Our Anniversary

Today was Aaron's and mine 5th anniversary. We have been together 6 1/2 years, and married 5 years. Such a short time, but at the same time it seems like so much has happened in 5 years! He deployed to Iraq before we were married, then after we got married I was pregnant 3 months later. We had Bethany 3 weeks before our first anniversary, and Aaron deployed to Iraq when she was 6 weeks old. He came home when she was 13 months old, and 5 months later, I was pregnant with Shea. He left 3 days after Shea was born for 5 months in Virginia for school to learn his new MOS, then was off to Korea for a 1 year unaccompanied tour of Korea. Shortly after that we received Bethany's diagnosis of autism, and I was very busy learning, and trying to help her. I also became a lot stronger. It was easy to resent Aaron for not being around when I needed him most, but he was not away being a deadbeat. He was away serving our country where the Army felt they needed him at that time, and supporting our family. Without him in the Army I could not have been a stay at home mom, and we would not have had the good insurance that has proven to be a huge blessing for all of Bethany's needs. We don't make lots of money, but we have security, and that is huge in this economy. And he works very hard to be a good soldier, and to take care of us. I had to get over the self pity, and do my job which was to get over myself and be the mom and wife my family needs. I grew a lot. Aaron came home in July when Shea was 17 months old, and less than a week later the movers came to pack our things, and after a visit with my in laws in Orlando we were off to Texas. We have now been here about 5 months and still getting settled in, but things are falling into place. We are now preparing for Aaron to deploy around May, and just trying to enjoy our time together right now. We had a great date night to celebrate our anniversary. We went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The movie was great, and I really loved just having some time to snuggle up to my handsome hubby and enjoy a movie together. We have had some rough times, but I know we are very blessed, because there are people who have had a much worse time than we have. We are still madly in love, and we laugh everyday together. We have 2 beautiful children together as well. What more could I ask for. How about another wonderful 5 years. Better yet, 50 more!

Silly video of Shea

Shea is so silly. I just wanted to share this video clip of her at the dinner table. she is always an enthusiastic eater, so this is typical of her.

The Santa Picture

Here is our picture with Santa! We took the girls to the mall, and were very lucky to find a short line to see him. Bethany was very excited and aksed me several times if I remembered the camera so we could take a picture of him. They won't let us take pictures with our own camera, but I decided not to get into a lengthy explanation with her, so I just assured her that we would get a picture with Santa. When she got to sit with him, she froze though. she was like a deer in the head lights. Shea just climbed into his lap and slouched down and got comfy. They were so cute.

Making Christmas cookies

We had a great time making Christas cookies on Christmas eve. Bethany loved rolling out the dough and using the cookie cutters and especially decorating them. Shea was the taste tester, and Aaron and I helped decorate cookies. Before bed, Bethany picked out 3 cookies to leave out for Santa. To make things look realistic, "Santa" left lots of crumbs and a few bits of cookie on the plate. When Bethany got up she went over to the plate and the first thing she said was, "Santa didn't eat all of his cookies!" We laughed and told her he must have gotten full. She accepted that explanation and moved on to her gifts.

A few updates

First of all I am still having trouble uploading pictures from my camera to the computer, so I don't update as much as I would if I could post pictures because I keep thinking, "Oh yah, I will blog about that when I get the pictures up." Then I don't. But here are a few updates.

Aaron is still working a lot. He had the flu over the weekend, and he thought it was food poisoning, but when I woke up this morning with the same thing, we realized it is not food poisoning but something contagious. I really just hope the kids don't get it. I was lucky that Aaron was able to leave work and come home today. He usually can't leave, but he has already made himself a good reputation in the company, so they know he is not a slacker. This is the first time he has had to leave work early.

He took Bethany to her speech therapy appointment, and the therapist and Aaron and I are both very pleased that she has been asking so many "why" questions. Her therapist explained that this is the beginning of cognitive thinking, and will lead to the who, what, where,when, and how questions.

Bethany is lots of fun these days. Bedtime is my favorite time of day with her. Not just because she is going to bed, and I will get my "me" time, but because I really enjoy her routine. We read stories, and then she asks for kisses. Then another one. Then another one, Then last one. Then she tells me she loves me more than chocolate milk, and I tell her I love her more than cookies, and we go back and forth with that a few times.

Shea is fun too. She loves dancing to her favorite show, "Yo Gabba Gabba". Yo Gabba Gabba is a little strange the first few times you watch it, but the kids really get into it. Okay truth be told, Aaron and I get into it to. Aaron likes Biz's beat of the day, lol. Shea is also talking a lot more and asserting her Independence. She enjoys bothering Bethany too. After all that is what siblings are for! The other day I couldn't help laughing because Bethany had laid out a blanket and brought out her pillow to watch her hour of tv for the day, and Shea plopped down right there and was hogging her pillow and snatched away her stuffed animal. Bethany started pushing on her and whining, "Sheaaaaa! No! Get away!" But Shea would not budge. So I got Shea her own pillow and blanket and set her up next to Bethany, but Shea went right back to Bethany's set up and Bethany about had a cow. Maybe it is one of those "you had to be there" stories, but it was pretty amusing to me.

Bethany had her 4Th birthday too! I have pictures to upload for that day, so I will give more details later. We had a nice turn out of people, and the kids played on the playground. Aaron made kool aid for the party. The kool aid was pretty bad. We don't usually drink kool aid, but I knew that wasn't how it was supposed to taste, and everyone else was grimacing as they drank it too. Aaron thought it was pretty funny. I think he used too much sugar, because I made some kool aid the next day, and followed the directions and it came out fine. Bethany enjoyed her birthday and now tells me every morning that it is her birthday.

Well that is all for now!

Survey about my husband

I just realized that it has been nearly a month since I have updated my blog! So I started thinking about what has been going on lately so I could write about it. But we must just be extremely boring people, because I have nothing to tell, lol. SO in catching up on my friends blogs, I stole this survey from Becki. Thanks Becki!



WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S NAME? Aaron
HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN MARRIED? It will be 5 years next month
HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? about a year and a half
HOW OLD IS HE? 29
WHO IS TALLER? He is, by almost a foot.
WHO CAN SING BEST? Hard to say. But I will say it is him because whenever I sing, Bethany yells at me to stop singing and she covers her ears. Aaron is allowed to sing though, so based off of that, he must be the better singer.
WHO IS SMARTER? I would really love to say I am, but I can't. We are both pretty smart, just about different things. I think he probably is just a smidge smarter though.
WHO DOES LAUNDRY? Mostly me, but Aaron often chooses to wash his own uniforms and PT's
WHO PAYS BILLS? That would be me. He makes the money and I send it all off.
WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Aaron does.
WHO MOWS THE LAWN? If we had a lawn, Aaron would probably mow it more than I would.
WHO COOKS DINNER? I do most of the time. Aaron is good at cooking steak, and his specialty french toast. He also makes cheesy Ramen or PB& J sandwiches.
WHO'S THE FIRST TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG? Truthfully, Aaron. Even when he is not wrong he just apologizes if I am upset.
WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? Aaron kissed me first.
WHO WEARS THE PANTS? I wouldn't say either one of us wear the pants necessarily. But I think I tend to call the shots around here more than he does, just because he is so laid back he is usually happy to go along with whatever I think is best. He will speak up if he doesn't agree, but it is rare.

Bethany's first Haircut

Yes, I know she is almost 4 years old, but we were reluctant to get her haircut and lose the beautiful curls. But it was finally time to do it. The ends were looking raggedy. So we went to a kid friendly place, and had the girl take about 2 inches off the back, and 1/2 an inch off the shorter pieces. We want to get her hair to all the same length but we don't want to cut a lot off, so we are evening it all out slowly. Bethany did great, and her hair looks healthier. I, of course had to keep a bit of the hair to put in her baby book.

Halloween

Well, things didn't really work out the way we planned this Halloween, but everything is okay now. On Friday Shea got really sick. I couldn't get her fever down, and she got hysterical and her legs were trembling. So I took her to the ER.

I was really upset knowing I would miss trick or treating with Bethany, but more worried about Shea, plus Aaron planned to take her, so that was good. But then at the hospital when they triaged Shea, they rushed her straight back to a room and several nurses were in there trying to get her fever down and they catheterized her for urine, drew blood, and kept her arms taped to a board to keep the blood drawing catheter in her arm, and did x-rays. They were all worried because she was screaming and arching her back in pain before they even started all of the tests. Then they started talking about admitting her to the Pediatric unit, and I asked the nurse if I needed to have my husband come. the doctor told me yes, to call him up.

So Aaron left Bethany with a neighbor (not the crazy one) who agreed to take Bethany trick or treating with her kids. We were glad she could still go because she was so excited. Aaron got to the ER, and thankfully about an hour later, her fever broke. We then waited on the labs and x-rays for another 2 hours, but by the time they let her go home she was sitting up in the bed playing with Aaron's sunglasses and looking at books. She had kept down 1 1/2 pedialyte popsicles too. Aaron ate the other half of her 2nd popsicle, lol. We had to bring her back the next morning for a follow up, but she slept through the night and was doing well. She still is. We still don't know why she got sick, but whatever it was seems to have passes.

Our neighbor told us that Bethany was the most excited kid out there trick or treating. She was dancing around telling everyone, "I'm Tinkerbell!!" As a matter of fact she is wearing her costume now and asking Aaron to put treats in her basket. And I have to wrap this up because she just burst in the room demanding I find her Tinkerbell shoes. This is the first year she is really into the holidays, so we are having a lot of fun too. It is really sweet

I am Bella

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are observant, diplomatic and often aim to please. You are unaware of your
attractiveness and despite being uncomfortable with any form of attention, people enjoy your company. You can be impatient, stubborn and headstrong, but you are true to your word and mature for your age, often taking care of your family and enjoying a good book over chatting with girlfriends on the phone.

Dieting again

So I am back to dieting again. I started when Aaron left for JRTC on the 8Th, and at my first weigh in, last Monday, I had already lost 2.8 pounds! I chose to weigh myself on Mondays. I am not following any particular diet. I am just trying to cut down significantly on soda and sweets. No fast food. I am trying to drink lots of water and eat lots of fiber. I usually mix 1/2 a cup of fiber 1 into my better tasting cereal (Special K Cinnamon and Pecans) and that gets me at 14 grams of fiber right there! Then to meet my quota of fiber, I have to eat more veggies and fruits, and beans and grains. I try to make sure I am getting protein too. I have been working really hard at this for once, and I am looking forward to my next weigh in. I was so proud of myself when my sister (who is visiting) ordered a large cheesy pizza and cinnamon sticks with icing, and I did not touch any of it. I ate my lean cuisine, and had a low cal dessert. I let myself have the occasional 100 calorie packet of cookies, or a sugar free Popsicle. Last night my sweet tooth took over and I had a few of my sisters peanut M&M's, but I stopped after just a few. Normally I would finish the bag. So I just need to keep going! I am going to have to work extra hard when Aaron gets back and when my kids get candy on Halloween, but I am so sick of being fat. I am trying to ficus on the Christmas party that Aaron's company is planning this year. It is going to be semi formal for adults only, and I really don't want to look like a cow stuffed into a cocktail dress.

Bethany is doing so well!

I am so pleased. Bethany is doing so well! I had a meeting the other day with her teacher, the special ed. director, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and district rep. Bethany is doing wonderfully in school. The speech therapist told me that she doesn't need speech at this time, which was the second time hearing that this week. She finally got her speech evaluation at a speech center and she tested into the average range for her age! She is on the low side of the average, but it is still wonderful. At school they will retest her after Christmas to see how she is doing. The speech center is still going to take her on though to help her improve even more. She does still need occupational therapy. The OT discovered that Bethany has pretty low muscle tone, so that might be affecting her diet (hard to chew some foods), potty training (trouble with control), and some other things. So we have some things to work on there. But she is doing great in school. The special ed director asked her teacher what makes Bethany stand out in her class, and the teacher said that Bethany learns faster than any of the other kids in her class. She is very smart, and is soaking up everything they teach her. She is still working on social and behavior skills. She is a good girl for the most part, but she is also a 3 year old. Sh has gotten a little diva attitude lately. It is hard not to laugh because it is so funny. So overall I am very pleased that she is doing so well.

Out to dinner with the kids!

