Thanksgiving Camping Trip

We went camping for Thanksgiving this year. It was really fun and extremely cold. People up North may scoff at us Southerners thinking it is cold here but trust me it was cold. We ended up only staying out 1 night because it was too cold for us and way too cold for Evie. She would have loved to stay because she was having big fun. Here are some pics from our trip.

Evie scopes out the campsite.



She LOVED the beach and all the rocks!



We loved the sunshine and warmth of the heated bathrooms.



Grammy and Gramper were super happy to have their grandbaby.


Good Times!



Evie really enjoyed playing with the rocks and dirt around the camp site.




Something really cool was happening to the right.




Gigi and George and DocRom and BigBro came out to enjoy the fun.



Super close up!



Playground Fun with Daddy.




Evelyn showed off her superior soccer skills.






DocRom and BigBro took pics and enjoyed the warm campfire.




The moon was unbelievably beautiful, just amazing!




This morning we got up with the sun, cold and hungry.



Again we sought out heat by the fire.




Cuddle time in our heated tent, yay!




Group photo after breakfast.




Home, here we come!



Thank god we made it back to heated enclosed spaces!!!

The Royal Treatment

Signs

Evelyn will be 16 months on Tuesday and she doesn't say any words yet. It is too soon to seriously worry about her language development. But we are worried, because that's what being a parent is all about. So in order to give Evelyn more ways to communicate we ordered some DVDs that teach ASL to toddlers and their parents. Her being able to sign will be really great for all of us. Instead of wasting 15 minutes trying to figure out why she is crying she will be able to tell us what she wants (food, diaper, toy, whatever). I am really excited because I can tell that she has a lot of thoughts on stuff. She is trying to talk to us. She points at stuff and then jibber jabbers on about it. She points at leaves blowing on a tree and the cats and then she tries to tell us stuff. But we don't know what she's trying to say. It's a little sad and a little frustrating. I am really looking forward to her being able to communicate better with us. She understands (for the most part) what we are saying to her. If we ask her to point to Elmo's nose, she does. If we tell her to pick up something she does. She understands us quite well. But we don't understand her, yet. I have high hopes for these DVDs and for signing.

Birthdays and Thanksgiving

The month of November is a big one for our family. There are 4 birthdays in the immediate family plus Thanksgiving. Gramper's birthday was November 1st. And this week is Grammy's birthday and my birthday and TwinBro's birthday and Thanksgiving. Yeah, it's gonna be a busy week.

Ben ordered my gift for me already. It's actually my birthday and x-mas gift. He and my parents got me a laptop computer. I am really excited! I have never had a laptop and in hopes that I will be back in school in the Spring, I wanted to get a laptop to take with me back and forth. It's a Dell Inspirion 1501, nothing super fancy but just fine for me. I love birthdays!

Thanksgiving will be a new experience this year. We are going camping. Grammy and Gramper rented 3 campsites. Auntie V, BigBro, DocRom, Gigi and George, and the three of us will be there. This will be Evelyn's first camping trip so we are hoping she will love it as much we do. I think she'll have a blast! TwinBro was supposed to come but due to things out of his control he won't be able to make it, it's a bummer but we'll see him soon I hope.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Hello Hello

Hi!

We are doing better. We made it to Friday, finally! This week has been uber stressful for Ben and I because we have been so worried about Evelyn. I talked with the dermatologist that saw her 2 weeks ago and he told me that we are on the right track and that this stuff should clear up in the next 2 weeks. He also said I could call him if I had any more questions or concerns. He also explained (finally!!) what the cultures they took meant. Evelyn does NOT have the MRSA antibiotic resistant staph infection that has been so prevalant in the news lately. We really didn't think she did but all the other doctors told us she did. She has perianal strep, it's the same bacteria as strep throat but it's on her bottom. So now that I know what she has and we know how to treat it properly I think we can finally move on from this very stressful and annoying rash.

In other news Ben and I are going on a date tonight, HOORAY!!!! We haven't been on a date in a month and we are so in need of a date! I am really excited, we got free tickets to a bluegrass concert from my boss. I think we are gonna have big fun! Yay!

