It's a dogs life

Jacob is 7 months!

2012-01-28T15:17:00.000-05:00

Before we left for Kansas I had Jacob's 6 month well baby appointment on his 7 month birthday. He was 20 lbs 12 oz. (82nd percentile), 28.25 inches (85th percentile) and 43.5 inches head circumference (27th percentile). His head doesn't seem that small to me. He is getting harder for me to carry (as I am getting bigger!). He loves to eat. I have even started giving him cheerios which he likes to feed himself. I think he gets about 1 out of every 10 in his mouth. He sits up really well and sometimes acts like he wants to crawl but I am okay with him waiting a bit. He still only has 2 teeth and I keep thinking that more will pop through any day. I think the fussy times he has are due to teething.

I get so many comments on his eye lashes. Wanted to get a close up!

Meeting Kieryn!

2012-01-27T09:47:00.000-05:00

After visiting with Brad's family for a week we headed up to Manhattan, KS to see my brother and his family. We were so excited to meet our niece, Kieryn. She is a month younger than Jacob. Again, I didn't have my camera so this post might look pretty similar to their's :)

Jacob was about 6 pounds bigger and was sitting up better but Keiryn is crawling!

Lots of new toys for Jacob to play with!

Sunday was pretty nice so we had to spend a little bit of time outside. Thank goodness uncle Steven is always willing to play with Chase.

Checking out some of the animals at Uncle Waynes.

Missing Tiana. Excited to get all 5 cousins together this summer!

It was easier to say goodbye knowing we will seeing most of my family again this summer. Yep, we have 2 beach trips booked in the Outer Banks!

Time in Kansas

2012-01-24T21:01:00.001-05:00

We just got back from 10 days in Kansas. We were hoping to do a beach trip this summer but baby #3 messed up those plans so when we saw cheap tickets to Kansas we decided to book them. Tickets are always cheap in January and we know why. It was cold and we had to keep busy inside which sometimes we had a hard time finding something to do. But we managed to keep busy and have fun with family. The boys checked out a kids museum while us girls got manis/pedis.

We took Addi and Chase one day to an indoor bouncy castle place. They had a lot of fun!

The favorite was the big slide.

Watching train movies with grandpa.

The guys also managed to go shooting and check out a movie. Chase got to attend a birthday party for Addi. We took everyone to Chuck e Cheese and Red Robin and got to play a lot of games inside (my favorite). We also had a family gathering on Sunday afternoon with a lot of extended family. Hopefully that post is coming soon. I forgot the SD card to our camera and the camera is fading fast so I have to rely on getting pictures from others.

Cotton Bowl

2012-01-12T15:05:00.000-05:00

We missed american football so much while we were in England and it was a pleasant surprise this season that K-State did so well. We decided towards the end of the season we were going to the bowl game this year. My mom graciously took off a day of work and kept the boys for us so we could go and actually watch the game. It was so nice traveling without kids. I read a book on the way there and one on the way back. We stayed with a friend that Brad knew from college and were able to meet up pregame with one of my good friends.

Julie and I before the game.

Cowboys stadium is ridculous. The logos of the schools were etched in glass. The place was huge, there were fountains in the common areas, the seats were comfortable and the big screen was huge. I am not zoomed in for this shot at all. Aren't our seats great?! Huge shout out to Joe and Molly for the hook up! If we were to get tickets on our own, we would have paid more and sat in the nose bleed section!

You can kinda see my baby bump.

Brad and his friend Joe.

The game didn't go our way but we still had a lot of fun. We were thinking it might need to be a tradition every year! I got this picture texted to me pre-game. Our whole family bleeds purple!!

Time with Friends

2012-01-11T15:02:00.002-05:00

On New Years Eve we were crazy partiers by going over to a friends house for dinner. We even put the kids to bed at my parents then went to play games till about 10pm. Like I said we are crazy! I wish I would have gotten a pregnant picture with my friend Kristine. She is due with her third (a boy) at the end of the month. Yeah for more buddies between our families. Here are the big buddies, Korey and Chase.

The boys and I stayed up in Maryland for a week. Brad ran back down to work for 2 days before we headed to the Cotton Bowl. We enjoyed getting together with friends for a few playdates. One day we met a the Rock n'Tumble gym with the Kauflins and Huckabys. The kids had a blast. I was surprised to have to pay for Jacob but he enjoyed playing with the toys as well.

Kyleigh had fun too!

The three year olds...Korey, Chase and Elizabeth.

Adding Kathryn to the mix!

The first night we were there, we dropped the boys off with my parents and headed to DC to meet some Air Force friends (that we knew in England) for drinks. My brother Kevin is always going out when we are there so we convinced him to come out with us for a bit before meeting up with his crowd.

Boy oh BOY!!

2012-01-10T14:39:00.000-05:00

That's right, boy #3 is on the way!

For most of you this is not news as I posted on facebook yesterday. I was overwhelmed with the congrats and sweet comments. We took the boys to the appointment and Chase enjoyed seeing the baby on the screen. He just got finished saying he wanted a sister when the sonogram tech said nope its a boy. It was pretty obvious from the pictures! Everything also looks good and healthy. I didn't get this posted yesterday as I was hoping to get a picture of the big brothers (both in their big brother t-shirts) and a belly shot (which I haven't taken a single one yet) but neither happened. Ahh the third child! But we are so excited and are praising God for this blessing!

Christmas in Maryland!

2012-01-08T20:56:00.000-05:00

We just got back from (me and the boys) 10 days in Maryland. Brad and I made a quick trip to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas but that will be a separate post. I didn't take very many pictures up there but here are a few. We had our Christmas morning with them when we got up. I gave the kids their first gift the night before, matching pjs. They were so cute.

This is a terrible picture but wanted to get one of the grandkids giving grandmom and grandpop their gift. All of us kids went in to get them a new camera. It was much needed!

We took them on a Christmas light ride and then made some Rice Krispie treat houses.

Chase tried a sweet tart. "Mommy, I don't like it!"

Surprise Blessing

2011-12-27T09:23:00.002-05:00

Since Chase got to announce the last pregnancy, I figured it was Jacob's turn....

That's right, baby #3 is coming end of May!!

Quite a shock to us as they will be less than a year apart but we are very excited!

I've been feeling great, just tired, as Jacob is not the best napper/sleeper. I am trying to keep Jacob my baby as I know he will have to grow up way too fast.

I can find out what I'm having in a few weeks! This is going way to fast. Here's a video of what Chase wants. I switched up the order because when he was younger he would always say the second option but he's been pretty consistent this time. Between my me and my two good friends here (8 kids) there is only 1 girl, Abi, so that's where it gets the name from. I guess its only fair since Abi has a baby doll named Jacob!

Merry Christmas {Afternoon}

2011-12-26T22:14:00.000-05:00

So Chase was ready to dig back into the presents right after church. Jacob was tired after church but we knew we couldn't hold Chase off. If the gift wasn't a toy he could play with right away he was ready to go to the next one.

He got good at helping us with our gifts as well!

Playing with some of the gifts outside.

Trying out his new bike. He's gotten pretty good at it. We went for about a mile bike ride today and he went the whole way, pretty fast at times too. I just wish we had sidewalks here.

Jacob woke up and Chase was eager to help him open his gifts!

Jacob, of course, just liked the paper!

Just love his smile!

For dinner we went over to friends house for dinner. We had a Happy Birthday Jesus cake. The boys could help blow out the candles :)

We missed being with extended family but it was a nice and relaxing Christmas. We look forward to going up to my parents this weekend and out to Kansas in mid-January.

Merry Christmas {Eve & Morning}

2011-12-25T20:52:00.000-05:00

Wow, I have a lot of pictures so I am going to make it 2 posts. They are probably very repetitive but I don't get tired of seeing my cute boys and their smiles!

We decided to let the boys open their stockings on Christmas eve. Chase is still at the age where if he gets a gift he wants to play with it so we figured we better spread it out.

On Christmas morning Jacob woke up around 7. Chase was still sleeping so we could get a few minutes with Jacob.

We finally woke Chase up around 8am. With church being at 10am we wanted to do a few things beforehand and we were excited for Chase to take it all in. We started off with the Christmas story....

....and putting baby Jesus on our advent calendar.

I wanted to be a good mom and make homemade cinnamon rolls. They were okay and we had Pillsbury as a back up.

We took the standard pictures in front of the tree.

And then dug into the presents. Well Jacob was starting to get tired so he took a nap after his first one.

Chase continued on though...

We strategically let him open the Thomas station so he would play with it while we got ready.

Our family after church.

The afternoon/evening will have to be in part 2 :)

Off to watch football and KSU basketball! Merry Christmas!

Jet Photos

2011-12-18T10:44:00.000-05:00

We attempted to do jet photos for our Christmas Card picture this year. There weren't any that I really liked...if you see the jet you can't see us and vice versa. I feel like that this point in our military career everyone knows what Brad flies. So we took our own again. Is is not the best picture (neither boy is smiling) and if I wasn't obsessed with Christmas Cards I probably wouldn't send any out but it would just feel wrong. They are a little late this year (didn't change the address from our England address so they had to re-ship) but they are going out tomorrow. Here are our out takes....

Half a year!

