No Place Like Home

I never know what to tell people when they ask me what's going on in my life. Am I going back to North Dakota? If so, when? Where is Davy? When does he get to come home? Is he looking for jobs in Idaho? How's the job hunt going? How do you feel when he is gone? How do the boys do without their daddy?

The answers, unfortunately, are ever changing. They change day to day depending on how my day goes or how Davy's day went at work. They are having a company change over at the place Davy works for so raises, benefits, retirement, investments and all of that is being rearranged right now. Most of it is not good news for the employees. Davy is really missing Idaho and family so we are looking for work closer to (or in) Idaho. We have a few leads and he's sent his resume in to a few places so now we are waiting and watching for more opportunities.

I hope that he finds a job soon so that we don't have to go back to North Dakota and all of the trouble and hassle that comes with it. We liked North Dakota but it certainly wasn't home or a place that I would want to be forever. We met some great people and Jackson made some cute little friends that we will miss but there really is no place like home.

How do I feel when he is gone? I feel alone. I feel like a single parent even though I have plenty of help from family. I don't really make dinner because cooking for one is no fun. I make quick meals for the boys but I don't really eat well when Davy is not here (this could also have something to do with the heat we have been experiencing). Davy and I text throughout the day, usually just little "I love you" reminders, sometimes more details of how our days are going, etc. We both have accounts on Spotify and we share music with each other, songs that get us through our days, songs that remind us of the other person. It has really helped us to stay a little more connected. We talk on the phone every night and Skype each other once a week on Davy's day off. It's hard being hundreds of miles away from the one you love, there are good days and bad and we try to support each other through them, even with our limitations.

The boys do not like having their daddy gone. Jackson tells people that his dad is in North Dakota and it is always in such a melancholy tone. They truly thrive when he is home and when we are all with him as a family. We all get along better and are just all around happier when we're together. Remington's face lights up completely when he "talks" to Davy on the phone. When we Skype, he touches the screen and tries to grab his daddy's nose and lips. Jackson misses his daddy playing with him. Mommies just don't play the same way as daddies do.

Davy will be home in 10 days! We are planning Remington's 1st(!) Birthday party for the weekend when Davy will be home. I'm super excited, yet sad at the same time. My baby is learning very quickly how to walk. He goes further on his own every day and loves to prove how much he can do. He is also learning lots of new words and signs. He can say mama, dada, buh-buh, "I did it", dog, hi. He waves goodbye, blows kisses, and can sign "all done". He is so happy and sweet. He wakes up with a smile every day and stays that way most of the day. I couldn't ask for a happier little man.

Jackson is getting so grown up. He learns new things and can communicate very well with us. He is getting ready to go to preschool which is another happy yet sad moment for me. My toddler is now a preschooler and pretty soon he'll be a kindergartener and so on until he's no longer my "little" boy.  I was kissing his cheeks the other day and he tried to push me away so I snuggled him more and told him that even when he's 30 I'll still want to kiss him because he'll always be my little boy.  He is very in tune to how other's feel and is very empathetic of everyone. He loves to tell me what he is doing and show me what he is learning. I love playing and learning with him every day.

Idaho is definitely our happier place. We did fine in North Dakota but we really love the bonds with family and community that we have here in Idaho. I feel more connected to the world around me when I'm home and I feel so much happier. I can tell the boys and Davy feel the same way.

Anyway, thanks for reading about my feelings and how our family is doing. We missed you all and hope that you are having a wonderful summer!

 At our apartment in Tioga, ND. The boys loved playing on our balcony

We call this his "snooty" face

They snuck in to the snack cabinet

 Jackson "drilling for oil" in Williston, ND

Remington swimming in grandma's pool when we came back to Idaho

He wasn't too sure about it at that point

His very first sucker ...

Jackson was SO happy to be reunited with his best friend and cousin

 

 

 

More summer fun in Idaho

  Don't worry, Remington was only on for a second

He just really wanted to be one of the big boys

 



 

 



 Grandpa Joe's Birthday and the new fire pit

Love them.

The Black Hole That is North Dakota

I really wish I had some pictures to share with everyone, but we forgot the camera cord in Pocatello. I'll upload them as soon as we come back. We started out living in a tiny town called Tioga and it was pretty miserable. I was sick for the first 2 weeks, I could hardly breathe and had a fever ... no fun! We had no contact with anyone because we were on the third floor and I could barely make it up and down the stairs with my breathing problems. We talked to the housing person and last week we moved to Williston which is a larger city and much nicer for us all.

