This is My Forties

Today marks the 3 year anniversary since the day Josh walked out our door to cross over from the Air Force to the Army. As you all know, he has not been back since that day. It's been a very long three years. I guess it would have been harder had I actually gotten used to having him around, but he left when Noah was only 2 and a half months old. Three years and we're not even a single step closer to knowing what the hell is going on with us, where we'll be, or WHEN. I don't want to dwell on the negative, but that's exactly what I've been doing all day. So... what I'm gonna do now is vent to get it all off my chest and then talk myself back out of it. Let's do some math. I'm going to take a trip down memory lane and add up all the times Josh WAS here. 14 days in December of '04 for Christmas 03 days in February of '05 for our "CC" 06 days in April of '05 for our 2nd anniversary 06 days in June of '05 for leave en rout...

Last night we all decided we were dying for a game night so Karrie and her husband Clint came over. The boys ran amok for awhile and then took their bath and got into their footie pajamas. I could not believe how dirty that bath water was hahaha. I found these Halloween flashlights at Target for a mere $2.50 that had 5 different covers for them. All kids love flashlights! They had a grand time and so did we! We all played word games and talked all night long, had a few drinks and just laughed and laughed. I love game nights at home. It's so much more relaxing and fun than any bar :) The only thing that would have made it better would have been Josh, of course. This morning Noah and Tristan cuddled up and watched the Meet the Robinsons for a little bit. Noah loves holding his baby brother so much that I can bribe him with it hahaha. Noah... do you want to hold Tristan? THEN EAT! ;) They are going to be so adorable when the age gap starts closing a bit. I was in such a ...

Here's Tristan chatting a bit during tummy time.

Here's my chubby 6 week old baby! Tristan just adores tummy time. In fact he always throws a fit when I put him on his back (unless he's slightly propped up). I don't know if it's because he's exceptionally gassy or what, but that's how he is. He's started talking and cooing now and he's smiling a lot more and it seems to be on purpose now. He's growing so fast! I hope Josh gets here soon. I am still winning the food wars! Not only am I winning, but I didn't have to bribe at all for dinner tonight. I said "Noah you have to at least try everything" and he did. YAY! Then I bribed him to finish all his food with making cookies, but it didn't happen. I think it's because he waited so long the food was cold and tasted bad. No snacks at all during the day really helps I think (well, we have a snack together at like 3). He'll eventually figure it out. He's doing so great! We give each other high fives and talk abo...

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I say first because I am going to be in the next one! Also Tristan was quite disgruntled the entire time (as you can see) so we need to try again. AND we still have to do the Halloween costume shoot. These are some of my faves, but there were a lot more. You can click on my flickr badge (right column) to see all the others. Noah loved posing with the pumpkins and it was his idea to lay in the grass and sit on the big pumpkin. Don't you just love Tristan's socks?! We had fun :)

Seems as though I was correct in assuming that Noah is now old enough to stop with the finicky food behavior and start eating like a MAN. The Battle of Beef Stew was fought and won yesterday with the cunning use of "Meet the Robinsons". I was going to buy it anyway, but I told Noah if he would simply try his food we would get the movie. VICTORY! Today I also won at lunch and dinner. Lunch I bribed him with pumpkin painting. Dinner was more of a threat, but the promise of a chocolate peanut butter granola bar sure sped things up! We had a lot of fun painting pumpkins. He painted 3, I painted one. I think it looks like a vampire who's drunk on some O+ Next we're going to carve a skull into our big pumpkin. I thought I would also add that Tristan is getting a little addicted to this sling, I think... as am I. I cook in it, clean in it, nurse in it. I don't know how I would function without it!

Sorry. No pictures today. Tristan was doing the crazy eating constantly for about 3 days and today he's been asleep pretty much alllll day long. I am positive he's in a growth spurt now. I've been forced to pump all day because he increased my milk supply and then started sleeping on the job lol. I don't mind having reserves! I kept thinking about how you said Ember is during a growth spurt, Brit. So very very true. Karrie watched the boys for me and I went to the grocery store alone. It was... amazing. I forgot what it was like to get groceries without having to bargain with a 3yr old, although Noah is really helpful at the store most of the time. I was kinda lonely to be honest. I didn't have anyone to talk to! I really appreciated it though once I got home and didn't have to yell at Noah every 5 minutes to get back into the house haha. I'm going to miss Karrie if we move. She's been so helpful and fun. I wish I could take her with me. ...

One of my blogger friends has a 21mo old little boy and just posted a video of him. I thought to myself, self... what was Noah like at 21mos? So I went and looked and I just can't believe he was this wickedly cute and I actually FORGOT! Good thing I've got Tristan to occupy my mom hormones! Noah was so chubby and his voice was so much higher and squeakier than it is now. I'm glad I have videos to look back on because it's so easy to forget what kids were like at all their ages and stages. I kind of miss this little chubby bratnick that always had his bear and sippy cup in tow. Now he's tall and talking back and has a visible neck. His clothes actually fit him. He pours his own drinks and takes care of himself most of the time. At least he's still a bratnick ;) hehe. I was watching videos and he still chases Jellybean the same way. That means I've been telling him to "be nice" and "put her down!" for well over a year.

We spent almost all day just laying around. Tristan keeps going on these feeding binges where he wants to eat every 15 minutes or so for about 2 or 3 hours. I guess it's a growth spurt! Good news is he has slept at least one 5 hour stretch at night all week, usually from 9-2am. Tonight it will be 10-3am I'm hoping. I put Tristan in overalls today and he was just the cutest thing EVER! He actually liked them. Noah hated overalls, but Tris made all kinds of funny happy faces after I put them on him. The last one is of Noah and he's 9wks old in that shot! Tristan is so much bigger than him. We got yet another package today! :D My cousin Sandy made Tristan a plush blanket. We all love it... it's so cool I had to take some pictures of it. I think it's so creative how she used the leaf print to make a big leaf right in the middle. We also got a package yesterday from my friend Miriam with some exceptionally cute clothes from the Children's Place, includi...