Tonight we decided to go out for dinner to the Golden Corral. We only have 2 kids, but we are a chaotic mess when we try to go out in public. Sometimes we do manage to pull off looking like a nice sweet family, but tonight was not one of those nights. We walked in and were lucky to have nobody in line in front of us. As the girl at the counter filled our drinks, some people came in, and Bethany started unwrapping and handing out straws. I stopped that as soon as I could. People were a bit confused, but they just said thank you. Then I carried the tray and Aaron carried shea who was twisting and whining because she wanted to be put down to walk, and he helped guide bethany who was not at all paying attention and kept wandering off. So we got to the table and I went to get the kids plates of food while Aaron got them seated. Then we took turns going to get our food. Finally we all sit together to eat. Shea is eating a bite, throwing a bite, so Aaron was trying to keep her from throwing food while he ate too, then Bethany had an all out screaming fit because we would not let her eat a piece of watermelon that she found on the floor under our table. She did not want to eat anything on her plate, but she decided mine looked like fun to play with. So I was trying to eat and keep her hands out of my food. Then shea started farting and giggling, so Bethany thought that was hilarious and started burping repeatedly. When they decided they had enough of whatever was on their plates, Aaron went to get them some ice cream. Bethany ate hers up then tried to help the kid at the next table eat his. Then she had a fit because we wouldn't let her. Meanwhile Shea was happily eating her ice cream, but she kept missing her mouth. She would take a big spoonful and aim for her mouth only to have it fall off her spoon into her lap. The lady at the table next to us started laughing when Aaron reached out and caught a big handful of melting ice cream and dumped it on a plate. She told us thats how you know you are a parent is when you do things like that. We were not so awful that we were disturbing other customers. (well maybe one or two), but we were definetly a mess and when we finally just started laughing (because what else can you really do at that point?) some other parents near us were laughing too. Thank goodness we were at a family restaurant full of other parents and kids. We know better than to go somewhere fancy. But I do have to ask myself is it was worth getting kids cleaned and dressed to drive across town and pay a restaurant to let us scarf down some food and keep our kids from causing a riot, when I could have just made a box of mac and cheese? The whole point of going out was to give me a break, lol. Going out takes more effort than staying in, I think.

Bethany was in a parade

Bethany's school had a freedom parade on 9-11. All of the kids marched in the parade. Shea and I watched and took pictures.

Labor day

We really had a great day today. This afternoon we went to our neighbor's house and spent the rest of the day with her and her kids. (Her husband is deployed.) We played some volleyball with the kids, and then the adults sat in the driveway chatting while we watched the kids color on the sidewalk with chalk and play in the sprinklers. Shea played in the baby pool. Then we cooked up some frozen pizza's and ate outside. We stayed outside until bedtime, gave the kids a quick bath, and they went right to sleep! I am loving that we live in a neighborhood with a yard now, so we can do fun things like this. We had a few funny moments like when Aaron sat down in the lawn chair and broke it, and when I discovered that Aaron had put Shea in a regular diaper instead of the little swimmer I got out for her. She had a really big bubble butt, so I took her in to change her to a swimmer diaper, and discovered her bathing suit had a huge pile of that stuff they have in diapers to absorb liquid. Poor kid. Aaron thought it was hilarious. The kids got good and dirty. At one point Shea used the hand she was holding her ice cream sandwich in to start digging in her ear. When we got them home they were covered in dirt, and ice cream. But they had tons of fun! We all did!

Halloumi

This will probably seem silly, but I am excited about cheese! Ha ha. At the store yesterday, we came across Halloumi cheese in the imported cheeses section. Don't ask me why we were looking. Back in my flight attendant days, I had a lot of layovers in Cyrpus. Sometimes I would layover there 5 days at a time, then be back a week later for another several days. It was my most frequent place to layover. I love Cyprus. It is an island mostly owned by Greece, but partially owned by Turkey. The sectioned owned by Turkey is bare for the most part. But the larger part owned by Greece, has resorts and a beautiful beach with clear water. Halloumi cheese is made in Cyprus and hard to find anywhere else. The hotel we stayed at, would serve it every morning for breakfast. I love it. Aaron tried a piece, and he thinks it tastes a bit like mozzerella at first. You can grill this cheese by itself. It doesn't melt like regular cheese. And it is so good. I haven't been to Cyrpus since I quit flying, but I miss flying very much. And I miss the people and the places, and the job very much. So coming across this cheese kind of takes me back as silly as it sounds.

A few pictures

We are all doing fine. Life is just a little crazy right now. I am beginning to wonder if we will ever finish unpacking and getting organized. Bethany and Shea are playing in one of the boxes right now. They are happy. I was invited to join another playgroup, so I am going to try to get the girls out and about. Today I have an appointment to see where I should begin on getting Bethany squared away and in school. Here are a few pictures.

We are in Texas

Well, we have arrived in Texas. It's umm okay. Actually it is just going to take getting used to. We couldn't stand Columbus for the longest time, but the last year or so, we got really attached. So hopefully it won't take us too long to like Texas. It is a huge change. GA had lots of trees and green. It had humidity, but I think i got used to it. Texas is less humid, but very hot! It is also flat and brown for as far as I can see. But I do like that despite it being like 100 degrees during the day, as soon as the sun sets, it goes down like 20 degrees right away. I do like that there seems to be things from both the western part of the US and the East coast. And there is a 7-11! For anyone who doesn't know, when I was pregnant with Bethany, I craved slurpees like you wouldn't believe! There were commercials for 7-11 slurpees on all the time, but no 7-11 stores in the state! We had to drive to Florida, lol. Anyway, it kind of became a joke that the next place we live better have a 7-11.

We are still in a hotel. Aaron will sign up for housing on Monday. We hear there is little to no wait for housing right now. We drove around Fort Hood yesterday and got a good look around. I have also found a playgroup for the girls. We are just very eager to move out of the hotel and into our own place. Bethany is about to start helping me type, so I better wrap this up.

Knock Knock!

Bethany is cracking me up lately! Well I shouldn't say lately. She makes me laugh all the time. Her latest thing is trying to get the hang on knock knock jokes. It is pretty funny. She says "Knock knock!" I say "Who's there?" then she yells something totally off the wall and falls apart laughing hysterically. It makes no sense, yet it makes me laugh. Aaron taught her the one that goes "Boo" "Boo who?" "Well you don't have to cry about it!" I don't think she even gets the joke which makes it even funnier.

