1st haircut!

Soon after John left I noticed that Ambrose was starting to sport a mullet of sorts. It was definitely party in the back, but the spot over his ears didn't want to be left out, so they were hosting a party of its own.

Case in point....

I told John that Ambrose needed to get his hair cut, but he was already afraid that Ambrose would look old enough by the time he got home, and he didn't want to do anything that would make him look any older. So I agreed to suffer through the weird mullet-esk hair style until John came home.

Rather than take him to a barber or hair salon I decided that we'd just take care of it here. We were really just looking to trim the back and over his ears, not take anything off on top (when we do go that route that he'll need it done professionally because this kid is sporty one heck of a cow lick!) .

We got out our sure fire kid dirstractor, the DVD player, and trapped him in his high chair.

I thought for sure we were in for an ER visit because there was plenty of this...

going on.

Ambrose did decide that we weren't going after his ears and calmed down a little bit.

Some how we all came out unscathed and the hair cut didn't turn out half bad. I am glad that we waited though, because for some reason, a haircut makes a kid look 5 years older, and my kid was no exception!

Home sweet home

We made it, here we are, on the other end of a "deployment" . I use the word deployment rather loosely because his time gone was pretty short, and his location was pretty safe.

I guess it's all relative though isn't it?

Here is John getting ready to go. I was hesitant to take Ambrose along to say good-bye, unsure of how he would react, however, taking him turned out to be a very right choice for us. It helped Ambrose understand where John was. As the weeks went by Ambrose would constantly repeat "daddy bye-bye airplane."

As with every time John is gone, there are always (literally, every time) delays of one form or another, and this time was no exception. There were a few minor hiccups, but when all said and done, even with the delays on their end, they made it back here fairly on time!

On that day I couldn't decide of I was more excited for myself, or for Ambrose. Driving through the gate we were able to see a few jets in the air, and that's when I told Ambrose for the first time John was coming home. I wasn't sure if he'd fully get it, but he SO did! The joy and shock ( literally, opened mouth shock) that came from that little boy was adorable. He loves his dad!

Oct. 31

Due to a missed flight, Ambrose and I stayed here in South Dakota for another week.

We started the weekend-o-fun with a trip to my sisters work to do some office trick or treating. I wasn't sure how he was going to do, this boy is known for his stranger anxiety, but as soon as he realized those strangers were handing out candy he made best friends with everyone behind a bowl of candy.

On Saturday we went to a local church where Ambrose played games, bounced ( and bounced and bounced) in a jumping castle and ran around with all the other sugar crazed kids. It was so much fun to see him running around and smiling the entire time! After the previous two nights Ambrose was a pro by the 31st.


*this boy was on a mission, he didn't even have time to use the sidewalks.

although candy is good, nothing beats his thumb.

Pumpkin patch number 2

Although we went to a pumpkin patch earlier last week, we didn't actually find a pumpkin to carve, so off we went on the great pumpkin search.

They had a small pumpkin train and Ambrose loved it.

Ambrose also ate his first sucker, and it was a sight to see.
What would the great pumpkin search be without in ending in pumpkin carving? Despite the look of the picture, Ambrose didn't like the guts of the pumpkin. I wasn't surprised, because although this boy is all boy, he hates having his hands dirty.

Backyard fun

Look who's THRILLED to be home....

The weather here has been completely un-South Dakota like, completely enjoyable and dare I say nice. We've made the best of it and spent a ton of time outside!

What would fall be without a trip to a pumpkin patch? Ambrose loved the hayride and the horses the pulled it. We drank hot chocolate, roasted marshmallows and looked around at all the gourds and pumpkins.

My parents have ensured that there is no lack of toys around here and Ambrose is loving it. We've spent a ton of time outside playing on the slide, blowing bubbles and riding on the toy tractor.

Ambrose is loving all the attention and endless supply of willing playmates and I am thrilled to be lounging around while others are around to help me!

I will never tire of life at home!

Things are looking up

We started out our trip as we always do, with an hour and a half drive to El Paso where we catch our flight home. I was able to get our things together and house closed up in record time and we left about 20 minutes early, first time for everything folks. As it turns out those extra 20 minutes would come in handy because wouldn't ya know it we got pulled over. I have been driving for almost 14 years and I had never been pulled over. I was way calmer than I thought I'd be and he only gave me a warning, in part because I was the first person he'd ever pulled over from South Dakota and we commiserated how much Southern New Mexico just wasn't our thing. Away we went, right on time rather than 20 minute early, but with our low car insurance rates still in tact.


With that, things could only look up, and they did, we went on to have the two best flights we've had in our joint flying career. Ambrose was awesome, flights were on time and we had very patient people around us.

After our flights we spent time with family and all went to bed. Ambrose is a notoriously inflexible sleeper and if anything is off he'll let you know by waking multiple (MULTIPLE!!) times. So I expect a restless night, and he delivers,2 night wakings, each lasting an hour or so. We all wake up a little bleary eyed and hope the next night is better. WE have a fun filled day, accompanied by a few tantrums and crabby spells but nothing major. He heads to bed, goes down fine, but wakes up fussing and crying around 1130, after an hour I go and get him where my mom and I take turns trying to get him back down and he is having nothing of it. We try every single trick in the book and the kid will not sleep a wink. This goes on until 5am....yes 5 am. You better believe I was in urgent care bright and early the next morning because surely there had to be something wrong. Although night wakings happen in new places, this was unreal. We go into the nicest urgent care I've ever been too, where they diagnose him with an ear infection. Part of me was thrilled because if I had gone there and they had said that nothing was wrong, I would have feared we all would never sleep again. This was his first ear infection, and he really showed no traditional signs of one, but the antibiotics have been helping, and for the most part things here are back to normal.

We have been busy, busy, busy, so check back because I'll be uploading pics tonight :)