Ahh...finally relief from 90-100 degree temperatures and the pure joy of many days in the mid-70's, sunny, with a breeze...perfect! September has been relatively uneventful in our lives - Kyle's busy with more field artillery officer training and I'm back taking two grad school classes so many nights are spent with both of us doing homework. Aren't we exciting? Greyson is now attending pre-preschool, as I call it, at a local church two days a week. It's a mom's day out program on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-3pm. He's in a class with 4 other 1 and half year old boys and they play outside, do art projects, play musical instruments, eat lunch, nap, and play some more. He's loving it and is really thriving off the additional socializing and experience of being in the care of someone other than Mom or Dad. He still gets a bit upset when I drop him off, but I wait around the corner and he seems to shake it off in a minute or two. I'm utilizing the time he's at school to devote to grad school. Two classes means A LOT of reading and lots of paper writing. It's a challenge and keeps me on my toes.
We were lucky enough to have Aunt Lisa, my sister, come visit earlier this month. We enjoyed some sister time of going out to eat and cooking up a tasty meal at home, and she had lots of fun running around with Greyson. He can't quite say Lisa, but managed to start calling her "Lala"....so Aunt Lala it is. It was wonderful to have her come all the way to our neck of the woods in Oklahoma and we hope to see her again soon when she's not jet setting around the world for work.
The biggest developmental change for Greyson is his language development. He's much better at repeating words we say to him and he's now using words regularly to communicate his basic needs. Due to the new addition of language in his life I added a new part to the blog on the right hand side to keep a list of the words he's using. You can catch him using some of the those words (hello, cheese, chair, no) in the video clips below.
Well, I'll keep it short this month and let the videos do the talking. Don't forget to also check out the September pictures linked on the left. You can get a sneak peek of Greyson trying on his Halloween costume - hint hint he's red and furry and totally cute!
Lots of Love, Kyle, Lindsey, and Greyson
P.S. Tomorrow Kyle and I celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary - for many of you who were at our wedding can you believe it was 4 years ago? Time flies!
P.P.S. Have a few videos for you this week - all so good they just had to be shared.
I cannot believe summer is coming to an end. School buses are everywhere now, and the even stranger part is I'm not working at a school....truthfully back to school time came and I was so happy not to have to go through the stress of the few months of school. Not that dealing with a year and half year old is piece of cake, but I'm thoroughly enjoying my career change to the titles of: graduate student, diaper changer, meal preparer, house cleaner, bill payer, laundry lady, driver for playdates, song and dance entertainer, bath giver.....ahhh...the list goes on. For anyone who thinks stay at home mom is a sham of a job, I dare you to walk a day in my shoes. It is exhausting, but the reward of getting to see my gorgeous boy smile and run up to hug me makes it all worth it.
This month started off with a visit from Kyle's parents, Daryl and Joyce. They were kind enough to come and visit to keep Grey and I company during part of the time Kyle was gone in the field for the final weeks of his BOLC II officer training. It was great having someone else around to help with Greyson and to ease my nerves of being home alone. We really enjoyed showing them the sights of Lawton (ha ha!) and Daryl is always a wonder at taking care of any and all yard work that needs to be done during their visit. Thanks again for coming to see us and for all your help. Greyson says, "You're the best Pop Pop and Jo Jo!"
Kyle finished BOLC II training last week (yeah!!!) and got to have a 4 day weekend before starting his new training.....you guessed it...BOLC III this past Wednesday. What makes BOLC (Basic Officer Leadership Course) III different is that these next 4 and half months is all training focused on Kyle's branch of the Army, field artillery. During this training he will become an expert in gunnery, fire direction, and fire support....in English that means anything and everything having to do with the "big guns" of the Army (essentially the modern day cannons). This training is supposed to have better hours, which makes me happy, and it's very academic which is Kyle's niche. I'm sure he's going to do very well.
