Potty training and Princess Dresses

This what potty-training has turned Pollyanna into:

What's the occasion you ask? Well it's a Monday morning of course! We always wear our super frilly "princess" dresses on Monday mornings! Gosh, where have you been? :)

I actually really dislike this dress. It was given to us by....umm...I think my father-in-law's ex-girlfriend ( My husband's familial connections are mind-boggling at best. Try getting leave for your father's best friend's mother's funeral, because she was " essentially my grandmother" growing up. I promise you will never hear your husband's Chief laugh as hard again! But back to the dress...) and it was one of those pieces of clothing that I was like...it needs work but has some potential. Yah...I never got around to it and it is now one of Pollyanna's favorite pieces of clothing....all because of potty-training!

We've been working with teaching Pollyanna to go on the potty for going on a month now. It all started with this book:

I have the Kindle Version :)

Honestly... I'm not one of those people who would swear by this book. It was more of a jumping off point for us...we took some of the ideas and most of our own common sense and that has lead us to where we are today...Pollyanna now can pee and poo on the potty with no accidents during the day ( except perhaps at nap-time but that is a whole different ball game) but....ONLY if she is wearing a skirt or a dress! Pants just confound the girl!

I don't have a problem with her wearing dresses all the time....except for the fact that we have a limited number of 'casual' every day dresses. I know....I need to take a trip down to my local fabric store and pick some fabric up so that I can make her a few summer dresses...really, I'm gonna do it. Sometime. :)

In any case...I'd say potty-training is a success at this point. Even if the girl does wear dresses all the time. I have no idea what I'm going to do when it comes to potty-training Piglet in a year or so....

I guess kilts are always an option...

Picture Heavy

Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhh how my motivation to blog has been horrendous lately, huh?? LOL I think my major problem is that I have pretty much NOTHING military to blog about! I think that's a good thing, right?? Now it's just the balancing act of writing about those non-military things as well!!

I have loads of pictures today. Piglet turned a year old just a few weeks ago! We didn't have a huge party or go to Disney World or anything like that! We did go to the local Children's Museum though, and then we had cake and ice cream and presents right before bed, it was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures from the day:

In the car at the children's musem

Playin' with the cool toys we don't have at home...

Super excited!!

Daddy's so helpful!

Sister playin' too

King of the Mountain!!

Mommy' sad excuse for a birthday cake ( Hey, at least I made it!)

Caaaaaaaaaaaake!

This ice cream is soooooo good but it hurts soooooooo much!

There are some of the random pictures of the gift unwrapping. Piglet was WAY more into it then Pollyanna was at that age...she just wanted to play with they toys she already had out and was familiar with, but Piglet was into the paper and seeing the new toys!

Alright here are a last few pictures for your viewing pleasure! These are from Skunky's and mine trip to Boston:

These are the kind of pictures u get when you try to take them yourself! Holy my upper lip is missing!!!

That last picture was taken in a famous park in Boston. That statue is in honor of a book called  " Make Way For Ducklings" and it's a book that Skunky grew up reading so we had to go get a picture with the statue! This picture really makes me smile...we look like a couple of goofy kids in that traditional "best friends" pose you always see in pictures....I love it! I think it's going down as one of my favorite pictures of us!

until next time!

You add children into the equation and...

So...two year olds are interesting creatures. They can bring you to tears laughing...Pollyanna insists on clinking 'glasses' ( or sippy cups!) every time we sit down at the table, and with everyone there. Seeing my 37 year old brother 'clinking' his soda can with her sippy at dinner tonight was pretty awesome! They can also make you want to pull out your hair with how naughty and stubborn they are! ( 1-2-3 Magic is a MIRACLE book!!! Anyone dealing with a two year old needs to read it!!)

And then they freak you out with how observant they are. My SIL blogged today about her 5 year old here, and an awkward moment she had with him over breastfeeding his little brother. And it got me to thinking...Pollyanna's Grandfather comes home from work at 5 to 6pm every day, and always gives Grammy a kiss and a hug when he comes home. Lately, Pollyanna has decided that she needs to get in on that, and any time that my parents show affection to one another, she's right in there, holding Papa's hand, trying to squeeze in between their hugs, staring up at them wide-eyed as they kiss. My mom says that she thinks it's cute. Really...and I'm probably a horrible parent for feeling this way...but it kind of embarrasses me! Not because of her actions, I'm mean she's only 2!! But it makes me wonder...holy, what is she gonna be like when Skunky comes home??

