Opposites

Are you familiar with the Meyers-Briggs Personality tests? You can take versions of the test online. I've taken the test a few times in classes and such. I'm pretty consistently INFP, though I strayed to the ENFP side once (I try to be more outgoing than my comfort zone.) Allen recently took a version that was meant to help in his search for what he wants to be when he grows up. He is an ESTJ. There are only two options for each letter. So, yeah we are complete opposites. However it works, we are complete opposities who have been married for 11 years today!

We are currently "celebrating" our anniversary with a trip to a country possibly best known for its chocolate, beer, and waffles (giveaway.) Anyone? Oh, we are staying in the EU capital as well.

Promotion and Baptism, in pictures

close-up

Allen and Joy

Allen with other guys who were promoted the same day

During the baptism
With Chaplain Godshall
Posed picture afterward

And, the comparison shots of Ashlyn after her baptism (the biggest difference I see is that I have a much better camera now. Oh, and my children look nothing alike.)

Not the REAL procrastinator

I mentioned previously that I am a procrastinator. But, I'm not the only one.

Two weeks ago, I went through all of Ashlyn's old baby stuff. I separated gender neutral stuff and the stuff that was too summery. I washed everything that would definitely be usable and put it all away in the baby's room. I also pulled out baby toys, including the swing and bouncy seat, and tested them with new batteries. Allen asked why I was doing all of this so early. He thought I should wait until the day before I was scheduled to have the baby. I tried to explain to him that I could have this baby at any moment.

Our crib has a few pieces (bolts or something) missing, so it hasn't been the best the past few months that Ashlyn has been sleeping in it. Plus, it was converted to a toddler bed and is on the lowest height. Of course, now we need it to be at its highest with a crib rail. I also bought a canopy for the crib. I asked Allen to just put up the canopy when he fixed the crib. He said he thought that was a good job to save for my dad to help. I tried not to stress as I asked "You're going to wait until my dad gets here?" Allen said that my dad was going to need some projects. I don't want to complain about it, especially since I know the chances of the baby actually sleeping in the crib the first few weeks are practically nothing. In my head I'm still thinking "The crib has to be ready BEFORE the baby is born."

This has me thinking back to when Ashlyn was born. I had a few projects I wanted Allen to do before he deployed. He just told me that he would do all of them while he was on leave. This is what Allen did on his paternity leave:

Reality Check

I've been sporadically attending a mom's workshop the past couple of months. I hadn't been in a few weeks, and other moms were commenting on my belly when I arrived. I said something along the lines of "yeah, I'm huge." When I told them I was going to have the baby in about 3 weeks, they kept telling me how small I was. They told me I was all belly and definitely didn't look like someone in their last month. It was good to hear, and I just thought what nice people to have around when you are pregnant.

The next night as I was changing clothes, the conversation went something like this.

Allen: You are HUGE. I mean GARGANTUAN.

Me: At my mom's group, they told me how small my belly was, for someone so close to having a baby.

Allen: They were lying.

Me: I know.

Trying to get a side view is hard while holding a toddler.

Happy Birthday, Allen!

I guess 2nd birthday?

Today is Allen's 32nd birthday! We celebrated on Monday with a birthday pie. Allen gets birthday pies rather than cakes, because I don't like pie and only make them for special occasions. (When we first got married, I told Allen that I would never make him pie, because why would I make an entire dessert just for him? Before we had reached our first anniversary, I had not only made a pie, but I picked the blueberries to make it.)

Pie crust efforts. In the right hand corner, you can see the wadded up first efforts.
I peeled the apple in one piece. Never done it before, so I documented. (Jamie, I finally have a decent peeler!)

Ashlyn's contribution to the pie making.
And this (hole in the pie crust)Armand's contribution
Apparently, it was successful.

We celebrated Monday, because Allen left for training on Tuesday. He was able to get permission to come home for the day(he spent the last two birthdays in Iraq,) so I ended up making him a birthday cake, too. Of course, the cake making was not without a bit of drama to start out my morning. You may not be able to tell in this photo, but this is the aftermath of an oven fire. I put in two sticks of butter to soften. Once one drop of that butter melted onto the burners, fire. I first threw salt on it, before I remembered baking soda.

We had a nice afternoon and evening together as a family, with a long walk and an extensive game of peek-a-boo with Ashlyn and her daddy. (She was covering him up and then looking around the house for him "Daddy, where are you?")

Toys, Daddy, and a Haircut

No, Mommy!

