Greetings from VA

Well we have arrived in the great state of VA. I love it here and am so sad that we are only here for 6 months and half of a month is already gone. =( The people here on post are so nice while we in processed and are so helpful. We put our name on a housing list like 5 months ago but once we got here they said there were no available houses and recommended we try these "luxury" apartments. Luxury obviously means different things to different people but the apartments are nice and I am glad to finally be somewhere stable and not living in a suitcase.

Monday our movers came. We have not had our stuff since the last week of June so we were so excited to see our furniture and the rest of our clothes. However we did lose 2 boxes that held some pretty important things and they broke a few big items like the knob from our washing machine and Clayton's exersaucer...oh well it looks like we will be filling a report with the Army for some new stuff.

VA is a haven for history and we are eating it up. So far we have visited a living history exhibit at Violet Bank House : the headquarters for Gen. Lee during the battle of Petersburg, Petersburg national Battlefield: so big we did not see it all and we took a tour from a CRAPPY guide...learned nothing but the battlefield is awesome. Tonight we took a walking tour of the Blanford Church cemetery in honor of the soldiers who died in the Battle of the Crater.

Jason started class Tuesday so Clayton and I have spent our days putting the apt. together and figuring out what this town has to offer us. There seem to be several things that will be really cool once we get in the routine.

Speaking of routine....Clayton does not have one right now and it is killing us. He is being a monster, not sleeping through the night, whining and having crazy temper issues. But is can say cookie (tutie) and something that sounds like badumpa dumpa? He now has 12 teeth and has not gained an ounce!

Trip to GA

So we finally made it to GA from TX. We left Fort Hood on Monday around 12 eastern time and arrived in GA around 9 Tuesday morning (central time). Clayton did amazing! He slept most of the time and thought it was a treat to run around gas station parking lots and eat while riding...normally both no nos. Jason and I however were not so content we decided that since we were tired we wshould drink some energy drinks slash coffee....well that backfired into us having to pee every 5 or so exits. Also we checked the forecast and it said there was a 30% chance of rain-LIARS!!!!! It rained through the WHOLE state of Louisiana. We had a ton of stuff in the back of the truck but luckily the trash bags we tied around them held great and nothing got wet.

Since we arrived in GA we have been spending time in South Georgia with Jason's side of the family. Let me tell you it only takes a few days for a child to get off of a schedule and I'm afraid we will never get him back on! But he is having a blast. Swimming, playing and running in so much free space....I just realized I sound like I am talking about a dog, his new favorite thing to do is ride the golf cart.

Our big plans for the 4Th include going to the lake with J's dad and family and watching fireworks from an island where we will dock the boats, I am so excited. It will be hot and the gnats are horrible but I am looking forward to it and Clayton will get to experience some new things that should be fun to watch him do.

There is still no news on the house in VA but I am hopeful that everything will work out and our worst case scenario is not a bad situation at all so we are having fun and spending some MUCH needed time with our families and not worrying about the next stretch of the road on this journey to VA.

I am hoping to get some pictures uploaded soon! OK guys I will post after the trip to the lake. I hope everyone has great 4Th!

Some recent pictures

Above picture is Clayton watching Jason cut the grass.
Below is Clayton is Jason's road guard vest (what he wears during PT)

Clayton with his "bear" watching tv

sitting in his car seat that he turned over so that he could pull it next to the couch in order to climb on the couch!

Clayton and I on mother's day at a lake near our house

Weekly update

Wow so I am getting really bad about blogging but I have now set time in my calendar and in my week to write at least once.

We went to a real working Texas ranch this weekend and had a blast. Clayton got to see Zebra in the wild (well sort of in the wild), ride horses and go swimming in a creek. All first for him it was so cool to have the opportunity to experience those things. I will add pictures once I get some. I was so wrapped up in having fun with him I forgot to take any but luckily there were some friends who did.

This week has been pretty busy. Since the division Jason is assigned to is moving to Fort Carson, CO there are a lot of people moving to different locations and moving with the unit. Basically when large groups of people move around like that there are a ton of farewell parties and events. Between Jason and I it seems we have invitations every other day! So Clayton has been passed around quite often lately.

Let's see what is he doing now....eating all "table food", he has been bottle free for a month, he can climb on the couch, he is crazy about this bear/blanket that goes everywhere!, he went to his first concert (Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band), and he is cutting his back molar!

We bought him a new bear so now there are two exactly the same. I had this fear that the movers would pack up his and then he would have to move without it. I wasn't prepared to deal with that so I bought a back up.

Tomorrow we start swim lessons...I am so excited! The next post will have pictures and if I stick with my plan there will be updates much more often!

Long month

Ok a little summary since the last time I wrote.

1. Mother's day was great. We went to the park and had a nice quiet picnic. Pictures with be posted soon I hope.

2. Jason is working on this crazy LSAT class and will be taking the LSAT on June 8th. There is a program through the Army (FLEP) that will pay for him to go to law school with an additional 4 year commitment (I think). So he will be a lawyer in the Army. He takes this class 3 hours a night and takes all the computer time away from me!

3. Clayton has an ear infection that will not go away! he has had it for a month and is on round 2 of meds. If it is not cleared up by next Tuesday we may be going to an ENT and discussing tubes.


So this is where I have been! Oh but good news....Jason is being promoted to Captain in June...YAY!!!!!

1st Birthday Party

I thought pictures would best portray Clayton's First Birthday Party

Clayton was waiting for his cake

In his new Cozy Coupe

Playing in his new sand/ water table

All dressed and ready for the sports themed party

I made and decorated the cake all by myself!

Big feet

The Dr said that now that Clayton is walking he needs to be fitted for shoes. We took him to the Stride Rite to be fitted. He has the biggest feet ever! 4.5 average I guess but then they measured the width and said we should get him a extra wide. So in number form that is a 4.5xw that seems so big when looking at it. Plus special shoes come with a special price! $50 on average but luckily we were at the outlet and they had some for $25. I still felt like that was high for shoes for someone who will out grow them so fast but I would rather pay the money now and allow for good walking then pay latter when I screwed him up by cramming his giant feet in a "normal" shoe!

After the shoes we went to Mimi's Cafe. Parents magazine rated them the #1 restaurant for kids 2 years in row. The food was good and the experience was good but I'm not sure I would rate them the #1. A lot of our experience was the waiter....props to Jeremy!