Never Again

Caution: This blog contains a bit of personal information that may be TOO much information for some :-) Consider yourself warned

So, last night Sam went to bed around 8pm. Awesome, right? He has started waking up for the first time at around 1am. But he usually doesn't go to bed until 9:30. So, my body -- well, my boobs -- are used to feeding him every 3 hours. Last night, I did the unthinkable. I thought my boob was going to explode so I... gasp... I woke him up to feed him. And I paid for it. He stayed up for an hour and a half.

I should have just let him sleep and gotten the pump out. Next time I'll have the pump ready.

Complete and total rants...

I know that I have a great life. I don't really have anything to complain TOO much about, but right now... I really need to complain for a minute.

The dishwasher.
I know I live on post and don't *technically* pay for service/maintenance costs, but really. Our dishwasher stopped cleaning. There was no water getting into the inside therefore no dishes were being cleaned. So, I call maintenance. Yep... we'll be out in 2 days. Cool. I'll wash dishes for 2 days. The maintenance guys come out and don't even know what they are doing. They have to get the manual out to try to figure it out. Forty-five minutes later, they are leaving and the dishwasher was, in fact, getting water. It still had a short in the door which prevented it from shutting off when you open the door. That is right... if it was running and you opened the door, you'd get wet. It ran for two washes. I loaded it the third time, started it up, went to dress Sam and came out of his room to a horrid, metallic-burning smell. Hmmm... the dishwasher sounded like it was running, but no water. So the heating coil in the bottom of the dishwasher was basically burning up. When I opened the door -- it didn't turn off -- and smoke poured out. So I immediately call maintenance, honestly thinking this would be an emergency. Hello?!? My dishwasher was smoking. As I am talking to the lady, I was pushing the reset button on the door - which sometimes will turn it off... if you push long enough. Finally, after literally five minutes, the dishwasher turns off. So what does this mean... no longer an emergency -- we'll be out in three days. Now... enter the ice storm that shut down everything. Another flippin five days go by and the rescheduled maintenance visit happens. The guy (who is the head of appliance maintenance) comes out, is here for 10 minutes and condemns the thing with 4 deficiencies that would individually deadline the dishwasher. And guess what?!? There are no dishwashers in the warehouse and they are going to have to ORDER ONE!! I got a call today that there is one here. And they'll be here on Monday to put it in. So, start to finish, 14 days I have been washing dishes. I hate washing dishes.

Punishment vs Reward.
So, Rob is leaving again. Afghanistan this time. I am having a hard time coming to terms with this because we had already planned out our next PSC, which was supposed to happen this summer. We were going to Germany. I was SO excited. Then the battalion came down on orders. I had my hopes up that Rob would be changing out of command before the deployment, since he has done his year of command (which is the minimum time of a good command). Okay, so he wouldn't get 18 months, but it won't hurt him. But NO -- because he is such a GOOD commander, he has to stay in command for the deployment. That means he is going to have approximately 27 months in command! Un-freakin'-heard of. Why are we being punished for Rob being a GOOD commander? Dang that work ethic.

Computer Virus.
Somehow got a virus that only shows up on my profile. McAfee Virus/Spyware scans don't detect anything. How can you remove something the computer says isn't there? Ugh.

On a good note, Faith's medicine is working and she is doing much better.

Winter Storm

You know, I really should listen to the weather guy. He sometimes gets it right. Everybody anticipated the winter weather. Nobody anticipated this much ice. We got so much ice that the power was out for WAY too long. We lost power for about 44 hours. It was cold. I mean super cold. We all bundled into our bedroom and tried to stay warm. But it was cold. Really cold.

My car had a 1 inch block of ice around it.

The ice came first. The grass blades each were encased in ice. Then it snowed. Well, the ice covered grass stuck up through the snow. It was crazy. It made the snow look polka-dotted.

Books Books and more Books

Well, I finished up the Twilight series this past weekend. I loved it. Loved it. Can I say it again? Loved it. Not deep, thought inspiring books, but great anyway. It was quite cheesy in parts. Definitely takes you back to high school with your first love when you really do think that the sun revolves around your honey. If you can get past that, though, it was fun to read.

I read the first three in one week. The fourth, and last, took me five days. Why? Because I didn't want it to end. I had to push away from the book. I couldn't think of a way that it would end that would make me happy.

I highly recommend the books. Quick, easy reads-- again, if you can get past the mindset of a 16 year old girl :-).

Now... go right over to goodreads.com and register. You make a list of books that you have read and can make reviews of them. You can list the books you want to read and read reviews of what others have said about them. But what I would like for you to do is add me as a friend! I'd love to see what you are reading and recommending (or not recommending) as a good read. So, go. Go now. It takes a minute. What are you waiting for?

Snow!! and mints

We finally had enough snow for the kids to get outside and play. They had a blast. Unfortunately, I didn't get out there -- I think Sam is a little too little to get out and make snow angels. He still makes that gasping noise if it is too cold out :-) Plus he is getting a bit of a cold, snotty nose and all.