We have met a few neighbors and Jackson has made a couple of friends in our building. We are also part of an oilfield wife playgroup that meets once a week at a park in town. It's been nice getting to know people and letting the boys get outside and play around with new little friends.

We talk to our families on Skype once a week, make phone calls and texts, but we still miss them all SO much. I know we are not the only ones missing our families right now, but it's still so hard.

Jackson is the funniest kid ever. He makes Davy and I laugh all day with his personality. He now thinks he has to shut and lock the door when he goes to the bathroom. Yesterday, he told us he had to go potty but he was taking a long time so Davy went to the door and knocked and asked him if he was okay. Jackson opens the door, comes out and says "What do you want, huh?" He had this exasperated expression on his face, like we were such a bother to him. He is a character and is growing every day into a such a big kid. He is so smart and I'm so grateful that he's my sunshine.

Remington is also growing up TOO fast! He has went from belly crawling to normal crawling. He can sit himself up from laying down and with the help of something to hold onto, he stands himself up and walks around things. He also gets ahold of Jackson's little fold up chairs and scoots around behind them, walking all over the kitchen floor. He has two little teeth on the bottom of his mouth and he has started to babble a lot. Davy walked in the door from work on Friday night, Remington looked up and saw him and said "Dada!" We are so excited that he is learning and growing but at the same time that means he's not going to be a baby for much longer, and I'm going to miss the "babyness". He is so happy all of the time and really makes all of us so much happier just to be around him.

Davy and I are doing well. Davy hates North Dakota but it's slowly growing on me. There are no mountains here so Davy is missing his escape into the mountains for camping and other fun stuff. He works a lot of hours (75+ hours per week) so he deserves a little break and he can't get that while he is here, so we are counting down the days until we are back.

We will be in Pocatello at the beginning of July and will be spending our week there cleaning out our house and boxing everything up so that we can either rent it out or sell it. We are going to try to make it work here in Williston and come to visit Pocatello as often as we can. It will be nice when we no longer have a house payment and all of the expenses that come along with keeping a house running properly. We will also be able to pay off our debt that much faster so that we can come back to Pocatello that much sooner someday.

We love you all and miss you all. See you in a few weeks!

Moving (for a little while at least)

The boys and I have decided to go and see how North Dakota is. We will be leaving in early May and will probably return in June or possible July depending on a lot of things. So we are busy getting ready for everything that entails.

I am having so much fun being a stay at home mom. I love it. It's my dream job and I'm happy to say that I get to spend every day taking care of the little men that I love so much.

Jackson is getting very inquisitive. He is always asking me about the world around him and why things are the way they are. He loves his brother more and more every day and he loves to play with him. He has crawling races with him and hugs him and kisses him all of the time. He takes things away from him that could choke him or hurt him and makes sure he has fun toys.

Since I've been home, we've done a few things that I never had time or the patience to do when I was working. We have made finger paints out of whipped cream and food coloring and I let him paint all over his high chair tray. He thought that was pretty amazing and delicious. He now asks to paint with "frosting" a lot. We also made home made sidewalk chalk paint and that was a huge hit. Jackson has always been a little artist, he loves to color and create pictures so when I told him we were going to paint on the sidewalk outside he was thrilled. A couple of times we have made necklaces, Jackson loves to wear his homemade necklaces and he loves to pick out the beads. We have been to the park a few times and as soon as it warms up more (and if we can find a park in Tioga, North Dakota) we will be going more often. I love seeing the joy on my kids faces when I wsing them or when Jackson goes down the slide.

Remington is growing up so fast! He learned to army crawl last month and hasn't slowed down since. He can also scoot on his bum if he needs to get anywhere. He started to shake his head "no" at things this week. It is super cute to see him shake his head and say "unh uh" to food, milk, toys and anything else he's just not interested in. I love seeing his little personality shine.

                                                                                                      

He loves to crawl under his walker

               Trying to escape the house

  Easter morning fun



Crawling behind the couch and giving mommy a

heart attack

             Remington found his first marker...    

   They learned how to "tow" Oh my.

Jackson and his cousin Jameson had their very first sleep over, super fun!

Needless to say, we have had a very fun month. We are looking forward to the warmer weather and all the fun that summer brings. I will update once we get settled in Tioga in a few weeks!

