On the road again (almost)

Bags are packed. Boxes have been labeled. And the cars are stuffed (to the roof- literally).  This can only mean one thing in my life.

Its almost time to get a movin' again. Like less than 12 hours now! For the 23rd time in my life (seriously) Its. About. Time. Thankfully, this move is a pretty big "final" move. Final for at least the next few years anyways.

The Giant has his final flight test on Monday and then should be heading our way south shortly afterwards WHEN he passes. Anticipated is putting it mildly. A family of three is finally just within reach. Friends, if you've been following me over the last ten months of my family separation, you know how relieved I really am.

We close on the new house Tuesday and then things start rollin'. My parents are kind enough to be driving down with Cheyanne and I to help us for the first few days before Hubs arrives some time later in the week. Poor Hubs has never even actually seen our home we buying (whoever heard of such a thing- ah so is military life), so this should be a fun week. Don't worry, I know he'll love it.

I'll be sure to take some fantastic BEFORE pictures. Fingers crossed, the AFTER pictures don't follow too far behind. Of course, there is the initial move over the next few days, then there is the BIG move of moving things from our storage in Hurricane Beach Virginia Beach, then there is the little princess' first birthday party... then comes the AFTER attempts. Whew, I'm already exhausted thinking of my next month. Thankfully my excitement is taking over my exhaustion.

I'll let you know how it all goes!! Wish me luck!! And send up some prayers for the Giant on his final flight test. Its a doozie and he's sweatin' it. Pray hard because we need him home!

Non-shaking earthquake

I wish I had some exciting story to share with you about today's surprise 5.9 earthquake, but I DON'T! Cheyanne's first earthquake and we didn't even feel it. Is it weird that I'm so bummed about this fact?! We were driving when it happened so we didn't even feel a little tremble. Disappointing non-shaking earthquake.

So, since I have no earth shattering or sink hole quake news to share, I'll catch you up on what's been going on here in ThisWoodHouse land. Three words (well really one word repeated three times). Packing packing packing. That's my life the last few days. I'm packing clothes. I'm packing furniture. I'm packing my sanity life. With less than a week before we make the big move, I'm using every moment of the day to get ready. Crossing off lists and adding more things on it to be crossed off. Anyone else out there add things to lists after they're done just to cross them off? It makes me feel accomplished seeing all those crossed lines. Now that D Day is so close, I can't get away with my usual "Attempt to do x" on my lists just to cross it off at the end of the day if I attempted. Nope. We're in crunch time.

I haven't had time to snap any good pictures but I think I'll share a few of Miss Cutie off my phone.

And this one just cracks me up. Ah I love special photo effects. Seriously, I dare you to look at this and not laugh.

Hurricane Cheyanne Strikes Again

Do remember this first experience with Hurricane Cheyanne? Well, she struck again! And she is relentless.

She struck in about .5 seconds and look at that path of destruction. What a doozie. 

But looking at this face makes the 100x a daily cleanup all worth it.

*I am slightly embarrassed to show you this picture of our mess, but hey, it wouldn't be my blog if I didn't show you my life right?! So don't judge!

One month shy- 11 months

Is anyone else in shock that I have an eleven month old beauty? I am in partial denial. She is getting less and less newborn baby and becoming more and more toddler every day. Someone keep the tissues coming to me on her birthday please- I'll be a waterfall.

Now on to the stats of the month-
Cheyanne, this month has been a really fun month with you. Your personality is in full force. You keep me on my toes all day long with your alertness and curiousity- and this little temper you're developing. You don't miss a thing. And boy if momma's not watching you like a hawk, who knows what you decide to get into. These days, toys are not always a hit. You're more interested in functional things like drawers, cabinets, boxes, air vents, and pretty much every other thing that could bring some potential harm.

Yes, that would be a leaf in your mouth

 And a stick...

