Sunday, November 29, 2009
we tried
I wanted to go have a family picture done for our Christmas cards, but Ed wouldn't hear of it - he said that I could do just as nice of ones. I'm glad he had that confidence in me but I knew he was wrong. I knew he wouldn't have the patience to let me get more than one or two shots - and I was right. G wanted to get down and play in the snow but he wasn't dressed to do that. It was hard to get the lighting right since we were in the middle of a snow covered field and I didn't have time to get it right since G was throwing a hissy fit and Ed was getting mad at him. So, as I predicted, it was almost impossible to get any good pictures. Here is one from when we got home and the madness continued until I gave up.
Catch up
I know - I'm taking forever aren't I? I "update" so much stuff on Facebook lately that I forget to blog. Garrett keeps me so busy all day long that I have to kind of pick my battles. Besides, I'm starting to feel like my blogging is boring regurgitation of nothing much. But here we go anyway.
G loves the snow even though enough has already fallen that he can hardly walk in it because it goes up beyond his knees! We went to Missoula looking for a sled so that we could at least pull him around in that. We bought two! On Ed's first day off after we bought the sleds, Ed let me sleep in and he got up with G. I woke up and the house was too quiet so I went outside and found them playing outside. Ed would take G and lay him on the sled on his belly, then start running while pulling the sled, and then shoot the sled out in front of him, sending G flying down the road. The first time I witnessed this, G someone leaned too far forward and crashed face first into the road. Holy heck that gave me a heart attack but G rebounded and took another few trips down the road. He keeps warm in all the winter gear that I got him but he has a hard time moving around in all that!
The snow here is beautiful but it does worry me a little bit! The snow roof above the house is metal and so the snow that accumulates comes sliding off the roof intermittently (sp?). The first night it started doing that it woke G up a few times if that tells you how it sounds. I wouldn't worry except if G or the dogs are anywhere near the house when the snow comes sliding down they could get buried or at least hurt. Right now the snow on the roof has been there for a few days and it's rained a little bit so that snow is going to be snow and ice. I'll just make sure that G is nowhere near the eves of the house if there is snow on the roof. I wonder if I can position Taser there though, I don't mind if she gets buried by it. I'm a terrible person, I know - but that dog drives me crazy.
I would love to share some Christmas things I'm doing but I can't because people who are receiving these gifts will be reading this blog (if anyone still does). Thanks to some of my Mommy forums I have found some great freebies. For example, I got 100 photo Christmas cards from http://www.seehere.com/ for $3.19 in shipping costs. I got that deal from a mommy friend from a forum - thanks Becky! I also scored big time when on another mommy board someone posted that http://www.photoworks.com/ was giving away 25,000 free 8x11 photo books (shipping was free too!). Even though the site was difficult to work with (I'm guessing they were overloaded by people getting in on that 25,000 offer I think they are going to turn out great. Since the site didn't go off of IP address and instead went off of email addresses, I used 6 email addresses (oh and a few of Ed's) to create 6 books. The books are valued at $39.99 each and with shipping and tax the total was $52.47. So 6 of them saved me over $300. I love making photo books because I get to go through all my photos and pick out my favorites and put the book together my way. It's thoughtful but well done and classy - my kind of gift! I haven't gotten the cards or the photobooks yet but I won't post anymore about them anyway since they are gifts! I wrote a Christmas letter to go with the photocards so look for those someday soon!
Our Thanksgiving was nice. I took the turkey out of the freezer on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday Ed told me that Ron and Ruth (our neighbors) wanted us to come over to their house for Thanksgiving. I'm not one to turn down Ruth's cooking so of course I told Ed to tell them we'd be there! We cooked our turkey on Wednesday instead and have been enjoying it since. We went to Ron and Ruth's on Thanksgiving and had dinner around 5:30. One of Ron's daughters, who is my age, along with her husband and their 3 children were there for the holiday. All of the ITD workers that are staying up here in the bunkhouses came as well. They had turkey AND ham and her stuffing was AMAZING and I want the recipe for it! G was in heaven because there were other kids there, twin boys (I'm guessing they were 5 or 6) and a 3 year old girl. They had fun doing what G wanted - playing and chasing each other! It was nice to be included in their holiday celebration since we couldn't be with our families. Ron's daughter, after spending a few hours watching G be G, looked at me and said, "I had two of them at once (she has twin boys remember) and Garrett would tire me out more than my two ever did!" There's a reason we call him Dr. Destructo!
