A House Divided

Well, the day after Thanksgiving is the annual UT vs. A&M football game. Chris is a die hard UT fan, and I am partial to A&M, mainly b/c my brother went there, but also I love their traditions and their conservative views. Ever since John was born and we began receiving gifts for him from both sides of the family, I had this day planned out. He was going to where his A&M onesie with his UT socks & pacifier. He also has a UT bib, but Pappy has it so he wore a football bib. Daddy wore his UT shirt, & I wore my A&M shirt. We got to watch the game on a BIG screen. Uncle Dave has a projector so the game was up close and personal. As my sister commented when watching the Spurs play on it, "you are close enough to see their sweat and their pimples." It was a great game. All season long, as I watched UT play (yep I do watch their games!) I knew that there was a good possibility that they would lose to A&M. They just didn't have the power they used to under my favorite quarterback, Vince Young! Granted they were a great 4th quarter come from behind team, so I wasn't sure. But, unfortunately for daddy, (especially as it was his birthday), UT lost. I actually felt bad, b/c he wasn't having the greatest of birthdays as it was. With the moving and all we didn't really have a chance to give him his special day, and then his team loses.


John as he's getting ready for the game





During halftime we tried to take pictures of the three of us in our house divided getup. We realized it is very hard to pose a 4 month old! The first one (the one where we were all looking good) we missed the socks. The second one daddy is holding the binky in John's mouth as he didn't want it and is trying to squirm away! Third one, John shot the binky out right as the picture snapped, and the last one, he decides not to look! :O)





John playing with Uncle Dave & Aunt Sarah. They are so good with kids. We think they should have one soon! ;o)


Giving Daddy his gifts:

John decided to chew on the gift he gave daddy!


He actually "handed" the gift to Chris!

Thanksgiving

Well, this Thanksgiving would have been almost perfect if we weren't distracted by packing to move, and what was going on with our house. We had hopes that we could move over Thanksgiving as Chris had a four day, and my folks were in town to help, but no such luck. The inspection on our house came back the Tuesday before Thanksgiving indicating that some things needed fixing prior to closing. We didn't hear back from the sellers until the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday that they were going to fix them.
I look back and I'm not at all upset that we weren't able to move (I thought I might have been). I realize that we wouldn't have been able to have the Thanksgiving we did, if we were moving that weekend. We wouldn't have been able to be hospitable to Chris's classmates who weren't able to go home. My sister wouldn't have been able to cook her first Thanksgiving dinner and use her new table! We wouldn't have gotten to talk to our friend who is in Iraq via teleconference. Granted there were some things that we could have done without. The one hour(no lie) traffic standstill in Austin, where "some crazy person decided to shut down I-35 on Thanksgiving Day" (Chris's words!) It took us 1 hour to go 3 miles, and it would have taken even longer if we hadn't exited at the next available exit. And of course the sign indicating the highway would be closed was right at the last exit you could take for 3 miles, and you couldn't read the message all at once. You had to wait for it to blink through each line. People started making their own lanes. Instead of 3 lanes of traffic there were 5 as people used both shoulders as lanes. It was craziness. Thankfully John was good most of the way!
We went to Georgetown to have Thanksgiving lunch with the Kelley side of the family. It was a lot of fun. Everyone really loved on each other. Cameron and Shelby loved little John and each fought for turns holding him or playing with him! Plus, even though the traffic in Austin was horrendous, we weren't late!!! Always a plus when I'm in the picture!
Then right close to the beginning of the Cowboys game (how Chris tells time!! :o) ) we left and drove back to San Antonio to my sisters house. She looked radiant. I meant to get a picture of her in her cute little apron with a serving spoon in hand, but I missed the opportunity. You could definitely tell she was made to be hospitable. Just like her mommy! She had put together quite the spread! Not only were there any kind of appetizers you could think of, but there was plenty of food. Enough to cover a pool table (which by the way is their "new" dining room table)! Three of Chris's classmates joined us in addition to one of our soldiers from Bible Study, plus Dave's & my parents. It was a very memorable Thanksgiving. The only thing that I missed was sitting around playing games all afternoons. Maybe next year!
Here are some pictures from the day:




Papaw's first time holding John!