Ok, to you parents of young toddlers out there, or those who were once parents of toddlers, where do you keep toys? Playroom? Bedroom? Living room? A little bit in each? How does it work? If you keep toys out of the living room, does your child go into their playroom or bedroom to play, or do they drag toys throughout the house? If you have a playroom, is it close to your main living area or part of a family room?

As you can tell, we are trying to solve the toy organization issue. Right now, we have some toys in the living room and most in Ashlyn's bedroom. The problem is Ashlyn wants me to be in the same room or the next while she plays. So, she really doesn't play in her bedroom, unless I go up there, too.

I'm kind of thinking that with the right shelving and maybe something like this to use as our coffee table, toys in the main living room would not be so terrible.

If I haven't said this before, this dual-parenting thing is awesome! I realize that Allen has been home for 9 months now, but I'm still amazed at how incredible it is. Not only is there someone else to help out or take over with taking care of Ashlyn, but it just seems easier when Ashlyn is being difficult and someone else is around. The best part though is seeing their father/daughter relationship develop. Allen was gone for a loooong time, so Ashlyn wasn't an instant Daddy's girl. I love to see her laughing now at "funny Daddy" or calling out to "Daddy, Daddy." Allen's job has also been VERY nice (as in very few working hours) the past couple of months, so he has been home a lot. We have loved it, but, of course that couldn't last. I will be an overtime mom again for the next few months as Allen starts a series of rotations that will keep him at work much of the time until Christmas.

Sharing desert

In totally random news (as if this post was even kind of coherent up until now), Ashlyn counted to 10 yesterday! Of course, she still skipped 3 & 4, but 1, 2, 5 sounds better anyway.

Last weekend, I had my hair chopped off. I'm happy with it right now, but I do tend to go through cycles of growing my hair out and then cutting it way short, just to grow it out again. Allen likes my hair shorter like this, though. (However, he refuses to take a photo of me from a flattering angle.)

So, I leave you with more pictures of Ashlyn that have nothing to do with this post.

We walked through town with her carrying this umbrella.

funny faces

Allen taught Ashlyn to jump on wrapping material. I would think it was way more satisfying than just popping them.

Allen in the News

Our hometown paper had an article in the paper last week about Allen. Check it out.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18745901&BRD=1815&PAG=461&dept_id=516928&rfi=6

10 years

Ten years ago, I married my best friend. When I first met Allen, I thought that he was funny and sweet. His goofiness has kept me laughing even when life really was sad or hard. Even during labor. We've spent many, many months apart during those ten years, and know that life is better when we are together. I am sure that he will love me and keep me laughing for the next 60 or more years.

Allen's Homecoming

Allen has been in California this week. The Army thought he should fly all of the way there for a one-day conference. Of course, with 24 hours of travel on each end and staying there a day before and a day after, he was pretty much gone the week. He was to arrive home around midday today, Friday the 13th.

I had plans to take Ashlyn to hourly care. I thought I would clean the house a little more and maybe make something to eat for him when he got home. I knew he would be very tired and would probably just want to sleep and maybe have a meal.

Instead, Allen drove into Parsberg and saw me standing on the side of the road with an MP, the polizei, and a couple of other witnesses. Instead of a loving hug and an "I miss you," my first words were "I wrecked the truck!"

As I was driving back to our house, I took my eyes off of the road, and the next thing I knew I was driving over some pilings on the side of the bridge, and I thought I was going to flip the 4-Runner. I was only on two wheels for a bit, before I landed back on the road. I was VERY shaken, but fine. Everyone who stopped was very kind. Thank goodness I hadn't lost control enough to hit any of the other cars or had Ashlyn with me! Fortunately, one of the witnesses was also an American, who could speak German. She stayed to help interpret.

Though I really thought everything was fine, Allen and I went to the hospital to make sure that nothing was wrong with the baby. And, the baby is also fine.

We're not sure how much damage I did to the 4-Runner. It looks mostly like the running board, but it didn't drive great on the way home. We'll see.

So, this was Allen's welcome home party! Woohoo. (He also received a lovely display of Ashlyn's biggest fit to date!)

I know that it's been awhile since updates. We were gone, lazy, and then without internet. I will update you on our Italy trip this weekend!

Happy Father's Day!

Allen had to go to work early this morning, so I didn't even get to make him breakfast, though Ashlyn and I enjoyed his french toast.

In honor of Father's Day, I am leaving you with a picture of my dad and his BIG FISH (trout). The second picture is his brother David and his BIG FISH. Apparently, they were too big for them to keep, but they have pictures for proof!

