Weekly Update 9/20/09

I'm going to make a serious effort to shorten the blog this week. I got comments from multiple friends about it this week. They were things like, "Your blog is very detailed" or from Laura "That was quite long," (she's English). Anyways, this is my attempt at a succinct one. We'll see how it goes!

Monday night was my Enlisted Spouses Club meeting. I'm the treasurer but haven't gotten the stuff from the temporary treasurer (I was in the states when the last permanent one transferred out) so I haven't actually DONE anything yet. But the meetings are always fun and it's a few hours out of the house, so that's a plus. We had a bunch of new members and as usual it was a great time!

On Thursday (LOOK! I completely skipped Tuesday and Wednesday!) I had an OB appointment. Lots and lots of questions since I hadn't seen a doctor since I found out about the gestational diabetes. No earth-shattering information, though. That is, until the end of the appointment when she informs me I'll have to have weekly appointments from now until I have Alex. Ummm... that's like 12 weeks. YUCK! And she also said that later on they may have to do twice-weekly non-stress tests. DOUBLE YUCK! Luckily I found someone to trade babysitting with, so she's going to watch Jackson on Thursdays for me, and I'm going to watch her son (Xavier, 10 months) another day of the week.

This coming week is actually kinda busy especially with another baby party for Alex on Saturday to get ready for!

Jackson showing off his stacking skills for Daddy (on the webcam)


Refusing to get out of the bath despite the lack of water.

Weekly Update 9/13/09

You know I sit down to write these blogs and think, we were SO BUSY this week. Then I start to write about what we did, and it doesn't seem all that busy. Maybe it's just daily errands to the BX/Commissary/Post Office, etc. that make it seem busy.

Tuesday was speech therapy. Jackson was very very cooperative. He seems to have more patience each time Holly visits. This was the first time they played with all the things she brought. Usually one or two things end up getting skipped because he's done sitting and playing before they get to them. His favorite this week was a discovery toy called Hammer Away. Once he figured out he had to hammer the balls down instead of pushing them with his hand (which was easier, but not the point) he had a blast and played with it independently while Holly and I talked towards the end of the session.

One concern she had was that he says, "bing bing" instead of "bang bang". That's not a big deal by itself but he messes up quite a few vowel sounds. She said at this point he should be doing most vowels correctly, but still messing up some consonants (especially hard 2-consonant combinations). I've been working on a list this week of vowel sounds he does incorrectly to see if she has suggestions on how to help him improve. She said we'll watch it for a while and if by the time he's 2 1/2 it isn't any better we'll reevaluate and try to find the cause.

I also got re-tested for MRSA on Monday which came back negative. So now we've both had 2 neg cultures and are completely cleared. YAY!

Friday was Jackson's dental appointment. He did awesomely, as expected. He really likes to brush his teeth! The dentist was pleased with the fact that Jackson doesn't drink juice or use a sippy cup (except the on in his bed with water in it), and is already brushing his teeth twice a day. Since from now on he has to go in March (they do it in the birth month of your sponsor) the dentist said he doesn't have to come back until March of 2011 if we don't want him to.

It just so happens that the dentist, Holly's office, and our playgroup are all in the same building. Holly comes to the house, but every time we go to playgroup we stop to visit her. So walking up to the door, the first thing Jackson says is, "Holly!" No, we're not here to see Holly. Off to the dentist we went. After his appointment we walked to Holly's office to see if she was there, but she wasn't. To get to her office you have to walk towards the playroom where playgroup is. As soon as that was in sight, he said, "Play! Play!" No, we're not going to play. We're going home. Sometimes I wish he didn't have QUITE so good of a memory.

Friday was also my meeting with the nutritionist on base. She gave me a new diet which is eating 6 times a day with 30 carbs at each meal/snack. That is much less complicated than what I was doing. And it also lays out when I should eat milk vs. bread/starch vs. fruit carbs so that I can be sure and fit in all the nutrients, too. My sugar has been fairly stable but one thing I'm struggling with is calories--I'm not getting enough. I basically just need to eat more meat is all it boils down to. I'm never hungry anymore, mostly because I'm not going more than 3 hours without food. I lost weight this week and didn't gain ANY last week, which is not good for Alex, especially since I'm now well below the recommended weight gain. (I've gained 12.8 pounds and should've gained 16.5-23). We'll see what the dr. has to say about that at my appointment this week.

