Random thoughts, and Hallelujah!

We hosted a squadron farewell at our house on Friday night. After going to bed after midnight, and waking up to Luke yelling (not crying or screaming, yelling! Because he could!) at an earlier hour than I would have liked, I let Claire eat some brownie for breakfast. This morning, I asked her what she wanted for her first meal of the day and she said, "I want chocolate cake."

Luke started sleeping through the night sometime last week! I'm still waking him to feed him between 10-11pm before I go to bed, but he'll sleep straight through until about 7am now. At least I think he's sleeping straight through...with all the fans on, I did manage to sleep through a thunderstorm last week. I am so much more well-rested now. And yet still mysteriously exhausted. Maybe it's the whole 3 young children thing.

I had milk on my oatmeal yesterday and I think Luke tolerated it. He was a bit fussy, but nothing more than normal. I might try some cheese with dinner, or ice cream later tonight! Oooh, living dangerously.

Our dishwasher has been making a high-pitched whining sound for several months. Its one-year warranty is due to expire next week, so I had a repairman come out today to fix it and it wouldn't make the noise. The repairman left 30 minutes ago. The cycle is still running and the whine is back. Awesome.

Kate is getting excited about her birthday. She's a September baby, so she has a ways to go, but she doesn't understand the time thing very well yet. She does, however, know the months between now and then: "May, June, Goliath and then September!"

It's been sizzling outside for the past week (109* today), so we've been getting plenty of pool time. Claire knows that she must have one thing on before going outside: "sunscream".

I am at a loss for the whole bed wetting thing. Kate has been potty-trained for months now, but still wets the bed at night. She had several dry nights a couple of months ago, so I know it's possible for her to make it through the night without wetting the bed. We limit what she drinks at dinner, and even wake her up before we go to bed for one last trip to the bathroom. I was determined not to go back to diapers at night, because she gets lazy, and because I don't want to confuse her. But I am tired of washing sheets every single day! I am pretty sure kids are either bed wetters or they're not, but I don't know how to get beyond bed wetting. If you have ideas for me, please comment.

How can you tell he's the third child?

It took 11.5 weeks for me to get him to the picture place for the first time.

Gratuitous Pictures of a Baby Boy

Ten weeks old. Also, that is my ARM next to his head.

Me: happy. Luke: not so much.

Yeah, I'm a pretty big deal.

Already getting dressed up by his big sister.

And then there was the party bus

As most of you know, Nellis AFB is home to the USAF Weapons School. They have two classes per year, and this means every June and December people fly in from all over the world for a string of fabulous graduation parties. Living here has its advantages, because last week I got to participate in the A-10 wives' soiree - a righteous tour around Las Vegas in our own Rock Star bus.

We started at the local casino, and then boarded the bus for our next stop at the Blue Martini. The bus driver took perhaps the longest route possible to get there, but it allowed us all some time to get to know each other. Michelle and Lysandra entertained us with their dancing skills, which garnered some looks from the local traffic on the I-15. After martinis and shots at the Blue Martini, we went to the famous Las Vegas sign, where the bus driver took a photo of all of us...but not the sign. I'm pretty sure the whole point of the picture was to have us and the sign in the photo, but whatevs.

When you put the pictures together like this, it actually looks like what I had in mind!

From there, it was off to Mandalay Bay's exclusive Foundation Room, a posh bar on the 43rd floor overlooking the strip. More shots and more drinks led to much silliness, including this photo which shows Jenna, Aubrey, Erin and me, and something unmentionable floating in Erin's 'tini. Also, Lysandra might have drunk-dialed Katie, who lives on the east coast...making for a very late night call. Sorry, Kates!

Hawg wives know how to party.

Busy much?

I don't even know what I've been up to for the past week, but I've been busy enough that I just found my camera cable yesterday and downloaded pictures of the past two weeks' events.

We all went to Tucson last week for 3 days, as Tim had a short TDY to DM. The trip was quick (sorry to those of you we didn't get to see this time!), but fun. Somehow we survived the 431 miles each way, with three small and slightly vocal children. Let's just say that google maps says it will take a person who never has to stop for gas, food or poopy diapers approximately 7 hours and 47 minutes to drive from our house in Las Vegas to my sister's house in Arizona. Our drive there took eleven (11) (ELEVEN) hours. OMG. I'm pretty sure Tim was cursing me for most of those 11 hours, as he was skeptical that we should all go on this trip to begin with. (His thought process: I could fly to Tucson in 3 hours, on the government's dime, stay overnight without screaming children, get drunk with the guys after the conference, and then fly back home.) I coerced him into taking us. (My thought process: Tim will be gone for 2-3 days, leaving me stuck home with 3 crazy vocal children, or we could ALL endure the crazy chaos together and I could also see some good friends and my sister.)

