Fell down and went BOOM!

My day started like this: woke up with a snotty nose for the second day in a row. Had to take an early nap because I was cranky from not feeling well. Daddy left to go to the house and watch the movers load all the stuff they packed yesterday. BUT he had to leave at 11:30, so Mommy and I went to the commissary and then over to the house so WE could stay with the movers. Mommy had a hard time entertaining me. She thought we'd just be there for a little bit, but we ended up not being able to leave until 2:30. That's a long time for a little boy with no toys! So I entertained myself by exploring and following the movers around. They liked me and thought maybe I should be hired... too bad we're moving to another continent! They had taken the mattress and box spring off Mommy and Daddy's bed, so it was just the frame on the floor. Mommy had gone to get a tissue to wipe my nose (AGAIN!) and that's when I decided to take a tumble. I fell on the frame and got a gash on my eyebrow. It looks like I was in a fight. Mommy called Daddy and he said that I probably didn't need stitches. Then Mommy called my doctor just to make sure. They said to just use her best judgment and if it didn't need stitches to get some bandages over the counter. So that's what we did. We got some butterfly bandages and she put one on when we got back to TLF. I didn't enjoy that process at all!! I've been pretty cranky and it still HURTS, but I'm pretty sure I'll be okay. (Try to ignore the runny nose in the pictures. It's uncontrollable!)

TLF

TLF is awesome! Okay, so you know it had to be something Air Force since it's an acronym. How would we survive without them?! TLF is Temporary Lodging Facility. It's where they put people when they first get to a new base or right before they leave their old base. The movers came yesterday and packed up the house. They're coming today to load all the boxes into crates. But since everything was in boxes, we obviously can't stay there. No sheets on the beds, no dishes, etc. So about 12:30 yesterday Jackson and I went to TLF while Mike stayed at the house with the movers so ChipMonkey could take a nap. I was SHOCKED when I walked in! I was expecting a hotel-suite-like space. Nope. It's like a small apartment. Only 1 bedroom, which kind of stinks. Jackson gets the bedroom. If we put him in the living room to sleep we'd be holed up in the bedroom after 7. By putting him in the bedroom we are free to roam the living room and kitchen in the evenings. The kitchen is full-sized with a dining room table with room for six. Stocked with nececity items like plates and cups. Fridge, microwave, dishwasher, toaster, etc. I'm just really pleasantly surprised. Hopefully it's just as nice in Japan, since it's where we'll be living until housing is available (could be anywhere from 1 week-2 months). The only major downside is that since Jackson's in the bedroom, we're sleeping on the pullout sofa. Which is NOT comfortable! And the blankets for it don't have any extra on the sides, meaning I end up with just sheet when Mike rolls over and takes blankets with him. We'll definitely be doing some things different tonight. We're brining the mattress from the bed to put on top of the sofa. We're also going to crank the heat (Hey! we''re not paying the electric bill, right?!), and Mike is getting his own set of blankets so I don't have to punch him in the face for some covers. =)

Jackson's not feeling well. A few days ago he had a sty on his right eyelid. It was really bothering him, but finally popped on Wednesday and it's looking much better now. Starting yesterday he had a runny nose. Today it's still very runny and thicker. Both days we could just tell he's not feeling good at all. Last night we came home from dinner, had a SHORT bath (easy to keep it short when all his bath toys are packed in a box in our house!) and straight to bed. That was about 7. Then at about 8:30 the fire alarms went off. Yay. I went in to get him thinking he'd be freaking out. Nope. Still asleep. Strobe lights in the bedroom flashing, alarm BLARING, and he's still sleeping. This from the baby who wakes up if I so much as open his door to check on him. Luckily Mike had the presence of mind to get the car keys. It was pretty chilly out so we sat in the heated car till it was all over. We never found out what happened. I always assume burnt popcorn. =) Luckily Jackson pretty much went right back to sleep.

