One Whole Year Later...

Who knew time could move so fast? I can't believe my little baby boy is now a toddler.

Over the last year we have

• Brought home a brand new baby boy
• placed you in your crib at just 10 days old - best decision we ever made but was SO HARD at the time.
• we battled colic and post partum depression - at the same time, RUDE!
• You got bigger, and started to enjoy life out of the womb a little more
• looking outside is the best view
• your favorite way to be held was the "grandma" hold. Nice and tight, with one arm pinned under mine while we rocked you side to side really fast. Always calmed a fussy boy.
• Shushing and swaddling were my our very best friends
• decided that your bottles were the best thing ever as well as paci's.
• became the easiest baby to make laugh, and boy do we ever love your belly laughs
• rolled over
• learned that EVERY thing should go in your mouth
• stopped staying the the place where we left you - again, RUDE!
• started chowing down on every thing we place in front of you, I don't think there is a food you don't eat.
• started army crawling and didn't stop - no hands and knees crawling here!
• learned to pull yourself up on to everything
• learned to pull yourself up to standing
• started creeping along furniture
• as soon as you realized that you could make noise out of your mouth you are Chatty-McChatterson.
• not only do you chat, you also make all sorts of clicking noises as well as imitate us
• you are so independent. You are more than willing to play by yourself, though you always love someone to play with. 
• cars, trucks, banging things together, and balls. You are a boy through and through. 
• sneezing is very funny and we will "sneeze" back and forth with both of us saying "achoo!"
• you are so SO ticklish. Feet, legs, hips, belly, armpits, collar bone, the back of your neck/head. And we LOVE to tickle you.

My little boy has grown leaps and bounds. He has outgrown his newborn look and is looking more and more like a little boy.

For the stats: 19 pounds, 29 inches long. Wearing size 9 month clothes and size 3 diapers. Drinking 16 ounces of formula and breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Formula is a "snack." You are also drinking water out of a straw cup whenever you want. Favorite foods are : grapes, eggs, tangerines, toast, meat, yogurt, and avocados.  

Why Hello.... It's Been Awhile...

Oh yes, I am still alive. It's been just over a month since I last blogged and so much has changed. My little Peanut is a year old, we had a few mini  birthday celebrations, a one year baby well visit, went thru one 4 week work up, and just started another workup.

First off, can I just say that work ups blow. I miss my husband. And it has me thinking how on earth I will make it through 10 months. I am eternally thankful the for the family that visited and the friends that make sure I don't hole up and become a hermit. However, every single friend that I hung out with is military. And they are all either deploying within a few months or getting out of the military entirely. Um... Hello? Don't you know you are supposed to stay here so I have company?And while right now I am having a mini freak out about J being gone for so long, I know that I will just do what I have to do. It will be what it will be and if worse comes to worse I can always pack up my little life and move home. Not that that is really a logical option, it's there if necessary.

Secondly, I can't believe my little peanut is a year old! I have a one year post in mind, a catch up of all that has happened over this last year. He is so dang cute and has changed so much, I can't even believe it! He is officially a toddler. And that scares me a little bit. He is getting too big too fast. Thankfully he is just a wee babe (19lbs!) so he still feels a bit small.

And finally, I am so glad that I am going back to work tomorrow. I hate sitting at home by myself. I get mopey and miss my favorite husband. The house seems to get so dirty and I don't really want to clean it, the puppies sleep all day when J first leaves, and really all I want to do is eat a giant amount of oreo cookies. However, I have a little man to take care of and a house to run so sulking the days away doesn't happen. Okay, so my house isn't as clean as normal, but other than that it is business as usual here. And I can't wait to go back to work tomorrow to get my mind off of being alone. To be honest, I love the military lifestyle, but this part? This I don't love.

Night night!

11 Months

Oh.My.Lanta... How on EARTH are you 11 months old? In less than 30 days you will be one year. ONE YEAR??? How did this happen?

My little man this last week has been HUGE for you. You are holding your hands out to be picked up, a 5th tooth sprouted in, you are saying Mama, Dada, and Baba (bottle) for the appropriate things, and most importantly you are sleeping through the night!

You poor bubba, you were sick for about a week. It was a nasty cold/virus that was seriously not fun and got the whole family. It was about 5 days of throw up and all sorts of other nastiness. I am thankful that most if it is over. It has been 3+days since you threw up on me. I am one happy mama!! The sickness really affected your eating habits and unfortunately you are still right about 19lbs which is where you were at your 9 month check up.

You are still so chatty. You talk to your food, to me, to others, to your toys, EVERYTHING. Most of it doesn't make sense, or I am still trying to figure out what you are talking about. You do say Mama for me, Dada for your daddy, Baba for you bottle (which is super fun at 4am when you are yelling BABA at the top of your lungs!), you also say Papa which is generally for papa Matty.

Since you have been sick you have surprisingly been napping super well, AND sleeping thru the night. The only exception to this is that you aren't taking a huge bottle before bed any more (only like an ounce or two) so at about 4 or 5am you wake up STARVING which cues you to yell BABA and MAMA at the top of your lungs until I make you a giant bottle. Then you will go back down for another hour or two. I am hoping that as you get better you will start drinking more before bed time.

Speaking of eating, you have about four 4-6ounce bottles a day. I know that you should be having less, but minus a morning bottle (which will be easy to break) the others are before nap time or bed time. You are eating solids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sometimes a snack in between. The hardest part of taking out bottles is that you do not like any sippy cups so getting you to take water is a beast. We have tried cups with flexi-straws, nuby no spill sippys, take and toss sippys, and two other kinds of sippy cups. Nothing goes. You love your bottle. I can say for certain that you will not be off a bottle at 12 months. And thats okay with me!

