Happy Halloween: The Real Story

I'm starting to realize that, now that I have a child, it's harder to be away from home for the holidays. . . and we've only had one holiday!  I hate that Matthew is growing up so far away from family, who can't share in all the joy of a new nephew or grandson.  So, I made a vow that I would pull the "mom" thing and take pictures of MJ in his costume so I could send it in time for Halloween.  That way they can at least have a pretend "trick-or-treat" with him (even though I'm not really taking him trick-or-treating.  He won't have a clue what's going on, and God knows I don't need that candy in my house!)  

So anyway, a few weeks ago, I pulled out MJ's costume and prepared for a photo shoot with him.  IT. TOOK. ALL. DAY.  My normally happy, smiling baby decided he did NOT like his candy corn costume and did NOT want to smile for a picture.  I ended up getting a pretty cute one, but not before all of these. . . 

When I first put it on, he thought it was kind of silly. . . 

After multiple attempts to get a good smile, however, he started to get annoyed.  "Really, Mom?  Really?"

So we took a break, took a little nap, had another bottle, and geared up for round two.  This time, I got really into it.  I took some Halloween fabric I had gotten at Happy Quilt back in Korea and spread it out on the bed.  I was going for a more "professional" look.

MJ decided he looked so tasty he might as well try eating himself.  I have about 20 pictures of this pose, each one accompanied by me saying, "Get your hands out of your mouth.  Get your hands out of your mouth."

Then, of course, Oskar got in on the action and just HAD to know what was going on.  "No, Oskar, he's not a REAL candy corn."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M NOT A REAL CANDY CORN?!"

And, just like last time, a meltdown.

After yet ANOTHER nap and ANOTHER bottle, we tried one last time.  As quick as I could, I zipped up the costume, plopped him down in his vibrating chair, and snapped a picture.  Luckily, it turned out like this:

Good enough!  I yanked off the costume before he could have another break-down and told him that we were D-O-N-E with Halloween for the day.  He couldn't have been happier. :)

Happy Halloween, everyone! :)

Let Me Entertain You

Yesterday was my first day attempting a single parent TDY.  After more than a few tears and a couple of panic attacks, Jonathan headed out the door, leaving me behind with two faces looking at me expectantly:

"So, now what?"

After a couple of minutes of staring at each other blinking, I decided a day out was just what we needed. It was a beautiful day in Las Vegas so we headed to Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs, only a short 10 minute drive away.  We had been here once before with Jonathan when it was 110 degrees, but I figured it might be much more pleasant to try it now when it was only in the mid-70's.

There is a gorgeous view of the mountains from the park, made even more magnificent by the recent drop in temperatures---low enough to get some SNOW on their peaks!

The park looks completely out of place in the middle of the desert, as it's GREEN and dotted with several natural ponds.  The area was actually an oasis used by settlers crossing Nevada.  It's the one place I can go in this town and pretend I'm back in Indiana (minus the mountains, of course!)

Oskar didn't know what to do with all this GRASS!  He was in heaven!

The place is CRAWLING with all kinds of birds, especially ducks.  Oskar was extremely well-behaved considering the circumstances, though he did eye them for a loooooong time as if to say, "You guys are LUCKY my mom is here and she won't let me off this leash."

But the ducks kept pushing their luck, getting closer and closer. . . 

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.  This picture was taken completely by accident.  I was trying to take a picture of the mountains when Oskar snapped and took off running after the ducks.  My phone went flying and somehow managed to take this picture of Oskar in action.

After walking around the park for about an hour, we were tired (and a little tired of the crowd--this place is VERY popular with locals. . . especially on the weekend) so we headed home.  It seemed to have been a hit, though, because Oskar slept the rest of the day, and when I asked Matty what he thought of our outing, I got this face:

Now I just have to figure out how to entertain them for the REST of our 4 month TDY. . .  ;)

A Play-date With My Other Child (the Furry One)

I've had a serious lack of posts about our "first-born" on here lately, but rest assured:  Oskar is still getting plenty of attention in the Wright household.  He LOVES his little brother, but he does get a little jealous about how much time MJ takes away from HIS time with Mommy.  So one recent afternoon, I left Matty with Jonathan and took Oskar to a local dog park for some "mommy and me" time.

I'll give Vegas credit:  it has a LOT of city parks, which I absolutely love.  They are currently building one right across from our sub-division, and I cannot WAIT until it's finished.  Until then, we've been scoping out various parks around the area, and I decided to take Oskar to Winding Trails Park today.

The park was small but not crowded (which I appreciate), and it had two separate doggy play areas, one for big dogs and one for small dogs.  Which do you think Oskar went to?

"What do you mean I'm not a big dog?!"

This park was a little LOT different from the dog park in Korea.  Mainly. . . there was no grass!  Ahh. . . life in the desert.

But it was MUCH bigger and with far less dog feces than the one in Korea, too, so Oskar and I were happy.  He had a blast running around and chasing his ball but, even though it's October, it's still EXTREMELY hot in Vegas, and it wasn't long before he began grabbing his ball and heading straight for the nearest shade tree.  Can you spot the wiener dog in this picture?

"Alright, Mom, this has been fun. . . but I am ROASTING out here!"

And the best thing about this dog park?  You have to take a car ride to get there! :)

Happy 2 Months, MJ!

Dear Matthew, 

I cannot believe it's been two months already!  What an adventure parenthood has been so far.  You have been such a blessing in our lives, albeit a sleepless and sometimes grumpy blessing.  Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the second month of your life:

We absolutely LOVE to play dress up with you. . . you don't care for it quite as much.

Saving the world sure is hard work. . . 

I don't think I will ever get over how much you look like a little old man. . . 