The major stress for now is done. Getting the house ready for movers was the hard part. I would've rather just packed it ourselves. Who knows what we'll find when we open the boxes in Japan. The guys that came to pack our stuff were really nice, and seemed to know what they were doing. But I'm sure they packed some stuff that I would've just tossed. We tried to go through the house a bunch of times to make sure we only had what we wanted to keep. We had a bathroom shut that had our luggage in it and anything else that was not supposed to go (cleaning supplies, liquids, etc.) But as the day went on and we kept finding stuff that we wanted to have with us, we'd just throw it in the bathroom. When it was all said and done you could barely open the door! I got it all packed into our suitcases, though and brought it over when we came for Jackson's nap yesterday. Now we can just relax in TLF for the next week. Next Friday is Mike's "final out" meaning his last day where he checks out of the base. Then we'll be on the road to North Carolina with all our luggage, 2 dogs, and a U-haul trailer on the van. The trip to Ohio will be more cramped since we won't have the extra space of the U-haul.

Well, that's a super-long post about pretty much nothing. What a friend of mind calls mind-vomit. I'm off to get Jackson up and maybe at some point today I'll get to take a shower!

Shoe shopping sucks

I need some new shoes. I only have one pair of brown shoes, and they're not dressy at all. I have some cute outfits I can't wear because I don't have shoes that go with them. The problem is I HATE shoe shopping. NO ONE carries shoes in my size. I wear a 10 1/2. For some reason stores stop carrying 1/2 sizes (or maybe shoe companies stop making them?) at 9 1/2. Sometimes I can find an 11 and tie them extra tight, but that doesn't really work with heels. Did I mention I HATE shoe shopping?!?! But I want to get something before I go to Japan. I mean, once I get there, there's no way I'll find shoes since they all have tiny feet!!

Just a little update

Since I haven't written a blog in a while, thought I'd just do an update real quick.

Things are moving right along for our big move to Japan. The house is sold. YAY! We didn't make much on it, but at least we didn't LOSE money (which is saying a lot in this market). Thankfully, the guy that bought it works with Mike so he's letting us live here and pay rent for this month. That way we don't have to move into an apartment for just a month. We're selling a bunch of stuff that we don't think we'll have room for in Japan. The living room is looking rather empty without the entertainment center and speakers. The computer desk is going today. We've made quite a bit of money selling our stuff on craigslist. Next to go is the Civic.

Jackson hasn't started speech therapy yet, but hopefully we'll get going on it before we leave. Just waiting on the referral from the insurance to come through and we all know what a slow process THAT can be. In the mean time, he has learned more signs and can now sign "eat", "milk", and "all done". I try to sign everything that I know the signs for consistently and look up signs I think he'd use if we knew them. Right now we're working on "tired", "read", and "banana".

My last day of work was yesterday. It was my "final out" where I handed in keys, ID Card, etc. I thought I'd be more sad about leaving, but I really wasn't at all. I really like staying home so far. Hopefully it'll stay that way and things won't get boring. Seems like it'd be impossible to be bored with Jackson around. He likes to keep things interesting for us.

Mike's parents were here for the last few days. They are on their way home right now. They had fun with Jackson and he liked being spoiled. (Who wouldn't?!) We'll be seeing everyone again next month on our final round of visits before leaving the country.

Guess that's it for now!

Christmas Eve

We had a fun Christmas Eve in the Deiderich household. Daddy got to come home early from work (and fix the once again broken Civic). But he also got to play with Jackson some. Jackson by the way has learned some new dance moves. He can now dance on one foot and get some rythm going side to side. We're not sure how he's learning these moves, but Uncle Don did visit recently so we think we've got a lead on a suspect.

We went to Outback for dinner (Jackson digs the bread dipped in potato soup). Then we went and saw a BIG Christmas light display. Jackson was way impressed by the warp tunnel. Now we're off to bed to give Santa plenty of time to drop off our gifts. Merry Christmas everyone!

