A Penny for your thoughts...

It's been about 50/50 with people that say Abby and Caleb look alike. Personally, I think they are completely different...what do you think? The first one is Caleb, the second one is Abby.

I survived!!

Okay, so it probably sounds like I'm blowing things out of proportion, but I survived!! It was my longest time away from the kids...Brent is on Annual Training, and has been gone for about 2 weeks. I clumped all my work days together, that would be 4 twelve hour shifts in a row. Thursday I took the kids to my mom's house. Normally mom comes up here to watch them if we need weekend coverage, but Dad's Parkinson's is getting a lot worse, so she can't be away for that long. Anyway...I was really worried that Caleb would get too homesick (he does that when we go on holidays). The kids did great...Mom said they were complete angels. Caleb never had to get a time-out. It was incredibly busy at work this weekend, so it kept my mind off of the kids and Brent being gone. Mom and Dad brought the kids up today. Caleb couldn't get out of the car fast enough! Abby started putting herself to a sitting position today. Mom swears she didn't do that over the weekend at all. I think it was rather nice of Abby to wait until she got home to do new things! Anyway...I'm glad the weekend is over, and Brent gets home tomorrow for a few days before he takes off for the August guard weekend. His commander is a single guy with no family commitments, so he doesn't always consider families when he decides their Guard schedules. Oh well.

Need to vent...

Okay, so for a long time, my boss had been suggesting that I become a Care Team Leader...basically means that your one of the unit's resources...you're in charge a lot, etc. Well...since I'm one of the more senior people there, I'm in that role most of the time anyway, just don't have the label. I also work part time (60%). I said I wasn't willing to go full time if I didn't need to because I didn't want my kids in daycare any more than necessary. So anyway...I had to wait until they "posted" a care team leader position, and apply for it like it was a new job (I wouldn't be changing units or anything). So, a position was posted, only it was for 80% and straight evenings. Again...my manager said to "just apply for it." I told her that I couldn't do 80% and I wouldn't do straight evenings. I dislike 8 hour shifts...they would require me to work additional days. Anyway....I was promised that it wouldn't be a problem, and that "we'd work it out." I agreed to go to 70% if they changed the straight evening part. Right now I'm technically day/evening rotation...and I do 12 hr shifts, 7am to 7pm. Moving on...everything was agreed upon by my manager that I would do 70% and stay day/evening (even though the position said eveings...she was going to change it). So, I accepted the position and was supposed to change roles August 3. Today I get a phone call from my manager saying that they weren't going to "let" her change the position from evenings. Now, considering this was a term of my acceptance...I was a little miffed. I actually couldn't say anything at first, because I had started to think I was stuck in the evening spot. Anyway...she said she would offer me my "old position" back if I didn't want to do the evening thing. I was like "of course, I'm not doing straight evenings if I don't have to." So, just like that they renigged on the promotion. I'm starting to think I need change....just not sure what kind of change. We get a new manager in a little over a month....will that be enough change? I dunno.

Crawling Lessons

I snapped these pics after I made my last blog entry and thought they were too cute to post later!! :)

Hodge Podge...

Abby's 9 month appointment was on Wednesday...she's 22 pounds, 2 ounces and a little over 29 inches long. She's also got two more teeth ready to pop through at any moment!

Caleb is potty training finally....and I think I'd rather hit myself over the head with a 2x4. It's not going well. I've tried everything everyone has told me for advice (and thank you thank you thank you for advice!!). We went shopping and picked out special "big-boy" underwear for him to use once he's potty trained. He was VERY excited to get Thomas the Tank Engine. We went home and he carried all his diapers to Abby's room since "big boy's don't need diapers." We then proceeded to try, one by one, every technique that people have suggested. Sorry, but nothing is working. I'm now trying bribes...stickers and Dum-Dums just may do the trick....slowly, of course!

And, of course all this is happening while Brent is on Annual Training for 10 days straight. Yea for me.

I decided to finally get the kiddos into the wading pool today. This is how it went...

I don't think Abby appreciated the pool at first...(at little disclaimer: it was the temperature of bath water, she loves baths)



It helped when she found toys!



And then the fun began...



Caleb didn't really help the fact that Abby wasn't too sure about the pool!



She is learning to defend herself, though!



The "big man" himself...

What a weekend!

So, yeah...if you go to my previous post, you'll see how our Friday started. Brent had taken the day off from work because his parents were coming up. His parents were coming because we were going to finally put up the flagpole that Brent has been wanting since we moved in. Would you believe that after it flooded like that, the sun came out, and the day turned out great...except the 90 degree muggy part...but we got a lot done. I'm posting a few pics...if you want to see all the progress, click on my Wells Web Links, "Picture Page" at the top right part of the blog, and go to the House Projects 2008 folder.






And, then I get the bright idea that, if the flagpole is in...we should mulch and plant, right? Actually, I was going to wait to plant until fall, but all the plants were on sale, so now begins the game of keeping them watered!



And, why stop at the front of the house? The sides needed to be done too. No, I didn't plant the WHOLE side...just the round part you see.



So, forty bags of mulch, eight bushes (small ones), six perennials (not counting the ground cover) later...we finished. Oh, I forgot about transplanting my irises too. Yeah...my back hurts!

Again....I can't find my Ark!

So, we're flooded again...it poured for about and hour and a half...this is what happened, and there's more coming. It's nothing like what they're experiencing up north...they got 10 inches of rain in 12 hours...that's on top of the flood that happened earlier this season.

This is the end of our driveway.

This is looking up one way.

This is looking the other way....that's our mailbox.

I walked over to our neighbor's yard to take pictures of the problem street. You can see the debris line....I didn't get out at the peak...it already started to recede.

The guy that lives on corner (owns the suburban) actually keeps sandbags in front of his garage.

Zoo time (again)...

So, we (the kids, dog, and I) were on our way back from our morning walk on Wednesday as I was trying to decide what to do for the day. Then, when we got inside...we had a message...it was a friend of mine asking if we wanted to have a zoo day. I thought this was a great idea, so I called her back, quick gave Abby a bottle and threw a bunch of stuff together. Now, of course, Abby decided she didn't need a morning nap, so things could get interesting! But...the kids did great, we were at the zoo for almost 3 hours. Abby didn't fall asleep until the van ride home. These are the pics from the day:

Thought we'd try out the new shades before we went outside...(okay, this was before Wednesday)


The shades at the zoo (they lasted long enough to snap a picture).

Caleb and his best friend....at this point they were going back and forth, saying "My buffalo!" "No, my buffalo." Yes, there were buffalo...you just can't see them.

They were so funny...like two peas in pod...they would both run up to the fence and step the whopping 6 inches higher to get a better look.

Caleb NEVER lets me take his picture by these things...only when a friend is around, but I couldn't get him to look through the lower one.

When he finally went over to it, Caleb and Timothy were too excited, and would only look at each other.

We had a good day, so we ended with ice cream.

Except, I think Caleb may have gotten brain-freeze...what else would cause this face?

Catching up on pictures...

Okay..so I haven't added any pics of the kiddos recently...so it's time for a little catch-up! :)





And...what a difference a week makes!! These are our baby birds now.