Lately you are having so much fun playing with toys while sitting up. You love your train with the blocks, stuffed animals, anything that makes noise and anything you can chew on. You have a wooden stacking toy that you loved to pull off the stick and then chew on the wooden blocks. You are also ALL over the place. Still army crawling all over the place (who said that only lasted a few weeks? You are going on MONTHS.) You army crawl so fast, you look like a little snake. You get up on all 4's all the time but no real crawling. You are starting to try and climb on the stairs (super fun) and you are in to everything. Up until this last week I could put you in your bouncer while I was getting ready. Not so much anymore. You almost rolled out of that thing! I can still get you to stay in your jump jump if I have to while I am making dinner, but it is almost out of commission as well. It bores you!

You are still chilling in mostly 9 month clothes. A few 6 month onesies fit if they are on the longer size. I have you in 12 month jackets because those are what we have for warm jackets and the fit but are on the large side. You are fully in 12month sleepers. You wear size 3 diapers and still fit in to the Kawaii pure and clean cloth diapers that I originally bought. You wear cloth *most* of the time at home. Not this last bit though! I would rather throw out diapers with your poo situation that  be washing it out. That is not my idea of a good time!

You are VERY into your paci these days. If I am holding it you will grab it out of my hand and stick it in your mouth. You also have about 3 or 4 pacis in bed with you that if you wake up in the middle of the night you will grab. They are probably your favorite thing. You can't nap or sleep with out one!

Well, you are waking up from your nap. I love you so much bubba!

So yeah...

So the goal was to blog more... Yeah, that didn't happen so much. Life is crazy and busy and just keeps getting busier and crazier. And I don't really have an excuse. There was time, but mostly I just didn't have anything to say. But tonight I do have something on my mind and that is...

What the heck were we thinking when we decided J should join the Navy?! And I say that because I hate being by myself. Also, I am seriously afraid of everything. And when I am by myself, who is going to be my knight in shining armor? Because do you know who hates the dark? Me. Do you know who hates spiders? Me. And do you know who has to get up in the middle of the night with a sick baby? Me.

I say all this because yes, I am scared. And I may always be scared, but that doesn't mean that I can't do this. I can do this, I can be by myself and to make it. And this is why: "This is my command -- be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9.

There is a necklace hanging in my car. Is the the verse, Joshua 1:9. It has been there since my husband gave it to me at 17 years old when we first started dating. Even back then I was afraid. And this was my reminder - God is there. He is always with me. And there is nothing to be afraid of because wherever I am going, He has already been there. I am never alone. Even in the dark.

So yes - today I am questioning why the heck I ever thought that J having a job that required him to be gone for weeks or months at a time. But I know that this is exactly where we are supposed to be. And yes there will be tears, yes there will be hard days, and yes I will get scared, but I will be fine. This is where I am supposed to be. And maybe I'll be a little less fearful in the end.

"Mid" Month Check In

Bahaha... Goals? I am pretty sure I forgot what this word is this month. Nothing has really gone according to plan and pretty sure that I am lacking on every single goal. 


February Goals:

• No Spend Month. For real. Only budgeted items. Yeah... That didn't happen. I normally budget about $80 for our "misc." spending... we are at about $200. Plus the cost of tax prep (about $400). Bahaha..... None of it was on a CC (because we paid that bad boy off!) but still...
• Clean.up.dresser. This is getting ridiculous. Since my hubs is playing XBox and I canceled out Hulu plus subscription... I should probably do this tonight. 
• Make some more items from pintrest {cooking, crafting, organizing, or cleaning!} I did make a few items from a cooking mag my mama got me, so I think this counts. And I am saving up some craft projects for when J is gone..... Still a fail. 
• Blog more {2x per week} comment more {one per day} I feel I am doing better here. Maybe I am not interesting, but I am putting myself out there!
• Freezer meals. J may or may not be leaving soon. And I need to be prepared. And I have a freezer! Finally, something I can feel good about. I went to costco, bought lots of meat, have some easy meals planned! Woo Hoo!

So I am pretty sure that this is a major fail month by my goal standards. However, I have gotten some things accomplished that weren't goals and I feel good about that:

1. Appointment made with a CPA for our taxes (tomorrow)
2. Took H for his first store trip sans infant car seat. And he sat like a CHAMP (who's baby is sitting finally? Mine is!)
3. Relaxed with my hubs and took some time for "us."
4. Had friends over for a fun dinner in
5. Kept up with my checkbook and budget.

It's not a ton, but it works for me. 

Weekend Crazies

Wow... I need a weekend from my weekend. I feel like I have cleaned, laundered, diapered, cooked, and urgent cared.

First the good: J made ribs. Oh man... Tasty. Plus I made hummus. Again, oh man. It was a tasty weekend. Thankfully we had friends over to share because I could have eaten my weight in ribs and hummus and really I might have gotten sick from that much good stuff.

Then the bad {not really that bad}: Sunday we ended up at urgent care. Mostly because of first time mommy jitters. So I am reading Parents Magazine and an article in the current edition is all about poo. And we have had some poo problems so I was interested. Too hard, too soft, weird colors, you name it, it's happened. The colors to worry about are red, white, and black. So when I go to change his diaper his poo is black. And I just read that black is BAD and you should call your doctor. So I do, and off to urgent care we go. And about an hour of waiting for a doctor we have a little chat about how's he's been doing {besides the black poo} and what he's been eating. He's been perfectly happy, playing, and eating like a champ. He has had blueberries for nearly every meal, he loves those things. Well, come to find out too many blueberries can actually have an effect on the color of things. Wouldn't that have been great to know a few hours ago? So we were sent home with a little sample thingy and no more blueberries for a few days. Hopefully that will clear things up.

Mommy freak out. Check.

I am thankful that I care so much about my son to look at his poo and worry {never thought I'd think that sentence}. I am thankful that I have a healthy happy babe. And I am thankful I have a husband who trusts my instincts and lets me run with it.

The rest of the weekend was filled with normal, weekend tasks. Laundry that needs to be finished, leftovers that need to be eaten, games to be played.

And we are off to the next week.

