A gentle reminder...

I went with a friend to welcome her husband home from Iraq today. It was a gentle reminder of how lucky Jaxon and I are to have Ron home, safe and sound. It brought back great memories of the joy I felt that day that I welcomed him home 4 months ago. It was sheer happiness. Definitely goes on my list of the top 10 best days ever.

I wish everyone who supports our troops could experience a Homecoming Ceremony. They are truly touching. I had chills nearly the entire time. It's so special to put faces to all of the little children who have been missing their mommy or daddy for an entire 12 / 15 months...all of the spouses who have done it all alone for that time.

There was an hour before the troops got to the gym that a DJ was playing music. All of the kids were out in the floor dancing their butts off. It was so cute. I couldn't take my eye of this little toddler boy who was seriously getting his groove on. I couldn't take my mind off of the fact that in the last 15 months of his dad's absence, he has grown in ways that his dad could not even imagine....and chances are, the toddler boy looked at his dad like "What the crap, You're real!?"

While it's inevitable, I don't want Jaxon to be that boy.

I know it's not on people's list of priorities but I would urge everyone to take a trip to a Homecoming Ceremony. I've never experienced anything like it.

Our townhouse...

The street view of our lovely townhouse. http://tinyurl.com/knlgqx (When it pops up, Click "street view" on the map)

The great thing is that it's part of HOA and the outside is kept up by them...so no yardwork...YAY! They are 3BR, 2.5 Bath...built in 2006, so they're fairly new. We are really excited about it. We got lucky and found a retired servicemember who is renting it out.

Notice the mountains in the background? Yippee! It's not exactly what we were looking for, it doesn't have a fenced in backyard but it's a nice home and that was my number one request. Ron says that I have living standards that are hard to meet but I can't help that. I refuse to live in a not so great house. What's so wrong with having standards? lol.

I just have to write about it.

Breastfeeding. Nursing.

I have gotten a number of questions like "Are you still breastfeeding him?" When I respond with a yes, I always get a "Wow!"

We have continued to breastfeed for a number of reasons. I do believe it's what is best for Jaxon, which is the number one reason we have continued. It's free, which is the second reason...it's convenient and it burns calories. Those are less important reasons but they just add to my arsenal of reasons why we have kept it up.

I love nursing Jaxon. We have such a special relationship and I do attribute that to breastfeeding. Not to say that others don't have great bonds with their formula fed children but for us, I do believe that we have a particularly special bond because of the nursing.

I'm not sure of my point of this post. I kind of just felt the need to say that I believe that breast is best for babies....and I think that other than the small percentage that truly CAN'T breastfeed, everyone should do their child the favor of breastfeeding. There is a huge difference between CAN'T and WON'T. I truly admire mothers who pump for their children if they work or if they can't get a good latch. Exclusively pumping and feeding breastmilk is hard. Good for all you mommas who do that!

I would normally keep my opinion about subjects like these to myself but there is something about the reaction that I get when telling people that we're still nursing at 8 months; It's kind of set me off about the subject.

We're going to Memphis!

Jaxon and I, that is! We will be headed home for a visit on August 18th to the 28th. We are SOOOOOOOO excited!

Also, I finally got video of him crawling. It's poor quality because it's taken with my webcam but it's something! He's gotten so good at the transition from his bum to his crawl and back to his bum. He makes a momma proud.

Fun times!

TWO weeks before we move, we discover an outrageously fun time! We have been here for 2 and a half years and have never even given it a second thought. There is a lake about 15 minutes from us called BLORA, Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area. I have been out there before but it was for mandatory family things, never for our own recreational desires. We decided yesterday that it was hot, miserable and we needed to get out of the house so we went to the lake.

You know those days that go as planned and they're just perfect all the way around? Yesterday was one of those days. It was a perfect day. Jaxon had such a great time. There is something to be said about seeing your children having fun, it truly is priceless. Jaxon is such a little water bug...I am now in search of something fun like this to do in Colorado this summer.

Ron got a really funny sunburn all over his body. I used the spray sunblock on him and apparently I didn't give full coverage. It's quite funny to me. Although he doesn't think it's too funny, he's still a good sport.

 

 

 

14 days until we move to Colorado!!!!

He is officially mobile!

Jaxon is crawling and he's everywhere.

I am such a bad blogger and don't have a visual aid to go along with this news but just trust me at the moment....he's a champion. I do have it on video but I don't know where my camera's USB cable is...sad.

Congress Bridge Bats

This was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

The Congress Avenue Bridge spans Town Lake in downtown Austin and is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. The colony is estimated at 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats. Each night from mid-March to November, the bats emerge from under the bridge at dusk to blanket the sky as they head out to forage for food. This event has become one of the most spectacular and unusual tourist attractions in Texas. The most spectacular bat flights are during hot, dry August nights, when multiple columns of bats emerge. There are several points from which to view the event, and an information kiosk is located on the north bank of the river, just east of the bridge.

We sat on the grassy knoll, surrounded by the Austin culture. I absolutely love Austin. It has a modern, funky, new feel to it. It's extremely diverse and it's a very clean city. While we were waiting on the bats, there was a couple down on the bottom of the hill that was doing magic tricks and stunts...and people were tipping them like crazy! I asked Ron if he thought that maybe that's what they did for a living. It left me daydreaming about finding a trade that I am good at or moving to Austin and coming up with a wacky talent that people will pay to see. Eh, maybe not...but I do think it would be fun.

I am a people watcher and this diverse atmosphere was the prime area to watch them. When I'm out in public, I watch people constantly. I am not meaning to stare, I just love to see how people do things...how they interact with their partners, children and other people in general. Ron always comments about my "people watching" but I can't help it, it's fascinating. It's part of me and I don't see it easing up anytime soon. Thankfully, I haven't had anyone bust my chops by asking me what I am staring at...if I get caught, I give a quick grin and look away. Then I look back in a few seconds to keep watching them. It does get kind of awkward if you get caught a second time though. I don't care, like I said, it's fascinating.

Anyways, here are some more pictures.