Happy July

I can't beleive it's already July 1st! This year seems to be flying by! I guess having so many changes helps to pass the time.

Brodie graduated to a toddler bed last night. I took the rail off of her crib and she slept just fine without falling out. It was cute to wake up to her this morning standing beside my bed saying, "Mommy, up." After I got over the panic that she had crawled over the top of her crib, it was cute! She has a bad cough now, but other than that waking her up when the meds wear off, she's FINALLY sleeping through the night. The best thing is that she is FINALLY putting herself to sleep at night! No more midnight bedtimes for Mommy! It only took 2 nights of her crying herself to sleep for her to manage it without crying at all. We bought a special Tinkerbell pillowcase and she has her Dora to put to bed with her, so she thinks she's so big! (Which she is, I just don't want to admit it!) Now, if she would just put on weight and get BIG, things will be perfect! She's still holding at 20lbs, and at the 3% for weight on the chart. She's reaching all her milestones and is VERY active, so no one is worried. And she EATS almost everything, so she's just going to be a petite half-pint. Wish I had that problem!!!

The boys are continuing to bug me, but I guess that means they are normal! They love to do crafts, I can't keep enough stuff around for them to do. They finally earned their sand toys, so the playground is now their favorite place to be. Unfortunatley, the main slide at the park has a huge hole in it, and for some reasons the MP's roped off the WHOLE playground. They must not have kids!!! Luckily, the sand box is open and the little Brodie-sized playground is still free to roam. We are also in the process of re-doing our backyard and they are full of ideas of what to put in! So far, according to them, we will have a pool - with waterfall and slide,- a hot tub (bubble tub as they call it from my parents) a HUGE playground and sandbox and a tree fort. Now mind you, the yard is about 10' x'14, L shaped, and it has a HUGE tree in the middle of it...but the closest limbs are above the house! I LOVE their imagination!!!! Silly 'ole me, I had just planned on putting grass and some flowers in the backyard. I'm so BORING!!!

I've had some really strange cravings this pregnancy. I think most of it is because the closest stores are so far away, I want what I know I can't have! I usually crave them on Monday when the Commissary is closed and WalMart is too far to go just to fullfill the cravings of a pregnant woman! I can't get enough pickled okra for some reason. I can't do pickles this time. I ate too many with Brodie. I LOVE fresh fruit (I did with Brodie but not the boys!!!!) and can't eat enough carrots and celery! Only 9 more weeks till we find out what this one is!

The freshmen, or plebes, come tomorrow, so tis going to be busy, busy, busy for Jason and crowded, crowded, crowded till all the parents leave. Then the parents will be back for the start of the semester in August for the cadets "Acceptance Ceremony." The month of July and August are the worst time to live here, I've heard, except for home football games. Dealing with cadet parents is almost worse than dealing with kids! They think because the are parents of cadets, they can do what they want, drive where they want and park anywhere. It gets pretty annoying when we can't do grocery shopping because they have used the parking lot for "parent parking with shuttle." That's really the only downside about West Point we have found so far...and luckily it's only 3-4 times a year we have to deal with it.

Ok...that's enough for now. Thanks for listening! I'm trying to get back into stamping, with the inspirational help from my angel Angel!

PPM: I can see the backyard like the boys picture it! Now if I could just convince the military to let us do it!!!