I'm diagnosing Jack with cabin fever. If you are stuck in the house for 5 straight days due to rain, rain, and more rain you may experience this side effect. You would think he had high doses of sugar and caffeine through an IV....not the case, just an outbreak of the "crazies". Ty enjoyed the entertainment, that's for sure!
P.S Countdown to PA is at 3 days!!!
It's been so dreary here lately. I think it's rained for the past 4 days. Our back yard is a mud pit and we haven't been able to play outside. I don't LOVE the cold, but I'd much rather have it snow than rain!! We can at least go out and play in the snow! With the backyard being so nasty the girls have been going out front. Yesterday I noticed this....
From what I'm told they're ground squirrels. I have yet to see this destructive rodent in person. It must lurk in the shadows like Batman. I've seen the holes in our yard before and Lola has taken up digging in the back to chase after these things. This is the worst our front yard has looked from them. It basically dug a trench along all of the concrete walls and steps. At the front of our bushes there's a little concrete curb and you can actually see the hole that goes under one side and comes out on the other side. There's a little ground squirrel underworld system of highways now occupying our pretty front yard. (in "pretty" I mean it's grass and not mud....I hate gardening!) It's kind of funny until you walk on the grass. There are all these little gullies where you sink 6 inches down because of them burrowing all over the place! Which totally freaks me out because I don't want to step on one! BLAHHHH! I'm half tempted to go Caddyshack crazy and start blowing them up!
In other news....Ty had his 6 month well baby appt. yesterday. Our little butterball is starting to balance out. He's now in the 75th percentile for weight instead of the 90th. He grew almost an inch and half in 6 weeks. Yeah for growing in length!!! Jack came along with us, something I hate to do since it's a clinic but with Tom in San Diego, that's what had to happen. It actually worked out because the clinic FINALLY got the H1N1 vaccine the day before. Jack had to get the nasal version. He was NOT a fan, but who is of getting something sprayed up your schnoz? He did great with it though not as good as Ty did with his 4 shots. The kid flinched but barely shed a tear! He's my tough guy! When we got home the shots wiped out both boys. Ty had a 4 hour nap. When Jack woke up he was miserable and not feeling so great. He really milked it too!!! But it's hard to fight the sad, pouty, groggy kid who says, "I sorry Mom" when I say...."Are you not feeling well??" Like he's doing something wrong for feeling crappy! Hahahah! So we cuddled him up on the couch with his blankets and stuffed animals and he got to watch some Word World and Sesame Street! When Ty woke up.....he was the happiest kid around. No crying, no whining, no moments of neediness. After 4 shots I thought for sure my day would be filled with cranky babies....not the case. Sweet surprise!!
Tom's also back from San Diego. We REALLY missed him! Jack was soooo excited to see him at the airport and pretty much tackled him when he came out of the gate. Now he just has to get through finals and we're off to PA in 4 days! YEAH!!!!
Jack LOVES the dogs. I think it's part that he can boss them around a little bit, but he really does love the dogs. The best part is they love him too. We're pretty sure that if we didn't crate Lola at night she'd sleep in his room with him. Here's Jack cracking up while playing with the dogs. This is an everyday occurrence. His laugh is infectious, I love it!
P.S. Only 6 days to PA!!! YEAH!
Tom's headed to San Diego tomorrow for a few days. He's going to do some research for his thesis. It's pretty exciting actually. He's been so busy working on the end of semester projects and finals for next week, so the timing's not great, but the opportunity is. His thesis topic has to do with sensors that detect tunnel building and border crossing action with drug smugglers. Funny thing....last week 12 were arrested in San Diego for building a drug tunnel from Tijuana to SD. What are the chances??? Here's the article if you're interested. So there's an Army TRAC office here in Monterey that he's been working with, they're involved, and he's able to go along with them to research/investigate the tunnel. Pretty cool for him to see the actual thing up close and personal. So it will just be me and the boys for a few days. I think I might start packing for our PA trip in 8 days! That's right....the count down is in the single digits now! Ok....Chelsea Lately is on....I'm addicted to her, gotta run. Here's some pics of the boys.
Helping Dad rake the leaves.