Saturday I got a haircut, manicure and pedicure. All were momentous things since it's only the third time someone other than Mom has cut my hair, I've never needed a manicure since I always bit my nails, and I usually do my own pedicures but can no longer comfortably reach my toes. They did a great job with all three. It was a fairly relaxing 2 hours (without Jackson).

Other things going on this week....
I'm working on a floor covering for under the table so I can put Jackson in a booster seat instead of keeping him exiled in the kitchen in his high chair. But before I buy that, Mike and I decided we need to get a new table. (Can't buy flooring until we know how big of a table to buy for). So I ordered one at the BXtra today that we've eyed before but didn't have room for in the 2 bedroom. It has an L-shaped booth on two sides and one chair on the other two sides. It won't be in until mid-late October, so perfect timing for when Mike will be home. I was bummed to find out it had been on sale last week (sale ended Thursday I went in on Saturday), but when they rang it up today it rang up for the old price-YAY!

One morning Jackson decided we needed to hang out on the balcony. It was really nice out and it was the time when everyone was taking their kids to school. We can see the school from our house, so we just chilled and people watched. He played on his slide some.

We got to watch the OSU game on T.V. today. A disappointing loss, but I was still glad to be able to watch it. It's weird to watch college football on Sunday morning, but oh well. After it was over, I apparently dozed off. Don't remember this happening, but I do remember waking up. Thank goodness Jackson hadn't gotten into any trouble (that I know of). And this is what I woke up to... I have no words to even describe it:

I know that prior to falling asleep all 6 coasters were in the holder, the remote was on the arm of the couch, the water glass was on the table (just on the tile, no coaster) and the cars were on the floor. Part of me is a little concerned but mostly I'm just impressed. =)

I've also decided on Picasa to use as our new photo web place. Dad recommended it and it's a google application just like blogger is, so the pictures from all the past blogs are already on there. It makes it nice that I only have to upload them to one place instead of two. I have a feeling it'll fill up fast and then I'll either have to start taking some pics off, or find a web service that we can pay for because most of the free ones have similar limits. September Album.

My blood sugar has been all over the place this week. I'm trying to get a handle on it and it's been much better since I met with the nutritionist. It won't be long before I start figuring out what things make me go really high and what things are okay. Everyone has different things that despite being the right number of carbs, still cause them to jump. Anyone who knows me well at all won't be surprised to learn that I've made an Excel spreadsheet to track my food and blood sugar. It turns green when I hit my target range (carbs, calories, and blood sugar), blue if it's too low, and red if it's too high. I'm pretty visual so it's been helpful for me. The nutritionist said she'd never seen anyone do something like that before. She sounded a mix of impressed and a little scared. But she did say I could just email it to her next week the day before I call and we could do all our stuff over the phone and avoid a trip into her office.

Oh, and Jackson had to get a shot one day, too. I went into the immunizations clinic to check and see when his next shots are due. I was trying to coordinate his appointment with his shots, because you can't do them even one day early and last time I ended up having to bring him back to the clinic like 3 days after his appointment to get the shots. Turns out there aren't 2 year-old shots, but he needed one to play catch up. The HIB vaccine went on shortage right when he was getting started on the series as a baby. It was a 4-shot series but due to the shortage, they dropped it to 3 shots, all of which he eventually got. Once the shortage was rectified they changed it back to a 4-shot series so he needed that last one. He's such a trooper though, he hardly ever cries about anything. He's had numerous bumps on the head, black eyes, etc. etc. etc. and rarely cries for more than a few seconds. He did have a hard time sleeping that night, but other than that, no ill effects.

On the Alex front, he is MOVING! Today he actually moved violently enough to cause me pain. I'm in for a long 2 1/2 months! Add hiccups to that and he's doing his best to be a constant reminder that I'm pregnant. His bedding came this week so his room is almost totally done. All that's left is when Mike gets home we have to hang all our pictures throughout the house and for the moment they're all in his room. Plus if Jackson's not potty trained we'll need a second changing pad for his changing table. Oh and my friend is making curtains for both boys' rooms and they're not done yet, so obviously I still have to hang those once I get them. Other than those minor things, it's done and I'm very glad it is!

