Random Things

Just thought I would share some pics of the kids from Halloween!

Our week in Colorado was full of work and play :) I went to the office every day to do some training with 2 of our new team members. If you know me at all, you know that I get pretty darn chatty when with people. So, while I might not have trained as much as maybe I should have, I did get a chance to learn a lot about our new team members and got to meet several individuals that I have been working with, but had not had the chance to meet face to face. The good thing is that our new team members are fantastic and I didn't really have much to teach them. They have been learning over the past few months so I was happy to give them some small projects. I need to reduce some of my workload...but anyway..

It was nice to stay with Jennie and her family and meet my newest neice! She looks so much like Brooke - it is crazy! I will post some pictures soon! We got some snow while we were out there and Kasey wasn't really sure what to think of it. hehe! Katie wanted to build snowman and roll around in it and what not. But it melted far too quickly. Shucks!

The kids were amazing during the trip. Their schedules had changed dramatically and they were shuffled to different places every day for day care. They did WELL! We didn't get as much sleep during the nights as we would have liked since all 3 of us shared a bed. I love to snuggle with my kids, but they don't love to snuggle with each other, so they kept trying their best to shove me off the bed. It was great!

It was so nice to spend time with friends and family. I love going into the office and spending time with my coworkers. It gets tough not being able to see them all the time. But, I have been telecommuting for over 4 years now, so I am pretty used to it.

Katie's eczema flared up pretty bad while we were out there. I suspect that the dry air played a pretty big part. Her skin had some pretty bad spots and it felt like sandpaper. BLAH! I wish they had some sort of wonder cream that would keep it away! Her 3 year well child appt is this week and I am going to aks the doc if he can prived some more helpful hints...maybe see if we can be referred to an allergist or something. I am also a bit concerned about her pale pale skin! She is like a ghost! She spends hours out in the sun almost every day and she has no color. It just seems odd to me.

We were able to attend church while out there. I always enjoy going to church out there. I feel like Pulpit Rock is really our home church. I know we only attended there for a short time while we lived out there, but I just feel so welcome there and Armin is such a wonderful speaker! Scott is such a wonderful musician and his song selection is always perfect! That might be the biggest thing I miss about Colorado (other than family and friends of course!!)

Wow...things have been so busy! This is bound to be a HUGE blog, so please bear with me and stay tuned until the end!!! (There may end up being multiple posts so please check back!)

Saturday, Oct 14 - the kids and I loaded up our stuff and headed to the Pensacola airport. As you may know, Brian is very punctual. We got to the airport VERY early and had time to sit down at the terminal restaurant and have some lunch before we took off. There was a very sweet elderly woman sitting next to us with her mother. They were watching the plane that was carrying the daughter of the younger of the two women. It was her first plane ride at the age of 37. She has down syndrome and was going to visit her sister. Touching story...she was so excited!

So, we are waiting to board and just as they call for "early boarding for passengers with small children" I catch a whiff of something stinky. Needless to say, we had to head to the bathroom to get Katie changed. Lovely. We ended up being the last to board the plane..we were in row 19 out of 19. People were not pleased to see the big old mama with her two small children, 3 carry on bags, a stroller and a car seat be the last to board. These people must have been in a hurry. The stewardess was less than friendly and would NOT help me with my baggage. After I had gotten us situated, she said to me "We cannot possibly take off with the bags under your seats like that!" OK - sooooooooooooooooooooory! So everyone around me was quick to help. One bag went here another there and another over somewhere else. OK. All set! Let's get this thing off the ground!

Take off was great - Katie got a little freaked out at first, but I was able to distract her with some songs from her favorite shows. The lady sitting next to us offered to hold Kasey while I made his bottle. She was so sweet. She was about 20, just married to a man who had just joined the Navy. Kasey was flirting...I better keep an eye on him!

We were about 45 minutes into the flight and the lady says to me..."ummm....is he peeing on your leg?" Yep. Nice. The sad thing is I didn't even feel it! What does that mean?! A few minutes later, he proceeded to spit up all over me. Ok - mental note...do not feed Kasey immediately when you get on the plane. Check.

We changed the diaper super fast while we were sitting in those tiny little chairs. The woman next to me was amazed. It's funny the things you can do when you become a mom. I never knew I possessed such super powers!

Kasey just spit up all over me again - this time he got not only my shirt, but my pants and shoes. Lovely. He's not much of a spitter, but boy when he does it, he does it RIGHT!

OK...time to land. (I hate the landing...it always feels like you are going WAY too fast!) Breathe. It's wet...ok. This will be fine. "Katie, you might feel a little bump. It's normal. Don't be scared." It's ok if I am freaking out on the inside, right? Just don't let Katie see that I am weak...

Phew! We made it.

I think there were at least 6 people offering to help me. HOW NICE! And they were all like "I don't know how you do it!" Truthfully people, I don't know either! This is my first plane ride with kids...we'll see how we do the rest of the trip especially after our 3 1/2 hour layover in Houston! People took my bags off the plane so I could grab the kids. It was nice. Some of you may ask how I could be so naive to accept help? I figure, what's important is either tucked into my carry on or I am holding on tight so if anything vanishes from the other bags, it is replaceable. That was my rationale. And I've learned that it is OK to trust people in certain situations. There aren't a lot of places for people to run as you are getting off an airplane...now once you hit the terminal that's another story...

There were so many wonderful people offering assistance. So, picture this...Me. Kasey in a little baby carrier attached in front of me. A 40lb backpack holding 2 laptops, a bunch of DVDs, cell phones, keys, money, boarding passes, random cables...pushing Katie in a little umbrella stroller. 3 bags draped over the handle bars of the stroller and carrying a BIG car seat. OK, people. If you are NOT laughing, you should be. I am sure I was quite the sight to see!

