House Guests

For the next 4 weeks or so we have two house guests.

They arrived around noon today and have provided my young child with lots and lots of giggles (when he hasn't been screaming his large head off about complete nonsense) and top notch entertainment.

Too bad they will probably be the ONLY house guests we have the WHOLE 3 years we will be living here in England. Actually we have just a little over 2 years now...

These 3 have played SO hard today! Eli reallllly wants a dog. These two are SO well behaved and trained. They stay on their bed until you tell them they can get up. They are passed out in their kennels as I type. I'm sure they are dreaming about running away from Eli.

How cute is the Westie? His name is Jasper. And he kind of reminds me of Jasper from Twilight although I really doubt that is why they named him so...
The bulldog's name is Churchill. There is an insurance company here named so and its mascot is an English Bulldog... like Winston Churchill. get it?

Born to be wIIIIIiiiilld...

However, all of the animals we visited yesterday were quite un-wild and seemed a bit sedated.

Eli had a ball though walking all over the zoo. I always SWORE I would never put my kid on a leash but yesterday I would have slapped one on if he had one!

notice the ring around e's head?

apparently his toboggin' is too small these days...

checking out the birds

this guy's name was chester and he TALKED!

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

Sing-A-Ma-Jigs.

They're all the rage these days. At least for me...

The day we landed in B'ham coming home for Christmas we had to pick up a few things at Toys 'R Us. My mom noticed these funny looking little toys that made funny sounds when you squeezed their tummies. She picked E up one and we annoyed the daddies all the way home. About two weeks later I found out you could squeeze his hand to make hi sing differently. With one setting it sounded kind of like he was talking. After another 3 or 4 days, I found out if you timed his "words" just right he was singing Twinkle Twinkle. Duh, we should have read the tag. We all had a good laugh that we had spent so long trying to figure out what the little guy was saying. Now I am seeing them everywhere!

I was shopping on Amazon for things to put in Eli's little Easter basket and saw this little guy. He sings Peter Cottontail. Eli will be pretty excited since his other one had to stay in Alabama. If you haven't seen these, be sure to look for them next time you're out. I know they also have them at Target. I can almost guarantee you're little one will be provided with hours of entertainment.

I'm having to step up my game this Easter. Last Easter Eli only got baskets from G'parents. I didn't really worry about it since he was so young and we were in AL and I didn't want to deal with dragging MORE stuff to England. He did get his picture made with the Easter Bunny though. He was a tiny little sleeping thing. I am wondering if this year he will be as freaked out by the E Bunny as he was by S Clause?

And here is another sneak peak at what might be in E's basket. I'm in love with Mr. Potato Heads. I've found a pirate one that I really need to get too.

I have about 10 different things in my cart, most of which are books with the touch and feel.

They are his favorite! And I still keep looking at more. It's so hard not to go overboard once I get going...

I want this in my Easter basket... hah

Before there was a baby & other stuff

Last night I was cleaning the kitchen up and Daniel was talking to me, I noticed Eli running around from room to room. It's amazing how quickly he picked up on walking. He just started one day and kept going. Now if/when he falls, he gets right back up and keeps going. To begin with he would crawl since he was already on the floor. We kind of laughed at his tired little body roaming around trying to get into something to keep him awake. I asked Daniel if he could remember a time before Eli. Must be easier for dads because all I could remember was thinking my dogs were my world. His reply was that we went to the movies a lot and wasted a lot of money.

Ooooh. Yeah. Now I remember.

We seriously hit the theater at least twice a week. We had about as much money left over at the end of every month as we do now. How is that possible? What did we buy? I really can't even tell you... probably food. We did eat out a good bit, especially towards the end of my pregnancy. But it's just so weird to think that we are spending as much or maybe even less than we use to.

Oh yea, it's that budget thing we do now.

I really do miss hitting up the movies as often as we use to.

Today I logged onto IMDB to see what was coming out in the states. The Red Riding Hood trailer looks AMAZING! Someone please watch it and let me know what you think. I like kids stories turned darker adult-ish movies. I don't want to know who the big bad wolf is, so don't tell me! Hopefully it will be out to rent by the time we are back in the states.

A couple of random things I don't want to use a whole blog on:

We have picked out a name! Christopher Andrew Land and we'll call him Drew. I'm not big on "nick names" but I love the name Drew and to me it just didn't sound right all together without the "An." Kind of the way we did Elijah. It needed more substance (I guess you would call it that) when you say the full name. But for boys I really like the short one syllable names.

We've decided since the boys (I love saying that...the boys) will be so close in age, having them share a room will work out for a couple of years. As of yesterday I decided that we would stick with the pirate themed nursery... I love all of our pirate decor and I really don't want to get rid of it... And I probably never will. But this morning I saw this. They have it for twin beds and for cribs. Decision made.