I volunteered to make breakfast for Mike's squadron for tomorrow morning. They're doing readiness exercises this week and working 12 hour days. So we (the spouses) are making breakfast and dinner for them tomorrow. Got everything together tonight and just have to get up at 0430 to put it in the oven. I will definitely be napping with Jackson tomorrow!

If you're not on Facebook, you should be. If you're on Facebook but not my friend, you should be. I update that daily with little blurbs so it's much easier to keep track of what's going on with us (and much shorter to read because they limit how many characters you have).

That's all for this week!

Weekly Update 9/6/09

What's this? An on-time weekly update?! Wow. Things must be slowing down in the Deiderich household. Yes. But only a little. Here is our week in review:

Monday--Jackson had a speech therapy appointment at 9. But Holly showed up at the door with a stack of files instead of her toy bag. Apparently the therapist before her didn't do all the paperwork she was supposed to when we first entered the program. So that meant our scheduled time was spent filling out forms and we had to reschedule his therapy for this coming week. Jackson was extremely angry that she did not have fish with her. And then proceeded to spend the next three days begging and crying for "Hah-yee". Nice.

We also got re-cultured for MRSA and those both came back negative. So Jackson is now officially MRSA-free and I will be after one more negative culture.

Tuesday--Nothing too major. We had to go to the WIC office for more vouchers. They give them to you 3 months at a time. So when we scheduled our next appointment, she said, "And make sure you bring the baby with you because we'll need to weigh him unless he's been weighed at the doctor the same day." Totally said it in passing like it was no big deal. I, on the other hand, about hyperventilated. The baby?! Three months?! Holy crap I'm gonna have another kid by the time these vouchers are done!

I mean, okay, so yeah, I'm pregnant and all. But I also spend literally 24/7 chasing an almost-two-year-old. I don't have time to think about the fact that I'm pregnant. Alex frequently demands attention by trying to shove his head and/or butt out the side of my stomach, or getting the hiccups. But there are still times I look in the mirror and am surprised to see a belly. So she sort of shocked me with the casual mention of him.

Wednesday was the lab. Oh the joyous lab. Three hour glucose test. Doesn't that just sound dandy? I diligently followed my >150 carbs, >2,200 calorie diet on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Then fasted (i.e. didn't eat breakfast Wed morning) and got to the lab bright and early. They drew blood four times. Once before we started, then every hour for three hours. It's still the same drink, but it has twice as much glucose in it (but not twice as much liquid). I seriously thought I was going to throw it up. Until close to the two-hour mark, I was very concerned about this possibility. If you throw up you have to do it all over again a different day. I soooo did not want to have to re-do this. I managed to keep it down and by the time she drew my blood after hour two, I was feeling much better. I kept myself occupied with my Nintendo DS and two books that I brought along. Once the three hours was up, I headed home to Jackson and Trysta (neighbor/friend/babysitter). I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. That's one of the top 10 most tired moments of my life. Jackson had been asleep since 9:45 and I got home at 11:15 so I figured I'd better not try to lay down because he'd be up any minute. He slept for another hour. Of course. Then I was trying to make lunch and I could barely spread the peanut butter on the bread because my hands were shaking so badly. That test can kiss my butt! Oh, and Jackson's extra-long morning nap meant no afternoon nap, which meant no nap at all for Mommy. I think I FELL into bed that night!

Thursday--Final inspection in the old apartment. We passed, yay! I'm not sure we should have, because I know there were some things not all the way done. But the inspector knew the whole situation with Mike gone, pregnant, toddler, etc. So I think he had pity on us and passed us anyways. Granted, it was CLEAN. But they want it to look like no one has ever lived there. Not sure it met those standards.

Friday--Considered making an earthquake kit. Started making the list for everything we need for it (according to some list made by someone in San Francisco) and decided it was going to cost at least $200. Then I found one online for $100 already put together. So I'm still debating. And maybe I should just get a big thing of water and call it good.