I mean...my kids have not seen me be THAT kind of affectionate with anyone since their dad left. And Skunky and I...I don't think it's exactly occurred to us that she would ever get to the point where she would notice that. So...Skunky isn't exactly...inhibited, we'll say :)...around her. But now she's catching on! and I'm wondering....how weird is this gonna be?

Obviously...just when you're getting comfortable parenting...the child up and grows on you! It's just wrong. :)

Has anyone out there dealt with a similar situation? How did you deal?

Perhaps I'm crazy... :)

I'm really looking forward to getting home. For those of you who don't know...I've been visiting my family in UT for the bulk of my husbands deployment. But the time to go home is now here. I've got just under 3 weeks and we'll be back on the East Coast. I'm excited because there is a lot I'd like to do get ready for Skunky to come home. But once we get passed all of that, I'm also excited because I'm determined to make this for Pollyanna's 3rd birthday:

(Go here to see ALL of the pictures, this girl did an AMAZING job)

And I'm also going to make lot of this stuff to go with it:

( Visit this girl's Etsy shop here . She's pretty amazing...if I don't end up being cool enough to make it you can bet I'll be buying hers!!)

I'm a little ambitions ( possibly crazy!) huh? I've been thinking about doing this for probably the last year...and I really think I'm going to do it this year. I'll keep you posted! Wish me luck!

Knitting. Is. Hard!

I find crochet MUCH easier! I decided that I wanted to tackle trying to make these:


Instead after at least 3 tries, (along with Pollyanna pulling out my work another 4 times because I was silly enough to leave it where she could reach it) this is what I have so far:


Thrilling huh? :) So I've decided I could probably use some practice before I attempt to make something actually useful. And I've started this:


It's going to be an afghan for Pollyanna's dolls ( she's obsessed with carrying around her bed quilt and covering her dolls up for "naps". Which would be fine, except she gets so frustrated when the quilt doesn't lay right, and it's so BIG that it never lays right!) Do you see that ribbed pattern? It's super simple....and also the ONLY knitting pattern I've been able to master with any proficiency. Sad.

Now... why, you ask ( as did my SIL), are you knitting Jen, if you find it hard and frustrating?

And there are two reasons for this. 1) I refuse to believe there is a craft/trade out there I can't master. Heavenly Father has blessed me with both a creative mind, and the ability to pick things up very quickly ( when I set my mind to it!). So...perhaps it's a pride thing. But I really think it's a skill I'd use more often...if I could just learn it. Reason #2) I want to get one of these:


Isn't she a beauty?? I'm DIEING to learn how to spin!!!! However...Skunky, being the frugal man that he is, is probably going to be a hard sell on a 400+ $ piece of equipment ( not to mention what it will cost to buy the wool...or our own sheep {hehe!} in the near future!!) if the only thing I can do with the yarn is make a few crochet hats and a blanket!

So the knitting continues. And I will master you, you blasted knitting needles!!

Here's some joyful pics of Pollyanna from last week:


Her new thing is to rip off her Pj's and run around in nothing but her diaper and a dishcloth! She looks like a little indian!

She loves the Mrs. Potato Head we got her for Christmas! Here she is modeling the glasses. :)

And here is a video of Piglet pulling to a standing position for the first ( well 2nd really cause I didn't have the camera out for try # 1) time!!

Sunday Story Time- In the Beginning...:)

Right before I stopped blogging The Annoyed Army Wife was starting a segment called " Sunday Story Time" and I thought it was a great idea! I have been "writing" since as long I as I can remember...journals, short stories, poems...blogging :)...I take a lot of personal enjoyment in putting my thoughts and dreams into printed words. I briefly looked over her site to see if she had continued this segment, and it seems that at least the last few Sundays she has not.I hope she doesn't mind me picking it up anyway!

