Oh Lord, Its Storm Season Again

...and its Early!

I woke up this morning with my phone going off like crazy! I had been getting severe weather alerts since 7am. Finally around 8 they changed from severe thunderstorms to tornado watch and around 830 it went from watch to warning. I couldn't believe it. It's not even March yet and we are already starting Tornado season...my Favorite time of year *ugh* Immediately I turned on the tv to see that Oak Grove was right in the path of the storm. I immediately started prepping the bathroom and made sure the dogs had gone outside just in case we were trapped inside for a while. 

I swear that every storm season here is different for me. Our first year here was my First Season and it was terrifying as hell coming from Idaho where we can get crazy wind storms, but nothing like this. My second season I was pregnant and hormonal as ever. My third season was when Jackson was a baby. Oh Lord that was a bad one! Not just for super sensitive me, but in general. We were hounded by storm line after storm line. I think I had my first real breakdown on the phone with my mom over it when I didn't know what to do and didn't want to make the mistake of taking shelter too late with Jackson. This leads us to today and the start of my fourth (and hopefully finally) Storm Season in the South.I have to say that I have learned a lot from friends (Mari in particular) and the past. I can now stay pretty calm and just pack a few things for distractions and snacks in the bathroom and just wait and see what happens. I don't get worried until I see tornado warning and I see that we are actually in the path of the storm.

Like always, Aaron was not home with us to hide away in the bathroom but he was on Post. Oddly enough this storm only hit Kentucky so Ft Campbell and Clarksville were not effected At All!!!! So while everyone else was enjoying a somewhat warm and sunny day we were hiding away in the bathroom with the Oak Grove sirens going off, rain beating down, and the tv on full blast so I could hear it in the bathroom.

Of course I had to document our playdate in the bathroom since it was Jackson's first conscious tornado warning (he is usually alseep). I have to admit, the kid had a blast playing in the bathtub. He was body slamming his pillows, reading his books, driving cars, and then throwing foam letters and cars at the dogs=)

As you can tell, we survived!!

Jackson had so much fun in the tub that when all was clear to come out and we started making some lunch I found him back in the bathtub playing!

Storm 1...Check! Storms 2,3,4+...Fml!

Hands Full

The past couple of days I have been helping out a good friend of mine with one of her youngest boys. She has a set of twins (I've mentioned them before) named Malachi and Declan. Well, they both came down with RSV over the weekend and were in the hospital's PICU. Mr Malachi got better while Declan got worse. They ended up keeping him overnight on oxygen for a couple nights. 
 It was a horrible situation for any parent to find themselves in, let alone a parent with 4 other kids to worry about! Me being the person I am made sure to let Nora and Steven know that I was there for them in any way I could help! Well they took advantage of my offer and called me up to watch Mr M during the day and the other kids when they got home from school. Easy enough right?! Jackson loves Malachi and they had a blast playing cars together. Nap time and eating was a different story. I swear these boys were out to sabotage each other. When one would want to eat the other would want to snuggle and full attention and then when one would be asleep the other decided that it was time to shriek and growl (yes that would be Mr M). They were too funny and had me laughing...exhausted...but laughing the entire time! I know that someday I would love to have two kids, but for now I am good with just a Jackson!

One of the Best Moments of the Day!

Don't Ask

Again...Don't Ask!

First Haircut

...at Home!

 There are no action shots bc it took both me and Aaron to accomplish this task. We decided that with him screaming through his fourth haircut a month ago that it was time for us to take matters into our own hands. I know, another hair cut and its only been a month?! This kid's hair grows like crazy I swear. Especially when I don't want them to cut it short, just short enough to leave the curls. The safest way for me to allow this procedure to be done in my house was with the help of a clipper guard. 

To start off Jackson sat in my lap while Aaron started cutting. He was doing just fine, until I felt like he was being too timid and it just needed to get done. So I jumped up and strapped Jackson into his highchair and started cutting away. 

I don't think it turned out too badly. Its long enough for a little curl, yet short enough not to drive me crazy.

Where's Jackson?????

My Big Helpers

 Let's just say...they took a LOT of breaks=)

Saying Cheese!

Hmmm...

 Not quite sure what this is, but its fun to pull and I look pretty good riding on it!

Day 3

...and the sickness is still with us. Jackson has been sick in the past, but it has always gone away after a day or two. Well today we officially started day 3! He spiked a fever of 103 the other night and by the time he went to bed last night I had thought that we had seen the last of it. Unfortunately I was was wrong. He woke up this morning and his head and "trunk" was warm. Then, the cough started. I feel so bad for him because he looks absolutely miserable. I know that I hate it when I'm sick, but I would take this from him if it brought back my happy go lucky little boy. 