Saturday--Birthday party. We went to a party for one of my friends' daughter who turned three. That was definitely interesting. Jackson had a lot of fun running around and playing with the other kids. I had fun talking to the other mommies. He came home with a knot on his head (from running into the bracket that holds the railing onto a ramp they were running up and down--he bounced), and a bloody lip (umm....not really sure how he got that exactly). He's such a tough kid though he barely cried at all when he got the knot. And today it's pretty bruised and definitely still a knot. There were also bubbles and t-shirt painting (we focused on the bubbles and skipped the painting). So a few hours of lots of fun!

Today--POOL! It was the last day the outdoor pool is open this summer and we hadn't been once. I decided we weren't going the whole summer without taking advantage of it, so today we walked over and played for about an hour and a half. I was bored out of my mind, but he had a great time. The best part was the kiddie pool is 21" deep. Most are more like 6"-8" deep. So it came up to Jackson's chest. It made it much more fun for him (but also a little scary for me!). I think it used to be a hot tub just because of the size and depth of it. The big pool is way too deep even at the shallow end to take him in and you're not allowed to use floats, so we're limited to the kiddie pool. We'll definitely be going back on a regular basis next summer!



The big news this week was my glucose test. They called the day after the test to tell me I failed. Which means I have gestational diabetes. I went that day and picked up my monitor (and testing supplies) and am now testing my blood sugar four times a day. I'll meet with the nutritionist (hopefully Tuesday) to go over the diet they want me on. I'll follow the diet for a week and then the doctor will reevaluate to see if that's good enough for controlling my sugar or if I'll need to go on insulin. In the mean time, I've found some guidelines online that I'm trying to stick to. Basically counting carbs and having 30 for breakfast, 15 for snack, 45 for lunch, 15 for another snack, and 60 for dinner. I'm also basing my blood sugar goals from a few things I found online. <95 when I wake up, and <120 the other times I test, which is 2 hours after each meal. The nutritionist may change those numbers, but if I've got them right (or at least close) then I'll have a 5-day jump on the week-long diet trial. So far my numbers have been pretty close to those goals. The one after the birthday party (where I didn't eat any cake!) was 126, which kind of bummed me out since I tried to be pretty good. Now I've just got to work on finding good breakfast and snack options. Dinner is pretty easy and lunch isn't too hard either. But since I don't like eggs, and am allergic to nuts (two commonly recommended items), finding breakfast plans under 30 carbs and snacks under 15 is pretty tough. And I'm staying under the carb limits, but I'm hungry. A lot. I was worried when they first told me about the diet that since I normally eat a fairly healthy diet that changing wouldn't be enough and I'd have to do insulin. But since following those guidelines, I found out my diet might not have been too unhealthy, but I was eating a bunch of carbs and didn't know it! Now I'm thinking the diet alone will probably be good enough.

As it is, I've only gained 13 pounds this pregnancy (3 pounds below the minimum of what I should've gained by now--5 below the normal), and not any this week. My concern is that this diet is going to mean even less weight gain and possibly losing weight. Neither of those things would be good. But obviously not keeping my sugar under control would be worse. The nurse that showed me how to use the machine said basically as long as I keep things under control, Alex should be fine. They'll still monitor his blood sugar for the first 24 hours after he's born to make sure it doesn't bottom out since he'll still be producing extra insulin but won't be getting the extra sugar anymore. But if I don't do a good job controlling it, he could be big which could increase his chance of respiratory problems. Obviously it's pretty important to stick with this!

So that's our week in review. Tune in next week to hear about Jackson's first dental appointment! =)

Oh, I forgot to put these pictures up on last week's blog. Probably because I was too exhausted to think about it. So here they are (better late than never!)

Jackson's backpack from Daddy:


Jackson "helping" Mommy pack boxes:

Weekly Updates for 8/23/09 and 8/30/09

I had this whole thing almost completely written and the computer locked up. Apparently auto-save didn't actually SAVE anything. So the second try isn't as thorough as the first. Lucky you.

Again, two weeks in one. And a day late, to boot! I'm really slacking on the whole weekly blog thing. Hopefully the insane business is on the decline and I'll be a little better at it in the coming weeks.