We had a great time, staying at a nice hotel close to Jessica, and spending as much time with her and her family as possible. We also got to see Shayne and her family, and Rae and her boys.

The five cousins: Kate (3 3/4), Claire (2 1/2), Tempie (2), Lucy (6mo), and Luke (2mo).

Lounging at the pool.

Loving the pool.

Since we've been back, I have managed to unpack all of our bags, but that is about it. The house is a disaster, there is clean (and dirty!) laundry everywhere, toys in every room of the house, and my level of sanity is decreasing. I do, however, have a babysitter coming tomorrow morning for a few hours, so Luke and I can go to the dentist. Woohoo! A few hours with just one child! It's the little things.

Stinker

If you can't account for her whereabouts, beware. She's been called Claire the Destroyer before, with good reason. She's been known to moisturize herself (and the carpet and railing), spice things up if life gets too boring, host tea parties in inappropriate locales, express her artistic self in ways I'd hoped not to see, and redecorate rooms without anyone asking her to. She has a penchant for playing with water, and she loves her morning coffee. Of course, she learned a lot from her big sister. Kate can't hold a candle to Claire, however. Kate's idea of a mess is a lot more amusing and a lot less ohshitwhere'stheresolvecarpetcleanerohnowecan'tbeoutofitagain.

For instance, this was the scene in their room after Kate spent a couple of "nap time" hours alone:

For some unknown reason, Kate redecorated their room with the contents of Claire's underwear drawer.

My favorite picture. She apparently didn't want the elephant to feel left out.

Claire holding the undies and bloomers that had been laid out neatly in rows across her bed.

She's very particular about her shoe arrangement. Tim thinks she's got a streak of me Monica in her.

Claire is much more...dangerous. And messy.

Twice in the last week, I have found her in my room with medicine from my bathroom closet. Lest you think I am leaving my cough syrup just lying around, I have all of our non-child-friendly pills and such on a shelf that is 5 feet high in the closet. She is climbing the shelving to get to what she wants. The first time, I found her with 2 bottles of Robitussin and a bottle of Tylenol. She was hiding behind my bedroom curtains with the cat, preparing to have cocktails. I am very thankful for child-proof caps, although I am somewhat concerned that she will find a way to break into them. If anyone can do it, she can.

Also this week: she has poured the contents of my water cup out onto the floor in Luke's room. Twice. When she finds the cup empty, she simply helps herself to more water from the bathroom sink. She has removed her diaper and peed on the floor once, and on her bed once. She has climbed into the tub shower in their bathroom to get a bar of soap, and I've found her playing with it in Luke's room. Last night she put a stack of unused wipes in the toilet, causing much fun for me and Tim. I have found her in the loft silently rubbing vaseline and lotion all over her face. Twice today she has dumped the contents of her milk cup onto the kitchen table when I've been upstairs with Luke to change his diaper. She removed an entire stick of glue from the stick and rubbed it on the kitchen table, again when I was changing Luke's diaper. She and Kate were supposed to be gluing papers together. At bath time, she turned her Little People airplane into a seaplane and put it in the tub. I haven't replaced the batteries yet to see if it still works. She has drawn on our new picnic table with crayon, and delights in throwing rocks into the pool. Instead of throwing her food away after lunch, I have later found it rotting in the recycle bin. Mind you, these things all happened within the last week. I'm not sure what happened to my sweet little Claire, but she has turned into a terror when someone isn't watching her every move.

On a cuter note, we went to dinner at our local sushi restaurant the other night. We ordered several pieces of sushi, some tempura for the girls, and some sushi rolls. Claire ate two whole pieces of the unagi roll, dipped in soy sauce. Tim fell in love with her all over again that night.

Sleeps like a baby

Except when we're out. At a party. Where we figured we'd put him and his car seat in a corner and have some drinks. During events like those, he'll scream bloody murder if you set him down, insisting that Tim hold him while pacing hallways, pausing at times to require some bouncing and rocking. This was the scene on Saturday night as we attempted to socialize at a squadron luau. Well, not this scene as pictured below, this scene as described above.

Tim was a dream, though, and allowed me to have some drinks and talk with the girls.

Meghan and me on the deck overlooking downtown. Notice my lame attempt at "tropical attire". Meghan is 36 weeks pregnant and has a good excuse; me, not so much.

Starting last week, I've been trying to get Luke to drop his 1am feeding. We've gone back and forth between him waking up at about 2:15, demanding to be fed, and him waking up at 4am like is planned. I've been giving into his demand for food at 2am because he has a cold (second one in two months; poor third child) and is a little cranky. He wakes up with "angry breathing", which is adorable although loud enough to wake me. But I think we're breaking through and mostly done with the 1-2am feeding bit. The other night I slept from 11pm until 4am straight. I haven't been that well-rested in 2 months! Heaven.