Shirley and Jem!

I have been meaning to post this post for several days now.  Shirley turned 11 months old on Wednesday.  He is finally starting to eat.  He won't eat baby food that I try and feed him.  he likes to feed himself.  He is eating Kix, Rice Chex, Little Einstein Stars, and rice cakes.  He will drink a little bit of juice out of a cup as well.  He also crawls now.  He started crawling about a week after he turned 10 months.  He crawls on his right knee and left foot.  It is very cute.  I have never seen a baby crawl like he does.  He loves to twirl things in his fingers.  It is fun to watch him.

Jem is very imaginative and energetic.  Gil has been home on bed rest and on some days would watch a show about houses being haunted on the Discovery channel.  Most 4 year olds would not want to watch a show about ghosts, but Jem loved it.  Loved it a little too much.  He started asking to watch it every day.  Some of the episodes are scarier than others and I don't think it is something he should be wanting to watch.  Of course, I hate scary movies and shows.  He definately takes more after his dad.  Last Tuesday he came with me to pick up Walter from school.  He got into the car through the driver door and climbed back into his seat.  When I went to get into the driver seat the door was locked.  I had my key so I just automatically unlocked the door and climbed in.  That was when Jem said, "I didn't lock your door Mommy, Evil did it."  It was so funny I wanted to laugh. He of course learned the word evil from the show.  I don't think he really knows what it means.  That was what made it so funny.  Anyways, no more ghost show for him.

Pink Eye!

No, my kids don't have it, but I do in both eyes.  Hopefully my kids won't get it.  I am going to sanitize everything I have touched today when I am done posting this.  In addition to my eyes, I have thrush from nursing.  I haven't been able to eat yogurt since finding out that Shirley is allergic to dairy and eating yogurt everyday keeps me from getting thrush and plugged milk ducts.  Luckily I can still take Lecithin, which also helps me from not getting plugged ducts, but apparently doesn't help me not get thrush.  I am using vinegar in water for me and baking soda in water for Shirley's mouth (home remedies) and hopefully it will get rid of it.  Aside from these two things everything else is great.  Gil went to the doctor on post and found out he only has to be on bed rest for 30 days (he is so excited) and that he can stay in the military as long as he responds to treatment, which he is.  He really likes being in the military and would hate to hev to get out.  Plus, know we will get to go visit my sister for Thanksgiving since Mike will no longer be on bed rest during that time.  Yeah!  This is a picture of Gil dressing up and being goofy one night last week when he was fed up with being on bed rest.  It was hilarious.

Pumpkins!

Last week we carved pumpkins.  My boys didn't want to put their hands in and pull out the seeds, but I made them do at least half of that part.  Rilla thought it was fun to pull out the seeds for a little while. Then she lost interest in her pumpkin.  Of course, carving the pumpkins fell to Gil and me and it sure was a lot of     work. Here are our pumpkins.

Rilla Turns 2!

Rilla turned two last tuesday, October 14th. I didn't have a party for her like I originally planned because with Gil on bed rest I didn't want to have to do all the work that would have been required. We still had dinner, cake and presents. My friend Teah and her girls came. They are over all the time. We invite them over for dinner atleast two times a week, sometimes almost every day of the week. Her husband is deployed and it is so nice for all of the kids to get to play and spend time together. We did a BBQ for dinner. I made a Barbie cake. I love making Barbie cakes and was excited to make one for Rilla. She loves Barbies. Then we had cake and ice cream. I made a dairy and gluten free chocolate cake for me. It is pretty good, especially with chocolate chips in it. It was very hard, however, to make Rilla's chocolate cake and not be able to eat the cake I trimmed off. For her presents we bought her dolls for her doll house (Daddy/Daughter and Grandma/Grandson) and I bought a Cinderella dressup outfit and shoes and 2 books at yardsales for her. From Teah, Rilla got a Giselle Barbie doll and a dress.

Bed Rest!

Last Thursday Gil had a colonoscopy and the doctor discovered he has Colitis (inflamation of his Colon). He is now on Bed rest for 8 weeks. Yes, 2 months. He does not like it at all. He hates that he can't do PT. I wanted to laugh when the nurse told me because I knew how much Gil would hate being on bed rest. The first couple of days I had to keep telling him to go lay down. He is doing better about it now. I let him sit at the computer as long as his legs are propped up on a chair. We will enjoy having him home these next two months. I will especially enjoy not having to wake up Rilla or Shirley from naps when I go pick up Walter from school. I am very Grateful for being in the military. Gil's surgery or medicine won't cost us anything. The medicine he is on for the next 8 weeks would have cost us over $1700 dollars if we didn't have insurance. Plus he gets paid while he is on convalesent leave. How many jobs do that?

Rilla!

This was Rilla a couple of weeks ago. She put on her backpack, sunglasses and play dress shoes and walked around talking on her play phone. How Cute! I couldn't get a picture of her without her posing. She loves girl stuff and I am so glad. She loves barbies already. She sure can talk, too. My boys didn't speak as much at her age.

Gil's Birthday!

Gilbert had his 31st birthday October 2nd. Because I can't eat what Shirley is allergic to, I made two cakes. I made a Gluten & Dairy free chocolate cake. It is OK, tastes better when I add semi-sweet chocolate chips (I found one brand without dairy) added to it. The picture of Shirley with cake all over him is a little misleading. He still isn't eating food but he loves to play with food. He was happy until he got it all over his face. He doesn't like food on his face.

Fort Campbell!

We found out last week that when Gilbert graduates from Warrant Officer School next July we will be stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He will be assigned to the Aviation Brigade. It wasn't one of our choices, but I enjoy going places I have never been. I have heard lots of good things about Fort Campbell. It is actually located in both Kentucky and Tennesse. The one thing I am not looking forward to is humidity. I prefer dry weather. Hopefully it won't be too bad. It will be nice going someplace where it is very green.