The Bright Side

Apparently the title company our seller's realtor chose doesn't find it necessary to actually complete a home closing on the day that the signing begins ... so we wait. Our realtor was livid after the meeting. Yesterday was supposed to be the very latest that we got into the house. He as well as another realtor in his office and our mortgage loan officer are going to do everything in their power today to get some keys in our hands. In the meantime, the kids and I are hanging at the hotel, and Ryan decided to go to work. But ...

1. At least it's not basic training!!!
2. We can enjoy cable TV for a few more days
3. Being on base is convenient when we have only one car
4. Stephen loves sleeping on the pull-out bed
5. If we move on Saturday we can do it in the morning, making the heat more tolerable
6. A few more days of someone else making our bed and giving us clean towels
7. We still live near dozens of airplanes and busses
8. Abby wouldn't care if we lived in a tent or a castle ... "mama mama" is all she needs ...
9. Donuts for breakfast since we've eaten all the breakfast food we have in the last couple of days
10. At least nothing fell through, like the loan or the roof on the house :)

Amusing Ourselves

What do you do with time in a new city before you've met many people? Well, you could go sit on an elephant.

Or you could sit on a couch and make funny faces.

Or you could sit on your parents' bed and play with crayons.

10 Glimpses Into Our Lives

Our suite here at Temporary Lodging. The bed is Stephen's hide-a-bed which was out for his afternoon rest time. You can see Abby's bed in the corner behind the chairs. The bathroom and bedroom are to the right off the kitchen.

1. Leaving to run an errand at 4:58 p.m. while living on base proves to be a bad idea. All traffic comes to a halt while Revelry and The Star-Spangled Banner play over the loudspeaker at 5. On a positive note, Stephen loves hearing it and we have been going out on the balcony every day as soon as he hears it!
2. When I work out, it's called "exercise." When Ryan does, it's called "PT." There are several fitness facilities on base. On Saturday morning, I went to one while Ryan stayed at our room with the kids. What a shock it was to walk out of the weight room and see the gym lined with M-16s! There were about 50 Marines in there doing some sort of group activity.
3. When we first got here, everything seemed so BROWN. But I think I've gotten used to it. The grass ... the buildings ... even the couch and bedspread are brown ... the brightest colors are the beautiful peppers! There's a water restriction in San Antonio and I found out yesterday that we get to water our lawn in our new house on Wednesdays.
4. Thank goodness for a DVD player. Stephen watches Sound of Music almost every day, and knows some of the lines and songs by heart. Never mind that he thinks the captain sings "Eggo Bite." At least it amuses him.
5. On Saturday, both kids took late naps, so we knew bedtime wouldn't be at 8 like normal. I surfed the local online calendars, and we found a free movie in a park near downtown. It was fun to go there, lay a blanket on the lawn, an watch the first half hour of Night at the Museum with the kids. There was also popcorn and a "mist tent" that the kids LOVED.
6. Stephen tells me everyday, "Abby likes trucks. And I like cars. And buses. And little buses. Especially that bus ..." (pointing to the blood donor bus across the street from our room) At the blood donor building, there are signs outside for donors to line up according to blood type. I love it ... some things are really efficient around here. Other things, not so much.
7. I'm slowing learning Spanish. Last night while looking through Sunday's coupons, I learned that it's good to Ahorre when buying groceries!
8. You'd think it would be easy to find some of the grocery options that I had in little Urbana, IL. But it's not. I have been searching aisles for a bulk spice display like they have at the coop and at Strawberry Fields (both within walking distance from our house in Urbana). Finally, I found Sun Harvest today, but it's at least 20 minutes driving from our house. It'll be a special occasion store, I suppose.
9. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to live near so many airplanes. Every time we drive by the graduation grounds (across the street from our living quarters), Stephen shouts out "look at that airplane" for each one we pass. And I know he's looking at each one of them because sometimes it varies: "ooh, look at that little airplane!"
10. Abby has become quite a helper around the house. Her new favorite thing to do is to throw things in the garbage. Diapers (no way we're doing cloth right now!), wrappers ... anything I ask her to take there ... she'll march right over, open the can, put her loot in there, close it, then walk back across the room grinning from ear to ear and clapping to congratulate herself. Right now I'm going to march both of my little helpers down the balcony to the laundry room to put clothes in the dryer ...
    

