Meet Frogg...

Everyone, meet Frogg! After 9 1/2 months of sneaking Frogg into Jaxon's crib, nights of "Oh my gosh, we left him downstairs", and "turn around, we left Frogg at home", all while Jax was completely oblivious to what we were doing, he's finally caught on that Frogg is his lovey, comfort, and snuggle buddy. It's really been the last week that he's cuddled up when he was tired and wanted a nap, that instead of fussing or running to me, he went and found Frogg and laid down with him. I figured now would be a good time to introduce him.


Frogg was a present given to Jax from Carolyn Epps, Michael's mom. I fell in love instantly. When I was prego, I was searching frantically for a blanket that had some sort of unique stuffed animal to it. All I ever found were bears, dogs and ducks... all of which are perfectly fine, I just wanted something a little more unique, and something that wouldn't get mixed up at daycare. I begged Carolyn for about 2 months straight to please make me one, and due to time and her pain tolerance when sewing, she opted to look extra hard for a special one. Well she did and I absolutely love it. So does Jax!!!! It's just a simple blanket made locally in WA State, that has blue and white pin stripes on one side, and a velour feeling fabric with a Frog's head on the other... It's so soft and snuggly. I often wondered when people would question why my child was naked, but wrapped in an extremely warm blanket in the winter, instead of clothed with no blanket, and why we always had it in tow for even a quick trip to the store. (All that know Jax, know he's a heater and you can't have a fully clothed and bundled blanketed Jax!) Hahaha. See people, I have my reasons...

Frogg met Jaxon in the hospital, we brought our special blanket for bringing him home in, and threw in Frog for whatever our reason was at the time. We forced Frogg to sleep with Jax at every nap, in the swing, in the car, in the bed and in the crib... Every time we went somewhere, so did Frogg. We tried an actual stuffed animal, and he liked Geroff, the Giraffe when he was a little bit younger, but now, when holding the two of them, he doesn't even bat an eye to Geroff... kind of sad, but we were much more persistent with Frogg. Part of me wants to pout, that in the past week he'd rather have a blanket to cuddle with instead of me or Dean, but then again, it does give me a break!!! And as I've also found out this week, that when he doesn't feel good and really wants comfort he still comes to Mommy.

When Jax is fussy, all I have to do is hold up Frogg, drop it on the ground, and Voila! He's happy, although he gets mad immediately when he can't figure out how to crawl and take Frogg with him. I've also crossed a dilemma of when to wash Frogg. Since it's been a constant in the past week, this also includes eating, playing with him after eating and before washing, and on the road, which almost always has some sort of food included... therefore Frogg gets dirty, grimy and needs to be washed. So when do you wash your child's beloved toy, blanket or whatever? It's obviously NOT during the day when at any moment your child wants to take a nap and won't when it's not there... Lol... I learned that today... and boy did I pay for it!

So everyone, now you've met Frogg... =) Hope this brief but necessary introduction floods your memory of days when your child or children had their "Frogg" and puts a smile on your face

Xoxoxo

Shylah, Jax and Frogg!

The making of a windmill...

Here are some of things that Dean is doing... Now I am probably going to mess up half of this, but I'll try my best to get it right...

Here is a crane lifting and putting the "nacelle" on the base. The base is 300 ft high, and the nacelle, I am not sure how big it is, but it's huge. The base is about the size of a 2 car garage, and then goes all the way up with a lone silver ladder that Dean is now climbing... Scary huh!?!?!? The nacelle is bigger than that, and is the brains of the windmill... it holds the motors, and also is where the fans, blades or the windmill thingy attaches to.

Here is another view of the base and the nacelle...

Here are some that they have already put up and are running. This is obviously from a distance, so you can't quite tell how big they are...

This is a really pretty picture, and I assume what Dean sees on a daily basis since they are working so late each night. Again not a close up, but still amazing. Dean told me last night, that each of those blades are 125 ft, 40 yards... yeah imagine a running back running the length of these at 40 yards, and it's pretty impressive. Cherie was telling me today that to assemble just one windmill it takes 12 semi trucks to bring in all the pieces and just one blade is considered a wide load for a semi.

Today Dean got to climb all the way up one, and sit on top of the nacelle... Scary... yeah, he called me from the top of it... I yelled and he laughed and reassured me how big they were... He said the view was breathtaking. I can only imagine.

