi is a talker. He talks a lot. There is very few breaks in the day where he is quiet and not jabbering about something. Whether it be now taking possession of most things in our life (I think this is due to the recent move and his want for normalcy) and referring to things as "my (insert noun)", to saying my warning phrases I use when he is in trouble. Here are some of the most recent gems and I'll provide how they are perceived in our world. "My Nuno (Juno)"- We like this a lot. He loves his dog, but he has an odd way of showing it by randomly hitting her with anything he can grasp. The dog is ...

Disclaimer: First paragraph is a little insight on how my brain bounces. Please remember this as you bounce along for the rest of the blog :) I have very little patience. My mind goes in thirty directions, takes four U-turns, and then starts taking hard lefts and rights. My brain in a funny thing and my mind is an odd place. Add some pregnancy (yep, it happened again) hormones, and things just get really strange. While pregnant with Levi, I watch Scarface. A lot. Actually, I watched quite a few gangster/mob themed movies. They aren't typically my favorite movies, but for some reason tiny baby Levi inspired me to watch them often. I'm not really into Scarface with Baby #2, but my mind has definitely not been what I was classify as "normal". I have NO memory, rational decision making skills(poor Ross), desire to eat healthy food, or many other things that I normally would be perfectly capable of doing. Tonight, for instance, I attempted to put the leftovers from s...

When I was writing the update post on Thursday it came to my realization that I never did a blog about when Ross came home. At the time it felt like a very personal experience that I wasn't sure I wanted people to be a part of, but then I remembered how many people we had backing our little family up for that time and I think it was a pretty awesome moment in our lives. So, here we go. Four and a half months late, but here is that amazing night. Ross had left his FOB a week or so before, but thankfully we had a website that kept us at home updated when the welcome home ceremony would be. To most that was not needed, but for some reason Ross and I had very little contact that week and I was very happy for that website. We were the fourth or fifth ceremony from this particular deployment and every single one had been delayed anywhere from 3-30 hours late. I was a little internally torn on this, because our ceremony was scheduled to be at 2:30 am and I was not looking forward to t...

December was an absolute blur. We celebrated with friends at a wedding, had our house packed up, dealt with the cleaning of the Drum house, drove back to OK, had 5 Christmas gatherings, bought a car, signed another rent lease, and closed out 2013.  Our move was an amazingly smooth process that resulted in very few fears of moving in what could be as soon as 5 months away. We had nothing broken, only a small hole put in our couch, and one missing flower pot. All things considered, that is a win.  The move though, involved what we hope will be our final drive from New York to Oklahoma. Traveling in the snowy part of the country in winter is absolutely insane. I despise driving in snow. DESPISE! We drove for a day and a half in the snow, with frozen windshield wiper fluid, on over salted (not a complaint!) roads. Ross and I were in separate vehicles so we would call and tell each other when we couldn't see at all anymore and find a gas station to clean our windshields. It ...

The move is happening. Right now. We have strangers in our home, packing and rearranging beautiful brown cardboard boxes, all around. It is an odd feeling, looking at the boxes and hoping that the belongings inside of said box make the journey to our new (although, yet to be determined) home in once piece. This is our second PCS move in three years. We have moved from three different addresses in those three years though. This one has been the least stressful, easiest thus far, and the snowiest of them all. Ross and I realized on Monday, a mere four days ago, that we should attempt to prepare for the move. Luckily, we haven't been around much in the last few weeks, so the house wasn't a complete wreck. We will really learn how well we prepared when we unpack in a few weeks. That is, if we figure out our housing situation. We are not sure how long we will be at Fort Sill. Could be six months, could be 5-6 years. We do not know if we will be moving in the Oklahoma August heat...