Life

I thought I had better give another update since we've had some crazy life changes happen this past month. Davy moved to North Dakota and we said goodbye to him yesterday morning. He took a job with a company there and he'll be back every 4 weeks for a week at a time. This means we won't get to see him as much as we are used to and that will be hard, especially for Jackson since he is daddy's little buddy.

So far we are doing alright. It's only been one day though so I'm sure that we'll have some tough days and nights ahead of us.

The bittersweet news is that the boys and I should be able to move to N.D. with him in April sometime. We aren't looking at living there full time as I want Jackson back by late August to start preschool, but it will be nice to be with Davy every night and his days off while he's on his "hitch". I say "bittersweet" because that means taking my boys away from all of their family, all of my family and all of Davy's family and all of our friends. I realize that we are lucky in that we have a huge extended family on both sides that are really a part of our lives and we get to see each other often. Jackson knows all of his cousins (and most of his second cousins) and loves them all. He and Remington go to play at his cousin Jameson's house while I'm at work Tue-Thur. and they go to visit grandma Mo on Fridays. We also have bigger family dinners with all of us weekly and we are all going to miss that.

I know that we will all make new friends, but it will be hard to be 11 hours away from our family and all of the support and unconditional love that they provide. We will come back to visit over the summer and we will most likely be back full time at the end of summer.

We are looking forward to all of the things we can do with a bigger paycheck. Here are the main things we want to accomplish and should be able to accomplish with this new adventure we'll be on:

I'll be able to be a stay at home mom (Yay!)
We'll be able to go on vacations
Davy will be able to get a truck (it's a big deal to him :)
We'll have peace of mind that we have money in our savings for an emergency
and the most important of all:
We'll be able to pay off ALL of our debt.
That's a big one, and the reason why we started this whole North Dakota oil job in the first place. We don't want to owe anyone money and that is a big motivation for us. We're working on it now but if we had more income, we could really "attack" our debt and be in a better place both financially and mentally. 

Anyway, that is all that's really going on with us right now. We are moving away from Idaho for the first time in our lives. We will experience a different "culture" and get to know some different people. I love looking back sometimes, but for now, I'm looking forward to what the future holds for us.

Here is a link to my other blog all about the oilfield and our experience so far. I don't know how often I will update it but I'll try to let everyone know how the oilfield wife experience is going and what our family is up to in the next few months. http://adventuresofanoilfieldwife.blogspot.com
Here are some pictures of the boys from the past month and what they've been up to:

 Jackson blowing out the candles on his 3rd Birthday!

 My mom and I made this cute little Lightning McQueen cake. Jackson loved it

and it was adorable!

 Remington has gotten the hang of rolling over in both directions

 He really wants to crawl!

 He can sit up on his own now!

 He loves toys and he really loves his brother's blocks

 He can scoot and roll himself all over the room now. He made his way over there

in under a minute starting from the play mat.

 Jackson made Remington and himself a "bed". I used to do the same thing

when I was little although I never included my brother, haha

 This little guy loves bath time

Update On Us

Our little family is doing alright. We are all healthy and happy and doing well. I am still working p/t at the Ortho. clinic and Davy is still at Franklin Building Supply. We're just enjoying the weekends and evenings we get to spend with the little ones.

Jackson is growing up every day and learning new things. He makes us laugh all the time! He says things like "I'm gonna shoot it, and cut it and eat it" (Regarding the elk that his grandpa and uncle and daddy were going hunting for). We're not really sure where he came up with that since it kind of came out of the blue. He can really get his point across to us, he lets us know if we're not paying enough attention to him by saying "Mom(or Dad), listen to me!" He's a big helper and knows what recycling is and what garbage is and sorts them accordingly. When people ask him who his daddy is, he says "Davy Crockett!" and if they ask what his brother's name is, it's "Nemington Jewseph" (Remington Joseph, hahaha). He likes to tease me a lot as well. If I call him a "good boy", he says "Well you're a good boy too mom!" and when I tell him I'm actually a good girl, he grins and argues back, "no - you're a good boy!" With him turning 3 this year, he gets to go to preschool in the fall, I'm not quite sure if I'm ready for him to be so grown up! He tells people that he's turning 3 at his next birthday and that he's going to have a "LIGHTNING MCQUEEN!" birthday cake, and his entire face lights up. I had better get on planning his party since his birthday is in less than 2 weeks!