10 Months Old

Well Mister -

You've officially been out longer than you have been in. Scary thought! Feels like just yesterday I found out we were pregnant with you. Boy, time flies.

You are weighing in at just over 18lbs and 28.5 inches long. You are 10-25% for your weight, about 50% for your height and that darn noggin of yours is still in the 90th percentile. Doctor thinks you are growing just perfectly. You are wearing some longer 6 month onesies, but mostly 9 month onesies. You fit into both 6 and 9 month pants. Sleepers are 9 month as well. Jackets are still 6 month old because I am not sure where your 9 month jackets are. You may go straight to 12 month there. I don't have you in shoes, but I think you are wearing 6 month + there. Hats are still toddler sized. Mommy's little bobble head!

We switched you our of your infant seat. You had about an inch and a few pounds to go, but honestly you were just getting too heavy to carry! We made it to my goal of having you sitting by yourself by the time we switched. Thank goodness for that!!

This month you are FINALLY sitting by yourself. You still topple over every now and again, but I am not sure if it's because you are ready to crawl around again or if you are just falling over. You are still army crawling all over the place. I am not sure if you will switch to regular crawling or just stay where you are because it gets you where you want to go. You get up on your knees all the time and do lots of rocking, so I am sure time will tell. You will stand by yourself but we have to hold you because I never know when you are going to start "jump-jumping" because you still love that a lot!

You are oh so chatty my little man! Lots and lots of babbling going on at our house! I always know when you are getting a little bit of "stranger danger" because you aren't talking. Then you warm right up and chat away. You can say: Mama, Dada, Papa, Baba {I swear you also say Bob for Bob the dog}, and then lots of other babbles. You still only call things by name when you want to, but you tend to yell MAMA a lot when you are not happy. This month you have also begun whispering, which is super cute. Especially when I am feeding you a bottle right before bed and you look up at me and whisper Mama... can you say melts my heart?!

You are starting to eat a few more finger foods. By far your favorite thing is toast. You have not yet refused anything we have given you thought. You love your veggies. I make home-made apples and pears with cinnimon and nutmeg, squash, sweet potato, and yams, and peas. You still love puffs, and now I have substituted in cheerios which are also a hit. I cut up bits of what we are having for dinner as well as any fruits or other things that I think you might like. We are still working on getting you to pick up squishy things like avacados, but so far no dice. Though we did figure out that you will eat things if they are hard, like refrigerated bananas. Nothing squishy for you!

Knock on wood you are finally starting to sleep thru the night. And by finally I mean these last 3 nights. We had a talk with daycare about making sure you are going down for two naps while you are there and that combined with you just being ready has resulted in 3 amazing nights of sleep from 8-6:30. Works for us!! Keep it up Bubba! I can tell when you haven't napped well at daycare because you are up a few times during the night. But you are getting better at finding your paci so I am sure our days of getting up to find it for you are almost a thing of the past {famous last words, right?!}

Sometimes I have a hard time writing down all of the new things you are doing. Because some things just come so naturally that I honestly forget if they are new or not. Like clapping. You have always waved your arms and kicked your lets when you were super happy and now have started clapping if you are happy too. But it was such an easy transition between the two that I can't pinpoint when it started {maybe that makes me a bad mom... oh well!} I really need to get a video of you "flying." It's something you have done since about 3 months old and I know it's going to stop here soon. When you are on your belly, you flap you arms and kick your legs and it looks like you are flying. It's the cutest thing!

Oh my little man you are growing up so fast. In two months you will be a year old. I can't believe how fast time has flown. We love you more each and every day!

Scared...

There are so many directions that this post could be going in. I am afraid of the dark, spiders, people who want to wear my skin like a mask, and scary movies {basically I am a giant 'fraidy cat}. But on to the point of this post, I am also scared to have another baby. Not scared in a "how can I love something as much as I love my first," because I know your heart just grows. I don't know how but it just does. But I am scared. And I've always thought that we would have more than one child. I've always wanted 3 and the hubs always wanted two (I have to be controversial in our relationship =) ) And now I have myself re-thinking things are here's why:

H is perfect. Not in a wow, I love him so much he's perfect kind of way but in a Holy crap he never cries unless something is wrong, always laughs at something, plays on the floor by himself amazingness kind of way. And there is no way that we will create another baby that is so easy going. It's just not possible. We are not that lucky. {I'm pretty much guaranteeing that we will have colic and be fussy up the wazoo}

Daycare is expensive. And yeah - you get a 20% discount when you have two and yeah- once he's over 2 years old H's daycare expenses will go down, but STILL that's a whole lotta cash-ola going out for someone to watch my kiddos {money well spent, but still expensive!}

My 1st pregnancy was easy peasy. And I know that they tell you every pregnancy is different but I secretly hope that the only reason they say that is for people who had horrible experiences. Because honestly, if I knew that I was going to be sick the whole time you would have to be pretty convincing to get me to do it again. 

While pregnancy was FAB and I pretty much black out during delivery, I completely remember actually pushing H's giant head out of my lady parts. And no big deal... But I don't want to do it again. 4+ hours of pushing? No thank you. And no, I don't want you to cut him out of me either because I am pretty sure you uterus is supposed to stay in your body at all times, thanks! 

Speaking of pushing a child out of your lady parts... It takes a long time for those things to go back! And none of that was real fun either. I was pretty sure that I was never going to walk again and I'd forever sit on a doughnut. No joke!

Then on top of all of that - H is just starting to consistently sleep thru the night. And even then we are up for the day at about 6:30. And I am pretty sure I am at my limit for functioning with no sleep. Combine that with another baby who doesn't sleep thru the night until they are one {or later... Dear God!} and I may not survive. 

All of that being said... I know that we will have another baby. And maybe by the time I'm 9 months preggo I will not be scared anymore. =)

Comparisons

Life is full of things to comparison yourself against. And nearly every time I compare myself to someone else I always fall short. And I probably always will. But do you want to know a secret? Comparisons suck and they don't tell a clear picture.

