Good grief, the year is already half over!

May was a madhouse. I know I said it’d be calmer, but boy, was I wrong.

So let’s recap.

Remember Athena from the Humane Association? We decided that we wanted to adopt her after thinking about her the remainder of the last weekend in April. We hopped in the car after the Mister took off early to go get her.

Unfortunately, we got there just as another couple was already finishing the adoption paperwork for her. I was heartbroken. It took a lot for me to decide I was finally ready for another dog, and the one I had my heart set on was gone. Thankfully, over the following week, more puppies were available, and we set a plan to meet some for the first weekend in May to see how Little Man would handle a younger puppy.

Before we went back, we went to Free Comic Book Day and picked up a few books along with our biweekly subscriptions. We also hit Home Depot for our monthly workshop.

Then, we went back to Nashville to see the puppies. We didn’t even make it to the smaller puppy room. We walked by a 5 month old German shepherd mix named Shea and the Mister decided to get her out to meet Little Man.

Once outside, she immediately tackled Little Man with kisses and he giggled like crazy. That was all it took. The Mister didn’t want to see any other dog after that. We decided to take her home that day.

We took about 2 weeks or so to settle on a name and even now, we’re still not sure, but this is Roxie.

She definitely needed a good brushing and still needs to put on some weight, but she has been a wonderful addition to our pack. We are still working on potty training at night, but she is doing well.

Shortly after adopting her, my parents were able to come visit for about a week. Little Man was so thrilled to see Nana and Grandad.

We were able to take everyone to a Sounds baseball game. It was a great night, even though they lost.

For an early birthday present, my parents bought Little Man a new, bigger swing set. He loves the taller slide and climbing area.

After Nana and Grandad left, we did another sensory bin at Sunny Day Studios.

For the long Memorial Day weekend, we finally decided to make a trip to Savannah, Georgia as a 10 year anniversary getaway. Originally, we were going to have my parents come back down to watch Little Man and the animals, but my mom ended up needing cataract surgery so we improvised and took the dogs with us.

On the way, we stopped in Rome, Georgia to catch up with the Hozas in their new place before their trip to Ireland. We miss them dearly!

Savannah was…disappointing. The weather played a major factor in that, as well as some pretty awful hotel service. We only stayed a couple of nights and it poured down rain the whole time. It was also quite a bit colder, so all the fun walking adventures were hampered. Still, we made the best of it!

Our first stop was Old Fort Jackson. The weather was slightly better the first day, with just a handful of sprinkles.

Then, we checked out Bonaventure Cemetery. This place was huge and had so many unique gravestones.

Then we finished up the day with a visit to Wormsloe Historic Site. The tree-lined entry was worth the venture alone!

We capped off the evening with a couple of beverages and tasty food at Moon River Brewery.

The next day, the weather took a turn for the worse. It was cold and raining buckets. Unfortunately, we had a whole day of walking through the historic squares, so we braved the weather and took off.

We walked a 2 mile radius before deciding to call it a day. I’d like to go back eventually when the weather isn’t bad to see all the beautiful architecture I missed.

We decided to call it an early day with a stop at Leopold’s Ice Cream shop. I had a fantastic waffle cone with Japanese cherry blossom and lavender flavors.

The next day, we decided we needed to get some beach time in, so after check out, we went to Jekyll Island for a quick visit. We would have loved to go to Tybee Island, but they do not allow dogs on any beach there.

Thankfully, the rain finally stopped and the temperature warmed up enough to take Little Man to see the beach for the first time. We visited Driftwood Beach.

We made it back home late Sunday night/early Monday morning, so we were able to recover from all the car riding before the Mister had to go back to work.

We wrapped up the month with me getting another Holter monitor placed (this time for a week– hopefully we’ll be able to figure out what is going on with my heart palpitations), speech therapy (one of the last few sessions with Little Man’s therapist before she leaves), and laundry, just in time to repack for our next trip in about a week.

June will be another busy month with a quick trip to Nashville to see Bluey’s Big Play as an early birthday present for Little Man. Then we’ll get back on the road for Nebraska for my friend Troy’s wedding, celebrating Little Man’s 3rd birthday, and Diller Picnic. We’ll finish the month with another sensory bin at Sunny Day.

Whew! I’m worn out just thinking about it.

Until then,

Cheers!

What a month!

We were BUSY. Workshops, birthdays, and adventures galore.

We kicked off the month celebrating Hina’s 10th birthday.