Apparently I wanted to capture John's 1st Thanksgiving, as all these pictures (above) are of him in various family members arms. Hmmm....



Chris & John got to watch their Cowboys game along with Dave's dad


The girls from Chris's class enjoying some appetizers


Dave's first turkey cutting experience, being coached by my dad!


Dave's mom! She was in charge of the microwave! I think yummy rolls are in there.



The spread(s)!

Daddy in the field

So, from Oct 29th until Nov 16th, Chris was in the field, except for weekends. It's always frustrating when he's gone b/c everyone (even the animals) are a little off kilter for a few days. This time was no exception. However, two things made this time more difficult. 1.) He came home on the weekends, so we all got used to having him around, and then he left again, causing Kebap and Tess to be completely discombobulated. (Wow I actually spelled that right-no red underlines!) and 2.)We found out at the end of week 1, that we would indeed have to move to Killeen in December, not April, as we had heard the last few weeks. Apparently when he was told that he was good to go to the class in January, no one had spoken to the colonel. When they did, things got changed. Apparently Chris needs to be the XO of the company while the current one goes to Captain's Career course.

Sooo... We immediately tried to get a hold of our realtor that first weekend, to see if we could set up a time to meet with her to look at houses, and also to see if the one we looked at and liked at the end of Sept was still on the market. Well, we tried her cell a few different times and she didn't answer, so it was my job to call her Monday. She didn't come in to work. I tried her cell phone, and still no answer. I finally called back up and spoke to her hubby (he's in charge of the rental properties) partly to discuss what the renting procedures are, what's available, and how does it work when you are looking to buy in the meantime. He told me that he would have Karen call us that evening. Umm, no phone call. I finally got a hold of her Tuesday evening when I was up visiting my sister in her classroom. She was going through a family crisis, and had been up at the hospital day in and day out. I felt really bad intruding, but she assured me it was ok. We made an appointment for Nov 10th.
The rest of that week went well. Chris got to come home for the four day. We took family portraits on Friday, and Saturday morning we headed out to Killeen. John did extremely well (until the drive home!!), and we narrowed down our house selection to two, one in Harker Heights, and the one we liked previously. We got to meet the neighbor across the way from that house, and she filled us in on the area. We also found out that there was a pond that was not necessarily public, but that the owner, let people go down and feed the ducks. I got really excited. One of my favorite things as a child was going to feed the ducks. After a lot of praying and making a list of pros and cons, we decided to put an offer in on the one we liked before.
Well, us being new to this home buying experience didn't realize that we needed to sign something to actually formally make an offer. All we had done had was call the realtor. Chris received some PDF files in his e-mail on Monday, and we discussed whether or not we needed to do something with them. Chris was under the assumption that they were just copies of the offer we had made, and since our realtor was having a family crisis, she didn't put anything in the e-mail about needing to sign the papers. Turns out after I made a random phone call to my mom about her plans for when she came down, that I found out that we hadn't really made an offer at all. The PDF files that Chris had received was the offer that we were supposed to sign so she could submit it. Well Chris had returned to the field with the paperwork unsigned. I spent the rest of that day, trying to get a hold of Chris, trying to get a hold of Karen, trying to get the computer to work, and being "on edge" ready to go at a moment's notice in case I was able to reach Chris and could bring the paperwork out to him. I finally got a hold of him at 4 that evening. Sarah had come over to help pack, and volunteered to babysit when I went out to Camp Bullis. John went to bed "early" (6:30) and I got to go out and see Chris. The rest of that evening I spent again trying to figure out the computer again, and scanning the offer. The next day, just to make sure, I faxed it. Within hours, they accepted!!!!!

Here's a few pictures of how the family spent the time while Chris was in the field:


John & I spent Halloween with the Addingtons. Chipotle gives you free burritos if you come in with part of your body covered in foil, so we took them up on it.


