Snow days....

We've had many snow days recently here in Ohio... more than I would like in one winter, but I can honestly say that in Andrew's opinion, there can never be too many :) Last year we were living in Arkansas, where there was no snow, but this year Ohio has provided us plenty of the white stuff so that Andrew could enjoy his first snow days!

Getting ready for our first snow experience!!!

Trying to walk through the drifts

Andrew's favorite snow activity to to help shovel...this will come in handy when he's a little older :)

Our "New" House

On January 2nd we made the most permanent move of our married life to our “new” house.

Zac bought the house in 2005 before we were married and lived in it for a few years. In 2007 we got married and soon after moved to Enid, OK. When we moved, instead of trying to sell the house we decided that renting it would be a better decision seeing as the housing market was starting to go down and we wanted to keep it around to build equity. So, we rented it for almost 3 years while traveling and thought we would never live in it again, but all of that changed in December when we got it back and started remodeling!

We spent the month of December fixing it up, painting and replacing carpet. Once it was ready we moved in! On a very, very, very cold and snowy day we moved from our apartment with the help of all of our friends! We are really enjoying all of the space and the feeling that we have finally settled somewhere!

Here are some pictures of the house! We are still working on unpacking a few things here and there but for the most part are set up! I don’t think that we will ever unpack every box - but I’d like to think that someday we will!

Living room

Andrew's Playroom

Dining room (we still have to get our table from storage)

What to do......?

It seems in our family that we don’t waste time doing much of anything. In the 3 short years that Zac and I have been married, we’ve moved 5 times to 3 different states and had a baby. For most of those 3 years we have been told what to do, where to go and when to do it by the military but now we find ourselves out “on our own” for the first time in our life.

We made our first huge decision this fall to stay in Ohio and try to make living in one state and Zac commuting to another for drill weekends and trips work out so that he could keep his job in Ohio, which has better opportunities for him. We also decided to move back into a house that Zac bought in 2005 and stop renting it so that we could finally settle somewhere. These decisions came somewhat easily as there was a clear feeling for both of us as to what we wanted for our life and these choices seemed to make the most sense.

Once we got our taste of freedom and a chance to make some choices of our own, there seem to be endless options for what else we want to do with our life now that we can control some of it. This brings me to the big one that has been weighing on our minds recently; when to have baby #2. For most families, baby #2 can be an easy thing to plan. You decide what your optimal spacing is and then go for it once you know that you are ready for the challenge of adding another little one to the family. For us it is a different story. Being that we are a military family, we have to face the challenge of how to fit deployments into our family planning. This is where we are having issues with the planning part.

This decision has become one of the most difficult things I have ever thought about and has truly been consuming my thoughts for months now. As it is now, Zac will be gone during our “ideal” time to have baby #2, so that has left us trying to figure out what is best – before he leaves or after? Do we have one before and then I'm alone with a baby and toddler or do we wait and run the risk of a 4 year spacing, which is not what we wanted? We have so many questions and thoughts as we try to figure it all out. We know we want the next one sometime soon, but how do we work it all out or is it even possible that we can make it all fit into our schedule when it is something that we do not have control over? What to do? I have so many more thoughts, we both do, but there is no way to get everything that is running through my mind down.

I feel like blogging about this because maybe it will give me a little more clarity on the situation, or maybe some of my fellow mama friends and military family could lend some advice. However, I believe that whatever does happen for us will be fine and will work out, I just wish it was a little easier to figure out! Sometimes it helps to get things out there into the world – so that is what I’m trying!

trying something new

I've been practcing with some new software to help keep everyone up-to-date. I finally got around to putting something together and actually posting it. Hope you enjoy...

Make a Smilebox postcard

Andrew has learned a new skill!

For the past few weeks Andrew has been working on his walking skills. He started out by standing up by the couch or the coffee table and reaching out, taking a step and then falling. Then he started taking a few more steps, three was about the limit for the last week or so. We have been working with him daily and trying to get him up and moving as much as possible. We use his mickey mouse truck to help him practice by placing it a little out of his reach and letting him reach for it, taking a few steps to get to it until he falls. Here is a video of him trying to make it to his truck.

Tonight, he took more steps than he ever has in his life! This next video we shot tonight, he made it all the way from the coffee table to his daddy :) He did this several times and we were able to catch it on tape - one of the hardest things to do!

Zac is Coming Home :)

And now for a post about me...

My hubby comes home tomorrow and I cannot wait! It has been 3 months since we left him in Little Rock, AR and he traveled to New Castle, DE to continue his training with the Air Force, while we moved to Worthington, OH to be near family. I am so happy that we are finally done with the training and he can come home and start to live a normal life again, and that our life as a family can go back to normal!

