The Holiday Season is HERE!

I know that I have not been as good about doing updates as I should be...which means a lot of family has been checking the blog and wondering where new pictures/info is!!! So sorry to all of you. I will try to be better...but with 2 kiddos at home now it makes it a bit more challenging to find time when one of them doesn't need me for something! I have been trying to spend my time that Delainey doesn't need me playing with Parker...plus trying to throw in cooking, cleaning, laundry, and any other household chores is proving to be more difficult that I would have thought! I am determined to keep on top of things though, so blogging has been knocked down a peg or two!

(Parker at the National Cowboy Museum)

(Parker playing at the Science Museum)

In my last post I had mentioned that Delainey was having a bit of blood in her stool...that is still an issue, but the pediatrician consulted with a G.I. doctor who said that she feels Delainey has a severe protein allergy. That means that I (because I am nursing her and the only formula she can have is expensive and tastes terrible) cannot eat/drink anything that contains any milk, dairy, soy, whey, or nuts until Delainey has either grown out of this protein allergy or she turns 1! Not so easy since everything in our house had some form of something on that list! It has taken a while to find forms of things that I can eat. That meant a VERY long trip to the grocery store looking at all labels and trying to find things I could actually consume. Most of the things I can have are organic (aka more expensive!) or found near the gluten-free section of the grocery store. On a positive spin...I have lost all but 5 pounds of my baby weight which I'm sure is in part to my new crazy diet I have to be on! Cue "silver lining." Delainey is still feeling good and doing great. She was measuring in the 50th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height at her 2 month check-up! Dr. D still says she is growing great and looking wonderful. The kids were so good at the appointment, too!


Our little lady is getting so big and is doing new things all the time. She is currently teething and we can see the little white tip of her first tooth trying to peek through the surface. We noticed it at about 12 weeks. At 11 weeks she started rolling over from her tummy to her back...no more tummy time for our little gal (who REALLY hated it anyway, so it is probably for the best for all involved!) She holds her head up really well and loves to play on her activity mat and in her swing. She is putting everything in her mouth and will probably start eating rice cereal by the end of the month...we will see what Dr. D says at her 4 month check at the end of the month! She is so smiley and has her Mommy's face with her Daddy's dimples! Needless to say we find her so adorable and couldn't imagine our lives without our new addition.

Parker is an amazing big brother and is always trying to help...a little too much usually, but we hate to deter him from trying to do sweet things for and with his sister. He loves to come with me when I put her down for naps, always hanging over the edge of the crib to tell her "goodnight sissy" and give her kisses on the forehead! He loves her so much and always hands her things when she drops them and chats with her/soothes her when she cries!

We celebrated our big guy's 3rd birthday on October 18th! He helped me make and decorate cupcakes during the day and we took him bowling for the first time that night. He loved it and had so much fun. Plus, the little guy bowling shoes were adorable! He was so excited and can't wait to go again! He had fun opening his presents, too...thanks to all who sent him things, he loved all of the presents!



We had a fabulous Halloween as well. Parker was a bum and Delainey was an adorable little duck! We went to the Oklahoma City Zoo's "Haunt the Zoo" where you trick or treat throughout the zoo. Parker had so much fun! We also handed out candy at home and Travis took Parker around the base neighborhood to trick or treat. I think Parker almost enjoys handing out candy more than he enjoys getting it. His costume was hilarious and everyone seemed to love it and think it was so funny!


We are still enjoying Oklahoma! As strange as that sounds, even to me! Thanksgiving was wonderful, but it would have been nice to see family! I made my first turkey and made homemade stuffing (because all box stuffings contain milk or soy) and it turned out so well that Travis said we need to make it that way every year. I am officially turkeyed-out and we will be having ham for Christmas!


We hope everyone is enjoying the start of the holiday season...know that we are thinking of all of you and wish we were home to spend the holidays with everyone!

So...a lot has happened since my last post!

