Chronicles of a Kappes PCS: Day 4

Here it is. The drama of a PCS. I knew it would come sooner than later. It was going to well. Not today. Today...was long as fuck. Take it from the top? Ready? It will be long, just FYI.

The morning was good. Woke up to having a one year old. My sweet little Morgan turned one and slept until 7. SCORE! Nate woke up in a good mood, too. Another great start. We had breakfast then walked over to say yet another "see you later". I won't get into that again because it sucked. Again.

After we said "see you later" to some friends, we walked over to another friend's house who just arrived. A friend I have known since FOURTH grade! It was so amazing to see her and her family and we even get to have dinner together tomorrow night. But it also sucks because that's all we get. Just 2 days. We hung out for a few then needed to head home for lunch and Morgan's nap.

We walked home, I got Morgan to sleep, and Nate earned a few minutes on my tablet. Fifteen minutes goes by and I get a phone call. A phone call from Jason saying he fainted at the Army hospital of all places. He was trying to refill our prescriptions before we left so we went into the pharmacy. He said he got dizzy then fainted nose first right on the pharmacy counter. Awesome. (insert sarcastic look) I had to go pick him up because they said he need a CAT scan at the ER which is about 10 minutes off-post.

So what did I have to do while worrying? I had to wake up a baby who had been sleeping for a whole 15 minutes. I had to take the tablet away from Nate who had earned it. Morgan is crying, Nate is crying, I am sweating. It is a hot mess. Then Morgan's car seat isn't installed. Great. So I installed a car seat with 2 grumpy kids and a husband waiting on me.

I get them situated, get Jason, and we head off to the ER. Oh yeah, did I mention he never got the prescriptions? Yep, that also happened. So we still need to get those. We knew it was going to be awhile at the ER so I took Nate to McDonald's because I was in the process of making lunch when I had to leave. McDonald's has a play area so he got a chance to eat and play while we killed some time.

Poor Jason

It was all eating and fun until Nate had to poop. At McDonald's. So. Gross.
*Disclaimer* If you don't like poop stories scroll on past this paragraph.

With no exaggeration, we were in the bathroom no less than 20 minutes. TWENTY. Because his poop was stuck. He was trying and trying. And the automatic flusher kept flushing on him. He was crying because of stuck poop and an automatic flusher. In a bathroom. Do you know how loud a cry is in a bathroom? Loud. And it echoes. I am also holding a crazy baby who hasn't napped in my arms. After 10 minutes I said, "Fuck it", and Morgan was loose on the bathroom floor. She decided to just unroll the ENTIRE roll of toilet paper. I let her do it because it was better than crawling on the floor and I was trying to calm down Nate who was yelling, "What is the poop trying to do to me?! Why is it stuck!? What does green mean!? (the green flashing light that the automatic flusher has to let you know it is about to flush) I'm pushing as hard as I can!"

I don't even want to know the faces the people must have had while they were in there. If you really want to know...the poop finally came out. And all was well again. With Nate...because I was not ok. I needed a fucking drink. I had to settle for a Dr. Pepper.

We left McDonald's and headed back to the ER after an hour and a half. Jason was still getting checked. All labs and blood came back negative. Just elevated white blood count which they said could indicate a viral infection. Stress could also be a factor. But no real concrete answer. You know what else? He never had a CAT scan. What he was sent to the ER for. What in the actual fuck!?

It's now 3pm, my mom has landed at the airport and was waiting on us to pick her up. I wasn't completely packed for the hotel. I had to take Jason back to his car at the Army hospital, go back home, finish packing, load the kids up again, then to the airport.

We picked up my mom about an hour late. Sorry, mom!
Straight from the airport we went to the hotel to check in. Then to Fritz' train restaurant for dinner to celebrate Morgan's birthday.

Dinner was fun. Thank goodness. Morgan and Nate loved the trains. The food was eh, but the ambiance was so cute. We all shared an ice cream sundae and Nate sang Happy Birthday to Morgan.

We are now back at the hotel and so ready for bed.

Hoping tomorrow will be a little less hectic. And make sure Jason takes it easy which might be a difficult task because he thinks(and usually is) a freaking super human who can do anything. 

Chronicles of a Kappes PCS: Day 2

Hello Tuesday! Today was a day of last minutes and "see you laters".

When you move, there are random things you do that you should've done awhile ago, but then life happens. You always think there is enough time. And there usually is, but you procrastinate until the last minute. Today was my teeth cleaning day. I use the excuse that Morgan was a baby and I couldn't leave her for that long of a time. To get my teeth cleaned. How ridiculous is that? Of course I had time. She can be left for 1-2 hours easily. It was just one of those things I put off. So here I am, less than a week away from moving and getting in a dentist appointment.

Other last minute stuff is usually getting medical records, filling prescriptions, getting your oil changed, checking your tires, eating all the leftover random food in your fridge, etc.

My breakfast. On the floor because we don't have a table.

Today we had to say another "see you later". Most of the time us military peeps use that phrase because we are in denial. We have made friends who turn into family. Will we see them later? Most likely not. We will keep in touch through social media, but the reality of us ever seeing each other in person again is slim to none. And we don't like to believe that. It is hard. Like, really hard.

Here in Kansas we had a tribe. There was a group of us and we just clicked. And we were all neighbors. We all had our shitty houses to complain about even though they are what brought us together. We shared our frustrations and silly moments with our kids. We drank margaritas because it was Tuesday. We borrowed each others car seats when our husbands accidentally took ours. We had nightly walks together to make sure we hit 10,000 steps on our fitbit. We had each other. In a place where we knew no one, we became friends. And that's what makes moving so hard.