How she managed to survive this long with her moodiness and health issues, I’ll never know. But she’d never let you guess she is now in double digits.

We then hit both Home Depot and Lowes for workshops on the same day. Lowes really let us down this time. We signed up online for the noon spot, but when we got there (at 12), they were packing up and wouldn’t let Little Man do the project there. He was still able to take it home to do, but definitely not thrilled about that location. We’ll absolutely go back to our usual location next month.

The following weekend was Easter, and boy, was it packed!

Friday was a Mommy and Little Man solo journey to Nashville. We went back to Cheekwood (like we did in the fall) for their Great Spring Art Hop event. There were several egg hunts for various ages, a painted bunny scavenger hunt through the gardens, and themed crafts.

We also explored a few gardens we missed last fall.

The Mister didn’t get Good Friday off like he normally does, so he had to miss out on the garden egg hunt fun.

We could have gone that Saturday, but we had already signed up for a sensory bin make-and-take at Sunny Day Studios in Clarksville for that afternoon.

Little Man was all about the bin and exploring the new area. It’s brand new (only been open for a few months), so there was a lot to check out.

Easter was spent at home this year. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful, so our backyard egg hunt was much more successful.

We dyed our own eggs.

The Easter Bunny spoiled Little Man (with help from Nana).

Finding eggs was way more fruitful in the backyard.

While I completely forgot to get a photo of how pretty the dyed eggs were, they still made great deviled eggs.

Monday brought my 35th birthday. We went to eat at Outback and the Mister brought home a cake.

We had some not so pleasant happenings that week as well. I started to smell something weird in the laundry room. I found the smell was coming from the dryer. The Mister took the whole dryer apart and couldn’t find the source. So, we cleaned out the vent (which needed to be done anyway) and found a whole family of dead chipmunks. It was so gross. We ended up cleaning vent out and replacing the outside cover as the old one had gotten bent and stuck open. I’m just glad we found the problem before something worse (like a snake) came in!

The following weekend was a bit of a breather, thankfully. But it was short-lived; we were right back at it on the 22nd.

Earth Day was spent at Sunny Day Studios again. This time, it was just Little Man and me. He made another take-home bin, painted a rock for their rock garden, potted a succulent to bring home, and did some playing with potions and in the newly finished outdoor area. There were a lot more kids this time, and unfortunately, not all of them were very nice.

We finished off the month with new tires for the Dart, lots of yard work, and the unit potluck. We also went to see the puppies at Nashville Humane. We especially loved Athena. She was hard to say goodbye to.

May will see a drop in activities, methinks. Apart from our wedding anniversary (10 years, holy cow!) and Memorial Day weekend (which will hopefully be long), nothing is really set in stone. And even then, we have no plans whatsoever for either day/weekend.

Free Comic Book Day is May 6 and the usual DIY workshops will keep us a little bit busy here and there. We’ll have to see how it shakes out.

Until then,

Cheers!

March was busy, and yet, not busy at all.

After how quickly February went by, March seemed to crawl along at a snail’s pace.

Vet visit, car stuff, and weird weather all comprised the first couple of weeks, along with the usual Home Depot/Lowes workshops.

We had an almost 80° beautiful day, followed by freeze warnings and cold winds. I am ready for spring, but I feel like I might have missed out on my early planting since most of my sought-after plants tend to arrive this time of year and vanish a week or two later.

We did take advantage of the warm day and played outside. Little Man decided his swing was alright after not being sure about it thus far.

But despite Mother Nature playing roulette, we managed to get the cats all caught up on vaccines etc… and found out my car needs new tires desperately. None of the adulting lately has been very kind to our budget.

I spent a big chunk of those first two weeks cleaning for Mom and Dad to visit. Sadly, dad’s team didn’t make it to Nationals, but that allowed him to come see us, so that was great!

During their visit, we had a jam-packed week of speech therapy, grocery shopping, preschool visits, and milestones with my parents.

Little Man got all signed up for preschool (which I can’t believe) and got his very first haircut while Nana and Grandad were here. My mama heart really was tested. How did he get so big already?

We toured two preschools and picked one we’re really excited about for fall. He’ll only go twice a week for half days, but with speech likely still in his future, we think that will be plenty for his first time in school.

Then came the haircut. Goodness, he looks so grown up now.

I miss the curls, but he’s a whole new cutie!

No visit is complete with lots of Nana time.

