Octobering

1. I'm LOVING Mike's work schedule. I can actually go for a run WITH NO STROLLER before he goes to work. With this view: Sunrise over the Catalinas. The temps were in the low sixties (delight), I come home to freshly ground coffee (thank's Nulkie) and no tarantulas were encountered. Winning.

2. Gabe and Evie were solid sleepers. In fact Gabe would sleep till 730 or 8 and Evie always slept past 7. Wyatt has decided to shake this blissful schedule up with a 6am daily wake up for some drowsy one on one time with Mom & Dad all to his little toddler self. This is what is actually looks like: 

Thank you Daniel Tiger for allowing me to shower and put my contacts in. They say absolutely no screen time till the age of 2, so good deal he turned 2 in August. Were probably just enabling this obscene wake up time to continue, but meh...third child. 

3. 

I finally broke down and bought some pumpkins. I really need (want) some hay bales and mums for my complete fall look, but I'm pretty excited about the ristras and pops of orange. It's no secret that fall is my absolute favorite season. I've been baking pumpkiny things and making soups because whatever Tucson with your 90-degree week. In fact, I made this corn chowder that Gabe literally inhaled. He was all "what's corn chowder? gross". Then he discovered it had bacon, potatoes and corn in it and ate half the pot. Lord help us (and send food) when he's 16. Evie was a not so sufferer in silence and had to go to bed with no dessert. But when I can get 4/5 liking the dinner I make, boom. That's another win. 

4. Aunt Carolyn & Uncle Ron visited! Hurray! 

This was a quick delightful visit last weekend. Aunt Carolyn is so patient with our kids and spent quality one on one time with each child which filled their little love tanks right up.

Uncle Ron passed on some old fly fishing equipment to us, so now Mike's been googling "fly fishing in Arizona" and were excited to go try it out! Thanks for the sweet visit and all the generous encouraging words. 

 5. Wyatt is rocking at Physical Therapy! I actually took him to a second orthopedist for another assessment and opinion. This new doctor was WONDERFUL. Basically like a Mr. Rodgers Does Pediatric Orthopedics. He was very encouraging about Wyatt: he thinks over time (he's had about 6 patients like wyatt) Wyatt's legs will straighten out on their own. He doesn't recommend nighttime braces (hallelujah) and wants to continue Physical Therapy for awhile. At PT Wyatt is working on correct posture, stretching and strengthening his legs and manipulating his body. His therapist is thrilled with his progress.

 6. Gabe & Evie's school ends at 3pm daily EXCEPT on Thursdays when they release early at 1:15 (I think). If you don't want to have to wake up your napping toddler every Thursday, you have the option to sign up your kids in one of the various clubs. You don't have the option to not pay for the club though. LAME. Any who, me being the sweet nap-obsessed scheduler that I am, opted to put Gabe & Evie in clubs rather than ruin Wyatt's nap. Gabe did "Crazy Critters" and Evie (since we last-minute put her in full-day kinder) got "Capioera". So each Thursday Gabe would get to meet and learn about some interesting animals, and Evie would learn, ya know, afro-brazilian martial dancing moves. No biggie. Apparently she really got into it because at the second to last class her instructor told me she volunteered for the Capiorea show that Saturday at the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival downtown. At first I was like What? But I got the instructors card and took Evie to the rehearsal Friday night in downtown Tucson. We arrived at rehearsal and Evie was convinced other kids from her class would be there. None showed. She was the youngest by 5 years and the second girl. I give her credit, she was a little shy at first, but then she got in there. I think the instructor was so thrilled I let her come and participate. And I may be biased, but she was the cutest little thing ever at the show!

You can see little Evie in her bright coral pants. Everyone else was over the age of 10.

 7. This is how we watched the debate. Just terrible.

 8. Fall break: 90s, sunny, pool was "too cold" for the kids. I might have thrown the whining kindergartner in much to her dismay. Her reaction of screaming like there was great white shark in the pool made me want to chuck her in a second time. Oh and whose idea was it to swim in the first place? Yeah. Drama drama drama.

Gabe throwing leaves. Actually tiny little green leaves from the bush above.  What's a bro gotta do to get some decent leaves? Move where there are trees. 