Notice the socks and sandals....it's his new favorite look!
So happy!
Thumb is ALWAYS on duty.
So goofy!
Since Tom's given me my camera there have been pictures taken everyday in this house. The pictures aren't of anything exciting, just everyday happenings. I LOVE this camera! I love that I can mess around with all these funky techniques and am learning new things! The pictures are coming out great and I'm grateful for the California sun! (Although I'm feeling a little left out with everyone's snow pictures!) I have a lot to learn about photography but am having so much fun doing so! Here's some pictures from my new gadget.
Tom took this pic of Jack.....pretty good skills!
Ty turned 6 months old yesterday! I can't believe how big my little baby is getting! He's been doing so great over the past few weeks. His personality is really coming out lately. He has a few favorite things and few things he hates. He hates green beans, his dad's mustache (not the only one in the house...ahahaha), peek-a-boo, and getting his nails cut. His favorite things right now are food, his red lobster toy, dropping his lobster toy, food, fake crying, chewing on the star teether, food, rolling around, trying to crawl, food, laughing at Jack, and more food. I can't believe I don't have a video of this but you should see him when he gets his eyes on his veggies or his bottle (he's totally on formula now :-( Bummed!) His legs start kicking, and his hands are grabbing for it, it's crazy. He's worse than the dogs too with knowing what time he eats. He'll start the fake crying if he had no food in his mouth by 12:15 or 6pm. That kid is all about routine. Hahahah. He's doing really good though, he's rolling all over the place and is starting to pull his legs under him. I'm not sure if I'm ready for him to crawl just yet. We have a good little thing going with only 1 kiddo being mobile. But it happens when it happens, right?
Here's a few pictures of our butterball. (P.S. Christmas came early for me this year....Tom got me a new digital SLR camera so there will be MANY many many more pictures to come!....and only 2 weeks to PA... YEAH!!)
Happy 6 months Ty!!!
Give me that Lobster!!!!!
Got him!!!
Ty has a new talent. He's just started fake coughing this week. It's so funny. Tom's the one who started it all. As soon as Ty sees Tom he starts coughing. It's hilarious. The video is a little hard to hear since we have Jack The Chatter Box going on and on and on. He doesn't stop talking all day long. This is normal for Jack and it was first thing in the morning which means he was EXTRA chatty. Not sure where he gets that from. If you listen close enough you can hear Tom coughing in the background then that cues Ty. Hahahah. So funny!!!
In other news we had a great Thanksgiving! I love cooking for people. We hosted a classmate of Tom's. Nate's a single guy who's clearing his house and flying out to Connecticut for 6 months in a few days. Jack was a little stand-off-ish when he first met him but the garbage truck brought them together. Hahahah! We also had our neighbors join us. Rebecca and Ray have a little boy named Vinny who will be 2 in January. Ray and Vinny made it, Rebecca was recovering from gall stone surgery. We hope she's feeling MUCH better than she was! We missed Rebecca. (Rebecca, if you're reading this....we'll have a make up lunch when you're up for it!!) Jack and Vinny immediately became the best of friends. They've played together before for little bits of time but this was for a few hours, and they lasted as happy little friends! They sat at their little kiddie table and played together so well! I don't think I told them "no" to anything all night. They got along so great, it was so sweet to watch! Vinny was a huge fan of "baby", aka Ty. :-) Rebecca....I think he's ready for a little brother. Hahahah! No pressure! :-)
I'm so thankful for everything this year has brought us, I won't bore you and list everything. It's all the sappy stuff! :-)
Here's a few pictures of all the boys and one really tired girl!
Ty had on his first pair of jeans the other day. It's crazy to me how grown up a little baby can look when he's sportin' a pair of jeans. Hahaha. And in saying "little baby" I mean "butterball".
Here's a little clip from my afternoon yesterday.
We were playing in Ty's room and Jack sat down right in front of him and started to read him a book. I didn't get to catch all of it on video but it was the sweetest thing I've seen! Jack loves being with Ty and giving him toys and making him laugh, but this made my heart melt. (You have to excuse the mess in the background, I had a laundry basket full of socks and Jack decided they wanted to be scattered on the floor)
There was an article was on CNN today that you all have to read.
