Welcome, Friend

I was cleaning out my dads house this past weekend and was going through a toy bin he has for the kids. I was getting rid of broken things, old, weird things etc. I came across an old puppy that was mine when I was little. It was well-loved. The cotton was so far compressed the puppy is darn near flat, was torn and he smelled to high heaven. So, I tossed him. I swear Wyatt ears perk right up when he hears anything large going into the trash can, so he came in to see. I was watching him over my shoulder and what I saw was so sweet.
He came in, his mouth dropped and then stuck out his lip at the sight of the discarded puppy. He picked him up out of the trash, made "dusting off" motions, then whispered to the puppy, "It's o.k., Don't worry, I'll take you home."

My heart broke in half and I felt like an evil puppy killer. The kind the PETA rigs up car bombs for. So, I interjected, "Wyatt do you want to take that puppy to our house?" Wyatt says, "Yes *sniffs the puppy* but he's going to need a bath."

So, we took him home, washed and mended him, Wyatt named him and introduced him to his first friend, Molly the giraffe.

Welcome Home Dog E. Good, Welcome Home.

Thank You Stove Top Chicken Bake

Thanks to Stove Top Chicken Bake, Emma ate about 1 cup of vegetables. That probably makes only 2 cups of vegetables shes eaten in her whole life. :)

Thank you Stove Top, Thank you!

Recipe
1 pkg (6 oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken (Whole Wheat kind)
1-1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup (Campbell's healthy Request)
1/3 cup Breakstone’s or Knudsen Sour Cream (Fat Free)
1 bag (16 oz) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed, drained

Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package; set aside.
Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and vegetables in 13x9-inch baking dish; top with the stuffing.
Bake 30 min or until chicken is cooked through.

Emma Stats as of Today:

*She ate (and by ate, I mean, it entered her mouth was chewed and swallowed) her first noodle. Thank the Lord now we can resume regular Toddler feeding schedules!

*Said "Baba" and meant it

*Said yayayalalblaaaahya *ALL DONE* yayayablaaaaablahya

*Climbed the kitchen table purposely to get the Ms. Fields cookie bag and enjoyed said cookie right there on the top of the table. (when I caught her, she gave me a big chocolate smile and said "Hi!")

*Is going on her 4th! week of diaper rash

*Jumps around and laughs in bed after I've put her to nite nite, then when I come in the room, she belly flops down and pretends to sleep (with a BIG smile on her face)

A funny Wyatt thing too!

We went to the mall and walked past Santa. He told me " I don't wanna go in there!" I said "Why not? If you don't tell Santa what you want for Christmas how will he know what to bring?" Wyatt replied, "Well, I'll just write it in a letter" I then said, "Ooook, well if you don't see Santa, how will he know that you've been a good boy?" He retorts, " I'll just put that in the letter too."

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Oh, this is a puzzle that Wyatt picked from the Toys for Tots Warehouse to check and clean. So far so good. He's had a really great time putting this together and cleaning the pieces. He's going to be sad to see it go, but, AT LONG LAST!!! he finally understands that this is going to a kid who doesnt have many toys. I guess he just needed something more visual to let "giving to needy children" sink in. Its not just talking about it, its actually doing it. This makes it a little more real for him, I think.

Random Wyatt-ism

Wyatt asked me "What if you had more babies?"
I said "Well, what about it ? "
He says, "Its a good idea, but remember you'd have to vagina them all out"

Apples of my Eye

Yay for apples! Emma gnawed on this thing for a whole day. Whenever she'd get clingy/needy/annoying, I'd tell her to "Go find your apple!" She'd go find it, sit and gnaw a while. :) I'm a bad mom.

Not much of anything going on here. I've been moody because for the last 3 days I've been making calls and doing some online sleuthing regarding our next duty station. Randy can pick orders in Dec. (choose location) So, I've been looking into a few places to see if we'd fit. (Schools, supportive friendly naval community, weather) This is stressful. I really don't mind moving. Its the Randy being gone for months at a time that is the kicker.

I can do it myself, I've done it before. He's had 6 ? I think, tours since we've been together. I can handle it. One time he's been deployed while Wyatt's been around. But Wyatt was really young and I really don't think he noticed much. It just took Randy a few weeks of "blending in" to be accepted into his routine again.

