The Difference Between Moms and Dads

I started singing Sprite lullaby's at night when I put her to bed (poor thing, her ears may be damaged forever). But before I started doing this, I looked up the words to common lullaby's to make sure I had the words right.

The Hubs on the other hand just makes them up as he goes along.

This blogpost might be more appropriately called: the difference between type A personality (me) and type B personality (the Hubs)!

Anyway-Here is my version of what Sprite calls the "Daddy song." You may know it by a different name...

Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird won't sing, Daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring turns brass, Daddy's gonna buy you a looking glass ...

And here is Daddy's version...

Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird won't sing, Daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring don't shine, Daddy's gonna buy you a porcupine...

I died laughing when I heard this and couldn't help but think that his way is much better!

Sweet Home Alabama

It appears as if I owe my Sweet Home Alabama an apology. I always thought it was you-Alabama-that was making us sick with your high humidity, dog-sized bugs and black mold... Turns out it was us-not you! Will you ever forgive me?

Germs, Germs, Go Away

Friday, I got a call from Sprout's school saying his ear was hurting and very inflamed. Luckily, the Hubs was able to go get him because I was about 2 hours away at a meeting! We brought both of the kids to the doctor on Saturday, which seems to be occurring a little too frequently these days, if you ask me. I think maybe we deserve a gold-plated patient card. Sprout had a nasty ear infection and needed antibiotics again. He just finished a course after having his tonsils out. We decided to have Sprite looked at too while we were there and it is a good thing. Her lungs are still tight and weezy from the pneumonia so both kids are on a round of steroids and breathing treatments twice a day to get them over this illness that has taken over our lives! So, we headed over to the pharmacy to pick up our suitcase of prescriptions and started a new schedule/routine-what do you think?

Morning:
Breathing treatment
Bath or shower in Germ-X
Airborne shake for breakfast
Power wash the house in Lysol

Evening:
Steroids
Breathing treatment
Vitamins
Airborne shake for desert
Bath or shower in Germ-X
Clorox scrub
Germ dance

Any other suggestions?

A Year in Review-2008

2008 was a big year for us. As a family we experienced a lot and grew stronger as a result. The children grew by leaps and bounds and were able to experience some new adventures. The kids and I shared a month long trip with family in NY. We beamed with pride and celebrated as Toby graduated from flight school. We packed up and said goodbye to some of the dearest friends we have ever made and drove north from Alabama back to North Carolina. We moved to a new house and Sprout and Sprite started new schools. We witnessed history in the making when our new president was elected. Sprout experienced his first operation. I said goodbye to being a stay-at-home Mommy as I began a new career in the end of 2008. There were some major changes and some not so major changes but all have shaped us and changed us in some way. Thank you all for sharing these experiences with us and supporting us along the way!




We look to the future with hope and sadness as we know that we will have to see Toby off for a 12 month deployment in the spring. This will be the first time we will be separated as a family since Sprite was born in May of 2006 and it is, no doubt, going to be a very difficult transition for all but we are thankful for the time that we had together and all of the memories that will carry us through the next year!

Happy New Year

A Little Behind the Eight Ball

I have had a few requests for some holiday pictures and am so terribly sorry to have kept you waiting but you see my camera somehow ended up in the mouth of a very large bird who carried it 18 miles before dropping it in a large cow pasture full of cow pies and I was not about to go digging around in a pasture full of cow pies...

I've never been a very good story teller but I thought it sounded better than my daughter came down with pnemonia, I started a new job and my husband took the camera to NY with him so I have been a complete slacker in the blog department.

So, without further adue...drum roll please...

The Before

Great Grammy

Aunt Dayna
The Aftermath

Thank you Great Grammy and Aunt Dayna for spending Christmas with us. We really enjoyed having you and miss you already!

Curtain Rod or Wall Art?

You know how the kids are always bringing home artwork from school? And you know how you never know what to do with it so it always ends covering your fridge to the point that you can't even tell that there is a refrigerator underneath all of those rainbows and turkeys? Well, do I have a solution for you! My Hubs is not a big fan of paper decorated refrigerators and I was trying to find something to do with all of the Christmas artwork that has been coming home since October. Here is what I came up with...

Here is a closeup...

It is an extra curtain rod that I had hanging around (no pun intended). I added the circle clips and voila-a decorative holder for artwork that relieves the refrigerator of its paper-holding duties and allows to me to proudly display my children's artwork, the way it was meant to be displayed! It now has a wall all to itself and I can even rotate the artwork to coordinate with the seasons and/or holidays.