Some other funnies... Aaron has 2 missing teeth that simply never came in. so he has a retainer thingie with 2 false teeth attached. The missing teeth are toward the front of his mouth. Well Bethany noticed the silver bar that goes across his teeth last night and wanted to know what it was. He tried explaining it, but she got confused, so finally he just popped it out. I wish you could have seen her face. Her eyes got really big. Now she wants to know why her teeth dont come out too.

She is such a bossy little mommy. She is always fussing at Shea. She literally follows her around all day and takes things away or tells her to finish her food, or get out of something she is not supposed to be into. She also has started playing with a baby doll but all she does is tuck the baby into bed and tell it, "Go to sleep, DO NOT get out of bed again!"

Bethany is one of the pickiest eaters ever. I have never seen the child eat a piece of meat until today. Today I went through Wendy's for lunch since it was 1 om and they had not had lunch. We were on our way back from Wal Mart. Aaron and his mom had been working in the yard too so I knew they would want food. Anyway, while we were eating Bethany looked at Donna's ( my mother in law) burger and asked her, "Is that a crabby patty!?" Donna told her yes it was and asked her if she wanted to try it. Bethany said yes, and took a bite. I totally expected her to spit it out, but she didn't! She said she liked it, but would not take another bite. But this incident has given me some sneaky ideas... Thank you Spongebob!

Speaking of Spongebob, little miss Shea whose vocabulary consists of the words, ball, no, baby, mine, etc.. tries to sing along to the Spongebob song. whenever it comes on I hear her say something that almost resembles Spongebob, lol. Have I mentioned we watch a lot of Spongebob these days? That portable DVD is a lifesaver when you are traveling.

Another Shea story: The other night she was making noises in her sleep, and then I heard her say, "Nee nee! NO!!" I had to laugh. Nee Nee is what she calls Bethany.

Well I think I am done telling sotries about my babies for now. Rest assured there will be more. There is never a dull moment with those two.

A Homecoming and a PCS

So much is going on right now. We are busier than ever. Aaron came home on July 8th! I spent that day having my hair done and making myself pretty, then left the kids with my mom who was visiting. His flight was an hour and a half delayed, but he finally got there. Funny, but as soon as I saw him it was like he had never been gone. We stayed in Atlanta for 2 days and just enjoyed being alone. Aaron had some requests such as eating at the Waffle House and Longhorn.

We got home on the 10th and right away Bethany just looked at him and said "Hi Daddy!" I was so glad she remembered him. Both her and Shea took right to him. Bethany h as been having some big fits though. We think she is testing him to see what he will do. He is a lot tougher than I am, so she doesn't get away with much.

On the 12th my mom went home to CA and on the 14th the movers came and packed away all of our things. On the 15th the movers packed everything into the truck and we had an empty apartment. Bethany and Shea handled that a lot better than expected although Bethany did keep asking where things were and insisting that we have to find them. We tried explaining everything as best we could, but it is still a bit confusing to the kids.

On the 16th we cleaned up the apartment and packed up the car. It was Bethany's last day at Easter Seals, so we brought cupcakes for her class. It was especially hard to leave Easter Seals. I started bringing her there soon after we were told that she was delayed in speech and socialization skills. She was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Autism spectrum) soon after. We saw amazing improvement in her in just one month and she continued to do well. Shortly after she turned 3 she was moved from Toddler 1 class to Preschool 2. She had wonderful teachers. Miss Sandy and Miss Melissa were wonderful. It was so sad to take her out. You always hope that your child will be in an environment where they flourish and the teachers love them. I really hope I can find her a great place when we get to TX.

Last night we drove to Orlando and we are staying with Aaron's mom here for about 2 weeks. On Sunday we are going to church with Aaron's Grandma. She lives in a very small community about 2 hours away. Most of the people in the community are elderly and have lived there forever. They have known Aaron his whole life. Not only are they excited to see his kids, but they are so proud of him for his service in the Army. He has agreed to wear his dress uniform to church and the whole community has left up their July 4th decorations for his visit. I am very proud of him too, and excited for Sunday. I will take pictures.

I will have a lot of pictures to upload when we get settled in TX, so be prepared for it! I took pictures of Bethany's last day at school, and of some of our friends in GA too.

We are planning some fun things that the kids will love while we are in Orlando. We plan to take them to the beach and Sea World. We will go on to Texas around the first week of August, and work on getting housing. That's all for now!

10 days left!

Oh wow! 10 days left until Aaron will be home! I am so excited! When I think about seeing Aaron's face it still seems too far away. But when I think about how much I need to do before he gets home, I don't think I have enough time! I have been working hard to get our things organized before the movers come, and getting paperwork done and updated and gathering records, etc. I finally got to check something off my list, then Aaron called and told me about 2 other things I need to add to the list! I know I should be happy he thought of it, or we would have problems later. I am just pretty overwhelmed. I keep getting rid of stuff we don't need, but the apartment looks as cluttered as ever. On a positive note, Aaron spoke with the housing office and it looks like we will probably walk right into housing and not have to wait! I am glad because we will have a yard for the kids to play in. It may not be fenced in, but I think we can get it fenced. But I am just so happy they will have some space to play outside. Living in an apartment is hard for such active kids. Going to the park takes planning. Not as easy as just opening the door. I want them to have fun kid experiences like playing in the sprinklers. I can't believe there is just 10 days left. I was totally set on losing my baby weight before he got home. But I am still pretty darn fluffy. Good thing he loves me for my sparkling personality. Oh well. I will lose it eventually. I am nervous too. I hope the kids do well with all of the changes coming. I feel sure that Shea will go along with things, but I think Bethany might have a hard time. Aaron and I have talked about it, and we know that all we can do is make sure to give her plenty of attention and talk to her about whats going on and reassure her.

On a good note, I think I am winning the bedtime battle! Bethany has been using some really good tactics to get out of having to go to bed, and be allowed to lay on the couch instead. I made the mistake of giving in a couple of times, but once I wised up to what she was doing I realized I had to get her back to sleeping in her own bed. It has not been easy. She is really persistent. But yesterday she didn't have a fit when I sent her back to bed every time she tried to come out. It was hard not to laugh. She tried casually walking out, she tried doing a belly crawl to the couch, she tried running to a piece of furniture and hiding behind it then going to another piece of furniture, etc. But tonight she didn't even try to come out of her room. So I am pleased. Well thats enough babble for now.