G has 6 new teeth that have cut through the gums now and 2 more molars coming in on the bottom. So, he hasn't been sleeping ver well. He doesn't like to brush his teeth but I make him let me brush them at least once a day, most of the time it's twice a day. He is literally a language explosion waiting to happen and I can't wait. He is still not saying a whole lot of discernable words or copying what we say, but it's only a matter of time now. I still can't get a "momma" or "mom" or "mommy" out of him but now he says and identifies "cookie." How fair is that? He's not doing much else language consistent, but that's alright because he's way ahead in his motor skills.
We're trying to decide if we're going to change G's crib into a toddler bed sometime soon. I put the space heater (a necessary evil) up so he can't get to that but I hate the idea of him being "free" in his room at night. I can't believe that he hasn't started trying to get out of his crib yet. He climbs on everything but he doesn't try to climb out of his crib. I'd love to not have to get him in and out of his crib though. Maybe after the first of the year. When he outgrows his toddler bed we'll get him a cool twin bed of some kind but I dno't see that being necessary for awhile still.
Getting G to eat has become a battle of sorts. I know he won't starve or anything but he hardly eats at all. I don't know how he continues to gain weight because he just has milk and booby all the time. In fact he's boobying more in the last 2 weeks than he has in the 2 months prior. I don't mind too much though, since I'm home and I can afford to stop and just let him boob. Ed keeps making suggestions that its time to wean but he won't push since he knows that my goal has always been to let G booby until he's 18 months (which is only a month away) and then I'll stop offering booby and let him wean himself gently. If he's not weaned by his 2nd birthday then we'll probably go cold turkey. I never thought I'd be able to make it this long and I'm so proudo f myself. The relationship between mom and baby is special but I think there's an even deeper connection when breastfeeding is involved. I love that even when he's sick or just not feeling good, or upset about something, booby takes care of him. If it wasn't for the fact that he's still breastfed I would really worry about him not eating much for solid foods. I know he's getting nutrition from the booby so I won't worry too much for now.
We haven't decided what we are going to do for Christmas yet this year. I would REALLY like to stay home and make the new house a Christmas wonderland for G because I think he's going to really get a kick out of decoration. But, I also want to go home to Libby and spend Christmas with Grandma Elsie. I hope I'm wrong but I don't know that there are too many Christmases left in her future. I haven't been to a Christmas in Libby in at least 7 years and I miss sharing that with my extended family. So my heart is torn - which do I do? Travelling itself is easy with G but being places other than home are not so easy. He is into everything and it gets tiring to keep him out of things. I don't have to decide yet though.
It's time to get the Boof down for a nap now!
G loves the snow even though enough has already fallen that he can hardly walk in it because it goes up beyond his knees! We went to Missoula looking for a sled so that we could at least pull him around in that. We bought two! On Ed's first day off after we bought the sleds, Ed let me sleep in and he got up with G. I woke up and the house was too quiet so I went outside and found them playing outside. Ed would take G and lay him on the sled on his belly, then start running while pulling the sled, and then shoot the sled out in front of him, sending G flying down the road. The first time I witnessed this, G someone leaned too far forward and crashed face first into the road. Holy heck that gave me a heart attack but G rebounded and took another few trips down the road. He keeps warm in all the winter gear that I got him but he has a hard time moving around in all that!
The snow here is beautiful but it does worry me a little bit! The snow roof above the house is metal and so the snow that accumulates comes sliding off the roof intermittently (sp?). The first night it started doing that it woke G up a few times if that tells you how it sounds. I wouldn't worry except if G or the dogs are anywhere near the house when the snow comes sliding down they could get buried or at least hurt. Right now the snow on the roof has been there for a few days and it's rained a little bit so that snow is going to be snow and ice. I'll just make sure that G is nowhere near the eves of the house if there is snow on the roof. I wonder if I can position Taser there though, I don't mind if she gets buried by it. I'm a terrible person, I know - but that dog drives me crazy.