These past 3 months that we have been apart definitely had intense moments, but we all survived and it will be great that we can start doing things like a "normal" family once again. No more 8 hour drives to visit, no more "single"married mom, and no more living in a hotel room for him! For the next few months we get to live a normal life, until of course it is time to move again!

YEAH! Counting down the hours until he is home! For all of my fellow military spouses out there - you know what this feels like!!!!!!

AHA!

Andrew had a super fun day today; he got to visit the AHA children’s museum in Lancaster, OH with his Great-Aunt Cindy! The museum offers many different interactive stations for children of all ages. We spent a lot of time in the Plop Zone, which was for kids ages 0-3. It was an area where Andrew could crawl around and play freely, without the risk of being run over by a bigger kid! There was a foam slide and stairs to climb up and many balls to play with. Andrew practiced climbing up the stairs and sliding down the slide on his tummy (face first) and also climbing up the slide and trying to go down the stairs face first! Let’s just say it was never a dull moment keeping up with him!

http://www.aha4kids.org/

We also spent some time at the water table playing with boats and duckies and trying not to get soaked. Then we played in a pretend house for a while working with tools and dug at the sand table with a rake and a shovel.

There were many other stations including a fire truck (with costumes), a Lego table, a bank, grocery store, kitchen, vet office, stage (with microphones and costumes), a garden and fishing! Many of those activities were for slightly older kids so we will have to go back some time and learn all about those!

Here are some pictures from our fun day!

Heading up the stairs!

Interesting way to go down the slide!!!
Trying to figure out how those balls got in there and how do they come out?
"YEAH, SAND!" Andrew's new favorite thing! We turned this kid into a sand monster!

Andrew had so much fun climbing on things at the museum that he decided he wanted to test out his skills at home! This is what he does when mom turns her back :)

"I'm just trying to get a good look out the window!"

A's Big Birthday Bash :)

On Sunday, August 9th Andrew took part in his very first birthday party! We had tons of family and friends over to Grandma and Grandpa Piper's house for a Mickey Mouse Luau! Andrew enjoyed every minute of it! He had several little friends come to play, he got to open a million gifts and smash a cake!!! Mom and Dad enjoyed the party too and it was fun to celebrate one year with our little man <3 It was great to have daddy home for the weekend also!

The smash cake mommy decorated!

Andrew smashing the cake!

Opening some cool presents!

Playing with the presents!

A rare family shot...we really need to do a better job at taking more!

Although the party was a lot of fun, I'm glad that it is over! There was A LOT of time spent on preparation for the party for a 1 year old who will not remember any of it! We will however have our fond memories of the day and many photos to look back on! Hopefully Andrew is not expecting quite the blowout that he had this year for his 2nd birthday!!! LOL!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Andrew!

Happy 1st Birthday Andrew :)

We celebrated Andrew's 1st Birthday today and went out to dinner where Andrew got to eat his first kid's meal at a restaurant! He had cheese pizza with fries and LOVED IT! He was so excited when the waitress set it down in front of me, he grabbed a slice! He knew it was for him! We really missed daddy and sent him some pictures while we were eating so he could be a part of it too!

Coloring and getting ready to order :)

Pizza and Fries on the plate!!!!

Pizza all over the place!

A present to open on his birthday

the aftermath! Verdict is - Cheese Pizza is DELICIOUS!

A special birthday treat!

Hope you enjoyed these photos from our fun dinner out! Be sure to check back soon for pictures from Andrew's First Birthday Party :)

Visiting Dad in Delaware...as in state of ...not Delaware, OH :(

We traveled to Newark, DE on July 14th to visit Dad for a few days before heading down to the beach! We got to check out the local area and see where we are going to be living soon! Zac is staying at a local extended stay hotel, so we took advantage of all the perks; the nice walking path, the free food, etc.! We had a good time and it was great to see Zac :)

Andrew made a new friend in the mirror at Daddy's hotel room :) It looks like this one's a keeper!

11 Months - July 12th 2009

Ok, we'll start the smorgasbord of photos and video with Andrew's 11 Month Birthday! He turned 11 months on July 12th, it was a Sunday (in case you cannot remember that far back!) and we spent the day lounging by the pool and enjoying the company of Grandma and Grandpa Piper! It was a fun day, but we missed Daddy, he was stuck in Delaware, awaiting the beginning of another fun work week :(

Here are some photos from our day of swimming and fun!

Floating like a big boy!

I don't think we'll ever be able to get rid of "the bink"

It's been awhile...