Who doesn't love getting mail? Especially packages! :-) Jack is a huge fan! He's been stalking the mailman since his birthday packages came in August. When he hears the little half truck thing they drive he runs up and glues his face to the window until the mailman's so far down the street he can't see him any longer. Well, today was very exciting because Jack and Ty got a package from my Aunt Lisa, a.k.a. "Aunt Lisi". He had a great time going through all the things she sent him. Coloring books, colored pencils, a movie and the best part....Spider Man tatoos! hahaha Anything Spider Man is a hit in our house. In the video you'll see who gets the initial credit, but he remembered that Aunt Lisi was the one behind all the goodies. Lisa....thank you, Jack and Ty loved everything!!!!
Jack is obsessed with anything in the construction world. Backhoes, cement mixers, cherry pickers, and skid loaders. The list goes on and on. The army is building new housing here and we can't go to the grocery store without him begging to see the "machines". Whenever we see a cement mixer or type of truck when we're driving somewhere he screams...."Mommy, catch up to it!!!" Hahahah! He loves his trucks! Tom got him a CAT backhoe a little while ago, and it's right up there with the garbage truck in the favorite toy department. It came with a hard hat and a little action figure which we named Tom. hehehe! Not after my Tom, after Tom's dad. We have a Henry for my dad, and now we have a Tom for Tom's dad. :-) Anyway....We were outside the other day enjoying the sunny weather and he insisted on wearing his hard hat. He's so funny! He was having his backhoe scoop dirt and drive it and lemons around the yard all while sporting his hard hat. I wish I could bottle up these moments where I can just sit and watch him explore and see his imagination come to life. I don't want to wish away Ty's baby days, but I can't wait to see them play together.
And this video cracks me up so I had to share. Jack's on a "big boy" phase. I have baby oil in Ty's room and when I told Jack what it was he immediately corrected me and said.....No..."Big Boy Oil". He had me rolling when he first said it. Of course as soon as I took out the camera he went shy. Sorry for the bad video-ing but my hands were full and Jack has a mind of his own. :-)
I wasn't sure if I was going to blog about this or not. I try to keep my blogs happy and upbeat and non controversial. I'm always editing and deleting what I write because I started this blog as a way to keep in touch with family and friends. A way for us to feel a little closer to everyone who's so far away with lots of pictures, videos and crazy stories about the boys. There have been many times where I just wanted to use this blog as an old school diary and vent and go off about stupid things that aggravate me or make me boil. California drivers, rude people at the grocery store, some people's total lack of self awareness of how they sound to others, pretentiousness, just those things that get me going. I type it out then think....no one cares or wants to hear about that.....*delete*.
Anyway, I decided to share what Tom and I went through this week because, 1... A friend of mine just went through the same thing. I want her to know that she's not alone. And 2...I want to feel better and thought talking about it could be good therapy instead of trying to just forget it happened all together. That didn't seem fair.
I had a miscarriage this past week. Tom and I found out we were pregnant about a month ago. It was quite the surprise and after a day of it sinking in, and the "oh boy, how's this going to work with Ty and this baby being 1 year apart?" Tom and I were so excited! Having our kids so close together would be crazy, but we seem to do craziness well, so it seemed to be perfect. Somehow I found out really early. I have no idea what made me take an at home test, it was just a feeling, and sure enough there were 2 lines...and it wasn't an ovulation test...I checked. :-) I found out on a Tuesday and had a regular yearly appointment scheduled for that Friday just by sheer coincidence. After getting a quick referral from my family doc, I had my first ultrasound that Friday. I was so early that the only thing my OB saw was thick walls. The bun hadn't made its way into my oven just yet. He guessed I was probably only 2 or 3 weeks after conception. So I was scheduled for weekly visits to see the process and some blood work. The next Friday we saw the start of a yolk sack and the doc said I was probably about 4 or 5 weeks along. That following Tuesday I had started spotting. Called the doc and he had me come right in. Tom stayed home with the boys and I was trying to stay positive. I just didn't have a good feeling. When I had the ultrasound I got to see the baby's heartbeat. It was so tiny, the baby was only about 2mm, but I saw it. Doc said it was implantation bleeding and everything seemed fine. I just never had this with Jack or Ty, I just couldn't shake the feeling it was more than that. I was sent away with orders to take it easy. I had another appointment for Friday (this past Friday). Thursday night the spotting turned into more than spotting. I went in on Friday and there was no longer a heartbeat. The doc said the baby just stopped developing. I am a very scientific minded person. I know that there are religious beliefs out there about why these things happen. I respect everyone's belief system, I really do. I however believe that this wasn't God's choice or that he has some plan for me that doesn't include a third baby right now. I don't think someone's sitting up above us with some type of clipboard with a tally sheet saying...."Oh, not this time, not for you, not now" Please don't be offended by what I'm saying. This is just me. I believe that there was just something chemically off. Something just wasn't right when things got going. I have to believe that there was no control and no amount of anything thought or said or prayed for that could have changed this. That is what I believe.
