Don't worry! I'm back!

We've been on Vacay on Texas for the past week...but I'm back and doing laundry like a made woman. 

Can someone solve the age old problem of not having ANY food to eat when you get back from a trip?! I mean, you work so hard to eat it all ( so it won't spoil while you're gone) before you leave and then you're faced with cupboards that are bare when you return. 

Anyway...I'm starving. 

OK, once I've filled the fridge and made sure we have clothes to put on our backs again, I promise blogging will begin again...

Until then, check out Ransom at his "trial run" birthday that we did in Texas....who takes after his Mom's love for cupcakes?!?! WHO!? 

The perfect storm

So, last night I made an aaaaaaaamazing pizza if I do say so myself. I had some leftover egg plant and some green olives that needed to be eaten, three turkey italian sausage links gathering freezer burn in my freezer and a ticking clock to clean out my fridge before our trip next week-all this equaled the perfect storm of recipe making and I found this Perfect Solution on Smitten Kitchen. I just added the italian sausages, which may I just say, probably made it even MORE amazing, and I also used Betty Crocker's roll out pizza crust because I do NOT HAVE THE TIME to make homemade pizza crust. The only thing I'd change is next time we will definitely have a bottle of Red to have along with this pizza, it was a crying shame not to have a glass with this fancy feast. 

a goodbye

Yesterday I got to go to the Deployment ceremony for my friend Adelaide's veterinary team which is headed to Afghanistan this weekend. 

I'm seriously going to miss Adelaide,  she's been such a fun and bright part of our life here at Fort Benning. We usually hung out on Thursdays when she'd get off work and come over until Bible Study.  Adelaide was a fellow Texas and all around kindred spirit and I am SO BUMMED she's leaving! But I am looking for my silver lining in the form of the fact we'll still be here at Fort Benning when she gets back and I hear that RE-deployment ceremonies are EVEN BETTER...and I hear those have cake too! But seriously...sometimes the Army makes me sad and saying goodbye to a friend for a while is definitely at the top of the list! Keep Adelaide in your prayers I know she'll appreciate them!

Sometimes...

Parenting can be soooo hard sometimes. And I feel like the last two days I've been failing at it in a big way.  My patience has been paper thin and I my heart has been anything but loving. 

But, things are looking up and I'm looking to next week as my ticket to sanity! Nothing like the hopes of a vacation to get you through....that and the cute face of a little stinker. 

The Un-to-do list

We visit the petri dish gym TWICE and Ransom gets an intense cold?? Coincidence?!? I THINK NOT!!!!  haha.
So anyway, Ransom is a cranky ball of mucus... A ball that finds it's only happy resting place is ON TOP OF ME.
Side note: Expectant Moms listen up! People will tell you to get a comfy chair for your nursery...LISTEN TO THOSE PEOPLE! In fact, I would go so far as to say get a chair you not only don't mind sitting on, ,but one you don't mind SLEEPING on. Last night I spent a grand total of 5 hours "sleeping" in my chair, and I'm currently going on an hour and a half ( nap time)... And yes, I could risk moving him to his bed, which is what I did the first half of the night...but when his head isn't elevated ( like it is on my chest) than he only sleeps about 20 min. Straight....aaaaaanyway, here we are. Here we are NOT working on the massive todo list that I must complete before we go out of town on Saturday.
Did I tell you? The Texas Swap begins! Because of Army Weirdness ( what's new there?) we are going to Texas for a week ( yay!!), then exactly a week after we get back, my parents are coming here for almost a week...and then on the same day they drive home, I'll be FLYING back to Texas ( I wonder who will get there first?)for a quick "day" trip for a friends wedding... Probably not the most efficient way to spent several weeks... But definitely optimizes the fun.
In the midst of all of that, Brett and I will get TWO WHOLE NIGHTS away while we're in Texas thanks to our wonderful family. Hopefully Hayden will graduate Ranger School, our dear friends Wes and Tina Wood will be visiting for Washington, Ransom will celebrate his first year of life ( hopefully with a party if I can get my act together.), and Brett and Ransom will survive their first weekend without me. ( hopefully. Haha! Just kidding... They will be fine.)....so yes, there is plenty for me to do. All of which I am not doing. Ahhhh...parenthood, how you have taught me how very UNimportant having a perfectly clean house really is. *sigh*

While I was writing this post...