 9. To add to the fun of summer I mean fall break, Winston decided to have diarrhea in Evie's white and gray shag rug. Literally he could've gone ANYWHERE ELSE. The house is WALL TO WALL TILE. Do you feel my passion about this? After numerous soaps and DIY treatments I think I got the stain/smell out. Bad Winston. Bad dog. Don't think I won't put you back on craigslist! Calm down everyone, that was one time.

10. I saved the best news for last. And by best I mean worst. Remember above where I mentioned Wyatt shaking up the sleeping past seven bliss like his older siblings? Well he also decided to absolutely NOT follow in their potty-training footsteps either. SIGH. No triple crown of potty training for me. It went so bad I ordered a new book. Wyatt was terrified of the whole process and pretty much wouldn't eat or drink over the course of 48 hrs while we attempted potty training boot camp. "Wyatt do you want to go in the potty"? "NOOOOO. Diapers? Diapers?". That pretty much sums up our weekend. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. So we'll  be taking a little time out and restart the whole process after I read my new book and buy a few cases of wine. 

Sun's out Buns out. Annnnddd he'd still rather be in a diaper. 

post potty training snuggles

While I was in the literal and metaphoric trenches of potty training, Mike decided to "help" by taking the older two kids on a hike in Sabino Canyon. They were gone for 4 hrs. 

It was actually a good thing he got the older two out of the house so I could focus on Wy-man (and not losing my mind). The three of them had a great time, and even got to wade in a "peaceful stream". 

 Gabe made star wars characters out of pipe cleaners. Can you tell who they are? I think they're pretty neat. He added C-3PO, R2D2 and Princess Leia after these guys and brought them to school to sell for "dino dollars". He made $6 today, so he's doing pretty well. He's saving up to $100 Dino dollars so he can cash in for a "desk pet". Apparently that's a thing now. He's at $72 so he's getting close. He wants me to take him to a craft store so he can buy all colors of pipe cleaners and take custom orders from his friends at school. His teacher already "ordered" a Jabba the Hut so he's been working on that this afternoon. Our lil entrepreneur.

 Nulkie left for a business trip Sunday morning, so Gabe, Evie & I had craft time after church. Evie made the doe, I made the raccoon and Gabe made the Snowy owl all by himself. I also made the pipe cleaner chile ristra for Nulkie. #Thatslove

Uncle Wesdawg came over Sunday afternoon to do his laundry slash hang out and watch football. I was telling him how I'd still yet to take a walk at Sabino Canyon, and he was all "lets go right now"! Boom, so we loaded up the bat mobile and rolled out hot. It was beautiful, and a tad bit buggy.  

Alright that's all I got. Have a good week! 

Cub Scout Camp Out Last Weekend

 Remember in my last post I mentioned Mike was gone all week? Well he arrived home around 11pm Friday night just in time to crash and get up at 645 (thanks WyWy) and pack most of us up for the Cub Scout family camp out. No rest for the weary when you have school age kids with activities.

 There's a tacit agreement between Nulkie & I that he's in charge of all camping gear. He's basically just happy to get me out camping at all....so he gets to pack, load, set up and break camp. I know I sound SO helpful, but I did bake cookies. And (poorly) pack clothing for the kids and I. I don't have many memories of camping as a child becasue we had a cabin with ya know, running water and beds. Such Excess! So this camping in a tent with only vault toilets (gross) business is a little out of my needy comfort zone.
  Uncle Wesdawg kindly watched Wyatt for us. THANKS UNCLE WESDAWG! They both did great. It was a little rough at first-little man KNEW he was left behind and that was NOT cool with him. But Uncle Wes managed to calm him down and they had a nice boys weekend together. Wyatt even dropped a bomb on his Uncle 20 mins before we got home. Well played WY-man, well played!

This morning Wyatt's asked "I pick ya up. I pick ya up" no less than 20 times, so suffice to say he missed us :).