More of the same...

Here's some more cute Evie pics to yet again distract from the drama of this bacteria skin infection.



We saw the doctor. He lanced her abscess and cleaned it out. He prescribed an antibiotic cream to go with the oral antibiotic that the ER gave us last night. So now we wait for the whole thing to clear up. I really hope this stuff works and gets rid of this nonsense.

Update

Here are some cute pics of Evelyn.





I am using them to offset the yuckiness of yet another ER visit for the staph skin infection on her butt. She is gonna be fine, but we have to get her back on antibiotics....again, for the 4th time! That is bad enough news on its own but add to that the worst ER experience (to the tune of two unrewarded blood taking events, one on each hand. While Evelyn screamed in pain and misery.) Oh yeah, it's been a hell of a night!



We will never take Evelyn to the Army ER again, ever. So we have an appointment with a doctor tomorrow morning to try to figure out what it will take to get rid of this very persistent condition. Evelyn is acting like herself already, despite the trauma of the ER visit. I love that girl! And Ben too, he is an unbelievably awesome Dad and husband! I am very lucky!

The 7 Week Itch

We have been fighting a diaper rash turned bacterial infection for what feels like forever. I think we are finally getting it under control after seeing a dermatologist. The derm prescribed a 3rd type of anti-fungal cream and a 3rd type of oral antibiotic and these seem to be making the rash/infection go away, thank god! We have a follow up appt with the family practice doc tomorrow morning, we'll see what she says.

In other news Ben started both his schools about 2 weeks ago and he is getting his butt kicked. What 2 schools you ask? He started his online MBA and he is now in Army Captain's school. Either one of these alone would be fine but together it is taking a toll on him. He also started working out with a personal trainer this week so he is feeling very stretched (literally and figuratively). I know things will settle down in a week or so once he gets used to his new schedule.

We got some sad news on Nov. 1st, Ben's grandfather passed away. We knew it was coming but it is still very sad. Opa was a very sweet man and a driving force in Ben's life. We'll miss him very much.

Ben and I were going to run a half marathon in December but in light of all the new stuff going on we've decided to not do the race. We just don't have time or daylight to train for the race. So he is working out everyday with the Army and 2 times a week with his trainer and I am hitting the treadmill as often as I can. I really don't want to gain weight or lose my physical strength/stamina.

Work is going okay. I still really enjoy working with Aidan but I am not so happy with how his family is interacting with me and his school. There is a serious breakdown in communication and it is making my job harder in a bad way. Ben thinks I should confront the parents but I don't know that I should or want to. We'll see.

Mostly we are doing good here at the farm. I really feel lucky and grateful for what we have. I told Ben today that if all we have to complain about is work and school then we're better off than many. So thanks world and life, we aren't gonna complain a bit. =)

Here's a pic of Opa and Evie.

GRE Scores

They're not really amazing but I think they will get me into grad school, so HOORAY!!

Verbal/Analytical - 510
Math/Quantitative - 390
Writing - won't know for about 2 weeks, but I think I did really well on this section. I'm hoping my writing will up my score by a hundred points or more.

I am just really glad I got the dang test over with. I hope I never have to take it again!

Happy Early Halloween

We have had quite an eventful weekend here. BigBro and DocRom came to town to celebrate Halloween with us a little early. We had big fun sitting around our fire and catching up. On a more serious note, we took Evelyn to the ER on Sat. morning because she had an infected bug bite on her thigh. The doctors were concerned about the bite and suggested surgery to get the abcess drained and healed. Luckily, the abcess started draining on it's own and everything seems to be getting better. We go back tomorrow for a follow up. So that was our wacky fun weekend. Here are some pics. =)

GRE

October 27th at 9AM

Jen aka Evilynmo vs. GRE

The first and long awaited match up of Jen and the GRE.

Maybe this is "normal".