So here's the breakdown for week 1:
Monday--Housing office. No progress.
Tuesday--Cultured for MRSA. Jackson was negative, mine was positive. No big deal, 60% of people would test positive for having it on their skin. Antibiotic ointment in our noses twice a day for a week.
Wednesday--OB Appointment. Everything's fine. The doc didn't have access to the radiologist's report from the ultrasound, but he said he would call once he got a hold of it.
Thursday--Call from O.B. office. Ultrasound looked fine. Alex has a bit of a large head, and a smaller abdomen, which is the reason the head:abdomen ratio was high. His abdominal circumference was in the 26th percentile. They don't start to worry unless it gets to the 10th, so we're good for now. Also they told me to get my glucose test done ASAP. Normally it's done at 28 weeks (I'm 26 now) but I was supposed to do it at 16 because I now have an immediate family history of diabetes (Dad). Wright-Patt didn't tell me, and I didn't know since I didn't have the risk factor when I was pregnant with Jackson.
Friday--Glucose test. An hour in the lab. Yay. Halfway through my hand started itching. By the end of the day I had a few itchy spots. When I woke up Saturday morning I was covered head to toe in what I thought were bites. Turned out to be hives. After meds they were gone within a few hours. Also found out my MRSA test was positive.

Housing office story. Called Monday, still #4 on the list, still 13 total on the list. No one gets housing until there are a lot more units available than there are people on the list. Hmmm... I must've misunderstood that. Went in on Wednesday to clarify. Nope, I got it right. And no one gets housing during peak PCS (moving) season. When I started to ask how I would know when PCS season is over, she back pedaled and said, "Don't worry about peak PCS season, just know there aren't enough units available." Called Friday to find out how many units ARE available? Got put on hold forever, then the lady (different lady than Wed) came back and said she was going to talk to her supervisor and call me back. She called back 10 minutes later to tell me they were offering us housing. Gee, what a shock, you have LOTS of units available, and yet no one on the list is getting housing. THAT'S why you couldn't tell me how many you have! Anyways, the one they offered on Friday didn't have a laundry room and wasn't on the part of the base we really wanted to be on. I discussed this with the housing lady and she said there were some in the building right next to our current building. So Monday I declined the first offer, got a second offer, and accepted it. It made it really nice for moving that the buildings are right next to each other. Plus the second one is newer, and has a laundry room. YAY for no washer and dryer in the kitchen!

Week 2:
Monday--I asked Mike's first shirt for some help moving. He said he would round some guys up for me, no problem. I stopped by vehicle operations and arranged to rent their truck for moving day.
Tuesday--Jackson had speech therapy. It went pretty well. He loves Holly! One activity was designed to see if he could put items together based on color. There was a container with red toys and one with blue ones. Holly took each thing out and handed it to him and asked him what it was. When he'd say, "Shoe" or "Bear", she'd respond, "Red shoe" or "Blue bear." After they were both empty and all the things were on the ground, he had to put the blue ones in the container with the blue ball and the red ones in the container with the red ball. He understood the concept, but wasn't very good at it. He got more than 50% so he wasn't just guessing. She said, "Next time we'll just dump them on the floor and have him do them that way. He's so smart I think he just memorized which things came out of the same containers." Like, he knew the shoe, train, and boat went together, but not because he recognized they were all red. So we'll see how it goes next time.

Also on Tuesday we went to the housing office to sign final paperwork and set up inspections. YAY!

Wednesday--Pre-Inspection at the old apartment. The inspector that will do the final inspection came to tell me what all would have to be done to pass. Let's just say it's a LOT of cleaning! I had a dental appointment which went fine. We tried to go to the member appreciation dinner at the e-club but when we got there I found out it's adults only. Oops.

Wednesday afternoon I had a little scare with baby Alex. I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid. I called the FCU (again), they told me to come in and be checked (again) despite the MRSA. I did and everything was fine. They did a test to confirm it was NOT amniotic fluid, monitored his heartbeat and me for contractions (which I had none) and sent me on my way. A little scary, but fine in the end and also a reminder that, "Hey dummy! You're pregnant! Stop doing so much!"

Thursday was just last minute packing and wrapping things up at the old apartment. And a call from the OB telling me I failed my glucose test. So now I get to do the 3-hour version. Probably since I didn't eat anything for like 15 hours before my test my sugar spiked when I drank the stuff. The 3-hour test they actually take a baseline. But I have to eat at least 150gm of carbs and 2200 calories for the 3 days before the test. Doesn't sound hard (and it's really not THAT hard), but I still have to write down everything I eat and drink to make sure I hit it.

