Thursday, February 03, 2011

Vegas...the real life part II


Friday morning I woke up to crying babies. Ryan had arrived and was not happy that his mom had to go to work today. Kelly was patiently talking to both boys and trying to sooth Ryan. As I came out of the bedroom I found the doorway blocked by the green Kawasaki riding toy and the yellow Caterpillar riding dump truck. It looked like it was going to be a long morning. I snuck Ryan’s blanket away to wash it and then had my Starbucks coffee in a bottle. Kelly held the little guys off as long as she could for their morning nap, but a little before 9:00 they were both in need of sleep. Ryan went down quickly but Mr. Kyler was so tired he couldn’t quite drop off. Grandma got to bounce and sway with him until he dropped off to sleep on my shoulder. What could be better?

After dinner a few nights ago, Kelly gave Kyler a little tiny ice cream drumstick. At first he didn’t know quite what to do with it. Kelly fed him little bits and finally he held it and got into eating it and smearing it around his face and tummy. So today Kelly had got out a drumstick but Kyler was not sitting at his highchair so she didn’t let him hold it. Well Kyler tried his best to get it away from her, stepped back, screamed, reached for the ice cream again, sat down and screamed, and then the real tears began to fall. It was pitiful and a little funny at the same time. This is the first temper tantrum I have seen him throw. In the end, he didn’t get any ice cream but within minutes he was off to play and had forgotten all about ice cream cones and how mean his mother was not to let him have it and make a mess.

My phone tends to beep, not ring, when I travel. Sometimes I don’t get messages for days and once I had a message that was several days old and had returned home before it came through on my phone. Kyler noticed this after about the second time my phone started beeping and would run to the baby gate across the dining room where my purse is and would then point and babble. We laughed because every time Kyler would hear that beep before Kelly or me. So Larry has started calling him “birddog”. How does this sound as a ring name for a MMA fighter-- “Danger Birddog Atkinson”.

Saturday morning was fairly quiet with just one baby in the house. Kelly did some packing and I played with my favorite grandson…only grandson…but still my favorite. Kyler had been up since about 6:30 AM and had an half hour head start on me. Coffee…now I’m ready to go. The little guy was down for a nap a little after 9:00 AM and slept until almost 12:00 PM. We had a birthday party for Aiden who was turning two and we didn’t want to be late. Miss Abby and Ryan were going to be there also. Kyler walked all the way from the parking lot to the building holding Kelly’s hand and wearing his new black police shoes with Velcro fasteners and blinking lights. Pizza, grapes, juice, and vegetables with dip, this was a perfect children’s menu and the grown-ups liked it too. Nellis AFB has a new family center that you can reserve for parties that also includes an exercise room, offices, several rooms for children to play in, one large room with a fireplace, big screen TV, nice furniture, an adjourning dining area, and a kitchen to die for--double refrigerator freezers, a gas stove with six burners, two microwaves, a dishwasher, beverage refrigerator, cherry cabinets, and granite countertops. Pretty impressive and a nice bonus for the families to use when hosting parties and gatherings.

We ran to pick up more boxes and tubs for packing and then it was home for the evening. Kelly has been working really hard and is sort of running out of energy. I told Kelly to lie down and rest for a little while and Kyler and I would play. This worked really well until about 4:00 PM when he began to get really tired. If he went to sleep now, he wouldn’t go to bed on time tonight. What to do? I bounced him on my knee until he just sort of closed his eyes. Ok, 30 minutes of nap time and I would wake him up. He just sort of snuggled up on my shoulder as I leaned back against the sofa pillows. When I finally got up to check the time, I discovered it was time to wake him and was just starting to rub him back to gently rouse him from sleep when my phone rang…yes it rang. Kyler opened his eyes wide…grandpa was calling. We fixed dinner and after the baby went to bed, Kelly began packing again. The pile of boxes in the garage is growing bigger, but somehow Kelly said it doesn’t seem like the piles to pack are going down.

Sunday morning we watched “Sunday Morning” while we ate bagels and shared with the baby. Packing and more packing is the order of the day. Snack, lunch, nap, play, snack, bottle, play, dinner, and ice cream…seems Kyler thinks the ice cream is too cold to hold in his hands and too cold to eat. So cold it made him cry, so Kelly gave him mini peanut butter crackers and then life was good. Bath, bottle, bed for Kyler and then Kelly and I watched Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood; yeah it’s a chick flick, but I remember when Kelly and I saw it in the theater when it first came out. Sandra Bullock…how could a movie not be good with Sandra Bullock in it?

I fixed soup for dinner, Kelly fixed eggs and bacon. She finished sorting, dumping, and packing for the night while I took out the garbage and then we watched another movie.

The babble of little voices woke me up Monday morning. Kyler and Ryan were in full swing with toys all over the living room. We got through the morning and Kelly did a little more packing during nap time, but not much because babies don’t always sleep as long as you would like them to. Maintenance came in the afternoon to fix the door knob to Kyler’s room and the refrigerator. Kelly asked the worker just to fix the refrigerator and come back another day, but the first thing he did was rattle the bedroom door knob. Kyler was now awake and crying. The worker came in and out of the house letting the screen door slam shut, no consideration for sleeping babies. Luckily Ryan did not wake up and after the worker left Kelly got Kyler back down for his nap.

