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 =)