2011-12-17T10:42:00.001-05:00

Is this little man really half a year?? Where is time going? I don't have his appointment for another month but I've had to put away most of the 6 to 9 month clothes and he is pretty much in 12 months (the cloth diaper doesn't help either :) We are doing solids twice a day now. He likes cereal, apples, pears and sweet potatoes. He also just cut his first tooth. He is not the best sleeper. We had a rough spell a couple weeks ago (but now I'm hoping it was the teeth) where we were putting in his paci and re-swaddling him about 10 times a night. I tried to take away the paci but after 2 hours of crying I gave in and now we are just not swaddling him. He is so big he wouldn't stay swaddled so we just got rid of that. Its been a little better but he is still getting up several times a night. It's amazing how quickly you can forget about a rough night though when they flash their smile :)

He is doing really well sitting up and he is pretty content most of the day.

Chase was up when I was taking these pictures and wanted to be in some.

Kind of an awkward pose, huh?!

Chase is a good big brother and will help me out if I ask him to give Jacob a toy. He doesn't like helping him sit up though. Chase has been busy with Christmas Parties with all his little activities (pre-school, AWANA and Dance). He enjoys doing his advent calendar everyday and helping me make these. We don't put presents under the tree till Christmas Eve so I don't think he really gets it yet. We talk about why we celebrate Christmas a lot and I hope these truths are taking hold in his heart. I like the verse he had to say for AWANA this past Wednesday, Luke 2:11 Today...a Savior has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord.

Sorry for the long winded posts. I actually have referred back to what I've written about Chase a lot as this is the only place I write down what they are doing, etc. So its more for our memory! One of these days I will work on a baby book and probably refer back to here a lot!

DC Wedding

2011-12-14T16:13:00.000-05:00

We headed up to my parents for a quick weekend to attend the wedding of my childhood friend, Hannah. My parents went as well and that was fun. Huge thanks to the Kauflins for watching the boys! It was easier to say goodbye to everyone knowing we will be back up there over New Years.

Christmas party!

2011-12-06T14:49:00.000-05:00

We had our squadron Christmas party last Saturday. I only took two pictures so there they are....

Clean and Christmas!

2011-12-03T14:57:00.000-05:00

Thanks to encouragement from my mom I got the house professionally cleaned yesterday. It was so nice! It is a lot of work though getting ready for them to clean - I got very organized and even found some long lost toys! I decided to take a couple pictures since I don't think I ever did with all our stuff in the house. Sorry they are so dark. I even tried to lighten them up on the computer and it didn't help much.

The dining room (or play area) and entryway.

Living room.

The hallway leading to the bedrooms. For this season of our life I am loving the ranch style house!

Our bedroom. We were just saying last night how much we loved our bedroom set. It was very much worth the wait (yes we had a double for the first 8 years of our marriage and 2 pregnancies).

Jacob's room complete with a tired baby!

I love my large laundry room!

We also got our Christmas tree this past week. Chase has loved everything about it - the lights, ornaments, etc. He has so much fun decorating. We also starting our advent calendar which has been a hit.

Rest of the Weekend

2011-11-29T19:27:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more pictures from our weekend. I loved having the help with Jacob! Tiana was such a good helper as well!

We had beautiful weather so we headed out to Cliffs of the Neuse for a couple hours. You always have to throw rocks in the water when the opportunity presents itself.

An attempt at a family picture!

We also enjoyed several bike rides around the neighborhood.

Chase has been to a couple Chuck e Cheese for a couple birthday parties and has been asking to go again so I promised him we would go when Tiana was here. They loved it but I think their daddies loved it even more. Kevin at one point even had to get more tokens.

We celebrated my dad's birthday with some frozen yogurt.

You know you're the second kid when your parents use Sophie to balance your bottle!

At the frozen yogurt place you can pick your type of yogurt and toppings.

The birthday boy holding J.

Thankgiving

2011-11-26T21:53:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! My parents, brother and niece came down from Maryland for the weekend. My first time responsible for cooking the meal. Brad took a huge load off of me when he decided he was deep frying the turkey. He did have to go to 4 different stores on Wednesday night to find the oil but he did it. He injected it with the cajun spices and it was so yummy!

The men enjoying the weather and cooking the turkey.

The spread.

After dinner we did our tree of thanks. We went around saying what we were thankful for and wrote it on a leaf. It kept the kids interested as they go to put all the leaves on the tree.

I also got a turkey craft to keep the kids busy. We also watched a lot of football.

I'd say that was a good day!

I'll try to post again soon of the rest of the weekend.

Jacob is 5 Months!

2011-11-15T15:45:00.000-05:00

Little man is 5 months! We started cereal the other day. We are going slow....just giving him a few bites each morning to get him used to swallowing. With Chase it was much more stressful trying to get him to eat cereal because the doctors actually wanted him to get calories from it. So its nice not having to worry about that this time around. He just had his 4 month appointment and he was up to 17 pounds (67%) and 27 inches (89%). He is starting to nap in longer chunks and rolling all over the place. He is great at giving his toothless grins. We love this little guy so much!

Veterans Day Weekend

2011-11-13T21:29:00.000-05:00

We actually did something fun this weekend to blog about! We enjoyed a three day weekend thanks to Veterans Day. Huge thanks to all those who have served and are currently serving. There is a squadron from our base that is gone right now and I think of them often as they are away from their family during the holidays.

On Saturday morning Brad and I went horseback riding. I had a groupon for it and since Brad had never been we thought we would be a fun date. Brad got assigned Vegas.

And I had Cindy.

We brushed the horses then got them saddled up and rode around the ring for a bit to make sure we could control them. Then we set off on a half hour trail ride. It was a nice day and the colors were beautiful. She gave us the offer to come back for a longer trail ride. We might just have to take her up on that. We both had a lot of fun.

On Friday we headed up to the Science Museum in Raleigh with some friends. There were a lot of animals to see and a 3-D movie on Tornados.

I think this was the highlight of the day for the kids - riding the escalator. The adults had to take turns letting them go up and down.

Jacob was there too :)

We have been reading several dinosaur books lately so I thought he would be more interested in the dinosaurs. He really wasn't. He also wasn't too interested in taking pictures. Oh well.

I just remembered I need to post Jacob's 5 month pictures and the pictures of the first attempt at eating cereal. Look out for another blog post :)

Halloween

2011-10-31T20:44:00.000-04:00

We are still not sure what we believe about this holiday and what we want Chase to do/participate in. I do think it is super cute to dress kids up though. Daddy's office had a candy hunt that we went to. Then our plan was to go around to our neighbors and trick or treat but it was raining pretty good so we only went to a few. Unfortunately since it was raining we have a lot of candy left over. Chase did pick up on the idea of candy pretty quickly! We had picked out an outfit together at Old Navy and he was going to be a monkey but he absolutely refused to wear it. So getting him to wear a flight suit was our only option. Its funny because he kept calling him Daddy's co-pilot (a t-shirt he has). Our fighter friends will know that you don't say you want to be a co-pilot in a fighter pilot squadron! We also had the cutest little lion!

Chalk

2011-10-30T17:03:00.000-04:00

This is the perfect time of year to be in NC! The weather has been very nice out and we try to take advantage of being outside. With out backyard still under construction that leaves us with bike rides and chalk on the driveway. For a kid that doesn't really like to color he loves chalk. He is also doing really well with his letters. He can recognize most of them most, most of the time. He is also learning to write them. Here are a few examples...

This is supposed to be an "E."

Working on his name.

Jacob is always so content outside. We've been home a lot trying to get Jacob on a good nap schedule. He is in between the nap every feeding cycle and longer naps (morning and afternoon) with a short evening nap. He is at the fun age where he is interactive and smiles a ton but pretty much stays in the same place when you put him down. Not ready to be chasing 2 little boys!

Gameday!

2011-10-22T21:43:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed being a little bored during the game today. Go K-State!!

Williamsburg

2011-10-16T15:27:00.000-04:00

We took a couple days and headed to Williamsburg as a family. We wanted to take advantage of the free tickets to Busch Gardens for military. We had a great time but it was tiring. Having all 4 of us in one hotel room is not ideal. I don't realize how much noise Jacob makes at night until I worry it will wake up Chase.

After we got there and went swimming we headed to downtown Williamsburg. Chase loved all the horses.

He's never really been a stuffed animal person to recently. He loves his puppy.

We also walked around William and Mary and found the Kappa house. My grandma, great aunt and aunt were all Kappas here.

We spent the next day at Busch Gardens. Chase's favorite thing was the train. (His least favorite thing is getting his picture taken).

Daddy got to ride several roller coasters. The weather was great and there were hardly any lines so a perfect day to go.

Chase wanted to do several of the rides by himself.

At the hotel pool, Jacob got to go swimming for the first time. I think he enjoyed it but it was pretty chilly so we didn't let him stay in long.

The next day we headed to Jamestown but we didn't want to pay to do anything. With the mood the boys were in we knew we wouldn't last long. Instead we headed to Ft. Eustis (where Brad spent some time when he was enlisted in the Army) to see the *free* US Army transportation museum. Chase enjoyed seeing all the helicopters and trucks.

But of course his favorite was the trains. The train yard was closed so this is the closest we could get.

We had a great time as a family but like I said it was tiring! I slept a lot of the way home and I think Chase watched 4 straight hours of Mickey Mouse. We got back last night in time to see KSU's win over TTU. I was going to be mad if I stayed up to watch it and they end up losing. Go Cats!