Putting out fires

So, I can be kind of a "clingy" mom sometimes. This probably stems from those dramatic months when Ransom would just LOOK at the outside world and burst into tears.
My child is dramatic. He didn't get it from me. ( hahahaha!)
Anyway, since he tends to be standoffish and slow to warm up, so do I...and that's no good for anyone. And so, the last few months as Ransom has grown into himself more, and I've noticed how he does seem to enjoy, or at least put up with, other children and large groups of people more- I felt like we needed to make some steps towards him getting use to "group play times". I mean, heck, my sister is putting her one-year-old in SCHOOL this year!!! And sure, her child BLOSSOMS in social settings, but surely I need to make at least some efforts in that direction?!?
And so I started pumping myself for our first challenge.
The gym's childcare.
It would just be for an hour, I'd get a good workout in ( something that is becoming less and less likely when I'm walking outside in the sweltering heat of summer) and Ransom would get a little "outside" stimulation.
So I decided we'd try for Tuesday, but Monday night happened-we both had horrible sleeps-and I put it off until today.....and then today came.
Ransom slept a WHOLE EXTRA HOUR.
It was INCREDIBLE!
I was rested, he was rested. It seemed as though the STARS HAD ALIGNED and we were going to have our first wonderful gym experience.
So we went, we walked down the winding halls of the gym to the childcare room, we got Ransom all signed in, I dropped him off and I did my best to not think about him as I powered through my workout, jamming to the Blackeyedpeas pandora station....and then, through the sound of Rihanna telling me to "dont stop the music" I heard the blaring, unmistakeable sound of a fire alarm.
At first I thought it was a mistake, but then it continued and I saw gym workers in yellow shirts shooing people out the doors...and that's when I started to walk quickly towards the childcare room...
WHY IS IT SO FAR AWAY?!!?!
Those long winding halls are MILES LONG. WHO NEEDS A WORKOUT WHEN YOU HAVE THESE STUPID HALLS?!?!
And finally I reached the childcare room, right behind a bunch of other mothers-heck, if that building had really been on fire, for get about it, we still would have headed for our kids...
Anyway, we got there and no one was there...they had already evacuated the kids ( good thing?)  and so I headed outside into the face of a crazed childcare worker running around counting kids, and the sound of screaming children and crying babies. You would have thought a natural disaster had hit.
And there he was. Crammed into an "evacuation crib" ( seriously that was written on the side) with five other babies, sobbing his eyes out.
I. could. not. get. to. him. fast. enough.
And it took him a good five minutes to calm down, and even once we'd waited to get back into the building and I had signed him back out and collected his bag, he would still let out a little whimper/shutter every so often. Poor, sensitive baby.

 THAT was our first attempt at going to the gym together.

So, of course, I had to laugh and call my sister on the way home because if you can't find the extreme irony in THAT situation then you're just dense...and, of course, we'll be going back to the gym next week to "face our fears"  in the hopes that this will not end up being something that Ransom remembers in therapy years from now.

A Grown up Marriage

I remember the first year I knew I had grown up. It was the year I worked on my birthday, and Christmas day...for me those days, even if they didn't hold birthday cake or presents, were still days you got to do whatever you wanted. Well, welcome to adulthood honey...not so.
Don't get me wrong, its not that dreary...its just that when those days came in went and I had to work and pay bills and do Real Life Activities and it didn't actually Kill Me or anything (haha)...well, I realized that life was not all roses, but that it, DID have roses mixed in and that's what really matters..

So, here we are reaching another "growing up" milestone, but first off for perspective lets look back...
This time last year, we did this: were lazy at home...
This time two years ago, we did this: Were enjoying R&R in Washington.
This time three years ago, we did this: were lazy in Victoria, BC
This time 4 years ago, we did this: Had a big "party" and went to the Bahamas

Ok, so now we come to today. Brett's at work and I went to the gym and plan to do some house cleaning. ahhhhhhh! Happy Anniversary Honey! ;-)
But you know what, I know we'll celebrate ( we're planning on living it up on Saturday by going to see the LAST HARRY POTTER MOVIE WHICH I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT I COULD SCREAM and going to eat yummy yummy steaks), but I also know its about celebrating EVERY day. I know we've grown into our marriage. And not that I wouldn't take a day off, or a vacation or another honeymoon...but I know that we do not need such things to make our marriage memorable and fun. And so, ironically ( because I'm talking about being "grown up" and about how excited I am about a kids movie all in the same post....yeah) I feel like we're grown ups now.

Of course, we haven't even GOTTEN to year five yet...but I'm looking forward to it being just as wonderful. Wonderful because I am married to a man who puts Christ before all things, who loves me with his actions and words, who loves our son with all his heart, who loves others with an equal passion and caring heart that I wish I could emulate.  I am forever grateful that the Lord gave me such a wonderful husband and continues to fulfill His promises to us through our marriage verse:

I will give the one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. ~Jer 32:39 

a mouthful

Yesterday was crazy, even for me....I hung out with four different ladies and baby sat for another little lady, all back to back to back. Ransom was grumpy. But now that I look back on it, he probably just felt out numbered.

In other semi-related news, I'm trying my hand at homemade teething biscuits. Ransom has never been one for teethers, and usually when he seems to be in pain nothing really works, but I'm desperate and they also looked kind of yummy ( plus I had all the ingredients in the house already!)...The jury is still out on whether he likes it, he's been holding and periodically putting it in his mouth for about 5 minutes...so we'll see.

