Friday, August 28, 2009

Wedding Bells

"Uncle Dusty" or "Uncle Bro" as he's known around here got married on Saturday, Aug 22 near Los Angeles, CA. He is Dean's brother, and we are so happy for him and Auntie Patti. The wedding was absolutely beautiful.




Hunter was the ring bearer, and thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with the flower girl. He performed his duties with style. While walking down the stairs to the reception to be introduced with the wedding party, he danced like John Travolta. With all his move busting he tumbled on the last stair or two, but quickly popped back up and finished his grand entrance.

Tristan was a hit with everyone and was on his best behavior. Considering that it was nearly 1am for us by the time we left the reception, Kyler and Hunter behaved tolerably - they could have been worse. Besides the flower girl, ours were the only children in attendance.


Here we are with the groom, Grandma Dee and David.


While in the area, we were able to see from a distance (behind Hunter's shoulder) the light house that Grandpa Norm (Dean's late father) lived in for a couple of years as a teenager when his father was in the Coast Guard there.


We flew overnight with a connection on the way back, which was hard on everyone, including poor Kyler here at the gate in Atlanta. It was a struggle to stay awake for the drive home from Raleigh on Sunday morning, but we made it and slept all afternoon. For the flight to LA, there was a loose screw on a panel of the plane which set off an alarm when they closed the doors before takeoff. We sat on the plane for a couple of hours while they tried to fix it, missing our connecting flight. We got rerouted through JKF in New York, and finally got to LA about eight hours late. Ugh.

Second grade, here we come!

Hunter's first day of second grade was on Tuesday, Aug. 25. He didn't seem very excited, but willingly went through the motions. I remember very little from kindergarten and first grade; but I do remember second grade pretty well, so this seems like a milestone to me. We waited about 20 minutes for the morning bus; I expected some delays since it was the first day. I wore Tristan in a Bjorn, and Kyler did his usual rolling in the dirt and running into the road while we waited. The afternoon bus was about 35 minutes late! Hopefully it gets better soon. He didn't have much to say about school. We went to the open house the day before and met his teacher and saw his classroom. His spelling words that came home on Tuesday were way too simple: I, was, saw, etc. Hopefully his teacher will do like Mrs. Cowart did last year and separate the kids into two groups, and give him words that he will actually have to learn.






I am excited to have somewhat of a schedule again, and to get back into a daily routine. It is certainly much more peaceful without him and Kyler at eachother's throats all day. I lament that they fight so much, and am trying to figure out a solution. I've just about nipped Hunter's tattling in the bud: he "gets" to pull 100 weeds every time he tattles. The weeds desperately need to be pulled, and it is his "choice" to pull them. Once he pulled a few hundred, he decided it usually wasn't worth the tattle, though he's still not 100%, but the difference in my sanity is huge! Kyler actually seems to appreciate him once he is home from school, and they've been playing together more peacefully. Yesterday he was outside to pull weeds. Dean pulled in the driveway from work and saw Hunter lying on the ground not moving, and wondererd if he should be concerned. Hunter had fallen asleep, in the heat and humidity, no less. He denies it up and down, but Dean says there is no doubt. He, of course, says every night that he's not tired, and tries to stay up past his bed time, and likes to read by the hour in his bedroom. I can't fault him for wanting to read...

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Exciting stuff

Dean started having the symptoms of the crud on Saturday, then was worse on Sunday so stayed home from church. Monday morning he was terrible so I took him to sick call on the base. They gave him fluids and some anti nausea meds, but no shots or anything like I got, so he was pretty miserable and slept most of the day. The PA he saw seemed to think it might be the rotavirus, which is pretty nasty all right. Hunter got it as a toddler and the manifestations we've been having (high fevers and explosive GI disturbances) are pretty much what Hunter had then. They said we likely picked up the bug from the kids - you know how they carry around germs; of course they didn't get sick.

So Dean checked his work email late afternoon. His sports medicine and orthopedic doctors had said last week he wouldn't be able to go to the pre-deployment field training in late Sept/early Oct because of his knee injury, so his commander yesterday declared him unable to be deployed later in October. Well, shucks. We're awfully disappointed around here, if you can't tell. That changes a lot of army things for us right now, which is fine.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

How to lose 9lbs in 3 days

Dean had a four-day weekend to use from Aug 1-4, which was right over our birthdays on the 3rd and 4th. We don't often plan ahead of time, but were thinking we'd go on a little vacation. But he didn't put in to be able to travel more than 250 miles, (Army rules) so we were a little limited. But, we decided, who wants to travel so far with small children anyway, and we started looking closer. Ultimately we settled on doing a "stay-cation", where we just did day trips or saw things locally. That way we got to stay in our own beds at night and didn't have to pack much.