We even got Grandad to set up the race track to play cars.

We spent the last two weeks of the month being pretty boring, though the weather took a turn and finally let us outside to play again.

We took full advantage of the sunshine and took Indie with us to the park. Boy, did that dog run and play until she couldn’t anymore. Even better, she was extremely well-behaved and didn’t try to wander off while off leash.

The last couple of weeks have also seen some drastic improvements in Little Man’s speech. He is saying so much more now and even started stringing a few words into sentences. Tonight, he scolded Daddy for throwing a ball at him by saying “no daddy, not nice” while wagging his finger. It came out a little garbled and missing a few consonants, but the Mister and I both could tell what he was saying.

He is also using sign language more frequently when he’s asking for things (he signs “more” quite a bit for things he’s excited about — like extra bananas when he’s already woofed down two). He is really into matching things lately, like things of the same color. We have lots of “geen” (green) and “ingk” (pink) in our house and we see lots of “ed” (red) and “due” (blue) out and about.

I’m so proud of how he’s doing and grateful for his progress. It makes me feel a little better about how preschool will go in the fall. We do still need to start working on potty training though. Mama is tired of poopy diapers.

We wrapped up the month with sidewalk chalk, helping the Mister mow, painting on the deck, and learning to ride a tricycle.

Next month will be both kid’s workshops on the same day, followed by a new sensory play place, Easter, and my birthday. After that, our plans kind of taper off. I’m sure we’ll find something to fill the time.

Until then,

Cheers!

February was a doozy!

The weather was all over the place. One day, it’s icy and snowing, then next it’s 70° and we’re under a tornado watch. We’ve really had every season this month.

Apart from that, we really didn’t do anything noteworthy. Like, seriously, not.a.thing.

The beginning of the month saw an ice storm that kept everyone home.

It was so slick, miss Indie couldn’t keep her footing and scraped one of her front ankles. Of course, she wouldn’t leave it alone (much like her brother wouldn’t have either). The hair is just now starting to grow back.

We made it to both Home Depot and Lowes for our workshops this month, and Little Man was quite enthusiastic both times.

We stayed home to watch the Super Bowl and ordered in appetizers from Applebee’s. Gotta love free wings! Or really “free” wings since I spent $50 on the rest of the appetizers. Sure beat having to cook, though.

The Mister and I didn’t do anything for Valentine’s Day since it was a work day. We waited until the long weekend and went out to eat as a family twice.

But! We did get Little Man’s Valentine’s photos done. Seriously, our photographer is awesome. I hemhawed around and didn’t tell her I wanted to get them done this year, but she worked us in the day of and even sent me a sneak peek of a couple before the day was over.

We celebrated Indie’s 4th birthday on the 15th. It truly doesn’t feel like she should be 4.

The Mister had a long weekend for President’s Day, but we didn’t use it wisely at all.

I spent the last week of the month miserably sick. Took a home test for COVID and it was a hot positive. Like, barely hit the strip and it was positive.

Luckily as of this post, I’m on the other side of it. I’m still a bit stuffy and my throat is still a bit sore, but I’m not coughing like I was and I’m able to breathe out of my nose.

Little Man had a few days of illness too. Low fever and a runny nose. Thankfully, he seems to be on the up and up also.

However we picked it up, we definitely don’t want it again!

We ended the month feeling better and the weather decided to cooperate. Spring is on its way, so bring on the allergies!

We don’t have anything planned for March, unless my dad’s team makes it to Nationals. Then, Little Man and I will likely road trip to Illinois to see them play. If not, then my parents will likely come visit for spring break.

We’ll have to see what pans out.

Until then,

Cheers!

–A. xoxo

And so we welcome another new year.

This year started off with a long drive back to Tennessee from Nebraska. We had our own family Christmas on the 2nd.

Santa (and mommy and daddy) spoiled Little Man big time. We definitely need to reign it in next year.

This year’s matching jammies were penguins and it was even more difficult getting a good photo with Indie.

Despite how nice they were, I really struggled through the holidays. My heart is still pretty broken and Audie’s absence was/is still keenly felt, especially this time of year.

I don’t know how it’s been a whole year since I said goodbye. Heck, I have tears rolling down my cheeks just typing this. That little nugget was truly my soul pup and he is still so loved.

But…we are still determined to make this new year a good one.

We celebrated the Mister’s 40th birthday on the 7th.

