Sitter City

This is a blog for all my fellow military moms out there.....

One of the things I hate about being in the military is trying to find babysitters. You either don't know anyone because you just moved or your friends have kids of their own and you don't want to impose, etc. Awhile ago when we first moved to Monterey I looked into a few babysitting web sites. Sitter City was one of those sites. This site gives you lists of local people who are baby sitters. They can be moms, college students, the kid from down the block. They make a profile and have references, prices, experience, if they have had a background check or CPR training...the whole she-bang! The crappy thing was there was this ridiculous membership fee that just didn't seem worth it! I just found out that Sitter City is now providing free membership for military members. Yeah! Very cool! Even if you don't use it, it could be good for those last minute things that come up. They even have house sitters and pet care too. We're far away from family and you never know. I just wanted to share the military perk!!! :-)

Pennsylvania

Well the boys and I are currently in PA. We'll be here for a few weeks. My dad's having surgery and what better way to have him distracted and aid in his recovery than invade his space for 6 weeks with 2 small children?! At least I didn't bring the dogs with me this time. Hahahah!

We flew out of San Fran Tuesday night on a red eye. Tom wasn't able to fly with me so I thought an overnight flight would work. I was hoping the boys would sleep the whole way...too simple. What was I thinking? When we checked in there was a super nice lady working the Continental counter and gave Tom a security pass ("since he was military", she said) so he could go through the security check with me. YEAH!!! What a HUGE help that was! Plus he then got to hang out with us until we boarded. Jack loved that!

When we boarded, the boys fell asleep right after we leveled off from take off. About 45 mins into the flight Ty stirred a little....pooped....then it was game over! He was awake and crying to be changed...Jack woke up as soon as I moved, then every person around me woke up too because I was "that guy" with the crying kid. After Ty got a new set of drawers both boys were up for the day. (This was about midnight their time) Tom downloaded a whole season of Word World on my phone, so Jack was content for the rest of the flight. He didn't say a thing other than...."Watch one more" every time an episode ended. Ty on the other hand was out of control. He was awake and happy to be so. He does not like being held anymore. The kid is impossible to keep still. He was all over the place and happy chatty too. What can you do? The kid's not crying, he just doesn't have a volume control. (Oh how I wish kids came with a volume control!!!) So I wrestled him for 3 straight hours, and put up with a douche bag in front me banging his head off his seat every time Ty made a noise, and another wang across from him that asked the stewardess for ear plugs, only to be let down since they didn't have any, then he stuffed his ears with 2 big honkin' tissues. No lie!!! After I saw that I stopped caring and tried to find the humor in it all. I finally got Titus back to sleep and 20 seconds later the pilot announces that we're beginning our decent. Go figure!! I survived flying with 2 kids by myself, but will probably NEVER do it again! My mom's flying home with me in April! An extra set of hands will be needed!!! :-) I should have just shipped them home in this....

Ty is on the move

Two weeks ago Titus was only doing the low crawl on his belly. This child is now full out crawling all over the place. He's been able to push himself up into a sitting position and not weeble wobble over. And starting yesterday he's doing this.......


Tom caught him climbing on the toy chest and videoed him with his phone. Today I caught him at the toys again with Jack and now he's working on getting his feet under him. Oh BOY! Nothing is safe anymore!

Birthday Party

Wednesday night we went to a birthday party. Jack's friend, Andrew, turned 2. We had such a great time! The boys had a great time playing and it doesn't hurt that Anne and Ryan are a blast to hang out with! They really know how to throw a kiddie party!
There was a pinata!!!




And Balloons....

And super yummy homemade cake which everyone, including Ty, got to enjoy!



Jack did a great job watching Andrew open his presents. Of course as soon as Jack saw the present we brought, he blabbed and told him there was a tow truck inside. hahahah! Don't ever tell a 2 yr old a secret!



Ty really enjoyed crawling around and playing with the balloons. Right as we were getting ready to leave for the party he was crawling down our hallway and bumped his head off the corner of the door jam. His new found mobility needs some more refining when it comes to turns. Hahahah. He got a pretty good goose egg on his forehead and that added to his "bad boy" image with his scratched nose. Poor kid!

Beach Bums

This weekend we were a bunch of beach bums. The weather here has been beautiful. The rain has passed for the time being and it's been warm and sunny. We went to the Seaside State beach on Sunday. We just took a long walk. The waves were really crazy and there's been a riptide warning for a few days. (There was actually a tourist who drowned when he was swept out to sea at Carmel beach on Saturday. Scary!) I had Ty in the baby harness and Jack was walking with Tom. I love those moments. Being able to just stop by the beach and walk around is something we're spoiled with. The water's way too cold to swim in, but it's nice to get out of the house and just walk the beach.



On Monday we went to Carmel. (It was my bright idea to go to Garrapatta State beach for the first time, but it was further down highway 1 than we wanted to drive. (Of course we didn't realize this until we started down highway 1. Hahahah....oops!) This time we took a big ol' towel and Jack's bucket and shovel. We knew it would be crowded with the holiday but it was even more crowded because the tide was in soooo far that, at our favorite spot, there was NO beach. It was spooky. But we found a place and set up camp. Ty got to experience his first mini dip in the ocean (legs only) and tried to figure out what the sand was all about. When we first got there he basically crawled around the edge of the towel. As soon as his fingers hit the sand, he pulled his hand back. He sure did love the water though! Jack's favorite part was looking for sticks and splashing in the puddles that were in between the rocks. He was soaked and had sand in a lot of places. Hahaha! We have so much fun taking the boys to the beach. That's something we're definitely going to miss when we leave here! (We still don't know where we're going....the Army was supposed to tell us in January, we're not surprised that we don't know yet!)

