Goodbye to "The Great Place" Fort Hood, TX & Hello to Fort "Lost In The Woods" Leonard Wood, MO

So, we are now at Fort Leonard Wood, MO...

I know I have not kept up w/ this blog but I hope that now in the new house & with less keeping me gone from home I can write here more often to keep everyone up to date rather than just the people on my facebook. I had a wonderful birthday Bo really put a lot of thought into it this year & worked with Erika to surprise me with a dinner at Chili's along with Melissa & Angela. He brought balloons attached to a beautiful Lily & $500 cash for the refrigerator we had just sold hahaha! After dinner we went back to the house & had ice cream birthday cake & I opened my amazing gifts. Erika bought me a really sweet silver peace necklace, Lily made me a keychain(happened to be Scentsy colors)as well as 2 awesome necklaces w/ glass charms. Bo bought me a Dyson vacuum while that's not a normal birthday gift I'm more practical & prefer gifts I will use and he also got me an iMac computer! It caught me by surprise since I have used HP's my whole life but I'm getting the hang of it now. After the party wore off we had to start packing to move. We had packers in our house on February 10th & 13th which was really strange not doing that ourselves then the movers came on the 14th & took all of the boxes & our furniture. We kept food, baby stuff, clothes for a week, a folding table, camping chairs, pet stuff, computers, 2 tv's, game systems, etc....basically enough to survive in an empty house for an undetermined amount of time w/ 2 kids & 5 pets. It was a tough move w/ all of us but we made it. Once we got here we had to view the house, sign paperwork with housing then download the cars & trailer. The house is SO loud compared to our old house due to the hardwood floors so I'm really hoping furniture & rugs will help when they get here. We also had to go to the P. O. to fwd our mail, go grocery shopping, set up net/cable, etc...all the usual moving stuff that keep us busy in between Dolly's meal times/nap times & Luke's school drop off/pick up. Speaking of, Lucas was enrolled on Tues. at Wood Elementary here on post. He's now a Tiger! It's awesome b/c the school is covered in tiger paws & they have bright orange paws painted on the sidewalk leading into the school just like Clemson! He did get a bad note wednesday though for kicking at lunch & for telling a kid he would kill him. Before you think this is extreme, please understand we had this happen at his old school where a little girl told him she would kill herself then another kid in their class & he has been testing this word ever since. I told him he would get into serious trouble at school, he tested it anyway & he got to talk to the principal. He also lost his games for an undetermined amount of time & I made him write an apology letter to his class that he read aloud to them yesterday. He came home yesterday with a green which is the best color you can get at this school. If he has another good day today Bo is thinking about taking him out to one of the lakes on post tomorrow for a 15 & under fishing tournament! It's all free...poles, bait & food provided so I'm really hoping they get to go have some good father/son time w/out Dolly stealing Bo's attention away from Luke. Another cool thing about this new school is they don't have to be there until 0800-0830 & they dismiss @1520-1530 so we're on a later schedule that at Ft. Hood. They are also implementing starting next week, free breakfast for ALL students so Luke can get there & pick up a bfast tray & take it to class to eat! He thinks that's awesome ofcourse. They hand out Tiger Bucks to kids who are behaving & at the end of the week they do drawings during lunch for kids w/ tickets, they also have parties the last friday of every month for new kids so today Lucas should be having a party. Next Tuesday they're keeping the kids after school for a math safari & at 1730 we get to go have a free dinner w/ him & they'll do games & prizes so this school seems so far like it's going to be a lot of fun. He's already doing more difficult work than he was before as well like double digit math he's having a hard time with b/c they weren't doing that in TX. So for Dolly's updates she's doing well in the new house loving the hard floors in her walker. She's been sick though so I try not to get her out too much I'm not sure if it's just a cold or allergies so staying home & Lyscoling like a crazy person to keep it from spreading if it is a cold. She has 5 teeth now & a 6th one cutting through and she's making sounds but no words yet. She wants to walk so bad but the hard floors are slowing her down so I'm hoping she can adjust & keep her slippers or skid proof socks on long enough to start going. More than likely she'll be on the go by the time we get to SC again. By the way, we are planning to come home & visit but we have to wait for Bo to get to work & find out how leave will work now. At the least we will try to come home for Xmas depending on if we have someone here to watch the animals & we have a place to stay(with our dogs)while we're there. My friend Lori will hopefully be here by then so I don't have to trust people I don't really know with my furries & scalies. Well I think I will end this here for now...I need to venture into the world of uploading & photo editing on this Mac so I can get my photobucket & facebook caught up. If you are not on facebook & you do not get my photobucket links via email please email me at: armybutterfly13@yahoo.com & you can check out our photos. This is to family & close friends don't waste my time if you are neither. Please stay tuned for more frequent blogs from me!