Incidentally, if you are thinking about getting married the dates between July 10-15th are really pretty great and I now know a TON of people who's wedding anniversary is this week, so apparently it works ;-) . Brett and my 4th anniversary is on Thursday ( BIIIIIG celebration coming on Saturday...stay tuned) but our friends the McKnight's 3rd anniversary was yesterday so I took care of their 1 year old daughter Elizabeth for them. It was super fun. And I think if you could get past the whole infancy stage ( isn't that with all babies?!?) I think it would kind of be fun to have twins.
Watching R and E interacting was loads of fun, and double the cuteness...

Update: Ok, so he successfully finished his biscuit.  I'm going to go with he likes it, but its definitely a sit and watch him while he eats it food...unlike SOME children Ransom tried his hand at shoving the WHOLE THING in his mouth at once. Luckily he'd already nibbled off about half of it, but it was still a lot to chew ( and swallow).


If you'd like to make these teething biscuits: 

1 cup whole wheat, all-purpose, barley or oat flour
1 cup dry infant rice or oat cereal
1 very ripe banana, mashed until smooth, some apple sauce if needed
2 Tbsp. canola or olive oil

Preheat oven to 375˚F. 
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and cereal. In a small bowl, stir together the banana, oil and about 2 Tbsp. water; add to the dry ingredients and stir until you have a soft dough, adding a bit more water or flour  ( I actually added about a Tablespoon of applesauce) as needed until the dough comes together and is not too sticky. (It will depend largely on the size of the banana, and how juicy it is.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out about 1/4-inch thick and cut into smooth shapes (circles or sticks, without pointy edges – squish them a bit with your fingers). Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely and store extras in an airtight container.

Bookish

Today I was told that I "looked like an Abigail"...this caused me to dwell way too long on what an Abigail looks like exactly. I mean I am all about people looking like their name and all, but when a SALES PERSON starts to make a comment...anyway, I suppose its good for identity theft if you look more like the name on your card. Speaking of which I lost my debt card on Monday. Luckily there have been no "odd" charges so I've just reported it missing and hoped for the best. oops. 

Ransom is back to taking really short naps. I guess the weekend of 2 hour naps is over. Luckily he's still been in a relatively good mood. He is currently really into "reading"... he will seriously sit on the floor pulling books out of his book basket one at a time, turning the pages, turning the book all different ways, and then on to the next book...he'll do it for a good twenty minutes and will often do it several times during the day. I love that our child is already bookish. I just hope it sticks! 

I can't quit you.

So, I admit I checked Brett's facebook today... I am going to go ahead and cut myself some slack since I had been holding a sleeping Ransom for about an hour when I finally caved and looked it up on my phone. I mean, what ELSE did I have to do?! haha

Anyway, I guess its going to take my a while to fill the "void" but since its so hard to quit, it must have definitely been the right decision!  And look here! You're getting another blog post! So time IS being spent more wisely!

Brett's longer working hours have extended into the weekend-since he took off work "early" on Thursday so he could have Bible Study, he's had to work all day today. For reals there are just not enough hours in the day for powerpoint according to the Army. Army Strong. Army Power(point).

A rebel with a tiny cause

So, I deactivated my facebook account today...I've been toying with the idea to do it for days-well, really ever since that glorious week of vacation when I didn't check it. Anyway, it probably won't be forever, right now I'm going for a month-but, anyway, the deciding factor was time. And time well spent. This week was busy hanging out with two of my gorgeous friends from Texas, Christa and Esther. I've known them their whole lives and it is always such a nice surprise when you find yourselves adults and friends at that! 

At our second fireworks show of the weekend...

eating famous "Abt Family Chili Cheese Dogs"

A jam packed week of goodness

If you look closely you can see the airborne students jumping from the plane...

 three ladies at his beck and call? one spoiled baby

It was a great week and in the midst of the busyness I feel like God was talking to me a bit about the people I should be making a priority. The Dear Ones who have been neglected because I'm a "busy mother", but really if I'm honest I'm just not doing an awesome time management job.  And so what better way to free up some time for the Important People than to get rid of the people I just randomly stalk? ( haha) And thus the change. In fact, I think the only thing really holding me back was the fact that I wouldn't be able to share pictures of Ransom as easily...but what about my dear neglected blog?! And so, even though its a bit harder to post...I'll be hopefully making an effort to pick up the missing facebook slack by posting more pictures here instead. We'll see how that goes..

Sometimes Fort Benning can rock a pretty sky. 

Happy Independence Day!! (+ a winner)

Happy 4th everyone!! I love love this holiday! BBQs, fireworks, family picnics and little town parades- it's seriously great. We're currently watching the Abt Family tradional movie- Independence Day. Hahaha!
So what better time to announce the winner of my chocolate giveaway?!

It was interesting that with each person that commented I would think, "Oh! I hope they win!! I'd love to send that person Chocolate!"

But in the end there could only be one winner, but I will tell you this...friends, take a look around and find someone you can bless with a little "something special" this week! I definitely need to do "just because" presents for people more often.

And today I'm sending Chocolate to JUDY!!!! Congrats for winning! It'll be in the mail soon! *And by the way, Brett was very excited that he randomly picked your number! :-)