What have I been up to? I don't remember.
Honestly, it's hard to remember what I did yesterday let alone the past few months! As most know, I am back in Iowa. We are living in the same house that my sister and brother-in-law used to live in. When we moved in, I of course needed to change some of the wall colors to make the space feel like my own and not like I was just living in my sister's old house. I also rearranged some rooms, so painting was necessary! Irelyn's old nursery is now the master bedroom. While pink gingham walls went well with her stuff, it looked more like a Valentine threw up when I added my red comforter. (floor to ceiling pink mixed with red bedding... no thanks.) So I spent a few late nights painting my bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. It gets a little old having to ask for help, and let's be honest, I don't like waiting. The ceilings in my room are vaulted and I only have a 3-step ladder. So for the longest time I had a little chunk at the top that needed to be painted, but didn't have a ladder tall enough. The bed was moved to the middle of the room, so I had to crawl over the bed to get to the other side. Meanwhile the painting supplies were all over my room. In order to get a ladder to the house I would have to either have someone bring it over, borrow someones truck, or take out Caius's car seat, find someone to watch him while I hauled a ladder half hanging out the back. The mess and hassle of climbing over my bed all the time had gotten to the point where I was desperate to finish. So, I just went against the bright red warning stickers stuck all over my little ladder and stood on my tippy toes on the very top step. (Clinton, if your reading this, ignore that last part.) Of course while I was standing clear up there (where it's like 30 degrees warmer) and the ceiling fan's flashing shadows almost sent me into a seizure, I did think about all the ways something could go wrong. But, you gotta do what you gotta do. And now, I'm done!
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| Bye bye pink gingham |
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| In the midst of the mess, I couldn't find Whit... Do you see her? |
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| Finally I noticed her sleeping on the big fluffy down comforter. I think it would feel like a cloud to her! |
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| This is as finished as it's going to be for a while |
You know when you are sleeping really hard and dreaming... and someone is trying to wake you up, but you're sleeping so hard that their voice just blends in with the dream? This used to happen all the time when my mom would try to wake me up for school. I would kind of hear her, but I would think it was a person in my dream saying it. Are you with me? Well, about two weeks after Clinton left, this happened. I was sleeping and I kind of heard my name, but thought it was just in my dream. Then I began to be a little more aware, a little more, a little more, when finally I heard Clinton say, "Hilary!" really loud. (like the final, "wake up" tone of voice) My eyes popped wide open and I looked to the door where he was "standing", but where I expected to see his face I just saw an empty room. I looked to the empty spot beside me in the bed, nothing. It was kind of creepy, alarming, and sad all at once. For a split second I forgot he was gone. I was fully expecting to see him standing there at the door. Unfortunately, it was just a dream and for once that voice I thought was real was really just a dream.
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What's new in the crazy world of Caius? Since Clinton left, we have had lots of firsts. I have been keeping Clinton updated through facebook, a (secret) blog I have set up just for him, and our once a week Skype call (internet permitting.) These are a few of our firsts:
First teeth. He's up to two and a half. The two bottom teeth poked through a couple of months ago and one of his back teeth has popped through the side of his gums... kinda weird. I'm on the lookout for more, but so far that's all.
First Hy-Vee Triathlon. It was soooo hot! Thanks to aunt Em, he was able to get a little sweaty nap in.
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| Haha, Emily, I'm not sure what that face is? |
First time riding in the car carts. He really liked it!
First trip to the DMV. Oh joy!
First words. While he has been saying "D""Deeee" "De" "DE!" for the longest time, he has recently given up his favorite letter/sound and started to say a couple of other things. "Da da" was his first official word. Not just the baby rambling kind of "da da" but the officially "daddy." He now associates any photo, iphone, ipad, or laptop with "Da da." He get's a little confused sometimes and tries to flip the photos over to look at the backside... for some reason daddy isn't on the backside? That's weird. Where's the rest of daddy? His other favorite phrase is "Wha Tat??" "Wha Taaaat?" This past week I have been hearing him asking "What's that" on the baby monitor. Obviously, he's been asked that a time or two!
First swim lesson. Caius loves water, but he did NOT like the cold water at the Y. He did enjoy the class once we got moving, but I'll admit, even I was freezing! We will try again in the future, but for now we are taking a break from the icy water. :)
First Faith volleyball game. Cheering for cousin Natalie. He also met the rest of the Bunjer crew for the first time.
First apple crisp. Courtesy of Grandpa Charlie.
First trip to Muncie, IN. Uncle Chris had a recital as a part of his Doctorate requirements. We made the 8? 10? 7? hour trip up to watch. ( I honestly don't remember how long it was. Pretty long, though.)