Oh, Lola Belle

When I was pregnant with Titus I had quite a few people tell me that I "should have stopped at one". Many people said if you had a good first baby, the second one is going to be off the wall. I don't really believe this. I think your kids are going to be however they're going to be regardless if they're the 1st, 2nd or 10th kid. I think the crazy stuff comes with the teen years so I'm bracing myself for then. (Oh how I fear those years!!!) It used to bug me when people would say this about Ty. They were assuming he was going to be this terrible child, which I took as an insult. See, I'm talking about this saying because everyone said it in relation to my boys......no one said it in relation to my girls. My furry, golden retriever girls. This is when that saying, "you should have stopped at one" should have come in LOUD and CLEAR! hahahah! Sadie is 4 now and she's such a great dog. Totally listens to every command, loves the kids, has a routine and after 2 knee replacements and thyroid problem.....easy! Lola is a ball of energy, all over the place, only listens when she wants, loves the kids and needs to be laying on you to be comfy at night. Hahahah. She still has a lot of puppy in her but we're hoping she mellows out to a Sadie standard at some point. (here's for hoping) Don't get me wrong, we LOVE Lola, she's a great dog and wouldn't trade her for the world! However she's starting obedience school tomorrow! This is a little bit of what Lola enjoys doing the most!

Big Guy

Ty is a super squirmer! He's been almost impossible to hold lately. The kid just wants to be on the ground so he can go, go, go! It's a wrestling match to change him and feed him. The other day Tom just put him on the carpet and gave Ty his bottle and to our surprise, he did great with it. He held it by himself and barely rolled around. So that's now how Ty takes his bottles. All by himself, like a big guy! I was filming this new milestone and Jack added some entertainment too. I love how he thinks I can't see him if he closes his eyes and can't see me! Hahahah! If it were only that easy to be invisible!

Temperature

This morning Ty woke up and just didn't seem himself. He was a little fussy and a little whiny. He's normally the happiest kid when he wakes up, especially after he eats. I'm hoping that he's getting a tooth and that it's not an ear infection or something. He felt a little warm so I broke out the ear thermometer. He didn't have a fever and in an hour was back to his good ol' goofy self! Yeah! Of course "Dr. Jack" had to step in and take his own temperature also. Our new favorite phrase is "I do it, all by myself". Yeah, I hear that A LOT during the day! Hahahah! He started with his ear, then decided to go for a more accurate reading....in his belly button.


Hahahah! Tom and I cracked up, it was sooo funny! That kid has quite the imagination!

This was Jack's get up before bed tonight. Two hats are better than one! :-)

Love those ears!

Crawler

My Mom reminded me that I don't have a video of Ty crawling up here yet. He's still not crawling 100% of the time. He'll crawl for a while then get tired or bored and go back to a low crawl. Any way that he does it, he's quick and all over the place. It's hard for me to imagine that he'll be walking next. It was nice to have one kiddo stationary while I chased the other one around. Hahah, now I'm out numbered and out maneuvered. They never seem to go in the same direction. :-)

Here's Ty....

Playground Playdate

On Monday we took full advantage of a non-rainy day. The forecast was calling for rain here from Tuesday-Saturday. Of course that's changed and it's been gorgeous today and yesterday. I'm not complaining...trust me! I diagnosed Jack with cabin fever last week since he was a hellion! (that had to be why, right? Hahhaha) Not getting out in the sun affects us in many ways! Hahahah! Anyway, I packed up the boys and some lunch and we headed to the Dennis the Menace Park to meet Anne and Andrew. Andrew goes to gymnastics with Jack and Anne and I really hit it off. We have a lot in common and the boys do great together! It's a win - win! :-)

The Dennis the Menace Park is huge and crazy! We try to go there on weekdays because it's one of those intolerable places on the weekends. There's tons of things to do, all the usual things of course, plus an old steam engine (super unsafe....hate that thing!!) hanging wood bridge, rock climbing wall, a slide made out of those metal rollers you see in factories and the biggest hit of them all.....a lion head shaped water fountain! Hahahah! We started off with our picnic, got attacked by the crazy birds then moved on to the jungle gym. The boys were having a great time on the roller slide. I loved that it wasn't crowded because they didn't have to wait in lines. They had total freedom to go where ever. It was a lot of fun and I totally enjoyed Anne's company and our great conversations! You forget how much you miss talking to adults during the day. Poor Tom gets bum rushed with anything I think to talk about as soon as he walks in the door. Anne....Tom thanks you! Hahahah! Here's some pictures from our adventure! We'll be doing this again soon!







I also had to post these pictures. This is what happens when I vacuum. I turned around and found Jack sitting on the recliner, in a laundry hamper with all of his toys. Hahahah! He cracks me up!



And not to leave Ty out.....He turned 8 months old yesterday! My baby's no longer a teeny baby. He's growing so fast and crawling everywhere!

Board Games

Jack was lucky enough to get his first board games at Christmas. (I LOVE board games....Tom, not so much) He got Candy land, Chutes and Ladders and Husker Du ("Hoosker Doo").(Thank you to Boobie and Umpa and Grammy Spotts) I don't remember this game as a kid but it's a good one. It's basically the match game. I wasn't sure how Jack would do with following directions and playing by the rules but that kid surprises me everyday. Candy Land he does great with because of the colors and characters. He can't help but jump all over the place going up the ladders in Chutes and Ladders, but what 2 yr old could resist that? Hahaha! But Husker Du he does great with. Of course we play these games rapid fire,back to back, all in one shot, without finishing any of them, but hey....it's a start. I'll be very excited when he gets old enough to play Cranium and Scrabble with me. Sounds just like how I'd want to spend my teenage nights.....hanging out with my mom playing Scrabble. HAHAHAHHA! Poor kid! :-)