The New House

On borrowed internet (Shhh!) until we get hooked up on the 20th. But here are pics of the house. The furball at the end of the slideshow is our neighbor's little furball. We saw him over the fence.

Hotel Living

First off, hotel living for us is coming to an end. This will be our last night living in a small room shared with the three little bits (and our dog). Because we will be acquiring the keys to our 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house on base tomorrow!

As far as I know, our furniture has not made it here from Hawaii yet but with any luck it will be along soon. In the mean time we will be chillin' on air mattresses. I don't know how soon we'll be able to have internet hooked up at the house - hoping for sooner rather than later but after the 6 days of no internet in the hotel in Hawaii I might be able to make it...maybe *twitch* I think *twitch*. LOL! If you don't see me on here or the 365 blog it's NOT that I'm not keeping up with my photos - just that I can't post. I will stick with it!

Anywooo! There was more I intended to say but having gone off on the whole internet tangent I've now lost my train of thought so I'll sign off for now! Stay tuned for new house pics :D

Eastern Time Zone

I dislike it!

I've spent most of my life in the central time zone and I'm accustomed to it. Even in Hawaii, the TV schedule was on Central time zone. It seems minor but the idea of one of the only two shows I watch not being on until TEN is just mind boggling to me! The news is supposed to be on at ten!

Other than that and the fact that it's frakkin' cold (compared to three years in Hawaii anyway) - Georgia is nice. What I've seen of it anyway...which mostly consisted of a bit of the base, the airport and the La Quinta. Maybe I ought to withhold judgment until I get a car in which I might explore a bit more eh?

Ft Benning, GA and the trip that got us here :D

The day we left Hawaii - which seems like it should be a week ago not just yesterday - we got the new kennel/crate for the dog only to discover that there was no hardware or door for it! So we had to hit up K-Mart to get ANOTHER crate. There were only two lines open and of course I ended up in the line where someone was making an exchange..

We got to the airport about 2 hours pre-flight but because of having to return the one day (more like 4 hour) rental car and check the baggage and get the dog all checked with the flights - we were practically running to the gate. Made it just a few minutes before they started boarding the flight. Of course the military, when booking our flights, didn't pay attention to whether or not our five seats on each flight were close or together! So we get on the first flight and thanks to a lovely Delta flight attendant were able to swap seats with some people.

Halfway through that flight I realize I didn't have my camera bag - the one with my 'spensive, shiny Nikon camera! I went back to the row I was originally in with Anya and found it tucked way under the seat where I must have stowed it and forgotten in the scramble to get switched. We landed in LA and Robby is collecting all the carry ons while I arrange the kids and I noticed one bag missing...our "quick change" bag that had shoes, socks, changes of clothes, etc for when we arrived in the slightly more chilly Georgia. Near as we can figure - during boarding it was accidentally left behind in the gate area in Honolulu Airport. If there was a TSA shut down of the airport as a result of our forgotten bag - I extend my apologies lol.

Anyway, for whatever reason, we're all standing about waiting to off load from the plane and it takes like 30 minutes before they even open the doors (mind you we were already at the gate so it's not like we were still being pulled in or anything). We finally get off the plane and start to hunt down the gate for our next flight since our 2 hour layover is now more like an hour and fifteen minutes. After a couple elevator trips, a LONG walk through the "Steel Curtain Tunnel" of LAX and an escalator trip, we find out new gate and have about 20 minutes to feeds ourselves before boarding. If it were just Robby and I - 20 minutes would be no problem but the girls aren't speedy eaters lol.

On board the next flight (this one from LAX to Atlanta), once again we swap a couple seats with people so Robby is sitting with Jadzia and I'm sitting with Inara and Anya. This particular flight is a red-eye flight and I should note here that Anya has MAJOR motion/spacial issues. She HATES elevators, escalators, etc. Flying was no different. I also suspect she might have slight claustrophobia issues. Every time we boarded a flight she would start freaking out when I tried to get her to move into the row and sit down - just what I want to deal with when trying to stow luggage and get three kids settled. She did this even on the flight from Hawaii to LA and she'd never flown before. Anyway, since it was a red-eye I felt the need to get her calmed as soon as possible - the last thing the sleeping people wanted at midnight was a screaming, crying two year old. With a lot of soothing and holding, she calmed down and clutched onto me through the take off and then conked out.

De-planing from this flight is where we lost another item of marginal importance - one of Anya's Kai-Lan dolls. Now, Anya has a mild Kai-Lan obsession and has what we call the "Kai-Lan Army" of like 6 different stuffed Kai-Lan dolls. All but two of them were snatched by packers before I could rescue them and are currently in a crate somewhere between Hawaii in Georgia. Now one of them is probably sitting in an airport lost and found or something but trying to get back on the plane to retrieve it simply wasn't worth it at that point so she'll have to deal with one for now. (I know, I know - this trip will probably cement her need for like years of therapy lol)

Now in Atlanta, we have about a three hour layover until we are supposed to get on our short hop to Columbus so we take our time getting to our new gate (which requires more escalator trips to traumatize the smallest spawnling and airport train trip). And then we wait...at this point, though it's like 8AM Atlanta time, it's about 3AM Hawaii time and my children are all WIDE AWAKE while Robby and I are desperately trying to keep our eyes open. I was doing great until we stopped moving lol.