Remington is a little sweetie. He is the BEST baby, he hardly ever cries and when he does, it's just for a minute. I wake up every morning to his smiling face and he isn't afraid to smile for pretty much everyone. Davy and I went away to Jackson Hole for the weekend in the beginning of December and left the boys with their grandparents and when we got back Remington just snuggled up on my chest and into my neck for about 30 minutes. He's usually to busy looking around and playing with things to snuggle me. We stood there for a while just breathing each other in and it was amazing. There is nothing better than your own baby's personal smell and feel. He has begun to babble a little bit and says "coo" and he says "mama" or "MOM" when he's really hungry. I sat him up next to his brother when we were snuggling in bed this morning and he rolled over and started cooing and talking to Jackson and then said "Bubba" and "Brubba" over and over. Jackson was thrilled that he was calling him "brother". Remington hates tummy time almost as much as Jackson hated it, but we're working on it! He LOVES to play with toys. He especially loves the ones that make noise like rattles and the
crinkly books. He loves to chew on everything and he is so alert when he's awake. He's been sleeping through the night since he was about 2 months old and he sleeps even longer now which is super nice for me.

Jackson helped me decorate for Christmas this year and he loves all of the Christmas songs. I was talking about Santa Claus and how he's going to come to our house and bring him toys but only if he's a good boy. To which he replied "But I AM a good boy, mom!"

We are super excited for Christmas and all of the fun things we get to do and see and partake of this holiday season. I have consistently been trying to explain the True meaning of Christmas to Jackson and he seems to get it at least a little bit. He knows that Christmas is when we celebrate baby Jesus' Birthday and how special that was. He asked about the nativity set at my parent's house and I told him the story, his favorite part was the shepherds and their little baby sheep and of course, the tiny baby Jesus.

Here's one last story that should cheer up even the "Grinchiest" of people:
Jackson and I were talking in the car on the way to my sister's house and here is our conversation:
Jackson: My name is Jackson Crockett and my daddy's name is DAVY CROCKETT!
Me: Yep, that sure is your names!
...after a few seconds of thinking ...
Jackson: My Daddy beats me.
Me: (thinking, oh my gosh! Your daddy doesn't even spank you, haha): What do you mean daddy beats you honey?
Jackson: Well, you know when me and daddy race our cars and he beats me at the finish line, mom!
Me: Oh, yeah ... that would definitely be considered beating you .. in a race huh?
Jackson: Yeah, mom - and then sometimes when we race some more, I beat him!
Me: Whew ... I'm really glad that's the kind of "beating" you were talking about!

hehehe. Gosh, I love that kid.

 We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Fantastic New Year!

He's Here!

Our little sweetheart, Remington Joseph is here! (And my post is about a month late) . He was born on July 27, 2012 at 7:34 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds 5 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. Here are some pictures:                                                                     

On our way to the hospital

 

Jackson loving his little brother from the very beginning.

On our way home from the hospital



 

Jackson loves his little brother and he always loves to hold him. He has to let everyone we meet know about his baby brother "Nemington". If someone doesn't acknowledge the baby quickly, he proceeds to bother them until they take a look at his baby brother. He goes out of his way to make sure I'm taking proper care of the baby. He tells me to bring the baby upstairs with us in the morning and is really worried about him if he's not in the same room with us at all times. If Remington cries he "kisses him better" and repeatedly tells him "It's okay, Nemington, you're okay. Be a tough boy!" I'm so glad that he is such a great little helper and loves Remington. We have had to deal with very little jealousy and I'm so proud of Jackson for being so selfless at such a young age. He truly is an amazing little boy.

Jackson is officially potty trained (has been for about 2 months now) and we love it. He is so responsible. He gets smarter every day and we are able to hold intelligent conversations ( for a 2 1/2 year old) with him. He has a great imagination and makes us laugh every day.

Remington now weighs 9 pounds 1 oz. and is 21" long. He has grown a lot in the past month. I can't believe my tiny baby is already a month old!

We are looking forward to the fall and Christmas season. I know, it's only August but I am SO OVER summer.  I can't wait to dress the boys up for Halloween and make caramel apples and take Jackson trick or treating and jumping in the piles of leaves at my parent's house.

Everything is going pretty well for us, we are just getting used to a little less sleep and a whole lot more love. There's nothing better than a new baby and a toddler to snuggle up with, to teach, to nurture and take care of. Life really is good.