My Wild Little Man

Well little man is now 4 months old. He is a big, healthy, wild baby. He has discovered his voice and loves to squeal, yell, talk, make razzing spit noises, and he wants be up on the go at all times! If he's being held he wants to walk around or go outside. If he is hanging on the ground he is rolling in circles and trying his damnedest to crawl and when he can only scoot and gets stuck oh man does he get mad and determined!! If he's in his exersaucer he is spinning in circles squeeling at the top of his lungs ! He is one crazy loud silly boy !! I have a feeling when he learns to crawl an walk he will be very busy, curious and I will have my hands even more full than I do now.

Little man is also not a sleeper. He wakes up every three hours sometimes more and usually won't go back to bed without eating. And he eats alot, he wants a full meal every time he wakes up it seems. I've already heard a thousand different suggestion on how to get him to sleep and what I'm doing wrong and bla bla bla. Lemme tell ya nothing's worked. I honestly think Gus is so big that he just is hungry all the time. And I don't mind our long nights as much anymore, but I'll tell ya 4 months without sleeping longer than 2 1/2 hours at a time is wearing on me. Pretty sure my hair is falling out a rapid speed and my social skills have gone right out the window, being that my mind isn't sharp enough to hold conversation half the time.

I just bank on things getting easier someday, hopefully sooner than later . When I hear from moms who tell me there babies didn't sleep through the night until 9 months I cringe.... Lets hope that's not the case with me. I may be bald by then.

But all in all I do make it work and I have even began a workout and training for a 5k, then a half marathon. Exercise seems to give me that little bit of extra energy I need. That and I love this little man so much that any challenge is worth it :) just to see sweet smiles, cuddles at nap time, watching him learn to use his hands, how our dog makes his whole face light up and watching him discover the world has been amazing. I'm looking forward to all of our years together of watching him grow and teaching him things and all the sweet lovins. I'm even looking forward to more babies someday And more sleepless nights.

Catching up !

Wow ! So much has happened in the last few months I can't hardly believe it . We had our baby boy Augustus Bradley Crooks in June who was a healthy 10 lbs and Justin started his training that has him traveling everywhere. Needless to say the last few months have been wonderful and exhausting all at once !
I've never felt so much love for one person as I do for Gus and at the same time never felt such frustration! Thankfully I have a fair amount of patience and I'm a very calm person but that doesn't mean I haven't had numerous breakdowns or had to take breaks to go outside and clear my head. Having a baby is the most wonderful thing a person can do. And can be the hardest thing at the same time. No matter what anyone says no one can really prepare you for either.
Being alone with a new baby in a new state with no good friends yet or family close by and my husband gone has been a challenge for me.
It's so funny how one week I will think I got it down and I have Gus' routine and the next week everything will change. He won't sleep in his crib , he doesn't like his swing , etc. I've spent many nights awake in bed after I finally get Gus to sleep talking to God, praying for Gus, Justin , and for me to have more patience and to he stronger. I think he answers me with Gus' sweet little smiles and his new laugh he is starting to develop ! It's so stinking cute and those little things just melt my heart.

Lets see what else's has happened ! Gus and I flew to Oregon in August so he could meet his grandparents and aunts and uncles and many many cousins:).. So many kids it was a lot of fun! My twin sister , my brother, and I all had babies in the last year. Plus all my other nieces and my nephew. Grandma and Grandpas house was crazy the whole time !!
Flying with a baby was another fun challenge.. I was ever so lucky to sit next to men on all four planes there and back and a few middle seats where I had to breast feed Gus right next to them!!! I had a cover and everything so obviously you couldn't see Gus or me but Gus is so big and he's so squirmy when he eats he would kick one man on one side and head butt the other.... It was all pretty awkward !! I'm definitely not one of those moms who can just comfortably nurse my baby in public.:p When we got back to Virginia Beach and got settled back to east coast time we just hung out and relaxed for.

It's late September now and the weather has cooled off a lot so Gus finally took his first trip to the beach and did a little swimming in the ocean . He did really good in the water and managed to not eat any sand which is amazing because he likes to put everything in his mouth. We then had a little zoo trip with the girls and now his daddy is home for two weeks and his Uncle Landon came from Texas to meet him.
Next month we will be moving into a new house, just a rental but hopefully a bigger house ( without giant water bugs aka cockroaches ) and in November we will be going to North Carolina to shoot some deer. Which I can't wait for .. I think my soul needs to do a little hunting and fishing and just being outside! It's good for me.
Then Texas for Christmas! Many things to look forward to and Justin being home for a little while will be wonderful.
I'll keep y'all updated as much as possible because life as I now know it as a mom is very busy!