Allen's Help and Possessive Ashlyn

I am a worrier. I know it isn't helpful to worry about things over which I have no control. It really isn't helpful to make up things to worry about, either. But, I do both of these things. I sometimes can't sleep because I am worrying about things. Last week, as we were going to bed, I mentioned to Allen that I was worrying about something. I won't tell you the specifics, but it was along the lines of: if A happens, then B could happen, which would surely cause C to happen, which would be terrible. Allen, of course, told me that I was being ridiculous, since if A and B happened, C wouldn't happen or wouldn't be that big of a deal, anyway. That was fine. The problem was Allen's next comment, "If you want something to worry about....worry about where we are going to put all of our stuff. Worry about how we are getting to Italy. Worry about where we are going on block leave." Why, oh why did he feel the need to give me MORE to worry about? My made up worries were causing enough problems!

Ashlyn has begun a possessive stage. Everything is "mine." She tells the dog that her food is "mine." She calls me "my mommy." She does this with just about everything. This morning we may have reached the limit, when I smelled something suspicious. I checked out her diaper, and she said,"no, my poop." Yeah, definitely not ready for potty training.

Ashlyn's Antics

Ashlyn hasn't hit any major milestone lately, but I did want to share a few of her most recent interests.

Things that many 18 months old are probably doing:

1. Whining. Ashlyn isn't new to whining. It is annoying, of course, but over the past couple of weeks, she has been whining constantly. Somehow, it seems to just be when I am around. Allen keeps telling me that everything is fine with her, until I come in the room, and then she has to whine and cling to me.


2. Words. She keeps adding new words to her vocabulary all the time. (One of her newest is sheet!) We are currently working on milk and up, hoping to avoid the whining that happens so much when she wants one of these things.


3. Clothing. Ashlyn is really working at getting dressed by herself, mostly pants and shoes. She often tries to put pants on, legs first. Or, she tries to put both legs in one pant leg. With help from Garland, she did manage to pull her pants on Sunday, and she was so proud. Yesterday, she was whining because she couldn't get another pair of jeans over the fleece lined pair that she was wearing. She also likes to put on her shoes, which she can sometimes manage. Generally, she only does one shoe. But, don't take it off, unless you want to hear more whining, which often leads to a tantrum. Oh, and she now likes hats. I don't know where that came from, but she does see Allen wear them all the time.

Wearing her hat around the house.

I don't think every kid is doing this:

1. Ashlyn's sheet. To some extent, this isn't really that unusual. Many kids have a blankie or toy or other such thing that they are attached to. But, Ashlyn is attached to a sheet. A full size bed sheet. I totally thought of Linus when Ashlyn started whining and then had a meltdown as she saw me put one of the sheets into the dryer and close the door. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be just one particular sheet. She will really accept any sheet. She even latched onto a pillowcase, that I was really rooting for, but it didn't stick. The thing about the sheet is that is a rather large thing to carry around with you, especially now that it has been in public.

Snack time, while holding the sheet.


2. Drinking. I'm not talking about beer here. I'm talking about the dog's water dish. Ashlyn picked up Ranger's water dish and tipped it back to drink out of it. We are so proud.

As I've mentioned before, I love having a husband around. (Of course!) Last week, I took Ashlyn to hourly care, so that I could come home and work on school stuff. When I mentioned it to Allen later, he said, "I could have taken her." Oh. It didn't even occur to me that, yeah, he could have taken her. He would be going on post about that time, anyway. So, yesterday, he took Ashlyn to hourly care and picked her up! This gave me at least another hour of time at home. Plus, on Monday morning, he was home from PT before she woke up, so he got her out of bed and made us breakfast. There are other reasons that I'm happy he is home :), but I was so used to doing the mommy thing alone that I notice those differences even more.

French toast!

This has nothing to do with Ashlyn, but it has been SO COLD the past couple of days (and I want to whine about it.) It didn't get above -40 yesterday. It only warmed up to -29 today. It has also been all foggy and yuck. BRRRR. I'm going to lie under a blanket now.

My Birthday

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday. To celebrate, Allen made me breakfast. (He then told me that I would not be doing any dishes that day. I could wait a day to do them. Ha!) He also took me to dinner and a MOVIE!!!! As I mentioned in an earlier post, Before Ashlyn (BA) we went to the movies quite frequently, with no prior planning. (Of course, Allen was gone for nearly 16 months, so obviously we wouldn't have gone to the movies together with or without Ashlyn. But, I have only been to a theater twice in that time.) We saw Pursuit of Happyness, which was ok, not as good as we expected, but worth seeing. Allen also gave me another lens for my camera, which we are both not sure about now that we have it. Obviously, we haven't really had time to play with it, but do you see a big difference in these pictures?