What really gets me is that I feel fine, but for some reason I am completely exhausted! I know that not making it to the gym in the mornings is killing me and definitely not replenishing my energy for the day like it normally does. I'm not sure what's going on, but I know that it needs to fix itself Mas Rapido!!! To make matters worse, today its supposed to be in the 70s! Perfect day to play outside at the park. Ugh. 

When I was little the rule of the house was that if you were too sick to go to school you were too sick to do anything. Mom, when does that rule start taking effect? I have errands to do and would love to go to lunch with Aaron, but I feel like its wrong. He's sick. We should be on Quarantine until he is well...right? I refuse to take him to play dates or daycare if he's sick because I want to punch people in the face for taking their sick kid to them bc it ends in J getting sick. How do the rules apply with running errands and me doing social things? 

 It was so nice outside I decided to let Jackson play in the yard for a little bit this evening. The fresh air perked him up a little=) He even managed to eat a little dinner, so yeah for fresh air! Here's hoping that he feels better tomorrow. This Mama has got to get out of the house!!

 

What To Give Up?

 The Lenten season is upon us and like every good Catholic I have been racking my brain as to what I can give up. Unlike years before the easy choices of fast food, sweets, or even going to the movies are no longer an issue for me. We just don't eat fast food or sweets they way we used to, and getting the chance of going to the movies is a rarity thanks to J! As you can tell I was at a loss for ideas until I realized what my biggest guilty pleasure was. It was something I did every day, numerous times a day, at all functions, out of boredom, necessity, and pleasure. I'm sure you are going crazy to think about what this thing is so I will just tell you. Its Facebook! I seem to be on it constantly throughout the day, thanks to my mobile app. 

 As of midnight last night I posted my last post for 40 days *died a little inside*. Its so insane to think about how dependent we are on a social network. Facebook is how I let my friends and family back at home and all over the world know what happened in our lives throughout the day. I can share pictures and Everyone can see the crazy thing that J did in an instant. I feel a little helpless not being able to share those things at a drop of the hat. I know that I am not super close with all of my friends on there, but being able to keep up with their lives by silently stalking makes me feel like we are in touch (through comments and messages) even if we haven't actually spoken in years.

As soon as I clicked logout on my phone and deleted the app I immediately started jonsing for a news feed update. It was midnight and I was exhausted but I just wanted to see just one more time! The only thing I could think was Omg, who am I?!?!? Finally I just went to bed like any sane person would. Sadly my dreams were interrupted by cries from J. He hasn't been feeling well and his fever spiked. We went outside to cool off a bit, took some meds, ate a popsicle and slowly settled into watching a movie in bed. Besides being worried about my poor baby boy, I instantly wanted to post on my wall that I was up with my little sickie who's fever spiked at 103. Why? Don't ask me. Sympathy from other mom's who were awake with teething infants, well wishes that he would feel better soon. It sounds ridiculous just typing this out. I must sound CRAZY to you just reading this! 

I guess to sum it up, I am officially on 13 1/2 hours without FB and I am still alive. I think if I can do this...WHICH I WILL SUCCEED...I will get a realization as to how much I lose myself into something so trivial. Here's to finishing out today strong and to another 39 days=) I have a feeling I will actually get on top of my blog because of this and I don't think that is a bad thing=) 

Pray for Me!!!!!!!!!!!

Mardi Gras

Gimmie Some Beads!?!

 

Getting Creative

 We tried the chalk, now its time for the crayons!

Post Valentine's Day Date

We Started out the day with the romantic plans of shooting some bullets=) As most of you know, I am not a huge fan of guns. However, with Aaron's job and familiarity with them I have somehow been talked into owning one. There are conditions though!!!!!!!!! We HAD to have a coded safe, the gun was not to be out of the safe unless it was being used, and *sigh* I guess I needed to know how to use it.

Aaron is going to participate in a shooting competition tomorrow and wanted to get registered at the range on post so that way he had no problems when signing up. Well, since we had to spend at least 30+ minutes listening to a self proclaimed Mr Miyagi looking man briefing us on safety. I told him that there was no better time like the present to teach me how to shoot "the gun"!

Ready to Shoot Some Bullets

My Enemies (that I actually hit!)

