Stay-cation

We casually debated our summer vacation plans for months....beach, Orlando, a trip with friends, camping. We have traveled a lot lately and decided we weren't really up for a big trip. With our move coming we also didn't want to spend a lot of money on a vacation so we staycationed this year. Mike's schedule didn't permit him to take off work for an extended period of time but he was able to squeeze in an entire week off even if it did end up being a Tuesday to Tuesday week. (I just have to say, gotta love the Army, he earns something like 2.5 vacation days a month but rarely has the luxury of using those days, the result is that he ends up loosing a huge chuck of vacation days every couple of years, I think he has 70+ vacation days right now, and 40 or so of those days are "use or loose" meaning that if he doesn't use them in the next few months they will expire). We didn't over plan our staycation. For me it was just really nice to have someone else around to help with some of the regular chores. We went grocery shopping together, we cooked together, we put the kids down for bed and nap time together. Our staycation included: potty training Peter, taking a few long walks, trips to the splash park, trips to several other local parks (including one on base where you can watch the planes take off and land), hitting up the neighborhood pool, watching the kids enjoy the backyard, catching up on the DVR, a quick beach trip, indoor skydiving (the kids and I spectated), a much needed haircut for Peter, and a couple of date nights for Mike and I, story time at the library. A super relaxing week!


Enjoying some New Orleans themed backyard snacks :)

Peter diving into the plastic pool in the yard.

Mike doing some indoor skydiving (thanks again Mom and Dad for the awesome gift certificate). Mike is in the black helmet, the instructor is in the white helmet, they're practicing turns.
At one point during Mike's session Olivia looked right at Mike (floating mid-air about 5 feet away from us) and started giggling and clapping. So adorable.
Forgive the terrible glare!
Peter got a much needed haircut! He looks like such a big boy now, I'll have to try and get a better picture of his new do.
No that's not a dead animal, it's a pile of Peter's hair!


Beach Day!

We were next to a protected sea turtle nest.

Olivia thought it was hilarious to wave hi while holding a shovel.

Of course it was even more exciting to make sand fly all over the place.
Chillin' at the beach.

Splash Park. Can you find Peter's head?

Peter ringing the choo-choo bell (with Mike's help of course)

Splish Splash

Cheese

Someday Soon

I will update the blog. I have plenty to share, big stuff, little stuff, silly stuff and deep stuff. Someday soon I will settle in with a big mug of coffee and endless amounts of time....But lately life has been very hectic. This scene happened in the 17 seconds it took me to pour a cup of coffee this morning. I've also taken to completely screening all phone calls, seriously unless you're one of Olivia's doctors or therapists don't expect anyone to answer if you call. I found my cell phone today in the kids shopping cart, buried under boxes of pretend food. These are all the priorities I can handle right now. Summer is going by to fast!

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Potty Success....Maybe

I don't want to jinx it so I'll start by saying that Peter may be potty trained!

He's 32 months old, a little over 2 and a half. On a whim I got inspired, we checked out stacks of books and dvd's from the library, we made a beautiful chart and we stocked up on a supply of potty prizes from the dollar store.







We stocked up on salty snacks and I let Peter drink to his heart's content.



Peter decided that the orange M&M's were his favorite!



We didn't leave the house for a solid 2 days. We wanted to get the basics down. We were so focused that we completely forgot about Olivia's weekly OT/Speech Therapy appointment.


End of Day #1


End of Day #4


I think we're almost there! Peter gets the concept. He's still wearing a diaper during nap time (but more often than not he is staying dry during nap time). He is still wearing a diaper at night. We're not using pull-ups, he gets to wear big boy underwear. We have left the house. Peter does pretty well as long as we make sure to potty before we leave the house and as soon as we get to our destination.



Peter is quite proud of his potty certificate. We hung it in his room.

Workin' 9 to 5, What a way to make a livin'

We're anticipating many changes as we move to New Orleans in the fall. One of the most welcome will be Mike's schedule. For the first time in our marriage Mike will have a regular schedule. I'm beyond excited about this change! For the last several years Mike's schedule has become increasingly demanding. Currently he is literally at the beck and call of his blasted blackberry. He gets calls all hours of the day and night and often has to leave at a moment's notice. His schedule is such that he can commit to do something but then a work issue comes up and his entire day is instantly rearranged. He leaves for work before the kids are awake and often doesn't get home until well after they are both asleep. I'm cautiously optimistic about what his schedule will be like in New Orleans, but really, it wouldn't be difficult to improve on the current situation.

I'm rambling though. One of the added benefits to Mike's schedule is that we're able to discuss the possibility of me returning to work. Olivia is much healthier now than she was prior to her transplant and Peter is getting older. I'm really excited about the possibility of returning to work. It's not as if I've been lazing around for the last 2 years but I am out of practice! The first thing I did when we decided I'd go back to work was head out to buy some resume paper. Really! Then I quickly discovered that it was completely useless, everything is online now. Whoops! I have applied for a few jobs (my Master's is in Education Administration) so please keep your fingers crossed and send good thoughts my way. However I did notice a huge typo in 2 of the cover letters that I just sent, I spelled Alma Mater incorrectly, huge whoops! This may be difficult! Of course I decide to look for a job when unemployment is higher than it's been in decades!