It has been far too long since my last post. So many things have happened and not all of them have been good. To start with some of the "good stuff" though, our little princess is 6 weeks old now. I can't believe how quickly it has gone. She had her one month check-up with her pediatrician (who we love) and she said our little lady looks great. She has been having a little streak of blood in her stool every once in a while, but the pediatrician said that because she is so happy and is growing that we will just keep an eye on it and go from there. I had to stop eating all milk product for 2 weeks to make sure that Delainey doesn't have a cow's milk allergy...it doesn't look like that is what it is, so we are checking into some other things at this point. Please keep our little lady in your prayers. I know that God is watching over her. She is just so happy that I am praying that is a good sign that nothing serious is going on with her.
We took Parker and Delainey to the fair. It was the first time Parker was big enough to go on rides. He loved them so much and it was adorable to watch him with Daddy.

My Aunt Lauri came to visit for a week and we had a blast with her. Her visit couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Right before she got here I had gotten news that my Grandpa Bob had passed away. It was heart-breaking and so sudden. Sometimes I still don't feel like it has had a chance to sink in yet. My Aunt Lauri is hilarious and can always make me laugh...so her visit was just what I needed before the stress of booking a last-minute flight to the Tri-Cities to attend my Grandpa's memorial. Parker had so much fun with her and loved having a visitor.

After my aunt left, the next evening (Thursday) we got on a plane to head to the Tri-Cities. Let me tell you...it was a debacle!!! I think that is putting it lightly!!! First, our flight leaving Oklahoma to Denver was delayed because of high winds into Denver. We finally left Oklahoma 2 1/2 hours late. When we got to Denver and boarded the plane to Spokane we were on the runway about to take off when the pilot said we were being turned back around and unable to land in Spokane. Our flight was completely canceled! The folks at Southwest were unable to find us a flight that would get us to Washington in time to even rent a car and drive to the memorial. At that point it was about 1 a.m. and the kids were exhausted...so were we! We went to every airline counter trying to find a flight into Pasco or anywhere close. Finally the people at the United counter went out of their way to help us and ended up finding us a flight through San Francisco that got into Pasco at 10 a.m. Friday morning (the memorial started at 11 a.m.). We were so thankful that they ended up over-booking the flight in order to get us on it. By the time we got the flight figured out it was 2 in the morning and our flight was scheduled to leave at 6 a.m. We ended up having to stay the night in the airport which is horrible even without children, let alone a toddler and a newborn!!! We had to wake up at 4 in the morning in order to go get our bags from Southwest, check in with United, go through security, and get to our gate in time for the flight. The line for security was HUGE! If Travis hadn't been wearing his Air Force backpack we would not have been told to go through the military line and we would have missed our flight!!! Thank goodness for that backpack! All in all we ended up getting to the memorial just in time.
{sleeping in the airport is not something i recommend...especially with children}

The service was beautiful. At the cemetery we had an Air Force Honor Guard ceremony. It was amazing and Travis and I feel so honored to have been given the flag to bring back to Oklahoma with us. I will miss my Grandpa so much and will always remember all the times we spent with him. I will remember singing with him at his piano and singing in front of his church congregation when I was so little...just he and I in front of everyone! He was always there for me and I knew I could always turn to him if I needed anything. He was so proud of Travis for his decision to join the Air Force and I know that he was proud of me for how well I was adjusting to being a military wife. He made sure to tell me about Grandma Sy's adjustments to being a military wife and staying at home with the kids. It was nice to know that he knew exactly what I was going through. I know that he will always be looking out for us and that he was happy to go home to be with Grandma.
{this is the only picture of the 4 of us...please excuse my closed eyes...i'll take what i can get i guess}



The flight home was much less eventful and went much more smoothly. The time at home with family was much too short, but was cherished even under the circumstances. My family was thrilled to get to meet Delainey and see how big Parker has gotten. I miss family already, but am also glad to be home. Shockingly enough...I actually like living in Oklahoma so far!
{sitting with daddy on the flight home...so content}



{this little gal always has smiles for her daddy}