The Wisdom of a Three-Year-Old

Stephen has been making some rather mature-sounding comments recently. I don't think it reflects his actual maturity; I think he is simply imitating us.

Before we left Urbana, we had some friends over to say goodbye. The house got rather loud and busy at one point, and Susan (my mother-in-law) was going upstairs to wash some windows for us. Stephen said he wanted to go with her, and he even wanted a rag so that HE could help with the cleaning. When they got up there, he said to her, "it sure is noisy down there." As if he doesn't ever run around screeching himself ...

Then today we were coming back to our suite at the Temporary Lodging here at Lackland. I have been keeping it pretty well picked up out of necessity (gotta wash your plates when you only have 4 and the toys need to be put away every night so the hide-a-bed can be set up in the living room), but there is some clutter because we have nowhere else to put everything! Just before getting to our room, he noticed that the cleaning lady was fixing up the vacated room next door. So he invited himself in and told her, "It's clean in here. I want to stay here." And he plopped down on a chair and sipped from his ubiquitous blue cup.

Last night, he got upset with me when I gave Ryan a hug. He's always been somewhat possessive of me (Stephen, that is), but I think with the transitions and the busy summer his attachment has increased. So we tried to explain to him that it was good for mommy and daddy to hug. He still didn't want me to, though. I said, "Can I hug Abby?" "No," was his reply. "Can I hug you?" Still, "no."

"Then who can mommy hug?" I said.

"The wall," said Stephen. "Mommy hug the wall." Where does he get this stuff?

Texas, Here We Are

Much to share since I last posted ...

First and foremost, we now live in Texas!

Ryan finished Air Force Basic Military Training on July 24. We put an offer on a house on July 27, then flew back to Illinois to pack up our house for the big move. We packed the moving truck on the 30th (Ryan's 29th birthday) and then drove. Ryan and my dad in the Penske. My mom and I were in the minivan with the kids. We filled 2 storage units (1 regular and 1 climate-controlled for instruments) and are now living in temporary housing at Lackland Air Force Base. It's not anything to get too excited about, but we do have an equipped kitchen, DVD players, maid service, and FREE laundry. The offer on our house was accepted and assuming the inspection doesn't bring up major problems, we'll close by August 26 and be in before September.

We didn't stop in the same places during the drive so this photo is just of me and the kids. At this particular stop, Stephen found some sprinklers to run in. And rather than get upset with him for having a great time doing so, I just let him and then changed his clothes -- put him right back in his dirty but DRY clothes from the day before.

Ryan has some things to do this morning and has the car, so the kids and I were on our own. We went out in the morning, but it's already 84 and sunny. My intention was for Stephen to walk and Abby to be in the stroller. But Stephen got tired. Good thing I had the baby carrier, too. So Abby went on my back and Stephen went in the stroller. We got to the convenience store, but NOTHING on my list was there. I should have put wine, beer, and liquor on my list. There was plenty of that. But no bread, tortilla shells, grape juice, or a carrot peeler. So we walked back, and before we got to our housing, a car stopped and asked if they could give us a ride. I didn't think I looked that exhausted, but apparently I did ... or maybe folks driving through think that only trainees should have large packs on their backs. We were fine, but I might go to the storage unit and swap the single stroller for the double. It's bulkier, but I don't think Stephen's going to be making it on very long walks in this heat. Even with bigger blue drink :).

The Sense of Entitlement

Just a few minutes ago, Stephen came into the kitchen crying. "Where's our garage?" he said.

I repeated back to him: "Our garage?"

"Yes," he said.

"Stephen, we don't have a garage."

The look of sorrow on his face was truly devastating.

I guess being at grandma and grandpa's house got him used to the fact that houses have garages. And our Little People toy house has a garage.

I guess we have a lot of work to do to help him understand what a "need" is.