Tomorrow the housing office will do an inspection of the house we are moving into and by Monday we should know what day we will be moving on base! Woo hoo!!!

And I've really been meaning to talk about this for a while. But the blogs that I read and follow are all listed to the right. About half, or maybe even more, of them contain some of the cutest little girls you will ever see. Reading these blogs and seeing these cute little girls grow are what caused a large amount of my anxiety of the possibility of having a girl. They're all gorgeous. Like, really. They range from about 1 week to not a whole lot older than Eli and they are all adorable. You see these cute little things and think 'oh gosh, I don't want a little girl because there is no way she could be cuter than that!' Or maybe that is just my warped thinking!

Finally, along with another thing or 2 I have given up Facebook for Lent, and quite possible for good. A lot of times I feel like it's just an excuse for people to brag about a new car or how amazing someones life is compared to your crappy one. I don't need to hear about how busy you are folding clothes and washing dishes. Or read your complaining about not having money one post and then your bi-weekly trip to Outback along with the shopping spree at Wal-Mart.

And the biggest one that gets on my nerves is complaining about your husband working overtime. Um, hello! With this economy I'm sure most are thankful for OT!

If I do reactivate it, I will be doing some serious "weeding."

Didn't that last bit sound Oscar the Grouch-ish?

Happy Thursday!

It's a...

Well, Daniel is going down to Germany in the morning to visit the guys who were wounded in Wednesday's shooting at Frankfurt so I got up early this morning and called the Babybond Ultrasound place and asked if there was any way we could be squeezed in today. The receptionist called me back a little later and they had an appointment available! Daniel was so excited that he wasn't going to miss it.

I'm not going to draw out the whole day so I'll get to the point. The ultrasound tech went to the "between the legs region" and just as clear as day we saw it. Yes, IT.

It's a boy!!!

I could not be more thrilled! I knew that I would be happy if it was a girl and I wouldn't have been disappointed, but I am so beyond excited that I will have 2 sweet and wonderful, precious little boys. Dirty, rowdy, messy, stinky, sweaty, WiLd little boys!!!! Being so close in age they will get to play on the same ball teams every other year and they will play peewee football together (if they want to). Ride dirt bikes together. Fight each other. Cowboys and Indians. Cops and robbers. Pick up girls together. I mean, I just can't wait to see what the future holds for us and our boys. And I can't wait to wear have a wardrobe full of team t's with "So-and-so Name's Mom" on the back.

Daniel is excited about taking his boys camping, playing catch, teaching them to tee-tee outside and all that other fun "boy stuff."

AND I already know how to take care of little boys. Over the past year I've learned about taking proper care of little boy part and making sure you get a diaper on fast enough to cover "that thang" up before he gets you... and trust me, having another little boy makes learning it the first time really worth it.

Well, just thought you all would like to know! I'm going to love on my first born and get him to sleep.

Days like this...

Days like this make me so thankful for everything in my life that I have been blessed with. My material blessings, my spiritual blessings, and most of all my little baby blessings and husband blessing.

Living abroad, my eyes have really been opened to just how much Americans take for granted. We have so many freedoms that are being tossed away one by one, and believe me... I do not want to live like people over here.

Even though when I heard about the shooting at Frankfurt Airport I was already told that Daniel was safe and not involved, I hadn't felt such a sick feeling of pain in my stomach and heart in a long time.

After hearing that the Airman who was killed was actually part of Daniel's unit, it was just too close to home. I have honestly not had such a sick feeling and feeling of loss without having known those involved since 9/11.

Daniel and I talk about his deployment regularly and we always look at it from a money standpoint. We talk about how much we will be able to save and what we will be able to do with the money.

Money will never bring that guy back to his family. It won't ease their pain. It's more of a slap in the face. Because my husband's life means a whole lot more to me than the few thousand dollars going into our bank account.

So tonight, late tonight, when my husband finally comes home, I will hug him. For a really long time. Because knowing that our soldiers, men and women/mothers and fathers, like my husband are still dying and being shot at fighting for our country and all of our well being makes me really proud and sad for the losses of their families at all once. I am so thankful for all of our troops and what they go through to provide freedom and acts like what happened today from happening on our home soil.

God bless America and our Troops :)

True Story

Tonight as I was giving Eli his bedtime bottle I could tell that his nose was a little stuffy but there wasn't anything in it... just that night time stuffy-ness I guess. After he was just about finished with his milk, he had decided that enough was enough. If I wasn't going to do anything about it, he would. He got out of the chair we were rocking in and went to the side table drawer. He proceeded to pull out his nose spray, put it up to his nose and with his mouth he made a squirt/spray noise. He walked around the living room doing so until he felt his problem was relieved. I have kept his spray and nose bulb in there since his last cold. It was just easier to have it handy. I guess it will stay there so that he can tell me when he feels he needs it again.

How I wish to God that I had my video camera near by.