Since U Been Gone, Part 2

 Part 2. I would have to say one of the hardest things about Troy being gone (if not the hardest) is bedtime. Oh how I dread it. By 4 pm when the children are waking up from naps, I'm spent of energy and patience. The prospect of dinner, baths and bedtime, solo is not fun. What is fun though, is when I go in to check on the kids before I go to bed and I find things like this:

And this:

A good entertaining sleep position always makes me laugh. Wait, what was that?! Is Jackson in a toddler bed?! Yes, I'll bet you all thought it would never happen, but it did. When Troy was home for the weekend, he and Jackson surprised me with his new "big boy bed." Jackson thought it was so great. I told him if he got out of his bed when it was time to sleep we'd have to make it back into a crib. This worked for a couple days and then he said he's rather have his crib anyway. Huh. There goes that bargaining tool. I think the little man is overwhelmed by all the changes in his life. Dad gone, new bed, it's a little much for him. And speaking of changes...

Yes, that is underwear you see. I know!! Two major life changes in one post! Who would have thought? Not me. Troy was able to convince Jackson that underwear were a good idea while he was home for the weekend. {It was a big weekend for us :) } Something I was unable to convince him of no matter what I tried. I am happy to say that Jackson has been in underwear for almost two weeks and we are doing great! Happy happy day. I think he looks super cute in his underwear, but he didn't want me to take his picture. He thought it would be much more funny to tease me.

Here is the big boy in his big boy bed and underwear. Wherever did my little man go? He's growing up. It makes me excited and sad at the same time. Who knew parenthood would supply so many conflicting emotions?

{Death of the Green Car}
The day after Troy went back to San Antonio, our little '97 corolla (Norma, or what Jackson calls "The Green Car") completely died. Picture toxic gray smoke billowing out of  my garage and lots of loud uneasy sounding noises. It was a very sad day. Luckily we'd just signed up for a AAA membership and therefore didn't have to pay for the tow truck.

I think I mentioned in the last post, that I felt like this month was going so well. It was so much easier. Yes, that's what I get for thinking such things, because everything changed once I didn't have a car anymore. It only lasted a couple days before my friends rescued me, but I thought I was going to go insane. No adult interaction and no way to leave the premise. It was not pretty. Blessings from heaven came in the form of the Petersons escorting me to a doctor appointment, and then offering me their car for the day. And Then Nancy Leavitt being extremely generous and offering me their car while they were out of town. See? Blessings from heaven. I literally started crying when she said I could take it. Right there in the middle of a birthday party. I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to regain composure.

Having a car has made all the difference for me. It turned out our car was out of commission for a week and a half and cost $1250 to fix. So lovely. It kind of makes me sick to spend so much on such an old car. Yuck. Hopefully Norma will be set for a while. Fingers crossed and prayers offered. We pick up our expensively repaired car in the morning. P.S. On another note I would like to know why the car NEVER seems to break down on the husband's watch. Why? Not very fair.

{Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease}
Jackson contracted this little lovely last week. I think it is the most bizarre virus ever. It started with a fever on Sunday night. Within 24 hours Jackson felt great and was angry every time I told him we couldn't do something because he was sick. A day later he started to break out in a weird rash on his hands and feet which progressively got worse and spread everywhere. It looked like his whole body was covered in zits. Then they sort of blistered and now are scabbing over. They kind of look sick but he hasn't complained about the sores once. He hasn't even seemed to notice them. Bizarre right? Apparently it is very infectious. So, sorry entire nursery who've probably been infected now... He really didn't act sick until 6:30 pm Sunday. The really great silver lining in all of this is that Kindi and Amanda's kids all got it so we can all hang out together at least. Phew. My fears of being isolated were taken care of once again. Man, someone's really looking out for me.

 I adjusted the lighting on these photos to try to show the rash better, but they still don't do it justice. Crazy stuff.

{The Learning Curve}
Somebody learned to do this:

Can you believe it?! It has been quite the eventful week at our house, I tell you. I was getting ready for church on Sunday and Clara was playing on the carpet in my room. I walked back into the room and saw her sitting. I gasped out loud. My first thought was, "Who put her up like that." But Jackson wouldn't know how to do that, and he wasn't even in the room. The little miss just figured it out herself! That's my girl. She did have a really good session of physical therapy the previous Friday, which perhaps spurred her desire to figure this sitting thing out. But it sort of felt like it came out of no where. Nevertheless, I'm so happy.