PS: I will also be putting out our new address soon now that we are able to receive mail.

3 week update

Dolly is an amazing little girl...she has terrible timing, always wants to nurse when I need to get us out the door or if I'm getting ready to cook or something, but she's so easy to please most of the time she just wants Mommy to hold her. At her last check up on June 10th she was 20" and 6lbs 15oz so she's already getting bigger. It seems unreal to me that she's already 3 weeks old...I guess being in the hospital and having so many extra people around afterward made the time shoot by. As for me I am doing well, ready to get back into routine w/ Lukerz. I am back into my pre-pregnancy clothes w/ a little extra skin but the tummy is slowly getting back to normal. Bo is back in Iraq I've had 1 phone call and 1 email so far which is more than I expected honestly. I knew he'd be really busy getting settled back in there. To everyone who's asked he's fine and is ready to come back home. Also I just ordered birth announcements and I cannot wait to mail them out! Dolly was only a week old when the photo on the announcement was taken by Photography By Lisa but I had to wait for that perfect photo. Now I need to get up and get some cleaning going I just wanted to do this quick update for everyone I don't talk to on a regular basis. I am going to try to get more into my blogging in the coming days so stay tuned!

Hello Dolly...May 22, 2011

For those who don't know yet, Miss Dolly is here! People have been asking what happened, why was I in the hospital for so long, etc so I thought blogging her arrival might be a good idea.

On May 21 we had our village movie night...free movie, popcorn & soda and the movie was HOP. I was already having cramps(contractions that I didn't realize were contractions)off and on during the movie and had several people on their toes lol. I made it through the movie and they eventually stopped and I was just really really tired the rest of the day. I woke up probably around 0215-0230 and went to the bathroom and was soon doubled over the toilet in pain. I managed to walk to the living room and wake up my friend Laura who began timing my waves of cramps. It was so intense already I had to lay down and push against my ottoman w/ my feet to breathe through each wave. I think it took maybe 5 min. before she said, "we just need to get you to the hospital" so she ran around trying to throw a bag together for me and trying to throw one together for Lucas. I had literally just said I would pack our bags tomorrow so of course that's when I go into labor! By the time she's loading stuff into the car I was on my hands and knees in my dining room floor trying not to scream and freak Lucas out...he was half asleep and rubbing my back telling me it'd be okay and how he's gonna take care of me. My poor baby he didn't wanna leave me long enough to get in the car but I kept telling him to please get in the car so Laura could help me and take me to the doctor. By the time we drove 5 minutes down the road to the hospital I was in so much pain I could barely speak or see straight...if you don't know this yet I have a really high pain tolerance so I KNEW it wasn't right for me to be feeling like this so quickly. I was wheeled up to L&D by a security guard who literally yelled at the nurses station..."we need a bed here!" LOL poor guy that was so not his job. They took me into a room, pulled Bo's boxers off of me(yep still in pj's)and helped me onto the bed. I remember a nurse picking up my right arm and saying, " Do you want me to put a line on her?" and the nurse between my legs said, " She don't have time for that she's ready to go!" then she tells me she's checking my cervix and next thing I hear is, "you're 9.5 mama start pushing when you feel like it!" OMG WHAAAAT??!??! This is exactly what I said. Apparently I had been in labor all day and the early morning...so about 15 min. later(I was already pushing by the time Laura got Chastity there for Luke and was able to come in w/ me)I had a baby. No drugs had been my plan from the beginning but I didn't even get an IV this time my cooling system was ice packs on my forehead. It was completely insane. After I was nursing her and Lucas got to come in and visit I lose my memory I don't remember going to Mother & Baby(recovery)w/ her all I remember are bits and pieces from the ICU. I remember having an IV port in each arm and not being able to move my hands or feet. I was diagnosed w/ HELLP Syndrome which developed from having un-treated Pre-eclampsia. I'm not very clear on how long I was out of it so maybe Laura can comment here later and fill in some details. I did go to Mother/Baby for a while where I was so sick from Morphine and doped on Phenergren that I don't remember anything...I just remember being told they had to give me Magnesium, them checking my reflexes on my knees and my legs were non-reactive, not being able to control my hands/fingers, I couldn't hold my baby to nurse her, I couldn't talk straight or see for that matter it's like my whole brain was fuzzy. When I could finally comprehend things and stay awake long enough for a conversation the ICU doctor came in and told me about HELLP Syndrom and how dangerous it is and that he's amazed I was able to carry Dolly almost to her due date(she was 10 days early)and she didn't have any complications herself...she was and is completely perfect which is amazing. I think my body gave her everything it had in order to get us both through the pregnancy. Once I finally came off the Magnesium they removed my catheter and the braces they had on my legs to keep my blood circulating since I couldn't move them on my own and I was finally able to go to recovery sometime on the 23rd and shortly after Bo finally arrived. He missed all the traumatic stuff. I was woken up every 6hrs for a blood draw and ended up being given 2 units of blood before they decided to discharge me on May 26th. All this because a bunch of doctors over the course of 9 months(including 2 ER trips)missed the signs of Pre-Eclampsia. However, it's over and now I'm trying to get my house back to being my home and preparing for Bo to be gone again in a few days. Dahlia is perfect and such an easy easy baby and Luke is adjusting well w/ her I think in a couple of weeks when it's just the 3 of us we'll be right back on track w/ where we were before all this craziness happened. I hope this clears up the story for everyone since I haven't really been able to talk to you all yet w/ full updates. Keep an eye out on FB for new pics!

