Weekly Update 8/9/09

The weekend was spent mostly in the house. Playing catch-up on sleep and trying to finish getting on Japan time. Mission accomplished!

Monday was pretty busy. The E-Club had membership appreciation free breakfast. Nothing major, but hey, free food! We also went to the WIC office to get transferred back here from being in the states. I called to check on swim lessons for Jackson, but they aren't doing the "Mommy & Me" classes this month and he's obviously too little for regular classes. We'll try again in September.

Monday night was the Enlisted Spouses Club (ESC) meeting. It was a potluck, and the theme was "bring something from your home state/country." So I made buckeyes. They were a hit!!! A few people had no clue what a (real) buckeye was so I pulled the one I keep in my purse for good luck out and showed them. Everyone was surprised that I carry one with me. =)

Tuesday, Jackson had a re-check for his MRSA. Well, I thought he had an appointment. There was some glitch in the system and when I booked it online it didn't go through. Luckily he has an awesome doctor who just let us come in his office, looked at the spot, then talked to me about it. He said he thinks the infection is gone, but put him on 4 more days of antibiotics just to be sure. It was probably just leftover skin discoloration. It' looks completely healed now. He also said that we'd both be tested via nasal cultures. Jackson to make sure it's gone, and me to make sure I don't have it. I'm really hoping they get that done this week because if I do have it and need to go on antibiotics, I need to have them finished before I hit my third trimester on the 23rd. So, we'll see.

Wednesday we babysat two kids so a friend and her husband could both go to OB orientation. It's her third (duh) so she didn't need the info, but it's mandatory. Her son is 4 and her daughter is 1. It was an interesting combo with the 3 kids. Karter plays a little rough, but we managed to keep things under control and no one got seriously injured. Jackson wore himself out, though and we had to come straight home and take a nap.

Thursday was speech therapy. It was our first session with the new therapist at our house. We'd had one short session at the EDIS office, but this was much more comfortable for Jackson. He really likes Holly and her bag of toys. She had lots of good things to say and gave me plenty to work on. A few highlights: no more sippy cups. Regular sized straws are okay, but phase out the sippies. Working on that! I'm picking up some tupperware cups today that have lids with a spout, but no valve, so if it tips it still spills, just not as fast as a regular cup. Also, she repeated what she had said before about signing. Stop signing anything he already knows and only use it to introduce a new concept or word. I've been trying to do this for a while, but sometimes the signing comes unconciously with the word when I say it. So now I'm really focused on keeping my hands still when I say things that he already knows. And she recommended getting some party toys that have different shaped openings to encourage him to make a seal with his mouth and use sustained blowing. We picked up some cheap ones at the BXtra the other day and if I see more I'll get them.

Friday we were at the BX and I saw a toddler bed that is regular $40 on sale for $20. So I snagged it. We came home and put it together and he took a nap in it right away. He did pretty well staying in it. Bedtime was a different story. I sat in a chair by his bed and it took 90 minutes of consistantly putting him back in bed when he got out, laying him back down when he sat up, ignoring cries for milk, rocking, etc. and finally he fell asleep. I was pretty excited that I stuck it out. He woke up at 5am like normal, and it only took 45 minutes to get him back to sleep. His morning nap was the same; 45 minutes but with the chair towards the end of the bed. I really felt we were making progress. Then came bedtime on Saturday. I had moved the chair by the door and after 2 hours of picking him up and putting him back in bed when he got out, my back was screaming. I just could not do it any more. And he was showing no signs of being almost asleep at all. I gave up and put his mattress back in his crib, put him in it and shut the door. I didn't hear a single peep. So maybe we'll hold off on the toddler bed for now. I'm going to rearrange his room to make room for the crib and the toddler bed both so he sees it and it's there in case he decides he wants to try again. Plus since we probably won't have a 3 bedroom until after Alex is born, they might have to share for a while. Not at night, but I'd like Alex to nap in the crib to be used to it, so having both set up will be better anyways.

Saturday was the deployed families' dinner. I was excited to see this on the calendar. It was at the Samauri Cafe. I found out after I signed up that that's the name of the chow hall. So I thought maybe they just used the chow hall since it already had the tables, chairs, dishes, etc. for the dinner. Nope. It was chow hall food. You signed in, then went through the line like normal, and at the end we just didn't pay. They had someone there to help us carry our trays (since most of us were carrying a kid), and also gave us a bag of stuff to take home with us. I was a little disappointed, but like the free breakfast, it was a free meal. So now that I know what's going on, I'll be better prepared for next time. And I later found out they make grilled cheeses so then I'll have some more Jackson-friendly meal ideas.

Today is a lazy day. We're having lunch with Trysta and dinner at home. Tomorrow we'll start all over with chores and activities. Sometimes the time seems to drag, others it seems to fly. It feels like we've been home for a lot more than 10 days!