Jacob is 4 months!

2011-10-12T15:35:00.000-04:00

Our boy is getting so big! Here are a couple pictures along with a baby picture of me thrown in. When I showed the picture of me to Chase and asked who it was he said Jacob.

With the weather getting nicer we try to play outside more. Poor Wagner. This is when I miss England. It was not humid there and we had great walking paths around our village. We could go see horses or down to the pond and throw rocks in. I really wish there were sidewalks here. We keep as busy as we can in our driveway!

First time giving the boys a bath together. It went over pretty well. Today Jacob was in a giggly mood. I had Chase come over and tickle him. Then I would tickle both boys until they were just laughing. Moments like that make it all worth it. Even when I'm tired from one boy or the other being up several times at night and up early I love being a mom to these guys!

Fun Week!

2011-10-07T13:04:00.001-04:00

We started off the week with Mother/Son date Knight at Chick Fil-a with some friends from church and of course Asher and Micaiah. There are so many boys at our church. I really have to watch Chase after church on Sundays because he thinks he can run around with the big boys.

Then my friend Laura was in town visiting several friends. We got to hang out a few times. Last time we saw them we were pregnant with Reese and Chase. Now they are big 3 year olds. They were cute to watch play.

Jacob and Kate are about 4 months apart. Hopefully we will be stationed with them again!

Then on Thursday we went about an hour away to a pumpkin patch. Thanks to my blog stalking, I knew a friend from KSU (we were in the same sorority) lived about an hour away. I've been trying to meet up with her since early this summer and this was the first chance. We had a great time catching up. It was a beautiful day and the place was a lot of fun.

The train ride was extra but of course we had to go on it for Chase.

Our attempt at a family picture. Chase was not having it.

Inspecting all the pumpkins.

This is the perfect one, mom!

Getting buried in the corn.

Chase and Isaac are only about a week apart.

So glad Brad was able to take off and join us. It was a great day out with the family (topped off with Chipotle!!).

Grandpop

2011-10-02T17:00:00.000-04:00

We've had grandpop here for the past 10ish days. He's been helping us get our yard ready to plant grass, taking down tress and trimming all (and there are lots) of bushes. We also snuck away to Cheesecake factory with just one kid, went on a motorcyle ride and went out to dinner with friends after seeing Courageous last night. Very good movie by the way. I would recommend it - just bring some tissues! We've also watched a lot of football. How about KSU being 4-0??? Go Cats!

Thanks grandpop for everything. We will miss you!

Here are the guys getting the yard ready to seed.

Hoping for grass in the spring!

Great picture of grandpop and his buds!

Fair

2011-10-02T16:38:00.000-04:00

We went to the county fair on Friday night with grandpop and some good friends. Chase loved all the animals. Just not smiling by them.

Chase and Abigail getting restless during the acrobatics.

At the 4-H exhibit.

We decided Chase could do one thing. He wanted to ride the horse.

Watching the pig races before the rain started coming down and we had to run out to the van.

Eating popcorn and relaxing after a fun evening.

Bubbles

2011-09-27T21:28:00.000-04:00

Both my boys were blowing some good bubbles this afternoon.

We are ready to spend more time outside. Just wish the humidity would go down

Old

2011-09-24T21:11:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the birthday calls, texts and messages on facebook. The exciting part of the day was K-State's big win over Miami. We are so pessimistic here. Up until the last minute we had no faith in our team. What a game though! We actually had plane tickets to go down to the game in Miami with the boys. We cancelled the tickets earlier in the week and it worked out since Brad didn't get his evaluation ride done we couldn't have gone anyway. It would have been fun, just maybe not with a 3 year old and 3 month old!

I started the day with a 5K run with a friend from church. I've been running a little bit lately and was curious how I would do. It was awful! Ran it in over 30 minutes and it was hard!

My cheering crew.

My dad came down last night to help us get our yard ready to seed. A big project was taking down a tree that has been leaning since hurricane Irene. After a week of off and on rain it was leaning some more. Figured it was time to take it down before it fell down.

Watching the KSU game!

For dessert, instead of cake I asked to try out the new frozen yogurt place in town. It was pretty cool, you could pick your own yogurt and topping then pay based on the weight.

Special Visitor

2011-09-22T14:35:00.000-04:00

For the past few days we've had a very special visitor. Bryony is a friend from England who is going to college here in the states. She found time in her schedule to come down for a few days. She is very brave and took the greyhound bus here! Her family took care of all of us military wives in England so we were so excited that we could (in a very small way) return the favor.

One day we went out to Cliffs of the Neuse state park. Had a great time besides getting eaten alive by mosquito's.

One night we went over to the Strohmeyers pizza and fire. The kids weren't too interested in it but the adults enjoyed it. The guys even put the kids to bed and us girls stayed up talking.

Jacob and his friend James, who is 2 months younger.

Bryony is an art major in college so we took her to help us paint some pottery. Julie was super brave and made some Christmas gifts for the grandparents.

I just had Chase paint a few ornaments.

The little boys under the table during lunch.

Thank you so much for coming! Hope to see you again before too long!

3 Months

2011-09-16T10:05:00.000-04:00

A few days ago Jacob turned 3 months! I am a little late with pictures but here are a few.

I had to try to get a couple of pictures in their big brother little brother t-shirts.
Thanks grandmom for the shirts!

Finally, I needed a couple pictures of me with my boys. We need to get some family pictures done one of these days. I am already starting to think about Christmas cards. Will the post office be around to mail them out?? I don't know what I would do without Christmas cards :)

I almost didn't want to post these because I feel like this blog is so boring now. Now that we are back in America and in a routine there isn't much to write about. Brad is almost done with the I course and we have some trips planned this fall. Hopefully that will give me something to blog about. Otherwise if I don't post, its because not much is going on!

Wee Wings

2011-09-08T21:02:00.000-04:00

This is the best picture I could get of Chase at his preschool. Yep that is his preschool. The bus is turned into a mobile classroom. It goes to several different locations in the county. I don't love the location we are at now. We are on a waiting list for a better time slot that is closer to us. The teacher seems great though. I wanted to cringe when he first got there she asked him to write his name. Yeah right! He has a lot to learn this year!

Baby J Update

2011-09-07T11:18:00.000-04:00

Finally had Jacobs 2 month appointment today. Yes he is almost 3 months. He weighed 16 pounds! For reference at Chase's 4 month he was 12 pounds 15 ounces. So at a month younger than that Jacob is 3 pounds bigger. He is 90% for height and weight. The doctor commented so many times how easy going he was. He barely complained at his shots.

I put it on facebook but I have decided to try my hand at cloth diapering. So far so good but he's only had one poop. I am tired of trying to find deals on diapers and I don't mind laundry so I figured I would give it a try.

In other news, thanks to Irene we are getting a new roof! We had quite a few shingles come off the roof so we went ahead and put in a claim. They came out to do in the inspection and we were shocked to see that the insurance should cover most of the cost of a new roof.

Chase is starting a new preschool and AWANA tonight so hopefully I can get some pictures of that and post soon.

OBX

2011-09-05T10:32:00.041-04:00

We had a great Labor Day weekend at the Outer Banks, specifically Kill Devil Hills. We met up with friends for two nights. We had great weather and Chase loved the beach. He's been asking to go back every day since we got home.

You could definitely tell a hurricane has been through. Lots of those stick things and the beach area was smaller than normal.

Chase and Korey got along so well. Whether playing in the sand or running in the waves.

They were so cute to watch.

We bought this for Jacob to hang out in. I think it worked out pretty well. He slept a lot which was nice. I guess the ocean noise was good background noise!

Brad trying his hand at skim boarding.

Devon and Brad going out to catch some waves on the boogie board.

Kyleigh wasn't so sure about the sand at first but she was warming up to it. She still didn't mind taking a break from the sand and hanging out with Jacob!

On Saturday night we went out for dinner. We thought the boys would be entertained by this.

With long days in the sun and no naps - the boys were ready for bed!! That meant Kristine and I dropped off everyone and went shopping!!!

On Sunday we went back to the beach for just an hour or so.

They also had a pool at the place we stayed at that we took advantage of.

We had a great time with the Kauflins and look forward to doing it again next year!

Indians vs. Keys

2011-09-05T08:59:00.000-04:00

A town close to us has a minor league team that is in the same league as the team I interned for after my junior year of college. The teams happened to be playing so I my dad and I took the boys while Brad was working late. Chase did pretty well but wasn't interested in the game too much. It was a beautiful night and we lasted until the middle of the 8th.

With Scout. I am sporting my Keys shirt but no one could tell since I was holding Jacob most of the time. Chase is in Orioles colors!

With Grandpop.

I thought I would hold Jacob the whole time. That lasted about an inning. It was pretty empty so there was plenty of room to keep Jacob in his carseat.

We are sad the Indians are moving. There are some other minor league teams not too far away. We will have to check those out next year.

Pool

2011-09-01T15:12:00.000-04:00

We have loved our pool time this summer and sad that it is coming to an end. I texted my friends on Thursday to say I was in Maryland and can we hang out. They both ended up being free and it seemed only fitting that we headed to the pool.

Thanks grandpop for helping with Jacob.

We should be on an advertising campaign for puddle jumpers!

So great hanging out with you girls!!