Tess decided while daddy was gone to keep me awake by climbing in and out of our headboard playing with Chris's earplugs, batting and chasing them all over the bed! Needless to say I got very little sleep!


Kebap while daddy was in the field! He decided to chew through our doormat, and ended up wearing it! Yes, even though I took him out on daily walks, Kebap still knew that I was not Chris, and found ways to not obey me.


A picture of how I felt while Chris was gone!! An emotional mess! Actually this was from our trip to look at houses went well until the drive home. John cried and cried. We had to pull over twice. This is a picture of John & me after consoling him one of the times.


And of course daddy had to add to my stress level by spending his last night in the field at BAMC. Apparently he had tripped over a power box running full speed on Wednesday evening, and the next morning reinjured the leg by practicing combatives with his battle buddy. Thursday evening his calf swelled to the size of a grapefruit, and thus spent the evening in the ER, determining that it was not a broken leg and that it wasn't compartment syndrome. Great way to get out of preparing the house for moving!!!

He did it!

Well, after waiting all week, and John looking like he was going to, he finally rolled over today! I set him down for tummy time, and he, almost immediately, pushed up and rolled over his right shoulder, and ended up on his back. He acted like it was something he had been doing all his life. He was not at all shocked. He just started looking at the fan and sucking his fingers. Crazy boy! I tried to get him to do it again, but he had to spit up, and then got frustrated. Maybe tomorrow for daddy!! :o)

This was how I found him during his nap time earlier this week. He had his head as high as he could and was arching his back to look all around him. When I put him to bed at night, and turned the monitor on, he would turn his head to look at the monitor. He loved staring at the green light! I just knew it would be any day that he would roll over!






Before: (kind of! I actually didn't have my camera before he did it, so I had to recreate the moment!)



After:

Trying out new toys

So since John is getting better about holding his head up, a couple of weeks ago we broke out his "standup" toys. This was when we thought we'd be here til April, and John would definitely use them before then. We've since learned that we will again be moving in December! I think the moving date has changed at least 6 times in the last 6 weeks! Gotta love the army! Anyway here are some pictures from his first time in the toys:


The first time in this, he couldn't touch the ground, so daddy helped by putting his laptop carrier underneath!




Apparently he thought the coils at the top of the jumper were more fascinating than the toys at the front, or the actual jumper!



Now, he's much more active and entertained in this jumper, and he also enjoys his hanging jumper!!

Baby Noah Lacewell

On October 26th at 3 something in the morning our friends, James & Galyn had their baby, Noah Lacewell. He was 7 lb 14 oz and 20 1/2 (I think) inches long. They had him at home, so we got to go over and visit later that afternoon. Galyn had been up since 5:30 the previous day, because her water had broken. Both of them were pretty exhausted. We arrived around 4:30 and everyone was napping, except for her parents, so we talked for a while with them. Here are some pictures of baby Noah napping. He napped through a diaper change, and us moving him from his bassinet to hold him, and even during transfers between people. Wow!






(As I look at these, it almost looks like when we were holding John for the first time!)




Galyn's dad had to advertise to the neighborhood that they just had a baby, and that it was a boy, which by the way came as quite a surprise to all. Their back neighbor, Linda, was sure it was a girl, and had bought all sorts of cute girl clothes. Even James thought it was going to be a girl, but cute little Noah decided to make his appearance!! :o)


Chris went to the field Oct 29th, so I brought James & Galyn dinner, and stayed and hung out with them, and ended up watching Surf's Up with them. Here's the proud mommy, and big brother:



Bryant and John became good friends, even shared each others toys, as they sat next to each other on the couch!



A week after Noah was born, James & Galyn came over for dinner. Chris & I were amazed at how alert Noah was. We put him in the swing, and he looked and looked at the bears hanging overhead. To this day, John has yet to look up. John also found him interesting, as he intently studied him, while he was bathing! It's hard to believe that just 3 months ago, John was his size. Wow, they really do change fast



(I had to give the kid some decency!! ;o) )