I'm going to be somewhat predictable and start with a story about me and the Hubs. (And I'm unsatisfied with his alias so I think I'm gonna start calling him... Skunky. LOL and THAT has got a good story that I will save for another day!) I figure that starting with something basic, and a subject that most spouses find interesting, is safe. PLUS, most of you know only what I have posted on here in recent history...I'm the wife of a Submarine Sailor, we have two young children, and I am living through our first deployment. Ahhhhh...but where did it all begin? :)

I like to fancy myself with the idea that Skunky and I have one of those "epic" love stories. Which..it's epic to me and that's really all that matters. :) But it did take him almost 4 years to convince me I wanted to marry him! So just the time period is bound to add a little 'spice' into our love story!

The first time ever met Skunky, was at work. He was in his first year at the local college, and I was in the workings of going off to my school of choice on the other side of the country. We were both working at Wal-mart, me as CSM ( customer service manager) and he in Electronics. If you know anything about Skunky in real life, you'd know that this job was PERFECTLY suited to him. He's a pop culture junkie, and loves anything to do with music and movies. He's a slight nerd ( to any of you familiar with submarine life in the Navy, my husband is Nuc. Yes they are a special breed :)) though to look at him your first impression would to be that he is much more of a nerd then he is in reality. He's short ( 5'6") and skinny ( 130lbs....he was SO proud when he hit 150 after we got married. BUT...underways and deployment have taken their toll and he's back in the 130's again) and wears a pretty thick pair of glasses ( we have the exact same prescription!) Are you getting a good mental picture here? Add to all of that the fact that I'm positive he has ADHD ( though his mother never had the money to take him to a Dr. and get him diagnosed) and my first impressions of him were this small...really can't be described as anything but "squirrely" little...well boy at the time, and he really wasn't even a blip on my radar to say the least.

Technically I was his supervisor (but only because I handled any problems he had with his casher-register.) Strike one. And I knew he wasn't Mormon, because we had a small branch and my dad was Branch president. Strike two. Really...the poor guy had a lot to overcome in my mind before he was even aware that he might like me. Except for one thing...

The guy's personality is INFECTIOUS! You cannot help but like this man! He is giddy, and positive, and funny....your first impression of him is " man, this kid is a little weird" but after 10 minutes you are literally best friends! After a few months on the boat, I had a chief come up to me after an FRG meeting and ask " You're Skunky's wife?" "Yessss...?" " I have to tell you, your husband is literally the most well like guy on the boat. There isn't anyone I know of that dislikes him." Leave it to my husband to befriend 150 sailors in just the span of a few months. :)

Months went by before he actually got around to asking me out. I wouldn't find out until later that he had actually talked with one of his buddies ( who also happened to work at Wal-Mart) about me and this guy had in not so many words told him that I was out of his league! Boy have we had a good laugh about that now. :)

When he did finally get around to it though...is a memory I will always cherish.

It was morning before the store opened. I was at the podium organizing my cash for the day, getting my registers ready, and setting out the cashier schedule for the day. Every department that had a register and keys to any locked cases were required to come to me and get them before the start of their shift. I was used to seeing Skunky, and enjoyed his little chit-chat in the mornings when he would come to get his stuff.

I saw him zoom around the corner as usual ( he's a VERY fast walker) and pulled out his bag and keys and the clipboard for him to sign them out, and then went back to the task I was working on.

" Morning, Jenn."
" Hey, Skunky!"
" How ya doin'?
" Alright...hey it looks like we're gonna be a little short handed on cashiers today. You wouldn't mind coming up if I need you would you?"
" Yeah, sure, no problem. Hey uh,...I was wondering, do you want to go out sometime?"

Silence. I stopped writing and peered over the podium at him. He was, quite literally, only about 5 inches away from me. And he had stopped his normal fidgeting. He was standing stock still...he wasn't even blinking!

I felt the lump start in the pit of my stomach. Uuugh....I'm gonna have to break this kid's heart. I thought frantically for ways I could let him down softly, all the while he stood there, still, unblinking, the look of a man awaiting a death sentence. And I thought to myself...Jen, one date is not gonna hurt.

