Whats Up?

I know that I said that I would update “soon”… but my parents were here for the week and family totally trumps blog.

Since they live almost 1,000 miles away we haven’t got a lot of family time since we’ve moved, and it was great to soak up every moment with them! It’s always so hard when they have to leave, and it usually has me cursing the Army for a few days. It’s been a harder adjustment for me down here, and while I’ve been a lot happier since we bought the house, I’m still incredibly home sick. It comes with the territory though, I suppose, and I’m so lucky that I have somebody as supportive as Mike to listen to me whine for days.

Speaking of Mike, we celebrated our wedding anniversary yesterday and I’m pretty sure I love him even more than the day that I married him. Is that possible? Probably! He’s my best friend, and I can’t imagine building this life with ANYBODY else in the whole world. I love you, babe!

And…umm… sexy much?

We also bit the bullet and upgraded our Jeep. With Charley’s impending arrival, we just won’t be able to fit everybody into the smaller style SUV. For around town, sure, but for long trips home it was just going to be too crowded. The other issue was that with a car seat behind the driver’s side, Mike couldn’t put his seat back comfortably, but also keep the seat installed safely…soooo Momma got new wheels.

We opted for a Dodge Durango and I can honestly say that it’s the most favorite car that I’ve driven. Ever. It has every convenience that I think I’ll ever need (umm, keyless entry much?!) and it’s easier to pilot around town than the truck was (we traded that for Mike’s current car). I think that I would live in it if I could. There is probably more than enough room! Plus I still have enough power to haul Willow around.

We ALMOST ended up with a mini-van, but I just can’t go there.

It also rides quietly enough that Shannon will FINALLY fall asleep in the car again. I was missing that… a lot. We turned her forward facing, because she was getting really, REALLY hot in both cars since they didn’t have AC in the rear. We talked at length with her pediatrician about it, and she was beginning to show signs of heat stroke when it got really hot, even if I let the car cool down first. Since her car seat is so padded, it wasn’t allowing for air flow. They recommended that we turn her around so that she can get some air from the front seat. She is safely past the height and weight minimums (although I desperately wanted to keep her turned backwards, as it’s safer, heat stroke is not something I’m going to mess with either) It made a pretty big difference, but she stopped falling asleep. Whomp whomp. Not anymore… Ivan (the Durango) rocks her right to sleep almost every time we go for a ride. AND it has air vents in the ceiling in the rear seats, so we might try adjusting them and flipping her back around. I’m pretty thrilled.

Willow has also, finally, made a friend that she can go out with at the new barn. His name is Warren and she is smitten! She’s doing really well, and I’m still loving having total control over every aspect of her care. My work with her on the lunge and long lines is progressing as well as I can hope since I can’t seem to get out of my own way, and she’s really starting to understand how to use her body properly. We’ve been going for walkabouts of the property as well, to give her exposure to everything and anything that I can think of, and she handles everything like a pro. She’ll get snorty, but that’s about it. It’s getting harder for me to keep up with her on the long lines, so I’m feeling she’s going to go on a bit of break for the next month or so.

I don’t think that she’s going to mind too much. The only thing that we keep failing horribly at is standing in the wash rack. She. Just. Can’t. Help. But. WIGGLE! We’ve been spending quite a bit of time in the wash rack as a result. She IS getting better about having her face washed, and we’ve come to a good compromise once I got my act together and bought a sponge. She loves when I scrub her teeth. Weirdo.

I can’t believe that baby C is going to be here in just 8 short weeks and all we have is a car seat and two outfits for her. We’re kind of behind the 8 ball on that front, but I’m not stressing about it. We bought WAY more than we needed with Shannon, and ended up not using a lot of it. Total first time Mom syndrome. Now that it’s my second time around, we’re taking a much more relaxed view. Live and learn! I am bummed to remember that I gave away all of Shannon’s newborn clothes to a friend, so we’re probably going to have to restock on everything from newborn through 6 months or so. Oh darn… clothes shopping for little girls is a huge drag.

I know that I’m beyond ready to be done being pregnant though. Or really, just fall asleep without tossing and turning for 4 hours first. Either or.

Finally, the other thing that’s rocked my totally dweebish world? Glade came out with their fall scents! Whoop!! I spent an obscure amount of money at Wal Mart the other day when I saw them. I love anything and everything fall related, like really, REALLY love it. The Fall Hayride scent was my favorite this year, with the Pumpkin coming in a close second. I’m a big Glade fan. It’s the only product that I’ve found that really makes my house smell yummy, without being overpowering. And trust me, with two dirty dogs, a toddler, a horse, and two cats (one of which refuses to cover his poop… YUCK) it’s a good product if it can make my house smell good. The fact that it doesn’t give me a headache is a total plus.