My Man In Action

ME In Action

In the end I have to admit that I am happy that we went and I feel comfortable shooting and handling the gun. I was pretty impressed with myself on how well I actually did. I guess the best part of the entire adventure was my attire. I was dressed and ready for our lunch and movie date afterward, while all of the other girls were bundled in hunting or racing jackets with hats and non-eye glass protective wear. I know I'm not much of a girlie girl, but I sure looked the part with my clothes and shrieks of giddiness when I would hit a target!

My I LIVED picture!

After our adventures at the range we enjoyed in some delicious sushi and then went to see the movie This Means War. It was a wonderful date!! Who says you have to celebrate your love and spending time together only on Valentine's Day?!

Test Drive

The warm weather graced us with it's presence again and so we decided that there was no time like the present to take the Charger out for a test drive! Jackson isn't quite long enough to steer and push the peddle at the same time, so Aaron came up with a device to help out. Basically he unscrewed the broom head from the handle and pulled out a tennis shoe from our closet. Sounds crazy, but is pretty genius and saves our backs from hunching over and chasing the car. Jackson had a blast and isn't too bad at steering. Well, not too bad if you count running over a couple dog toys and bumping into Harly and Kyler a numerous times=) It was a great adventure in our back yard! I can't wait for Jackson to get a little bit bigger so he can control the car on his own.

Let's Play Outside

The warm weather has decided to show its face to us again and Jackson and I decided to take advantage of it. I know he is a little young, but I decided to pull out the chalk and see what happened! The result, he/we had a blast! Jackson had fun pulling them all out of the container and then putting them back in. Would get distracted with a piece and draw a couple lines here and there before choosing a different color. All in all it went well! I was even able to re-live my elementary school days and draw some pretty pictures. Our biggest victory was that the chalk only went into the mouth twice!! That's a big deal=) I know that more chalk ended up on his clothes than on the sidewalk, but what's a little creative expression without a little mess?!

Happy Valentine's Day

Today I was a lucky girl and got to spend time with two of my favorite Valentine's to have! Jackson and I snuggled and ate some goodies to celebrate<3 Then while J was asleep I decided to get creative and make something for Aaron that I have been wanting to do for a while. Candy Sushi!!!! I think it turned out pretty delicious if I do say so myself=) Aaron was excited and impressed. I hope you told and showed your loves ones how much they mean to you today...and EVERYDAY<3

 Jackson helped jazz up Dad's "card"

Spoiled!!

As an early Valentine's Day present my incredibly, amazing parents bought Jackson a power wheels! Aaron and I have been talking about possibly getting him one this summer. With his love of cars and insane temper tantrums when pulling him out of every car he can squeeze himself in at the store we knew it would be inevitable. With the world today we didn't have to wait for it to be shipped to us. Oh no, my mom bought it online and we were able to pick it up from the store the next day=) We had to figure out a time to have Uncle Cory come with us because there was no way that beast of a car would fit into Bubbles. I swear my mom was more excited about this thing then Jackson, which is hard to believe. She was calling and smsing me constantly asking if we had picked it up yet. Lol...I love her!!! As soon as the box made into the house Jackson's face was a constant glow. He climbed up on the box, which was awesome in itself. Then he saw the picture of the car on the box and the car noises began. As soon as Aaron had the box open, Jackson was eager to help him pull whatever it was out. By the time he recognized the it was a car he was tearing at the plastic trying to get inside. The process of putting it together was interesting with all of Jackson's help. Luckily it wasn't my problem, but Aaron's *heehee*. Jackson has been in love with this car from the moment we pulled it out of the box and has many more fabulous adventures ahead of him in it! Thank you SO much Nana and Papa! I really don't know what we would do without you, we love you so much!!!

Play with HIS Babies

On Wednesdays we usually have coffee at my house so the kids can destroy a private place instead of a public one. It seems to work out for the best. Today Nora brought the twins by to head to an appointment before coffee. Jackson's face just lights up when he sees them and so do the babies. I don't know what it is, but Declan and Malachi are HIS babies! As soon as they were put on the ground he immediately brought them both two Big cars to play with. It was so sweet=) Eventually the megablocks came out and it was a free for all. We definitely had 3 happy little boys!

Too Smart For His Own Good

When Jackson and I wake up in the morning he usually comes to bed with me and snuggles while I am actually trying to "wake up". I usually let him slide off the bed while I am putting on my glasses and checking my phone. This morning instead of bounding out into the livingroom like normal, he made a slight detour into Aaron's bathroom and grabbed his razor. I jumped to my feet as soon as I heard the sound. Luckily it was his razor with the guard on it. Aaron usually "shaves" Jackson's face after he is done with his own. Today Jackson turned that bad boy on on his own and got right to it! Luckily I had my phone and was able to capture him in his glory=)