Welcome to God's Country!

That should be the sign when you enter the Northwest because only God could make something this beautiful.  People have been telling me for months that Washington would be BEAUTIFUL, rainy but beautiful none the less.  I kept telling myself...sure sure it will be beautiful but not as beautiful as all the other places I have seen already.  The mountains in NC are wonderful!  The beaches in Florida are breath-taking....and warm!  Vermont and New Hampshire...there are no words for how pretty it is out there!  But once I got into Northern California and Oregon, I knew that my friends were right.  It is amazing out here!  Even the moss is pretty!  I never in my wildest dreams thought that moss was EVER pretty but there is moss all over the place here, because of all the rain, and it is pretty!  The water and the mountains and the trees and even the crazy fog and clouds are wonderful.  The temps here in WA have been really nice!  Mid 40's to mid 50's morning and night but it has been raining A LOT since I got here.  It is really strange though.  One min it will be drizzling and the next it is sunny and then the next it is down pouring. I can completely understand why I was told to always keep a coat and an umbrella with me! :)   I haven't taken any pictures yet of things around town.  I know I am a slacker but Matt was telling me that the last time he was here, he took tons of pictures but none of them really captured the true beauty here.  This really discouraged me and because of that I haven't taken any pictures.  If they won't do justice to my environment then I really don't see the point in taking crappy pictures.  I need to get one of those National Geographic cameras to take some awesome pictures with!! :)

On another note...Matt checks into his boat on Monday.  Back to the daily grind we go.  We are finally settled into our new apartment and I love it!  3 bedroom 2 bath and A LOT more space than our last place.  We have an office now and a REAL walk in closet!  Ohhh how I missed you walk in closet!  No real woman should ever have to live without you.  We are going to meet Matt's boss and his family this weekend for dinner.  I can't wait to finally meet one of the wives from the boat!  I have been told that we have a very family friendly boat and I am so very relieved to hear that! 

Well that is really about all that is going on right now.  Alan is still growing like a weed and learning new things every day.  He almost has all 4 molars in and is working on his canine teeth.  Oh he finally got his 3rd bottom front tooth!  I thought those buggers would never come in!  We are working on our ABC's now and Alan LOVES basketball.  Just watch him yell "go go go" when the NC State Wolfpack is playing!  TOO CUTE!  Well that is all for now.  Hopefully I will have pics to put up soon.  Have a great day!

Happy New Year!

 First of all, Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years and that 2010 brings lots of joy and blessings to you all. I know I haven't put up a new post since November but honestly Alan and I have been sicker than dogs since our trip back from CT at Thanksgiving. I am still fighting off bronchitis and Alan JUST got better. Almost 6 weeks is WAY TOO long to be sick with the same thing. :(  Because of all the sickness that Alan has been dealing with, we have decided to have his adenoids removed on January 8th.  His ENT and Pedi both agree that it would help 110%.  Then ENT said we could have it done here, before we move, or in WA, when we get there, but that it would need to get done by the end of the month for sure.  We opted to just do it here since the doctors knew us and we had already had one surgery done there.  I hate that Alan has to deal with another surgery this early on but we knew when his tubes went in that there was a good possibility that we would be back for the adenoids.  I really am so very grateful that we have such a good ENT practice to go to. 

As some of you know, Alan is officially in a big boy bed! After all the times he had crawled out of his crib and landed head first on the floor, we decided it was best just to put him in a big boy bed and call it a night. He has done WONDERFUL in his bed. We still occasionally have issues with nap time and him getting up to play, but all in all he does well. Bed time is a breeze for sure! Alan even gets into bed by himself and I just have to tuck him in and give him kisses...then he is down for the count! :)

Alan has also gotten much much better at coloring/drawing. We upgraded from "Tadoodles" to big boy markers. Alan was very happy about that change!

