Potties and Preschool

Last week was a big one for Clayton! We knew before we got here that we were going to put him in some sort of preschool or part day program. Well as you all already know we are limited in our possibilities with out making that crzy drive. The CDC (Child Development Center) has not ever been my top choice on chlid care but that was the option here. In fairness the only time I have ever used the CDC was at Ft Hood and only once or twice for hourly care, which is sometimes just a glorified babysitter and the kids were always different and the teachers were someitmes different. I found out that they have a pre toddler part day program so we decided to go to the orientation and try it! The orientation was last Tuesday (2-16) and we loved the teacher, Ms. Gonzales and the classroom was great too. they have little computers, gross moter and fine motor skills area. But the best part for me, the crazy planner and organization freak, was the parent board. Ms. G as she likes to be called, puts up the snack schedule and daily lesson plan on the parent board so the parents always know what to expect and what the kiddos did seeing as how most pre toddler/toddlers don't really communicate that with mom and dad! But the other thing I really loved was the snacks, for example Thursday was his first day and they had yogurt and apple sticks/slices and water, which they have to help prepare and clean up...great learning tools. When we picked him up she left me know how he did and what he struggled with and that he had a great time! I was a little nervous because he cried real bad when we left him.

I would love to post pictures of his little class but there are very strict rules about pictures which I kind of like! There has to be a permission slip signed and everything.

Another big event that happened this week was CLAYTON PEED IN THE POTTY!!!! He climbed up on his little stool with his diaper off and shirt pulled up and peed in the potty. We of course started clapping and saying how great a job he did. Since then he has only done it once and had one accident when we spent some time in training pants but there is progress and a start so...YAY!!!

picture of undies

New Hobby?...why not start with some cash!

I have a new hobby of Cricutting, I'm not sure that is a word but let me define it for you: the act of using the Cricut to do amazing arts and crafts projects. I am so excited about using my Cricut. I got it for Christmas from my Jason's mom and stepdad (thanks again!) and have been making list of all the cartridges I want and projects I would love to work on. While searching for ideas I came across this website that is offering FREE CASH for following some simple instructions and reading her blog...too easy right! If you are at all interested in this sort of thing you should check out the website! Here's hoping I win so I can buy some supplies for this crazy expensive hobby!!

Week 2 in the desert

When I left off I said we were headed to the housing office in hopes of good news. Our hopes were quickly destroyed. We were told that we could be placed on the temporary housing list but that we would probably be placed in a house before we could get a spot at the temp housing. So needless to say I was very discouraged. I really don't mind living in the hotel, we are centrally located near everything we need...the commissary, PX, Clayton's school and a nice little walking track and were really not that far from anything else. I think we were told you could get ANYWHERE on post in 45 minutes walk. Since we only have 1 car right now it helps to be near stuff that Clayton and I can walk to. But the downside to living in the hotel is the cost. It cost $ 76 a day which added up is about $600 more than our BAH (basic allowance for housing). The temp housing would just be our BAH meaning nothing would come out of pocket plus they have a full size kitchen so no more eating at one of the 5 fast food here or microwave food. On a good note I am actually losing weight because I am only eating to survive not because I want to!

Back to the week though. After we left housing feeling very discouraged I threw myself a pitty party, had my 24 hours of crying and freaking out and then turned it over to God...God did not let me down!

Wednesday, I attended a MOPS meeting at the chapel...I loved it! But while I was there Jason called me 3 times back to back. I was nervous something was wrong so I texted him back and he respond with we got a housing offer but would tell me the details when we both got home. Well...we did get a housing offer and we accepted it (duh!) but someone is actually living in it right now! So we can move in on the 11th of March.

The issue now is that our reservations end at that hotel on the 8th and we have nowhere to go until the 11th. So please pray that something opens up for us and that we don't have to move to Barstow or Yermo for 3 days! Things are taking an upward turn but man will it be nice when things are settled and we can get our things.