Mike

Christmas lights

Boy do I love Christmas lights! It wasn't too cold out last night so Mommy, Daddy, and I went for a walk. Well, they walked and I rode in my stroller. We stopped at all the houses in the neighborhood that had good lights. Daddy said there weren't as many houses with lights up this year as there were last year, but that's okay. I still really enjoyed the ones I DID get to see. My favorites were the ones that moved, like those little trains with the wheels that look like they're moving. At one house there was a blow-up display of the Grinch stealing a tree out of a chimney. That was great!! Every time we stopped so I could get a good look at the lights, I pointed and clapped and squealed. Then my hands got cold and I had to hold either Daddy's or Mommy's hand most of the way home. Eventually Daddy just carried me on his shoulders so he could hold both my hands at the same time while Mommy pushed the empty stroller. Hopefully it doesn't get any colder over the next few days so we can go again. I can't wait.

Trips and Jackson update.

Lots to update on, so here goes!

First the traveling:
My Aunt (O'Sheila) and Uncle Don came to visit 2 weeks ago. They stayed home with Jackson while I worked Monday through Thursday. Thursday night was my going-away for work, which was very nice. There were about 25 people there and we all had a good time. Sheila went with us, but Don stayed home and slept. When we got home from dinner, we changed and loaded Don, Sheila, me, and Jackson into the car for the drive to Ohio. (Daddy stayed home.) It's normally a 10.5 hour drive. Don made it in 9.5. Hmmm... how'd that happen? Jackson did very well--slept most of the way, and only fussed for about 2 hours on and off. Once we stopped and changed his diaper, he was happy again and went back to sleep.

That was Thursday. Saturday we went to Hacker (my mom's side) Family Christmas in Cambridge, OH. 2.5 hours each way. Jackson didn't do so well this time. He has a hard time when there's someone in the backseat with him (me this time) and they won't take him out of his carseat. The ride home was a little better because he was VERY tired and finally fell asleep. Christmas was good. It's always nice to see family that I don't get to visit with very often.

Sunday Jackson and I drove to my dad's house in KY. 1.5 hours each way. I timed it better and since it was just the two of us, no one in the backseat with him, he was fine to sleep. He slept the whole way there and back. Also had a nice visit with Dad, Grammy, and PaPa. Although he wouldn't go see any of them. He was very clingy. I think he was having a hard time since Daddy wasn't there. He's been fine since we've been home.

Wednesday Jackson and I flew back to AR. What an adventure. Pushing him in his umbrella stroller with my CPAP hanging on it, his backpack diaper bag on my back, and carrying his *not small* carseat through the airport. Security was extra fun. I didn't buy him a ticket, but there was an extra seat from Dayton-Charlotte, so I was able to put his carseat in the seat next to me and put him in it. Then he proceded to scream for the entire flight and kick the lady's seat in front of him. Joy. From Charlotte-Little Rock, I gate-checked the seat and held him on my lap. He fell asleep about 10 seconds after we took off and didn't wake up until after we landed. YAY! Much better!!! We had to get up 3 hours early and I was exhausted, so when we got home, Jackson and Mommy took naps while Daddy went to work!

So overall, we were travelling 25 hours over the course of a week. That's a lot for a 14-month old, but he did well overall. He's a trooper for sure!!


Now on to the Jackson news:

He was evaluated the Monday before we left for possible delays in any area. He tested okay in all but one, ranging from 11-month level to 13-month level. But in one area (receptive communication) he only tested at a 6-month level. Receptive communication is how they react to sounds around them, like someone talking, or a noise, etc. He had a hearing test yesterday which he passed with flying colors. So now it's on to speech therapy. We're hoping to get something started SOON since we'll only have about a month before it'll be time to move to Japan. The therapist that tested him wrote a very thorough report and at the end she gave us a list of things we can be working on. I'm trying to do those whenever I can. I put it on the fridge to remind me! Some are common sense, but some are things you wouldn't think to do. Hopefully with a little therapy he'll be caught up to his age group sooner rather than later.


On a side note, I'm *almost* officially a stay-at-home mom. I have 3 more days of work, plus one day of out-processing, but basically I'm done working. It's a little strange! But I have a checklist of the things I'd like to get done each day, so it still kinda feels like work a little. I'm planning on cooking every weekday and that will be a BIG change for me! I'm also planning on exercising, but we're on day 2 and it hasn't happened yet. I'm just going to have to figure out where it works best at. Probably the morning between breakfast and nap? Who knows?! Well, Jackson's going to be waking up any minute, so I guess that's all for now.