And if any of this sounds like rambling try to remember I haven't slept much in 3 1/2 months ;)

Getting Ready For Gus and That Sweet Summer Time

    Ok we are on the home stretch!! Gus should be here by the beginning of June..atleast im really hoping so.  Justins parents came to visit this last weekend and help us get everything ready for Gus, which was really really nice. Im not sure how many times I  went into Gus's room with intentions to set it all up and just got frusturated or discouraged and gave up. Rick (Justin's dad ) set up the crib and dresser for us while me and momma Crooks got the shopping done for his room and for some of our house as well.  We still have a bit to do in the house but it feels so nice to have Gus's room just about done.  I can't thank Justins parents enough.

     On top of all that we got some gardening started in the back yard. I've never really spent much time gardening but thanx to the help of my mom via telephone i think I'll have some tomatos and herbs and lots of flowers, maybe some rasberries and blackberries.. we'll see what grows.   The weather has been really nice here and I'm stoked for summer, to get some grilling in, get to enjoy an ice cold beer again and just hanging out with Gus and Crockett in the mornings on the back deck with my coffee ( which i also miss alot haha) and working on my garden. Who knew the thought of simple domestic things would make me so happy....definetly not this girl!

Momma Crooks and Crockett at the beach thats just a short
walk from our house

    Actually that reminds me.... I have set a few non domestic goals....well re-set them... I'm planning on going back to work part time after Gus gets here and going to flight school part time I can't wait!.  With Justin's work I know he will be gone alot , even just for training so I want to be home for our son as much I can but i also know that I need to finish a few things I started before the baby came. So I figure even though I might get everything accomplished a little slower than I had once planned before I know I can definetly get it done.   I've been looking into the flight schools around here and Im pretty sure I found a good one in Chesapeake!! Im really excited to get back to flying and get my pilots license!  By next summer I'll be flying with my private pilots license and I hope spending a few weeks in Talkeetna Alaska learning to fly in the mountains, get my float rating, and well just be back in Alaska again:).

Virginia Beach!

       Hey family and friends I decided starting a blog would be a good way to ween myself off of facebook and still keep y'all updated on Me , Justin, Crockett, and Gus :).
   
       Hahah well i dont know exactly where to start since so much has changed for both of us in the last year. But i reckon i can start with where we are now. We just pulled into Virginia Beach a week ago, after a long drive from San Diego. ( Which im vowing to never to do pregnant again!) But we did make a half way stop in Texas to stay with the Crooks fam and relax.  They threw us the biggest baby shower in history!! ( Like they say everything is bigger in TEXAS) I think we guessed about 75 people were there, so you could say Gus got spoiled.  It was definetly a blessing for us as well, Im pretty sure we are all ready for baby Gus to get here.

    After a week of enjoying some sunshine, family, friends, and some dang good sweet tea we headed to Tennessee to see Jenna ( my twin sister) and her family. Jenna is pregnant also but almost two months ahead of me and has two kids Georgia and Mathew. Its been about 2 or 3 years since I've seen Georgia and i hadn't even met Mathew yet! So it was really nice to be there and get to see everyone, Im pretty stoked to be closer to my sister for the first time in ...10 years almost. Lots of future visits are planned:)


Justin played some seriously competitive Mario Kart with his niece.

Crockett is watching his squirell
buddies outside ... not sure if
he wants to play or eat them haha

     Then last Friday we finally rolled into Virginia Beach our new home! We rented a townhouse about half of a mile from the beach and we've been working on making it a home.  The both of us have moved so much in the last few years that we didnt own any house stuff but we're getting there and most importantly the nursery is packed!! I have yet to set it up yet though, Ive been obsessed with cleaning instead :p.  We also havent checked out virginia beach too much but so far we both like it alot.. For me I think its having trees in my yard again ( i am a north west girl) and a smaller feel than San Diego. And our dog Crockett loves it! We have a huge back yard thats inhabited by tons of grey squirrels and birds that have become our dogs new obsession haha ... i actually wont be suprised if they dont stick around !!

Our Townhouse ( My Nest)

   
      Besides all of that I think this summer is gonna be one of the best with Gus coming in June, all of our family visiting, meeting new friends and seeing old ones and hopefully getting some good fishing in!! And of course this fall I see some good duck hunting and deer hunting and maybe a trip to Canada to shoot some Geese. and of course just some good family time with the four of us :)