Its the kids... How do we go about this without damaging them ? I keep looking for a Navy Brats website to see how Navy brats turn out through the years of deployments and moving. Are we going to damage the kids by moving all the time? Randy not being around ?

The house I grew up in, is the only home I've known. My dad is still there. That's home. I move, I travel, but "that" is where my "home" is. Will my kids ever have that ? If they don't will it damage them in some way ?

Am I over-thinking this ?

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Anyway...
Wyatt's funny. He tells me the other day " I love you mommy, and I love your skin!"
Ha! thanks kid.

I'm in the car, guy cuts me off.... I start swearing "Expletive, deleted, Mother F*ckers" Ok. So. I look back and Wyatt's mouth hit the floor. I tell him "Mommy can get very mad and talk very naughty sometimes, but you can never ever talk like mommy" Wyatt says, "Ok, well then, by all means, Stop."

Nuff said. Will do, buddy.

Ever seen a kid so happy to be holding a shovel ?

Emma Well Baby

Today she is 25 lbs and 32.5 inches. Growth is going great. Dr. has a problem with Ms. Em's speech though. Emma only says "mom" and "hi" and she has a mock attempt at "cheese" which is more like "eeese" She has said, grandma, bird, dada, and a one word para-phrase of "whats that" which is "waasat" She has said those maybe once, twice. She prefers "Mom" and "Hi" that's it. She loves saying "hi" in fact. So much she'll say it over and over and over and over until you've said "hi" back to her.



She will sign for "Milk" and "All Done" and will shake her head yes and no appropriately and also for the sake of being a little stinker.



But apparently she is supposed to be speaking more at 16 months. Soooo Dr. wants Em to start Birth to 3

Urgh. I kind of don't want to. Not that I don't want Emma to be on schedule, but I have a gut feeling that Emma is simply one of these kids that is working on her physical stuff right now and will get to the talking later. I mean.... give that kid a plane ticket and a pocket full of dreams and she'll climb Mt. Everest. Seriously... the girl scales the couch as well as sits on top of the dinner table.

She pulled out that dinner table sitting gem last night. Nice huh ? That's Wyatt behind her freaking out "Mom!!!! Get her off the table!"

Soooo... I took off the table cloth and everything after that... it makes it a little harder for her to get on top of the table when she has no leverage.

Anyway..point is.... Gut says she'll talk when shes damn well ready. I wasn't so sure with Wyatt, which is why he went into birth to 3. And look at him now, hes quick as a whip. Not sure what to do with this. Dr. also suggested putting Emma in a regular daycare spot with kids her own age. So she has her own place and space with kids like her. Apparently my one hour 4 times a week at the gym daycare isn't enough ?!

Bleh. I feel like I'm messing up.

Anway... felt 3 lumps in my can a few days ago...had it checked today. It'll be fine, Im sure.

Election 2008

I pulled Wyatt out of school today to go to the polls with me. I explained how everything worked. We talked to people, he blurted who our pick was. It was fun. I let him color our lines on the ballot and I explained what each was for. We went over to the "ballot eating machine" and Wyatt screams "Obama Baby!" I think the lady handing out the "I voted" stickers damn near wet herself.

I felt so great about introducing Wyatt to the first election of his life. And it's such an important one! He is all caught up in it. So am I, its like Christmas around here. Randy and I are watching the returns and its really exciting. (I totally sound like I need to find a hobby right about now huh?) Anyway...

I feel so empowered every time I vote. Especially as a woman. I hope I can pass these ideals onto Wyatt and Emma.

Halloween

Halloween was great. Em stayed home to hand out candy with daddy and Wyatt and I went around the neighborhood. He was over it after 20 minutes, but I kept trucking him along for another half hour after that. There were a lot of older kids (17, 18ish) that were mowing over the little guys so Wyatt was done pretty quick after all that mess.

We had a bonfire with some friends and family after trick or treating. It was a nice way to end the day.

Some pics of the kids:

Emma was a poodle :)

Wyatt was Thomas the Train and his Train Conductor....again...this year. Although he says that next year he will not be needing "Thomas the Box" again.
(p.s. hubby looks totally hot in this picture. rawr)

This outfit was made my Auntie Lisa. Emma learned all about "Twirling" after putting this little number on. :)

I bought this one from a lady on Etsy. I was going to make one myself, but my little brain couldn't comprehend the pillowcase dress design. The arm holes. Couldn't figure out the arm holes.