Of Trucks, Somersaults, and Bathtime

Stephen continues to crack us up with his drama and out-of-the-blue statements.

Today we were walking down a sidewalk and there was a truck blocking the sidewalk because it wasn't pulled up far enough in a driveway. Stephen said to me, "How are we EVER going to get around that truck?" (I showed him and we continued on our walk without a hitch.)

Then after his nap he wanted to do some somersaults. He just started doing them a week or so ago and he inevitably uses them as a stalling technique when he doesn't want to do something else. "I need do somersault," he tells me.

But then he asked me, "Does Great Grandma do somersaults?"

We still haven't gotten an answer.

Last week dad got Stephen to a pretty good point where he was enjoying taking baths again. But a couple days ago when I gave him one, he still didn't want me pouring the water over his head. (I've tried having him tilt his head back, holding a washcloth over his eyes, etc.) But then later in his bath he took a little toy cup and poured water on his own head.

So tonight I got smart. I shampooed his hair and then let him play for awhile. Then I said, "why don't you pour water on your head?" And he proceeded to fill up his little toy teacup and lift it up to drip down the side of his head. And behind him, I had a plastic cup full of water that I brought up from behind and gushed on him. He didn't mind at all because he thought he was doing it himself!

My Daughter's Quirks

One of Abby's many funny practices is that she likes to eat food while carrying it around. And she wants to have the whole piece. For certain foods that is a problem, because we can't give her food she could choke on. But there are many things that aren't a problem.

For instance, this morning she was vehemently rejecting the bits of banana that we were giving her but still reaching for the peel itself. I let her have it, and she proceeded to walk around with it proudly, sucking occasionally on the top of the fruit.

Well, Stephen wanted a bite and she was happy to oblige!

This evening during dinner, she didn't want peas or raisins. And she didn't want the little pieces of mom's good Jarlsberg cheese. She wanted the big hunk of it, "to go," please.

I know I could just refuse to let her eat this way, but really it just backfires on me when she is extra-hungry at night and wakes repeatedly.

Before I had Abby, I didn't know why parts of toys ended up all over people's houses. Stephen pretty much plays with toys where he finds them. But as I type this, she is bringing me a windmill from a train set in the other room. Thanks, kiddo.

What have we done?

Stephen is giving Abby a haircut with a fork.

Strange Ideas Out of the Mouths of Toddlers

It used to be that we had fun listening to Stephen mispronounce words. And while he still gets some words wrong, he really does enunciate pretty well. Now he comes up with funny combinations and phrases, such as "Grandma Stephen."

Here are some gems from today. I really, truly do not know where he gets this stuff.

"Drip drop 110"

"Stephen eats daddy's knee!" (said at the dinner table, when he was supposed to be eating shepherd's pie)

"nomeeneemyneeosidodiaheeabby" (his fun name for abby, which he says exactly the same way every time)

----

I just went through his clothes and he has plenty of 3T and 4T summer clothes. He's going to be excited about all the trucks and animals on his t-shirts, especially the lobster one. We go say hi to them every time we are at the grocery store.

Saxophone Party

After classes and juries were over, the classical saxophone professor invited her studio over to her house for an outdoor lunch/dinner (middle of the afternoon).

Before we left, we told Stephen we were going to a party. He said, "birthday!" But we said it was a saxophone party, not a birthday party. He didn't fight it at all, but happily got in the burley and we all biked over there (not a short ride; they're on the other side of town).

We enjoyed the party, especially the swing and slide they had in their backyard. And we went out in the paddleboat.

Then at one point Stephen was standing around the food table, enjoying the chips and crackers, and he suddenly exclaimed, "Happy birthday, Saxophone!" (I guess he didn't "get it" after all.)

The picture from the bike trailer is after BOTH of them had slept on the way home. Stephen woke up as soon as we stopped biking but Abby was a little more sleepy.