By Tuesday she was a pro at rolling over and pushing herself up to a sitting position. She still falls over and bangs her head on occasion (not pretty on the tile), but she can hold herself up for at least 5 minutes. She even transfers her weight between arms and plays with toys while sitting. This is big people. BIG! I couldn't wait to show Danette, our occupational therapist, yesterday. She was thrilled, and I just know Tom, our physical therapist, is going to be just as excited tomorrow. I hope this new found freedom continues to motivate Clara to learn to crawl. Maybe now she'll see the benefits of increased mobility. In either case, sitting is really great news. Hooray for the learning curve.

{T-Shirt Party}
This morning Kindi and Amanda came over and helped me make T-shirts for the Down syndrome Walk. It took over 3 hours, but we made 22 shirts and we are going to look A-mazing on Saturday. I have some really nice friends. The little kids weren't always super excited about their moms crafting. At one point almost everyone was screaming at the same time. It was pretty funny. 

Here's a little taste of the madness for you. Nash (top right) was SO mad I was taking his picture. He threw himself on the floor. Ha! And Cameron didn't like my photographing either. Luckily we were almost done at this point so everyone could go home and take a nap.

A Weekend with Troy

We decided it was worth the for Troy to come home mid-rotation. It was fabulous. He was only here from Friday night to Sunday evening, but it broke up the month for us and we loved seeing him. We picked him up at the airport (which means we got to use my sign! Hooray.)  We were all so excited to see Troy walk through that security gate. {And besides seeing his dad Jackson was very anxious to get the baseballs back which he sent with Troy when he first left. Silly boy.}

Since our time together was short, we tried to pack in as many activities as possible. We ate ice cream together when we got home from the airport. When we woke up Saturday morning, Troy helped me hang the hat rack I made for Jackson's room and then we got in some good wrestling time before heading to the park. Then we hit up the Deer Valley Airport and Culvers for lunch. So yummy. After naptime we went swimming and then had pizza for dinner. It was quite the Saturday.

It was Clara's first swing ride so naturally I took waaay too many pictures. She was so happy in there. It was a hit. And Jackson thought it was so fun to swing with his sister.

We enjoyed the morning together on Sunday and then wen to church. It was a pretty rough church day complete with me leaving sacrament meeting 4-5 times and Jackson refusing to go back to nursery after leaving for a bathroom break. Sigh. It was so good I had Troy there that day to help! We took Troy back to the airport after church. It was quite the whirlwind weekend. But it was totally great.

Since U Been Gone

That was the only title I could think of for this post. You know me and my love for breakup songs. I guess those kind of lyrics are just stuck in the back of my head somewhere. Well, I feel like it is almost safe to say, that we've survived another month away from Troy. He has spent the last 3.5 weeks in San Antonio, staying with the very generous Benfields. And I've been here with the children, trying to endure the last of the Arizona summer.

Overall, I think this month has been easier than the first month apart. I feel like I learned a few tricks to make the days pass more smoothly. And more than anything, I learned what I could reasonably expect of myself.

Jackson displaying his "Y for BYU" signs. Ha.

We made a paper chain to mark our progress. At first it seemed really really long, but now I am proud to say we only have three links left! Amazing. Troy returns Friday and Saturday we drive to Utah for his rotation at the U. Craziness. But, I'm getting ahead of myself,  back to what we were up to while Troy was away.

Jackson made me a beautiful necklace out of Clara's plastic toy rings.

{Science Center}
We got more passes from the library and headed to check out things out. We were excited to learn there was a Lego exhibit going on. Jackson loved that. We spent most of our time there. They had big bins of legos to build with. Jackson thought it was fabulous.

This is when we visited my favorite part of the Science Center, the weather exhibit. It rains, and has wind and thunder and lightning. I think it is great. Jackson was terrified and he ran away and wrapped himself around this pole while watching timidly. Too funny.  

And our other favorite was the new-ish water exhibit. Jackson loves this place. He got soaked. It was hot so none of us minded. Clara even loved it out there.

{A Lovely Saturday and a New Bike!}
My friend Kindi decided we should go get pedicures before she left town for a wedding. She thus enlisted her husband to watch my children while she, Amanda, and I went for a pedicure and lunch and then ended the lovely afternoon with a trip to Walmart for me to buy this little beauty. It was on clearance so it was a great price and obviously super cute. I mean c'mon, it has a basket! I love it and can't wait to get in some good riding time! Now we are on the lookout for some sort of bike trailer. Once it cools down I'm going to be hitting the pavement. :)

Jackson thinks my bike basket is for his toys. :)

{Rain}

About a week and a half ago we had a few lovely days of great  monsoons. It cooled everything down and was absolutely lovely. Jackson loves the rain. It's such a novelty around here. We invited the Petersons over for some driveway rain time play. It was heaven. Amanda and I even sat in the unusually cool garage and chatted.