So Saturday we drove up to New Bern (about 40 miles from here) and saw the Tryon Palace. Mr. Tryon was the first governor of the state back in the revolutionary days. It was interesting, and we even saw a mock wedding of some of his "staff". It was performed by the blacksmith, in front of an anvil.



I wore Tristan in a Bjorn, and Dean managed the other boys.





It actually hurt Dean's knee more to be in the car than to walk around, so we made a good decision in not traveling far. Sunday we went to church as normal, and had some friends over. Monday all we could come up with was going to pick blueberries for the last time. It's not too much fun in all the heat and humidity, but we managed five pounds to beef up our freezer supply here at the end of the season. We went to dinner as a family and had Thai food.

Tuesday we went to Wilmington, which is over an hour away, to go to a water park - a first for the boys. Dean took each of them for a ride in a go cart as well. It was all a hit, except that of course I ended up sitting around most of the time holding Tristan and keeping him out of the sun. Kinda boring. But, things got exciting mid afternoon when I started to get sick. By the time we were driving home after some errands at 8pm, I just wanted to die. I had developed a terrible stomach flu, complete with the worst chills and headache I've ever had, plus body aches, stomach cramps nearly as bad a labor pains and general horribleness (not to mention the stomach issues). I hoped it would only be a 24 hour bug, and first assumed it was food-borne illness (maybe the Thai food?), but no one else was sick and everyone had sampled mine.

By Thursday I was down about 8 pounds and absolutely miserable. I had had Dean hook up the TV so the boys would be kept busy (they normally only get to watch when their bedroom is clean, which is almost never). I've been able to nurse Tristan, somehow, which is a blessing. I finally called the nurse advice line, and the nurse asked if I was dizzy upon standing, which I was a little, so she said to go to the ER. Dean had to come home and load us all up so we could go sit around a few hours there. They decided it was just a bug that had to run its course, but gave me two shots, one for the headache, and I can't remember what the other was for, and some anti nausea meds. I had been taking tylenol and advil alternately to keep the chills and aches at bay. By Friday evening I was perking up a bit, but still not well enough to be up and about. Dean has been a champ and has been doing the dishes and providing meals (mostly fast food or take out).

So, as of today/Saturday, I'm down about 9 pounds. The only silver lining of all this would be that this would stay off, as my post-baby weight loss has plateaued already. I tried on some jeans today that I wasn't able to wear a few days ago, and got them on. Wow. I really don't recommend the diet, though!!!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Oh, dear

So I went shopping at the commissary yesterday, with all kids in tow. Oh, the joy! The boys helped bring it all in once we got home, which was nice. But toward the evening, I kept wondering in the back of my mind where all the produce was. I figured it must have ended up in one bag. At the commissary, they have baggers who bag it all and take it to the car for you, and load it in the car; their only wages are tips. So, I decided that somehow the bag of produce must not have made it home, and I was all geared up to call the commissary and pitch a fit in the morning. Before I went to bed I saw a paper bag with newspapers in the top sitting on the coffee table in the living room (remember the boys helped). I assumed it was my bag of newspapers (that I don't recycle), and it felt pretty heavy, so I decided it must be time to take it out and throw it in the garbage bin since it was trash night. Then today when I saw the real bag of newspapers right where it should have been (not on the coffee table) I finally had an epiphany, that in fact, it must have been my bag of produce that I threw out!!! So devastating! I work so hard to scrimp and save on groceries and get the best deals on produce, and managed instead to throw out a bag of strawberries, peaches, carrots, apples, oranges, etc. Oh, dear!

On another note, I didn't manage to get Hunter packed up to go to New Mexico before I went into the hospital to have Tristan. So Dean did that, bless his heart. When Hunter got home and I went through his luggage to put things away, I found that Dean had packed a pair of Kyler's Sunday pants for church, and none of Hunter's. I can only imagine what he must have looked like, in my home town/ward, no less, wearing slacks three sizes too small that must have come up to the middle of his calves. Oh, dear. I would have preferred that he wear shorts or jeans or swim trunks or anything but awfully high water pants...