I would love to share some Christmas things I'm doing but I can't because people who are receiving these gifts will be reading this blog (if anyone still does). Thanks to some of my Mommy forums I have found some great freebies. For example, I got 100 photo Christmas cards from http://www.seehere.com/ for $3.19 in shipping costs. I got that deal from a mommy friend from a forum - thanks Becky! I also scored big time when on another mommy board someone posted that http://www.photoworks.com/ was giving away 25,000 free 8x11 photo books (shipping was free too!). Even though the site was difficult to work with (I'm guessing they were overloaded by people getting in on that 25,000 offer I think they are going to turn out great. Since the site didn't go off of IP address and instead went off of email addresses, I used 6 email addresses (oh and a few of Ed's) to create 6 books. The books are valued at $39.99 each and with shipping and tax the total was $52.47. So 6 of them saved me over $300. I love making photo books because I get to go through all my photos and pick out my favorites and put the book together my way. It's thoughtful but well done and classy - my kind of gift! I haven't gotten the cards or the photobooks yet but I won't post anymore about them anyway since they are gifts! I wrote a Christmas letter to go with the photocards so look for those someday soon!
Our Thanksgiving was nice. I took the turkey out of the freezer on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday Ed told me that Ron and Ruth (our neighbors) wanted us to come over to their house for Thanksgiving. I'm not one to turn down Ruth's cooking so of course I told Ed to tell them we'd be there! We cooked our turkey on Wednesday instead and have been enjoying it since. We went to Ron and Ruth's on Thanksgiving and had dinner around 5:30. One of Ron's daughters, who is my age, along with her husband and their 3 children were there for the holiday. All of the ITD workers that are staying up here in the bunkhouses came as well. They had turkey AND ham and her stuffing was AMAZING and I want the recipe for it! G was in heaven because there were other kids there, twin boys (I'm guessing they were 5 or 6) and a 3 year old girl. They had fun doing what G wanted - playing and chasing each other! It was nice to be included in their holiday celebration since we couldn't be with our families. Ron's daughter, after spending a few hours watching G be G, looked at me and said, "I had two of them at once (she has twin boys remember) and Garrett would tire me out more than my two ever did!" There's a reason we call him Dr. Destructo!
G has 6 new teeth that have cut through the gums now and 2 more molars coming in on the bottom. So, he hasn't been sleeping ver well. He doesn't like to brush his teeth but I make him let me brush them at least once a day, most of the time it's twice a day. He is literally a language explosion waiting to happen and I can't wait. He is still not saying a whole lot of discernable words or copying what we say, but it's only a matter of time now. I still can't get a "momma" or "mom" or "mommy" out of him but now he says and identifies "cookie." How fair is that? He's not doing much else language consistent, but that's alright because he's way ahead in his motor skills.
We're trying to decide if we're going to change G's crib into a toddler bed sometime soon. I put the space heater (a necessary evil) up so he can't get to that but I hate the idea of him being "free" in his room at night. I can't believe that he hasn't started trying to get out of his crib yet. He climbs on everything but he doesn't try to climb out of his crib. I'd love to not have to get him in and out of his crib though. Maybe after the first of the year. When he outgrows his toddler bed we'll get him a cool twin bed of some kind but I dno't see that being necessary for awhile still.
Getting G to eat has become a battle of sorts. I know he won't starve or anything but he hardly eats at all. I don't know how he continues to gain weight because he just has milk and booby all the time. In fact he's boobying more in the last 2 weeks than he has in the 2 months prior. I don't mind too much though, since I'm home and I can afford to stop and just let him boob. Ed keeps making suggestions that its time to wean but he won't push since he knows that my goal has always been to let G booby until he's 18 months (which is only a month away) and then I'll stop offering booby and let him wean himself gently. If he's not weaned by his 2nd birthday then we'll probably go cold turkey. I never thought I'd be able to make it this long and I'm so proudo f myself. The relationship between mom and baby is special but I think there's an even deeper connection when breastfeeding is involved. I love that even when he's sick or just not feeling good, or upset about something, booby takes care of him. If it wasn't for the fact that he's still breastfed I would really worry about him not eating much for solid foods. I know he's getting nutrition from the booby so I won't worry too much for now.
