And so we wrap another year of adventuring. Boy has it been a ride!

December

We had a very long and busy month. Our first weekend was spent on a quick trip back to Tennessee for Santa photos with Bri and a visit to Nashville for Zoolumination.

We even went back to our usual Home Depot in Clarksville for workshop day so Little Man got to do his project and we didn’t even sign up. I’m thinking it’s a Lincoln HD issue…

We were all still battling chest/nose colds for most of the month so we tried to keep things pretty low-key the following week.

Little Man had his Christmas/Holiday Program at school.

That weekend, Little Man got to see Santa again, this time at church.

The next week, Little Man started his winter break and Baby Girl got her flue shot booster. Once again, she only cried when held down.

Mid-week, we drove through Crystal Springs to see the different light displays various businesses/groups put up. Unfortunately, the wind really caused trouble for a lot of the less sturdy displays.

We wrapped up the weekend with a Lowes project and had to snap some silly photos in their huge display sleigh.

And, since I didn’t buy one this year (I don’t trust Kirby/my own cats not to poison themselves), we took a few snaps in their poinsettia display.

The next week was Christmas, so naturally, we were extra busy!

Daddy and Little Man did their last minute shopping.

Then we attended Little Man’s Christmas program/candlelight service at church. Originally, Little Man wasn’t going to do it, but decided the week before that he would.

Despite not having our own tree, we still took our matching jammies photo.

We celebrated our first Christmas back in the Midwest and everyone was thoroughly spoiled. That afternoon, we had another mini Christmas my Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Darrell.

A few nights later, we went to Omaha to check out their Zoolightful lantern displays with Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Darrell. It was not as exciting as Zoolumination, but they had a few really nice displays. Hopefully, they actually look at feedback and can make some adjustments to make it better next year.

While there, Little Man worked up the courage to see the Grinch. He was excited while we stood in line but actually seeing him was a bit iffy.

The last little bit of the month was spent with a little less running around. We saw Grammys for her 91st birthday/a belated Christmas and met Lindsey for lunch.

End of Year

We have had such an eventful year. We started off as a family of 3 in Tennessee and ended with a family of 4 in Nebraska.

We had so many wonderful adventures. From finishing preschool and starting kindergarten and Cub Scouts, to bringing home Baby Girl and having her *this* close to crawling and showing off her two new teeth.

We attended some family favorites with the Great Spring Art Hop and Zoolumination and got to see the Savannah Bananas play Bananaball in Nashville.  We went to the Omaha Zoo, attended several (new) community events, and did a whole lot of Cub Scout adventuring.

We packed up our whole life and moved back to the Midwest and said our final goodbye to our Army days. We sold our house, paid off all of our debt, and started a brand new school.

We said a heartbreaking goodbye to Gramps and had a new furry friend adopt Nana and Grandad.

We are all looking forward to this new year. We’re anticipating many changes (new home/ a bigger vehicle for sure) and have high hopes for new adventures.

Until then,

Wow what a month.

Home Depot let us down again at the beginning of the month and we had some crappy winter weather at the end of the month so we didn’t get to do projects at all. We’ll have to wait until January to try again since we’ll be back in Clarksville for December’s project. But that didn’t stop us from keeping busy.

The whole Waid clan has been coughing for the entire month now. Little Man started before the camp out at the end of October and the Mister started a few days later. Then it was Baby Girl’s turn, and finally…it came for me. None of us have/had fevers or any other symptoms than runny/stuffy noses and phlegmy coughs. Anything we can, erm, expell, is clear.

Little Man’s started to get bark-y so we hit up urgent care. Unfortunately, the doctor said we just have to let it run its course. She did give him an albuterol nebulizer to try and we’re running humidifiers all night, but so far, nothing is kicking this. It’s beyond annoying and I’m over it. My poor nose is running off my face and I should have abs of steel for all my coughing.

We weren’t the only ones hitting the doctor this month. Roxie had a vet appointment for her bordetella booster (which turns out is only given once a year here, as kennel cough isn’t very prevalent) and since no one in the area gives ProHeart injections, we got her switched to a flea/tick/heartworm prevention pill until we’re able to get the flea/tick injection (it’s brand new so we have to wait for the new clinic to get it).