I stepped back...personal space was obviously and issue he had when he was nervous. " Um...sure, Skunky...that sounds like fun." I could hear the pitty in my own voice. I hoped that he couldn't...

Instant transformation. Big smile, exuding all of the pent up energy he had just boiling under the surface, bouncing from foot to foot again. " Great! Alright, I'll make a plan and get back to you!" he turned and zoomed back around the corner to his department, and I was left at the podium, wondering what I had just gotten myself into.

He got back to me at the end of the day, and we made a plan for our first date the following week. But that is a story for another Sunday. :) Anyone up for seeing some a video of, years later, what would be the product of this awkward asking out?

Tuesday and then some...

Alright! This week's top 10 is: Ten things I'm excited to do on leave this weekend!!

1) Spend HOURS in the car driving to our destination. No really...I AM excited about this. :) My mom always said that she loved long drives with my dad because it was the most concentrated time they got together...to talk, enjoy music together, just be in each others presence... and I couldn't agree more!
2) Be endlessly quizzed by the Hubs about songs and bands on the radio. My husband is a POP CULTURE JUNKIE!! Movies, music, books, it doesn't matter what it is, he is the best source of useless knowledge on the planet. And since we've been married, it's been his habit to quiz me on what I know about music when we're in the car. And honestly, there is nothing more satisfying then answering a question correctly that he didn't expect me to!
3) Seeing the Hubs proudly showing off our beautiful children to all his friends and family. Most of the people we will be seeing are my husbands friends and extended family. He's such a proud Daddy, it really is a pleasure for me to see how proud he is of the children we created together.
4) A Lime Ricky. Never had one, but the Hubs used to get one every year at the Clam festival when he was a kid. It'll be something fun to share. :)
5) Riding the Ferris wheel. Actually, I'm terrified of heights. But I enjoy being stranded high in the air with the Hubs holding me tight, snickering at how foolish I am. Pshhh, I know he enjoys it just as much as I do!
6) Waking up next to the Hubs for 6 consecutive days. It's the little things in life. :) Even in port he's got duty every 3 to 4 days, so I go to bed/wake up alone 2 or 3 times a week anyway.
7) Not having to worry about house work.
8) Actually feeling like a civilian for a couple of days. Even though technically I AM a civilian, as it's my husband who is in the Navy, there is very little of my life that isn't touched in some way by the military...
9) Being away from our military town for a couple of days. This goes hand in hand with # 8.
10) Having another set of hands to help with the kids for a couple of days. I LOVE my children, but...they're a lot of work. I'm SUPER looking forward to having someone there to fix Pollyanna's lunch while I feed Piglet, instead of having to let one or the other cry for a few minutes while I get their sibling set!

I know I know...mostly things about the Hubs. Really I'm just feeling the need to enjoy every minute I have with him this week, because it's not too much longer and we'll be thousands of miles away from each other, relying on spotty e-mails and infrequent internet access to stay connected to each other. So needless to say, I think it's gonna be silent around these parts for a few days, but I'll be back next week to give you the high lights....and maybe even have a few pictures if I'm on the ball!

Also...I really just wanted to thank everyone who commented on my last post, I appreciate you reading, and for those of you who don't comment...I appreciate you reading as well! Don't be shy forever though, I love hearing from all y'all!

And on another side note...I hit 20 followers yesterday and I'm stoked :) ( thank you Mis-Adventures!) Small I know...but even a little accomplishment needs to be celebrated! I'm thinking of perhaps holding a give-away to show my appreciation to all my readers when I hit 25 followers. Or perhaps 50....think I should hold out until I hit 50?? What would you do?

until next time,

Tough Week

Oh goodness...

I wanted to update over a week ago, but every time that I sat down to write it didn't sound right to me, or my toddler was having some crisis that needed my attention, or the baby needed to be fed...the list went on , and then my mom left to go back to her home with the only working internet in my house at the time ( our personal internet had been out for almost 2 weeks, but she brought her nifty Verizon Mobile internet device so I didn't worry about it.) so then I had a week of waiting around for the ATT people to get out here and fix the phone line...anyway, we got it fixed two days ago, and of course its only now that I have found time to sit down and update...go figure :)

This week has felt like the longest week of my life. The Hubs left for an underway a week ago yesterday, and it was pretty darn hard to let him go. I'm getting so nervous for deployment...it's funny, I finally got around to reading the FRG newsletter last week and there was a letter from our Captain and he made a comment about how it may seem a bit early to be talking about it, but we're getting ready for deployment so he'll be at the next FRG meeting to talk some stuff over. And I thought to my self....early to talk about deployment? It's only about four months away! And a little less than 3 of those months are going to be spent underway anyway!