 The camp out was on Mt. Lemmon- about a 50 minute ride from our house. Once you drive above 4,000 feet the saguaros stop and up start popping Ponderosa pines! It's starts looking very Colorado-esqe which makes this girl real happy. It was gorgeous weather: Crisp, clear and cool! Remember how I packed poorly? Well us Tucson wimps were freezing most of the camp out. I forgot to pack hats, gloves and fleeces. But we managed because Nulkie packed blankets and zero degree sleeping bags. Yes, I want my sleeping bag to keep me warm in either Arizona or Base Camp of Everest. Side Note: I just read Into Thin Air and watched the movie Everest. Both are crazy, tragic and incredible accounts. While I enjoyed the scenery, you seriously could not pay me enough to climb Everest.

 Back to the Campout: Once everyone was set up, there were organized games & activities for the Cub scouts. Mike got to supervise the 4 Wolf Cubs who came and I mainly supervised Evie. You can guess who had an easier job. Actually Evie only got one fat lip, so we'll call it good. She was very pleased to be an honorary wolf cub, and she had noooo problem tagging along (and bossing) all the boys. Above they're searching for and collecting peanuts. Gabe's group could only make Cow noises to communicate. Naturally their group won with the most nuts collected.

 Mike had the boys help count by dividing up the peanuts in groups of 5.

 Four of the current Wolf Den :)

 Single Rope Bridge. After helping Evie do it one time across, she did it again 2 more times by herself. Kindergarten crossfit!

Gabe's gang got to do the rope bridge too. He did great!

I wrote this post a week ago, and I'm only now getting around to publishing it. Yay for constant distractions. Anyway, the campout was very fun. Aside from getting very little sleep (Evie talks in her sleep, Mike snores and I'm a light sleeper) it was pretty easy peasy. Mike was able to set up camp and break down camp in about 30 mins flat. Our big kids were thrilled to be outside playing in dirt and trees. If there was a coffee bar & fresh doughnuts when we all woke up at 5 am, it would've been perfect.  At any rate, if you want your nearly 8 yr old to take a nap, just go camping. We ALL crashed Sunday and Gabe slept 3 hrs that afternoon. Camping makes me feel like a hot shower is the most divine luxury. Anyhow, happy camping or glamping this fall my friends!

September Musings

1. When Wyatt wants you to open a toy or take a lid off something, he comes over and says "Open the doors! Open the doors". I love it. When he falls down, he comes over and says "Bunk ya head, bunk ya head, Mommy rub it". Age 2 is when the absolute cutest little phrases come out. We constantly ask Wyatt to say different things because he's crushing us with his cuteness.

2. Wyatt had his first evaluation by an Orthopedist. Admittedly the doctor was a bit stumped by Wyatt's legs. He called it "contractures of the knees" as a general diagnosis. Wyatt just started physical therapy again and I'm really excited about the therapists there and the facility. I think they're going to be so helpful for Wyatt. What's hard right now is navigating all the medical bills. Makes me yearn for the days of Tricare: Dear CPT Nulk, Your bill is $20,000. Tricare paid $200. Patient responsibiltiy is 0. THIS IS NOT A BILL.  Gosh, I miss those delightful explanation of benefits. But it kinda sets you up to fail in the actual civilian world of healthcare. I feel like I'm constantly saying, "this is probably a stupid question but...". Or, "does this apply to my deductible"? Is there any word more adult than "deductible"? I submit to you there is not!

3. We found out a new nephew is on the way! Yay!!!! Some of us were more excited than others....Poor Evie. She does have two female cousins on Mike's side, but they live in Colorado. Gabe on the other hand, wants ALLLLLL the boys.

4. Gabe was star student last week. He needed 20 printed photos, which forced me to finally order some prints AND pick them up from CVS. I was a little irritated about this "parent homework", but now that I have all these current prints, I'm thrilled. Pics with Wyatt actually in them! It was really a great assignment.  Gabe wrote and illustrated a book last year called "The Green Knight & The Red Knight". I encouraged him to read it to the class as his "talent/something special" thing to present. At first he didn't want to, but in the end he did and we're so proud of him!  I think it's awesome he had the confidence to do that. Then his whole class wrote him letters about the pics/book which were totally awesome and hilarious. "Gabe, that is a cool book that you rote. How long have you livd in Texas"? "Gabe, that foto of u and ur cuzin was so cute." "Dear Gabe: Did you have fun at the dinosaur park? I like your book, I like your pool. I like just you an your mom". <---- Love THAT kid! "Gabe: Gabe is the best, I like his book. Gabe is so cool. I like him. Gabe is my best frend. I like Gabe he is very tall. Gabe is evywans frend. Gabe is great amazing nice cool. Gabe is incredible. And cool. "

