Welcoming in the New Year

I didn't have any big plans for New Year's Eve this year. We had returned from Christmas vacay in FL a couple of days prior and I am still recovering from the travel. When I received an invite yesterday afternoon, I decided to jump on it and make myself (and the kids) get out of the house. I whipped together some no-bake cookies and got us all dressed and we headed over (it's only about 2 minutes from our house). We had a really fun time! The kids played while the adults hung out, drank, and played some games (Cards Against Humanity among others). It was nice to relax while welcoming in the New Year. Here's to an exciting, eventful, yet relaxing 2017!

 Ashley and I

 K enjoying a lighted balloon.

 Disco Ball Light

Just Me :) 

Bucky and Nick 

The Set-up 

Adios M-F-er 

Dancing with Kira 

Ashley, Calvin (b'day boy), and Me 

Fun with Silly String 

Tooting our Horns 

Midnight!!! 

Glassy-eyed Kiddos Ready To Go Home and Sleep

Our New Adventure

A lot has happened since my last post so this will, again, just be a recap. Since I last wrote, we have visited PC for the holidays and traveled cross country to PCS to Arizona.

Bucky got his Orange Belt in Jujitsu.

We visited Florida before heading west.

Visited the battleship in Mobile Bay.

We spent a couple of days in Tombstone.

We rang in the New Year at a hotel in Tombstone.

Moved into our house at Fort Huachuca, AZ. 

And, of course, enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Now is where I promise to stay caught up and blog every X amount of days but between 2 kids, a husband's erratic work schedule, my school and continuing to set up a house for us for the next few years (hopefully), I'm a little busy. It's a good busy, but busy nonetheless :).

6 Months Already

Even with the sleepless nights, little to no daily breaks, and constantly working, I can't believe my baby has already reached her half-birthday! She is such a happy baby most of the time and such a joy to watch and teach and learn from every day. Right now she can roll front to back, smile on cue (if she desires), loves (LOVES) her big brother, hates having poopy pants, despises her car seat unless we are moving and all her needs are met, makes noise almost every waking second, squeaks at an unbelievable decibel, and is very aware and curious about everything around her. She also loves licking anything she can put her hands on so she keeps me on my toes making sure nothing is in her reach and she loves grabbing her toes while I am changing her diaper and then kicking me and laughing while I am trying to put the new diaper on her naked booty. She likes being in whatever room I am in and is, therefore, observing all that I am doing. She doesn't have a need to be constantly held but I get the impression that she would not object either. She has her big brother's heart and love like I have never witnessed before. Of course she has mine and her daddy's as well but I wondered how big brother would do with a new baby in the house. I am constantly reminded that my worries are misplaced. He is usually very patient and understanding if her needs interfere with his wants even though I try not to put one ahead of the other. Unfortunately sometimes baby screams trump everything else. All in all both my kiddos are great fun and I am enjoying every moment as much as I can :).

Sweet baby girl

Grabbing her toes

Sticking out her little tongue

Ringing in the New Year

I was sleeping. Not gonna lie, I did not make it to midnight for the first time in many years. But with a 4 month old baby girl, I'm allowed. And I did see 130 and 430 - surely that counts for something?? On New Year's Day, I was sick. So far, the year is going uphill :). I am feeling better, baby girl sleeps about 5-6 hours at night most nights, and my family is happy, healthy, and home again. We had a great time visiting my fam in PC but it's always nice to get back home. My only regret is not getting in touch with some of my friends while there but (get ready for excuses) I was cold sick the whole time, along with my babies and the time flew by way too fast. It seems like I finally got to sit...well...on the drive back home. It's nice to go, go, go sometimes but next time I am taking a moment to stop and smell the roses (and visit friends who I miss very much).

This year, I plan to...
Take more pictures (yes, MORE)
Organize my house so that I can feel accomplished and my kids can grow up in a clean household
Organize my life!
Go back to school (not just talk about it...actually do it)
Show some love
Help my kiddos be the happiest, healthiest, greatest kids they can be

I would love to show you all a picture of me at midnight like most people love posting on Facebook but I am not a pretty sleeper ;).

Welcome...

...to the world, Caitlyn Thi Kirkland! My 2nd niece was born on Dec 17, 2011. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 3.8 oz and was 21 in long. And she is gorgeous! She is a wonderful baby and has a very loving big sister. Here are a few pictures I took while there over the holidays.

I'm Trying

I am going to give a really good effort this year to blog daily. It may only contain one or two words that happened to pop into my head but it is what it is. I missed the first few days so owe an additional one after this to "catch up" but after that, I'll keep up...that's my New Year's promise. (and we all know how much people stick to those). I still have some previous events to blog about but just don't feel like it tonight.

Today started off ok but rapidly went down, up, down. It was a normal school day so I took Bucky to school this morning, which was not quite as cold as it was yesterday AM. I got a call about 1100 telling me that my kiddo had just thrown up "all over" the bathroom. I said, "I'll be there in a few", hung up my phone, grabbed my keys and went to get him. He looked pitiful. It was obvious that this was not a random event. When I got him home, I took his temp, a whopping 101.6, gave him some tylenol and let him watch cartoons on the couch. He fell asleep and woke up feeling better. He even ate a little. I didn't give him any more Tylenol since he was acting like himself. During his nap, my purse arrived...oh, did I forget to mention that I left it in Florida when we were visiting over the holidays?? Of all the things I could have forgotten, I forgot my purse...but my wonderful parents FedEx'd it to me and I got it today. I felt lost without it.

When we sat down for dinner, Bucky was starting to act tired and sickly again. He didn't eat much at all and barely ate the ice cream his daddy got for him so we knew something was not right. I took his temp again...now at 103.6. More tylenol and a warm bath while he was screaming. He just didn't feel good. After the bath, his temp was still around 103 but he went right to bed. I have been periodically checking his temp and it seems to be slowly going down but we have the alarm set for his next dose of meds. Poor little guy...