Irene

2011-08-30T16:37:00.000-04:00

As you all know Hurricane Irene hit North Carolina this past weekend. Brad had to take a jet to Louisiana and I headed up to Maryland for the weekend. I wasn't too worried about getting blown away but I didn't want to deal with long power outages and stuff by myself. My dad was able to drive back with me and he is flying back tomorrow. Brad and I were joking that the Air Force is supposed to be so "family friendly" but they were sure quick the ditch the wife and kids and get the jets to safety!

Tiana loves her cousin and was so good with Jacob!

This is actually at our house - this is the chair that caused the meltdown I mentioned in our last post. I told Chase if he wanted to sit there he had to hold Jacob. One of the few times that he has help him.

Grandmom with 2 of her 4 grandkids.

Helping grandpop clean up from the hurricane.

What my dad and I did during the hurricane!

I was also able to hang out with my 2 good friends this past weekend and attend one of their girl's birthday party. We went to the pool on Friday but those pictures are on another camera so I will make that a separate post. We survived without much damage here. We did have some roof shingles come off the roof so we put in a claim and see if we get anything.

Random Thoughts

2011-08-17T16:03:00.000-04:00

What is it about being 3 that can make you cry hysterically at the smallest thing. I sat down to feed Jacob and Chase flipped out claiming I was in his chair. I mean he had real tears and everything. It was all I could do to not laugh at the patheticness (is that a word?).

I love my chunky baby! But I am not used to cleaning all the rolls!

England spiders continue to haunt me. I got out a pair of jeans the other day and a huge dead English house spider fell out. So annoying!

Hard to believe that summer is almost over. I have so enjoyed hanging out in our neighborhood pool. It wears Chase out and I get adult conversation. I will not complain about the summer heat though. Like my friend Kate would say, I am still thawing from the English weather.

I am still trying to figure out what our days will look like in the fall. There are so many things to get involved in bible studies, AWANA's, story time, MOPS, preschools, music classes, etc. I am excited to get involved in some of these things but don't want to overdo it.

I don't want to jinx it but the past couple nights Jacob has been sleeping 8 hours! I feel like a new woman! I love waking up to smiles...

Kids Museum

2011-08-13T17:11:00.000-04:00

We were getting the itch to get out of town so headed up to Raleigh for the morning. We went to the kids museum and then grabbed lunch with friends. The museum was great - wish we lived closer so we could go back more often.

Chase driving the fire truck.

His favorite part - playing trains.

Mommy and Chase on the pirate ship.

In other news Jacob turned 2 months this past week! He is getting so big and is growing out of so many clothes. I put this outfit on then had to take it off a couple hours later after pulling the shirt down too many times. He is already wearing some 6 month outfits. His 2 month appointment isn't for 2 more weeks so I will have the stats then.

Smiling

2011-08-06T14:30:00.003-04:00

This reminds me of a similar post I did about 3 years ago! I've attempted to capture Jacob's smile on camera a time or two before. Yesterday when Brad told his parents he doesn't really smile I figured I better prove him wrong. Jacob's eyes look dark in this picture but they actually look blue to me. We will see if he gets the blonde hair.

Things are slowing down and we are getting into a routine. Which probably means a very boring blog! I would say I am pretty much recovered from surgery. I even went on a mile run this morning and ate cheese fries at Outback with no problem! We are starting to hang out and get to know better friends from church and squadron. Chase went to a mom's morning out playgroup last week so I could go to a baby shower for 3 great friends who are due soon. I hope for Chase to start going once a week. Other than that we try to stay cool by playing inside or swimming.

Poor Dog

2011-08-01T14:59:00.000-04:00

When we first got Wagner he was our baby! I even named my blog after him and he "wrote" it for the first couple years. Back when no one read it. Anyway, when Chase came along he definitely became the family dog and now with Jacob around... Well what happened last night shows just how far he has fallen.

It was about 2am and I was nursing Jacob. I thought I heard a dog barking. I realized it was coming from outside and it sounded like Wagner. So I woke Brad up to see if Wagner was in our room. Sure enough it was Wagner outside. We must have let him out to use the bathroom before bed and forgot about him. So glad for a laid back dog and one that loves us enough to sit outside and wait for us to wake up and let him in!

So Big!

2011-07-29T17:23:00.000-04:00

Both my boys are getting so big! Jacob was enjoying some tummy time this afternoon and his neck muscles are definitely getting stronger!

He got so high that...

he rolled over.
He's rolled over before when he was a week or two old but mainly because he was screaming during tummy time.

And this little boy is doing so well with going potty! When he has athletic shorts on he can go all by himself! I have the cutest picture of him going potty - white bum, tippy toes and everything but figured I better not post it online:) Potty training went so much better than I thought. I think having the support of grandparents for a month helped. I think I would have quit several times!

Jacob Newborn Pictures

2011-07-28T21:05:00.000-04:00

I been waiting to get Jacob's birth annoucements out before posting pictures from the photo session my neighbor did. I think he was about 10 days old in these pictures. He has already changed so much!

I really like the close up ones. So these are the ones I used for the birth annoucement (in case anyone didn't get it).

Fun with Friends!!

2011-07-25T21:18:00.000-04:00

We were so blessed to have our good friends come down and visit for the weekend from Maryland. It was great for the boys to play together and we could show off Jacob. We kept the weekend low key since I just had surgery. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Saturday morning we headed to Kinston to check out Neuseway Park. They have a little nature center, planetarium, train ride and park. It was so hot so we were thankful for stuff to do inside.

After Chick Fil-a and naps we headed to the pool. The boys were so brave!

They left on Sunday night but not before bowling and pizza. We didn't know that it was cosmic bowling when we went. The boys almost made it through a game but were then more intersted in the lights!

Thanks guys for making the trip down to see us! Also thanks to Devon for leading worship at our church here on Sunday. We are so grateful for your friendship!

Grandparents and House

2011-07-22T16:02:00.000-04:00

We were so sad to see grandma and grandpa leave earlier this week. Grandpa tackled several house/vehicle projects for us and grandma was great with the boys, food, laundry, etc. They've already made it back safely to Kansas. Thank you so much for coming out to spend time with us and help us in so many ways!

I know I promised this post before Jacob was born but better late than never right?! He are a couple before and after pictures of our house. Although I need to post some more with our furniture and updates grandpa did.

Right after closing on the house - we are homeowners!!

Sorry for the poor quality. But the first things we did was steam clean the carpet and repaint the great room. We also decided to have all the wood trim painted white. Definitely modernizes the house.

Master bedroom. We bought a queen size bed - finally! And love it!

I don't have any new pictures of our bathroom but the wallpaper came off. I think its funny because the wall to the left of me has a huge mirror as well. When sitting on the toilet you have 8 different views of yourself!

A few after pictures. I wish I was organized enough to have the same views but this is better than nothing!

I am recovering well from my surgery last week. A huge thanks to so many friends for meals, watching Chase, helping me clean the house, etc. I am slowly starting to get into a routine with both boys. Jacob has gone up to 6 hours sleeping at night but is still inconsistent. He is getting so big! The pile of clothes he no longer fits in is getting bigger everyday!

Date nights are dangerous!

2011-07-14T19:44:00.000-04:00

Seriously. After the past two dates nights I've ended up in the hospital.

A month ago was to have Jacob so I guess that's okay :)

Tuesday night well that' s a different story. We went out to celebrate our 8th anniversary at Olive Garden. At 5am I went to the hospital and by noon my gallbladder was out.

Me and my love before dinner on Tuesday night.

And me today leaving the hospital at lunchtime.

A little background. Over July 4th weekend I started having "episodes" of intense chest/stomach pain that lasted about an hour or so. I could not do anything but rock back and forth in a fetal position. I thought it was severe heartburn so I went to the doctor on the 5th to ask for some heartburn medicine. At the appointment, they did an EKG and that was fine. They gave me a referral for a sonogram to check for gall stones and some Zantac for heartburn. I didn't have an episodes for several days so I thought it was heartburn and almost cancelled my sonogram. But I didn't and went on Monday morning for it. They told me they would have the results in 2 days. I had another episode on Monday night and then Tuesday night was the big one.

On the way home from Olive Garden I could tell another episode was coming. I, again, was having severe chest and stomach pain. I could barely talk and this time I was having back pain as well. I went straight home to take my medicine and tried a bath it would not go away. I was able to feed Jacob at 9pm and then tried to rest. But the positions that I could tolerate my chest pain my back was killing and vice versa. Between the hours of 8pm and 4am I took 3 baths, wore a heating back, rolled on the exercise ball, hung on Brad's pull up bar, walked all around the house and took Maalox, Tylenol...anything to get rid of the pain. Brad would also try to massage my stomach to to see if there was trapped gas. Brad woke up to Jacob's crying at 4am and was shocked that I was still in pain and hadn't slept. With Brads help I was able to feed Jacob. I told Brad to try to go back to bed since he was flying that day and there was nothing he could do for me. About half hour later I told him I couldn't do it anymore and we called the nurse. I told her my symptoms (was having a really hard time breathing) and she told me to go to the ER. They checked me in immediately and before the ER doctor came into see me he read the sonogram and told me right away I had moving gall stones. Based on the pain and amount of recent episodes they suggested I get it removed. They fit me in the schedule really quickly and before I knew it I was in the OR. They removed the gall bladder laparoscopically. I was pretty emotional afterwards and concerned my milk would dry up. But I was able to pump right away and as soon as I can quit taking pain medicine I hope to start nursing again.