Unfortunately, This wasn't my first miscarriage. Before we had Jack we also lost a pregnancy. I was about 8 weeks along that time. I was around 6 weeks this time. To be honest, if I didn't take that at home test, I'm not sure if I would have known I was pregnant at all. Did you know that 1 in every 6 pregnancies ends in a miscarriage? Isn't that insane? That is a HUGE amount. I wish there some crazy research and they could figure out why and how to prevent it, but that's just how it is, right? It sucks!
Tom has been amazing through all of this. It's been a roller coaster of ups and downs for the last 2-3 weeks. Not to sound sappy and cliche', I don't think I could have a better man as my husband. He is my everything and keeps me going and reminds me that what we have is beyond amazing. He makes me smile everyday, even through all of this. I wish he could have been there with me to see the heartbeat. I feel like I robbed him of the happy moment and he's only been burdened with the tragedy and keeping me from falling apart. Not fair to him. Jack and Ty are the best distractions. Their smiles melt away all the sad thoughts, and Jack is our little comic, he just cracks me up with what he says everyday.
Overall I'm doing OK. I opted to not have a DNC and let my body take care of things on its own. I just wish my body would fast forward to the point where everything's said and done. The constant reminder isn't helping but I'm getting there. I had an appointment yesterday for another ultrasound, just to check. When my doctor, who I really do like, walked in, he thought I was there for a happy ultrasound appt. I decided to throw him a bone and REMIND him why I was there before he made me break down after having 4 days to get myself picked up. That could have gone better but he's a busy guy.....Take a second and glance at a chart before you start talking, but whatever. I'm glad the appointments are done and I can start focusing and worrying about other things. Like, what am I going to buy everyone for Christmas, or how are we going to keep the kids busy on a 6 hours plane ride home, or how excited we are to be counting down the days until we fly back to PA for the first time in 18 months. Life keeps happening all around so I can't sit still and let it pass me by.
Sorry for the heavy blog. Hopefully these pictures could end it on a happy note....
One dirty garbage truck!
Ty's new Breathable Bumpers...the kids loves sleeping with his face in the corner.
Hanging out at the airport, plane watching.
So Jack's favorite snack is spider man fruit chewies. It's sad how many videos I have with Jack and Spider Man chewies. hahahah Here's the latest, it was from a few weeks ago. I need to do some research and learn the words to the classic Spider Man song. Is it sad that I know the "Spidey Pig" song from the stupid Simpson's movie? Who knows why I even watched that but I did. Anyway.....Here's Jack.
Everyone loves a good bath tub picture and this kid LOVES his bath! Ty's faces crack me up! :-)
I know no one out there wants to see a video of any type of potty training stuff. This is not one of those videos even though it's main characters are Jack and the potty. Trust me when I tell you this....Jack has interest in the potty but we are far away from being trained. I had to post this video just because it's funny. A few weeks ago this is how I found Jack awake in his room after his nap. I would seriously pay big bucks to know what goes through that kid's mind! Never a dull moment in this house....
I have a bunch of videos that I've been meaning to post but keep forgetting. Here's a few and there will be more to come.
Jack "reading" (reciting) one of his favorite books.