The girls both made snow angels and Bubba ate the snow. Last year, we got about 9 inches of snow. Faith HATED it. She only stayed out for about 2 minutes last year. This year, though, she warmed up to it (ha, ha).

*it is good snow for snowballs :-)


*Bubba eating snow

I made some buttermints yesterday and split the big bowl's worth of 'dough' into three pieces. Each kid got their own piece to shape into smaller pieces. This is the first time I have made these mints since I was in high school and still lived at home, so I wasn't quite confident in my 'recipe'. I definitely overdid the peppermint, but Rob and the kids still love them.

*Grace went for the squished ball look

*F liked making perfect balls. She tried making worms first, but made them too skinny

*Bubba liked worms, but they were pretty fat -- can you tell which I did and which he did?

*S just liked sitting in his new high chair and watching

New Records

Back when I was a senior at NC State, I took a TA position for one of the physical geology labs. I had an 8 o'clock lab on Thursdays. Well, during the winter that year, I experienced the coldest weather I had (in memory) ever felt. As I crossed Western Blvd from the US Army Reserve center where I parked, I couldn't believe that people could survive in cold like that. It was 19 degrees at 7:30am. I have no idea what the wind chill was, but I couldn't remember a time when it had been below about 25.



Flash forward one year. I was in the army, stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. A new record... I was standing - outside - in PT formation and it was 4 degrees. I remember standing in a relative shock throughout formation. My company commander even came up to me and asked if everything was okay. I just looked at him, finally getting my frozen face to say I'd never felt such cold. He laughed and told me I'd get used to it. Well, I never did.



Now... fast forward seven years (first of all, I canNOT believe that it has been seven years) and today set a new record. It is currently -2 degree with a wind chill of -14. That is up from where it was at 4am (wind chill was -17). Now, it isn't quite the same, I know. I don't have to do PT in this weather and really don't have to leave the house if I don't want to. I did, however, have to feel it. I had to get the girls on their buses this morning. It is so cold that it took my breath. Funny as it is, today's hi temperature is lower than that first morning in NC when I couldn't believe that it was only 19 degrees. Today is only supposed to reach 16 here.



So it all goes back to -- I can't believe people choose to live in cold like this. We watched a show a couple of nights ago on Barrow, Alaska -- the most northern town in the US. During their 'summer' the hi temps are around -10. Hello?!? WHY? I guess I am glad that people don't mind it, I just don't understand. There are probably people, though, who wonder why I miss the hot humid summers in the south. That is what makes life fun for everybody, I guess.



so-- what is the coldest you can remember??

My 4 year old got expelled -- and other adventures of the day

That is right... my 4 year old brought home a letter today saying that she had been 'excluded' from school until documentation was given that she had had her second dose of the HepA vaccine. Hello? Really? The regulation says that dose #2 should be administered at least 6 months apart. AT LEAST, people. She only hit her 6 month window two weeks ago. Is it really that drastic as to say she can't come back?!? PLUS, when did AT LEAST become AT EXACTLY? We got the notice just before school let out for Christmas break and I knew I was going to wait to take her until January. Anyway, it meant that I had to pack the little three back in the car and drag them into school. She had the shot yesterday, but I forgot to put the paperwork in her backpack because I was trying to get Sam a dr's appointment for this morning while getting the girls ready for school.

So, Sam did get an appointment for 840 this morning... I had to take a shower and dry hair and feed the baby and get Josh fed and ... and... and... so, of course, we left the house late. As I am sitting at the traffic light, I look down -- hmmm, where is my wallet (and enclosed ID, for that matter)? At home, that is where it is. In my library bag. Did I already mention that I was running late?

Finally got to the hospital parking lot, which is PACKED. I had to park on the very last row, almost to the end! Load up the boys and take off running -- much to Bubba's enjoyment :-) The parking lot was covered in ice, which made it even more interesting!

Sign in at the peds clinic only 5 minutes after the appointment time. Whew, we made it.

The nurse calls us back and puts us in the tiniest little room they have -- which made fitting the Sit 'N Stand double stroller interesting. Strip the baby down -- he pees all over everything. He weighs a whopping 16 lbs, 10 oz and is a massive 27 inches long! All of the worry that I had last month about him being 34th % was for nothing. He was about to go through a spurt :-)

While we had the doctor's attention, I talked to him about Sam's cough. He doesn't want to sleep unless propped up on my arm and when he does get to sleep he wakes himself up arching his back and screaming. I thought it was all because of drainage and not being able to breathe. Apparently, these are signs of infant acid reflux. So, as much as he looks like his daddy, poor baby got my acidic stomach, heartburn and all. He has a 2 week prescription of Zantac. I gave him his first dose today and he slept, peacefully, for almost 3 hours! That included when I picked him up and put him in the carseat to take him to school, brought him home and put him back in his bed! Amazing for him! Maybe this will make for some better nights, too :-) Hopefully.

So now we are home. G has a friend over and F just went down the street to play with one of her friends. Bub is quite upset, so i have to figure out something for him to do special, too. Any suggestions?!