What do you think??

Quite Possibly the Cutest Thing I Have Ever Seen

Sprout went back to school on Wednesday after having his tonsils and adenoids removed. He was very apprehensive about going back to school and was very dramatic (not really a surprise if you know Sprout). He pulled out all of the stops...

"I'm not ready to go back to school."

"I can't be away from you for that long."

"But I'm going to missssssss you."

All through giant alligator tears and sobs, of course. What can I say, the kid knows how to pull at my heart strings!

No, I didn't let him stay home; we made it to school but were a weee bit late. When we got to the classroom the kids were all gathered in the corner on the rug for story time. When we walked in, they all gasped and shouted "SPROUT-YOU'RE BACK!!!"

It was quite a sight, Sprout turned all shades of red and a giant smile crossed his face. You would have thought that Santa Claus had just entered the room the way these kids reacted. It was so touching, I even teared up a little. I thought that this very well may be the cutest thing I had ever seen. Until I saw this later that evening...

"I hope they put you asleep when you get your tasls cut out. I hope it does not hret a lot. Love your friend Madeline. Eat lots of ice crime!!!"

All of the kids had made Sprout a card and it was so stinkin cute reading all of them. This one though, without a doubt, was my favorite!

Old Traditions/New Traditions

I love traditions and I love creating new traditions. Traditions provide stability and observed year in and year out become a means by which family members can build trust and security. Regardless of what else may happen, the traditions will not change. So much in our lives these days is temporary. Family traditions provide something for every person to hold on to and to rely upon. And as a military family, where things are constantly changing and often laced with uncertainty, traditions give us a foundation of familiarity in places and circumstances that are unfamiliar and sometimes disconcerting.

I shared our Thanksgiving tablecloth tradition and thought I would share a few of our Christmas traditions, both old and new.

Christmas is a great time to practice generosity! One of our older traditions involves gathering toys that don't receive much attention anymore and donating them to our local shelter. I have always let Sprout decide which toys he wants to donate and this year he was very generous, filling an entire box! (I'm sorry if you see something in this box that you may have given to Sprout...like I said, I try not to dictate what goes in the box and let him feel good about his choices to donate. ;)

Now on to new traditions... This year we started a new tradition that the kids seem to be really enjoying. We have a new advent calendar and the kids love opening the door each day to see what tiny treasure lays inside. Some days it is a gold chocolate coin, others days it may be a mini ornament or sticker (what's not to enjoy-right?)...

The twist is that this year we have a little elf who lives on the top shelf of the advent calendar. I hide him every day and before the kids can open the door to get their tiny treasure, they have to search the house, find the elf, and put him back on the shelf.

Here he is hanging from a door hinge...

And here he is sitting in a candle holder...

And here are the munchkins getting today's treasure after successfully finding the elf...

What are some of your holiday traditions?

Congrats Chief!

The Hubs got promoted to Chief Warrant Officer-2 (CW-2) Friday- Woohoo!!

They Call it Kitty Love

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work I Go

I am happy to announce that my job search since moving back to NC has come to an end. I was offered and have accepted an Executive Director position with the North Carolina Alliance for Health, an independent, statewide coalition of individuals, businesses, and organizations working together to advocate for health improvement policies before North Carolina's legislative and executive branches. Their mission is to improve the health of North Carolinians by advocating policies that promote wellness and reduce the impact of tobacco use and obesity. I am really excited about this opportunity and feel especially fortunate to have found such an opportunity at a time when so many are losing their jobs in this rapidly deteriorating economy!

I also feel fortunate that I was able to stay at home with Sprite these past two and half years. It was a challenge transitioning from career woman to stay-at-home mommy after spending 7 years with an organization that I loved and I expect that transitioning back to career woman from stay-at-home mommy will be equally, if not more, challenging but I am ready to go back to work and Sprite is thriving in preschool! Plus, this particular opportunity allows me to work from home most days. I will have a lot of meeting in the RTP area and will spend some time at the legislative building when the General Assembly is in session but the bulk of the work can be done at home which allows for more flexibility as I strive for that work-home balance. This will be especially beneficial when the Hubs is deployed.

My official start date is December 10th but I have already started digging in and look forward to joining the Alliance in their quest to make North Carolina a healthier place to live and work.