The next weekend, Little Man (and daddy) helped at the Veteran’s Day presentation with the local American Legion for scouts. He earned one of his community loops and a special bullet casing award for attending. He even got to carry the Lion flag for a little bit (the wind was terrible so it was short-lived but he did great).

SCC had a Family Science Night and, of course, Little Man LOVED it.

Later that week, we saw some of the northern lights. There’s so much less light pollution here than in Clarksville; we were able to really see the colors with our phone cameras.

That weekend, we had a full pack meeting to present awards for the first half of scouting.

Little Man is up to 4 of the 6 he needs to move on to the next den already.

Then, it was time for Baby Girl’s 6 month check-up and vaccines. She’s weighing in at 16lbs 11oz (57th percentile) and is 26 3/4 inches long (81st percentile). She also has two bottom teeth popped through and has zero issues sitting up like a big girl.

She cried for all of 5 seconds after her vaccines (she got boosters for DTaP, Hib, PCV, and polio, plus the flu shot and a rotavirus oral dose). We opted to come back the following week for her RSV shot since she’s been battling a phlegmy cough — like the rest of the house ALL month.

That weekend, it was time to kick off the holiday season early with some handprint ornaments at Pocketful of Posies.

Then we went to the annual courthouse lighting in Beatrice. For as long as I’ve lived in the area, I’ve never actually attended until we came back.

Finally, we celebrated Thanksgiving. We had a pretty full house, even though my sisters and brother-in-laws couldn’t make it. One of mom’s coworkers and her husband came, as well as my cousin Lance, and our friend Casey.

Baby Girl showed off her sitting skills and tried a few bites of everything for the first time. She wasn’t too sure about it but was very eager to do it herself.

That weekend, we were supposed to go to Grandad’s basketball game, but snow blew in (literally!) and had us staying home.

December is probably going to be busy as usual. Indie has a vet appointment, we’re meeting the speech therapist at Little Man’s school to get his IEP sorted (don’t get me started on why it took so damn long to get a meeting…I’m a bit salty about it), and we’re driving back to Tennessee for our annual Santa Scott photos with Briana and seeing the lanterns at the zoo again. And that’s just the first week of the month!

There will be scout things, basketball games, Christmas festivities, and more. Boy, do I need to start/finish my shopping…

Here’s to hoping we all feel better by New Year’s!

Until then,

One month closer to the end of the year.

September has been hectic, long, and a bit overwhelming.

The 1st marked another heavenly birthday for our Audie boy.

We went to our usual workshops, with Home Depot running out of their monthly kit. We’ll know to go earlier next month because Little Man was really looking forward to the crop duster plane. Luckily, I found one in eBay so he still gets his pin and can do his project…just not for free.

He did get to spend some time with Aunt Lindsey and helped her pick some veggies from her garden, so not a wasted trip to town.

We received Little Man’s school photos back and wow, does he look grown up!

He also started Cub Scouts in earnest and has spent almost every weekend doing popcorn sales (and killing it!). Next month will bring his first camp out and Cub Scout Day of Awesomeness.

He was also invited to his first classmate birthday party at a recreational area nearby. He was the only classmate to come (which the birthday girl didn’t seem to mind), but despite that, it was a great afternoon.

The next week had a Grandparent’s Day lunch at school so Nana and Grandad got to eat with Little Man. He was so excited.

Baby Girl had her 4 month check up/vaccines. She is now in the 71st percentile weighing 15 lbs 5.6oz and measuring 25inches long. She is growing so fast and her personality is really starting to shine through.

She is slowly learning to control her hands and is working on her gnawing (those gums are rock hard and I’m positive we’ll have teeth pop through soon).

Unfortunately, Gramps hadn’t been doing well with his cancer treatments and was very weak, so it was time to go to Good Samaritan for some assistance. We visited when we could (we had a whole slew of car troubles with the Dart – 2 new tires in one week and the blower motor has crapped out). He got a real kick out of the scout uniform.