I think on Thursday, Cherie and I are going to drive up to where they work, and see if we can get a view.

Well off to feed the Micro and take a nap. Love you all!

Update: he just sent me these from the top of the nacelle, so not only is he calling and talking on the phone while on these things, he's also taking pictures... LOVELY!!!!

The third one shows the lake that is up there. That is pretty cool! All of these are amazing... But the last one would make me vomit to look down and see that! Yikes!!!!

Mindless Monday...

Jax fast asleep in the laundry basket. 1. I didn't want to leave him alone on the bed while I was making dinner and 2. He was climbing in it already... =) He's absolutely LOVING Daddy's house and seeing Dean!!!!! He's figured out this apartment like the back of his hand. The nice thing about this place, is there isn't a lot that he can get in to, so it's pretty much baby proofed. He does laps in this place!

Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Well we FINALLY got to Pennsylvania. We got here around 6:30 last night. The trip was long, but all in all in wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... Now I do have to do this again in 5 days, and by myself this time instead of having help from Cherie with Jax. So we'll see how that goes. We stopped after 5 hours of driving on Friday and stayed the night in Cincinnati. Jax wasn't too fond of the drive on Friday and after about an hour of Jax screaming in the backseat, I thought
Cherie and I were both going to blow a gasket and give up. I fought back and knew it would be better to get ahead so we wouldn't be getting here at midnight on Saturday. Glad we did that because we only had to wait one hour to see Dean! On Saturday the drive up was really pretty... not a whole lot different from what I've seen traveling every where else in life... but you know... Jax figured out really fast that sleeping was the best way to pass travel time, and pretty much slept the entire way. He slept for a good 2+ hours then we stopped right after we got into Ohio, ate, fed the baby etc... then hit the road again. Jax was asleep again in about 20 mins and slept hard that time... he woke up playing and singing, and we only had to stop once more on my behalf! Really hoping he does that again when I leave on Friday!

After we got here, I was quite impressed by my home away from home. Yeah, I keep saying Dean's house... but I was quickly corrected, that Dean's house and my house are the same house, so really, I have two homes... Yeah you know... that's how we do it. =) It's gorgeous. Cherie and Vito are right across the hall, and Cherie promised me that she would take care of Dean from now on, at least on the feeding front. Yeah poor guy... I walked in and all he had in the cupboards were Spaghetti O's, bread, and chips... fridge consisted of Eggs, expired Milk, and two condiments... (Thanks Cherie in advance!) The apartment Dean is staying in is very nice. It's not huge, but it's not a dinky little space either. It's fully furnished, so it feels homey. All Dean had to do was put up a few Titans things, pictures of us and a blanket that reminded him of Jax on the bed. This house has reconfirmed my love for Victorian Style homes, and definitely added it as a must when we finally buy another home. The kitchen is so cute, and overlooks the park across the street... all minus the kitchen cupboards, it's perfect. The cupboards are painted Husky colors, Anyways, Dean seems to really like it here. We went and drove around the town today, still have some exploring to do, but there's a ton of extra people and traffic to avoid with the Little League World Series going on about 5 miles away. It's pretty exciting all that this town does for it. We went to Denny's this morning for breakfast and got to see a bunch of little leaguers all decked out. Too cute.

Today we've just relaxed and have been spending some time together. Tomorrow Cherie and I will have a lot of time to figure out the rest of the town, clean the house, grocery shop, etc... =)

FYI... Dean just bought a computer today, so he will be able to check emails, and keep ya'll in the loop of how he is doing. Just don't expect something right away, as Sunday's are about his only free time... and of course, we come first! =)

Love you all, and will post pictures when I get home.

Xoxoxo

Shylah, Dean and Jax

Counting down the days...

Till we see Dean!!!! We drive up on Saturday morning! Cherie, Jax and I will be driving for a long time, so please be thinking of us starting very early to very late... It's a 12+ hour drive straight through, so of course tack on 2+ more hours for feedings, bathroom and diaper breaks, and time for Jax to get out of his seat and play...

P.S. - I know I promised lots of pictures from my trip to WA almost a month ago... there are so many of those that I am compiling them into an album to post on here... I will put them up, and it's almost done... just few more days... =) So much to catch everyone up on... but that's the life of a single parent right now loll... not a lot of computer time except for here at work!