So our little 30 minute hop flight is delayed first because of a late flight crew - several flights were delayed for the same reason during our time in the concourse so either the flight crews in Atlanta do not feel the need to be on time - ever - or that's Delta's standardized reply initially lol. After it had been delayed almost an hour they changed the reasoning to maintenance. We finally get boarded...and then we sit. Apparently the radio isn't transmitting or something so we sit and we sit and we sit. Anya spazzes out and eventually falls asleep on my lap while we sit. Another hour or so later, we are de-planed and told to "talk to the gate agents about making arrangements...". Nice plan! The passengers scatter - some jump onto another flight to Columbus, some I suspect go rent a car and just plan to drive from Atlanta to Columbus (it's a couple hours by car). We're waiting for them to work their way through the line and Robby steps up when they announce that they "think" they fixed the issue and will be continuing the flight as planned (a couple hours late). So we reboard and take off. The Fasten Seatbelt sign is off for about 3 minutes before they turn it back on and announce that we are landing! 3 hour layover, 2+ hour delay...for a 30 minute flight!

But finally we're in the tiny little Columbus airport and Robby goes to secure our rental car while I wait with the kids for the baggage to start rolling. Nearly an hour later it finally DOES start rolling and we get everything - except one duffel bag...oh and our DOG!

Thankfully Jasper (the Dog) was NOT lost somewhere between Hawaii and Georgia or taking a mini-break in like Aruba without us. The duffel bag, on the other hand, took a bit longer to track down. Thankfully it was found a while later and finally we were off - only we really had no idea where we were seeing as we'd had no internet for a week and no real means of mapping or familiarizing ourselves with the area lol. It took a couple wrong turns but we found the rather large Ft Benning AND our hotel and then we all fell down lol.

Oh and we saw a few signs for restaurants and such that we have missed during our time in Hawaii so woohoo lol

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

And don't judge a person by their looks...

Susan Boyle <----Link, click it! ;)

Oh the Mother You Become

When you have your first baby, you research everything you can. You have What to Expect when you're Expecting and What to Expect the First Year and probably even What to Expect the Toddler Years on your book shelf. You call your OB when the baby kicks too hard or too soft. You spend the last half of your pregnancy wondering if you'll know when you're really and labor and even when you are in labor you wonder if you're really in labor. When you have the baby, you call the ped when he has a fever of 98.9 only to be told to calm down. You have the ped's number on speed dial and soon know every nurse by first name. They get sick of seeing you because you're constantly bringing the baby into the office. You write down everything that goes in and out of your baby for the first three months. When he starts sleeping through the night you wake up in a panic for at least a month and rush into his room to check on him - thus waking him up and disturbing his peaceful sleep. When the baby starts crawling, you pad the entire house in rubber - to the point where it would have been cheaper to put him in a rubber room. The first time he bumps his head, you cry more than he does (and you call the ped's office). When he starts walking, you look into toddler sized knee pads and helmets because every rubber padded point in the house looks deadly. At his first birthday, because you read online that he should be saying so many words, you start obsessively listening to every sylabol that comes out of his little mouth and then attempt to interpret it into a word. When you go to the park, you hover so close to him that you'd be better off climbing on the equipment with him - but the equipment isn't built for adults so you'd probably fall off sooner than he would. By the time he's two, you're strung out and tired. You haven't really slept in two years.

And then you find out you're pregnant with your second baby. Because you haven't slept in two years, you've managed to forget most of what happened with your first pregnancy. You do, however, remember the looks the OB nurses gave you when you called in every other day. So you don't call nearly as often. You dig out the What to Expect series again when you have questions instead of pestering your OB as often. You may still over react a little but you're far less of a pest and the nurses don't give you the look anymore. When your baby is about due, you start to have a little freak out about how your toddler is going to handle you being gone for a couple days and the new baby. You start reading about ways to introduce the siblings. You even find a sibling class for your toddler so he is properly prepared. After you have the baby, you once again chart everything that goes in and out of the baby; but this time for only a couple weeks. You now let the fever get to around 100 before you start pestering the peds' office. You only dig out about half the rubber baby proofing and while you hug and kiss your baby when he falls, you don't cry about every fall. You only freak out for a couple weeks when the baby starts sleeping through the night. When you take both your kids to the park you try to flit between your now preschooler and your soon to be toddler but your preschooler gets more and more freedom. When he falls and scratches himself up you kiss it and make it better and send him on his way. It's now been over 4 years since you've really slept, your preschooler is getting ready for Pre-Kindergarten and your "baby" is almost 2.

And then you find out you're pregnant with number three! You call you OB when you're in labor or bleeding. You chart the eating and pooping patterns of your newborn for your stay in the hospital only because the nurses ask you every hour. You call your ped's office when the temperature hits 102. You let your 4 year old change your 2 year olds diaper because you're busy with the baby. You don't bust out any of the rubber padding for the edges or walls. You inwardly celebrate when the baby doesn't start crawling until she's 9 months old because she mostly stays where you put her for so much longer. When you take all three of them to the park, you let the other two do their thing while you hold the baby.

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Okay so some of it's an exaggeration. ;) But you get the general idea.

Terms of Endearment

Around here, you might ofter hear me call my kiddos any of the following: spawn, munchkins, monsters, demons, monkeys, wee beasties, etc. You get the idea. Some people find these terms funny and endearing, they know I'm just joking around. They recognize that I have three kids, four years and under and realize that these kids might drive me a little more crazy on a daily basis.

But when I go out and refer to them as any of these things in public - I mostly get looks. Not all of them are bad looks; occasionally I get a sympathetic look from a knowing parent. Sometimes it's mostly a raised eyebrow - not so much a bad thing but a curious thing. Then there are the people that look on with blatant disapproval of my endearing term. Never mind that their little angel just pulled down a rack of clothes and is now halfway across the store on a quest to do who knows what while they look at me like I have three heads and just threw a kid into a wall or something. Okay, maybe they aren't ALL like that. Some of them only look at me like I have three heads.

In all honesty, I love my monsters. They drive me crazy at home and going out of the house with them is like a one way trip to the insane asylum but I still love them. I think I'm allowed to call them monsters and demons once in awhile. Or always.