Since Grammys wasn’t used to spending her evenings alone, mom and I went with her to see The Odd Couple play. It was a nice excuse to put on real clothes and get out of the house without kids for an evening.

Sadly, my wonderful Gramps passed away less than a week later. It was a hard blow for the family. I could write a whole post about him and maybe still will, but it’s too much to dwell on right now.

Despite the sorrow and heaviness mid-month, we did have a few uplifting moments in the latter weeks.

We accepted an offer on our house in Clarksville. The appraisal and inspections just finished up and we made all the adjustments we needed to, so now we are just waiting to close on October 22. We are ready to be done with that particular chapter for sure.

A new furry friend showed up at mom and dad’s and we’ve been trying hard to keep him safely near the house.

He’s a sweet young boy who has settled on the deck nicely. Dad says he’s not coming inside but I think if mom has anything to say about it, he’ll be vetted/neutered and indoors by the time it gets cold.

Little Man had parent teacher conferences (he’s doing great at school and seems to be thriving), so he had a couple of weekdays off. We took the opportunity to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha when it wasn’t so crowded.

We capped off the weekend/month with a fall festival. There was a car show, vendors, and a chili cook-off. Too bad the fall weather hadn’t started yet – it was a little hot.

September 30 brought an official end of the Mister’s military career. As of October 1st, he is retired from service and will get to start civilian life for the first time in over 21 years. So new retired IDs will be acquired.

While September felt chaotic and heavy, I am hopeful for a lighter, less hectic October.

But who am I kidding?

We do have quite a few things going on in the next month. While we missed out on our usual September activities (Highland Games and Trail of Tears PowWow) and won’t be able to attend Cheekwood’s Dia de Los Muertos festival, we will have Little Man’s first real field trip (he gets to ride the bus and everything) to Roca Scary Farm (usually Roca Berry Farm, but it’s the Halloween season). The Mister, Baby Girl, and I will all get to go with him (though we are driving up ourselves) so I’m excited for that.

Then it’s homecoming week. Hopefully I can get some school spirit shirts before he needs them. They’re also doing an Adam Sandler day and I’m cracking up thinking about what that will be.

Little Man also wraps up popcorn sales, gets to attend Cub Scout Day of Awesomeness, and gets to go camping at Indian Cave State Park in October. He’s a busy little dude.

We close on our house October 22, Halloween is a day off of school and a Friday so we’ll actually get to go door to door trick or treating (boy do I need to get on it for costume ideas).

Whew. It’s going to be another month for the books.

Until then,

Our first full month back in Nebraska is in the books!

It was a rough start. Getting here took a lot to recover from sleep-wise. We also had to muddle through the first half of the month with the Mister back in Clarksville for his VA appointments and the movers.

Our house finally went on the market. We’ve had several showings, so that’s a positive. It’s still a little bittersweet, but hopefully, it’s a fast sell so we can get started on our next chapter.

We tried to keep some normalcy with a Home Depot workshop. We also went to see Grammys and Gramps.

They were so excited to finally meet Baby Girl. And Little Man was, of course, excited to ride the Gator with Gramps and really liked showing Grammys the peppers and tomatoes.

Then, Little Man had his school open house and started kindergarten. I don’t know where time has gone!

He was a little nervous going to school. He got sad and said he missed his house and his friend Nolan. But once he got to school and started talking to his teacher, he completely forgot we were there dropping him off. Thankfully, the Mister was back in Nebraska to walk with him. He really missed his daddy.

He has been working hard to ride his new (to him) big boy bike. He’s scraped his knees several times and swears he won’t ever ride it again, but we know better.

He also finally got his glasses. He rarely wears them (which is why I ordered the least expensive ones I could find) but he seems to enjoy them when he has to.

Baby Girl also had a big milestone accomplishment lately. She rolled from belly to back all on her own! She was mad as hell doing it, but she did it and has kept doing it.

I have a hunch it won’t be long and she’ll be off and moving. If we can get her rolling back to belly, she can start sleeping on her side/belly which will definitely make her happier. She already rolls to her side almost immediately when I put her down for the night.

