I will not swaddle my 5 month old!

Oh Jolee! You can roll Chickie. You do it all day long, and almost back to front, front to back. But at night your activity is waking you and you are determined to get out of your swaddle. So, since it no longer seems safe, I said NO MORE SWADDLING. And now you can't sleep. I put you in your sleepsack and must go in 4 times a night to keep your tiny little hands from grabbing at your face. There really seems to be a giant PROCESS to get you to sleep and I really need to document it so one day when you are trying to get one of my grandchildren to sleep, I will remember.

Step 1...Bath
Step 2...Bottle
Step 3...turn on room fan for white noise
Step 4...all lights OFF
Step 5...turn on Mommy bear with womb sounds, yes you still need this
Step 6...paci in, although you are 5 months, you still need help with this
Step 7...socks on hands, your hands freeze at night and you can't fit gloves
Step 8...lay you down and walk out
Step 9...come back in and give you paci so your whining doesn't wake your brother
Step 10...repeat step 9 4-6 more times before you finally pass out.
Step 11...repeat step 9 2-3 during the night
Step 12...feed once in the middle of the night
Step 13...repeat step 9 at 6am so we don't start our day that early...
Step 14...you wake at 8 refreshingly rested, smiling, looking at your very tired Mom thinking "Mom, why do you look so tired?"

All things Vermont!

We're here! I can't yet say that we are settled because we still do have quite a bit of boxes in our bedroom and the basement! I can honestly say that of all the places we have lived Vermont IS my favorite! I just love it. If you haven't lived in a small town, you might not understand. I used to think Kingsland, GA was small town, ha. When there is no fast food, no way to order pizza, and everyone in the town knows the lady who answers at the Electric Co and the shares the same doctor, you are in a SMALL town. Minus the fact that we have no friends here yet, it is amazing! I love waking early to the bright sun on the top of this mountain and watching it get dark at 4pm. Bubba is amazed by the snow and can stay out way longer than Mommy and Daddy can. Pork and Beans love the snow and the cold, and Beans often escapes to our neighbor (that we can't see from our house) who lives on a farm. We get our eggs from them fresh and often! They are so yummy! Beanie likes visiting their hen house and their sheep! Porkie still gets tied up because he can't be trusted just yet and the nearest animal patrol place is a 25 minute drive! I don't feel like going to rescue him once he gets out. And actually, I have only driven here once, and that was during a snow storm and I was kinda scared. I can drive in the snow, but this was dark, and unfamiliar....

J works 1.7 miles away and comes home everyday for lunch! So fun! We are getting lots of time in during this shore tour to prepare for the long deployments coming! We are having a ball!

Ladybug is a rolling, drooling, babbling, pushing up ball of love. She is faster than James in EVERYthing she does, which terrifies me. Bub woke on his 9 month birthday and walked around a toy. I cannot have an early walker again but it looks like I might! She has got to stop growing so fast or I am going to want another! My kids don't like to be babies long at all. Leelee does love her toys, her feet, and eating veggies. We just started solid food the other day because she was showing interest in us eating. I wanted to wait until 6 months but she is almost sitting on her own already and loves it! I make it really runny though because she prefers it that way...hates cereal though! Will try again in a few weeks/months.

Ok well it is December 22 and I just started my Christmas cookies! I am done shopping and wrapping and just waiting to see if Santa needs help putting 2 of his big gifts together on Christmas eve. It's just us this year but we are taking goodies of homemade Kalua and cookies to our neighbor/landlord/only friend. We are hoping to invite some people from the unit to a football game watch here on NY eve.....Ok off to bake more! I am getting super domesticated here in the middle of nowhere! Hope this finds all well!