We are so grateful that grandma and grandpa are still here! They have been champs holding down the fort. My husband also amazes me. He was balancing me, keeping everyone updates, trying to keep things semi normal at home for Chase, took care of Jacob last night and had to be in contact with work (they were great about releasing him from flying) . I love that man!!

I am home now and recovering well. My stomach is still sore and I am really tired. We have grandparents here for a few more days and I've already lined up a bunch of help for next week. Chase will have several playdates and the squadron/neighbors are bringing meals. They said it would take a good week to recover. I love modern technology - a few texts, emails, phone calls and a facebook update and I had so many people praying for me and offering help. Thank you all so much!

Jacob is 1 month!

2011-07-11T21:14:00.001-04:00

Hard to believe its already been a month since Jacob was added to our family. Time needs to slow down! Here are a few recent pictures..

With my parents before they left. I haven't had a chance to write on here and thank my mom for everything she did for 3+ weeks. If you want an idea read here and add taking care of a toddler. Thanks mom for everything!!!

First bath.

We are so blessed to have Brad's parents here now for 2 weeks. They have also been such a huge help!

First bottle. I actually missed nursing him that night!

We are so excited that a new cousin is here! Welcome Kieryn Marie!! Can't wait to meet you!

Chase is 3!!!

2011-07-10T19:38:00.000-04:00

Chase turned 3 on the 8th but we celebrated yesterday. We had a few friends over for swimming, pizza and cake. Chase wasn't too into swimming because he wanted to get the rest of the party started!

Grandma and Grandpa were a huge help with getting food ready, picking up pizza, etc!

Grateful for a few friends that could come over last minute.

Someone sees cupcakes!

Chase was singing along "Happy Birthday to you.."

Opening presents with the help of friends!

Thank you grandpa and grandma for the remote control car!

Me and my birthday boy!

Chase, we love you so much and you bring us so much joy! We love watching you play with your cars and trains for hours on end. You are very social and love playing with your friends. While we have to remind you to say please, your thank yous are abundant! You mastered your tricycle and are almost potty trained! We love hearing you recite your verses and talking about how Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We hope to cultivate in you a love for the church (even though now when I ask what we do there you say "play cars") and others. We hope our discpline of you is firm but loving and always points you back to the cross and a need for a Savior. Even though you are not too interested in Jacob now we know you will be a great big brother and eventually become best buds. We are excited to see what this year brings for our big three year old!!

Brothers

2011-07-04T15:33:00.000-04:00

Planes, trains and VROOM VROOM noise.

Life is so much fun with boys!

Except when trying to get a picture to put on the back of the birth announcement. I finally gave up and figured I would just post the pictures here. I got a couple close ones but not one that was print worthy.

Chase didn't want to hold Jacob so I tried this pose first.

Chase is so sweet when he gives Jacob a kiss. Which is definitely on his terms not mine!

Chase finally let me put Jacob next to him (after a lot of bribing).

I almost used this picture but the more I looked at it I couldn't handle Chase's giraffe neck!

Not looking at the camera...

Once I started getting feet in the picture I gave up!

I love my boys though!!!

Family Picture

2011-06-28T22:01:00.000-04:00

Here's our attempt at a family picture after church on Sunday. When we get one I really like I plan on changing the picture at the top of the blog.

We had Jacob's two week appointment yesterday and he was up to 9 lbs. 12 oz. He also grew an inch and is at 23 inches which is the 98% percentile. We are all still doing well and gearing up for the grandparent exchange this weekend. My mom is leaving and Brad's parents are coming into town. We are so grateful for all the help!

The Star!

2011-06-23T21:03:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy 2 weeks keeping up with a toddler and newborn and yes grandmom is still here to help. I am not thinking about when I am left alone. But anyways, here are some more pictures of the star of my blog! I love this bib! I mentioned it in a previous post and my brother and sister-in-law sent it in the mail! By the way we are super excited for Chase and Jacob to have a new cousin!!

Chase and mommy set up the playmat and Chase had to try it out!

We are so grateful for grandmoms help!!!

I tried my hand at a little photoshoot the other day. Complete fail as you can see! Thankfully a neighbor came over to save the day! Look for birth annoucements coming soon!

The Birth Story

2011-06-16T11:43:00.000-04:00

Let me just say thank you so much to everyone who prayed he would come on his own! It is sooo much easier than being induced. I was so sure that I would have to be induced yesterday I signed up to bring food for a church outreach, told Brad to let scheduling know it would be Wednesday, didn't have the baby room completely set up, etc. My mom had me walking 2 miles a day, bouncing on an exercise ball and telling us to do other things that are supposed to bring on labor (wink, wink). Well it worked! Friday night we went to see Soul Surfer for date night. I was pretty uncomfortable going to bed that night (as I had been the past couple nights) and I noticed by 1am that I might be having some minor contractions. I walked around the house, sat on the ball but they kept coming. I finally woke Brad up at 2:30am telling him that I was pretty uncomfortable and we started timing. They were about 2 to 3 minutes apart. We timed for a while, went on a walk outside and installed the carseat. We called and they were on the fence about whether we should come in so we decided to wait another hour or so. I took a bath and finished packing our bags and then we headed in around 5am. I was so paranoid that we would be sent home that we left the bags and stuff in the car when we checked in. But as we were checking in my contractions must have seemed real to them and I got wheeled up to L&D and hooked up to everything. When she finally checked me and I was about a 5cm I was so relieved to know that we were staying. I asked for the epidural and it took forever for the guy to get there - that was the hardest part of the labor. The doctor broke my water at one point and by 8:30am I was fully dilated. But the doctor said that the head was still pretty high and since I was on the epidural asked if I wanted to see if the contractions would push his head lower so he would be easier to push out. He implied he would check back in a couple hours. Well I took a nap, we looked at baby names again, played tetris etc. Finally around 11am I was getting hungry (epidurals are amazing) so I started asking when the doctor was going to come back to see if I could start pushing. With Chase they let the epidural wear off because they wanted me to be able to feel how I was pushing because I guess I was doing it wrong so I wanted to have time for that. It took forever for the doctor to come back (around 1pm - I was getting a little annoyed). He told the nurse to go ahead and let me start pushing to see what happens. After one push the nurse said to hold up because this baby was coming! They got the doctor back and they got everything ready. At the next contraction - 2 pushes got the head out and on the 3rd push he was out! I couldn't feel a thing and there he was! They put him on my chest right away before taking him away to clean him up. I was amazed it was that easy! The recovery has been so much easier too! I could even say the day after he as born that we want more kids. I think it took forever to say that after Chase!

I loved the hospital experience here too. So much different than a military hospital. The nursery took the baby at night, except for feedings, so I could actually get some sleep and they were just more relaxed about stuff. I also liked having my own room for recovery. Ok, that wasn't exactly Lakenheath's fault - the rooms were under construction when Chase was born.

Things are going good at home. So thankful grandmom is here. I am usually out and about with just Chase so it can be hard keeping him busy here at home. It is good I guess to just have some slower days. He might have to get used to that! I have enjoyed looking back at the blog to see Chase when he was just born. I think Jacob looks a little more like my side but comparing baby pictures I think you can definitely tell they are brothers.

Jacob

Chase

These were the best pictures I could find to compare. We actually haven't taken many pictures since we got home. Poor second child!

We are Home!

2011-06-13T21:34:00.000-04:00

Thank you so much for all your comments on facebook and here. Thank you for rejoicing with us! We are home now for the hospital gearing up for the first night - wish us luck! I hope to get the birth story written down soon for anyone interested but for now I better head to bed. Here are a couple more pictures from the hospital and coming home.

Me and my two boys. We had Chase give Jacob a toy and Jacob "gave" Chase some new Cars from the new movie coming out. Chase and Daddy are very excited to see it!

Watching TV. Hard to keep a 2 year old busy in a small hospital room!

Our sweet Jacob wide awake.

I love how he is looking up at Brad in this one.

Chase was okay to hold Jacob for about 2 seconds!

Leaving the hospital. We had a great experience there and loved all the nurses!

Chase excited to have us home. If you can't tell he is jumping up and down here!

Chase showing me his big brother shirt.

Wagner contemplating licking him or committing suicide :) It will be a while, Wagner, before he terrorizes you like Chase does!

Daddy and his boys!

Welcome Baby Jacob!!

2011-06-12T08:44:00.001-04:00

At 1317 on June 11, 2011 we welcomed Jacob Dale Caywood into this world! (As with Chase, dad is making the post so please disregard all typos and organizational errors!) Janell did amazing and we praise God that he came on his own without having to be induced like Chase was. Both mom and baby are doing great and we hope to take him home from the hospital on Monday. Here are a few pictures from Jacob's first day. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

Mom (Mum for our British friends) and Jacob just after he arrived

The official stats. He measured in at 22 inches long as well!

Chase giving his little brother a kiss after they met for the 1st time!

Grandmom has been here to help and a huge blessing! Thank you so much Sandy for taking care of Chase and helping us out through everything.

Our family

I'm sure Janell will have more to add soon. Thanks again to everyone, we are very blessed with wonderful friends and family!