We haven't decided what we are going to do for Christmas yet this year. I would REALLY like to stay home and make the new house a Christmas wonderland for G because I think he's going to really get a kick out of decoration. But, I also want to go home to Libby and spend Christmas with Grandma Elsie. I hope I'm wrong but I don't know that there are too many Christmases left in her future. I haven't been to a Christmas in Libby in at least 7 years and I miss sharing that with my extended family. So my heart is torn - which do I do? Travelling itself is easy with G but being places other than home are not so easy. He is into everything and it gets tiring to keep him out of things. I don't have to decide yet though.
It's time to get the Boof down for a nap now!
Why?
Why in the world are people doing this? How is it that they are getting so incredibly angry that they want to take the lives of police officers like this? This is one of my great fears when Ed is working - that someone is goingto target him and hurt or kill him just because he's wearing a uniform. It's cruel, disheartening, and so unnecessary - why?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OFFICERS_SHOT?SITE=IDCOE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-11-29-13-10-41
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Four police officers were shot and killed Sunday morning in what authorities called a targeted ambush at a coffee house in Washington state, a sheriff's official said.
Officials at the scene told The News Tribune in Tacoma two gunmen burst into the Forza Coffee Co. and shot the four uniformed officers as they were working on their laptop computers, then fled the scene.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery.
Troyer tells the newspaper "it was just a flat out ambush."
He could not immediately say what agency the officers were from. Police were searching for two suspect and interviewing witnesses. The coffee shop is near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle.
"We hopefully will have answers, but there is nothing more we can tell you," Troyer told KING-TV. "That's as cold-hearted as it is."
Roads were blocked around the attack. A witness driving past told the newspaper he saw an officer on the ground just after the shootings.
Last month, Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Halloween night as he was sitting in a cruiser with trainee Britt Sweeney. Sweeney was grazed in the neck.
Christopher Monfort, 41, of suburban Tukwila, was charged in the shooting. Days after the shooting, Seattle detectives attempted to question Monfort at his residence. Police say that Monfort then ran from the detectives and tried to use a gun. The detective shot him.
Authorities also linked Monfort to the October firebombing of four police vehicles, with prosecutors saying Monfort waged a "one-man war" against law enforcement.
Monfort remained hospitalized.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OFFICERS_SHOT?SITE=IDCOE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-11-29-13-10-41
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Four police officers were shot and killed Sunday morning in what authorities called a targeted ambush at a coffee house in Washington state, a sheriff's official said.
Officials at the scene told The News Tribune in Tacoma two gunmen burst into the Forza Coffee Co. and shot the four uniformed officers as they were working on their laptop computers, then fled the scene.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery.
Troyer tells the newspaper "it was just a flat out ambush."
He could not immediately say what agency the officers were from. Police were searching for two suspect and interviewing witnesses. The coffee shop is near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle.
"We hopefully will have answers, but there is nothing more we can tell you," Troyer told KING-TV. "That's as cold-hearted as it is."
Roads were blocked around the attack. A witness driving past told the newspaper he saw an officer on the ground just after the shootings.
Last month, Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Halloween night as he was sitting in a cruiser with trainee Britt Sweeney. Sweeney was grazed in the neck.
Christopher Monfort, 41, of suburban Tukwila, was charged in the shooting. Days after the shooting, Seattle detectives attempted to question Monfort at his residence. Police say that Monfort then ran from the detectives and tried to use a gun. The detective shot him.
Authorities also linked Monfort to the October firebombing of four police vehicles, with prosecutors saying Monfort waged a "one-man war" against law enforcement.
Monfort remained hospitalized.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
SNOW!!!