There are 18 of these letters and they're all phenomenal. You should all come over just to read these gems. And hear Gabe's book. It's legit...and *spoiler alert* there might be a main character, "The Green Knight" named "Mike".  I'm still waiting for my character reference in a book. It's fine you guys. It's fine. #daddyallthetime

5. Were finally out of the triple digits and it's such a relief. I'll be honest, I'd love for temperatures to plummet 30 degrees (so I can be all "white girl cliche" in the fall), but at least it's bearable and I don't stick to the seat between errands. I have leather seats and a black minivan. SUCH a good color choice for Southern Arizona. In the summer it's basically the same a ripping a giant bandaid off the backs of my thighs when I get out the car. Tucson Probs.

6. On of my favorite things about living at Ft. Carson, were gorgeous views of Cheyenne Mountain in my backyard. I'm so thankful to have beautiful mountain views during my walks again. I also LOVE the quail families here. They scurry across the road and torture the dogs and scold my passe as we walk by. When I'm driving around the neighborhood, there's inevitably a few "suicide quail" who sprint out in front of the van at the last minute. So far no quail deaths. Lets hope I can keep up my braking skills.

7. Evie & I finally got our hair did. Sister sat in that chair like a boss. Still no adult tooth!

 8. Truck has 100000 miles on it! Still running good.

 8. It's amazing how quickly you get spoiled by your husband coming home consistently. He literally didn't have a single business trip in Texas, so I had 18mths straight of solid Nulkie-home-after-work. For his new job, he has at least one trip a month. He's gone a week this time, so it's me on three. It's actually gone pretty well, but I find myself wondering how on earth I did those deployments! And l'm so thankful it's only 1 week.  The days are so long ya'll! I used to internally eye-roll when Mike was active duty and women would complain about their husband's work trips. Like really? He's gone 3 days? How will you survive! BUT NOW I AM THAT PERSON. Being humbled is fun, eh?

 Tubby time.

9. We would appreciate your prayers for Wyatt. He's quite delayed in his gross motor skills- his evaluation showed he was doing what 15 mth old children are doing. We love Wyatt no matter what, but its HARD having a child whose struggling physically. We went through it with Gabe and years of treatment for club foot. He was significantly delayed in his gross motor movements. The we had Evie and she hit all the milestones normally and I was like, Wow, this is what it's like to have a textbook child. Who can do all the things kids her age do. I remember being SO relaxed about her- even in preschool. With Gabe I always felt on the defensive. And now we have Wyatt and there's clearly a genetic component and I feel guilty about my own DNA. Which, yes I understand I have no control over, but it's hard. You feel your kids will be treated differently, maybe even poorly because they're not as coordinated as their peers. Anyways, I'm trying my best to be a good advocate for Wyatt and get his legs straight! He wants to run and jump and do all the things kids his age do, he's just limited by his tight ligaments right now. We know God doesn't make mistakes, and we are so thankful for our precious sons. Just trying to share some of our struggles right now. I mean, maybe Wyatt will be an rockstar orthopedist surgeon some day. Maybe Gabe will be an astronaut because who cares if you're super coordinated in Space? Thanks for listening :). Side Note: Both our boys (and daughter) are smart as whips and I feel like a CIA operative by the end of the day. Outmaneuvering all 3 kids is tricky.  WE DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERROISTS/TODDLERS. <---That's my parenting style in a nutshell. You're welcome!

Wyatt is two

This little buddy (giant man-child) is now 2! He's doing great. I would never want to miss an opportunity to blog about a milestone- so I'll give you the latest and greatest on WyWy. 

He looks so broken up about his older siblings away at school right? No. In fact, his favorite pastime is opening the doors to their rooms and shop-lifintg any and all things he can grasp in his skinny sticky fingers. I find him sitting innocently at Gabe's desk with his feet dangling, playing legos (aka destroying Gabe's masterpieces) and snitching any lego-men with hats.