Baby Shower

2011-06-09T12:49:00.000-04:00

Over Memorial Day weekend a couple friends from England got together to throw me a shower. It was fun to get to catch up and nice that my mom was able to make it as well since they were coming down for the weekend.

The food was delicious. Chicken salad on fresh croissants, fresh fruit, peanut butter m&m's!

Opening a few gifts. Most girls went in on getting me my last big item I wanted - an ergo baby carrier! Everyone I know that has one loves it so I am so excited to try it. I think it will come in handy when I am chasing a toddler around as well!

4 of us are pregnant in this picture! Thanks Julie so much for hosting and coordinating the gift! I am so blessed!

The shower was at 38 weeks and I finally got Brad to take some pregnancy pictures so this one is at 39 weeks. I posted it on facebook so I am sure most have seen it.

We are slowly getting settled. My parents and brother and Tiana came down over Memorial day to help us get a lot of little projects done on the house. I intend to do some before and after pictures - hopefully that post is coming soon. Our stuff got here last Saturday so we are slowly organizing and my mom came in yesterday to help us get the house ready and let me rest a bit before the baby comes. We are also getting settled in a church which is a huge blessing. They even coordinated to bring us meals while we didn't have our kitchen stuff.

In baby news - I had a doctors appointment yesterday and he went ahead and put me on the books for an induction next week. I am going to go back to the doctors on Monday to check again. If we feel he will come on his own we might push the induction back but I feel pretty comfortable going forward with it. I am pretty uncomfortable and feel just like I did with Chase -that he will never come on his own!! My mom is putting me in her baby boot camp hoping he will come this weekend.

AHH... Single Digits (and beach)

2011-06-03T18:56:00.027-04:00

Are we really in single digits? I remember when double digits sounded close. I feel like it is such a gambling game. Chase was induced at 11 days overdue and was 9 lbs 2 oz (face up too). Needless to say I never thought I was would have another kid. The labor and delivery was terrible (no sugar coating here). I don't want that big of kid again but I want to give boy #2 as much chance to come on his own. I hear inducing is a lot harder labor as well. We will continue praying that he comes on his own THIS WEEK!

We had to go pick up Brad's truck one weekend and it happened to be by my grandma's house who happens to live close to the beach. We had to take advantage. Didn't get too many pictures. I am scared to get sand in the picture.

We shouldn't have put his puddle jumper on but I think it gave him a little sense of security. Turns out at his age you don't really swim in the water just play in the waves. The matching swimsuits is kinda an accident. Brad forgot his with our stuff so had to run out and buy some. They are different brands but I think its cute that they are semi matching.

My hottie! He is going to kill me when he sees this picture.

Thanks Grandma for letting us stay the night! It was so good to see you!

Chase and Tiana

2011-06-02T18:56:00.000-04:00

Must get blog up to date because....our stuff is coming in 2 days!!! That will keep me busy. Oh yeah and a baby is due in 10 days. Then I will have a whole new subject to blog about. I saw a cute bib that my sister in law got it said "Star of Mommy's Blog." I think I need that. And guess what I can go get it because a Target is just about a mile away. Have I mentioned that I love America!!!

Anyways, I always try to do a little photo session with Chase and Tiana when we are in Maryland. I didn't get a picture that I just loved but here a few of my favorites...

Always have to allow them one or two silly pictures!

Commissioning

2011-06-01T16:09:00.000-04:00

While Chase and I stayed in Maryland Brad had the privilege to fly out to Kansas for his cousin's commissioning into the Air Force and to swear him in. This is when we originally were planning on going as a family but we switched it to February when we realized I was going to be too pregnant to go. Thanks to Barb for emailing the pictures!

Mark even gets to go to the same pilot training base as Brad! Fun times down by the border!

Brad also got to see his parents, brother, cousins, uncle, my brother and a few friends. Not bad for a quick weekend!

Congrats Mark! Hope our Air Force paths cross! It would be fun to be stationed together!

Annapolis and Nature Center

2011-05-29T17:50:00.000-04:00

Here are a few more pictures from our time in Maryland. One day when everyone was working we headed to Annapolis since Brad had never been. We stopped by the state capitol. It is neat to see how Maryland's history and beginnings are very intertwined with our nations history. I learned that this served at the Nation's Capitol from Nov. 26, 1973 to Aug. 13, 1974.

We walked down to the harbor with a 2 year old who was not wanting to take any pictures. The streets were very quaint and reminded us a lot of some English villages.

We also got to walk onto the Naval Academy.

We were hoping to see the formations but they were inside that day. I am 35 weeks pregnant here.

Later in the week we headed to the Nature Center with Chase and Tiana. I remember going here on class field trips and such when I was younger and it was fun to see Chase also enjoy it. He wouldn't go in the cave (was too scared) and slide but he loved seeing the snake. Go figure.

Telling them to act silly!

They are ready for 2 more cousins this summer!!!

Donuts!

2011-05-25T20:58:00.001-04:00

Again sorry for the lack of posting. I still can't get the hang of iphoto on Brad's mac. I need my computer back! I have so many pictures to post but I got these two uploaded so that is good enough for me. Sometimes you get so far behind you just want to give up. I kinda feel that way now but will try to push through :)

We are now living in our new house....just without the majority of our stuff. We have a bedroom set (we've been needing to buy one for a while now) a toddler mattress for Chase and 2 bar stools to sit in the kitchen. I am so ready for everything else to get here so I can start nesting! I have been uncomfortable lately and not sleeping well so I am ready for this baby. I know he will come soon enough!

I will try to go back and post from our time in Maryland. I am so grateful to have 2 very good friends in Maryland that I get to hang out with when I am back. We have been friends since we were young and it is so fun that now are now hanging out with our own kids! One morning we took the kids to Krispy Kreme for some donuts then to the park to burn off some energy.

Checking out the donuts being made.

Some balloon fun.

All the kiddos just before the donuts. We all knew donuts were yummy who know it was also fun!

Chase was so quiet eating them that before we knew it he had 7 donut holes. Yikes!

At the park with daddy!

More updates to come soon - I hope!

Back in the USA!

2011-05-10T09:40:00.000-04:00

Sorry for my lack of posting. As you can imagine things have been busy since getting back to the states. From recovering from the flight (Chase did well but it was still tiring) to jet lag (which includes a lot of behavioral issues) to dealing with the house stuff it was busy to say the least. We did close on our house and are homeowners and went right to work painting, getting contractors to replace tile and get rid of wall paper. We have new appliances and bedroom furniture also being delivered. I took some before pictures but want to wait until I have after pictures to post.

We were so grateful to be able to stay with friends who helped us a ton with Chase and had some fun playmates for him. I originally asked to stay for just a couple nights but then closing got pushed back then we wanted to paint before going on leave. So a couple nights turned into 9 nights! Staying with friends is so much nicer than the TLFs! I didn't get any pictures of our time there.

So now we are on leave enjoying a little bit of time with my family while waiting on our stuff to get here. It was nice being here for Mother's Day. Even though it was low key we enjoyed being with family. Brad spoiled me with a Panera bagel in bed! Then after Chase's nap we went with my parents on a walk then out to dinner. I think the house, van, new bedroom suite etc was plenty of mother's day gifts for me!

Here is a family picture on mother's day and also my 35 week belly shot.

There can't be water around without boys throwing rocks!

I love this picture of Chase and my parents. He normally doesn't like smiling for pictures but was in the mood this day.

A happy belated Mother's day to both our mothers. We are so blessed to have godly mom's who love the Lord and their families, who serve selflessly, who pray for us and are a great example for me to strive to be like. We love you!!

Fini Flight

2011-04-28T14:06:00.001-04:00

We made it here to the US of A!! It is so nice to be back to the land of wide roads and lots of fast food :) We are still adjusting to the time change as Chase has been getting up early the past few days. I plan on getting up with him tomorrow to watch the Royal Wedding so watch tomorrow he sleep in super late! I really wanted to take some pictures of us getting through the airport but all our hands were busy. Chase did pretty well on the flight it is just a long time to entertain a 2 1/2 year old!

Anyways, here are a couple pictures from Brad's last flight in England. A lot of people from his squadron were gone and he is going to fly the same jet here but it was still fun. Chase of course loved seeing daddy's airplane. At first I had to bribe him to wear his flight suit but then when he saw daddy he didn't want to take it off the rest of the day.

We had to walk a little ways out to meet the jet so thankfully Bow could carry him. He was supposed to be in the flight but only 1 of the 2 jets took off. By the way all these pictures but the last are taken by the very talented S. Russell Photography (Bow's wife). Thanks so much Shanna!

Watching daddy taxi in. Please remember I am 8 months pregnant in these pictures. There are no really good pictures of my belly so I feel like I just look chunky around the middle!

Giving a wave!

Spraying him with water - part of the tradition.

Sorry for the rear end shot. Wanted to show a picture of us spraying daddy.

Love this family picture. Not sure if I like color or black and white better so I'm posting both. I have to hem the legs of Chase's flightsuit up so whenever we hold Chase it looks like he has shorts. Oh well.

And a picture of him out flying his jet over the countryside. He had to coordinate this with a guys who sits at a particular spot and get these pictures. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.

The last few weeks in pictures

2011-04-23T11:00:00.001-04:00

I finally got all the pictures uploaded on a computer so figured I would update while my boys are sleeping. We are in between BBQ's (the weather is that nice here) and saying more goodbyes.