Friday--MOVING DAY!! I got up at 0515 to pack anything I wanted in the new apartment that couldn't be packed Thursday night (bedding, toothbrush, etc) and take apart bed frames. I think it's the first time I've had to set an alarm since I quit working. Jackson's a pretty reliable alarm clock; I never sleep past 0630 and he definitely doesn't come equipped with a snooze button! We left the house at 7 to stop and get donuts and drop Jackson off at the sitters. Then I came home and left the donuts for the volunteers (voluntolds), get paperwork, then back to pick up the truck from vehicle ops. When I got back they were enjoying the donuts and juice and were ready to get started. They were all really great and not one thing ended up broken. I met the housing guy at the new apartment at 9 to get the key and we were off! I bounced back and forth between apartments all day. Unpacking when I could, running errands when I had to (for more tape, pizza at lunch, and to pick up Jackson at the end of the day). They finished up at around 1800 and they had moved EVERYTHING! I thought I'd have to move clothes from the closets and maybe a few smaller/lighter boxes on my own on Saturday. Nope. I was really impressed by how hard they worked.

So between what little time I had in the new apartment on Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning I got completely unpacked. For the second time in 6 months, I unpacked in 2 days without Mike. NOT something I want to get used to!! Although getting to start over with a spotless house is always nice. =)

So that's our two weeks in review. With all the medical stuff coinciding with the moving stuff it did get overwhelming at times. But it's all done with now.

Floor Plan

No weekly blog this week! Packing and getting ready to move. This is the floor plan for our new apartment with my thoughts drawn in. I'm putting it here so Mike can see it. The photobucket site says it's full so I'll have to spend some time looking for a new alternative to that. Will do that after we're settled.

Weekly Update 8/16/09

Okay, so here's this week's recap. Nothing on Monday except the usual housework and errands. One huge success for this week for me was actually getting done all of my scheduled housework for the week. NEVER happens!

Tuesday was earthquake #2. I was still scared/concerned. But MUCH calmer. I even waited about 5 seconds before getting Jackson to see if it would stop. It happened at 5am, so it pretty much shook me out of bed. It was pretty long, so I did end up getting Jackson, although he was awake anyways. I'm not sure if the shaking woke him or the noise the ironing board made bouncing against the laundry room door. Either way, he was UP and not having any part of going back to sleep, so we went ahead and started our day 2 hours early. Then we had speech therapy at 8. Normally he does pretty well and stays focused but by then he was ready for a nap and his attention span was noticeably shorter. Still productive though. He played a fishing game where he had a rod with a magnet at the end and there were fish on the floor that had magnetic mouths. Last time he did a puzzle with fish in it. So when we ran into Holly (the speech therapist) later at the commissary, it's no surprise that when she walked away he started signing "fish". It was really pretty cute.

Every quarter they do fire alarm tests in the building. They always estimate two days and it never takes that long. It seems like we JUST did it, but that's probably because we were gone for two months. They were doing our floor from 9am-11am. Even though I wrote it on my calendar, I forgot about it and put Jackson down for a nap as soon as Holly left at 8:50. He managed to stay asleep even though our alarm was going off repeatedly. Then about 10 the maintenance guys rang our doorbell so they could come test all our sensors. And Jackson woke up. Seriously? He slept through alarms and a loud voice saying, "Attention! There is a fire on the eighth floor! Please exit immediately!" but woke up because of the not-that-loud doorbell? Weird baby...

Also on Tuesday I had to go to the doctor. Getting an appointment was pretty hard since the base is doing exercises all week but it was urgent, so the OB saw me. Baby's fine, I'm fine, just had a UTI, which I knew as soon as I woke up (at 5am) that's what it was. Still had to wait until almost 3 to get meds, which made for a pretty long day. On the plus side I got to hear Alex's heartbeat which is always fun.