 When I look at my {almost} 10 month old, he is perfect in my eyes. He does things in his own time. He lights up my world and has the most precious personality. But comparing his to friends babies he is not advancing as quickly as they are. It took him 9 months to sit. He doesn't wave or give kisses. He army crawls all over the place but has no desire to do it from all fours. He isn't pulling himself up and he is no where near trying to walk. And all of those things that dont seem to measure up only paints a partial picture. My baby is chatty and silly and intentionally does things to get a laugh. He is stubborn and know what he wants or does not want to do. He eats like a champ and is probably one of the easiest babies out there. He laughs all day long and smiles at everyone. There is no stranger danger with our boy, he will make friends with anyone. He is absolutely perfect in his own way.

From the outside looking in, my husband and I may not seem like the happiest of couples. My family lovingly calls us The Bickerson's. And yes - we do bicker. But if I wasn't married to someone who challenged me and pushed me out of my comfort zone I would walk all over him. I attempt to make myself look like I am put together - working mom, loving wife, supportive friend, who always looks put together and no crazy hair. But if we are being honest here? It's a good day if I've shaved my legs, and that doesn't happen so often these days. And my friends? Thank God for good friends who love me, because life is busy. And finding 5 minutes where two of us are free to catch up is few and far between.

Maybe one day I will look like I have it all and feel like I have it all. For now, I am going to be happy that I haven't gone to work with some kind of baby fluid {or food} on me and with semi-decent hair.

And once my husband is gone you will just have to settle for clothes that haven't been spit up on. =)

Reviews - Question for bloggers

Have any of you been contacted to review a product? I have gotten a few emails over the last few months to review products where I get a product for free and one to give out. And I have been sceptical about it because nothing comes for free. And seriously? Someone wants me to talk about their product and give it away?

So my question is: How do you know if it's legit? And do I just go with it?

Freedom

This is sort of three stories in 1. I'll try and keep it short and sweet.


1) Our mortgage used to be with Bank of America. I really hate that bank. I've never had a good experience with them and their customer service stinks. At least every time I've called. And I did a happy dance the day we found out our mortgage was sold. No freakin' joke. 


2) Our family goal is to be credit card debt free in 6 months with budgeted extra payments. Maybe sooner with our tax return.


3 A) Our new mortgage company is AMAZING and 3 B) OUR CREDIT CARD IS PAID OFF!!


Slightly Longer Version:


While we were with BofA J called several times to get our interest rate lowered under the Service Members Civil Relief Act (e-mail me if you have any questions about what this is). And they refused. Time and time again. And it didn't matter how many times J faxed in his active duty orders, a copy of his ID, a letter from his skipper, and countless other items. And every time they would respond with "I'm sorry, you are a reservist." Um... Are you kidding me?! 


Then our mortgage was sold. And I did a happy dance. And about a week ago we got a letter from our new company. A letter saying that upon review of our account they determined that our interest rate was to be lowered and apologized that it had not been lowered sooner. Then they gave us a check for the last two years of interest that we overpaid. 


{Insert singing choirs here - and me jumping up and down}


And with this interest check we paid off our last and only credit card. 


{Insert singing choirs here - and me jumping up and down}


And so there is my story. One goal down. We are FREE!!!

5 Questions + De-Lurk {re-try}

Meredeth from La Buena Vida posts a BQOTD {burning question of the day} and I loved her questions plus she did a de-lurk along with it. And I'm totally copying her {because I loved it!!} So without further adu: 


Today's Burning Question(s) of the Day: 


 1. What was the last thing you read? 
2. What was the last thing you ate?
3. What time did you go to bed last night?  
4. If you had $100 that you had to spend today, not put towards debt or savings, what would you buy? 5.What's one major thing you hope to accomplish in the next year? 


 I'd love to hear from you. I know most people don't stop to comment, but I'd really appreciate it if you do!!



P.S Yes this is try number two for this post... I tried to post from my iPad and as you can see... It didn't work. Thank you for commenting!

February Goals

Oh My... January flew by. And I am pretty sure that my goals did not get accomplished. Oh well... It's a new month. Here we go!

January Goals:

• Clean up closet and dressers. Fail. I set all of my hangers backwards....that's about it. 
• Take old living room items to the thrift store. Done!  
• Stay on budget - especially groceries and Costco! Fail... Lots of extra spending. February is officially a no spend month.
• Make more baby food - I've bought apples and pears that need to be made. I would like to make green beans as well. Plus he needs more sweet potatoes and squash. Completed! Made pears and apples, squash, yams, and sweet potatoes. I also have a Costco bag of peas that need to be done this weekend. 
• Save for a chest freezer. Done! We ended up with a brand new freezer and it is glorious! And on budget. 
• Start getting together our tax forms. All together. Just need one more form printed out {I think} and I have convinced hubs to go on base for FREE. 
• Blog more! (Thinking two days a week for sure.) Comment more on other blogs. I read all of the blogs I follow, but almost never comment. Eh...Fail. More posts {sort of} but not a lot of comments. 

So... Not really where I want to be... and I could give some excuses, but I'm not going to. On to this month.

February Goals:

• No Spend Month. For real. Only budgeted items.
• Clean.up.dresser. This is getting ridiculous. 
• Make some more items from pintrest {cooking, crafting, organizing, or cleaning!}
• Blog more {2x per week} comment more {one per day} 
• Freezer meals. J may or may not be leaving soon. And I need to be prepared. And I have a freezer!

Short and sweet. Februarys a short month, and I know we can make it. What are your goals?

A full nights sleep

How glorious that would be. Oh baby, I wish you would sleep thru the night....


The day after I posted that H was only waking up once a night around 4:30 or so was the day he stopped doing that. Oh we are now up 2+ times per night. And that does not include the times that he semi wakes himself up and cries in his sleep. All he wants is his pacifier. And I don't want to spend the next 17 years waking up twice a night to put in a pacifier. 