On top of the Hubs leaving, my family who had been visiting took off last Sunday. So this week has been me and the two yahoos by myself. And it's been trying...we've all been sick with some nasty cold, as well as Polyanna having a persistent ear infection, and Piglet dealing with reflux...not pleasant at all. I had a moment this week at the Naval Health Clinic, after dealing with a fussy baby the last two days I called the Dr. to get him in, and I was there with my active toddler and a screaming baby, I hadn't showered for 3 days, had gotten about 10 hours sleep in a 48 hour period, and by the way that people were looking at me, and the fact that two VERY kind people offered to help me in some way, I knew I was THAT woman.

You know...the woman you see somewhere in public, hands full of contrary children, so obviously worn down to the end of her rope, you're pretty sure she might just break down into tears if some one doesn't step in fast? Yes...I was that woman.

And of course, even after all of that, I was still insane enough to go with a friend to this man-made lake on base and attempt to keep my almost two-year-old from drowning herself while holding my 8 week old in my arms, cursing myself for not putting sunscreen on him and praying that his fair skin doesn't crisp in a matter of minutes like his fathers does.

And the SILLIEST thing is, that's the whole reason I went to the lake today! Because I knew how much the Hubs LOVES to go there, and I wanted to be able to write to him and tell him about our fun day at the lake, and how we can't wait until he gets home so we can all go together!

I will never do that alone again.

At least I've learned my limits. :)

In any case...lol you've probably figured by now that I've had a tough week. Sorry to vent about it. :) I promise my next post will be about something WAY more chipper!

until next time,

A few orders of business...( family and real-life friends, please read to the end!)

I know....it's been almost two weeks since my last entry! Things have been hectic here, my husband came home and then my family came in, and oh with the craziness of having four children 4 and under in the same house!! ( If you'd like to hear about some of our adventures, check out my sister's blog here, as she's much better at remembering and writing down silly things that happen with kids than I am at this point! She's also going to post any pictures that have been taken of our kids while she was here, with her amazing photography skills, so if any of you are interested check her out!!)

It's been a really good visit and I'm going to be sad when everyone leaves....and I mean everyone, including the Hubs. :/ He's going for a longish underway this time and I am NOT looking forward to it. I'm already feeling the clump in my stomach about being left alone. And you know that feeling you get sometime when you've broken out of your routine and you just feel....off? :: Sigh:: I know I'll be fine...it just always an adjustment. :)

Is there anything else new to report? I have to admit that at this point I'm still kind of reeling from the visit...a lot happened. Oh! My sister helped me come up with new internet safe nicknames for my kids! So Crazy Girl is going to be know as Pollyanna from here on out, and Duder is going to be known as Piglet from here on out. Pollyanna came from the movie, because my sister says she looks just like her, although I'm taking her word for it because I've never seen it! And Piglet, because my son is such a little piggy!! I can't believe he's been taking 6 oz of breastmilk since we checked (via breastpump, and boy has that been a blog worthy experience that will have to wait for a later date!) at 4 weeks old! AND he can already roll himself over from stomach to back, the first time we saw that was 5 weeks! WAY sooner than my daughter did!

Oh, and one last item of business; I'm starting a private family blog so that I can post more pictures of my kids for family and friends. It has been brought to my attention that with the new direction of my blog I don't give them enough face time to satisfy my family, and thinking it over, I've decided to keep this blog about my feelings on military life and start a whole new one where I can feel comfortable posting more pictures of my kids. Anyway...so if you're reading this and are a friend or family member who has known me past my mil-blogging days, please leave your e-mail address as a comment on this post so I add you to my family blog!

until next time,

He's Home Again!