You don't sit still long- always on the move to somewhere "better." You HATE diaper changes. I'm thinking about recording your diaper changing scream and selling it to a horror movie company. We could make mad money off of your bloody murder scream. Its really the only time you cry anymore. Besides that, you are a very easy and happy girl and I could kiss you to pieces- which I do almost daily.

Our special time is before bed. After you've nursed, I've found that letting you use up that last little bit of energy helps you sleep better. So now we lie on the bed which I've lined with pillows and you crawl/roll/plunge face first all the way around for as long as you can hold up. You wear yourself out and then sleep much better. Last night you actually slept a whole 8 hours without waking up the first time!! That is HUGE! Good girl! Let's keep this up, okay? Momma was really starting to struggle in the lack of sleep department.

Your vocabulary has really grown. You aren't saying anything audible, but you sure do know what you are saying and understand even more. Words you respond to are ones like: "Where's (fill in blank)?", hungry, Let's go!, puff, change your diaper, bath, kiss, hug, nose, ball, paci, puppy, Mickey Mouse, and many others. You know who all of us are here by name and even Daddy and Auntie T who are away living in that box screen. It amazes me when you surprisingly understand what I'm saying- for instance- the first time I told you to blow me a kiss and you did immediately?! I was in shock. I have no idea where you picked that up from.  You are so smart my future president baby.

We blow kisses, wrestle aka crawl over Momma and laugh hysterically, shake pretty much anything you can get your hands on, and do everything we can outside. A stroll around outside on a sunny day solves any problem in your world.

Surprisingly there are some things that aren't so great right now too. For the sake of record, let's remember how much you hate eating. That's right. Recently, meal time has become our least favorite part of the day. I can't find many things that you like anymore. What gives? Just a few weeks ago, you couldn't get enough watermelon. Now, you throw it on the floor. Maybe next month, food will be a hit again. I'm still searching for things you'll eat.

There are two new teefies making their appearance in the top of your mouth. I wish they would hurry up because they seem to be bothering you and are taking an extra long time coming in. Teething is no fun.

I think that is a pretty good summary on you for you. I'm sure I'll think of other things and add them later though.

Happy 11 months Baby Girl! You are quickly coming up on the big one year, so I'm cherishing these last few days together before I have to say I have a big girl. Your momma can't handle this whole growing up thing. SLOW DOWN!! 

Bassinets for big girls

Do people ever come through your life out of nowhere and seem to have a mirror image of your life? You would never have crossed paths otherwise, but some one single act introduced you and suddenly you have more in common than you had first though. Well, I have a few instances of this in my life. Most recently, I have "met" a girl through the blog world that I have really enjoyed following. Sarah at The Story of the Smiths is someone that I think if we lived anywhere in the same region/state/part of the country, I'd could see us being "real-life" friends. Our daughters are one day apart too, which would greatly add to the fun. Both Air Force wives, new first time mothers to beautiful-energetic-and-rollypolly little girls, and attempting crafty DIYers. Meant to be perhaps.

It amazes me how many times that I have gone to write a post about Cheyanne, only to later read that little Shelby is doing the exact same thing or is in the same phase. The girls are (and have been from the beginning) very close to size and seem to be quite similar in their demeanor as well. Like I said, if we were anywhere near each other, I'd definitely have said up a play date by now. Hopefully one day we'll get to actually meet and have a real play date. Maybe?

I have to laugh. I created this post yesterday but didn't finish it until today. Don't you know that before I finished it, I was blog surfing and realized I was not as creative as I had thought. I swear I'm not copying you Sarah.

I've been packing things up all week this week and decided it was time to take apart Cheyanne's bassinet that we've been using as her changing table since being here. Cheyanne decided it would be a good idea to crawl into it, which of course meant I had to run grab my camera.

My little girl is growing up so fast. It is hard to believe that just 11 months ago, we were laying her in her bassinet for the very first time, only to line it with blankets so she couldn't roll around with all the spacious room she had. Its a little bitter sweet to think back at how fast time is flying by with my little beauty. One more month and I'll have a ::choke back tears:: one year old on my hands. Holy one year moly.