Kelly fixed chicken with vegetables for dinner and it was really good. Abby came to pick up Ryan and after they left I picked up toys and Kelly got Kyler’s dinner ready. The Air Force Red Flag exercise began today with the jets and planes taking off at 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM. You usually hear a few planes but during Red Flag there are about 70 aircraft participating. Good thing the homes are fairly well insulated. It was almost 7:00 PM when Kyler went to bed and Kelly resumed packing. I had one box of stuff to send home and filled the rest of the empty space with things Kelly and Kyler would need. Kelly has two boxes to ship and we will drop them off to ship tomorrow after housing comes tomorrow to do the first walk-through in preparation for moving out. Her final walk-through will be February 8th.

We watched some TV and just relaxed a little bit before I cleaned the kitchen and Kelly finished packing another box and taking the boxes ready to load into the POD out to the garage. Kelly finished, crashed and then I swept the floors of goldfish, animal crackers, and Kix bits that the boys smashed with toys and sippy cups.

After the initial walk-through on Tuesday morning, we went to Wal-Mart for more boxes and bubble wrap…surprise, surprise. A few groceries and we were home. Sean brought Ryan over about 2:30 PM and the boys played and wore themselves out for a short nap time.

Dinner for Kyler and then he had a chocolate cookie for dessert. I watched Kyler during bath time so Kelly could get a little more packing taken care of and get Kyler’s bottle ready. Kyler was really into bath time tonight and Kelly and I both got a little soaked as he splashed and played.

Kelly packed up most of the kitchen items and sorted through what needed to be dumped before she sat down to rest. I wish there was more that I could do for her other than dishes, sweeping, or watching the baby.

Wednesday…my last full day in Vegas before I fly home. We decided to put off the FedEx stop today and ship packages on the way to the airport on Thursday. We went to Lowe’s to buy a floor stripper to clean the old wax and built up grime off the linoleum floors, but they didn’t really know what to suggest so we left and went to Home Depot. Not a big deal to most people, but since Kelly had worked for Lowe’s in Bellingham and Las Vegas, she was a little disappointed in the employees' training for their departments. Home Depot had four people trying to figure out what we needed and it came down to two choices so Kelly just picked one. This will be a project after Kyler goes to bed tonight.

Kelly fixed lunch after we got home and just as we finished, Sean brought Ryan over. The boys played until they wore themselves out and then it was nap time. Kelly fixed a homemade butterscotch pie for dessert to celebrate Abby’s birthday today and since Sean has to work tonight, Kelly is fixing Philly chicken cheese sandwiches. After dinner Francis and Aiden came over to have dessert and sort of have a girls night / baby night with dessert and hot chocolate with a little something extra in it. The three boys play really well together and it was fun to watch them. I got hugs from Francis and Abby both as they left, it would be the last time I would see them, both their husbands have new deployments to different bases and will be gone when Kelly returns after Kyle’s deployment to the sand pit.

Bath time for Kyler, and then Kelly took a much deserved and needed fifteen minute rest before tackling the kitchen floors. I cleaned up the dishes and took out the garbage and then it was time to see if the Krud Kutter would clean up the floors. Kelly sprayed it on the floor and mopped. A slight difference. She poured it on and mopped. That was a little bit better. She poured it on full strength and let it set for a few minutes and then used a rubber spatula to scrape the floors and the “krud” just started coming loose. I am sure maintenance probably used a sealer over the floors when they cleaned them before Kelly and Kyle moved in, but the problem with that is it just attracted dirt and everything sort of stuck to it and then it yellowed. Kelly got about three quarters of the kitchen done and what a difference. She will tackle the rest of the floors (the whole house is linoleum tile) a small workable section at a time. She has one week to finish packing, clean the floors, wipe down the cabinets, and spend time with Kyle before he leaves. She works really hard as a stay at home mom and I am so proud of her for all that she does for Kyle and Kyler.

My bags are packed, my boxes are ready to ship, and I know Kelly and Kyler will be in Washington with Larry and me in just a few weeks but it is still hard to say good-bye. The little guy has learned to say puppy while I was here and when you ask where the puppy is, he will point out the dining room window to where the puppy lives. He is learning to climb the safety gate and I would have been pleased if he had waited on this accomplishment, but it is part of the growing process for him. There is just something new every day in his life and I am thrilled that Larry and I get to be a part of watching him grown and learn for the next few months.

Did I make my plane? Seems it was overbooked when I did my online check in so I volunteered to take a different flight and get a free ticket in exchange. I can’t figure out why the plane is so full on a Thursday going on a direct flight to Bellingham, when it is usually Sunday or Monday when everyone leaves Vegas after the weekend that they planes are full. When did I get home? I made my plane, but it was full to overflowing, two off duty pilots sat in jump seats in the cockpit to make sure all the passengers had a place to sit and no one got bumped. Yes, I got home to Larry's welcoming arms!

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