Potty Training

I know that Keylan is only to be 18 months on the 16th of October, but I am going to start getting him in the potty mindset. So today we are going to buy him a potty set. We have the one that goes on the toilet and he sits on it and has peed in the toilet once. But I think it is easier to start with the actual potty seat and once he gets the hang of it move him up to using the other one on a regular basis. I am surprised that I am actually thinking about doing this because I was stuck on the "I'll start when we get home in May" mindset. But since he has peed on the potty, tells me poo poo and knows when he is wet I think it would be awesome to get home and he is potty trained =) But I am also not going to get upset if he does not want to do it. We let Shiana go at her own pace and by 3 and half she was potty trained both during the day and all night, and she was stubborn, very stubborn. So I am excited and nervous, but I know one day he will be potty trained.

Looking ahead

I have been thinking about things that are going to be happening in the next 8 months. That would be the first of June, putting us at home in Alabama for about 2 weeks. Between now and then we have holidays, I turn 24 and my little boy turns 2. We want to get a 3 bedroom house, with washer and dryer connections and a yard; but, if we have to we will look at apartments. Our only requirements is having a washer and dryer connection and 3 bedrooms. We don't want to have to worry about getting quarters and waiting on people to do laundry and we also want both kids to have their own room, and we want our own room too. But, I came to the conclusion last night that when we get into a new place that instead of a toddler bed for Keylan we are just going to put him in a twin bed. Shiana was 18 months when we put her in a twin bed so 2 years should be good. Now I am already trying to come up with an idea on how I want to decorate his room. He is first this time since he will finally have his own room after 2 years. Then I will do Shiana's room most likely for her birthday. I am excited to decorate their rooms and honestly can not wait till we move again.

Changes

So we have had some changes here in oh the last 5 days. Friday Jeremy just had formation and then was off the rest of the day. At about 8 AM he told me I needed to chase the kids because he was hurting, thought it might be appendicitis . We got to the emergency room about 10 that morning and waited for about 2 hours. I went to get Keylan some milk from the little coffee shop and he was taken back. The nurse said that it would be 2-3 hours before we knew anything. He had to have a CT scan done and when it came back it showed that he definitely had acute appendicitis and that he would be having surgery that night. I got the kids ready to head up to the hospital, was hoping to see him before he went back but didn't make it. On our elevator ride up to the surgery waiting room there was a biker guy, so I would think he was, and Shiana said that Daddy was in the hospital. He asked me what for and I explained to him what was going on. When we got off the elevator he asked if he could pray with us and I told him yes of course. I will admit I started crying, I am such a sap. We sat in the waiting room for roughly 2 and half hours till Jeremy was done. Kids were tired and crabby and ready for bed, but they also wanted daddy. He came out and we got to see him and ride in the elevator up to the floor that he was going to be on and into his room. We spent a few minutes with him but I needed to get the kids into bed. I felt bad because through both of my c-sections he stayed with me; but when there is no family around or places to leave the kids overnight there is not much choice. On Saturday we ran to the store and got a few things, and then we headed to the hospital again. Jeremy was suppose to be getting discharged after lunch and we passed the time very slowly. Dinner came around and food was ordered and around 6:15 a nurse came in and asked if he had ate lunch....umm yeah. He got discharged and we had to go on post to drop some papers off so that he did not have to deploy on Thursday. Now he is on convalescent leave for 14 days and is not deploying till later. So the things that have changed are: Jeremy has one less organ, on a few more medicines, and playing deployment by ear now. 

I am so ready to have a break; but him and the kids keep me going and keep me busy. Keylan's vocabulary has expanded again. He says oww, boo boo, poo poo ( and knows when he actually has done it), kitty, doggy, bark, meow and some others. He has also hit terrible two's at 17 months old and they are 100 times worse then Shiana ever was. It is a constant fight with him, he gets into the fridge and dishwasher, he can turn it on and open and close and tries to unload it, when he gets made or you try to move him and he doesn't want to he will go limp and sit on the floor. Shiana likes to fight with him, lol. She is excited about Halloween coming up and dressing up and candy.

A Bragging Post =)

What mommy does not like bragging about their kids and their new accomplishments. I have a really big one tonight though; Keylan peed in the big potty for the first time tonight =) The best part is that we are not even trying to potty train him yet, I am to worried about him regressing with deployment and moving multiple times coming up. I put him on the potty before bath time and tonight he used it. He got lots of praise, a yay with clap and high five, and the smile on his face was priceless. I love that he is growing up, now if Jeremy would just let me cut his hair, but it is also sad because my baby is not going to want to be treated like a baby much longer. I also use cloth diapers and I kinda don't want to leave them yet. But if he is easier to train then Shiana is I am all for it. Shiana is growing up and we have a few things that we are going to be working on the next few months. She can count to 20 with only missing 17, but she likes to skip around lol. She can also say her alphabet, we need to work sight now because she can not pick them out; she knows shapes, letters, and has been working on tracing them and she has also been tracing letters and shapes. She is so smart and bright and I cannot wait till she starts school, we just need to work on behavior (though we have never had a complaint from anyone that she has stayed with or when she is by herself with either me or Jeremy). We are pretty positive that the acting out at home is from jealousy.But that is my bragging about my kiddos tonight and I love both of my kids so much and so thankful for being able to be their mommy and watch them grow up. 