This is Chase's last day of preschool. They had an Easter party before the long break. I was hoping to get a cute picture in front of the school or something but it never goes as planned. Here he is giving his teachers a thank you gift.

Having an egg hunt outside.

We got to go with some friends for a very special tour of the fire station on base. I love how he is plugging his ears - not sure what to expect. Some of the kids got the spray the hose and all the kids got to go on a ride.

All our stuff in boxes. Hopefully it will arrive in the states before too long!

My last wives social. It was a Royal Wedding theme so we all had to dress up and wear hats! Going to miss all the excitement here next Friday. As of now I plan on getting up and watching it but we will see. Might be a little tired from everything.

The next night a group of us girls from church went to a nice dinner and a show in Bury. We saw Beauty and the Beast. Wasn't quite the same level as Wicked but still very good!

Yesterday we hung out one last time with some good friends from our village. Chase and Charlie were in the same preschool and us moms got along as well. It is so nice to have someone close to switch off watching kids or to meet at the park or whatever. Hope it won't take 2 years to find that again in our new neighborhood.

A while back we cooked them a good ol' American steak and potatoes dinner. So they returned the favor by cooking some delicious Indian food. I had to strategically place myself so I couldn't see the snake during dinner. When I was outside the snakes came out. Chase loves seeing it and always asks every time we go over. I hate them but is glad that he doesn't seem to be afraid.

As we were driving to their place Chase kept asking to go home and see ner-ner (Wagner). He really has been a trooper for not understanding why so many things are different right now.

Had a small egg hunt in the back garden. Here the kids checking out their loot.

Trying to keep busy in our one room apt. with almost all the toys shipped. We've watched a lot of Thomas and Lightning lately. Here dad was trying to get Chase into Angry Birds.

Not sure about the Easter bunny.

And another egg hunt. He hasn't gotten tired of these yet :)

Another couple days and we will be back in the states. I am really dreading the flight and everything that goes with it. Not sure how we are going to lug 5 large suitcases, several carry-ons, a car seat, a toddler, a dog and dog crate to the check in but somehow we will manage.

Update in Numbers

2011-04-19T14:44:00.001-04:00

The computer that we have hooked up to the Internet right now in our TLF has no SD card reader so I can't upload some pictures from the last few weeks. So in a (poor) effort to be creative here is a quick update on our lives in numbers.

1 - the number of houses we are responsible for. We officially checked out of our cottage last week.

3 - the number of us sleeping in one room for the past 7 nights. That equals a lot of lost sleep and some grumpy family members.

4 - number of times I got up to go to the bathroom last night. This is getting old!

9 - the number of crates (almost) all our earthly possessions fit in.

23 - the number of degrees Celsius it is supposed to be tomorrow. That is warm for England standards - break out the shorts! Looking forward to our park playdate tomorrow.

32 - number of weeks I am pregnant. I had a sonogram yesterday and he is still a boy, he is head down and my placenta has moved up! Three very good things. Time needs to slow down though - we are so not ready for him!

750 - the amount of money we lost on our deposit because the exchange rate is so much lower than it was 3 years ago. Anyone know if we can claim that loss on our taxes?

Too many to count - the number of goodbye's I have to say in the next week. Definitely the hardest part about this lifestyle. We know we will see some people again but its especially hard saying goodbye to our British friends.

I'm sure there is more but that is all I can think now. Cheers!

House

2011-04-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

We have a signed contract on this house!!

It's been a tiring process and its really just beginning. We are definitely making some renovations before we move in (remove wallpaper and paint, replace kitchen & utility room floor and replace one of the bathroom floors) but we are so grateful that God provided us with a house. Thanks to everyone for praying for us and a huge thanks to the Strohmeyer's for checking it out for us and helping us in other ways. We look forward to moving in in about a month!

Wicked

2011-04-06T16:45:00.000-04:00

We took one more trip down to London this past weekend to see Wicked with some friends. We went 3 years ago but loved it so much that we jumped at the chance to see it again. We got Chipotle beforehand and Ben's cookies afterwards so a pretty good day! Huge thanks to Dani and Gordon for watching Chase and his buddy Daniel so we could go.

Thanks for all the prayers for the house. We actually put in an offer on another house that we are waiting to hear back from. Waiting is so hard! I will keep you posted! By the way this is my 30 week belly shot. With number 2 I am not as eager to get pictures.

Praying

2011-04-01T09:40:00.000-04:00

We always laugh when we pray because Chase acts like he has the hardest time keeping his eyes closed. He shuts them so tight then moves his head side to side. It is so cute. The funny thing is we are not big sticklers on keeping eyes closed. Don't know if he picked it up from church or what.

Yes this is at dinner and we are eating pancakes. This was actually on Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday what they call it here in England. The day before Ash Wednesday. Don't really know the background but I will take any excuse to have chocolate chip pancakes for dinner!

It was appropriate to blog this picture now because praying is something we've been doing a lot of lately with buying a house. I am really picky where I want to live at our next base and we kept coming back to a house there that was older but fit our needs. Our realtor kept trying to steer us away from us but we felt it was the best financially and I loved the location. After about a week of offers sent and rejected we finally came to an agreement - even though we had to give more than we wanted. We were just going to hold our breath for the appraisal. Well last night we found out that it was on a septic system not the city sewer - one of only 10 in the neighborhood not on city sewer and we would be paying city taxes. I think that was the straw that broke the camels back so we withdrew our offer. It helped that another house came on the market right around the corner that we were interested in. Well of course we come to find out that the other house isn't available until mid-July. Doesn't really work with a baby due in mid-June. And to top it all off we need to have a contract on a house by April 30th to get the tax credit for first time home buyers (it was extended for military overseas). So we are back to square one with a month to figure it out!
We talk about housing options and mortgage numbers from the time Brad gets home till late every night. We have to remind ourselves that God knows where we are going to live. When I turn to him He reminds me of my eternal home. That my place there is secure because he sent his Son to die in my place and take the punishment I deserve. That perspective is keeping me grounded when I am tempted to doubt. Ok, sorry for my soapbox. I normally keep this blog pretty light but this stuff has been on my mind. I know many people are praying for us - so thank you and keep it up!

Horses

2011-03-30T10:37:00.000-04:00

Chase loves horses. As I mentioned before there is a big horse racing town a couple miles away. There are studs in a lot of the villages surrounding the town including ours. So on our walks we go by the studs so Chase can see the horses. It took a while to convince him that both white and brown horses were in fact horses. He kept saying the white horses were cows.

We had a free morning the other day so I decided to take Chase to watch where the horses practice. He loved it! We need to go on a Saturday when it is a lot more busy.

Big groups would go by (I think some type of school).

The jockeys would wave and Chase would just get so excited.

Starting to get a little sentimental about leaving here. We are going to miss seeing horses on our walks or when we drive thru Newmarket.

Baby Shower

2011-03-27T10:18:00.001-04:00

I am not sure if I've mentioned it before but there are 4 girls in our squadron due within 12 days (yep 9 months after the deployment :) For 3 of us this is not our first rodeo so when the talk of showers came around I suggested we could have a joint one. Showers can be a lot of work and I didn't want every Saturday before we leave to be busy with baby showers. So they did. Our good friends put together an amazing shower for us yesterday. We received so many generous gifts from our friends.

A baby book for each of us with cards to write prayers or a note.

The table with food and gifts underneath. They did an adorable bird theme I wish you could see all the details - a branch is running across the table with birds nest, the bird cage in the back and butterflies. The favor was a bird seed cupcake. So creative!

An attempt to get a picture of the three of us. I was not purposely hiding behind the flowers.

Kelly shared a few scriptures. One was going with the bird theme, Psalm 36:7 "How precious is your steadfast love O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings." With recent current events that affect some of us or overseas moves on the horizon how wonderful to know we can take comfort in the shadow of our Father's wings.

Then came time for the gifts! We got in 3 different corners of the room and it was like Christmas. We divided up the gifts and dug in!

We are always happy with diapers! We know how many you go through with a newborn.

E is the only one with a different gender on the way. So she got a ton of blue stuff!

Showing off one of my gifts.

Please, I don't need any pictures of me eating :)

Thank you to everyone who came or gave gifts. I was blown away by your generosity.

This picture was actually taken earlier in the week when we threw a surprise shower for K in lieu of bible study. I thought this was a good picture of all us preggos.

Buying a Candy Bar

2011-03-21T11:02:00.000-04:00

We are officially a member of the minivan club! Brad was able to take a trip back to the states last week to begin preparing for our big move. One thing we thought would be nice would be to have a vehicle as soon as we get there. We will ship his truck back but that could take a month or so. So as Brad landed in Raleigh he took a cab to the dealer to buy a car. Several hours later he drove away in the van after writing a check for $25,000. The funny thing is, this decision is sooo small compared to buying a house. Brad said that it felt like stopping at the gas station and buying a candy bar. He didn't even send me a picture, whereas I have looked about 500 different house pictures. We barely even talk about our new vehicle and have spent hours talking about the house.

The only way I saw the van was if it was sitting in front of a house he was looking at. So here are a couple pictures I found looking through the house pictures. By the way we are close to putting an offer in on a house but it is not this one.

I think we are going to be big decisioned out....so any help with names for our boy would be most appreciated :) I'll keep you updated on the house front!