I am torn. It was so easy when he was 10 days old to let him cry it out in his crib {CIO}. I firmly believe that this is why he is so easy to put to bed. But I can't seem to get on board with letting him CIO in the middle of the night. But I am really not sure what my other option is. It feels like keep doing what I am doing, or let him cry. I've started waiting it out when he just makes noises at night. I wait for him to actually cry before I go out of bed. I would love for him to be able to soothe himself back to sleep. But he either can't find or doesn't wake up enough to find his paci himself. 


We noticed that he sleeps better {or naps better} when he is warmer. So he sleeps with a blanket and warm jammies. I don't know if we need to place a heater in his room or what. 


I'm at a loss. I want to sleep. I want my baby to sleep soundly and be well rested. But I am just not sure how to do it. I feel like we just keep waiting for the day that he sleeps thru the night... and we just aren't there. 

Q&A

Kaylee from Max & Kalee tagged me in a Q&D that has been floating around. I am excited to be included, mostly because while I don't personally know Kaylee, she is one of the sweetest people I follow. And because this is helping me fulfill one of my goals for the month. Blogging more! Thank Kaylee!!

Rules

1. Post the rules (and link up who tagged you).

2. Post eleven facts about yourself.

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you, and create eleven new questions for those you tag.

4. Tag however many people you want.

5. Let them know you tagged them!

11 Facts about myself

1. I never ever wanted to be a military wife. Ever. Couldn't imagine it. And now, with Josh in the military I can't imagine my life any different. While this may not be his forever career (or maybe is it) I am enjoying it. 

2. Being a SAHM would be much more difficult for me than being a working mom. I admire those that stay at home but know that it's not for me. I wish that I liked being home more than I do.

3. I was a cheerleader in high school and loved it (minus the drama). If there was an adult tumbling class close by I would have a membership. I would be in way better shape than if I just joined a gym. 

4. I have an addiction to goodies. Seriously. I could eat sugar/candy/crap with any meal of the day (or for any meal). The night doesn't feel complete if I haven't had an oreo, pudding or something else. And sadly while I still have a fast metabolism, it's slowing down. And some how the oreo diet hasn't been giving me the six pack I thought it would.

5. I am much more scared have a second child and be on maternity leave than I am to actually push said second child out of my lady parts (not that I am currently or trying to get pregnant!)

6.I love to be outdoors. This is not something I necessarily loved when I was growing up, but came into in high school. I love camping, wake boarding, rafting, paddle boarding, sun tanning, BBQing, and picnicking. That being said, we hardly make it any where outdoors-y and not only do we live in the Pacific Northwest, but we live by the water! What is wrong with us?!

7. In middle school I wanted to be a vet. One day there was a girls only science trip. On said science trip we were looking at slides of X-Ray'd dog bones. I fainted. Needless to say the vet career was short lived. 

8. I have perfect 20/20 vision, but still own glasses because I think they are cute. One day when I actually HAVE to wear glasses, I am going to curse myself for wanting them.

9. Put me in a room full of people who don't know each other and I will be the loudest one in the bunch. I will be making friends and be a social butterfly. Put me in a room full of people where pretty much every one already knows each other and I can hardly speak. I get so nervous and shy. Strange how that happens.

10. I wish that I was 2 inches shorter and my feet were one size smaller. Goes to show you that you always want what you can't have.

11. I wish that I had a big sister. One that was cool, and taught me how to dress and do my hair and make up. One that gave advice and was my best friend. Instead of a big sister I have 2 besties, a MoLaw, Auntie, and a Mama. Plus pintrest and facebook. I think I'm doing alright. Thought I really could have used one of them in my awkward 6th grade thru Sophomore year. Oh well, I survived!

Questions for tagged friends

1. What is your favorite food? Anything that can be found at a BBQ - corn, baked beans, coleslaw, hamburgers, and of course baked goodies!

2. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? ohh.... I hate this question!! There are so many good answers. Well--- I would pay off my house for sure. Then I would give to charities and family members to take some of the stress off of them. I would want to travel (some where WARM and also Europe). And to be honest, I would probably keep working. Unless I had enough money to keep me entertained every day. 

3. What is your favorite accessory? I am horrible at accessorizing. But my favorite necklace is a Tiffany and Co. necklace I got at my bridal shower. It has an infinity symbol. It's my favorite thing to wear because it symbolizes to me that my marriage is forever. 

4. If you had a "day off", what would you do? Sleep in. Drink lots of coffee. Read a book. Cuddle up on my couch and open up all my windows so I could see out side. Have no responsibilities. No house to clean, no laundry calling my name, no babies to tend to, and no husband to answer to. But really, I would only like that for about a day. I like the break but I love my life. 

5. Where would you love to travel to? My standard answer is Maui. It's my hubs and I's favorite place. Plus our honeymoon site. I would also like to go to Mexico, Canada, the UK, Germany (again!) and Italy. 

6. If I came to visit you, where would you take me? I would take you to Deception Pass, Pike's Place Market, and Fort Casey. There are many more parks here that I haven't been to that are just at beautiful.  Plus the park on base is absolutely gorgeous. Oh - and I really want to try out the water park and Great Wolf Lodge... so we can go there also!

7. What is your favorite book? Right now I am loving the Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovitch. Not super deep, but super entertaining. 

8. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? If money were no object, I would pick Maui. Or home. 

9. Have you been to a Ballet?  Would you like to go? I have been when I was little, but not recent enough to really remember it. I would go, I think it would be fun!

10. Do you play (or did you play?) a musical instrument? I played the clarinet and the saxophone when I was in middle school My sweet mama thought I was amazing. I think it may have been music only a mother could love. 

11. What is your current favorite song? This is horrible and I can't believe I am copping to it, but LMFAO's Sexy and I Know It. After watching the video and being terribly grossed out, it now makes me laugh soooooo hard! And my hubs and I always dance along. Especially in the car. We like to wiggle and it cracks us up. So maybe it's not so much the song, but the memories and laughs with it. 