During his 4 days off, we took a family mini-trip down to Dallas for a few nights. We enjoyed time away from Lawton and took advantage of being back in a "real" city. We did some serious shopping and stocked up Greyson's fall/winter wardrobe. He was in desperate need of some 24 month size stuff and though it still looks giant to us I know he'll be fitting right into those clothes in the next month or two. We also spent a great morning at the Dallas Zoo. We got up close and personal in the viewing area of the gorillas (see video below), and they also had a great separate children's zoo with lots of things for Greyson to climb on and even a fun shallow stream to wade in and cool off from the hot summer sun. All in all, a great little family getaway that we all needed to spend time together and just to get out of town for a bit.
Greyson is continuing to develop and change every day. He's officially running - in any which direction he so chooses at any and all time....makes for a tired Mom and Dad. He's also blossoming in his verbal development. He now regularly says: Momma (still for Kyle and I), Nona (for both cats), nana (banana), hi there (he loves to wave and say this to everyone), bye, potty, cheese, shoes, and his favorite word right now is woah.....and truthfully I'm sure most things at this stage in his life are "Woah!" so it's appropriate and adorable. Also, to my sister the pilot's joy, he is obsessed with airplanes. Every time he hears one or sees one he points to the sky, stops dead in his tracks, and is set on seeing it. He had a blast at our hotel in Dallas as it was near the airport so there were LOTS of airplanes to spot. Next week is also a big moment for Greyson as he begins his Tuesday "preschool". I found a great Mom's Day Out program at the local Baptist Church that does a preschool/daycare setting for 1 year olds from 9:30-3:00 that allows him to socialize with kids his own age, learn to share a bit more, and get used to being around other adult authority figures other than myself. Plus, this will give me the set aside time to focus on grad work when I start back up in the next week or two with 2 classes this semester. For September he'll only be going on Tuesdays, but if he's doing well and seems to like it I may have him start going on Tuesday and Thursday starting in October. I'm very impressed with the program and the facility and I think it will be great for him, and nice for me to have a bit of set aside time to focus on school work so I don't feel like I have to cut school work time into time I'd rather be with the family.
Enjoy the August pictures and video clips below. Hope you are all enjoying these last few weeks of summer, but I can tell you living in the HOT great plains I am ready and waiting for fall to arrive as soon as possible.
Lots of Love, K, L, and G
Hotel Fun
Our Close Encounter with Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla (seriously the Gorilla's name)
Well, clearly you can tell I've had the last month off grad school because I've been a bit more active with my blogging. Here are a few edited photos of Greyson courtesy of a great free site called picnik.com. Definitely check it out, but fair warning you'll end up spending way too much time on it...enjoy.
Today marks Greyson being 1 and half. The more I got to thinking about that the more I realized what a milestone half birthdays are for children. So many things happen and change in 6 months for a little person. When I think of him from birth, to 6 months old, to 1 year, to now 1 and half it's incredible how much growing, learning and changing he has done. Every day now he becomes more and more of a little boy - running, climbing, talking, playing. He truly is incredible and I'm so lucky to have the pleasure of watching him grow every single day. Here's a little photo trip down memory lane to see how much our little man has accomplished in his first year and half of life.
Birth (February 2008)
6 Months Old (August 2008)
1 Year Old (February 2009)
1 and Half Years Old (August 2009)
Happy 1 and half years, Monkey! Mommy and Daddy love you LOTS!
