A small adventure...

My brother is stationed in Germany with the Army. But his car is still here. His car has been here in the shop to be exact. Last week (before Brett's trip) we went to pick it up to discover the battery was dead. (Yes, the shop neglected to check that before telling us to come pick it up). So it sat there for a week while Brett was gone. Last night we went and got the car and brought it back to our apartment. Brett then checked the battery, we went to Walmart to get a new battery for the car and then after the kids were in bed Brett put the new battery in. After all this he realized that the car had NO gas and he was supposed to drive it to work the next day.
So he left to fill it up. 10 minutes later he was back at the house because he had forgotten his wallet. 10 minutes after that he was back at the house again because he had gotten distracted when he came back the first time and actually forgot his wallet AGAIN. 10 minutes after that he called me because he had run out of gas on the way to the gas station.
SO...I had to run over to the neighbors house to ask her to sit with the kids (who were asleep) so that I could go get him or take him to the gas station or whatever. By the time I got to where Brett was stalled there was a cop there who informed us that one person needed to stay with the car while the other person went to get a gas can. That elected person was me. So in my pj's and SLIPPERS and all my bedtime glory I had to go to the gas station, explain what I needed, buy a gas can and fill it. Yes, some nice man took pity on me and asked if I needed help. Of course, being the independent woman that I am, I informed him that I was actually bailing out my husband, who had ran out of gas, but that I really did appreciate his offer. Mind you, this was about 10 pm.
So finally, after taking the 1 gallon of gas to Brett and following him to the station to make sure he actually made it there this time we both managed to get home. My poor neighbor. She was such a good sport about hanging out in my messy, toy ridden, mom-is-lucky-to-get-a-shower-much-less-clean-the-kitchen house.
That was my adventure for the week.

Pictures from the park last weekend...
Phoenix gets the raw deal...he just has to sit and watch his sister have all the fun.




And fun she has!!






Oh man, does this girl make me laugh!




Hanging out with dad and holding "da Brudder"

Dear Mommy...

Dear Mommy,
I'm just a baby. Don't you realize that I can sleep through anything...unless you want me to? Sometimes I'm SO tired that it doesn't matter where I am, I'll sleep. Take last night for instance. I know you wanted me to smell good for church, but I just couldn't manage to stay awake during bath time.


Or when Daddy dried me off...


Or when he put my pj's on...


THANK YOU for putting me in my bed...

And I'm sorry for waking up as soon as you got in bed. Really, I can't help it when I get hungry!
Love,
Phoenix

a day without Daddy...

So for some reason my camera battery didn't charge last night. Which means no pictures of our day
Last night I didn't sleep hardly at all. I struggle with insomnia and usually I take 1/2 an Ambien. However since I'm the only one here with the kids this week I don't feel good about taking anything to help me sleep. So that means that I didn't really sleep last night. Plus Phoenix was up for good at 5 am. I started to get really stressed out about that...thinking about my day and realizing how long it was going to be...and then I just decided to try to not let it get to me. So I got up with Phoenix and at about 6:30 Zadie was up for the day.

On top of Phoenix being such an early bird, Zadie had a rough start to the day. First thing she started asking for Daddy and throughout the morning had several emotional breakdowns. Mostly sobbing hysterically over who knows what. About 10:30 we headed out to the library for story time which started at 11:00. Our neighbor who has two little kids close to Zadie's age (2.5 and 3.5) was there with her kids and I think everyone enjoyed story time. By the time we got home it was time to eat and go down for naps. Both kids took semi-decent naps although I had to hold Phoenix and lay on the couch to get him to sleep. Got up, played outside for a bit then decided to get pizza with the neighbors for dinner. We headed back inside to take baths and sort of wait for the pizza. it's now almost 6:00 and the pizza should be ready soon. After this Zadie is going to bed and I'll get in teh bath with Phoenix before putting him down for the night. Right now he's taking a quick nap because he was SOOO crabby.

Yeah, so that was pretty much my day so far. I can't wait for Brett to get home. I can't function on no sleep and I actually forgot to eat lunch today which means that I'm almost sick to my stomach because I'm so stinking hungry. Seriously, I don't know how you single moms or mom's whose hubbies are in the military do it by yourself all the time! I have a feeling that a week is going to be more than I can handle! I think I'll probably sleep all weekend!
I've been praying for God to give me patience (NOT to TEACH me patience), and I've worked really hard on my attitude. Zadie and I are so much alike (seriously.) that by the end of the day we are usually on each others nerves. Last night I had some really frustrating moments with her but overall I've kept my cool and have done better than I expected.
We miss Daddy, though.