Well I made it! I made it through my first underway with two kids!! It was only a little one-weeker, and I actually think it went pretty smoothly. I wasn't NEARLY as emotional as I had been all of Duder's pregnancy. It did drag a little bit more then I was expecting it to with the added chores a newborn brings, and I definitely was feeling it the last couple of days...mostly just tired and lonely. Not "kill myself" lonely....more like "angry that you're gone" lonely. At least I can function decently through the anger :)

It's funny though... I'm reminded of a post I read here not too long ago about looking forward to a homecoming. I think, especially for Navy wifes, this applies for all of the underways, whether it be an actual deployment or not. I totally spent the last two days of the underway dreaming about how our meeting would be. We were actually hoping he would have duty the day that they got in, so that would allow him to have the weekend off, as my parents and sister and her kids are coming in this weekend ( As it is he has duty today so... he still gets saturday and sunday so...yay! even though he only got to come home for a few hours and then return to the boat for another 24 hours ::sigh::) . So I saw myself dropping the kids off at a babysitter while I went down to the pier and hugged and kissed my beloved one, and then we spent and hour to and hour and 1/2 catching up and making out on the pier somewhere dark and secluded behind some random large piece of machinery that I have no idea what it's used for. :)

Want to know how it actually happened? I spent the day helping a friend who had an emergency and needed a little support. We didn't get home until and hour before Crazy Girl's bedtime, and I still hadn't heard a word from the Hubs as to whether or not they had actually made it into port. And I DESPERATELY needed to hear something from him at this point because of the emotionally draining day that I had had. So we got home, my oldest decided to spill an entire bottle of water over herself and my couch, while the baby screamed in his car seat to bed fed. So I did a quick clean up of the couch and stripped Crazy Girl down to her diaper, put on a movie to keep her occupied, and then settled down to feed Duder. We made it through the feeding just in time to get a knock at the door from a magazine salesman AWESOME! :/I have a hard time saying no to those guys without atleast hearing their story, so there I was, standing at my door trying to burb a baby with my naked toddler running around crazy in the background or tryin to escape out the semi-open front door when the Hubs drives up! He clamors out of his car, seabag on his back, COVERED in dirt and grime and Crazy Girl goes BALLISTIC to see him! She escapes out the front door in nothing but her diaper and runs across the yard and practically into the street to see her dad. Of course, the Hubs has this weird aversion to picking her up while he's all dirty from work, so she hugs his legs and asked to be picked up, which he refuses, and she then proceeds to have a full blow tantrum right there on the grass. At this point, Duder is crying cause he can't bring up the burp we've been working on this whole time and he's uncomfortable, and the poor magazine guy is STILL trying to get his plug in. I pass the magazine guy over to the Hubs, while I attempt to get Crazy girl back in the house to finish her tantrum. The Hubs makes quick work of dismissing magazine guy ( THANK THE LORD) and steps into the door to do damage control with the kids. He STILL wont pick Crazy Girl up until he's atleast attempted to clean up a little, so he scoots into the small downstairs bathroom to atleast wash his hands and face. Crazy Girl follows, and gets quickly distracted by the toilet water, which insites a stern yell out of the Hubs to not play with that, which in turn starts ANOTHER tantrum, because the first thing Daddy does after coming home in over a week is yell at her. ::SIGH::

Needless to say, it took and ENTIRE HOUR to get the kids calmed down and in bed before a sense of semi-peace settled over the house and the Hubs and I could actually look at eachother and say " Hi! I'm gad to see you!"

I wonder if this will be one of those times that we look back on years from now, and say " Remember the time when you came home from an underway and all hell broke lose?" I certianly hope so. :)

Until next time,

Peel and Stick...lame? Or not?

Alright...so I've decided that one of the coolest things I've found for home decorating come from this company:


Now I know what you're thinking...peel and stick? REALLY? Could you be more....cheesy? But really, these little babies have allowed me to have cute nurseries for my kids, WITHOUT all the pain and anguish that comes from painting walls in a RENTED apartment.

We live in military housing, and sure...I could paint if I wanted. And that is...IF I wanted to paint the walls back to the original color when we move out in 3 or 4 years. And that's just not me....I don't change things KNOWING it's gonna have to be changed back to the state I found it in. That just seems kind of...pointless to me.