Cannot believe the end of July is upon us. Summer sure does seem to be flying by. Well, I titled this months blog update "Ups and Downs" because this month sure has seemed to be full of them. The month began with a pretty major low. I preface this story with we're all fine and to let you know the story ended well, but it was a rather scary experience. So, on June 28th (Sunday) around 10am we went out for a family walk around our neighborhood. We walked for about 30 minutes and as we approached our rental house we saw an unfamiliar truck in the driveway. Then as we got closer we saw a strange young man walk out our front door. We yelled, "Hey what are you doing?" and "This is our house". We then saw our flat screen TV amongst other personal items in the back of the truck and realized we walked up on them robbing our house. They realized they were caught and hopped in the truck to leave. We pushed Grey in his stroller off the side to safe spot and Kyle and I attempted to stop them from backing up. They backed up into the yard and Kyle tried to open the driver's door and actually ripped the handle off. Then as they speed away down the street the passenger leaned out and fired 3-4 shots in Kyle's directions, Greyson and I were further up the driveway. As, I said we we're all fine - incredibly scared and shaken up, but fine. Our neighbor came out when he heard the commotion and shots and called 911. Police were here in minutes and put out a radio call for the truck based on the info we saw and a few neighbors who witnessed the event. They were able to track them down within 20 blocks of here and after a bit of a high speed chase they crashed into a corner of a house/telephone pole and attempted to run on foot, but we're caught by the authorities. Both are sitting in the county detention center currently and are awaiting trial. We were able to get our things back since they were caught, but granted many things were ruined in the process. Thankfully we had renter's insurance. So, as I said this was a big "down" in our lives and we're still recovering from that trauma day by day. We did get a new metal door and frame installed (since they kicked in the door to enter) and got a pretty detailed security system installed. It's definitely helping us sleep better at night. We're so thankful for not getting hurt in that moment and that they were caught, but still can't get over that this happened to us in broad daylight on a Sunday morning. A big thanks to all of you who heard about this event and were so supportive during this rough time with us.
On to happier news, a big "up" for this month was my week long trip home to Chicago with Greyson. He had so much fun spending lots of time with his grandparents. He enjoyed a trip to Woodfield Mall and Build-a-Bear, had his first taste of Portillo's, and played with Mommy's friends who came to visit. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Joannie were brave enough to babysit Grey for a night while I went I enjoyed a night out in Indy for my friend Jeff's wedding. Lisa and I actually met there and a had a blast at the wedding reception with friends. While I was away Greyson had so much fun going to the Kohl's Children's Museum with his grandparents and a trip to the park. We then spent a few days at my Dad's lake house and enjoyed relaxing in nature, going boating, and feeding Kali the dog lots of snacks before it was time for us to head home. I also give myself a lot of credit, as this was my first trip with just Greyson and I. Dealing with airports and flying with a toddler is exhausting, but overall he did great and I got through it, too.
Kyle is 3 weeks into his first set of officer training here at Ft. Sill. The hours have been long and the training is quite repetitive for someone who has been in the Army for the past 5 years, but he's getting through it. We're looking forward to him finish this training and moving on to his field artillery officer basic course in mid-August. It will be a bit more academic and the hours should be better. Greyson and I are much happier when Daddy is home at a decent time at night to squeeze in some family time before G's bedtime. While Kyle is busy at work I'm keeping busy with Grey. I'm lucky to have a friend from Clarksville who is also here for her hubby's training so we get together often with our kiddos for play dates. We enjoy going to the library play time, running errands, visiting the water park and splash park. I'm also just about done with my first grad class and am proud of how well I've done. I'm looking forward to the month of August off before I start 2 more courses in September. I will actually have some time to read for pleasure not for grad school - yeah!
Greyson is growing and changing more and more everyday. He's such a toddler now, running around, climbing on things, curious about everything, and a very defined and strong personality. We're still so blessed to have a very happy young man most of the time. He his moods, but we're starting time out with him to work on those toddler tantrums. We'll see how that goes. He's also become very verbal. He talks all the time, granted it's mostly not in English, but he sure gabs away. He does say quite a few words now: Mama (for both Kyle and I - he's not so happy about that), Nona (for Corona and Portillo - both of our cats), Nana (banana), Baba (milk or water), he's even attempting to say Cheese (mostly comes out Ch...), and shoes (he makes the Sh sound). He's also regularly using sign language he's learned from the great Signing Time DVDs we have. He regularly signs milk, apple, cookie, eat, puppy, potty, more, all done. Sign language has been a great outlet for him to communicate while he still can't quite verbalize his thoughts. He's growing taller and taller everyday and has to be close to weighing 30 lbs...trust me my exhausted arms feel it. He's very independent at times and likes to walk on his own and check things out, but other times he's very attached to Mom. Overall, he's amazing and he definitely keeps me on my toes while we spend our days together during the week and during our family time on the weekends.