Ok, since I don't have any new pictures I thought I'd share an old one (or two) with you

Zadie taking a walk with Val


Phoenix sleeping on my shoulder

I feel like I have to keep apologizing for not being around lately. I really AM sorry I'm not making it to very many of your sites. One day I'll catch up on everything. I'm feeling very worn out and stressed right now. I think it's just because of everything, saying good bye to my brother, having my parents here (...which in and of itself is a joy but I tend to put Zadie down for bed later at night and she doesn't get as good of naps so then after mom and dad leave she's tired and crabby for awhile...MY fault), having a messy house that I'm struggling to find the time and energy to clean, Brett's stressed out at work right now and then to top things off I just am not feeling all that great. Ok, really I'm not THAT stressed...I just feel kind of worn down. One really bright point in my life right now is that I have a really sweet friend that I've gotten to know over the last few months and she is SUCH a blessing to me. She loves the kids and is almost always free to come help me out or drive me to a doctor appointment or something if I need her to. AND we click. We just get along. I love friends like that.

Phoenix is on his 3rd medication for his ear infections. He's really had a rough couple of weeks. I'm giving him the meds RELIGIOUSLY and am really praying that this takes care of the infections for good. Poor little guy, he's felt pretty awful lately. He's still up several times a night too which is wearing us out. We've really been wanting to do the sleep training with him but we can't start it until I know he's feeling good. He's also six months old this week! When I had him at the doctor last week he weighed in at over 20 lbs!!! Yes, I said 20 lbs. No wonder my back keep going out. My chiropractor asked me last week if I was going out and playing football after he adjusts me. Apparently carrying Phoenix around is not helping out my back.

Last night it was crazy here...we had about 4 tornados right by our house...Brett could see them from the parking lot!! I got pretty stressed but we are all fine and no buildings right by us were damaged (there was some damage in other parts of town). I didn't take these pictures, but I thought you might like to see them...they are of one of the tornados that was right by our house last night...

There are certain moments in time that stand out as really good memories. For me, most of the time, they are not anything that would look special to someone who doesn't know me or my life. I just had one of those moments with Zadie. I got Phoenix down for a nap (not the easiest of chores) and had ordered a pizza to be delivered. Pizza is one of Zadie's favorite things to eat. Once the pizza got here Zadie and I sat in the rocking chair and ate pizza and watched "Finding Nemo". We even had a burping contest. During moments like this I not only really really enjoy my daughter (or whatever kid it is) but I look at her and really wonder what I did that I deserved to be blessed with her. The answer is "nothing". I don't deserve them...God's just cool like that!

So Brett just informed me that last night at about 11pm I marched into the living room (I had been sleeping), woke him up in the chair and angrily informed him that Phoenix was fussing and he needed to come take care of him. I don't remember any of this. After he got up, made a bottle and came to our room he realized that Phoenix was not fussing and was in fact SOUND asleep. So who knows if I dreamed that he was fussing or if he actually fell back asleep by the time Brett came to bed. I'm not typically a sleepwalker/talker but sometimes when I'm overtired I guess I do! I used to do it a lot more when I was younger, but haven't done things like that in awhile. Guess I'm starting back up...lol!

"Smell dat fower."


The "Bunny Rat" that we feed carrots to...

our 4th in pictures

So for the 4th we went to a friends house for dinner and to watch the fireworks. It was nice to have a relaxed holiday! I'll share some pictures with you and in the process tell you about our night.

4th of July babies



at dinner...daddy and Zadie



Little Miss Can't Sit Still


attempt at a family picture


Daddy and Phoenix


My little man is getting big!



a few more attempts at a family picture



She has no idea that half her butt cheek is hanging out...


Mommy and Nick


our first picture of just the two of us in a long time.



My friend Stephanie holding Phoenix


Zadie has figured out how to climb out of the pack and play. Which means that even though we tried to put her to bed (for over an hour) she just wouldn't stay in the bed...which also means she was up LATE.
She decided that dad needed MORE pillows.

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Yes. That would be yesterday. I had a 9am appointment at the dealership to get our car looked at because the AC isn't working. (Do you know how hard it is to get me and the kids somewhere by that time in the morning??) I asked how long it would take and they told me 45 minutes. Needless to say it took a little more than two hours. So while we are at the dealership Zadie was horribly naughty (due to boredom most likely) which made the wait very stressful. Then it cost $200 and they are not even SURE they fixed it. They told me to drive it for a week or so and if it started blowing hot air again to bring it back in. PLUS they found another repair (a leak in the power steering something or other) that is going to cost about $1000 to fix. WHAT??? We've only had the van for 3 months and it's only 2 years old!! It was also supposed to have been totally looked over before we bought it...so really I feel like they lied to us about the van. Grrr. To top off the day Phoenix hasn't been sleeping. Literally...he sleeps for 5 minutes every time I lay him down and then starts crying. He's done this All. Day. Long. Which also means that he's crabby the rest of the time because he hasn't slept. Which also makes for one crabby Mamma. I'm just glad it's almost the weekend. I think I need a Mamma vacation. Maybe I'll go to a movie by myself one night after the kids are in bed or something. Of course as frustrated as I am with the kids I would still miss them too much to be away for more than a few hours. Sick isn't it?

Pics from the last few days...
Laughing baby


My sweet boy




cute girl





Thumbs up


My kitties