Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Santa...

Christmas is my favorite holiday, and out of both of my children Gyllian has inherited my love of Santa. From the time she was an infant she loved Santa Clause. I remember her second Christmas right after she turned one, we went to Rock City. When we got to Santa I was afraid she might freak out. This Santa looked really annoyed (he had a HUGE group of teenagers just come through). When it was our turn,I handed Gyllian over and she just stared at him. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. The first picture came out looking like Gyllian was whispering in his ear. It took us about five minutes of dancing around to get her to look at the camera for a split second. When it was all over, Santa told us she was the best child he had seen all day! He didn't want to give her back!!

Yes, I still believe in Santa Clause as does my grandmother. I believe in the spirit of giving...not just presents, but love and understanding. That being said...my son, Sam, HATES Santa Clause! He loves Christmas, but HATES Santa. He tolerates him at a distance, but if he has to get close to him he completely freaks out. This year I put up a 60 inch singing and dancing Santa Clause (yeah, I'm a bit obsessed). Sam is fine when it is off, but you turn it on and he bolts! Don't believe me??? Check this out...

I know it was probably mean, but come on...you know you're laughing!

Let the Stress Begin...

My husband is back out to sea, and things couldn't be worse! This has been the hardest underway so far...even harder than their deployment! From the time my husband has left, my kids have turned into strangers. Sam was pretty much potty-trained, and now he has been peeing in his pants. He knows what he's supposed to do, but just hasn't done it. Gyllian has started crying at the drop of a hat. She'll be laughing and playing one minute, and crying the next. I am trying to hold on to my sanity, but it's getting harder by the day. I know it's because they miss their dad. Before the deployment they were used to their dad being gone all the time. He would be home for about a week at a time, and then be gone for 2-7 weeks at a time. They've had the past almost four months straight with him home every day, and now he's gone again. It's been hard on all of us. To take our minds off of everything we are going to decorate the house for Christmas. We are cleaning from top to bottom and putting out everything that puts us in the Christmas mood, and brings back previous Christmas' memories.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

I know this Christmas will be great, and my hubby will be home to celebrate it with us once again.

From Baby to Big Boy

My son, Sam has exceeded my expectations of raising a boy. When I was pregnant with him and we found out he was a boy I heard it all! "You know, boys are much harder to potty-train than girls!" "Boys develop slower than girls." Yada, yada, yada!

As a baby, Sam was all snuggles and smiles! He was sweet, layed back, and super easy! He even was a great nurser! (If only my milk would have lasted longer than two months.) He was putting himself to sleep by five months, and got rid of the binky on his own by 13 months. I would wish a baby like this to everyone!

Now don't get me wrong...when he hit two it was worse than terrible! It was catastrophic!!! He kept me on my toes, and that's putting it mildly. He grew a short fuse, he shaved part of his eyebrow once while I was cleaning the tub, and while his sister was taking a bath one time, he decided to jump in fully clothed! I'm telling ya, I wanted to pull my hair out!

Even with all of the naughty things going on there is one thing that overshadows all of it! He is potty-trained! Yes, I said it! POTTY-TRAINED!!! I bought him a potty in June, and by July he was peeing in it. It took a couple of months, but eventually he started pooping in it. I went to Papoose (a natural maternity/baby store in Norwich, CT) and picked him up some "Imse Vimse" training pants. He is now a pro! He even takes them off when he has to go and puts them back on when he's done! Now what's so amazing about that is he is only two. My daughter, Gyllian wouldn't even sit on a potty until she was three and a half. So, the moral of the story is don't judge a book by what everyone else tells you! Way to go, Sam!!!

Head Games...

It's been a while since I last posted anything on here. It's been crazy hectic with Halloween to get ready for, Kevin's next departure, and on top of everything the car has failed it's emissions test! Something is wrong with our fuel sensor, and it could cost $75 to $550 to repair. On top of that, Connecticut says we owe them two years of vehicle taxes! Because my husband is in the military there is an afidavit we fill out to be exempt, but they are saying that we don't qualify! Kevin went down to the office to try and figure this out, and they don't even have any of this in their records. Talk about a major headache! All of this and my husband leave within the next few days. They were supposed to leave this past Tuesday, but now who knows when! It's hard to prepare and say your goodbyes when you don't know when your husband is leaving. It's a HUGE head game! I can handle him being gone (it's not a very long underway), but I can't handle not knowing when. I guess I shouldn't complain. I know wives who haven't seen their husbands (other than Skype) for almost seven months. Now THAT'S a head game!!!

Ups and Downs...

I never thought I would be a Navy wife. My husband talked about joining the Navy before we even got engaged. I wouldn't hear of it! The thought of him leaving me alone just did not fly with me. It would take five years for him to win me over with the idea. When he approached me one final time with the idea I was in school, pregnant with our second child, and trying to potty-train our two-year-old daughter. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to do this very badly so I agreed. In the past almost three years I have seen my husband thrive in this new career of his. I've never been more proud. With this new life comes new challenges. There came long separations, moving to a new place, and more separations. You learn that when they come home it takes some time for everyone to readjust to "a normal life". You have to get used to living with them again and vice versa. You get so used to doing things by yourself that when they return you have to get used to having help again. It can be a very frustrating process, but one that comes with a lot of growing and understanding. In the end you realize how strong you and your family really are, and learn to never underestimate that strength.

With Daddy...

Without Daddy...

Whatever the situation...we are and will always be a family.

Never believed in "terrible-twos" until now...

Before Kevin came home, I imagined that once he did return I would be invisible to Sam. I figured that once daddy came home all Sam would want to do is hang out with him. BOY WAS I WRONG!!! He clung to me even more! Not only has he become clingy, screaming is his permenant volume and temper tantrums are his new conversations. Gyllian never went through this so it's all new to me. My sweet, cuddly baby boy has turned into this loud, almost-unmanageable two-year-old child that is almost a stranger to me.

And on top of it all...he does not want to eat! I understand it is a phase that most two-year-olds go through, but Kevin is almost at his wits end. He can't understand why Sam, who used to eat anything and everything, doesn't want to eat most everything. I just take a deep breath and remind myself that this, too, shall pass. Now don't get me wrong, even with all of his tantrums and shrieks, I am still absolutely in love with my son. He still gives me those cute little looks that can, almost, charm his way out of trouble.

I guess all I can do now is hope that three is better, that he'll just wake up one morning and be my little snuggly boy again. Not that I expect that, but a girl can hope!

Getting back into the swing of things...

So Kevin has been home for a couple of weeks now, and we are just now starting to get readjusted. When Kevin leaves for longer periods of time, the kids and I have to adjust to life without daddy. My brain goes on auto-pilot, and I try to keep them too busy to be sad (which only works for a while). Then when Kevin comes home we have to readjust to having daddy around. I get so used to doing things on my own and in my own way that when he's here and tries to do it his way, it frustrates the crap out of me!!! The whole process take a few weeks. It has been nice though. We had to take Gyllian to a pediatric pulmonologist, and I didn't have to drive! : ) It was nice having my other half with me when they confirmed she had asthma, and on top of that she has reflux. It's always difficult (for him and me) to send that type of information to him by email. Moving on...

We have had a lot of fun the past few weeks. We've been to the beach...

We have gone to Mystic Village...

We've even been to the pool (the one I vowed never to take them to until their daddy returned!)...

So needless to say, we have had a lot of fun. Soon, daddy goes back to work and we have to get back into the daily grind. It's better than him being away, though. : )