Evelyn hasn't gone to daycare in 2 weeks. We decided to pull her out because she kept getting sick after going, even for just 6 hours a week. Evie has been sick for like a month now, and she still isn't 100% yet. So now I am beginning to wonder if this runny nose/moody/clingy phase is just Evelyn's "normal". We've taken her to the doctor twice in the last month and they say the same thing every time, it's a virus and we just have to wait it out.

So I suspect there is a conspiracy among pediatricians to make parents of toddlers believe their kid is sick, instead of revealing the truth which is that 1-2yr olds are just snotty, in every sense of the word. Of course I think Evie is the most precious, adorable, smart, and talented, snot-filled toddler that ever walked the earth, no doubt! But the lack of sleep that accompanies the sick toddler syndrome is pretty sucky when it lasts for over a month. I really can't complain too much though. Evie does sleep well every once in a while, which is wonderful. And Ben and I switch off nights, so usually one of us has gotten a reasonable amount of sleep on a given day.

But to be honest things in our world are going pretty well. Evelyn has suddenly and adamantly stopped taking a bottle. She won't even drink water out of a bottle. It is what we wanted to happen but it kind of surprised us that we didn't have to fight her on it at all. Also she has really started eating like a champ! It's hard to know what she'll go for at any given meal, but in general if it has bread and cheese she will be into it.

Another new development in our life is the start of potty training. I know she is only 15 months and she doesn't need to PT yet but we noticed that she goes off by herself to poop and she sits on a chair to poop too. Those are pretty obvious signs that we can recognize and use to train her to poop on the potty instead of in the diaper. We haven't had a poop since we got the potty chair, but hopefully she'll think it's cool to poop in the potty. I bought a book for her with pics of toddler girls using the potty and I got a book for myself about early potty training. I would love for her to be diaper free by 2 yrs old, we'll see. If she isn't potty trained by then it's not a big deal.

Also we have word that we will almost definitely be here for another 3 years. The Army has basically ok'd Ben's paper work which would keep him here and active duty for another 3 years. Ben and I are both thrilled financially. We're both worried and concerned about what the next 3 years of active duty will bring to our family. We're hopeful that he won't be deployed but the reality that he could be deployed is looming over both of us. I don't think about it all the time but it is always in the back of my mind.

Ben starts his MBA classes next week! He is getting his MBA through Phoenix University online. We know it isn't prestigious but he just wants to get a masters degree. I'm excited that he'll be done in 1.5 yrs or less, that is awesome! I wish my masters program were that easy. I need to sign up to take the GRE and get my application together. I'd love to start classes in the spring or summer but we'll have to see.

Half marathon training is off to a slow start but I think we're doing well and I really think we can do it. We just have to make ourselves get out there and run. It's not easy with a sicky toddler but we will persevere!

I am a Triathlete

I am so proud and excited that I finished the triathlon! This was my first race of any kind and I loved it! I got so pumped up the morning of the race and I just stayed super pumped the whole time, it was awesome! We all finished the race and none of us came in last, I am really proud of us, this was the first triathlon for all of us. We won't have our official times til today or tomorrow. I know I beat Gramper and DocRom. It is too close to call a winner between BigBro and I. Here are some pics from Tri day.


Here's Ben and Evie cheering me on for the swim.



Here's me coming out of the water.



Here's me coming back from the 13 mile bike ride. And here is the transition area.




Here's me going out to do the last leg of the race, a 3.1 mile run.



Here's me running to the finish line!! Whoo HOo!



And here's our Tri Team after the race =)



The only thing I didn't like about this experience was how awful I felt after the race. I was nauseous and had a splitting headache for 4 hours after the race. I think next time I will eat during the race and I will drink Gatorade. I drank water throughout the race but Gatorade and some food probably would have saved me from the post race awfulness.

Lake Stay Before the Triathlon

Here are some pics of our stay at the lake the day before the triathlon.

Here's Gramper and BigBro with Evie.



Here's Evie running around Grammy and DocRom.



And here's almost all my favorite guys. (TwinBro is missing.)



And here's Evie with her Grammy and Gramper.