Wow -- Thanks Kaylee for tagging me!!

Frustrating People {rant}

One thing that really ticks me off about being around military people pretty much all the time is that you see the good, the bad, and the ugly. All of our close friends who are military are great {and sane}. Everyone has their "I hate my job" days, days where things are frustrating. Who doesn't. But one think that really ruffles my feathers is people who decide they are going to "screw" the military because their life isn't all roses. People who sign up for four years and then decide after less than a year that they want out. And they don't care if they've signed a contract, they say out right that they will make themselves as worthless as possible to try and get early out or make the Navy "sorry" they aren't letting them go sooner. And I am not gonna lie, I see this more often in girls than guys.

I know that there are people who are deceived about what they are getting in to. I know that being military is not always fun. I know that deployments suck. But I also know that military life is not that bad. Specifically here where we are. My husband works usually works less hours than I do per week. He gets more days off. More vacation time. He has more time during the day to good off and watch YouTube or Facebook {Not saying you actually do these things hunny!} It is easy for him to come to doctors appointments when needed or get the day off if he has to. He often gets off work early, and in this crazy winter storm we have been having he's had all week off where as I have had to go to work. And it drives me bonkers seeing post after post of FB of how much people hate the Navy. Seriously? If you acted like that at my work, you wouldn't have a job to be complaining about. My job is fairly easy, but there are rules to follow. It's real life. It's not handed to you on a silver platter. If I spent hours watching YouTube, I would no longer have a job. If I made myself worthless, you've guessed it... I wouldn't have a job.

And one more thing? Getting pregnant to get out of deployment? I thought that was a joke. No one in their right mind would actually have a baby for the main desire of getting out of deployment. I mean, people know that deployment is like 6-12 months {Navy} and babies are like 18+ years? Oh, no? That really happens? YES. In our small group of acquaintances here I know 4 people who have done this. 2 that are married and had other reasons for wanting a baby {getting out of deployment was just a bonus and definitely part of the timing} and 2 that didn't want to deploy. Awesome. Great plan. Oh and thank you for getting out of your deployment and bumping my husband up on the list to deploy. Thanks, I really appreciate that.

{P.S. obviously I know my husband will deploy. And no I am not looking forward to it. It's one of the down sides of military life. But, you have to take the good with the bad.}

All of that being said, I am so glad to know people who truly love what they are doing. Love that they have a job that provides for their families. Or maybe they don't love their job any more and are getting out, but they are honoring their commitments while they are still in the Navy. I am thankful that I only have to see the people that drive me crazy rarely. Personally, I am thankful for the Navy. It may not always be GREAT, but the good out weighs the bad. For sure.

How to travel with a 9 month old

Wow. When I knew that I was driving 5+ hours all by myself with an infant, I was not terribly happy about it. I was worries that he would cry the whole way, I would stope every hour, everything would go wrong. And I am not going to lie, it was not the easies trip that I have taken, but I have learned some lessons that will make it  go easier in the future.

1. Plan the start of your trip around baby's nap, and be flexible. 
2. Make sure that all of your "to dos" are done the day before you leave, so you can leave around baby's first nap
3. Fill bottles with water and pack formula for bottles, so it's easy to grab, shake and feed. {I have a munchkin brand formula holder. It holds 8 oz each in 3 sections. Perfect for traveling}
4. Do not stop at the store and buy things you need for the trip while actually on the trip. Remember step #2? You have already bought everything you need the day before {or earlier}. 
5. Attach paci to the car seat straps. So when you are stuck in Seattle and there is no where safe to stop you can reach back and pop that sucker back in so you are not listening to a screaming child.
6. Also attach one toy if possible to the car seat straps. One of H's favorite toys is a teething style ring. I kept it attached to him so he could easily grab it when he got bored. 
7. Only place one toy in the car seat. Place all other toys within reach so you can pass them back one at a time until you can get some where safe to stop.
8. Map out locations within a half hour of each other to stop. You will not hit most of them, but you don't want to A)stop in the ghetto or B) be feeding your baby in the parking lot of a gas station. It will be creepy and you will be wishing that you stopped in either A) a Starbucks or B) a McDonalds or Target.
9. Stopping at a big name company is best. They will most likely have a changing table in the bathroom so you are not stuck in the gas station parking lot changing your baby in the car.
10. Buy a mirror so you can see your baby BEFORE you go on your trip. I had never used one before because the angle wasn't right. My best friend's roommate taped a large binder clip to the back and the angle was PERFECT. I could see him in my rear view mirror and could tell if he was just back there talking to himself or back there freaking out. Made it easier to determine what was a "we need to stop NOW" and "we still have a little bit keep driving." Also, when he was really quite, I could see that he was sleeping and not back there not breathing =)

Unfortunately I did not do all of these things on the drive there. It was not peaceful, it was not fun, and I was calling my husband telling him that never again will he get out of a road trip. However, the drive back was so much better. And no joke, it snowed the whole way home. And that drive was much more peaceful. 

Mid January

Oh my gosh... It is past mid January..... Seriously? Where on EARTH has the month gone? And I have a feeling I haven't even THOUGHT about my monthly goals. Let's see how I'm panning out:

January Goals:

• Clean up closet and dressers. Set all of my hangers backwards so I can get rid of things that don't get warn. Fill one dresser drawer with things that I possibly don't use and get rid of after 3 months. 
• Sneak in two boxes from our Ikea trip to use as storage under the bed. Fail. Totally not done. Speaking of, I'm going to switch my hangers right now so I don't have to think about it again.
• Take old living room items to the thrift store. Done! But not how I thought it would get done. One of our friends ended up moving out a little abruptly and we gave the things we were going to donate to her. That's like the thrift store with out the tax benefit, but makes my heart feel good. 
• Stay on budget - especially groceries and Costco! Good so far. We are on budget for groceries and for Costco. However we still need to make one more Costco run for diapers and formula before the end of the month. Fail that January was supposed to be a no spend month. $90 for a table husband? Grrreat! However, we will now do No Spend February!
• Make more baby food - I've bought apples and pears that need to be made. I would like to make green beans as well. Plus he needs more sweet potatoes and squash. Mostly done. Made the pears and apples. Tried peas. We are still mostly good on sweet potatoes and squash.
• Save for a chest freezer. Done! We sold our extra couch and I have my bonus. My goal is less than $300 for a brand new one, or if we can find one on Craigslist under $200.
• Start getting together our tax forms (Call the hourly provider used and get a receipt!) Fail on the hourly provider. Can't find her number.
• Blog more! (Thinking two days a week for sure.) Comment more on other blogs. I read all of the blogs I follow, but almost never comment. Eh... I'm gonna go with fail. I am not commenting, and am not posting as much as I like. 