Starting late last night, the snow fell! We got about 11 inches. When G woke up this morning I opened up his curtains and showed it to him and he just stared and smiled!!! He loved watching the snowplow come and move snow out of the way for us but he missed his Daddy, who was out working all day (because of course people can't slow the heck down). The sad part is that I now realize that the more snow we get - the less I'll be taking G out into it! In 11 inches of a snow a 35 inch Boof can't get around easily!!! And because of the metal snow roof over the house, snow comes sliding down and falls off the eaves. It's like a little avalanche, which makes me slightly nervous but of course G would never be out in that alone.
First thing this morning I had to put on a pair of Ed's boots (that go up to my knees) and trudge out (in my pj's) to the satellite dishes and brush them off (both TV and internet are satellite). I can see that I'm going to get very tired of having to do that. Why they didn't install them closer to the house is beyond me!
This is Tasers first snow and she ran around like a crazy lady everytime she went out potty. In fact, I have to wonder if she actually pottied because I never saw her do it. I could literally read Siren's mind when I let them out, "Oh crap - not this stuff again!" Poor old girl!
All things considered, it's beautiful here with all the snow! When the sun came out this afternoon it felt like God was stopping for just a minute and saying, "Yup, that looks good."
First thing this morning I had to put on a pair of Ed's boots (that go up to my knees) and trudge out (in my pj's) to the satellite dishes and brush them off (both TV and internet are satellite). I can see that I'm going to get very tired of having to do that. Why they didn't install them closer to the house is beyond me!
This is Tasers first snow and she ran around like a crazy lady everytime she went out potty. In fact, I have to wonder if she actually pottied because I never saw her do it. I could literally read Siren's mind when I let them out, "Oh crap - not this stuff again!" Poor old girl!
All things considered, it's beautiful here with all the snow! When the sun came out this afternoon it felt like God was stopping for just a minute and saying, "Yup, that looks good."
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Snow!!!
We've had a few dustings of snow here and there but last night it was snowing heavy and it stuck around! When G woke up this morning I had to feed him breakfast and let him wake up fast so that we could get out in the snow before it melted on us. He LOVES the snow. I probably over bundled him but it was pretty chilly so I hope he stayed warm enough. I let him stay outside until he started coughing, I decided that was my cue to come inside. We came in and he napped for 3 hours! I guess that fresh cold air (and lugging around all that snow gear) wore him out!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Wow!
Yes, I suck. For the longest time I haven't gone a month without updating my blog. We have been busy, but never too busy to blog. I am getting terrible about this. I know that over the last month I have said to myself, "oh - I'd better blog about that" and then I just never get around to it. To be fair, the two times I did sit down to blog my desktop wouldn't let me because I have to use Firefox and for some reason Firefox and Blogger aren't getting along? Well I fixed that issue so now I'm coming to you live from my desktop!
October was a busy month but I can't tell you why it was busy - just living life I guess! I had at least one trip to CdA for doctors visits and there is nothing to report on that front. My Mom JUST came down the other day because I found her a camp trailer in our area! It's a 13 foot Fun Finder trailer that is just perfect for...JUST HER! She bought it from a woman who lives south of Stevensville. I'm so proud of her for making the leap to doing something for herself and by herself. I know it's not easy for her to think about how to live life without Dad here to live it with, but she's slowly trucking along. James (Ed's son) was down here at the same time to go hunting with Ed but after 2 days out in the woods he went home empty handed. Speaking of hunting season, neither of us (me or Ed) has been able to find anything to shoot either. Hunting here in the Lochsa is harder than we anticipated. We do have 2 days left of hunting season though, so we'll continue trying to fill the freezer!
Sarah and a friend of hers named Morgan came to Powell on a weekend break from school. They are in the same classes together at the U of Idaho and Morgan is a HUGE help to Sarah. G fell in love with Morgan before she could even get her coat off and he never left her alone the rest of the time the girls were here. Everytime the girls tried to study, G would be in the middle of their notes and books, tearing them up. He loved having them here almost as much as I did!!!