Little man has been a constant source of endless entertainment and frustration for me since Matt has been away.  One minute Alan will have me pulling my hair out and then 2 seconds later I can't stop laughing at something he did or I am almost to tears because of something sweet he did.  I love when he comes up and gives me hugs and kisses.  His funny faces are hands down the best!  He tells everyone so much with his facial expressions, even though he can't always express what he is feeling in words. It is times like these that I wouldn't give up being a mother for anything.  I still can't believe how quickly he is growing and what a "big boy" he is.  Alan eats with a fork now and can do a spoon 50% of the time.  He puts his dirty clothes away in the hamper and even helps me do the laundry.  Alan loves to put the clothes in the dryer and put them in the laundry basket after they are dry!

Alan is also turning into a "world class chef"!  He loves to stand on his step stool and help me cook.  He even pulls stuff out of the pantry that we will need for dinner and I usually let him pick some part of dinner.  He loves to pick out the noodles for chili (he is partial to the ruffles) and likes to pick out veggies or what kind of meat we will have.  Even for being as young as he is, he really does have a strong opinion and wants to be heard. 

We are going to be heading WEST again at the end of the month!  Washington state will be our new home for the next few years and I am so very excited!  There are several churches out there that are wonderful and it is so nice to know that there are several options of places to call our church home.  Matt will finally be going to a boat...crazy huh!?!  Who would have thought he would ever have to see water??? ;)  So I probably won't be posting too much more this month since we will be getting ready to move but I will try to get at least a post or two in and then post when we get settled in WA.  I am so very excited to start this new adventure in our life! :)

A quick post

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth and that I am still here. Just been really busy lately and haven't really had the motivation to blog. I think that is the key to blogging....MOTIVATION!

Well we have been busy and dealing with a lot recently. Matt is in his FINAL school but that means that he has to be away from home. But we get to see him soon and that is all that matters! Alan and I have finally gotten into our routine and I have even had time to do some crafty projects! :) I made a door draft stopper..one of those bean filled things you put in front of your door to keep the cold air out. I have finally started baking too! I really want to decorate for Christmas this year too. I think we need to have a little more "festive" home this year. We usually don't do much and Christmas comes and goes just like any other day of the week. I don't want this year to be like that. So we shall see what I can come up with to do. :)Oh and Alan has started wearing a patch on his right eye every other day for an hour. His left eye is starting to "wander" in so we want to try to fix this before he starts losing vision in his eyes.
And this is what Alan loves to do....Facebook. :) Silly little boy. But he is getting pretty good at navigating the computer. All he needs now is a glass of Dr. Pepper and he will be JUST FINE! :)

What a day!

Or rather what a whirlwind of the past two weeks!!

Here is what has happened recently:
-I turned a year older...YEAH! ;)
-My darling hubby had 2 weeks of super cram time before his final boards :(
-Matt got a 3.4 on his final oral board and a 3.0 on his final watch board!
-Alan is teething...what else is new???
-Alan had his 15 month check up and is doing GREAT!
-Shots are no fun....no matter what age your baby is
-Alan just learned the "L" sound and the "guh" sound.. sounds like he is saying Gullah Gullah some times :)
-We took a mini vacation! We went to see our friends David and Jill and their 2 boys up near Clemson, SC.
-Most necessary vacation I have ever taken in my life!!!
-Alan was a pill the whole time and was up at 6-7am every morning and didn't nap all day...2 cups of coffee was necessary each morning.
-We baby proofed Alan's bedroom because he is Houdini.
-Alan has a referral in to see a pediatric ophthalmologist because his left eye is starting to wander just like his mommy's. I know that I was really hoping that I was just seeing things but then Matt told me that Alan's eyes were doing funny things so I knew then that it was legit. But at least we are at one of the best eye institutes in the nation and they did a great job on my eye. I have complete confidence that they can get things figured out for Alan. :)
-We are heading out to NM on October 9th to see our friends from Mesa Baptist!!! I will never admit that I miss NM under any circumstances....but I will say that I miss our church and the people there. I know we will never be at a church like that again unless the Lord puts us back there!! :)
-WE HAVE ORDERS!!!! We are going to Bangor, WA on the USS Nebraska! We will be moving there at the end of January.
-Matt leaves for CT at the end of this month until we move to WA. "Lord, please give me the grace and strength I need to be strong while he is gone." I may have to set up a separate private blog so I can vent my frustrations when he is gone.