So I am about 50/50 for my goals. Still some work to be done. I love this accountability thing!!! 

9 Months Old

Wow.... Nine whole months. Can I confess that I still think of my baby as 6 months? Maybe I am wishing that he would slow down a little bit.

Little Ninja, you are changing so much! This month you have really started to get around. Not only are you rolling, but you are army crawling all over the place. You are also figuring out that you can reach things that aren't on the ground. It was so fun to see you figure out how to position your body to reach the diaper cream on a ledge that was just above head level. You would scoot closer, to the side, reach, move a little and keep at it until you were able to grab it. So much fun to see your little mind work.

As for eating, you are eating solids two to three times per day about 4-8 ounces each time. Plus puffs. Oh dear, we cannot forget the puffs. That is the best part of meal time! You are addicted to those things. I think your favorite thing if probably rice cereal with pears and prunes, and also peas. But there are not a lot of things you don't like. You also still like yams, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, bananas, mixed veggies, mixed fruits, mac and cheese, chicken with noodles or rice, and turkey with noodles or rice. Pretty much, I am saying you love food. We are working on more finger foods. You love plain toast! That was a big hit. You are also still eating about 32 ounces of formula each day. 6 ounces or a little less every 3 hours.

Finally you are about sleeping thru the night!! We have stopped feeding you at night and just been coming in to put in your paci. About a month ago, we were coming in twice a night to put that darn paci back in. Now, we are only in once a night and you are sleeping longer and longer. Last night, daddy went in to put your paci in at about 5:00 am. The night before I was in at about 4:30am. Lovely! We are getting there! You still go to sleep like a champ. Bath or no bath, you go in your pj's have a little bottle, and it's into bed you go. There is no tears and you are down for the night. Putting you in your crib early, and keeping with a general routine has worked wonders for you. You are down for the count somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00 pm and then up for the day around 6:30.

You are still in 6 month clothes but quickly growing out of them. You weigh about 19 lbs and I have no idea how long you are. You are almost grown out of your car seat. I am still wondering when you will sit by yourself because you have 3 more pounds. Still, you will sit in my lap, and sit when you want to, but stick you in a cart? You slump to the side. Silly baby!

Oh my lanta... you chat all the time. I can always tell when you are uncomfortable with new people, because you are so quite, then about 5 minutes later on and on you go! And you make this "seagull" noise that is a happy squeal.... not my favorite noise, but you love it! You have said "mama" to me, "papa" to your grandpa, and "baba" to your bottle. But in general, you just chat. It may be a coincidence that you have said those words to the right thing. In your own time. Still no "stranger danger" you are happy to be with anyone. The only exception was when you were crowded by all of my family and I was no where to be seen. Big tears for that one. But after a few minutes back with mama, and introducing you to people one at at time, you loved being the center of attention! You are also quite the little ham. You will do things, make sure we are looking, then laugh your little head off. You want to make sure we see all of your antics.

Oh my baby boy, I love you so much. My life has forever been changed. I can't wait to see the toddler and child you are to become. You are such a joy in our lives.

We love you baby!!

Traveling with an infant

Oh my lanta.... Friday I will be driving 5 hours... with a 9 month old. {and that is without traffic} By myself.

Doesn't that sound like fun?

Nope, it sure dosen't.

I am going to try and plan this drive around Hyatt's nap. And I can tell you with certainty, he does not nap in 5 hour stretches.

For sure I will have to stop at least once for a bottle. And I am hopping that if I pack enough toys within his reach, attach his paci to the car seat {totally not so I can reach back while I am driving and pop the paci back in his mouth...cause that's safe}, and keep him fed it will be an enjoyable trip.

I thought about giving him some tylenol to help his sleep a little more, but just can't make myself do it. Drugging my child is a definite no-no in my book {unless he is actually sick}. Plus tylenol doesn't make him sleep that much longer. But thanks to everyone who's already suggested it...

Oh - and then I'm going to turn around and come home on Sunday.

Who wishes they were making that trip..... LOL!

Any one have any ideas on how to make it a little more enjoyable?

Bobble Wobbles....

I have two dogs. One is a beautiful lab and the other is a large doxie mix. Doc, our lab, is always healthy. He is smart, pretty, and perfect {although he is a little...shall we say blonde}. He's the girl in high school you wanted to hate because she had her life together and looked beautiful doing it. Bob, our mix is the exact opposite. To be cute, we have to shave him. He is stubborn like none other, and has a personality all his own. And to top it all off, he has an Auto Immune Disease.

Fabulous.

He was diagnosed about two years ago, when he was only a year old. Very young to acquire this particular disease {so the vets say}. Two years ago, we thought we may have to put him down because of how bad off he was, and how far he was from the playful puppy we used to know. Fast forward two years, and he is a happy camper once again {although he is heavily medicated to be this way}.

Our current vet recommended that we come in to update his blood work and check his levels. Make sure that his pills are still working and his body is still thriving. And I probably wouldn't be writing this if the vet came back with good news. Nope, not good news at all.

Basically, Bob's body attacks his blood. A normal dog has about 50% red blood cells. Anything under 20% is considered anemic. Bob is at 22%. His blood is flowing very slowly. His blood pressure is extremely low. His body is trying to save it's self. And right now, it is a losing battle.