Papaw's little Broncos fan.  This was for the Broncos Monday night game. . . they lost, and then you cried.  Papaw was proud. ;)

You're getting strong enough to break out of your swaddle, and most of the time it makes you scream your head off, but for some reason THIS time, you slept right through it.

So cool. . . 

You may have been born in Vegas, but you will always be a midwestern boy at heart.  And Mamaw and Papaw won't let you forget it (hence the John Deere outfit).

And last but not least, you are finally giving Mommy and Daddy genuine smiles.  It absolutely melts our hearts.

We love you!  Can't wait to see what Month Three has in store!

love, Mommy and Daddy

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

MJ got to spend some quality time with one set of grandparents recently when Jonathan's parents came to visit (and we got to spend some much-needed quality time with each other--click here for details).  Here are some sweet pics of their visit.

Grandpa and MJ.

Someone looks pretty happy in Grandpa's arms with a full belly.

OKB loves Grandpa too. ;)

Grandpa and Grandma are HUGE Cardinals fan and brought Matty all kinds of Cardinals goodies. . . including this shirt.

Grandma and MJ.

I love how they are all looking at each other.  Matty is trying to commit their faces to memory.

Thanks for everything!  Come back any time! :)

Hiking While NOT Pregnant

A few of you may remember my post a few months back about hiking Mt. Charleston while pregnant (and then going into labor less than 2 weeks later).  If not, you can read it here.  Anyways, with Jonathan's parents here (and me no longer pregnant), we decided to try to hike again.  So I strapped on the Baby Bjorn, and off we went.  Granted, Jonathan and Oskar (as well as his dad) still walked ten feet in front of me (and his mom). . . 

. . . but at least this time it was because I was admiring the scenery and not because I was trying not to go into labor.  So I was looking around, enjoying the sights when I saw it:  the infamous log.

Yes, THE log.  The stupid log in the middle of a steep climb (which again, doesn't look steep in this picture) that I had to sit on last time while huffing and puffing and agonizing over the fact that I was a fatty.  I WOULD conquer you this time, hill, WITHOUT the help of that stupid log.  It was my personal Everest.

And sure enough, I climbed it, no problems.  It was quite anti-climatic.  I expected more cheering when I got to the top, but I only had a sleepy boy hanging off the front of me who couldn't care less.

Yes, it was the second time I'd carried Matthew up the side of that mountain, but this time, I won.  No huffing, puffing, or taking fat lady breaks.  I made it.  Maybe it's me, but I think it helped that I could look down and see this little face and not just my big old belly.

Viva Las Vegas!

There are several perks to being the military--the opportunity to travel the world, job security (well . . . kinda), decent pay, and the feeling of making a real difference in your job.  But, there are also a LOT of pit-falls, which I could go on and on about but won't.  I'll save that for another post.  ;)  Anyways, since having Matty, Jonathan and I have discovered another pitfall to military life:  you are miles away from family members who would gladly watch the little bundle of joy for a night so you and your husband can take a much-needed break to realize that you are still a real person (not just a mommy/daddy) and the outside world hasn't stopped revolving just because you had a baby.  But, I guess another perk of military life is that it makes you appreciate visiting family SO MUCH MORE.  And with Jonathan's parents in town, we were not going to pass up this opportunity to take a much-needed night out.

Las Vegas was not somewhere I ever even wanted to visit, let alone live.  But I firmly believe in the old adage "bloom where you're planted," so I figured we might as well make the most of the time we have here.  We've been here since July, and I still had not been down to the Strip.  Not kidding.  But give me a break--I was 8 months pregnant when we got here, we were homeless, and it was 110 degrees.  And then, less than a month later, Matthew was here.  So the sum of my Las Vegas Strip experience was this:

Yep, that's the view of the city from our house.  That's as close as I've been.  Anyways, we decided if we were going to do the Strip, we were going to do it right.  We booked tickets to a show (50% off military discount--another perk!), left Matty with the grandparents, and headed out.

Hello, Mandalay Bay!  You are a very welcome sight!

I was totally surprised that Jonathan agreed to watch 'The Lion King' with me.  I was fully prepared to fight for it, but it wasn't necessary.  Since it was pretty much our last chance to see it (the show is leaving Vegas at the end of the year and Jonathan will be leaving for training soon), this was it.  Enough said; tickets booked!

We had awesome seats (only 4 rows back) but, unfortunately, photography is prohibited during the show.  I was only able to take a picture of the stage while the curtain was down.  Just trust me when I say that it is an AMAZING show.  Jonathan and I were seriously speechless after the opening number, and it only got better from there.  

After the show, it was time for a little gambling in the casino.  I'd never gambled before, and I had NO IDEA what I was doing, but I wanted to try it.  I mean, come on--its Vegas!  Jonathan tried to teach me how to play roulette, but I let him do all the betting because I didn't want to be responsible for losing our money.  We bet $60, lost it, gained it all back, and then lost it again.  Maybe one day we'll learn to quit while we're ahead.  After that, all I wanted to do was play a slot machine like one of the hundreds of little old ladies I was seeing.  I lost $8.  Stupid slots.

You know what one of the most awesome things about being in Vegas is?  Not being pregnant and being in Vegas.  I throughly enjoyed my cocktail. :)

After losing all our money in the casino, we headed out for a walk down the Strip.  Yes, it was glitzy and gaudy and crawling with sin. . . but it was still incredible to see.

We stopped at the Bellagio to see the famous water show.  A different song plays for every show.  How fitting that for my first one, it chose Frank Sinatra.  

After a little more strolling along the Strip, we headed back to our quiet house, our newborn son, and our normal life. . . but with a smile on our faces.  Nights out may be few and far between for new parents, but I don't think you could ask for a better place to have them than Las Vegas.  Living here might not be too bad after all.

Now who wants to come out and baby-sit?