OK...3 1/2 hour layover. What to do. WHAT to doooo...let's call Brian. Hi. We are in Houston...I have a bunch of stuff that I am carrying. Kasey peed, spit up on me...blah, blah, blah...talk to you soon.

3 hours and 25 minutes to go...tick tock tick tock. Ok, let's walk around. (because it's fun to push and carry all this stuff around!) Bad idea. Ok, let's get Katie a little book to read or color for the next flight. WOO! SpongeBob SquarePants Sudoku with stickers! What a novel idea! :) (I think I left this at Jennie's house - Jennie, if you see it, please send it back. Brian would like to see it.)

3 hours to go. Let's go to the bathroom. Diapers changed, bladders empty...let's go fill up on food. So many restaurants. We choose McDonald's. Blah. Katie spills her milk on the floor, then proceeds to slip and fall in it SEVERAL times. I did try to clean it up. Honestly! Brand new shoes look like she's had them for years. Nice.

OK...2 hours to go! BLAH! We just sit there at McDonald's and watch all the people come through security. Everyone looks so crabby! Well, I for one am glad they take all the security measures they do. It's not hard to take your shoes off and have your bags x-rayed. And it really doesn't take that long. We probably had 4 times as much stuff as most people and it only took us like 7 minutes. Not long in the grand scheme of things and if it protects us, I say - way to go!!

All right, countdown! We got wait at the gate. There is a small family there with a 2 year old boy. Katie hits it off with him right away...go figure. They watched Little Mermaid on one of my computers while we waited. Perfect time to feed Kasey again. No spitting up on me this time, mister!

Both kids fell asleep as were taxiing. Nice. The rest was much needed for both of them and I even got to dose off for a bit. It made for a short flight!

This flight was fabulous - little turbulence when we got closer to the mountains. It was raining and cold when we got there and I LOVED it! After getting all our stuff gathered and made the phone calls to Brian and Jennie, we made it to Jennie's house about 9pm. A little later than I had hoped, but it was nice to be there!

Cathy and Rebecca were there so we got to visit with them for a while. As soon as we got in the house Katie disappeared with Brooke. I wasn't surprised. She just loves those girlies :) They played with the hamster, I told funny stories to Jennie and Cathy. Talked to Brian again and then we went to bed!! It was a long day, but we only spent about 4 hours in the plane. It would have taken us at least 24 hours to drive...

I will post more as soon as I can!!

We ate lunch at Olive Garden yesterday. Mmmm. We were all pretty hungry so we decided to order some appetizers. We ended up ordering the appetizer that inlcuded 3 items. It included the mozzarella cheese sticks (shaped like triagles), chicken fingers and stuffed mushrooms. We weren't sure about the stuffed mushrooms, but thought we would give them a try. Turns out neither Brian nor myself were big fans. So we offered them up to Katie - she's always up for something new. She looked at them and said "Is that snails?!" Hahaha....snails....

Be sure to stop by Chris's blog and wish him a happy birthday! He turns the big 3-0 today! :) Yay!!!

Wow...this week was full of work, work, work! I can't believe it is already Friday!

I found out that I will be flying out to Colorado Springs to train a couple of our new employees in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to spend some time in the office with my coworkers! I really love Colorado Springs so any chance I have to make it out there I've just got to take. (I'll be sure to take pictures!) And it's also fabulous that Brian's whole family is out there so I am going to be bringing the kids with me. I really don't think they would welcome me into their homes if I didn't bring my children with me. :) Hehe. So this will be Katie and Kasey's first ever plane ride. The tickets have been purchased so there is no turning back at this point. We are flying. We will be spending approximately 4 hours inside an airplane versus 24 hours inside my mini-van. I am just a little nervous about how Katie is going to react. I am getting her all excited to get in the plane and she even said to Auntie Jennie this afternoon "I am coming to visit you, Auntie Jennie! And I am going in an airplane! With mommy and with Kasey!" I am worried that she is going to get freaked out during the take off and landing portions (and of course if there is any turbulence). So I am opting to give her some dramamine. It might make her a bit drowsy, but that's ok! I'll take drowsy over screaming hysterically any time!

I received a job offer today that I couldn't possibly pass up! I will be doing my current job, but instead of being a contractor, I will be an employee of the company that I do projects for. I actually am not sure of the start date as HR has to work out a few things and we have to follow a certain process to get everything rolling. At least the transition will be easy. :-) I won't have to learn anything new which is fabulous. And I got a fairly large pay increase so you will hear no complaints out of me!

Katie accompanied me to the commissary this afternoon. On our way, I was flipping through the radio stations and stopped on "Stairway to Heaven". Katie says "I love this song! This is my favorite song!"

Haha...I think this was honestly the first time she had ever heard it. What a goof!

This week has been crazy! I have been so busy with work this week - but it really made the time fly by!

I found out Monday morning that I did not get the job I had applied for a few weeks ago. But it's really ok because the person it went to is totally qualified and will do a great job. If it would have gone to someone that I felt was less than competent, I may have been disappointed.

Brian re-caulked the bathtub this weekend. Woo hoo! It was getting kind of gross...we thought we might have a mold problem as it appeared that the last person who caulked did NOT remove the caulk behind it and it was disgusting. But Brian did a great job of cleaning it out and applying the new caulk. It looks fabulous :)

Sadly, we had an issue with water dripping from the shower down to the kitchen and now have a big hole in the ceiling. Thankfully, the maitnenance guys were on duty this evening so we called and they came right over and fixed the leak. WOO! Now, they are going to give it a few days before fixing the hole in the ceiling to make sure the problem is fixed. I can live with that. At least it is no longer dripping!