Home is where the Air Force sends us....

Winter Solstice

21 December 2013

Mr. and Mrs. Weatherford-still getting used to that one!

Happy Winter Solstice from England where the sun set at 3:46 PM. It's dark and dreary, a little rainy, but not at all cold. I've had the windows open because Darren cranked the heat up last night! We stocked the fridge in preparation for our good friends, Ross and Lindsey, whom we introduced 5 years ago in Alaska. And as the saying goes- the rest is history. The newlyweds fly in on Monday morning and we plan to stay a couple nights in London and then drive back Christmas day to make dinner and entertain several of our friends.
Time to pack an over night bag, which should be pretty easy since I'm a pro at packing for an overnight-and not just for me-for my son and hubby too. I always keep a small make-up bag ready to go with my essentials. When it comes to clothes, I grab some sweats and a t for sleep and lounging, 2 tops and a tank and a couple pairs of jeans. I try to use the same color scheme so I only need to wear one pair of shoes. Right now my go to boots are my brown Bare Traps with an sole insert. ~~Lame~~ yes, but necessary since I'm a teacher on her toes all days and because the five of us we will be hoofin' it around London. (Well, maybe just the four of us. Bradyn will be loungin' like royalty in his stroller!) My boots are cuter than this picture shows, trust me. I snagged them up for $50 at the BXtra. My other fave boots are my Nine West Motos (pictured). Oh, and I have these beauties arriving any day now from AEO. Thanks for the early Christmas prezzie, Mom and Dad! I'm excited to take some updated pics with my girl and always look forward to having Lindsey around because she likes to do my hair-something I never have time for anymore. Sigh. Plus it always looks better when someone else does it. Stay tuned for pics!

Weekend Duty

15 December 2013

Last week I reconnected with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, Heidi. She was a student intern at Liberty Intermediate last year and unbeknownst to me, her husband is also "Weapons". I walked into the their Christmas party last night and found Heidi grabbing some 'nibbles' at the buffet table. This lady loves food- her words, not mine. She has even started up a food blog called, Military Spouse Dishes. After our chat last night, she inspired me to post more often and include some posts on fashion, which is MY guilty obsession. I feel as if I can commit to posting at least once a week since Darren will be deploying to Lithuania in a couple weeks. I will make it my "weekend duty", Heidi!

Filling up on good times...Heidi, Me and Fil

Fil and I-I've known this Weapons spouse for 8 years now!

My flirty party dress-which looks more blue in the second pic.

Gotta love iPhones and photo editing....

Floral Lace Skater-New Look
Envelope clutch-New Look, Watch-Michael Kors (Birthday present from the hubs)

Crazy last minute purchase. The mail is slowwwwww this time of year!

Copycat

8 December 2013

We have a copycat on our hands. The day has come when Bradyn says words we want him to repeat, luckily none we don't. When he wants fruit snacks-the character themed ones: Thomas is T-T and Spongebob sounds something like Ponbob. Last night he repeated some family names-Olly=Holly, Adda=Addy, Ewa=Evan. Every time I say Mommy, he grins and says, "Daddy". Little stinker!

This picture was taken in June while visiting Darren at Ramstein AFB.

2-2

22 November 2013

Here we are at month 22 and 2 months shy of 2 years old. Bradyn grew another couple of inches and weighs a hefty 34 pounds. Most likely all that growing has something to do with how much this kid eats! He loves bread and anything bread-like. Tonight Bradyn's daycare had an Art Auction to raise money for the food bank, followed by Thanksgiving dinner. Bradyn couldn't stop eating the stuffing! Who needs a fork when you have chubby fingers?

1 year later still shoveling it in!

Bradyn says a few more words now: down, pumpkin, and "Spot" from one of his favorite books. We've been reading, "Where's Spot?" for a good year now and he never tires of it. He won't say goodbye, but he'll blow no less than 10 kisses as he leaves. He has a sweet side for sure, but the terrible twos have officially started. Bradyn threw his first temper tantrum this past week and has started to tell us no in his own way. He groans negatively and turns away. He's a little stubborn-he must get that from dad. Last month he showed his rebellious side and crawled out of his crib for the first time. So Darren turned the crib around. I think he's ready for the toddler bed, but I'm just not quite ready to make that transition. My baby is growing too fast!

20 Months

5 October 2013

I've been waiting for the 20 month mark to come. More talking- more personality- more hair! Turns out all we got was more problems. Lil B man slipped and fell in the doorway as I was carrying in groceries. I didn't see him fall, but I heard the painful shriek that quickly followed. Bradyn couldn't get up from the floor and refused to walk. He was on all fours, helpless. As soon as I picked him up I knew he was badly injured because he carried on with a different kind of cry. The kind of cry you can't do anything to stop. The kind of cry that makes you want to cry yourself. The cry that says, "Momma, help. I'm in PAIN!" I quickly applied ice to his tiny foot, which started to swell a little. A small bruise behind his ankle soon followed.

Getting x-rays-oww!

The x-rays showed a blur on the tip his left tibia and nothing was injured in the ankle area at all. The doctor in the ER wanted to be safe so she treated it as a fracture and put a half of a cast on up to his knee.

A few days later we were able to take B to see an orthopedic surgeon that said it was badly bruised and he would be able to put weight on it after a week.

Three weeks later, we have a walker again!

Last week we had our first dental visit. The dentist said Bradyn had the whitest chompers he's ever seen on a little guy. So despite our other setback, the kid has healthy teeth. That's something to smile about!