So that is really it in a quick nutshell. But I can't leave you with just info and no pictures!!! So here you go! :)
Alan finally got the fork thing down....took long enough!! But he doesn't do it all the time. :(
Daddy and Alan reading Goodnight MoonAlan giving Mommy her birthday present :)Alan after his last big boy haircut. Much better looking!!
Alan and his piggy bank from "Auntie" Erinn...He LOVES this thing!!!

NO!

That is Alan's new word of choice, NO!, followed by some tears. Then when I give him the dirty look for yelling no at me he gives me the biggest grin and says what I can only think is "What are you looking at me like that for? What did I do wrong? :bats beautiful blue eyes:" Boy am I in for trouble. Now his no sounds more like "NAW" but we all know what he is saying. :) Alan also wants to say hi to everyone! v cv ivf c,ef T589BI9PBH IIIIKJMN, , MNNNNBH c.

Slacker! :)

Yes I know I have been slacking on this. As usual, life gets busy and the blog goes by the wayside. But at least I am still updating! :) So little man is a regular walker now....as long as Mommy or Daddy are not in the room. ??? I don't get it but oh well...if he only wants to walk with other people around and not us then that is fine with me.

We went to North Carolina at the beginning of August for a week. We went to go see my Nana and Pop Pop and my sister Patricia. Everyone was just tickled by Alan and how much he had grown! Alan was 3 months the last time Patricia saw him and 6 months the last time Nana and Pop Pop saw him. He wasn't so mobile then! But we had a great time up there. Alan got to go swimming in the pool a few times and he also went to the beach twice! He didn't like the sand at first but once he got used to it's "shifty-ness" he was much better. He loved the water too!
Rocks and sand and shells were also his favorite thing at the beach......to eat. Yes my son thinks that sand is a delicious and nutritious part of a balanced diet. Who would have thought that beach sand was yummy?
We also got confirmation, while in NC, that our son HATES, and I mean HATES grass. He wants nothing to do with the stuff and will cry until you get him off of it. He even went to the point of sitting on the grass with his hands and feet up in the air so he didn't have to touch it with his bare skin. Crazy kiddo. But he likes sand....what a weirdo.
Alan also got a pretty nice "boo-boo" while we were up there too. But he recovered quickly. He had a chicken fight with the marble coffee table and lost. :( Busted lip, bruised tongue and cut gums later, he is still smiling! Got to love it. My little dare-devil boy just can't seem to let me rest for even a second. But boys will be boys right?
So "exciting" stuff going on with us now... Matt just took his 100% exam last week and he thinks that he did pretty well. Test results should be out sometime this week. But that was the last "BIG" written exam he has to take until he leaves this command. We are all very excited that he is done with that test! I have my last post-op eye surgery appointment on Thursday. Hopefully we get a "thumbs up"! They have finally figured out what is going on with my crazy body and have started me on medication to fix it and I go to see a nutritionist next week to tackle the unexplained weight loss issue. I find it slightly humorous that I had been "threatened" with a visit to the nutritionist during my pregnancy and before then and now someone is following through. Go figure. :) But hopefully this will get my back on the right track and get some healthy high calorie diet ideas that won't make Matt put on the same amount of weight as I am. That is going to be the tricky part...making 3 different meals at dinner time. UGH. That is all I have to say on that one! :) But other than that life is pretty calm. We should be getting orders here in the next month or so and Matt graduates the beginning of October! We are hoping for Washington state but where ever the Lord sends us is fine. Well that is about it for now. Hope that everyone else is doing well!

Walking what?

Alan decided on Sunday that he wanted to finally walk. All by himself with a toy in his hand, he took 4 steps and it hasn't stopped since! We are just so proud of him!