Two years ago today....

I cannot believe it has been TWO years since Greg came home from Iraq. Him coming home was a whirl wind of activity. Greg had been shoved on one of the last planes out of Iraq and that plane was not scheduled to leave until mid February. I was so sad. Most if not all of my friends' husbands were home and it is sickening and frustrating to watch everyone happy with their newly returned husband and know yours is still sitting in Iraq.

Well miracle of miracles I got a phone call on the 23rd that the guys had made it out of Iraq, were headed to Kuwait and would be home the following evening. Even just thinking about it now makes my head light with excitement and my arms prickle with nervousness. If I could have kissed CPT Akeroyd (Karen how do you spell that) through the phone I would have (he's kind of royal pain, so that's saying a lot!). The next morning (the 24th) I farmed my kids off so I could go get beautiful. Several hours later (and much poorer) I was, colored, waxed, trimmed and coiffed, what an exciting morning.

That afternoon the boys and I got to the hanger WAY to early. I wanted to make sure we got the best seat in the house. We waited FOREVER. It makes me sick to my stomach reliving the anticipation of that day. I will always treasure those two homecomings, 2004 and 2006, in my heart. It is such a special time to welcome your soldier home! Check out the pics from our day:

Our sign! Shower curtains make wonderful banners!!!

Ethan and I in the hanger, waiting for Daddy.

The soldiers!! At this point I'm thinking "General Hardy if you don't quit yapping I'm going to unplug that microphone myself!!"

Back together at last. Look at Gabe, he's not sure what to think of Greg, I think it is so cute.

As wonderful as homecomings are, I hope to never go through one again!

Wordless Wednesday

Chew, Chew, Chew, Chew....is that the little engine that could?!

Okay, I totally do not want to take away from Gabe's birthday, so make sure and read the post below, but I had some very fun, very cute success with Joel eating some solid foods. First he ate a little bit of sweet potatoes and then chased that down with some good ol' fashioned Cherrios. Check out the video below, man is he a cutie!!

The Gabers is 3!!!!

Yesterday Gabe celebrated his third birthday. We had a great time with friends, pizza and a fun Nemo theme, picked by the birthday boy.

Growing up my Mom always told us the story of our birth on our birthday. Some years it was kind of annoying, but these days I enjoy hearing how "...your dad and the doctor wheeled me into the delivery room and had to turn on the lights, it was so strange Heather, I always imagined it a different way...". So in true Leppert tradition I had to tell Gabe about his birthday (the version I told him this year was slightly truncated, he is only three):

When I got pregnant with Gabe we weren't 100% sure that 3rd Brigade would be going back to Iraq. They had been home 2 months and we felt pretty comfortable in getting pregnant, fairly certain that Greg would be home at least for the birth. By July we knew they were definitely going back. By August I had convinced myself that giving birth with out Greg would not be that big of a deal. I knew tons of other Mom's who had done it and if you've ever heard my husband in the delivery room you know he sounds a lot like a drill sergeant. (Baby, you were much better with Joel!!)

In December a friend of Greg's was killed on patrol in Iraq and as a couple we went to his memorial. There I was eight months pregnant watching a wife holding the hands of her two older children and carrying her six month old baby that her husband had never met. That was when I knew that Greg had to see Gabe be born, no matter what!

If you know me I am a very persistent person. In most cases I get what I want, and if I can't talk someone into something usually Greg can. At the time I was seeing a newbie midwife for my prenatal care. I had spoken to her several times on the phone about stripping my membranes at 37 weeks (which they did for Ethan), which would give us 11 days home with Greg before he left again for Iraq. She was adamant that she simply could not do this, the earliest it could be done was 39 weeks, which was after Greg deployed. I still vividly remember getting off the phone and just sitting on my stairs and bawling my eyes out. A couple of days later I had an appointment with the same midwife and she had had a change of heart. She agreed to strip my membranes at 36 weeks 6 days as long as I kept my mouth shut about it (I'm not mentioning her name now and she no longer works at Riley, so I figure we are safe.)

Greg and I went in to the hospital that night, I was supposed to say I was having contractions and I needed to be checked by my midwife, unfortunately, my midwife was no where to be found and the nurses on Labor and Delivery were on to me. I can remember laying in the triage room and crying and praying that they would find her, the stress in that room that day was intense. Finally the midwife showed up and stripped my membranes at around 5:30.