The rest of the month was a bit more low-key.  We celebrated both my parents’ birthdays and got to see Lindsey and Darrell a couple times.

We watched Husker football and volleyball on television.

Then, we tried out Sunny’s in Odell for soft serve. It’s this small shop that’s only open in the summer a few hours every week. They only have 2-4 flavors at any given time. The gentleman who runs it just does it for the community. It’s a cute little shop and was quite tasty.

In other, not fun news, we switched regions for Tricare so I’ll be scheduling Baby Girl for her 4 month appointment soon. This will be the first time any of us have seen a civilian provider away from a military installation basically since we got married, so I’m anxious to see how it goes.

Next month will bring picture day at school, parent-teacher conferences, and the official end to the Mister’s army career. We’re looking forward to what comes next and hopefully we will figure out some fun fall things to do in the next few weeks.

Until then,

Whew! What a month!

Busy doesn’t begin to cover it. This mama is burnt out and running on fumes. It’s been a very trying, difficult month with a lot of changes in a very short amount of time.

We started the month with our favorite senior kitty’s 15th birthday.

We didn’t go out for the 4th of July — we weren’t feeling very festive and the neighborhood fireworks scared Roxie (bad enough she refused to go outside and when forced, she hid under the deck).

Baby Girl had a rough few weeks. Growth spurts are hard, and this mama thinks she has some silent reflux, making her extra miserable. She started to get congested and had a raspy voice from all the screaming between weeks 6 and 8.

Then it was 2 month check-up and vaccines. As you can imagine, that was not her idea of a good time. We did convince the doctor to give us some meds for reflux to try, though she wasn’t very convinced that it’s reflux and tried to blame colic…*sigh* Poor baby let her banshee screaming speak for itself and we are testing out some Pepcid/famotidine.

Baby Girl now weighs 12lbs 7oz and is almost 23.5 inches long — that’s the 90-98th percentile. She’s giving her brother a run for his money in that department. Despite all the tummy issues, she is a growing girl.

The only silver lining with her check up struggles was that her first Imagination Library book from Miss Dolly arrived that day.

Little Man got enrolled in kindergarten (preschool was full) and had to have an eye exam where we found out he has astigmatism in both eyes and is a little bit far-sighted in one eye. He will be getting glasses for school work and tablet/computer time. He didn’t seem fazed at all by that. We’ll see when he actually gets his glasses.

Mid-month came and completely flipped the script. We did our last Clarksville Lowes project, picked up our last set of comics from Rick’s, and (finally) went to Children’s at Vanderbilt for Baby Girl’s audiology appointment.

Thankfully, the audiologist found that Baby Girl’s hearing is perfectly normal and she was not concerned in the slightest. Halle-freaking-lujah! The stress over this whole thing has been at the forefront of my mind since tge day after she was born.

It’s frustrating that it took so long (and we had to jump through so many hoops) to have someone actually take the time needed to get a proper test done. The audiologist was super patient with our fussy kiddo and was more than flexible to get an accurate result (we were given time to get her calm and sound asleep before even attempting to start testing).

We followed up with a phone appointment for Baby Girl on the 28th for her reflux. While the meds might be working, there’s still a lot of horrible screaming about once a day for an hour or two straight. The follow-up was a waste… They’re still convinced it’s colic. Which to me means they don’t want to take the time to dive any deeper into what could be going on. Yay, American health “care.” *eye roll*

Then, at the very end of the month, we packed up the kids and critters and began our move back to Nebraska. The movers are scheduled for the beginning of August and we’ll be putting our household goods in storage while we decide where we want to live. Until then, we will be living with my parents. It’s an adjustment, but we are excited for the next chapter being closer to part of our family.

It’s a mixed bag of emotions. We’re leaving behind our first house — one that was all ours. We brought both our babies home here, said goodbye to our sweet Audie boy here, celebrated so many holidays/birthdays here, brought Roxie home here…

But Clarksville doesn’t hold the same pull. Traffic has gotten astronomically worse, everything is more crowded, our routines have become monotonous and stale, we’re so far away from our families and most of our friends.

