Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Play time in GA

 Grayson and I are adjusting to life here in Georgia, despite having Daddy gone. We spend a lot of our days playing with chalk, coloring at the kitchen table, or going to the gym.  I joined the YMCA here in town so Grayson would have the chance to play with other kids and to give me a much needed break as well.  At times I'll find myself just relaxing in a chair in the ladies locker room and reading a book just to enjoy the "quiet" time without Grayson running circles around me.  He has gotten used to going to the kids area as well.  It was hard for him at first for some reason even though he'd go to the children's area in AZ at the gym or church.  Probably just the change in environments and not having things be familiar, as well as having Daddy leave and maybe worrying that I wasn't going to come back either after dropping him off.  Now he smiles and runs to the toys any time I drop him off at the gym or church and doesn't pitch a fit anymore.  Our Mondays we usually head to the library at some point to get new library books and sometimes an Elmo video for him to watch during the week.  The kid loves his Elmo and Sesame Street! :)  Tuesday afternoons before dinner we go to the park in town to play and get fruit from the farmers market.  Not sure what we'll do when the farmers market closes mid Oct!  It's a great market with lots of produce which I missed having!  Wednesday evenings we have now been joining a new friend, Mel at church for the Weds night service and dinner.  Grayson gets the chance to play with kids in the toddler room while I can have the chance to have "adult time".  Thursday mornings we head to church again for a womens bible study I have joined on the book of Esther.  It's been nice getting together with other ladies without having kids running all around.  Grayson got to go to the "big kids" room last week with 2-4 yr olds.  He was the youngest one in the room, but the ladies said he held his own and you would have never known!  He was chasing after the other boys like he was just their size and having a blast!  I requested that he continues in that room for the remaining Thursdays since he loved it so much and I almost had to drag him out of the room since he had so much fun.  I think it's a better fit for him since he's' in a phase of loving to give hugs.  Only problem is that he'll hug a kid, and not let go!  The poor little ones that are his size or smaller don't know what to do because they usually end up on the floor with him pressing his head into them giving them a big hug before someone can pull him off.  It's hard to get mad at him when he's trying to show love to a kid and has a huge grin on his face, but I'm hoping he'll soon learn how to give quick hugs and let go rather than holding on for dear life!  Friday mornings we meet my new friend Mel at the mall with her girls for the kids to play in the soft play area and then have lunch.  Sadly, Mel got a job which is wonderful for her, but means she starts work in November and I will no longer have our Friday morning play date to look forward to!  However, Will will be home so I won't be craving that face to face time with an adult during the week as much as I do now.  Thankfully we have this month to enjoy getting together on Friday mornings to let the kids play and I'm able to see someone other than Grayson every day. :)  


As you can tell, we've kind of gotten into a routine for our day to day activities here in Georgia.  While it gets lonely at times, it's definitely been a lot better than the first couple weeks after Will left!  Here are some pictures of Grayson playing over the last week or two.  Enjoy!



Going "nigh nigh" in Bailey's bed


"uh oh!"
pointing to the birds in the sky







playing upstairs in his playroom with his friend Shelby

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Home Sweet Home...

We have managed to move into our house in GA! We closed on our house on the 31st and have everything moved in on the 1st.  While our moving experience wasn't great with the moving company we were assigned (both with packing/moving from AZ as well as getting things moved into the house in GA) all our things made it with a few broken things here and there.  Will was very disappointed in the lack of professionalism we received this time with the movers and said he hasn't ever had a crew do this poorly before whenever he moved.  Thankfully we won't have to worry about moving again for a few years!  That is something I am definitely happy about!  After moving once again, I started thinking back to how many times I have moved and I believe I have moved houses/apartments at least once... sometimes twice!... every year since 2000!  Needless to say... I'm ready to stick around in one house for awhile! 


Will had a week here in GA with us before having to go back to AZ for a class that goes through Oct.  Due to his hard work, we were able to get EVERYTHING unpacked 2 days before he left and storage boxes put in the appropriate places.  All that's left for me to dk now is hang up pictures!  Will left on the 7th and since then life has been pretty boring.  I've met the neighbors on each side of me.  Each seem like, but the parents kind of keep to themselves.  However, their kids are always ringing the doorbell to see if Grayson can play!  Even though all the kids are 5 yrs or older, they don't seem to care that Grayson is still a baby.  I think deep down though, they really come knocking in hopes of getting to play in our backyard on the swing set since none of them have one in their yards!  Grayson loves to play with the big kids though and probably thinks he's one of them!  I may have to make a sign to hang on the front door though when it's nap time or dinner time since they always seem to come at those times and either wake Grayson up with the doorbell or get him upset when I won't let him play until he's had dinner.  Grayson and I are getting into somewhat of a routine, but I am definitely already counting down the days for when Will should be back.  He should be home around the 1st week of November so only a little over a month!  I keep reminding myself that if I could do a year with him in Afghanistan, I can manage two months without him. :)  We try to talk on skype every morning so Grayson can see Daddy.  Will has been VERY busy with the class he is taking and working from about 7 am until 9 or 10 at night usually.  It's a course where it is required that they stay in a hotel in Tucson and are not allowed to leave the area.  They work weekends as well which is a big reason we decided to move me and Grayson out to GA early since we couldn't see him in AZ for the entire class.  Thankfully, Grayson is young enough still that he seems to be adjusting fine without Daddy here each day, but I can definitely tell he misses Will and their "wrestle time" in the evenings.  Mommy doesn't "wrestle" much with him since he doesn't understand that he can't jump on my stomach like he does with Daddy.  The baby bump is definitely showing at this point and making it much more difficult to sit with Grayson in the rocking chair at night to read stories!  Things are well though for us despite the craziness that has been going on for the past month with moving!  We hope you all had a wonderful summer and are ready to enjoy the fall season as much as we are!  

Will's idea of moving empty boxes to the front porch


Helping Daddy take apart the table to make room for the new one!



Getting in "Daddy Time" before he has to leave


Reading books before bed in his "big boy" bed


He loves to play on the back porch while I make dinner and smear up my windows!



Such a big boy!  Carrying his own diapers in a backpack so mommy doesn't need the diaper bag


He LOVES to color these days!  









Making a "shaker" out of a paper towel tube


"Shake shake shake!"

Indianapolis Zoo

We finished our trips for August in Indianapolis to see Grandma and Grandpa Campbell.  Of course, what's a trip to Indiana without visiting the zoo!  I had taken more pictures from our trip on Grandpa Campbell's camera and unfortunately downloaded them onto the laptop while we were visiting.  Will of course took the laptop back to AZ with him for his class and I forgot to get those pictures put onto our desktop so I'll have to add other pictures from our time in IN some other time!  Here are pictures from our trip to the zoo though with the grandparents, as well as cousin Jacob and Aunt Heather.  It was great to be able to spend time with Jacob and Heather since we don't get to see them much with work schedules when we visit Indiana.  It was a great trip to end out August travels before heading to Georgia!  





"Where'd it go?!"