Go check out The Story of the Smiths and see what I'm talking about. The similarities are amazing! (Sorry Sarah, I hope you don't mind I threw you and Shelby into this one- but it is crazy sometimes).

Dear Giant Husband

In case you doubted me about this recent development...




She knows. :)

Such a lover

Everything is her new best friend right now. For a few minutes at least, until she discovers a new best friend.

For example:

She first found Momma's teddy bear that daddy gave her years ago.

 And loved on him.

Then lost interest to crawl around.

And found a (clean) cloth diaper to swoon over.

"Ahh, I love it! On my face and my butt..." 

Oh, and this is her new "No no" face. If you dare say no to her, this is what you get. The squinty face that lets you know that she could get really upset about being told no but she will try and be cute instead to hopefully be allowed to continue on. No go my dear. Chewing on Momma's camera cap is not allowed.

Well, thank you for it back Sweetheart.

Under Oomee!

Or she may be known as "Wonder Woman" to you. But to me, I know her as Cheyanne.

Sometimes life is just more fun naked. Especially when you have a bath towel cape.

Ah, I'm going to miss these baby bath moments one day when she's all grown up. 

In other news, I packed up 7 big boxes/tubs and 2 paper bags full of clothes. Check that one off of my to-do-before-we-move list. Four are going with us on the move. Three are going to a friend who just had an itty bitty precious baby girl a few months ago. And the paper bags are full of clothes going to find new loving homes via a la Goodwill. I feel successful tonight. So successful that I think I'll just kick my feet up for a little while before I tackle my next project (or sleeeeeeeeep). 

Excuses

I have a billion of them that I could use for why I've been a little MIA this month recently. But I think a picture is worth a thousand words. Or at least enough to make my point.

I've been chasing this kiddo around ALL. DAY. LONG. Crawling? Oh yeah. Walking along every surface she can find as the picture above shows? Absolutely. I have never been more exhausted by the end of the night in my life. Especially since the little miss has decided to end her second nap of the day, which means we are down to ONE NAP! One 1.5 hour nap gets us through the day- barely- for me at least. 

What does that mean for you Dear Reader? Well, unfortunately, that means my bloggity blog has taken a big ol' backseat to things like showering and packing these days. I cram everything that I need to do in a twenty four hour time period into an hour and a half. 

With less than a month left before I make our big move to our new home base, I find my list of things to do growing by the minute. Oh, and it doesn't help that we're PURCHASING OUR FIRST HOME! Oh yeah, that's right, we're buying a home. ::Silent screams:: I've kept that fun little detail off of here as long as I could to not jinx us. But, since things now seem to be heading towards closing, moving is taking up about 95% of my brain space. I'll make a whole other post on that. 

So, if its past 8:30pm EST and there is still no update on my blog, you can guess at what I might be doing. Here is a short list of options to chose from:

1. Finishing up the scrapbook that the Giant asked me BACK IN NOVEMBER to do for him while he is away.

2. Making/ working on Peapod's birthday outfit (because I almost have a ONE YEAR OLD?!! Shut the front door!!).

3. Working on Peapod's birthday invitations

4. Pinterest'ing for ideas on the new house because, let's face it, I have no good home decor ideas on my own
5. Sleeping- HA!
6. Working on some random home decor DIY project that I decided to take on in stupidity
7. Sorting through a mountain of clothes to decide what stays to pack and what gets a new owner to love
8. Actually packing
9. Other= none of the above

I haven't been too good to take pictures of us this week, but here are a few of the face I've been lovin' on during my absence.

(Horrible picture, yes, but we were standing in front of the water slide at the pool to show you what I went down. The green one. The curly, long, very fast green one).

(Her "snuffin'" face- I don't know where she gets it from...) ;-) 

Kisses for you

Peapod wanted to help start your day off right and send some love your way. Plus, you know I never miss a chance to show off her newest talents.