P.S. Huge thanks to the Strohmeyers for picking up the van at the airport when Brad left and keeping it for us for a little bit.

Family Time

2011-03-17T17:04:00.000-04:00

On the full day of the retreat last weekend there was some free time in the afternoon. We went to explore a cute little town nearby. We walked along a path and of course the boys had to throw rocks in the water.

Chase was all excited to be able to walk thru a tunnel.

His scowl. He did not want to take a picture with mommy. He's been starting to do this face more and it is so hard not to laugh.

When we got to the park area we had to take the little train ride.

Don't know why there is a water park in England when there are only about 2 weeks a year you could use it but Chase loved it. I love this smile in these next two pictures.

Then we went to feed the ducks. The only thing we had to feed them were peanut butter crackers. The ducks were not having any of that.

A guy had pity on us and gave us a couple pieces of bread. The ducks liked that a lot better.

Some things we will miss about England...beautiful countryside with random castles/estate house.

Thomas the Train

2011-03-13T17:19:00.000-04:00

We went on a retreat this past weekend with the chapels from the bases. It was a good time of learning more of God and hanging out with friends. I don't have any pictures of the retreat but on the way home today we stopped by the Midland Railway Centre to see some trains. It ended up being a Day out with Thomas day so that was an added bonus. We were too cheap to actually go on the ride but Chase loved seeing the trains.

When Chase saw this he just started yelling and pointing saying "Thomas, there's Thomas, mommy Thomas." He was so excited.

He couldn't sit still for 2 seconds - he just kept pointing and yelling what he saw.

More pointing :)

They had some old trains that were turned into picnic areas and play areas.

They had minature trains and Chase was excited to see Annie and Clarabel (Thomas's coaches).

When looking at this picture tonight Chase said this was the Island of Sodor. Where Thomas lives in the books and movies. Maybe in another year or so we will actually take him on the train ride.

When we were reading the Thomas books before bed tonight he kept saying " Saw Thomas today. Saw Annie and Clarabel today." It is fun to see your child so excited about something!

British Lingo

2011-03-08T04:12:00.001-05:00

Chase has been going to a preschool here in our village 2 mornings a week. I get asked every now and then if he's picked up a british accent. I think he is too young for that and we hang out with Americans a lot more. But as he was jumping on the couch this morning (I corrected him after this video) I noticed he was saying Ready, Steady, Go! That is something he must have picked up from preschool since we would say Ready, Set, Go!

According to my ticker we are in double digits for baby #2. Hard to believe we are only about 3 months away! We haven't done really anything to get ready. The move is definitely what is consuming our thoughts and plans. We are working on Chase being more independent such as dressing/undressing, not being carried everywhere and just doing more things for himself. He is nowhere close to being potty trained - I am still hoping for this summer. Sounds like a good job for grandparents!

Chuck E Cheese

2011-03-04T16:21:00.001-05:00

I forgot I had one more post from our trip to Kansas....We met some friends at Chuck E Cheese in Topeka one afternoon. Our kids are at the age where we still had to follow them around so we didn't get too much adult conversation. I don't want Chase to grow up too fast but times like these I wish we could give him some tokens and send him off!

He was actually content to just watch dad play some of the games. Which dad did not complain about.

The adults had some friendly competitions. Brad and I tied when we played.

Chase was dangerous trying to roll those skee balls!

Showing off our bumps. Jill is having a boy 2 months before us.

Can you say college roomies just like their daddies?

Trying to get a picture with all the kids. One funny part of our conversation. I was asking Kate (the 4 almost 5 year old) about what activites she's been doing lately. Her mom mentioned I should ask what she did last week so I did. She matter of factly told me she wiped her bottom all by herself. It was so funny. I had turn away I was laughing so hard!

We all go so hot at Chuck E Cheese - that place is crazy! - we figured we better get some ice cream to cool down. This was the most adult conversation we got!

Thanks guys for meeting us! It was good to hang out!!

The Rest of the Trip

2011-02-25T17:14:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures of hanging out with Brad's family - felt a little pressure to get this updated! Chase was loving it at his cousins and grandparents. Brayden has almost all the characters from the movie Cars. He didn't even want to break for meals. At his grandparents house they had lots of tractors and trucks. If you know Chase he loves his transportation!

Kids these days and technology! Chase loves playing on daddy's iphone.

As I mentioned before it was beautiful weather the second week we were there. Lots of time playing outside!

One day we took the youngin's to the Exploration Place while the big kids were in school. They had a blast!

Doing the airplane simulator - they thought it was funny that they kept crashing.

We had a quick party to celebrate Lucas's 15th birthday! Wearing the sunglasses we got him.

Was attempting to get a pic of the Caywood boys but Addi wanted in. Never got a whole family picture like I wanted. There aren't too many pictures of us girls :)

We went to Brayden's last basketball game. He scored 2 points (which was half the team's total).

We also stopped by for a quick visit with great grandma.

We had a big family gathering the day before we left but didn't get any good pictures. If anyone did - please send them my way. It was fun seeing everyone and Chase enjoyed running around with his cousin, second cousin and second cousin once removed!

We did tons of other stuff I didn't get pictures of eating out (a lot!!!), shopping, shooting, movies and a date night. Chase really seemed to get that we were with family and it made us sad that we lived so far away. Looking forward to our beach trip next summer:)

The first weekend in Kansas

2011-02-24T12:01:00.001-05:00

Here are a few pictures from the time spent with my family in Kansas. We spent 2 nights with Steven & Melissa in Manhattan. It was still really cold so we mainly hung out at their house. We did venture out for Buffalo Wild Wings in Aggieville.

We drove out to the spot where Brad proposed. Hard to believe its been over 8 years!

Steven made a tunnel for Chase to play in. He is going to make a great dad, huh?! Grandpop also got in on the fun but didn't any pictures.

Watching Cars. Everyone has to see the movie that Chase is obsessed with!

We then headed to Auburn to celebrate my grandad's birthday.

The birthday boy with his bride.

With my cousins Jake and Kelly. Some people got Kelly and I confused. I was hoping they wouldn't be too confused since I was pregnant. That's how rumors get started!

We then had a family gathering to celebrate the rest of the birthdays and the two babies on the way.

My mom having everyone play game!

Everyone went in on a new diaper bag for me. With kid no. 2 I needed a more practical one than the Kate Spade one I got with Chase.

Missing Kevin and Tiana!

Chase with his grandma's. Brad's parents came up to join all the parties that day.

I was so looking forward to this time and it just went so fast! Not too much longer till we live only several hours away!

Kansas

2011-02-23T05:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry for another delay in posting. We just got back from a 2 week trip to Kansas. The original plan was to visit after we moved back to the states but I will be too pregnant then so we took advantage of Space-A travel and went back for free :) I thought I would have time to post a couple times but our computer doesn't have a SD card reader.

Chase took a nasty fall on the airplane. We rode on a KC-135 and he fell on the racks on the floor. Thankfully another mom had an ice pack and we were able to reduce the swelling. But the mark on his forehead throughout the photos are from this fall.

Let me tell you, you get what you pay for with these flights. It was so cold coming home yesterday. The water in my water bottle turned to ice. Not kidding. The heat was on but only about from shoulder height up. Neither of us could really feel our toes. But we made Chase a little fort and he was able to sleep a lot of the flight so that was nice.

We made it just in time to Kansas. The day after we got there it snowed 10 inches. That Thursday after we woke up to -11 degrees. Brrr! By the next Thursday though it was in the 70s. Gotta love Kansas weather!

We hung out with Brad's family most of the time. It had been almost 2 years since he's been to Kansas. But we did get to spend some time in Manhattan with my brother and sister in law and my parents flew in for my grandad's 80th birthday party. It is always so nice seeing family. It makes us very excited to be a little closer in a few months.

Ok, this post is short and sweet because we are still jet lagged and out of it. Hopefully I will blog about the rest of the trip in the next day or so.

It's a...

2011-02-01T13:25:00.000-05:00

BOY!!

We are so thrilled for Chase to have a little brother! As of right now the baby is breech so we humbly ask for prayers that he will flip (just once) before birth. Took a ton of measurements and everything looks good. She did say the placenta is low. For those that don't know I had some bleeding a couple weeks back that put me in the ER. The bleeding/spotting has stopped so not sure what a low placenta really means but I'm sure I will find out more at my next OB appt.

It is just amazing to see his tiny body parts. He is truly being formed perfectly by our Lord.

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:13-14 ESV

London Getaway

2011-01-31T12:44:00.000-05:00

Some good friends of ours offered to take Chase overnight so we could have a night away. We finally found a weekend we were all free so Brad and I took off to London for the night. After getting our burrito fix at Chipotle (yes we went to Chipotle and not some nice sit down restaurant!) we saw Dreamboats and Petticoats. It wouldn't be our first choice of show but the price was a lot cheaper and it was fun and upbeat. The dancing and singing are always good in my mind.

Just a picture to prove we saw what London was like at night!!

The Eagle squadron statue in front of our hotel.

3 of the 4 squadrons at the base we are going to came from England.

Eating Sushi! I was excited to try it but I only like the rolls with just avacado or with cooked meat. That's all I really should be eating now anyway so I guess that works. Brad hasn't fully convinced me to be a sushi eater!

Could potentially be our last trip down to London. It is definitely bittersweet that we are leaving in a few months.