Poor Baby

So we just got back from a long trip today and Abby has been having the toughest time going to sleep. We tried the usual ... letting her eat more, gas drops, rubbing her tummy ... and I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I would have eaten that is upsetting her so much. Ryan suggested that her body is sore from so much time in the carseat. Likely. But it hasn't bothered her other times. So why tonight?

I felt in her mouth to the place where her 8th tooth is supposed to be coming in any day ... she's had 7 teeth for about 3 months. And then I reached back a little further. A tooth is poking through. I reached back on the other side. Another one. Upon further investigation ... yep ... both are molars.

Ouch.

We treated her and she immediately calmed down. Did I go the "natural" or "medical" route? You, my dear blog readers, who hail from so many different camps, will never know ...

Abby Turned One

Many of my readers are on facebook and would have seen plenty about Abby's 1st birthday. But for the sake of those who aren't, here's a quick rundown.

For Stephen's sake, we needed to have a party. And Grandma Leatherman was in town, so we decked the walls with streamers, baked a chocolate cake for all of the (5 adult) guests, and purchased Abby her very own cupcake from Cakes on Walnut. It even came in a cute box!!!

She enjoyed the festivities, and now has a drawer stuffed full of clothes and toys that make her brother jealous.

She's a fun kid (except when she doesn't want to go to sleep at night). She says a handful of words, unintelligible to anyone but her family. It goes a little bit like this:
"Do" means: do (she has to keep busy); dog; kitty; daddy
"Stee" means: Stephen
"Mamamamama" means: mommy; food
"shoo" means: shoe
"t" means: tent
"zhu" means: cheerio
... and that's all I can think of right now.

A Step Closer to Enlisting

Before

and after

Chickpea Crackers

The kids are [drumroll please] BOTH sleeping ... so I poured myself a bowl of cereal and topped it with some half frozen milk. Stephen must have been playing with the dial in the refrigerator. But I'm not upset. (See first sentence for reason why.)

Since I know some celiacs and some other people (such as the girl I babysit) who avoid wheat, I sometimes try my hand at gluten-free cooking. I know many common meals such as chili already are gluten-free; it's the things that almost always contain wheat that need the special twist to make them gluten-free.

A friend of mine posted a recipe for Chickpea crackers a couple weeks ago and I gave them a try. I'm sure the author enjoyed them but they just didn't cut it for me. I couldn't nail down what it was about them that I didn't care for but since I now have a bag full of chickpea flour (it's not very expensive and is most commonly found in the baking aisle with the selection of Bob's Red Mill flours) in the cupboard I wanted to give it another shot. Here's what I came up with. I was pretty happy with it! (And by posting it I can throw away the post-it note it's scribbled on.)

1/2 c chickpea flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking powder
2 T ground flaxseed
1 T sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t oil
2-4 T water, enough to make it stick together but not too sticky!

Mix ingredients together to form a ball.
Using enough flour (this is where I cheated and used wheat, but you wouldn't have to) so as not to get the dough stuck on the rolling pin or the counter, roll the dough out.
Cut into squares with a knife.
Put on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
Let cool on a cooling rack.

This doesn't make a huge batch but was a good snack for me and the kids yesterday.

Abby Tries More Food

As Abby is approaching one year of age, I have begun introducing to her some of the staple foods that most of us enjoy on a daily basis. Because of the history of allergies in my family, I have been extra cautious and waited longer than most doctors recommend waiting to introduce the big three: wheat, dairy, and eggs. Of course there are other "big ones," such as peanuts and fish, but in my family WD&E were the culprits.

Saturday we started out with wheat. I made some whole wheat crackers that were very bland but also very simple. She has eaten some every day since then.

Today I delved into dairy. I probably will still wait quite awhile before doing straight milk, as that is not tolerated as well as cheese and yogurt. Besides, she still nurses a lot. So for lunch I mixed up some berries with some plain yogurt. (That's what this video shows.)


I think Saturday will be the egg day, since we have friends visiting and I'll be making a casserole for them.

And while she isn't having any major reactions such as ezcema or hives, I must say I find the wheat to be somewhat suspect. Her nose has been running and I don't think she's sick at all. I'll give it a couple days before I decide to eliminate it again. I hope for her sake that she doesn't have to be on a special diet. But then again, there are worse things, and it would probably help her to eat healthier.

