Life After The Army » benton

I am still alive….

Charlotte — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:31:05 +0000

Really I am… I’ve just been really busy trying to find a place to live and packing. I haven’t really had much time to do any postings here or on any of my blogs.

Benton is doing great. Andi said he had his 1st doctor appointment yesterday and he’s gained back the weight he lost after his birth and then some and is “the picture of health”.

Problems are still running rampant in this family though. Andi was visited by the bank’s repo guy the other day and now she no longer has a car. She told me that on the good side of that she no longer has a $520 a month car payment on a car she doesn’t like. That is all the Army’s fault as she hadn’t gotten a paycheck since the beginning of June and it didn’t help that the bank would not work with her at all. I have Ford Motor Credit for my car and I’m behind in my payments too but they are working with us. They say they want to keep their customers and vehicles together. They deferred the 2 months we are behind and tacked them on to the end of the loan. So we are good to go.

So since Andi won’t be able to come here with the baby we will probably be making a quick trip to Pennsylvania to see them soon. I can’t wait to see Andi and Benton. We’ll get to meet her boyfriend Drew too.

JoJo has been helping me pack. She’s been the “inspector”. She gets on the packed boxes and even in the empty boxes to “inspect” them and give her seal of approval. She climbs into open cabinets and drawers… basically ~~getting in way~~ being cute.

Well… back to work.. there’s lots to clean and pack!!

So far… not so good

Charlotte — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:44:40 +0000

We’ve been trying to find a place to move to and we haven’t had much luck. We went to see a couple places and the 1st one was $1150 a month and wasn’t really a bad size except our dining room furniture wouldn’t fit in the dining area (tiny, tiny, tiny), the closets had no doors (just shelves on a wall), absolutely no pets allowed (landlord has a big dog though) and the biggest thing was the house was literally 5 feet away from the landlord’s house.

Then we went to see a double wide on it’s own lot. That place was $925 a month and was so tiny. The “master suite” looked like only a twin bed would fit in it. The 2nd bedroom was so small if you put a twin bed in it it would take up the whole room. None of our furniture would fit in this place. You would have to be a little person to live there. The ceilings were just a few inches above hubby’s head and he’s 6’2″. It felt very claustrophobic in there.

We’re probably going to have to put our stuff in storage and live in our camper until we can find a place. Not my idea of fun. Hubby, me and the cat… JOY! At least it has a nice kitchen area.

I’m still packing away here. Hubby brings home a few boxes at a time from work otherwise I’d probably be done by now, if I had more boxes.

Andi, her boyfriend Drew and Benton were here this weekend. Benton is such a good baby and rarely cries. Drew is officially Benton’s dad. He stepped up and adopted him. He’s a good guy. Hubby likes him so that’s saying something.

Babysitting Benton

Charlotte — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:00:18 +0000

Andi went to Pennsylvania today to pick up her boyfriend and I got to watch Benton all day. He’s such a happy and good natured baby. He hardly ever cries unless he’s really hungry or needs changing.

We are having a great time. He’s been smiling and talking to me (well.. cooing and gurgling). We went outside and took a short walk around the yard too. Now he’s passed out on PopPop’s quilt on the floor.

Andi and Drew should be here within a couple hours to pick him up… barring any traffic problems in Phila.

You won’t believe this one!

Charlotte — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:18:26 +0000

This video is Benton… He’s only 2 months old but look what he’s doing!!! This boy is way too far ahead of his age!

Relaxing day

Charlotte — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:46:13 +0000

Yesterday was a gorgeous day out. It was warm, for this time of year, and there was a little bit of a breeze. Andi, Drew, Benton and I went to Ocean City and took a walk on the beach. We picked up seashells so Andi can make a nice little shadowbox for Benton.

We saw what the last 4 day nor’easter did to the beaches and it really made a mess of them. Most of the dunes have been washed away and a lot of the wooden ramps from the boardwalk were closed because of at least a 6 foot drop down to the beach from the missing dunes.

There were a few other people walking the beach using metal detectors, collecting shells and even a couple surfers. I forgot just how calming and relaxing the sound of the waves can be. I could have sat on the rocks for hours and just listened to the waves crashing.