My parents and in laws were in town we decided to go get dinner. If you know anything about Junction City, KS there aren't a whole lot of sit down restaurants. We drove to one that was packed and then decided to go to Cracker Barrel. When we got to Cracker Barrel the contractions started and were fairly close. There was no way we were going to have time to wait for a table but I was bound and determined to get food before I had Gabe (at Riley, if you have a baby after the cafeteria is closed, your only option is peanut butter crackers or a Healthy Choice meal, how insulting!). I can still remember going through the drive through at KFC and trying to order threw contractions. I nearly through the mashed potatoes at Greg when he was irritated that I had forgotten the Chicken strips!

At about 8:00pm I finally decided that we should head back to the hospital. Once there they admitted me and got me all settled. I remember the nurse saying, "settle in honey, you aren't having this baby until the morning", boy was she surprised.

I decided to have Gabe all natural. I had had a terrible spinal headache with Ethan that had me in my bed for 10 days straight. With Greg leaving I knew I couldn't risk that, so it was no drugs for me. After all the craziness of being admitted I had stopped contracting, so Dr. Ochoa wanted to put me on pitocin. I had the wise idea of no pitocin, just break my water Doc, I think everything will happen from there. OH MY HEAVENS did things ever happen. I went from 5cm to delivered in one hour. I have never felt such intense pain and I'm fairly certain I've never yelled that loud in my entire life. Dr. Ochoa didn't even make it back in the room from his break, Gabe was delivered by a resident and a nurse (by that point I would have been just fine with my Mom and Greg delivering him, I just wanted him out!). Gabe was such a cute little baby. He had a dimple in his cheeks from day one! He was 6lbs 10oz and (I think) 19 1/2 inches. He's such a sweet boy. Check out these pics from his party yesterday! (I gave Gabe the two minute version of this yesterday, he listened patiently and looked at me quizzically and finally asked "Mommy was I crying in your tummy?", I thought it was cute!)

Opening transformers and a book from the Taylors!

A cool "Cars" pillow book from the Kules.

Gabe's new favorite toy Automoblox from Mommy, Daddy, Sam, Ethan and Joel.

More Automoblox from Gigi and Papa.

His very own computer like his brothers from Granny and Grandpa.

Mommy's version of a tropical fish cake. In case you are wondering
those scales are 1200 Necco Candy Buttons!!! Pretty cute huh?!

Gabe seeing the cake for the first time. He just had to touch it. I don't blame him, it was very tactile!

Blowing out the candles.

Enjoying some cake!

Extreme Toy Room Makeover

Okay, I know I have been saying I am going to post pictures of our new bedroom, but it's not quite ready, these things take time!! All I have left to do is get glass cut for our bedside tables so stay tuned!

In other decorating news we have been diligently working on our toy room. That stupid room actually brought me to tears this week, silly I know, but I couldn't handle the chaos any longer. Greg and I spent all day cleaning, organizing and throwing things out. Here are some pics of the finished results. I'm very proud!

I have always loved this IKEA piece but it was hard for the kids to keep organized. Now with our picture labels it should be a lot easier. Sam loves the new system. I hope it works!

The table area, complete with calender and alphabet chart.

The curtains from my house in KS work well in the toy room. I like them because they were cheap panels that I hot glued fabric on too. I think the plaid adds a kind of whimsy to the room. I stole the curtain rod/art display from another friend. I think it's a great way to show off the kids art work. I think I need another one though to make it look complete.

A close up of our labels, cute huh?!

So what do you guys think?

Close, but no cigar?

Okay, every time I talk about this subject, I feel like no matter what I say I need to follow it up with "no pun intended".

So Gabe has had some success with pooping and peeing again. Earlier in the week I was to the point of strangling someone. He had pooped in his pants everyday for over a week. I was determined to not give up but there is only so much a girl can take. Finally a couple of days ago, I put him back in a diaper. He keeps his underwear dry AND keeps his diaper dry, I just figured if he was going to continue to have poop accidents I might as well save myself the headache and backache of doing about a million loads of laundry to keep up with his "issue".

On Wednesday he came running to me and told me he had to poop, YEAH!!! He successfully used the potty to poop on Wednesday, Thursday and today. Because of this he got his long awaited Potty Car!! YEAH!!! I have been so proud, I thought we had really turned a corner, something finally clicked, and then today he gets DIARRHEA, and fills his underwear again. Poor guy, I can't be mad at him, but I think you all may hear me screaming if he poops in his pants again. So for today we are back in diapers, I guess we will try again another day. I haven't given up hope yet.

It's really coming down now!!

SNOW!!

The view from my front porch.