Tuesday night I went to Chilis with the key spouse for Mike's squadron. Not a big deal to anyone in the states, but considering it's the ONLY chain restaurant on base except fast food, it's a big deal here. Grand opening was Friday, but they were doing "test runs" during the week to try to get the servers ready. It was free food, so that's always nice. Service was slow of course and we had limited menu choices but it was still good. It'll be packed for the next month, maybe six so I doubt we'll be eating there again any time soon. I got a babysitter for Jackson because it was supposed to be 4 women, but the other two didn't show so Jessie brought her husband and two kids.

Wednesday we were supposed to go to a mall off base and play with some other friends and their kids in the play area I've talked about before. But I woke up with a migraine so we literally didn't leave the house at all.

Thursday there was another earthquake about 8am but I didn't feel it. That's one experience I definitely didn't mind missing out on. We had our regular Thursday playgroup in the morning. It's an age-specific one and Jackson usually has a lot of fun. It was no different than usual and there was lots of playing, singing, and coloring.

Friday we went to a farmer's market that I had heard about from some of the people in the Enlisted Spouse's Club. We met on base and carpooled to it so I didn't have to drive, which made me happy! It was WONDERFUL. I got a ton of produce (1 small watermelon, 4 baby cucumbers, 5 peaches, 5 tomatoes, 6 bananas, 6 potatoes, and 7 onions) for only $16. It would've cost at least twice that at the commissary and wouldn't have been nearly as good quality. I can compare peaches to peaches and know that the farmer's market ones were 1,000,000 times better. So we had watermelon with dinner and breakfast and still have a ton left. I put the cucumbers and some of the tomatoes in Italian dressing to marinate overnight. I had some with lunch Saturday and they were EXCELLENT. Between me and Jackson, we've eaten 4 peaches (mostly me) and 4 bananas (mostly Jackson) in 3 days. Potatoes are on the dinner menu for the week, the rest of the tomatoes are for taco night, and I'll chop the onions sometime today or tomorrow to freeze and cook with. It's all so yummy I think this may be the first time I don't let any produce go to waste!

Friday night was my friend Renee's birthday, so I babysat her two kids while she and her hubby went to dinner. Jackson acted like an idiot, but I think some of that was from getting so wound up. He's not used to having older kids (Karter is 4) to play with. He was definitely tired and went to bed as soon as we got home!

Saturday we were supposed to go bowling, but Jackson wasn't feeling well. He hadn't been feeling very well Friday after we got home either, and earlier in the day he'd had a runny nose. I'm assuming just a cold since he had a little bit of an elevated temperature, but not a fever. So like he usually does when he doesn't feel well, he spent most of Saturday in his crib. Not really sleeping, fussing a lot, but not crying, asking to get down, or telling me he was "all done." He finally fell asleep about 1545 but only slept until 1630. Obviously not a good day to start a new sport. We had burger king for dinner. By that point I'd spent most of the day going in and out of his room calming him down and rocking him, trying to get him to sleep since I knew that'd make him feel a little better. I was in no mood to cook and I don't usually plan meals for the weekend anyways. If there are leftovers, great, if not we just wing it. No leftovers, so we were winging it.

Saturday was also the day Camden had to report to Shawnee State. Wow. My little brother is starting college. VERY weird to think about!

Sunday (today) we went bowling. Mike's been bugging me for probably 6 weeks (or more) to take Jackson bowling. He's deployed with a guy that has a son a month older than Jackson who LOVES bowling. So today after he woke up from his afternoon nap (which was late so not until after 1730), we headed to the bowling alley. Dinner first, then bowling. I had decided since it was kind of late, we were just going to do one game and I was only going to help Jackson and not bowl at all myself. Which turned out to be a good decision since he couldn't carry the ball at all. It was only four pounds, and Mike thought he'd be able to, but there was no way. Maybe if it had a handle on it. So here's the video of what we did over and over (20 times to be exact):


64--Not too shabby for his first time! (Although he did have a ramp thing AND bumpers...)
Oh, and earlier this afternoon, he helped me with the laundry. He's helped me put the clothes into the dryer for a long time, but he's just now tall enough to help put them in the washer.