As you can tell I have not posted anything in awhile. I'm going to blame it on our super busy month of July. It seemed that once July 4th celebrations were ending our month began to fly. Andrew turned 11 months on the 12th, we left for Delaware to visit Dad on the 14th, then to Myrtle Beach with the family on the 18th, back to DE on the 25th and then back to Ohio on the 29th. It's been a little bit of a whirlwind of a month. August is now here and we are rapidly approaching Andrew's 1st Birthday!

Anyway, I have tons of photos and videos to load from the last month. Hopefully over this weekend I will have a chance to get it all on here! Check back Monday and we'll see if my goal has been accomplished :)

Flipping for my new Flip :)

My wonderful hubby got me a Flip video camera :) I had been doing some hinting that I really needed one, not just want, but NEEDED! Apparently he got the hint loud and clear, because when he surprised us with a visit last weekend he showed up with a gift! My very own 60 min. Ultra Flip Video!!!!

Needless to say, I am very excited! It is the size of an average point and shoot digital camera, so I can take it anywhere me and Andrew venture to! I can shoot video and load it to the blog, or anywhere else, in a matter of minutes! This means I can share videos with all of you, something I was not able to do previously - I could have figured out a way with the big camera - but who wants to do that! LOL!

I hope you enjoy this video, I shot it the first full day that I was using the Flip! I know it's not the most exciting of videos, but I had to share something :) Andrew's first tastes of a Kraft Single!!!!

10 Months Old :)

Andrew turned 10 Months old today! Only 2 short months until he is 1...can you believe it? I know that I cannot. It seems like only yesterday he was a newborn who just ate and slept. So much for those lazy days! Andrew is now crawling around the house like a crazy man! Everyday he gets faster and faster and his technique improves.

He is not only learning to crawl, but also pulling up to stand against furniture and people. He has always liked to stand as apposed to sitting or laying. Now he is able to crawl, sit up and then stand up if he wants to. Andrew especially like to use mommy as a support system. Daily he uses me to stand up, sit down, and climb all over - I guess I'm a playground these days!

Here are some pictures from our day as we not only celebrated Andrew's 10 month birthday, but also Zac's 26th Birthday :) We got to eat out at Max & Erma's and it was delicious! You can see that Andrew was especially excited about the free cookies that we got!!!

"These must be for me since I'm such a good boy!"
It took forever to get him to sit still for one smiley pic!

On the move!

The Birthday boys together
Zac and his birthday pie!!! YUMMY :)

"Thanks for looking at my pictures!"

I know it has been a while since the last post, but that is due to the fact that one week ago, Andrew and I moved back to Columbus, OH! So, with the organizing, the packers, movers, driving to OH, unloading, the movers again and now the unpacking - it has been a little chaotic. We are currently staying at my parents while I attempt to get our new apartment set up - we should be moving there to stay on Sunday :) We really like our new place (and hope that Zac likes it when he gets here to visit) and are excited to start our next segment back in OH if only for 6 or so months!

Something cool that did happen while I was unpacking; in a stack of boxes, sitting under on box - on top of another, was a map of Philadelphia. Neither one of us have ever seen it or even know how it got in the middle of a stack of boxes, but we think that it is a sign telling us that although Philly might seem scary, we will be OK there!

Here are some pictures of our last days in Arkansas

Staying out of the movers way...

Snickers trying to find a good hiding place from the choas

Andrew and Caleb's last playdate

"Mommy let them take all the good toys"

9 Months Old!

Andrew turned 9 months today. We cannot believe that he is only 3 short months away from being a 1 year old! It's amazing at how fast time flies! Here are a few photos from today's photo shoot and one from Mother's Day!

Enid, America...here we come (and the Memphis Zoo!)

Andrew took his first (and most likely, Only) trip to Enid, Oklahoma this past week. I wanted to visit friends who still live in Enid and friends from My Dentist, where I used to work. So, we planned a little getaway to Enid since we were only 6 hours away and soon would be heading farther. Here are some photos from our trip!"Yum! Rib Crib BBQ!"

Sitting in the midst of a stampede...just kidding...these guys are made of wood! Government Springs Park, in EnidAt the dentist..."I'm ready!"

Ready to take off...to space!

Flying around the playground at Vance AFB!

We went to Enid on Wednesday and Thursday and decided on the way home from Enid that we should go to the Memphis Zoo on Friday with Daddy since he was not flying. We packed up Friday morning and headed off once again, this time to the East to go to the Zoo which is located in downtown Memphis and is one of the only 4 Zoos in America to have Giant Pandas. We also saw Polar Bears, Sea Lions, Giraffes and Zebras!

Daddy and Andrew at the Zoo!
Mommy and Andrew in the Northwest Passage
The sea lion show!"It's really hot, but I had a great time!"