The kid tribe.

Tonight, I sit amongst boxes. They are everywhere. We organized them by size so when we get the truck it will be easy for Jason to load. I am doing our last load of laundry so we can drain the washer and haul it up from the basement. Thank goodness we had someone to borrow a dolly from.

The living room.

My amazing view from the couch. Be jealous.

The dining room with all the small and random stuff.

Cleaning the refrigerator is also on my agenda tonight. Tip: You should clean your refrigerator more often. That thing gets dirty. For real, deep clean it. Or maybe I'm just not a clean person. How often do you deep clean your refrigerator? Something is so sticky on the bottom shelf and I have no idea what it is. Also, I found a baggie. An empty one. What!? I blame it on Nate. 

Here is what I will leave you with tonight:

1. Appreciate the friends and family who are close by.

2. Clean your refrigerator.

3. Make a dentist appointment.

4. Have margaritas. Because...Tuesday.

5. Enjoy eating on a chair with a table.

Sick Days For Moms. Nope.

There isn't any, right!? Nope. You still have to be a parent. Unless you have family or babysitters readily available. But I don't. So...I mom on.

When I am sick, I get in this strange mode where I feel like I need to clean or at least do SOMETHING. If not, I will lay down and not get up. Then the kids would suffer. Because they wouldn't be able to feed themselves or change a diaper or be able to throw away trash or be able to turn a cartoon on or be able to find a toy they lost three weeks ago and now just realized they lost. You know, stuff I have to help with on the daily.

This morning, I tried to convince Nate to snuggle with me and watch cartoons all day. Didn't happen. He watched some, but was done by 9am. We did find Inspector Gadget on Netflix though! Say what!? Nate was confused with all my excitement. He watched an episode, but wasn't completely in love. In his defense, it is a remake, new Inspector Gadget so I can't really fault him.

It was a nice day, so I was outside most of the day with the kids. I was tired and stuffy and congested and coughing, but the fresh air helped a lot! The neighbors across the street taught Nate how to play Four Square which was just the cutest thing ever and he was really good!

Four Square, Inspector Gadget, and nice weather!? Yes, please! Brought me back to my childhood and I really wanted a bowl of Lucky Charms or some McDonald's breakfast to really seal my blast of the past day.

Jason came home from work early so I actually was able to get in a nice nap while Morgan took her afternoon nap. Best. Husband. Ever. And he grilled chicken. Score!

Now the kids are both in bed and I am drinking another cup of hot tea, stuffing my nose with tissue, and watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Good times, my friends. Good times.

Hopefully I feel a little better tomorrow. If not, McDonald's is happening. For it being a "sick day" the kids were actually well-behaved and took it easy on me. So thankful.

Easter.

Happy Easter peeps! Get it...peeps...the Easter marshmallow?? No, crickets...ok...moving on...

So, how was every one's Easter!? We had such a great day!

Both kids woke up before the sun, surprise, surprise. Jason had made an indoor egg hunt for Nate to do when he woke up and Easter baskets were out for both kids. Nate was SO excited. Easter might be more exciting than Christmas to this kid. For real. Finding and hiding eggs made his day. We even used eggs we got from the neighborhood Easter party and Jason stuffed the eggs with Cheetos. Hilarious. And good thing Jason set it up indoors because we woke up to snow. Drunk Kansas at it again.

After opening baskets and searching for eggs, I made a french toast breakfast with bacon and fruit. French toast was a HIT with Morgan, but Nate said he wasn't hungry. Most likely because he had Cheetos at 7am.

Dying Easter eggs was next on our list. Nate and I did them together on the kitchen floor. Fun, simple, and relatively clean.

I got in an Easter workout I found on Pinterest after egg dying and then gave Jason a hair cut.

I did 3 rounds FYI

 We Jason used the eggs we dyed to make deviled eggs for lunch. Then we just relaxed until it was time to go to a birthday party for Nate's little friend.

The birthday party was a blast! The kids played with bubbles, went on a playground, cake, pizza, pinata, etc.

During the party I had a friend snap a few pictures of us because we always use our timer. We got a few good ones!

Hopefully the kids will sleep good tonight because we had a very fun-filled active day. I hope your day and Easter was as good as ours!

Photography.

I love pictures. I take them with my phone all day long, mostly of food and kids.

Today I took pictures of a friend's kids. Easter pictures.

I've taken pictures for friends before, but I am always nervous. I am FAR from a professional. And taking pictures for someone else is WAY different and harder than taking them of my own kids.

There is a ton of pressure. I want them to be good; they want them to be good. The hard part is the kids. They could care less about looking cute, staying still, and posing with some damn fake flowers and Easter eggs. Can you blame them? Not really.

So the 2 boys I photographed today are 3 and almost 1. Talk about hard ages! Oh, and I had Morgan screaming. It was a challenge to say the least. And I was sweating.

I managed to get a few decent ones, but I am still no where near comfortable charging what the majority of photographers charge. I charged a whole $15. I do have my own facebook page, but since I only take pictures for friends as of now, there is only a few sessions to see.

Here are some of my favorites...
And yes, I had permission for Mama to post these.

I give props to all the pro photographers. You guys make it look easy. 

Do you take your own pictures or do you hire a professional?