There is something so peaceful about snow. I hate the aftermaths: the crowded grocery stores (okay maybe that's pre rather then post), falling on my behind (twice while pregnant with Gabe), the slush and salt all over my pants and my car, the kids whining and begging to go out into 1/4" of the white stuff that is totally mixed with mud, "but Mom it is snow" .... before all of that, before all the yuck, it is just so peaceful.

Click on the picture.... you can see the snow!!

P.S. My girlfriend Nancy has just gotten in to the hair clip selling business. They are super cute and stay in a kids hair like a tic on a dog (okay maybe a bad description but I am from Kentucky, I couldn't think of anything else!!). Check out the link, in my link section!

If you are over 50 you might want to disregard this post...

Okay, so through this amazing thing we call the internet I was able to locate one of my favorite friends.  Cheryl Pfennig and I were friends all through high school.  We were total dorks together and had tons of fun giggling through orchestra at STUPID Mrs. Webb, who we were fairly certain had married her own brother, who marries a guy with the exact name as your maiden name, I mean really....  okay so in retrospect we were silly, but we did have a ton of fun.  

Anywho, I recently found her on MySpace.  Say what you will about that site, it is a fantastic place to rekindle old friendships.  Thankfully there's only one Cheryl Pfennig on the entire planet!!  While giggling like a sophomore through her profile I stumbled upon a great website.  I dunno about the rest of you ladies but I love fashion.  As I type I'm watching Project Runway.  Cheryl put me on to a HILARIOUS website.  I won't mention the name on here, it's kind of a "wirty dord", but trust me, it is SO funny.  I don't laugh out loud very often, but this site had me chuckling.

It's so good to be back in touch with you Cheryl!!  

P.S.  You know all those countless days we played together in orchestra....and you know how I occasionally beat you for first chair.....even to this day I can't read music for crap I had a good ear and always listened to you or Erica Smith play the piece and just copied.  Am I a loser or what?!  That's suzuki for ya!!

More Bathing Beauties

Aren't they cute taking a bath together?! This was the first time they were in the bath together. Gabe started the water and for some reason Joel FREAKED out. After I got him calmed down they both enjoyed being in the bath together. My boys are so sweet!

Brotherly Love

We have been trying to put Gabe to bed a little earlier then the other boys.  He needs the extra rest but he also LOVES to take a bath by himself.  The other day I put Gabe and Joel to bed and then put Sam and Ethan in the tub.  I told them if they wanted to stay up late then they had to BE QUIET!!  All of a sudden I hear them yelling at each other.  I go running in to tell them to hush and found them like this:

Poor kids, they honestly thought they were being quite but since their ears were under water they couldn't hear themselves!  Mermen brothers!!

Am I the only one in the dark ages?

I'm a big fan of Erika's blog urbangraceinteriors.typepad.com.  Most of the time she updates everyday and a ton of her blog is very useful.

Today I was enlightened.  Today she introduced me to Google Reader!  Am I the only one who's never heard of this before?  Basically all I had to do was find Google Reader, using google of course and then put in all the addresses of the blogs (or other websites) that I check often (a little P.S. Nancy, it wouldn't take a babysite website so I'm thinkin' you should switch to blogger!!).  Now whenever anyone updates their blog Google Reader will tell me.  No more clicking on links going through each and every blog to see who's updated AND seeing as how I love stats (I was going to get my Masters in Social Statistics had I not met and fallen madly in love with G) it will even tell me some stats on how often people update.  I LOVE IT!!  Very cool.

THANKS NANC!!

So how do you guys like the new look for my blog!  Isn't it fabulous.  

Well thanks to my dear friend Nancy, I have a wonderful new look.  What a wonderfully thoughtful Christmas gift.

Thanks Nanc, I love it!

Children+Potty Training=Bissell Pro Heat

If you have children you need one of these:

It's a Bissell Pro Heat 2x.  I really, really love knowing I always have this handy (though a little difficult to man handle) appliance around no matter what my children or my husband track through the house.  I should have bought one of these ages ago.  Have I ever told you about the time the boys got into my sprinkles?  Let's just say it is almost impossible to get pink and blue sprinkles out of light beige carpet when it has been LICKED in.  TRUST ME!!  Thank goodness for my wonderful neighbor, who saved the day with her cleaner and some good old fashion Oxy Clean.

If you have carpet and children, do not hesitate, buy one now.  It's perfect for all those annoying sippy cup stains, you know what I'm talking about!  I got mine at Costco, did I tell you I love that place :0)

It just goes to show ya....