I’m sad to say goodbye to the special people we’ve come to know, but going home means precious time with part of our family that we weren’t getting being so far away.

That said, our whole world is being flipped upside down.

This is the first time in 21+ years the Mister will have a say in what comes next: work-wise, location-wise, choice-wise.

Little Man starts full-time school and we’ll have to see if he’ll still be able to do outside speech or if he’ll get it at school on its own. His routine is already shot with everything going on.

Baby Girl will only have to get used to the new surroundings since her world is still basically all mommy. Small blessing in that regard.

We’ll be missing out on some of our favorite pastimes in the coming months. No Highland Games or Trail of Tears PowWow, no Dia de Los Muertos festival at Cheekwood or Oktoberfest at Beachaven…I’m still trying to convince the Mister to let us go back to Clarksville for Santa photos with Bri and maybe make a weekend out of it so we can do Zoolumination too. We’ll see if that comes to fruition.

Whatever comes next, we’ll take it in stride (I hope).

Here’s to the coming new chapters.

Until then,

Busy month with no planned excursions to speak of!

It’s just been a month of doctor visits upon doctor visits and little else.

Kicked off the month with the Home Depot workshop. Little Man made a cool basketball hoop!

Then, it was labs and OB appointment on post. Apparently, I just missed the cut-off for my glucose test numbers, so I had to schedule a 3 hour test. Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled.

Thankfully, I passed the 3 hour test without incident. It was just a long boring morning with too many needle sticks. At least I don’t have gestational diabetes! Huzzah.

We rolled into the following week with spring break and our Lowes workshop.

Then, we made a surprise trip to Danville, IL to watch Grandad’s basketball team play their first game in the NJCAA D2 National Tournament.

While they didn’t win and we could only stay for one game, we were still glad to be able to see Nana and Grandad and Little Man enjoyed his first live basketball game. Very much a full circle moment for me.

We capped off the month with our high-risk appointment, a birthday party, and Little Man went to the dentist for his check-up.

Baby Girl is growing right along. She’s measuring in the 59th percentile and is weighing in at 3lbs 12oz. She had a little excess fluid in one of her kidneys, but the nurse reviewing her ultrasound thought that it was likely she just hadn’t emptied her bladder at the time of the scan. Regardless, we start weekly scans in April, so we’ll circle back to that then to see if there’s anything to worry about.

Little Man got invited to his best friend Nolan’s birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. Unfortunately, the Mister had staff duty and couldn’t join us. Still, I think he enjoyed himself. He especially enjoyed the Luigi’s Mansion and Plants vs. Zombies games.

For me, it was a very bittersweet day. I know no matter where we end up after retirement, these boys won’t be in school together much longer.

Little Man’s preschool teacher suggested he have one more year of preschool before heading off to kindergarten. Not because he isn’t smart enough, but because she thought socially and emotionally, he’d be more prepared if we waited. She doesn’t want him to fall through the cracks and start disliking school. The Mister and I are definitely taking that into consideration since he will really be a super young 5 year old in the fall. It will be an easier decision when we know where we will be for sure. Lots to decide!

We rounded out the month with a dental check-up for Little Man. He did great. No cavities and zero concerns from his dentist. Hallelujah he has lots of space for when he starts losing teeth!

April is going to be a very VERY busy month. I redid my dry erase calendar and boy, am I a glutton for punishment. I seem to have booked back to back to back appointments for various things. As I mentioned, we start weekly high-risk appointments on the 8th; there’s a regular OB appointment on my birthday; I scheduled dentist and eye doctor appointments for myself during the week I have tons to do.

Little Man has his egg hunt and family picnic at school, Kindergarten Kickoff at the elementary school we are zoned for (figured it couldn’t hurt to go check things out), and his usual Lowes/Home Depot workshops. We have tickets for the Great Spring Art Hop at Cheekwood again – fingers crossed we have nice weather for it! We should be getting his spring school pictures back very soon.

I seem to forget I am 31, going on 32 weeks pregnant and think I can book all the things. I even have stuff for May scheduled because I’m a little too ambitious.  But, it’s what we do. Go go go.

Until then!