As Time Goes On

So it finally dawned on me that this deployment is really going to happen. I knew it was coming and pushed it to the back of my mind, but it got out of there last night while packing Jeremy's bags. He had bags and clothes and everything else spread throughout the kitchen, dining room, and living room. I know Shiana and Blackie, the cat, can tell that something is going on, they just are not sure what yet. Shiana knows daddy is going to a new country called Afghanistan to work and will be gone, in her terms, a really long time. At this very moment though I am not nervous about the initial deployment, I am nervous about the traveling, lol, and once we get there I know that it will set in with deployment. Me and the kids will be fine, we have both of our families that will help us with anything that we might need. So like the title says, as time goes on, we are getting one day closer to him leaving and us being around our family, but once he leaves we will be working on getting one day closer to having him home again. Then that will start another journey of getting ready to get out and move back home. 

I know I am rambling but it is how my brain feels right now.

A Mess, the Zoo, and Case Lot Sale

So today started off really crappy. Keylan had a terrible two period (so not ready for that yet) this morning. The kids got up and out of my bed and in the span that it took to talk my butt into getting up and the rolling over and actually getting up Keylan turned into the Tasmanian Devil. He had somehow managed to get the cloth diaper detergent off of the counter, open it and poured it throughout the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Then he got my water bottle, off the counter, and somehow busted it. It still had water in it so he mixed the water and detergent together. Yay, tons of fun cleaning that up, lol. Then he got to the cat food and took hands full of the food and put it in the water to make cat food soup. Getting that picked up he went over to the litter box and clawed, pushed, scooped, whatever you call it, litter onto the floor. So then Jeremy got off early and we decided to go to the zoo.

When we got to the zoo, we went ahead and got the membership that we have been talking about getting. lol. We walked around and looked at the same old animals, but this time is was more fun with Keylan because he was more interested in them. Mostly the cats, his favorite animal =). Jeremy found a sick pigeon and gave it to one of the zookeepers. And by that time Shiana was hungry so we rushed along the rest of it, which wasn't much. But we got to the tiger exhibit and if you live in El Paso then you heard that the male tiger was killed. Well they had a memorial set-up for him, his name was Wzui. But there was a tiger laying next to the window that Keylan fell in love with and Shiana got to see the "zoo horses". After we finished there we stopped at the gift shop and let the kids pick a small thing out, Shiana got a powder candy stick and Keylan got a stuffed tiger. We left and went to Dairy Queen and got the kids a cup of ice cream to share and they ate off my chocolate dipped cone, mmm yummy!

 After Dairy Queen we went to the case lot sale at the commissary. Basically it is bulk items at a really cheap price and what you get last for us about 2 months which is really good. We spent $115 dollars on:

1-12 pack toilet paper
laundry detergent
4 boxes caprison (40 pouches)
2 boxes mashed potatoes (16 individual packs)

9 large lysol wipes

6 boxes Trix cereal

6 boxes coco puff cereal

24 cans of cat food

48 bottles of water

24 packs of cornbread/muffin mix

12 boxes hamburger helper

14 boxes of dunkaroos

20 pack soda:Dr. Pepper, Coke, and Sprite

1 box swiss rolls

1 box oatmeal creme pies

So for all that I think we did really good. Plus most of this I can take to my mom and dad's when we go back next month and it will help a lot.

 ^^^^^Dog food is not included, lol.

Hurry Up and Wait

So I have not written in awhile, honestly a little surprised. So at this point Jeremy should have been deployed and me and the kids back home in Alabama, but it is the Army and the love the "hurry up and wait" That is now what we are doing. It will happen at some point and then we will be home 2 days later.I was ready the first 2 dates that he was given and then moving it further out made it harder. Do NOT get me wrong, I am going to miss him to death and I do not want him leaving. But, it is his job and it was inevitable to go 3 years without a deployment. It has been hard adjusting to the new date because we had already started preparing Shiana for when daddy leaves and then it got pushed back and poor kid is confused. I had mentally prepared myself for him leaving and I was able to breath a few more days and now I am back to where I was before, stressing and preparing.

But how do you prepare? I know everyone is different and you have to find your own groove. We have lots planned out while we are at home; I get to take the kids up to Nebraska and see my grandparents that I have not seen in 2 years (excited to have everyone see how much Shiana has grown and to finally meet Keylan), pumpkin patch and polar express and hopefully some play dates and spending time with family. Plus I will be starting my second term for my bachelors, at this moment I have A's in both of my classes and will be on the President's list, an awesome feeling that I now have to hold up the whole time. In about 11 weeks I will be starting electives for my bachelors, but those electives will actually be my classes for my masters degree. I am actually nervous, but I know that I can do anything that I put my mind to. 

Now an update on the kids:
Shiana had her 4 year old appointment the 2nd. She weighed 56 lbs and 44 inches (99% for both). She has perfect eye sight for a 4 year old, which is 20/30, and learned that perfect eyesight,20/20, doesn't hit till about age 6 and her blood pressure was perfect. She also got her flumist and 4 shots while we were there. Keylan also got his flushot that day. Since being home his vocabulary has expanded to about 15-20 words, but he understands more then he talks. He can walk backwards and jump and pretends and loves his stuffed animals and his blankie. I love watching both of my kids grow up but they need to slow down and learn how to semi get a long.