 

Ft Irwin...welcome home

Now that I have had a few days to get used to the time change, the hotel and the inability to go to Walmart or anything non post related I am ready to blog about our arrival.

We got to Ft. Irwin around 2:30 Friday afternoon and went straight to the hotel to check in. From there we went to housing. When we walked in the lady asked us to fill out an application for the wait list and when we told here we were already on the list she seemed to change direction in her thinking and immediatly got us an agent. At this point I felt like maybe we were ahead of the game and were in a good postition. Once we talked to the agent though I realized that being on the list helped us out a lot just not enough.

The last time I had checked our position on the list we were somewhere in the low 20s...not great. Kim (our agent) told us that now that we were here she could move us up. I am getting so excited! She moved us to 5. I was thinking ...5 wow! Then she says "That puts you around mid to late March". Needless to say I was no longer excited. I knew we were going to have to wait, that's why I made a month long reservation at the hotel on post. I need to explain something first.

Ft. Irwin is literally in the middle of the Mojave Desert. There is only one option of hotel on post and the next available one is in Barstow which is 40 miles away after traveling down this really long boring road. So you can see why getting a house on post is crucial. We were wait listed in VA too but we just went 15 miles away to a great little town and got an apartment...not an option here. Ok back to the story

Like I was saying, I knew we were going to have to wait but I did think that since we were on the list in December we had done almost 2 months on the list already that we should get something earlier than March! Considering that people living in the neighbnorhood have said there are empty houses...so what are we waiting on? The housing office is on script I swear! They only say "we will call AS SOON as something opens up" and then give no more info! Kim then goes on to tell us that they can put us in temporary housing after Jason signs into post...next stop sign in to post. Thank goodness we are moving to temp housing (a glorified hotel room with a full kitchen) because the Army pays for 10 days in a hotel while you sort out housing. Our 10 days end on Sunday (next sunday) and after that we start paying the rate per day...actually we are paying now but we get the money back for the 10 days. If we stay here until mid March we will be paying about $2500 that is WAY more than our BAH and more than any rent we would pay!

So to sum it all up we are hoping that we can go in Monday and they will move us to temp housing and that mid March is a far end estimate....we shall see.

Where in the world are the Phillips' ?

It has been forever since I blogger so let me give a quick recap.


Mid December : Jason graduated from Captain’s Career Course and we moved (PCSed) from Ft. Lee Virginia and headed home.(December 19) On the way home we ran into an unexpected snow storm and had to spend an extra night on the road making us miss my cousins wedding rehearsal!

Deember 20- My beautiful cousin Jessica got married and Clayton was the ring bearer. He was the best ring bearer a toddler could be and looked super cute in his suit!

December 21- We headed to South Georgia to celebrate Christmas with Jason’s family. We had a great time! It was a little weird because I have never missed Christmas with my family but it was really fun to see how other people celebrate. Clayton, and Jason and I got SO much stuff that we had to rent a UHaul to get it all to California! This was a very special Christmas because Jason was home to celebrate with us and it was the first year Clayton seemed to have any idea what was going on.

December 22- My other cousin Devin, sister to the one that got married, welcomed her little baby girl into the world…my first 2nd cousin going in that generational direction. I am very sad that I won’t be able to watch her grow and that the next time I see her she will be sitting and eating real food!

December 28- We headed back up to North Georgia where we celebrated Christmas and New Years with my side of the family. Again we all got amazing gifts to add to the Uhaul and had a blast spending time with family.

January 8-January 29- Jason attended Airborne school and I bounced around the state visiting family and getting ready for the big move.
I think that brings me up to speed on the big items! Now that we are headed to a new place and not trying to suck as much out of a day as possible I am going to be much better at updating!

Sorry for the lack of pictures but hopefully the netbook and I can come to agreement soon and I can post all of pictures from our trip to California and Christmas on facebook!