Little Boys' Dreams Do Come True

We had such a busy day yesterday. And not just lots to do. There was a lot going on all at once that I knew would be a lot of fun for Stephen. It all started out with a birthday party. Stephen has officially "discovered" that birthday parties are the BEST! Cake and toys and kids ... what's not to love about that? At this party, the kids made individual pizzas and then did some songs/activities. Eating the pizzas and the cake was great fun, too.

After that, we drove over to the Champaign Public Library where Steve Roslonek was giving a free concert. Stephen recognized him from his Steve Songs segment between SuperWhy and Clifford. His favorite song is about shapes: "Line line circle circle square square square square triangle triangle ..." And thankfully Steve saw to it that that song was performed for the crowd. (Our friend Nadia even got to help him with the motions!!) We also saw SuperWhy who was quite large. Sadly, Alpha Pig didn't make it; he is Stephen's favorite!

Even though Stephen had done a lot at that point, I thought he might enjoy seeing some of the animals at the Vet Med school's open house. The crowds were a little too intense for him, so we ended up making a bunny ears hat and then running around the pen with the obedience dogs.

After that, I made him rest by watching a movie. We had some people over for a discussion last night and the boy zonked out at 7:30 (early for him; he goes to bed between 8 and 9).

Today has been a magnificent day for me, despite the rainy weather. I slept in and Ryan got up with Stephen. Then I went to a coffee shop by myself for an hour and a half. Now I'm home but BOTH kids are sleeping and that's been the case for over an hour. It'll be nice with Abby and Stephen's naps (or Stephen's rest time when he doesn't nap) coincide all the time.





Oh, and speaking of little boys' dreams ... some people reading this might like to know that I heard Stephen saying "how bout legos, grandpa?" when he was going to sleep last night ...

Des Moines Update

I'd say we did pretty well getting all the kids in the picture, even though they aren't all smiling. This was at Rita's house on Friday night. We had a little pizza party, and it was here that Stephen discovered his love of Cheetos.

I wanted to include this one, just to show off Abby's lovely hair and because Anna was so excited to be holding her little buddy.

Here are Abby and Addie, who is 2.5 months younger. They were both quite social when we got together to play on Friday morning.

Stephen was pretty excited to visit "Uncle" Peter at his pharmacy in Adair.

Those who are my friends on Facebook might have known that Grandma Susan got us in (or out, depending on how you look at it) to see the helicopter at Methodist Hospital.

Stephen even got to sit in the pilot's seat!


It was a wonderful week, seeing friends and family. It always goes by too quickly. In other news, Ryan sprained his wrist the Friday before we left. We're thankful that it doesn't seem to be broken. (We did have an x-ray done and nothing showed up.) We're currently in the middle of making sure that our home is a safe place for all of us to be. We had some lead contamination that seems to have been taken care of, and now we're wondering if the glaze on the bathtub that was supposed to seal in the lead is causing its own problems. It's disconcerting to feel like my own house is poisoning our children.

"__________, Come over!"

Stephen has decreed that the following people need to come over to our house:

• Gina
• Maya
• Phoena
• John and Jackie
• Obama
• Aunt Sherry

Stephen is also very sad that we aren't currently getting in the car to go to grandma and grandpa's house. But how could we? We're waiting for friends to come visit us . . .

Toddler Revenge and Ingenuity

Yesterday when we were taking a walk, soaking in the glorious weather, a man walked past us and teased Stephen a little bit for wearing a Hawkeyes jacket. Understandable--we do live in Illini territory!

Not to be intimidated, Stephen announced to me right after he passed us, "Follow her!" (tee hee - last time he'll mess with my kid!)

Stephen likes watching tractor clips on youtube, and this is one he's been asking for a lot recently. (It's not really worth watching unless you like watching tractors; it's of a tractor driving on its rear wheels.)

Keeping that in mind, this is what I saw him pushing this across the floor this morning. (Who taught him how to do that?!?)