The boys did their Home Depot workshop and we had lunch at Applebee’s. The Mister got pretty spoiled himself at Christmas, so his birthday was toned down. We didn’t even get a cake this year (but he had the lava crunch cake at Applebee’s, so he didn’t go without).

We had a long weekend for MLK day, but didn’t take advantage of the extra days off. I think all the sickness and travel and holidays over the last few weeks finally caught up with us at that point and we needed the rest.

The third weekend of the month saw us late to the Lowes workshop, so Little Man had to build his snowman frame at home. He didn’t mind. He was more than happy to bring it home since it helped him avoid nap time.

We rounded out the end of the month with a Chinese New Year event at Centennial Park in Nashville. It was hosted by the Chinese Arts Alliance. It was so busy and hard to get many photos.

We lucked out with the weather and wrapped up the evening with a visit to the Nashville Zoo for their Zoolumination Festival of Lights.

I’ve been wanting to see this exhibit for a few years now, but with COVID and Little Man and the weather being bitterly cold when we could attend, it hadn’t happened. I decided to just bite the bullet and hope the weather stayed nice to see it. Thankfully, everything worked out this year and the crowd wasn’t too bad. Boy was it worth the wait!

The details were amazingly intricate for such a traditional medium: silk on frames.

I’m so glad we were able to go and the boys enjoyed it too.

We ended the month with post being closed and the roads being too icy for travel after some freezing rain/snow came through.

We’re continuing January’s laid-back atmosphere into February. I don’t have much planned other than Little Man’s Lowe’s and Home Depot workshops. I haven’t decided if we’ll do Valentines photos or not this year — I’m having trouble finding a good outfit.

Either way, it’ll be a short month, and before we know it, spring will come roaring in. As always, I’ll keep updating as we go.

Until then,

Cheers!

–A. xoxo

And just like that, another year is in the books.

Time is certainly marching right on by. December was busy as the rest of the year has been.

We kicked it off with the usual Home Depot workshop. Didn’t get any photos this time, but the Mister let him do all the painting so it’s quite the work of art!

Then Little Man got his pictures taken with Santa. He did so much better this year! No tears and he even high-fived Santa. We’re so proud.

Following photos, we decided to check out the Lighted Christmas Parade. We’ve lived here quite awhile and never went, so since the weather wasn’t too bad, we took a chance and went. Little Man loved all the lights and was pretty interested in the marching bands.

The following weekend we attended the German Christmas Market at one of the local Lutheran churches. We’ve gone the last few years and love it. This year was super busy and the parking lot was packed, even though it rained on us the whole morning.

We bought our yearly lebkuchen cookies and homemade fudge. Little Man loves his cookies! I found a recipe so I gave it a go and whew, I will happily leave that work to the gal at the market! Very labor intensive and mine don’t quite taste the same.

We also took Indie to see Santa. Her first time without Audie.  She was a nervous wreck and didn’t do very well. Too much going on around her. Next year, she’ll be medicated.

The following weekend, Little Man had a 12 hour stomach bug (again!). Luckily it was out of his system by evening so we were able to enjoy the SRU’s Christmas party at a new brewery in town.

The kiddos even got a special visit from Santa. Little Man wasn’t 100% sure about this one but he still high-fived and got a nice little gift.

On the way home we decided to swing through the Clarksville Speedway‘s drive thru holiday lights.

Little Man was all about the lights. He really liked pointing and babbling at them. He was glad we woke him from an early night to bed to look around.

Unfortunately the following weekend brought the stomach bug back to our house; this time, it came after me. Man, I haven’t been so violently ill in years. Thankfully, it stuck around less than 24 hours and I was back prepping for our holiday trip.

But…it was not to last. It came after The Mister and Little Man had another tough early morning. Thankfully, both were short lived and the smell of Lysol filled the house. We hope we’re done with stomach stuff!

On the 22nd, we packed up the Charger with all the animals, Little Man, and a trunk full of Christmas presents and set out for Nebraska…where the windchill was in the -30s!

A trip that should have taken us 4 hours, took us nearly 7 and we still had to drive 6 more the next morning. Thankfully, we drove out of the snow and stayed in St. Louis for the night. The following day was a much nicer drive since the roads had been cleared. We finally made it to Nebraska on the 23rd.

We took a short drive to Crystal Springs Park to check out their drive thru light display. Little Man was so excited. He got to sit on the console between the front seats and was pointing and babbling the whole time.