Jack and his new hobby....jumping, and Ty waking up from a nap.
Ty and the Giggles
We had a great Halloween here last night. Jack didn't start off loving this holiday. Not because of the scary costumes or anything but because I was begging him to put on his costume. Hahahah. It took me about 30 minutes to get him to be Elmo. I tried all forms of bribery but just telling him "Ok, let's wear Elmo, let's put it on, Hurry, Hurry, Hurry" in a pretty fast and excited voice worked.....who would have thought??? So after we suited up we headed to our neighbor's house. This was Jack's first trick or treat experience. Imagine his face when he realized that all he had to do was say "trick or treat" and some one gave him candy. hahahahaha. He was very excited! We ventured down the street to a few more houses then Tom and I switched roles. Tom walked him up the street, and Jack had a blast! Ty had taken a late nap (he had 3 shots on Friday) so once he woke up he transformed into a billy goat. Here's our little trick or treaters.....
So for the past month there's been a lot of little things that I haven't gotten to blog about. All sorts of stuff has been going on here. We found out that Tom actually graduates in September instead of June. I wasn't sure if I was excited about this or not. I'm ready to get out of here. Monterey is beautiful but I'm ready to go. CA is definitely NOT my favorite place. I'm an east coast person and am missing family. I hope that we get back on that side of the country with our next move. Speaking of.....that's another thing that happened this month. Tom had to fill out a preference list for our next duty station. Now that he's in ORSA instead of Armor we can go to a whole new array of places. The catch is that this will be his first ORSA assignment and first placement locations are a little limited. His branch manager sent us a list of places that will have openings next year. We had to pick our top 5 places and rate them with a percentage. Of course this doesn't mean that we'll get our first choice, or any of our choices for that matter. Tom's low man on the totem pole so we have no idea where we'll be. I am excited about the choices though. :-) We're really hoping that we get to Ft. Belvoir, VA, or Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. I just want to be somewhere driving distance from PA. I don't care if it's 12 hours by car (Ft. Knox, KY) I just want to have the option to pack up the kids and drive home to see the grandparents and not miss out on birthday parties, my brother's new house, or family BBQ's, or swimming at Lisa's, or seeing my cousins play sports or helping my aunt cook dinner for my cousin's entire college volleyball team, or any of those things that I've missed out on for the last few years. You get my point. Of course I'm trying to not get my hopes up because we all know how the Army loves to mess with your head when they pretend to give you a choice in any matter. hahahaah. So we filled out the list, sent it off, and hopefully will know where we're headed next in January.
In another bit of news about Tom....he's growing a mustache. Oh yes people a mustache! For those of you who remember, he came back from Iraq with a mustache and it was straight out of a 70's cop movie. Oh and the best part.....it's red. :-) This isn't just because....it's for profit. Would he do it for any other reason? Hahahaha. He decided to organize a mustache growing contest among his classmates. The funniest thing is that part of the contest is naming the mustache......he's up for suggestions. If I can sneak a picture I'll post it for sure!
The boys are doing great! They go for check ups on Friday so I'll have to post the stats when I get them. According to our scale Ty's 16.5 pounds and growing. He was waking up through the night for about 10 days after we got back from Tahoe but he's back to sleeping through again. Jack went to the dentist yesterday and did so great! He impresses me everyday. I need to have more faith in the fact that my kids can behave in public because they really do great but I'm just waiting for them both to melt. It's almost November which means we have 2 months until we head home for Christmas. I can't wait!! We'll be there for 12 days. I'm throwing a little reunion for our group of friends from High School. We've all spread out a little bit and will be back in Pottsville for the holidays. I thought it'd be great to see everyone. I think the last time we were all together was at our wedding 6 1/2 years ago. It should be fun. Plus, even better...... our family can finally see Ty! The poor kiddo's only seen his grandparents so far. We've got lots of family! So that's the little tid bits of what's going on here at the McMurtrie house. Here's a few pictures since my Aunt Maria gave me an ear full for not posting any pics in my last blog....hahahah!
Safety First!!!
He told me he was building a house!
He LOVES sweet potatoes!
Nice and clean after bath!
Much love!