Photo A

Photo B

Of course, before giving up on this lens, we will be taking more photos. I'm just not sure if I see enough of an advantage in the new lens to justify the extra weight and bulk (and $$$.) We'll see.

Allen received orders for Germany today. We are also in the process of decluttering our home, both by getting rid of stuff and hiding it in the crawl space, in order to sell it. So, it sounds like we may actually be moving, and kinda soon.

On another note, when we moved here, because it was considered overseas, Allen received orders for him to move to Alaska. Then, we had to apply for command sponsorship, where I had to take my medical records, and they (no, I don't know who "they" are) had to determine if it was ok for me to move here. Allen's orders already include Ashlyn and me. Is Germany different or has the Army actually streamlined one of their processes? Does anybody know? The only thing that I could figure is that all military medical records are online now, so the hand carrying medical records is no longer necessary. Maybe. Anyway, randomness.

I am leaving you with a picture of Ashlyn, throwing herself on the floor. She does this quite frequently. She did not have a good day today. She hit her head 4 times today, just running into stuff. Both of her parents have been a bit accident-prone at times, so she really had no prayer. Even with bumping her head and throwing herself on the ground, I still think she is so pretty. Your mother should always think you are pretty, even if no one else agrees. And, the sight of Allen with Ashlyn, whether just holding her or Ashlyn running over to Allen to give him kisses, is the most beautiful of all in my eyes.

Another post about Allen being home

Reading Alice the Fairy
Having Allen home has, of course, been wonderful. In some ways, it still doesn't seem real. We will have a lot of adjustments to come, since Allen still hasn't caught up to our time zone. As you could tell from the pictures, Ashlyn was not all smiles at the homecoming, but that didn't last. I think she may have just been overwhelmed by everything at the moment. She has been hugging on her daddy since then, and just enjoying being with him. Actually, by Friday night, he had already reached the celebrity status that had formally been reserved only for "doggie" and "kitty." Ashlyn just squealed and yelled "daddy" when she saw him. I do not receive this type of a greeting, ever. This morning, Ashlyn spent the morning with just Allen, while I ran errands and went to the dentist. This dual parenting thing is great!

Ranger and Armand have also seemed excited to have Allen home. Ranger started running around Thursday night and pulled out a toy to play with Allen, which he really hasn't done in months. (How have I not noticed that my dog is depressed?) Armand has really always preferred Allen and has been going to him for attention. I think that he prefers Allen because of his often reclining pose on the couch. He just makes a better bed that way. On a bad note, I am really a bad dog mom. Ranger had a seizure tonight. I think it must have happened while I was in the shower. I have not been good about giving him his anti-seizure medication lately. I feel terrible. Poor Ranger.


The Cheneys

So, we went to another homecoming tonight. They are the best, though I hope that I will never have to experience another one!


The Glemsers

I haven't heard any updates recently, so the latest news is that Christal is in labor. No baby yet, though. Hopefully, I will have news and pictures soon.


Ashlyn was looking at the light on Allen's ipod.

Ok, off to bed.

Happy Birthday Allen/Daddy!

That's right. Today is Allen's 31st birthday, and the second one he is celebrating in Iraq. Had I been more on the ball, I would have made a video for him with Ashlyn dancing to Happy Birthday. However, I was not on the ball, and it is no longer his birthday where he is. I hope you had a good one, Allen. We love you and miss you!

Here are a couple of pictures of Ashlyn playing outside yesterday.

She loved her sled! It was very difficult to pull her with one hand, while being pulled by Ranger with the other.

Cute girl

Something about this picture reminds me of Ezra Keat's Snowy Day. Probably just the snow suit.

For those of you who are really on here to look at pictures of Ashlyn, I hope that you have clicked on my flickr photos. I add extra pictures to that, too.

We need a man

Who could resist her?

Apparently, Ashlyn loves a man in uniform! She has attached herself to different soldiers this week when we have been on post. Strangers mind you. I had only met one of them. Once. It started on Wednesday, when we were at the hospital. I was talking to someone, and Ashlyn walked into another office. So, this soldier brings her into me, and she doesn't want to come to me! She just clung to him. Then, today, we were in another building. She was walking down the hall and attached herself to another soldier. He leaned down and hugged her. He said that he really liked kids. That was good, because Ashlyn apparently needed a man hug. A few minutes later, she hurled herself at another soldier. She just needs her daddy. So do I.

Random sweet picture. (Hey, even if I'd had my camera with me, I think it would have been a little odd to take a picture of Ashlyn hugging random strangers, just to add a picture to the blog.)