Santa didn’t come on the 25th since we had our family Christmas on the 28th, but we let Little Man unwrap some presents on the 26th.

On the 27th, we got to visit Grammys and Gramps and have a little Christmas get together with them. Little Man thoroughly enjoyed Gramps’s loft and was enthralled with their fireplace.

We did our family Christmas on the 28th at my middle sister’s house.

On the 29th we decided to brave the cold and see the Zoo Lights by LES at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. We had a great time taking in the spectacle and were thoroughly worn out.

The last two days of the month were spent recovering from all the running around. Normally, the Mister and I go for dinner and a movie for New Year’s Eve, but this year we were too tired from all the travel and holidaying.

Tomorrow, we head back to Tennessee to start the new year. We’ll still have our Christmas once we get back, but that’ll be in the next post.

2022 has been a rocky year.

We started out sick and we lost our Audie boy, which set the pace for the year.

We worried about Gramps during his surgery and recovery and are so thankful he is back to his normal self by these last couple of holidays.

We anxiously awaited career news for the Mister and breathed a sigh of relief when he was able to stay in and was eventually promoted.

We dealt with my blood pressure woes and came out with a clean bill of health.

We got to see both sides of our families in their home states, battled various flu bugs, enjoyed building workshops, had our first weekend vacation as a family of 3, went to a pow wow and a Scottish festival, got a new roof, and checked out Oktoberfest and pumpkin patches.

Overall, we made the most out of 2022, but looking forward to what 2023 will bring.

Until then,

Cheers!

–A. xoxo

It’s basically December as I start writing and I can’t wrap my head around it. This has been a heck of a year and it’s practically over.

What was supposed to be a calmer month ended up being a bit hectic.

The Mister had to go on a work trip to Texas last minute so Little Man and I held down the fort solo for the week. Since he’s still raving about the visit, I guess he had a good time playing disc golf and trying his hand (mouth?) at glass blowing, while we survived at home.

While doing so, we went to our first Home Depot workshop without Daddy. We still managed to have a good morning and he loved painting the scarecrow napkin holder.

I even remembered to go vote. The ladies at the polling place just raved about how cute Little Man is and how well behaved.

While the Mister was away, he was sent a promo code for free Nashville Predators tickets. We’ve been trying to go to a game since we moved to Clarksville and either weren’t available when they played or couldn’t find inexpensive tickets, so I made the executive decision to grab some so we could go once he got home.

We had a great time! We’ve never been to any hockey game, let alone a professional one. It was a fun experience and Little Man was all about Gnash (the mascot), though I’m sure if he saw him in person, he’d be afraid of him, just like Booster (the Nashville Sounds rooster mascot).

Right after the Mister got home, I finally had my heart MRI at Vanderbilt. The results showed everything was functioning properly, so it seems pretty likely that it was the medication change that caused the palpitations way back in June/July. I need to get in touch with my doctor for the next steps, if there’s any.

I ended up with a miserable cough for about 10 days shortly after the MRI. I didn’t feel bad or have any other symptoms going on, but I was wiped out from all the coughing for sure. I’m still hacking here and there, but it’s mostly before I go to bed. It certainly feels like I’ll just cough forever.

My mom finally made it the following weekend which is always the best. Little Man was attached to her from the first night and has struggled since she went home.

Still, the boys snuck in the Lowes workshop while mom and I watched the football game that weekend.

They also celebrated Doctor Who Day a few days early at Rick’s Comic City – Clarksville and made their own sonic screwdriver.

The next few days before Thanksgiving were spent running around and playing outside since the weather wasn’t too cold yet.

We did make the trek to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. The last time we were able to visit was when I was pregnant with Little Man, so it was wonderful spending time together at my in-laws’ cabin.

We got lots of time to spend with our family and my mom was able to tag along, much to Little Man’s delight. He got spoiled by the grandparents for sure.

Unfortunately, Little Man came down with a stomach bug in the middle of the night on Black Friday and had a rough few days, especially since we had to be on the road most of the day Saturday to get home. He threw up all over himself and me about 1:40am and kept it up until about 11:30am when he started having a fever.

Thankfully it was short lived and the vomiting didn’t continue while on the road. We took Sunday to recover and rest and were somewhat back to normal in time for speech on Monday.

He is doing pretty well with speech lately. His therapist is really happy with his progress recently. He’s saying about 5 words/session and some are even new ones. He picked up the word “catch” while my mom was here just through playing, so I think we’re right there. Soon, he’ll be talking our ears off, I just know it.