Lovin' Tootsie Roll Pops

Licking a sucker of this size takes extreme concentration.  

In this picture Gabe is "in the zone".

"Man this is a HUGE sucker"

I knew it.  I knew I would jinx myself.  Need any lotto numbers picked, because I must be psychic.  I knew talking about Gabe's potty training success on the blog would mean sure potty training failure, but I had hope....  Silly me....

Here I was upstairs, loading these oh so cute pictures of Gabe chompin' on his pop when I got a wiff of something, something that shouldn't be in my house.  Yes you guessed it, you know what that smell was.  Lucky for me (note my sarcasm), I didn't have to rely on my nose long, I simply had to follow the poop tracks ground into my carpet.  Yeah, that's right, do you need to go back and read that again?  POOP TRACKS.  Evidently, because Gabe is a skinny minny, when he "accidentally" pooped in his pants the turds just rolled right out of his underwear and down his pant leg, which he proceeded to STEP in and then track through the house!  UGH!!!!

Don't worry, I have throughly steam cleaned every surface he touched, so you can still come and visit!  It only took me 45 minutes and lots of sweat and muscle to haul that silly cleaner up each and every step.  To top the event off as I was putting away the hose attachment and sprayed myself right in the face to include my EYES!!  YIKES!  So now, here I sit, re-showered, with sweet smelling carpet, and a very clean 2 year old.  

What a day, what a day......

So all that to say, no sticker for Gabe today.  He got a new toy that is still in the box, everyday that he stays accident free he gets a sticker on his box, after five stickers he gets to open the box and keep the toy.  He is very excited to earn his toy and this set back made him a little sad, but he promises to keep working at it!

Here's to tomorrow!

Sweet Success??

I'm afraid I will jinx myself by posting this two early, but I am happy to report that Gabe has had two full days with NO accidents!!  YEAH!!  Doesn't he look so sweet sitting there reading his book!  Also today, I bribed him to poop on the potty, if he pooped I would give him a tootsie roll pop, well, he pooped on the potty and right now he's downstairs enjoying sweet success!  I'm very proud of him, I'll post pictures of the adventure of a two year old with a huge sucker tomorrow.  GO GABE!!

(All this talk of sweet success, tootsie roll pops and pottying is starting to really gross me out!)

Rice Cereal

Well, I don't know about you other Moms, but I DESPISE starting solid foods.  I truly wish my children could go straight from bottles to big macs, okay maybe not that drastic....  Here are some pics of Joel's first experience with Rice, as with all my children, he was not impressed!

First Bite!

"Is this good or bad?  I think bad!"

"Do you hate me?  Is that why you are doing this to me?"

Rice cereal would not be complete without the classic baby shudder.

Happy Baby after gagging and crying, guess will try again another day!

P.S.  How unfair is this?  After one day of dieting, Greg lost almost 5 lbs and I lost 7/10ths of one, needless to say I was a wee disappointed.  On the other hand he does have a lot more to lose!!

Happy New Year!

How can it possibly be 2008?  It seems like just yesterday that Greg and I were ringing in 2000, cringing and wondering if all the Y2K gloom and doom was really eminent!  Now it seems funny at how worried some people were.  I know some people who are probably still using the toilet paper they had stockpiled in their basements!  

Well with the New Year comes new hope and new resolve to get things done in our lives.  Here are a few of my resolutions:

1.  Lose 15 lbs.  Don't call me today, I've only eaten 9 of my 2o points for today (Weight Watchers) and I'm a little grouchy!

2.  Get caught up with scrapbooking.

3.  Exercise, maybe even start running....I hate to sweat so that might be a hard one!

4.  Have a quiet time.

5.  Get my house in order.

6.  Stay on our budget and pay off bills faster.

7.  Potty train Gabe.

I'm sure there are more....I just can't think of any right now, I'm too hungry ;0)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  We left on the 19th for Kentucky and just got back on Sunday night the 30th.  We had a wonderful time.  Here are some pics from our time there:

Gabe licking the icing off of the beaters.  

Decorating Christmas Cookies.

GABE, STOP licking the SPRINKLES!!!

Our finished product, all though I'm not sure how edible!

Gigi and Papa with the boys on Christmas Eve, 

the boys all in their new Christmas jammies.

Joel with Grandpa Spencer.

Ethan very intently studying his new Spiderman computer.  

Cousin Anna tries to help.

Playing with Gabe's new Honey Bee hop.  

Fun for the kids but who knew the Flight of the Bumblebee could be that annoying!

Happy New Year!