this has been a great week...

So most of you know by now that I'm knocked up hahaha we are extremely excited about it and I can't wait to get an official Due Date though my Iphone says it's May 21, 2011 it'll be interesting to see what the doctor says. Bo is already being the best hubby he can be from overseas and has apparently been reading up on pregnancy so he knows what I'm going through w/ each passing week. I missed an IM from him today but this is what he said:

5:34 PM 9/23 well sorry i didn't get to catch you but i love you and i did a lot of reading tonight, and i think it would be a good idea if you asked one of the neighbor kids to help with the kitty litter box, cause the toxins from cat poo are very bad for the baby, and could cause problems. just drink a lot of WATER, and get plenty of rest and i'll talk to you as soon as i can. and you may want to start staying close to a bathroom, or keep a bucket near by for the next few weeks. Love you baby, ttyl (about 5 days)

It's nice that he's showing interest in this pregnancy I hope it continues...so far I haven't had any nausea just a couple of things I notice don't sit right anymore like Nutri-Grain bars but nothing has made me up chuck just yet! I have noticed I get tired faster and I need to pee more often especially if I'm staying hydrated and I am craving spicy stuff from peppers to sausage and tomato soup w/ grilled cheese is the best right now!

So I have also been volunteering all week at the Book Fair in Luke's school. I've been working 0730-1130 & 1300-1530 and today was family day so we stayed until 1800. Tomorrow I'll work from 0730-1200 either at the Book Fair or bagging popcorn for the kids who wear their Meadows Elementary tshirts. I am exhausted but it has been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to more volunteer work! Okay I am super tired and I still need dinner and Luke is eating alone so signing off for now check back later for more updates!

::determined to start doing this::

So I started this blog primarily to keep my family and friends back in SC who don't have Facebook updated on our lives...and I have failed miserably. I will start using this more regularly as well as posting photos if I can get the hang of it so please check in here and there to see more!

As most of you know Lucas has started school and he really is loving it. He's doing very well and has only gotten into trouble once and I think that may have been more than just his fault. I am trying to become involved w/ the PTA so that I can volunteer at the school and for events and maybe give them some new ideas for things. Today is a busy day so I really just wanted to post a quick blog and try putting pics on here and I will most likely do a better update tomorrow or Sunday. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Recipe: Souper Chicken Tetrazzini

Okay I'm pretty sure my mom got this off of a Cambell's soup can but I just made it for dinner and it is sooooo yummy that I wanted to share it!

Ingredients:
• 1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 small onion-finely chopped
• 1/4 cup grated parmesian cheese
• 1/4 cup of sour cream
• 2 cups cooked chicken-cubed
• 1 small zucchini-cubed
• 2 cups thin spaghetti or angel hair pasta-cooked & drained

Directions:
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Mix soup, milk, onion, cheese & sour cream in bowl.
•Add chicken, zucchini & spaghetti. Mix.
• Pour into 2qt. casserole dish.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve w/ additional cheese if desired.

If anyone tries it let me know what you think :)

Getting Started...

This is my first time blogging I'm hoping to become very good at it but if you're an early follower you'll have to bare with me while I learn the ropes. We have a huge day planned for tomorrow. We're going to see an educational reptile display, spending a few hours at Wazoo's(indoor kidzone for those who don't know), then going to my friend Daina's for dinner. I'll literally be out of the house ALL day tomorrow which never happens! Hope to catch up some more this weekend but for now this will have to do. Good night!