Bethany Funnies

~ After bedtime prayers, she asked, "Where IS Jesus Christ?" I told her he is in Heaven watching over her to help her make good choices. She looked at me like I was crazy, then started calling out, "Jeeeeeesus!!! Where are youuuuuu?!!!"

~While singing Old MacDonald had a Farm, I usually stop to let her say which animal was on his farm. She really threw me for a loop when she called out "Caribou!" Since then Old MacDonald has also had a turtle, a fox, and an eagle on his farm. I have no idea what sound any of those animals make.

~Bethany is always pulling off my shoes and socks. Recently I was wearing new socks and they left some lint on my foot. Bethany picked off the lint, held it up to look at it better, and said, "Oh! a sheep!"

~When Shea took one of her toys that she was playing with, Bethany got eye level and says, "No Shea. That's mine. Do you understand?" Funny because she got that from me. Whenever I tell her something, I tend to say, "Do you understand?" She sounded like such a little adult.

~For a few weeks now whenever I tell her to do something, she yells "YES SIR!" Like she is in boot camp or something. It makes me laugh every time.

That's all I can remember right now. I will add more another time.

Updates

First of all, I want to say thank you to Liz for the information. I couldn't access your profile to say thank you, so if you are reading this, I really appreciate the information.

We have only been restricting Bethany's dairy for 5 days now, but it is proving to be pretty tough. Seh goes to the fridge herself and tries to get yogurt and cheese. I had to get a lock for the fridge. I may have to not buy these things or hide them better until she gets used to being without dairy. I have decided not to follow a time line and just take each step as we are ready for it. When I feel like we have the dairy cut off under control, then we will go to step 2. I don't want to try to move so fast, that we get overwhelmed and quit again.

I have now lost 4.8 pounds through Weight Watchers. I am doing good, and well on my way to my goal of hitting my 10% mark by the time Aaron gets home.

Speaking of Aaron, we are getting so close! I am so excited to have him coming home soon! Not excited to be facing a move though.

Shea is up from nap, so I will have to cut this short now.

Too much on my mind

I have too much on my mind, and I can't sleep. I met a girl today who is 8 years old with Bethany's same diagnosis. I know all kids with ASD are different, but she was so similar to Bethany, that I really felt like it was the closest I will get to an idea of what she will be like at that age. I don't know what is wrong with me. Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind, I am still thinking she will suddenly come out of this. But today I saw reality. Not much I can do except love her and do my best for her. And to do my best for her, I feel like I need to give the GFCF diet another shot. An honest to goodness real good try this time. It may not help her. But it might. This feels overwhelming. The tacanow.org website has a 10 week plan to easing yourself into the diet/lifestyle. I know that it is not going to suddenly become easy. I just need to jump in and figure it out. So I will plan to start Sunday with step 1. Cut out all dairy.

The PCS is hanging over me like a black cloud. Although my husband is fabulous about most things, he is a procrastinator. He also tends to think that everything will just fall into place. I am starting to panic, because I feel like there is so much to do, and I feel like it is all on me to get things done. And I don't have a clue. Literally, not a clue as to where to even start. I know he needs to do his levee briefing to get more info. But thats about as much as I know.

Bethany is not potty training at all now. I have bought stickers, lots of big girl underpants. I sit on the edge of the tub while she sits on the potty for sometimes 20 minutes while she wants to sing songs and we spell every 3 letter word int he english language. She hasn't actually gone in a few weeks now. She will go in her pull up or underpants often within a few minutes of having spent 20 minutes on the potty! It is frustrating! I don't know what to do. I feel like she is at an age now, where I am getting nervous. I guess logically I know she will not be in diapers forever, but it is hard for me to think objectively these days.

I feel like everything is on me. I feel like I am failing if I can't get her potty trained, or help her improve her skills, or cook a decent meal every night, or if I forgrt to take a diaper to the trash and it sits out for a few hours. Yuck! I feel like I need to be superwoman and have everything under control, and I am failing because she has no interest in the potty, she is mean to her sister and pushes her down, We have pancakes for dinner at least once a week. I guess I am just a huge worrywart. Aaron would tell me "It is what it is". As he puts it, he is so laid back that he is almost at a stand still. Why can't I be more like him and relax a little. Trust that all will be okay?

On a happy note, I lost 2.4 pounds this past week. I had my weigh in on Wednesday. I have been trying to work out more too. I am doing pretty well.

Thats the most of it. Hopefully now, I can get some sleep!

Jibber Jabber

Shea is napping right now. Thank goodness. She was up half of the night crying and I had a hard time calming her. I was worried that my upstairs neighbor would try to call social services again. She has now threatened everybody with small children in this apartment building. She thinks none of us are feeding our kids or they wouldn't cry/act out/ make noise, etc. I am really getting sick of this lady. But I refuse to tiptoe around and let my kids take over because I am too afraid to dscipline them or let them make a peep. So if she has a problem, it is hers alone. It's true I would be upset if Family services show up at moy door, because let's face it! That is scary! Even if you have nothing to hide, it is intimidating to get a visit from people who could take your kids away if they think something is wrong. But I am not going to cower to her threats. I have nothing to hide. And I have faith that most social workers would be able to see that my kids are well taken care of.

But anyway, onto my favorite topic. Losing weight. I have decided to go sign up at Weight Watchers on Wednesday. Tomorrow. I have tried doing it all on my own, and I am getting nowhere. They have a Wednesday morning meeting that you can bring your small children with you to. I have roughly 8 weeks until Aaron comes home, and I so badly want to lose some weight before then. But apparently not bad enough to stop eating crap! I am hoping the accountability of going to the meetings will help enormously. Also I am making a better effort to get to the gym. I am in my gym clothes now with a diaper bag packed. when Shea wakes up, I will give her lunch, and then we are going to the gym. She can play in the nursery for an hour while I work out. If I can get there twice this week, I will feel like I really made the effort. Of course I need to make the effort to continue going as much as I can. I have been trying to do a pilates dvd here at home. It is hard to carve out time for that. I am usually so tired by the time the kids get in bed, and I use naptimes to get stuff done. So I try to do it when the kids are playing, but they both flock over to me and start climbing on me, and pressing tv buttons to find out why Nemo isn't on. Last night though, I waited until Shea was in bed, then I did my pilates while Bethany was still up. I had to stop and take a picture when I realized that Bethany was trying to do pilates too. It was so cute.