Last week I decided to get G's potty chair out of the box and just put it in his bathroom so that he could see it and get used to it being around. Well he wanted to sit on it, so I went ahead and took off his diaper and voila - peepee in the potty! I took that as some kind of cue and continued to sit him on it. There's no pressure, this is pretty early for potty training, but he's done amazing with it. I'm not expecting much because he doesn't seem to know to tell me that he has to go peepee and he doesn't seem to realize "oh - I've got to go potty!" but when I sit him on his potty, 8/10 times he pees in it. I am so impressed that I went and bought him some unnerwears (underwear) and some pull-ups and he absolutely loves wearing them!!! I think his favorite part is that he has easy access to play with his twig and berries whenever the mood strikes him. We've had a few accidents here and there, but he really is doing awesome! I can tell when he has to poop because he won't peepee on his potty even though I know it's time for him to. That's alright - he'll get there. The hard part is that when we are not at home I can't leave him in his unners because he's nowhere near ready for that! I'm very proud of my little monkey - he is growing up so very fast!!!
G's technically got 9 teeth up and very visible right now, but he's got one lower one that is broken through, 2 top molars that are broken through, and 2 other upper teeth that are bulging under the gums. He's been drooling like crazy and he seems to find his own drool hilarious. He's not napping very well but he's sleeping good at night if we give him some Tylenol.
Well, that's all for now because I have to go attack my ever growing pile of laundry to fold. Sorry for the delay in updating!
October was a busy month but I can't tell you why it was busy - just living life I guess! I had at least one trip to CdA for doctors visits and there is nothing to report on that front. My Mom JUST came down the other day because I found her a camp trailer in our area! It's a 13 foot Fun Finder trailer that is just perfect for...JUST HER! She bought it from a woman who lives south of Stevensville. I'm so proud of her for making the leap to doing something for herself and by herself. I know it's not easy for her to think about how to live life without Dad here to live it with, but she's slowly trucking along. James (Ed's son) was down here at the same time to go hunting with Ed but after 2 days out in the woods he went home empty handed. Speaking of hunting season, neither of us (me or Ed) has been able to find anything to shoot either. Hunting here in the Lochsa is harder than we anticipated. We do have 2 days left of hunting season though, so we'll continue trying to fill the freezer!
Sarah and a friend of hers named Morgan came to Powell on a weekend break from school. They are in the same classes together at the U of Idaho and Morgan is a HUGE help to Sarah. G fell in love with Morgan before she could even get her coat off and he never left her alone the rest of the time the girls were here. Everytime the girls tried to study, G would be in the middle of their notes and books, tearing them up. He loved having them here almost as much as I did!!!
Last week I decided to get G's potty chair out of the box and just put it in his bathroom so that he could see it and get used to it being around. Well he wanted to sit on it, so I went ahead and took off his diaper and voila - peepee in the potty! I took that as some kind of cue and continued to sit him on it. There's no pressure, this is pretty early for potty training, but he's done amazing with it. I'm not expecting much because he doesn't seem to know to tell me that he has to go peepee and he doesn't seem to realize "oh - I've got to go potty!" but when I sit him on his potty, 8/10 times he pees in it. I am so impressed that I went and bought him some unnerwears (underwear) and some pull-ups and he absolutely loves wearing them!!! I think his favorite part is that he has easy access to play with his twig and berries whenever the mood strikes him. We've had a few accidents here and there, but he really is doing awesome! I can tell when he has to poop because he won't peepee on his potty even though I know it's time for him to. That's alright - he'll get there. The hard part is that when we are not at home I can't leave him in his unners because he's nowhere near ready for that! I'm very proud of my little monkey - he is growing up so very fast!!!
G's technically got 9 teeth up and very visible right now, but he's got one lower one that is broken through, 2 top molars that are broken through, and 2 other upper teeth that are bulging under the gums. He's been drooling like crazy and he seems to find his own drool hilarious. He's not napping very well but he's sleeping good at night if we give him some Tylenol.
Well, that's all for now because I have to go attack my ever growing pile of laundry to fold. Sorry for the delay in updating!
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