Love you!
Shylah

Yay it's almost football season!!!!

Clearly he was excited as we geared up to watch the first PreSeason game of 2009!!! Go Titans!

A World of Changes...

Hello all... well I'm pretty sure all of you now know that Dean took the job with Turner Brothers and on Sunday he left, and is now up in Pennsylvania. He'll be working there, we're thinking for the next 8-10 months. While he is up there, Jax and I will be holding the fort down in Nashville and I will continue working for the next few months until we can go up there with him. We are learning new details as we get them, so for the first project, it's all a guessing game. (For those that didn't know, Dean will be working as a QC Lead on QC Operations Team. What he is working for is a crane and rigging company that helps with the erection of Windmills, and other various things. Vito, Jaxon's Godfather works for Turner Brothers, and has been in the business for years now, and extended the opportunity to Dean. It's a contractor for the major companies that are putting up all the windmill farms around the states. With that, we would be moving project to project, state to state).

The good news is, is I will be able to stay with Jax once I quit here at Unum. It's actually sad because I'll be leaving my family here at work, however, the one thing I know for certain I can do better than anything, is raise my family!!!! I'll be a stay at home mom, and Dean will be the working man. I'll still have a job ahead of me. Once we find out where the next project is, it then becomes my job to hunt for housing, recreational things, moving, etc... So noneoftheless, I'll still have a job, just with the luxury of having Jax in tow.

Another thing with this move, is that I'll have free time once we are situated and will be able to visit more often than I do now. We are very excited about this job opportunity for Dean and the future it holds for us. If all goes well, and Dean does a great job - which we know he will... this could possibly be the company Dean retires with. With the economy in the state that it's in, and the fact that renewable energy is taking a precedence over any other projects going on in our country, it's a great foot in the door and opens a whole bunch more down the road!

Along with all this excitement comes some down falls too. Dean is going to be working anywhere from 60-90+ hours a week for starters... I know! That is going to be Dean's challenge. My challenges are going to be working full time (either 60-90 days - pending Dean's benefit start date), being a single mom, taking care of the house, the bills, the animals, etc, etc... I am very blessed to have help from so many friends and family, and I will definitely be taking anyone up on additional help! =) For the first two weeks, Sharon, Dean's mom will be staying with us and watching Jax while I am at work. We've called several daycare centers, and they are not willing to take him short time, and if they would, they would still charge me the full price and full month even if I were to take a week off to see Dean. August 13-15, I will be in TX hopefully winning a singing competition, and then I'll be back home and working for a week before Jax and I plan to go up and see Daddy!!!! The hardest part of our new journey is going to be Jaxon's feelings, and reaction to everything. It's day two that Dean's been gone, and so far, Jax is just a little confused as to why he hasn't seen Daddy, but hasn't been upset. Once he figures out what is going on, and that he won't see Daddy every day, then we'll have an issue, but so far so good! We've got lots of picture books with Jax and Dad everywhere, as well as a very sweet and funny video Dean recorded for Jax to watch to hopefully cheer him up! We also plan, with Dean's first paycheck, to buy a good computer for him that has a camera/video and then one for us at home to use with Skype or some other video broadcast so that Dean doesn't miss too much!

It might be a rough few years living the "military life", but we figured this would be the best time now while we have babies (pets included), to make the jump, and set ourselves up for the future. Once we have kid(s) in school, then we will reevaluate our situation and see if it's feasible to keep moving, and stay in the same spot. Cherie and Vito have been living this life for a few years together now... Since Dean is being mentored by Vito - at least we won't be moving to a bunch of new towns alone. We're hoping that the jobs Vito get's called on, he will take Dean with him... therefore when he get the news of a new project date, I will have experienced help in playing our next move... It will also be comforting to not walk into a new city knowing that Dean will be working a lot of hours, and for me, not knowing a soul, I'll have Cherie there with me. (BTW - most of these towns are podunk, out in the middle of nowhere, lol - so she will very much be a nice thing to have around!) All in all, we are soooo excited about this opportunity and the future it holds for us.

I will be a lot more needy I am sure in the next few months, so if I call on you as family and friends for support, please do. I'll need a lot of lifting, motivating and reassurance during this time.

We Love you all - and are so happy to share this news with you!

Xoxox
Shylah, Dean, Jax (and the farm)