Later on Sunday night, just as I was getting ready to finish up this blog and was just waiting on the last video to load, the fire alarm started going off. In our apartment there's an alarm and a speaker, but neither of those were going off. The speakers in the hallway were. I couldn't understand what they were saying, so I had to open the door and listen. It took a minute to get through the Japanese announcement, then I heard it say there was a fire on the 7th floor and to please evacuate. Of course Jackson had JUST fallen asleep. So I put on flip flops, scooped him out of bed, grabbed my keys and went out the door. Then hoofed it down 8 flights of stairs carrying him. Then we got outside and maybe 1/3 of the people in our building actually bothered to leave. Nice. And he didn't have shoes on so I couldn't put him down at all. We were only gone maybe 10 minutes. I was chatting with Mom on Facebook and the time between my messages to her was 14 minutes, which included getting Jackson up and putting him back down. So not too bad! Nothing like when we were in TLF in Little Rock and they were all false alarms. This one was definitely real because I can still smell smoke even in our apartment, and REALLY in the hallways. It's probably stronger here since we're on the floor right above it. So that was our excitement for tonight. Let's hope for more than 2 days in a row without something (earthquake, fire, etc.) exciting happening this week!

All this week we've been working on moving Jackson into his big boy bed. I bought a second crib mattress so we could have one in the crib and one in the bed at the same time. This helped avoid me having to move the one mattress back and forth. Plus I figure he'll be in the toddler bed now until he's ready to move to a twin bed with no rail. And that probably won't be until Alex is ready for a toddler bed. So we were going to need two mattresses anyways. The progress is kind of slow, but I'm definitely seeing that he's making some. He's mad about sleeping in his crib now. We start every nap or bed time with him in the big boy bed. I remind him at least 3 times that he has to stay in his bed, because if he gets up he has to sleep in his crib instead. About a third of the time (always a nap, usually when he's completely exhuasted and falls asleep within seconds of laying down), he stays in his big boy bed. The rest of the time he gets up and then when I see him he runs to get back in his bed hoping I won't make him sleep in his crib. He's always VERY upset when I move him to his crib. Each time he gets up, we make it a little longer in the big boy bed before he does. So I'm not forcing the issue. He'll get there eventually and we still have almost 3 1/2 months before Alex will be here. And even then we don't HAVE to use the crib right away (although I'd prefer to put him in it for naps so he's used to sleeping in it).

I know it's super early, but I'm already thinking about Halloween costumes. Since Jackson was born in early October, and this is our last baby, this will be my only chance to be pregnant at Halloween. I'm determined to come up with something really cute and creative and Jackson and Mike will just have to play along. There may be a kids' party we take Jackson to, or it may just be the people that see us out trick-or-treating on base. Either way, I really want to go all out this year! Here are some ideas I've gotten so far. I'm not at ALL creative, so I'm dependent on other people to give me suggestions so I can pick the best one. If you have anything to add, let me know!!

Me--Pumpkin smuggler (they make t-shirts that say this on them); Mike--cop (arresting me for stealing the pumpkin); Jackson--Big pumpkin
Me--Box made to look like an oven; Mike--Chef; Jackson--Butter, jelly or honey
Me--Basketball painted on my belly; Mike--Basketball player or ref; Jackson--Ref or hoop
Me--Basketball painted on my belly; Mike & Jackson--Baseball, Football, Soccer ball, etc.
Me--Tree; Mike--Tree hugger; Jackson--Seed, little tree, or bush
Me--Nun; Mike--Priest; Jackson--Alter boy
Me--Cheerleader; Mike--Football player; Jackson--Football

Earthquake

Jackson and I have official been initiated into the earthquake club. There was a small one tonight right after I put him to bed, about 8pm. My friend and neighbor Trysta and her husband David grew up in California. I called her and said, "Are we having an earthquake?!" And she said, "Umm... yeah, I just felt it." So I grabbed Jackson and we went over there. Of course by the time I hung up the phone it was over, but still, I felt safer being with people who knew what was going on. We felt it more than the people on lower floors since the building is on rollers and kind of sways, the higher up you are the more you sway. But I've gotta say, it felt a lot more like shaking than like swaying to me! I'm still a little freaked out, but really it's fine. It only lasted maybe 30 seconds. And, I found a website that said it's only a 2. http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/3/350/20090809200827391-091956.html The next one won't be as scary since I'll be more aware of what's going on... of course it might be stronger. Now, if only the typhoon would miss us.....