If I could figure out how to download the pictures from my camera to the computer, I would post it! I have a new camera that I love so far, but I cannot get how to get the pictures onto the computer! I did exactly what the manual said to do, and nothing happened. Well Shea is awake! Time for me to go.

Happy!

So many things are going so well right now. We just came home from a visit to Florida to visit my in laws. The visit went so well. It was a much needed break from the norm, and the girls really enjoyed themselves.

Aaron will be coming home in 2 months, and I am getting really excited. Just yesterday my mom agreed to fly out and watch the girls then so that I can pick Aaron up from the airport alone and stay in Atlanta for a couple of nights alone with him!! We have not had time alone since Bethany was born in 2004! I am so excited to just be with Aaron again.

Today Bethany gave me a mothers day present she made in school. It is a card that says "I love you this much", and there is apicture of her with her arms stretched out to her sides. It is cute. Of course it made me tear up. I can't imagine a better gift than something my sweet girls made themselves.

Today when I took Bethany to Easter Seals, she told me "I don't want to go. Let's go to the house." Cute and funny, yes. But also a big deal to me, because this is an improvement in her communication skills! This was a direct statement about what she was thinking and wanted to do. She was not echoing someone else or whining instead of talking. I think when you have a child with special needs, you learn to truly appreciate and be excited about the really tiny things. I feel blessed to have her for my daughter. She has taught me so much about counting my blesings and learning to appreciate the everyday little miracles that often go un noticed by many.

My life is not perfect, but is anybody's I would have to say that mine is about as close to perfect as I could hope for. Our needs are met, I have the love of a wonderful husband who I love more very day. I have 2 little girls who are healthy and wonderful. I have a good family. Life is good.

We are going to Fort Hood

Well, we found out that we will be PCS'ing to Fort Hood in Killeen, TX this summer! I have a lot of mixed emotions. I am nervous, and overwhelmed at the idea of moving. I will miss Columbus. It really grew on me. But I am also excited for the new adventure. Change is a good thing, right? I know a couple of people there already, so that will be nice. Jamie and Melissa are based at Hood now, but he is about to deploy, and she will be moving back home. I know another girl who I have never actually met in person, but I have known her for nearly 4 years now! I am excited to meet her. I am really hoping we can rent a house there. Aaron wants to live on post this time, but it seems the waiting list is pretty long. So we will probably get on the list, and live off post until it's our turn to get on post housing. I have so much to do! I am glad that movers will come pack us up and move our things, but I still need to get paperwork in order so that Bethany can go to school. I need to find her new therapists too. I would like to go back to school as well. I may not be able to get into college for this Fall semester, but I definitely plan to go in the Spring of '09. My mind is overloaded with things to do. I realize that I am blabbering. Most of all I really want to make some good friends. I have a hard time making friends these days because I am a bit shy when I first meet people, and often I have to interrupt our conversations to deal with one of my kids doing something crazy, so I imagine that makes me difficult to have a conversation with. I have some friends who have kids the same age as my kids. But they don't get out much. I really want a friend or two who I can call and chat with, and do lunch with or get a sitter and go out with to a movie or just hang out. I love my kids, but I want to have some kind of social life too. The kind of friends who might come over and hang out. The kind I can talk to about more than just our kids. I have friends like that too, but not nearby. I must sound really pathetic. But anyway, I think I will make a good effort to be outgoing and meet people when we get to Texas. It looks like Aaron may have to deploy around the end of the year from what we hear. It would be nice to have some good friends especially when he deploys. Anyway, I will quit my whining.

I ate 3 cookies!

Ugh! I made it 12 days sticking to my diet plan, then I ate 3 cookies that were out of bounds for me. Oh well, back on track tomorrow. Usually this is where I would feel guilty, and figure I already messed up so why not just totally give up the diet. And that is why I have not lose weight! So I am going to forgive myself and get back on track. I bought some cute shirts from Kohls today that are just a slight bit snug. So I would like to keep on losing so I can wear them. I think what made me give in to the cookies today is that all day I have had an anxious feeling, and I don't know why. You know how you feel when something is about to happen? Also, I have lost 7 pounds but I still look like I am about 4 months pregnant. I was hoping for little change at least. Maybe slightly looser jeans or something. Where did the weight come from? I see no change and none of my clothes fit any differently. I am not expecting drastic change for 7 measley pounds, but it is hard for me to figure out how I wouldn't notice something at all. Well, if I keep losing it will have to get noticeable at some point. I guess I need to stop obsessing.

My Sweet daughters

Here are a few pictures of my girls from when we were in CA visiting my family.

I just want to write this down so I remember it. Earlier, Bethany was pulling my socks off, and when she saw that my toes are painted red, she thought I was hurt. She was examining my toes saying, "Oh what do we have here? What happened? Are you okay? I go get you a bandaid!" So she went and got the box of Elmo bandaids and covered each toe with a bandaid. I love sweet moments. Shea has also been a joy. Despite teething, she is still the happiest, friendliest girl around. Everywhere she goes, she rides on my hip grinning really big and waving at anybody and everybody. The only time I see her not grinning and waving is when Bethany gets in trouble. Then Shea shakes her finger at her, and says, "NO!" So then Bethany will say, "I sorry Shea." Bethany makes me laugh a lot too. Lately she wakes up about once a night, when I go in to check on her, she will be about 90% asleep, but she will mumble something like, "How do you spell cat?" or ask me to read "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie". But she is always back to sleep a second later. It's funny to see whats on her mind when she is sleeping.

3 more months

Around 3 more months until Aaron comes home. I feel like we are in the home stretch now. Which is good! But at the same time it drives me crazy. When I know there is still a ways to go, I am able to just keep busy and try not to think about things too much. It's like I block myself from thinking about how much I really miss him. Not to say it's just a breeze. I always miss him very much. But when we get to the home stretch, like we are now, I feel like I miss him even more! It is the anticipation of him coming home. I am letting myself think about how great it will be to touch him and see him, and smell him. He always smells like Irish Spring soap. You don't know how many times I have sniffed the bars of Irish Spring soap in the grocery store. People probably think I am nuts. Who cares. It makes me happy. So suddenly I am feeling so restless. It feels like this past year was moving a little slower than usual, but now that we are toward the end, it is soooo slooow going. I am so excited for him to come home!! I don't even care if there is gear all over the place, and if he snores really loud, and makes me watch the History channel. I am just too happy to see him again soon. So for now, I really have to work harder to make myself not obsess over the time left.