Benton enjoyed his first trip to the beach. We had him bundled up with his little animal/bear hat on to keep his head warm and a warm blanket. But the sun was warm and the breeze wasn’t too bad until we started back up the beach to the car. But other than that it was a great day.

Enjoy the pictures below.

Yuk…

Charlotte — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:33:00 +0000

Wednesday I babysat Benton and he had been sick with the runs. He leaned over, while I held him on my lap, and decided to munch on my lip. Well the next afternoon I got sick as a dog and spent most of the next couple days in the bathroom trying to decide which end to put where 1st! I had a fever, vomiting and the runs. It was not fun. I was so sick I was thinking about wholesale life insurance because I thought for sure I was going to die.

I’ve been doing nothing but sleeping, puking and pooping.. not fun.. not fun at all. And joy of all joys… hubby just told me he’s not feeling real good right now! *cry* That’s all I need is for him to be sick. When he’s sick he’s really cranky and miserable. I just want to run and hide.

Thank goodness I started feeling better today. I’m not 100% but I’m better.

I haven’t been really sick in years. I’ve had days where I felt a little off and then I felt better in a couple hours or the next day.

If hubby is getting this.. it’s not gonna be fun *sigh*

I’ve been missing… again

Charlotte — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:59:02 +0000

I know I’ve been missing for quite awhile. My internet has been crappy and there has just been a lot of crap going on in my life.

Andi is trying to get into the Army again but in the Reserves this time. She’s waiting to hear when she goes to MEPS to do her physical and stuff.

Benton is growing like a weed and has 3 teeth now. He’s 8 months old and crawls up a storm. He also climbs stairs too.

We’re still in the camper but hopefully for not much longer. We are supposed to go look at a townhouse for rent this week. I hope it works out.

Tomorrow is Mother’s day and I hope everyone who has a mom who is still with them is able to find some unique gifts for her.

I’m going to try, very hard, to keep up with my postings if life doesn’t get in the way again.

Moving soon

Charlotte — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:06:14 +0000

I’ll probably be moving in with Andi, Drew and the baby in the next couple days. I still won’t have my stuff until we can get storage paid off. I was hoping for some donations to help out but so far only one person was nice enough to contribute.

There is an extra desk that I’ll be able to use and soon I’ll have a baby on my lap while trying to type my posts. Soon you’ll see words like 7-dfbx, cjieryow and others. Don’t be concerned.. I haven’t lost my mind.. it will be Benton trying to help me out with my work

She’s almost there

Charlotte — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:26:10 +0000

Andi is almost back in the Army (Reserves). She went up for her physical today but they have to do some kind of waiver showing she won’t get pregnant again. She can’t get pregnant because she had her tubes tied after she had Benton. So that means she’ll have to go back again to get sworn in and all that stuff as soon as the waiver comes through.

Speaking of Benton… he’s 11 months old today. It just seems like yesterday that he was born. He’s getting so big and I’m willing to bet he’ll be walking on his own any day now. He lets go and stands by himself for a few seconds or so and has even taken a step before sitting down again.

On to my mom. The nurse from Medicaid will be there to evaluate her on Friday. The nursing home we picked said they may be having an opening real soon. That’s a good thing because she’s started going downhill since her sister died on July 20th. She says it doesn’t bother her but you can tell it does. She told me that she’s the next to go. She is the last of her siblings still living. She just turned 90 in June. Her sister was 98.

Everyone will feel so much better once she gets into the nursing home. There will be people closer to her own age and maybe she’ll start perking up a bit. I know she really liked the place when we took her there for a tour.

Not so great customer service

Charlotte — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:26:49 +0000

This morning Andi and I went to Wally World so she could get more paint to paint some more rooms in the house. We went to the paint department and no employee was around to help us. We went off to get some other things we needed and came back. Still no one working in the paint department. I looked up into the security cameras and said “is anyone working here?” hoping someone would be watching who could read lips. We waited and still no one showed up. We went off to get some other things and came back one last time. Finally someone decided to help us.

I was really beginning to think we would have to go to another store to get paint. Now Andi is busy painting away and I’m keeping an eye on Benton. He looks so cute toddling around now. He’s gotten really good at the walking thing. He has his little arms waving around and he’s babbling up a storm while walking all over the living room and kitchen.