We're looking forward to Kyle's parents coming to visit next week - they are kind enough to come keep me company and play with Grey while Kyle is out in the field for training. It should be fun to show them some more places we've discovered here in Oklahoma. Weather continues to be oppressively hot most of the time, but this week it's been in the 80's....that's pretty much like winter here in the plains. Ha ha!
All our best to you and your families!
Lots of Love, K, L, and G
P.S. There are new pics linked to the side - I cleared out some links to older pictures because it was getting a bit crowded. Sorry there are a few less than normal because my camera was one of the damaged items in the burglary and it took some time to replace it. Thankfully my Mom took lots of pics during our time in Chicago.
P.P.S. Also enjoy the video - G shows off his climbing, talking and love of waving all in one.
June has brought A LOT of changes for our family. The biggest of those changes being our move from Tennessee to Lawton, Oklahoma (home of Ft. Sill) earlier this month. Thankfully it went relatively smoothly. We spent a week or so prepping our house in TN to move and get it ready for the renters we have coming in. Then the good ole military movers (who were great!) came and spent a whole day packing us up and another day loading our stuff on the truck and then off our stuff went. We spent a week or so more taking care of last minute things at the house and preparing to head to Oklahoma. Kyle's parents kindly flew to TN to help us make the road trip to Oklahoma. They stayed with us for a week and were a HUGE help - doing lawn care, unpacking boxes, and taking care of Grey so Kyle and I could do a marathon unpacking job. I'm proud to say that within 48 hours of the movers dropping off our things everything was unpacked with pictures on the wall - phew, it was exhausting, but sure feels nice to be "home". Now that we're settled were enjoying a few weeks of family time and getting to know the Lawton area while Kyle is on leave before he starts his training on July 6th. We've joined the YMCA and we're enjoying working out and Greyson has fun in the nursery. We also got season passes for the nice local waterpark and head there a few times a week - you gotta find ways to beat the Oklahoma heat and trust me it's HOT!
Greyson did so well with the move. It was a little rough with our day and half road trip, but once we got to Oklahoma it's been smooth sailing. He's loving our house here and loves to wander around and explore our new place. We also have a nice little backyard setup with his sand/water table and a big blow up "kiddie" pool that all 3 of us can sit in on a hot afternoon. The other change with him is we are transitioning from 2 naps to 1. It was a bit rough the first day, but it's getting better every day now. He's now sleeping from 6pm to 7:30am and then staying up all morning until he takes his afternoon nap at 12pm and sleeps until 3pm. It's working out nicely and it's great to have the morning to get out and go play or run errands and then it's nice to have that long nap so I can work on grad school, clean, or just relax for a bit. In other Greyson news he now has a mouth full of teeth. His 1 year molars are all just about cut through now and I'm honestly not even sure how many teeth total he has now - 13-14ish? Honestly it's a bit scary to stick your hand in his mouth to check because he can sure bite if he feels like it - ouch!
Also, want to extend an extra Happy Father's Day wish to all our great Dads/Grandpas! Daryl, Mike L., Mike K. - you are fabulous and we're so appreciative of having you all in our lives. Greyson and I got Kyle his dream grill (the Char-Griller - one half is gas and the other is charcoal) and a few books for Father's Day. We also took a fun family outing to the world famous Meers Restaurant which is in a tiny town (it's literally ONLY the restaurant and few houses) about 30 minutes from us. They are well known for their gigantic Meer burger that is something like 9 inches in diameter and fills the entire pie tin that it's served in. It was DELICIOUS! Burgers and beers was the perfect way to celebrate what an amazing Dad Kyle is and how much we love him!
Well, nap time is just about ending and we're off the waterpark to cool off. Hope you are all enjoying these summer days and good luck trying to keep cool. Enjoy the updated June pictures and a video, too!
Lots of Love, Kyle, Lindsey, and Greyson
P.S. Here's a bit of fun G had when we were getting ready to move - who knew empty bathroom cabinets could be so entertaining!