My mom left on the 29th which has made the last couple of days rough. Luckily, I was able to get my tree put up before she left so little hands weren’t hindering the branch fluffing process. I don’t think I’ve put my tree up so early….ever. But it’s one less thing I will need to do now that December is here.

December will likely be somewhat calmer (ha, sound familiar?).

Santa photos for both Little Man and Indie are scheduled. It’ll be hard to see Indie’s solo this year. But hopefully both will behave.

Then it’s a vet visit, dentist, and trying to figure out the holiday schedule. Before you know it, 2022 will be over. It’ll be over in a blur, I have no doubt.

Until then,

Cheers!

– A. xoxo

How are we this close to the end of the year? Holy cow, this year has been barreling by!

We ended up packing this month to the brim with things to do.

We kicked off the month with a quick drive to Adams, TN to Shade Tree Orchard.

They had amazing, homemade apple cider donuts and slushies. We ended up buying a gallon of fresh unpasteurized cider to have when it cools off.

Little Man also had a fun time playing on the farm’s wooden tractor slides and tires.

We were finally able to make it to Home Depot for the kid’s workshop as well. There were significantly more kids there than the Lowes workshops, so Little Man was a bit nervous. Still, he had a good time and made a fun Fire Rescue Boat.

Later that week, we finally celebrated the Mister being promoted to Sergeant First Class on the 5th with a catered lunch and ceremony.

The weekend that followed saw Oktoberfest at Beachhaven Winery. We had great food and enjoyed some nice local beer from Star Spangled Brewing Co.

Little Man also attended his Lowe’s DIY Kids Workshop and built a fire truck.

We took some family photos at an old tobacco drying barn, courtesy of The Lovely Rose Photography and Design Co as always.

For some nostalgia in our lives, we bought Little Man his very first Happy Meal from McDonald’s when they released the Halloween buckets.

We packed the last beautiful weekends with pumpkin/Halloween fun by visiting two of our favorite patches: Gentry Farm and Honeysuckle Hill Farm. They were both way busier than in previous years so next year we will likely go earlier in the season to beat the crowds. The weather was gorgeous, so I’m sure that had a lot to do with the influx.

Gentry Farm – Franklin, Tennessee

Honeysuckle Hill – Springfield, Tennessee

We hadn’t been to Honeysuckle Hill Farm since Little Man was tiny (not that he was ever tiny). A lot has changed/been added and we were not prepared for some of the ill-mannered kids/adults we encountered — Little Man got pushed down a slide by a little girl and ended up flying backwards/upside down out of the chute, among other things. Still, we made the best of it and enjoyed the new attractions.

We might skip Honeysuckle Hill next year as Gentry still was the best experience (not to mention more bang for the buck).

In addition to the long-awaited promotion, the Mister was also recognized at our monthly potluck for his hard work. He was nominated for Cadre of the Year, but didn’t receive it. His commander/leadership didn’t like that outcome and decided he (and a handful of others) deserved a commendation. He was not prepared for an award, so he was even more grateful/humbled to receive it.

We finished out the month with a visit to Cheekwood Botanical Garden during their Harvest exhibits. We were also lucky enough to attend the weekend of their El Dia de los Muertos festival.

It rained on us for part of the morning but that certainly didn’t dampen our fun. We will definitely attend next year, since we missed the nice weather this turn.

We still enjoyed the fantastic altars, music, food, catrinas, and Aztec dancers. We got to do a few crafts as well, including painting clay “sugar” skulls and tissue paper flower crowns.

Finally, we wrapped up the month with a little Halloween fun.

Little Man dressed up as Bingo from his favorite cartoon Bluey.

We didn’t go trick or treating since he was really unsure/scared of most Halloween decorations. But, we did practice our doorbell ringing and holding out our bag at home. Hopefully next year he’ll be able to say “trick or treat”.

We also carved our pumpkins.

As I’m already super late posting this, I’ll keep my wrap up short.

November is going to be a bit calmer in our excursions. We’ll be busy prepping for the holidays and my mom is set to come for a visit. We might make a trip to the mountains for Thanksgiving, but no definitive plan yet. We’ll have to see how it plays out.

Until then,

Cheers!

–A. xoxo

We just keep trucking right along, don’t we?

I knew September was going to be a bit hectic, but it’s been nice being somewhat occupied for most of this month.

