Well Alli and I carved our pumpkins yesterday.  I know, we were a little late.  We didn't actually carve them as much as cut them in half and take all the seeds out.   Alli wasn't too into it this year, not like last year but I guess I really didn't give her much of a chance.  You see, Jimmy was taking a nap and I wanted to get this done while he slept so it was done at warp speed.

Jimmy finally cut his top two teeth, FINALLY.  There was so much drool for so long.  We had a couple of drool free days only to have him start up again.  He's chewing on his hands, if he could get them to fit in his mouth he would do it, ugh and the drool.....  I guess it's ok.  I don't want to get too used to a drool free face and then have it come back.  Let's get all these teeth in!!  I have conveniently forgotten Alli and all her teething  glory.  But from what I hear she was just as bad.  I guess there is some satisfaction in knowing that in just another year Jimmy should be done with all the drool.

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching.  I'm excited because I don't have to cook, I don't even have to host this year.  Last year I hosted,  I was 7 months pregnant and my kitchen wasn't big enough for all the cooks, needless to say I was glad when it was over.  This year, I can eat all the food and desert I want, YIPPEE!!  I don't have to take my blood sugar levels and I can drink some homemade holiday cheer.  

I want Christmas to be here.  I'm trying my hardest to rush it along.  We went to Costco last night and they have all their Christmas decor out, have had it out since October but who's really complaining.  Anyway my point.  Alli loves all of it and I was almost in tears as she was so excited about it all!  I don't know if Jim knows why I was rushing through that section, I just didn't want to be that mom crying because she's so happy seeing the joy in her child's face.  We have a holiday light parade here in Forest Grove.  We have gone the past two years since they have only done it for two years.  Last year it almost killed me, I was emotional because I was pregnant and like the year before, just seeing the joy in Alli's face undoes me.  Now I have 2 kids to cry over, I told Jim to take them without me.  He said no.  Wish me luck.

~R~

Good times

Ahh fall is here.  We just had some really nice wind and rain hit us the past couple of days, it wasn't too bad but of course the news is like, "whoa, the first floods of the season!!" Ahh, everyone freak out!!

I like the rain but I hate it at the same time.  Poor Alli gets cabin fever so bad and that isn't a good thing.  When she gets this way she gets into everything and does everything imaginable to get into trouble.  We were going to take them swimming last night but Jimmy goes to bed at 7PM and public swim doesn't start until 7:45, we never would have made it.  

I've had a cold for the past couple of days, nothing too incredibly bad but enough to have Jim stay home an extra day so I could get some sleep.  I've missed 2 of my water aerobics classes and I feel gross, I can't wait to go tonight.  

Jimmy is back to falling asleep on his own.  He did that when he was younger and then he went through the phase of wanted to be held and now it's back to just put me down.  It's great but sad in a way.  Knowing that this is our last child and not having the opportunity to rock one of our babies to sleep again.  :-(

Rain

So I'm sitting in my living room listening to the rain on the roof and my son playing with his toys.  Oh to be young again and not have any worries or fears.  I never thought I would be one of those moms that worries.  I don't trust anybody.  Well by anybody I mean...I don't know what I mean.  I'll take my kids to the park and I see other parents just sitting on the benches while their kids run around, I can't do that.  I have to be right there with them because I always think the worst is going to happen.  Jim on the other hand can just sit back and let Alli run like the wind.  What the hell is my problem?  I don't want Alli or Jimmy to grow up paranoid of everything and everybody.  I wasn't like that as a kid.  Things changed drastically for me when I had kids.  It's hard for me to think about finding a babysitter that isn't a grandparent or some other close relative, it freaks me out.  You hear all these stories about kids going to daycare and getting molested or hurt or something, even the lisenced daycares, the ones that are suppose to be approved and up to code.  Well maybe the facility is up to code but are the workers?  

Anyway, enough about that.  In some sad news..my beloved slippers broke yesterday.  They are literally  hanging on by a thread.

Jim and I have been married for a little over 6 years now.  We met in high school.  I'm not saying we dated in high school or even liked each other in high school, we just me there. We were in the band and he was (still is) 2 years younger then me.  Once I graduated and broke up with the boyfriend I had during high school I ended up back at the school during the summer band camp.  I was there to see some friends of mine that were still going there.  By this time Jim and I were friends.  Well it wasn't love at first sight, maybe lust at first sight but who really knows....anyway we started seeing each other.  After a short breakup we got back together and have been together ever since.  We got married on August 24, 2002 in Brush Prairie Washington and let me tell you it was the hottest day ever.  Jim did a little wild land firefighting and I worked at a law firm in downtown Vancouver.  After we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary we got the wonderful news that Jim was going to be deployed to Iraq.  I was not happy to say the least.  We also found out that his dad was being deployed to Afghanistan at the same time.  I know, pretty sucky.  Well we rushed to find a house to buy because I wasn't going to live where we were living by myself.  We found this cute little house in Vancouver pretty close to his parents place.  Jim spent 6 months training in TX, he was able to come home on leave a couple of times so that was nice.  On his last leave before heading over the ocean we bought a new car and a puppy, Betsy.  Jim spent the next 12 months in Iraq, he made it home on leave in August and then he was home for good that following March.  Let me tell you, up until then that was the hardest thing I ever had to do.  I had to pretend to be a strong person when in fact I was dying inside. Fretting, worrying and just plain scared all the time.  Thankfully I had the support of both of our wonderful families and friends.  After Jim got home in March I think he took about a month of before he went to work for the Army fulltime.  Jim and I found out on Memorial Day weekend of 2005 that we were going to be parents.  We were thrilled and shocked and I'll admit I was a little scared.  Jim once again for a call to go and help with Hurricane Katrina relief.  He spent a month down there trudging through the nastiness of it all.  He got home on Sept. 30th, the day of my ultrasound.  Unfortunately he missed it but we found out that we were having a little girl!!  We were so happy, but now the painful process of picking out a name.  Jim sure didn't go for many of the names I picked out.  I'm not saying I chose names like Apple or Mojito or something but he just liked traditional names.  We decided on Allison Rose (Alli).  Alli was born 2 weeks late on Feb. 9, 2006.

Life was good.  We ended up moving to Forest Grove Oregon because Jim worked out of the armory here and the commute was killing him.  We like it here, it's quiet and pretty.  

We got pregnant again with little Jimmy in the spring of 2007.  He made his debut on Jan. 10, 2008.  He was such a peanut, 6 lbs. 11 oz.  a dramatic difference from his sister, she was 8 lbs. 9 oz.  

We have been living our life and having a pretty good time with it.  Jim is back in school and will be going through the OCS program here soon.  That will be fun for all involved.  :-)

~R~

President

What a historic night we had last night.  I however did not vote for Barrack Obama but as an American I will  support my president.  I may not like what he has to say all the time and I may like some of the things he says and that is my opinion.  

I actually feel a little sorry for his daughters who won't have a normal childhood, they are going to grow up in a fishbowl.  Everyone is going to be watching them to see what they do next.  Watching to see if they do something inappropriate or disrespectful, which I'm sure they will because they are children, not young adults.  I just pray that they hopefully will have a little normalcy in their lives, they are such cute little girls and I would hate to see them get screwed up.