 In Evie's room he goes directly for the dollhouse every.single.time. It's his crack/cocaine addiction in our house. Must play with dollhouse, must steal all parts and run screaming. You can imagine his benevolent big sister is so pleased with this development. 

Grocery shopping is another fun activity with Wyatt. Smug me thought that shopping would get real easy with just one kiddo at the store with me. False. This cutieface likes to scream like a banshee and then laugh about it like a maniac. When he's not doing that, he's grabbing things off the aisles with his bald-eagle wing span, or removing items from the back of the cart and practicing his curve ball. And yet he somehow how always charms the cashiers into giving him loads of free stickers. Love this nut. 

He's also starting to talk a lot. In fact today at school drop off he said to Gabe, "Bye-bye Gabee, wove you". Heart melted. He likes to say "Git down play" when he's done and loves to yell Mommyyyyyy all day. It's like we play a dry version of Marco Polo, only it's Wyatt Mommy. If I go anywhere out of eyesight, as soon as he realizes it he starts calling MOMMY and follows my voice as I call WYATT. He's so ridiculously proud when he's found me :). 

 We finally setup his room. I went with a primary color theme to match existing bedding and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

 Whenever were going anywhere he brings you his shoes as if this seals the deal that he gets to tag along. He can open the front and back door now, and he'll casually just leave our house barefoot and in a diaper if the door is left unlocked. I'm half expecting/concerned about him escaping and running directly into a cactus. We need to work on better house security.

 Recyled bedding, bed,  and stuffed animals all from Gabe. Younger brother perks! The three prints on the wall are new and I'm kinda in love.

 Wyatt was a little unsure of his "big boy bed" initially. We had him on a mattress on the floor for about a month prior so he was used to a twin size. So far he hasn't fallen out of the bed so were calling it a win. Aside from him waking at ungodly hours each morning, he naps and goes to bed just fine.

Upcylcing alert: the car/train shelf. This was actually a silverware organizer that didn't work in our kitchen drawers. I asked Michael to screw it into the wall and viola! A shelf for Wyatt! He loves it....takes everything out and puts it back in a few times a day. Did I just rock your world? Maybe not. But i'm pretty pleased with it. Next time you have an extra silver-ware organizer, (as we all usually have loads of) just re-think tossing it :).

I'm not a big birthday-party person for my kids, but we always do something special with family. The Bunkas' visit happened to be the same weekend of Wyatt's birthday so we had a little party with them.

 These are supposed to be frogs. Or weird green monsters with tongues sticking out. Whatevs. They're gluten free (for Evie's benefit) and delish.

 Wyatt's all, "you want me to eat this?" Hmmmmmm

Alright Mom, ya got me. I'll eat off all the frosting. twist my arm. 

Coming from the child that cries when you give him ice cream and says "owww too hot", I didn't expect him to dive into his cupcake....but he warmed up to it. 

Construction vehicles were the name of the game for this birthday boy. I'm hoping to let him use them in our big gravel driveway when the weather cools off. The Bunkas gave him this little plush frog and Meg said "this will totally be his favorite toy" and she was right. Stinker!  He calls it "Ribbet" and sleeps with it every night. Gabe & Evie are enjoying all of Wyatt's birthday loot much to Wywy's unhappiness, and Gabe keeps reminding us that his birthday is next. In January. No sibling rivalry/jealousy at all in this family folks. None. 

To wrap this up: Wyatt's 2 yr stats are in. Good news, he's still big for a three year old. He's 35.4 lbs and 40 inches tall and 99th percentile. He's doing all the things 2 yr olds should do, including screaming and thrashing like a cat being bathed during his shots :(. He didn't even like the spiderman bandaids- he ripped them off himself. But we LOVE our new pediatrician. It's weird, but I always feel more settled in a new place when I start to get my (our) doctors lined up. Just makes me feel better. 

Wyatt's a great little dude, Mike & I both love how snuggly and affectionate he is. He's always wanting to snuggle and read a book or give kisses goodnight. He's our little smoochy-face :).