The new game plan is to up his steroids and discontinue his AID's meds to *hopefully* kick start his body into producing more red blood cells. And, should this not work J and I need to be ready to take him to the emergency vet should he relapse or should we need to put him down.

There are two things I hate about this whole situation. One, that my quirky little companion has been suffering from this stupid disease that he (or we) couldn't prevent. And two, I don't want to think about the financial or mental costs associated with the new game plan not working. Sadly, financial decisions do come into play here. I can't justify paying thousands of dollars for an animal who is not going to live the life he deserves.

Right now, I can already see some of the affects of him relapsing. Lethargic, mainly. Unless there is food involved, he is quite content to lay on the dog bed and nap. I am hoping that the steroids help him soon.

Oh Bob... You wormed your way into our hearts. I hate seeing you sick.

January Goals

I have to first start with how I did for December:

And my goals for December are:

• Stay on budget for Christmas + December birthday gifts. Christmas went perfect... except I bought the wrong cover for my MoLaw's iPad... so I need to buy her a present. 
• Any bonus money goes to our Ikea fund. Ikea is done... We have all new furniture! And $150 under budget. We rock!
• Put up Christmas Decorations Done and done. The went up, and then came down Christmas day. My house is mine again.  
• Make goodies for people I can't buy for (co-workers, extended family) Fail. However, we did host two holiday get togethers that I cooked for. Oh well. You can't win them all. 
• Do at least 2 Christmas-y type activities with my little family We did a Christmas party here, and a lot of Christmas get togethers at home. However, unless you count seeing Christmas lights as I drive by at night, this was a fail.
• Make a travel budget and stick to it Done! And we had enough money left over to fill up my gas tank and put $60 to our Costco envelope. 
• Cancel Aflac!  Woo hoo! I am free! This is $20 extra a month that can go towards savings!
• Figure out how to make our printer print Have not touched the printer... Fail.

So... Not all wins there, but that's okay. We haven't needed the printer so it's been on the back burner. The Christmas activities? I could have pushed a little harder to get this done, but all in all I really enjoyed the season so I'm okay there. And the goodies? Honestly, I have had so much sugar that I can't even think about making something for someone else. I need some health food!

January Goals:

• Clean up closet and dressers. Set all of my hangers backwards so I can get rid of things that don't get warn. Fill one dresser drawer with things that I possibly don't use and get rid of after 3 months. 
• Sneak in two boxes from our Ikea trip to use as storage under the bed. 
• Take old living room items to the thrift store
• Stay on budget - especially groceries and costco!
• Make more baby food - I've bought apples and pears that need to be made. I would like to make green beans as well. Plus he needs more sweet potatoes and squash.
• Save for a chest freezer.
• Start getting together our tax forms (Call the hourly provider used and get a receipt!) 
• Blog more! (Thinking two days a week for sure.) Comment more on other blogs. I read all of the blogs I follow, but almost never comment.

There it is. All attainable, all possible, but needs to be taken care of. Goal is to have all of our tax stuff together before February, plug it into the tax website and then be ready to go to the actual tax preparer on base some time late February. 

Ahh... I love goals!

There it is.

New Year - New Ideas

Wow, we have started the year off right!

New Years day was spent driving 2 hours to Ikea, buying 2 car loads full of furniture and things, driving 2 hours home, setting up said furniture, and then relaxing in our brand new living room. There are a few things that make me so happy with our new space. First - it was cash only. We purchased the things we HAD to have - a couch and two chairs. Then loaded that into the 4Runner. We counted up the remainder of our cash and stuck to our budget. We walked out of Ikea $150 under budget and bought everything we wanted. Including two new floor lamps, a new duvet and cover, a wicker "trunk", a new cheese grater, and two storage cubes. We have completely transformed our living room. We scrimped and saved and took our time finding exactly want we wanted. I AM STOKED!!!Especially because this showed my husband how cool it is to delay gratification. To walk into our house and know that everything is bought and paid for. No credit card payments. This had got him on board with some other financial decisions. =) {I.E. saving every month for something we want... hello chest freezer here I come!}

I am starting the new year trying to do more things at home. Make more dinners from scratch (take out style dinners) and make more things at home (laundry detergent, hand wash, eye makeup remover). {I love pintrest - all of these things have come from that website. In love. No joke}

Financially I have tweaked our budget around. Gotten rid of some cash categories and condensed some envelopes. Added some money for haircuts for the dogs every 2-3 months. And I know that on a regular 40 hour week schedule we can easily stay within budget for our month. And then with bonuses, over time, and J's new pay (woo-hoo for ranking up!!) all of the extra will go towards saving and then paying off our last credit card. Which I know we can pay off within the next year. And then we will be consumer debt free! We will have 1 car loan and a mortgage that is never going away. {I love me some budget and cash envelope action}

For our little family.... we will probably start talking seriously about expanding it in the next year. Thankfully we don't have to have and serious talks until our little ninja is 1 year (3 months away!!). And the only major impact to the budget will be day care... and I don't want to think about that yet. And I really want to enjoy our little man in the here and now. He is growing and changing every day. And his personality is so much fun. He is such a joy. {OMG... I can't even think about another one right now. My parts are scared!}

Personally I have a few things I want to do over the next year. I want to spend more time with God. I want this to be the year that I am drawn closer to him. I want to actually read my devotional every day. I want to blog more. Yes, I may be boring but maybe blogging will help me complete more things (like my monthly goals!!). {Maybe I can become less boring =)}

In 2012 I want to enjoy my family. J will probably deploy, and I have an idea of what it will be like. And it's not easy. So I want to enjoy the sense of normalcy we have right now. I want to enjoy how much fun my son has with his dad. {2012 will be a year of changes}

So there we are.... No no resolutions, but ideas for how I want the next year to go.

Oh how I love new years and new months! It's a fresh start =)