8 Months Old

Well, I suppose it's better late than never, seeing as it's a few days past the 19th (cough cough). In my defense it's been a busy month and he is growing so darn fast I wish, wish, wish with all my heart that I could slow it down! He's creeping closer and closer to his 1st birthday and it's still 4 months away!

At the 8 month marker we FINALLY have a tooth! A teeny, tiny, tearful, sleepless nights tooth! That little bugger was a bear to break through but it's just so gosh darn cute! That second tooth is just screaming to break out but we'll see how long it takes, seeing as this one took a month and a half...wooooo, now that was some work!

Aidan has now started hugging. He turns and grabs a hold and rubs his face into your shoulder and snuggles down into you. I can not verbalize how much I love this! I Love, LOVE, LOVE, LOVEEEEEE this! Reaching, if you ask if he wants "up?" he now raises his chumbawumba lil arms and wiggles those little fingers at me.

Pulling up, he grabs your clothes or things on the floor and rolls around with them. He pretends like he can't crawl, and does this separation anxiety thing, where when I go out of a room he busts into crocodile tears and screams until I'm holding him again, so if nothing else works and he MUST sit on the floor by me while I clean and what not, he cries and cries and then suddenly he's crawling and scooting around in a fit.....really? You can only crawl when you're pissed off? Oh well..lol. He LOVES his walker. He sits in it in the hall and goes back and forth, mostly if Cupcake (our dog) is in her kennel he scoots over to her and lets her lick his hands while he giggles incessantly. I love those moments!

He's been spending a lot of time flirting with all the Mommy's at football practice and eating up all the attention. What a flirt! Miss Rachel and Miss Caite (both are Mrs. but we call them Miss) are his biggest admirers, it's too cute!

This sweet little boy is still nursing, which I love! I am so proud of us both. First of all I have to admit that in the past I have smoked after a few months of having a baby. Not often, just one or two here and there to de stress ( sometimes it's sell the kids to the circus, or sneak a cig.....pick your battles) but since nicotine goes through the breast milk to baby, there is NO WAY I was going to start back up. So the longer I go, the better for him the better for me. It's so rewarding. At this point it's second nature. There is no stress with it, we have MASTERED, I mean MASTERED feeding in public, and thank heavens! We don't have to do it often but it's easy now. As of now I guesstimate we'd be at 1,920 bottles washed were I bottle feeding, and to date we are only at 5! Yeah baby, it's nice! I'm planning to go straight from boob to sippy cup in the next 4 months. It's pretty nice!

Well, we've reached some milestones and I can't wait for more...............oh wait...yes I can! I just want to keep him chubby and cuddly for EVER!

Cavalry Ball

The Grog......Ya it's so grodey you can't even see throgh it!

MMMMMMMMMMM taste-tastic!

In early September Matt and I were able to go to our first Cav ball. It was such a fun experience! For any of you who are given the opportunity to go you really should. It's full of such fun traditions and really, other than wearing some hideous atrocities that your 3rd cousin may or may not make you wear as a part of a wedding party (oh ya, you can TOOOOOTALLY wear that again......bwwhwahahahaha ,ya right!) how often in your adult life do you get the opportunity to get dressed up in a ball gown with all the trappings and spend an evening with your spouse? Ya, that's what I thought....uhhhhh never! Unless of course you happen to be a part of the military community or you are a socialite..lol
I've gotten to go to a few of them before because of being previously married to a military service 1member serving in a cav unit, this however was Matt's 1 st chance and bank account be damned we were going!

One of everyones favorite Cav ball traditions is the grog.Oohhhhh Gag me batman it's nasty...lol I'd rather eat Salmonella chicken before drinking that grog but it's tradition and if you don't at least have a sip you're a pair of big girls panties! The grog is a giant bowl (or two, depending on how many tables it has to accommodate) with bottle after bottle of liquor ceremoniously poured in by the senior NCO's (non-commissioned officer) on up from each troop, while CSM (Command Sgt Major) reads off the history of each bottles symbolic relation to the history of the unit. One Soldier double fisted the alcohol and took two giant swigs of it, then spitting it back into the bowls......mmmmm, another took off a shoe and poured it into the shoe and then into the bowls, another filtered their bottles through their sock that they pulled off in front of us all....ohhh alcohol thank you for your antiseptic properties! In some units they add sand to represent Iraq or Afghanistan and even diesel fuel...mmmm. It's all smoodged around in a the bowl and then pitches are filled for each table or glass by glass and taken back to the tables...some people completely get drunk off it and other's like my self take a little swig to say "hey hey" and then move on to the dinner line. It was really fun! We spent the evening with good friends, danced and even stopped in for some pancakes/breakfast goodness at IHOP in the wee hours. Over all it was a really colorful evening and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my handsome Soldier. Goodness me oh my did he ever look good. Highly recommended!

Family Visits

Sneaky Deployment

It is inevitable that no matter how much time and warning you are given before an upcoming deployment, that you will never be totally emotionally prepared for one. This is Matt's 1st deployment that we are preparing for, not the 1st I've gone through, and yet some how they get harder and easier all at once. Easier because I know what to be prepared for, harder because I know what it feels like to miss your spouse for a year or more, to raise your kids alone and to worry day in and day out as all military spouses do when their other half is gone. I really can not complain. I know that there are so many families who have their Soldier deployed right out of basic training, or right before the birth of their child, or soon after. Aidan will be 8 months old in a little over a week meaning that Matt got to be here for the whole of a very tough pregnancy, hold my hand and coach me through the toughest labor I've ever had, and help raise this little person for 8 months before having to deploy. He's gotten to asst. coach the boy's football team, and go on family outings. It's been a wonderful experience. There are so many families who don't get as much as we have had and I for one am trying to see the silver lining.

Deployment ceremony's are really worth attending! There is such a sense of pride that you have in your Soldier, seeing them march out onto that Field, flags flying, and the band playing. I know how prepared Matt feels that his unit is, and no matter how much he loves his family and hates to leave, there is a draw to deploy, to do his job, to protect and serve and I for one couldn't be prouder of him. I will post some really great pictures of our family that came to visit for the deployment ceremony and to get the early good bye's out of the way, but since this post is already so full of pictures it will have to wait for another day. I love you Matthew................