First time watching the garbage truck. Trucks are fun!
First rally. Caius attended his first political rally. Everyone thought he did a great job and was such a good boy... everyone besides me. I was sweating bullets. We were positioned right behind the podium. We were in shot of all the cameras and everyone else that came to hear Paul Ryan speak. Caius was soooo tired and to appease Irelyn we gave her Caius's paci. So I was anxious the whole time that we'd have an all out fit when the speech started. Fortunately, everyone else thought he did just fine.
First steps. I'm pretty sure Caius can walk. He just doesn't realize it yet. He walks between furniture and will take about 5 steps at a time before he realizes he's walking and then dives to the floor. If there is something to push, like his shopping cart, he'll walk as far as the cart lets him. He's also gotten a lot better at sitting down slowly, instead of just plopping on his bottom. I think soon he'll be walking.
First favorite food. This kid Loooooooves bread. I think he would eat bread all day if he could. Bread and milk, I guess. He loves his milk as well!
First time consistently sleeping through the night. Between packing, moving, driving, flying, living in a hotel for a month, and living in a new house, we had some trouble getting adjusted. He went back to his newborn tendencies for a while and wanted to eat all throughout the night. Thankfully the past couple of months he's been doing a lot better and will sleep almost 9 hours sometimes for me. Despite the fact that I don't have to get up as often... I think I'm more tired now. Go figure.
First Thanksgiving. He's already had his first Christmas, but this year will be his first Thanksgiving! All of his aunts and uncles will be gone this Thanksgiving, so we will celebrate with my family tomorrow and then spend Thursday with Charlie and Nancy... and the dogs (of course.)
What's new in the naughty world of Avery and Whit?
Since the weather has been nice this Summer/Fall, they have spent a lot of time playing with cousin Daisy. Avery and Daisy wrestle and play chase, bark at each other and the neighboring dogs and play tug of war with old socks. Whit is the sass who sits on the deck and barks at them until they play chase again. Some days, like today, they have a nice sun-bath together. They are all pretty funny and pretty good friends. The best part is that they wear each other out and when I pick them up in the evening they just come home and pass out.
Avery needs to stay busy... otherwise he does stuff like this...
What's new in the busy world of Clinton?
He's busy. That's pretty much all I know. He works and sleeps and sometime in there he eats. His days are really long and busy and his nights are pretty short. He got soldier of the month for his Company and Battalion :) So we're proud of him. We are always proud of him though.
What's next? The Holidays.
I'm taking a little break from my photography business to slow down a bit. I thought it would be best to stay busy, but now that I've been busy I've realized it doesn't make the time pass any faster it just makes me more tired. So a little break is in order so that I can finish some projects around the house. Caius's birthday is in a month, so I've got a party to plan. Christmas is only a few days after his birthday so there is a lot happening at once.
What's the hardest part? I feel that just saying, missing Clinton is the hardest part, is obvious. Anyone who has ever spent time away from their spouse for any amount of time knows that it's hard to be without your husband and best friend. So that's a given. Besides that, I would say the hardest part is doing everything alone. Like a lot of families, we had separate rolls/jobs that we normally do. For example, I buy the groceries and Clinton pays the bills. Well, now I'm the bill payer, grocery shopper and lightbulb changer. While changing lightbulbs isn't a difficult job, it is a job nevertheless. I bring up lightbulbs because in the three months I've lived here, I have had three bulbs go out... I think I need to talk to the previous tenants!! (eh hem) One day, the ladder was upstairs... man, I just have issues with ladders... anyways, it was upstairs (waiting for me to finish painting) and a bulb went out downstairs. It was one of those times I just wanted to be able to yell upstairs to Clinton to bring the ladder down when he comes. So things like that turn into a bigger deal than normal because I'll head upstairs and on the way I'll notice Caius is eating a receipt or something like that. I confiscate the receipt and proceed upstairs, where I'm reminded I need to finish painting. Then I notice my laptop and remember I didn't email someone back. So I check my emails. I then see the pile of laundry and decide to take that down to the laundry room. I go to flip on the laundry room light and then I remember... the light is out and the ladder is still upstairs. haha. By this point, I'm just tired and decide it's okay to leave the light burned out for one more day. And so it begins the next day. I'm sure a lot of the mom's reading this can relate. It happens even when our husbands are here. All that to say, simple things aren't as simple when you are the only person to do ALL the jobs. Thankfully, Caius is an easy baby and only eats receipts some of the time. I just don't always get as much done as I would like to. I guess that's what the next nine months are for ;)
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