The first was a hard day. I knew it would be. Audie would have been 9. I still find myself struggling and will shed a tear almost daily for a minute or two because I miss him so much. He really was like my first kid, since the cats are notoriously independent. We are often saying we’ll never find another like him and he was one of a kind. Now, 8 months on, we know just how true that is.

The rocky start to the month continued with a trip to the ER for Little Man. He’d been fighting what we thought was allergies/a cold for a couple days when he developed a croup-y cough and could barely keep his eyes open.

Because we use military healthcare/insurance, we’re not allowed to use civilian urgent care since we live within a set number miles from a military ER. We also knew if we took him to his usual clinic, there wouldn’t be an opening for weeks.

So, long story short, he was checked for COVID, influenza, and RSV. He was positive for RSV and had a slight double ear infection. No wonder the poor kid was miserable! We did 10 days of amoxicilin and he got better fairly quickly. Unfortunately, that meant no Home Depot kids workshop (we are definitely planning to attend in October).

Lucky for us, his speech therapist was gone that week so he didn’t miss any time with her. Now, however, since his routine was disrupted, he tends to cry and cling to us before she takes him into her office. Separation anxiety is in full force.

Not much news on the speech front either unfortunately. He was approved for additional sessions through our insurance based on his progress report. We all think he just doesn’t want to try to use words since he knows we want him to. But, we’re trying the best we can. He’ll talk when he is ready.

His therapist did say on the last visit of the month that he was *this* close to saying what she was asking him to say, so he does try, it’s just on his terms.

After RSV went through the whole family, I finally got to go in for a Holter monitor on my heart. Still currently waiting on results from that and my ECHO. Gotta love universal healthcare!

After all the health issues, we did manage to squeeze in some different kinds of fun excursions.

One weekend, we attended the Middle Tennessee Highland Games. We had an absolute blast! We sampled yummy traditional Scottish foods, watched athletic events and dancing, did a Scotch tasting, and enjoyed the bands/pipes.

We also learned about the Waid name’s clan (Farquharson) and found which tartan was appropriate to wear. We weren’t able to find the right tartan print for a kilt for Little Man, but we are planning ahead for next year.

We also decided to check out the Trail of Tears pow wow again in Hopkinsville, KY, as we have done the last couple of years.

Normally, we go on the first day, but we changed it up and went on the last day instead. We didn’t get to see nearly as many of the competition dances we usually see, but we saw a few and I think I managed to get some of the closest photos I’ve taken there.

I even convinced the Mister to go out and “dance” for the Veteran Dance. He usually doesn’t like to draw attention to his military career, so I was surprised he did it.

We did see a rather scary emergency in the arena after the Golden Age grass dance. One of the gentlemen competing had a heart attack and had to be flown to Vanderbilt. It was really hot out and the regalia worn can be heavy, so we thought he’d just passed out from the heat at first. Naturally, it was hard to go back to competition after that, so the MC decided to let everyone head out early. Thankfully, he survived and got the help he needed.

Since we had to miss the Home Depot workshop, we made sure to go to the Lowes workshop.

The following week, we got some exciting news. The Mister finally got picked up for SFC! He is pretty excited about it, even though it means adding on an extra year and a half to his contract. We will be having a promotion ceremony next month.

In addition to all of the excitement, we also did some work on the house. We got a new roof and gutters. It was a loud couple of days, but we are pleased to have it done before the colder weather comes. With our financing, it will end up costing us about the same monthly as my student loan payments, so our budget hasn’t changed much bill-wise.

On the student loan front, I ended up requesting a refund for all the payments I made during the payment pause. It’ll take 90+ days to receive the refund so I’m glad I called now instead of later.

Granted, I only owed about $560 when the $10k cancelation was announced, so that’ll be a nice chunk coming back that we’ll use to pay down some other bills. Subsequently, it’ll land about the same time as tax season starts so that’ll be extra nice. Inflation and gas prices had us struggling for a couple months so, feeling like there’s a little wiggle room will be a good change.

Next month will bring a whole new slew of excitement. Halloween of course will be an interesting challenge as Little Man has started being unsure about the spooky decorations in stores. We think we might try to trick or treat a couple houses just to see how he does.

We also got tickets for Oktoberfest at a local winery. One of our favorite breweries is hosting, so we’re excited for it. Hopefully it’ll be as good as the Highland Games was.

No other major plans yet but we have enough to fill a few weekends.

Until then,

Cheers!

–A. xoxo