Motivation

So, I am back on Weight Watchers. Well kind of. I am not signing up for meetings, but I still have my point counter, and I am just following the program myself. Today was my first day, and I did good! I stuck to my points.

A couple of mornings ago, I got out of the shower and bethany was standing there in the bathroom. She looked at me oddly, and started playing with my belly. Yes, I still have that stretch mark covered, deflated tire look from 2 pregnancies. Anyway, she said to me, "Eww Mommy! Yucky gross!" LOL!!! She cracks me up. Nevertheless, I figured, "Okay! I can take a hint." If my 3 year old thinks my belly is yucky gross, then maybe thats the motivation I need to get serious. Now I know she probably wasn't even thinking about my fat, and was just being a 3 year old. But I am going to use it as motivation anyway.

ATA Airlines

This is kind of a sad moment. A few days ago ATA airlines ceased operations and filed bankruptcy. This is the airline I used to fly for. It is sad for me to remember such a wonderful time in my life, and know that the company no longer exists. I met so many wonderful people. Co workers, passengers, and people in the different places I laid over in. I got to live in Indianapolis, Chicago, Dallas, and New York. I saw so much of the world including such places as Bahrain, Iceland, Cyprus, Turkey, Germany, England, Ireland, etc. etc. etc.

I met my husband on a flight! He was coming home from a 6 month tour in Kosovo. We got to talking and another flight attendant took a picture of us (and some random guy who wound up in the picture. Aaron is the guy on the left sitting down.). He asked me to e-mail him the picture, so I did. Then he e-mailed back, and I replied to him, and we began to instant message each other. Then we began talking on the phone, and he convinced me to fly to Atlanta for a date. I flew nearly for free, so it was no biggie. So we had a date, and the connection was instantaneous. We were married a year and half later.

I have so many great memories, such as getting to practice evacuations and deploy the slides at the simulator, the time during a manual safety demonstration that I somehow got my arm and head stuck in the life vest and had to duck into the galley to get it off, burning all of the in flight meals on my first time working in the galley, when I was first pregnant with Bethany I had morning sickness to bad and the in flight meals made it ever so worse. A soldier on one of our military charters saw my face was nearly green while serving meals and he insisted he finish serving the meals. He even wore my apron, lol. I could go on for a while with memories and stories.

But anyway, 2,500 employees just lost their jobs, with no notice. I hope they all find their way home safely and can find new jobs.

Our Trip to California

We are back! I took Bethany and Shea to San Diego for a week to visit my family. As expected the plane ride with these two was miserable! Our flight to CA was delayed, but once we got there, things were fine. We had a lot of fun! My parents live on about 5 acres. The property is in the mountains in northern San Diego county. Their house is at the top of a hill. I will add a picture taken from their patio to show what it looks like. Anyway, the first day there my sister Heather and I took the kids around the property and had a nice hike. The girls love my parents dogs, so they were happy to be outside with the dogs who follow us everywhere. The next day I went to visit with my friend Cas. She has 4 kids. Her third child is only a week younger than Bethany. The kids played and I really enjoyed hanging out with Cas. We have been friends since high school, but we hardly get to see each other anymore. But she is still one of my best friends. Later that day, I saw my friend Rhianna and saw her daughter Sierra. Sierra and Bethany played together a while. The next day we went out shopping and had lunch with my Grandma at the Elephant bar and grill. We ran into Janine who is a friend with an autistic son. We agreed to get together on Monday. Then my sister Madeline flew in with her husband Tyler. I was unable to be at their wedding in November, so this was my first time meeting him. Very nice guy. That evening, Madeline and our other sister Kaytee and I went out to the mall and left the girls with my parents. It was wonderful to have a break. On Saturday we drove to Coronado and had family pictures taken on the beach. We had a lot of fun, and let Bethany and Shea play in the sand and water a bit. Sadly, Aaron was the only one missing. I so wish he could have been there. I think he would have loved playing with the kids at the beach. Then we went to Seaport Village for brunch and shopping. We took the kids on the carousel. They both really loved that. On Sunday we all went to church. Aside from Bethany laying down in the front of the church with her dress up around her waist, it was fairly uneventful. We did have kind of a funny moment though. A young girl was speaking, and after her a very tall man spoke. As he walked to the podium to speak, the electric podium was raised up high to his face level. Bethany was watching this and she yelled, "Wow! He's huge!!" Everyone was laughing. After church, my Grandma and my aunts Victoria and AnnaMarie came over to visit. It was great to see them. I have really missed spending time with them. On Monday I got together with Janine. Her son is a few years older than Bethany, so she has a bit more experience with all things pertaining to autism. She gave me a lot of great advice and useful information, and resources to help pay for all of those things not covered by insurance. That evening we had pizza with my Grandpa and aunt Anne, and Grandpa's girlfriend, Annette. I had heard that Grandpa was doing badly and in poor health, but I was not at all prepared to see the man, I remember as this big Italian man with plenty of energy and humor, as he is now. He has lost at least half of his body weight. It is obvious he cannot see anymore. He looked right past me whenever he tried to speak to me, and couldn't walk unassisted. It took 3 people to help him to and from the car. He fell asleep twice at dinner, and couldn't eat more than a few bites of food. It was very sad, especially since I live so far away, knowing I may not be back again before he passes away. My aunt Anne and I had a nice long talk after Grandpa and Annette left. Than my sister Connie and I went out for the evening. She is sad about Grandpa too. On Tuesday, early in the morning I brought Shea to bed with me to try and get her to sleep a bit longer. As the room got brighter, I was surprised that Bethany was still sleeping, so I got up and she wasn't in bed. So I went out to the living room, and kitchen and she wasn't there either. Then I noticed the front door was wide open. I ran out there, and didn't see her right away. Then I noticed something pink way down at the bottom of the property. Bethany was wearing a pink nightgown. So I ran back in and dropped Shea in my moms bed, and ran back outside to try and get to Bethany before she got to the creek. It is like dawn, and I was running barefoot down a hill that consists of dirt, rocks and tumbleweed. I finally got to her, and she was climbing down into the creek with the dogs. She was just in a nightgown and had no shoes on either. I about had a heart attack. It was scary/ But it all turned out fine, and my Dad immediately installed chains at the tops of the doors, so it wouldn't happen again, even though we were leaving the next day. Thank goodness they don't have any neighbors, to see me running down the mountain in my underwear and shirt. After that we ran a few errands, and had lunch at Souplantation, which I love. Why do I have to go to California just to find a decent salad bar! We also got together with my aunt Theresa, and the kids played at the playground by her house while her and I visited. Rhianna came over again. We had wanted to take the kids to Bates Nut Farm to see the animals and feed them, but they were pretty grouchy, so we stayed home. That night I went out with my aunt Anne for dinner. So I got out 3 times without the kids during this trip! It was great. On Tuesday, we packed up the car, and on the way to the airport, I stopped to see Grandpa again. He was sitting at the kitchen table. I was only there 10 minutes, but he was just doing so badly. He fell asleep sitting there, and had trouble breathing. I told him I love him, so at least I know he knows. The flight back, was worse than the flight out. The people in front of us were horribly rude. I just don't even want to talk about that. But now we are home. It is great to be home too.