Jackson kills me with the toy creations he comes up with. He's way into pulling his boat around with various cars. "See it's just like Grandpa's now." He tells me.

And that is what we did the first half of San Antonio month. More to come later...

August 2012

Oh where oh where did August go? Guess I'll post about it. Troy returned home from Dallas on August the 4th. It was a most happy reunion. Let me tell you, a month apart is no fun. But I have friends who are doing a lot longer than that, so I won't complain.

We spent the weekend together, just soaking up the family time. Come Monday morning though, Troy had to hit the books to study for his step 2 boards. I wasn't a huge fan of this. It felt like we were getting jipped out of Troy time. But the difference was he was around for dinner and bedtime and Sundays, and that was fabulous. Looking back, I'm glad Troy's schedule worked out as it did. It was good to break up the audition rotations that way.

Other things that happened in August....

{Clara the Hungry}
Clara learned how to eat. Like literally, she learned how to eat solids. She had been eating them a little in July, but it was taking 30 minutes to finish a jar. I had to do every spoonful three times. It was not very fun. I don't love the baby food stage anyway, so time consuming. But once we were home and I could saddle up and spend the time practicing with her, she learned very quickly. She now eats a jar in 10 minutes and we are very proud of the little woman. As you can see all the extra food has contributed to an ever growing double chin. :) Side note: Jackson very sweetly says, "Clara! You finished your food! I'm so proud of you!" If he is around when she finishes eating. So cute.

{Zoo Day}
Amanda and Kindi invited me on a zoo day expedition. They both have zoo passes, and let me tag along. Bless them. It was about 150 degrees, but the children didn't mind. We got some really funny pictures of the boys on this frog statue. Colby was not having any of it. So funny.

{Entertaining Text Messages}
Want to know something about Troy? He doesn't love surprises. Like, he'd rather pick out his own birthday gift. When it's a surprise you run the risk of not liking it and then feeling like you have to keep it, he says. I see the truth in that. However, I love surprises, so I always have to remind myself he doesn't when shopping for him. So when he returned home from Dallas, we went to the mall so he could pick out a hat as a birthday gift for him. On the way home, I told him he didn't seem to be very excited about the present I gave him. Later that day I got the following text messages. Ha. What a funny man.

{Happy Birthday to our Family}
On August 17th, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Troy took the evening off from studying and we had a fun stay at home date after the kids were asleep. Before our date, we ate cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday to our Family." Jackson loved this. Especially, blowing out the candles. He's never one to turn down any sort of baked good either, so this was a great activity for him. Ever since that day I catch him singing "Happy Birthday to our Family" on occasion. Pretty cute.

Troy insisted on taking this frosting picture, which I sort of strongly dislike of myself, but Clara's expression is funny, so I'm putting it up anyway. Troy thinks these kinds of photos are just hilarious. Ha.

{And in other August News}

Clara learned to roll up onto the fan and sometimes I worry she'll crash it down on top of herself. This girl is certainly a mover and a shaker on all accounts. (More on that to come in a future post.)

Troy finished his boards on August 20th. We were able to go on a fun anniversary date the next night and the rest of the week was spent preparing his residency applications and preparing to leave for another audition in San Antonio. We did get in a couple at home dates and enjoyed the rest of our family time together that week. One night we watched the movie "The Bucket List" and made a list of things we want to do together. The night was complete with popcorn and smoothies in fancy glasses we got from Christy for our wedding. :)

Jackson talking to Uncle Landon on the walky-talky app. Jackson thought this was pretty cool. He kept talking when it wasn't his turn though, it was funny to watch.

{Heading to San Antonio}
And just like we knew it would, the day for Troy to leave to San Antonio came more quickly than we wanted it to. I didn't want him to go, but on the other hand I was ready to just get the whole thing over with.

Jackson helped his dad pack. He made sure Dad had plenty of baseballs and Jackson's own baseball bat to play with. Ha. The funniest part was when he asked for them all back the next day over the phone. Oh man, it was not pretty when Jackson realized he wasn't getting them back for a while. "I just really want my baseballs!" He wailed. Oh boy. Good thing Troy visited for the weekend and was able to bring those baseballs back a little early. However, he couldn't bring the bat on the plane and that made Jackson cry again. I think the little Gift Reclaimer has learned his lesson. :)

I made this welcome home sign for the airport when Troy came home from Dallas. But, of course, I forgot it on the kitchen table and was already halfway down the I-17 before I realized it. So instead we took pictures of Troy and the kids in front of the sign right before he left again. Ha. Silly. Troy is a good sport with me and my picture taking requests. And thus the last month of being apart began. (Thank heavens it's the last!) More on how that went down in the next post.