Kids are messy!

Any mom who just read the title of this blog post, just said "DUH!!" Two days ago Bethany got on a stool and carried the vase of flowers Aaron sent me to the computer desk. She was aggressively sniffing the flowers, when the vase toppled over spilling water onto the box that connects to the internet. I had to have someone come out and look at it, and he had to replace it. He told me the boxes are very expensive, but he was going to just say it was a malfunction and not our fault. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers! We could not afford to pay for that! Yesterday I got some cleaning done. Found an entire box worth of Cheerios underneath the Entertainment center. As I poured the vaccum canister into the trash, I thought about how wasteful it was, but figured pouring it back in the cereal box would be pretty gross. At one point I decided to take a 2 minute shower. My kids were napping (or so I thought). 2 minutes later, I get out of the shower and find Bethany feeding herself and Shea grape jelly straight from the jar. It was on the floor and the TV too. The peanut butter stays on top of the refridgerator because she has gotten into that before too. Reminds me of my husband who would happily eat PB and jelly minus the bread with a spoon. I guess tha apple doesn't fall far. And now my sweet Bethany is sitting next to me, her face covered in oatmeal and banana, trying to give me kisses, ha ha. Messy messy! But that's ok. I wouldn't pass up these kisses for anything. If it gets too messy, I can just go take another shower.... :o

Other Autism moms

I have gotten a few comments from other moms of children with ASD over the past few months. I am always happy to talk to other moms dealing with the same things, however I often am unable to see their blogs so I can send a message back. So if you do leave me a comment wanting to talk please let me know how I can message you back. It is always nice to exchange stories and ideas with other moms!

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family search

Someday I will laugh

I hope someday Bethany has a child just like her. I will laugh and laugh every time she calls me to tell me what that child has done.
This morning I took the girls to the library for a Winnie the Pooh party and National Popcorn day. Basically it was stories about W the P, while eating popcorn, and then gluing popcorn onto pictures of W the P. Bethany ran about 40 laps around the room then managed to escape out the door twice, both times running into the conference going on in the next room. I had to walk in, and drag her out by her arm as she did the dead weight thing and screamed. We don't go anywhere without making our presence known. Then after the event was over, we walk out and it was windy and pouring rain. I was holding Shea, 3 jackets, my purse, a diaper bag, and Bethany's hand and balancing the umbrella, when the wind blew the umbrella inside out. I tried to corner Bethany against a pole to fix it, but she got away and ran off through a field in front of the library, so off I went chasing after her. She got to the middle of the field and decided to lay down in a big mud puddle. I got to her, and once again had to drag her by the arm because she wouldn't stand. We finally got to the car, and I buckled them in, and got the heater going in the car while they screamed because they were both soaking wet. Bethany and I were both muddy and soaked to the underwear. And I just sat in the car in the parking lot and cried for 20 minutes. Sometimes I am a baby and I cry when I get frustrated and stressed. Both kids got over it, and Shea fell asleep and Bethy was singing, and I was still crying! Finally I drove home, stopping at Sonic because I was not in the mood to find something to put together for lunch for everyone. We came home, I put the kids in the tub, and put them in warm Jammie's, and down to nap, and took a hot shower myself and put on sweats. Now that they are in bed, and I am relaxing, I can laugh. At least my life is never dull. Sometimes I wish for a different kind of excitement, but who knows, maybe one day I will write a bestseller about raising Bethany.

Things that make me happy

~ Listening to Bethany sing "Jingle Bells" in January, when she would have no part of Christmas music in December. ha ha!
~Watching Shea's face light up with excitement when she gets pushed in the swing.
~Falling asleep at naptime with Shea, and getting to snuggle with her.
~Hearing the pride in Aaron's voice on the phone as he e-mails me a picture of a helicopter with his name on the side.
~Scrubbing the bathtub with no distractions and standing back to admire a sparkly clean bathroom.
~Watching my girls laughing together, even if they are doing something they shouldn't be.
~ Sisters that call me up just to chat, because we are friends.
~Closing my eyes, to remember what Aaron's hand feels like in mine.
~ Wonderful people at church who let their hearts be led by the spirit.
~Bethany starting Sunbeams and showing me that I had nothing to worry about.
~Bethany making sure I kiss Elmo and Ernie goodnight, then watching her tuck them into bed with her.
~ Knowing that the quickest way to cheer Bethany up is to push on her nose, and say "ribbit!" Then let her push my nose, and say "beep". (Aaron's nose says "honk" by the way.)
~Shea trying to imitate the word "stinky".
~Watching Shea boogie to the "Cha cha slide" song at her My-Gym class.
~The thought of Aaron coming home on leave in a few weeks!
~ Taking walks with the girls and watching them giggle at the squirrels, get excited to meet the dogs we encounter, and watching them examine the different leaves and flowers we find.
~ That little window that comes up on the bottom of the computer screen that says, "Aaron is online".
~ Singing Primary songs in the car on the top of our lungs.
~ Reading stories with Bethany and Shea, and Bethany trying to read us stories too.