So when my daughter was born I bought these at Walmart:


And her nursery looked like this:


Cheery, happy, and cute!( As a side note, I made her crib bedding, so if you know anyone looking for cute homemade crib bedding, send them my way!!)

For my son, I recently ordered these off line:

And this is a little taste of his nursery:

(Sorry the picture is dark...I'll get a few better ones up once all of his wall decorations are done, but hopefully you get the idea :))

So all I'm saying is, if you feel in a bind about decorating walls in your rented apartment, don't hesitate to get some stickers and decorate away!! Best 14 dollars I EVER spent!

until next time,

6am might just be too early for my marriage :)

So I have a dilemma about how to use my time in the morning. Duder gets up between 6 and 630 to nurse, which is all fine and dandy, but Crazy Girl doesn't typically want to start her day until about 8am. Previous to Duder joining our ranks, this worked PERFECT for me! I, myself, am not a morning person, so being able to sleep until 8 am was a huge blessing. I'm pretty sure that once Duder is a little older he'll fall into the same pattern as his sister, and then we can all go back to being sleepheads in the morning. :) But for now I struggle between getting up and starting my day after he nurses, OR crawl back in bed for another hour and 1/2! Yesterday the bed was too enticing, so crawl back in I did, and we all ended up going back to sleep until 830! Of course that threw Crazy Girl's schedule all off because she's used to haveing a little bit of mommy and me time before I get Duder out of his crib to nurse again at 9. Today I have decided to use the time for myself, and I have read my scriptures and am now hopefully going to finish a blog update before my morning with two children under the age of two starts!

The real problem in this situation is... the hubs, when he's actually home. :) The poor guy has taken notice that I conk out at about 9pm lately, and that seriously cuts into our couple time when I do that! I've tried everything short of propping my eyelids up with toothpicks to stay awake, to no avail. Granted, I'm only three weeks postpartem here, I really shouldn't be expecting miracles, (no matter that Duder is already a great night sleeper, only getting up once a night to eat!) But that darn elephant in the room keeps stomping around, trumpeting the days until deployment, and I think we're both feeling the pressure to make every moment count, even the little ones in the dark of the night when we're doing nothing more then cuddling on the couch and watching TV. But it really kind of cheapens it for the other when one of us is passed out, snoring softly and drooling a puddle onto his chest. :)



On another note... I've added about a MILLION new military blogs to my list that I follow! I have to say, entering Christina's contest was a great idea! I'm pretty sure I have no chance of winning, ( if you feel like voting for me though, go here!) there are several really beautiful entries that answer the question A LOT better than I did. But my main purpose in joining in was to find more military spouses and hopefully have them find me, which it worked! I actually have a few followers now...crazy huh? :) And I've had a chance to read some thoughts from some really amazing women about military life. All in all, this little cyber-adventure of mine, I would call a success. :)

Now the trick is reading all these new blogs in moderation...instead of spending Crazy Girl's entire nap time on the comp, and wanting to kill myself because I didn't get any of the chores done I was supposed to while she slept! One day at a time, Jen. One day at a time :)

Until next time,

Kind of busy weekend...

Oh my goodness...I meant to try and get on here and write something Saturday, we had a really good day and I had a lot of pictures I wanted to share! But the weekend was really kind of a whirlwind for me, and I didn't end up having time to get on until now! But here is the re-cap of all the excitement;

The biggest news for Saturday was that my husbands boat returned from an underway, and we couldn't have been more excited to see him! We actually got up and were out the door by 830 am ( you're talking to a mommy who rarely gets dressed before 10 or even 11am if I can help it!) so that we could go down to where the River meets the Sound and watch daddy's boat come in! Of course the boat was delayed an hour because of the heavy fog, but it cleared and we got some great pictures! Here's a teaser:

You can see the rest of our chase of the boat here. We actually ended up meeting a group of several wives I've met from the boat, and it was nice to see them all again! It was fun sitting around waiting to watch the boat with them, because there was really just a general air of excitement around having our husbands home again. It really was fun! :)

Well after that we had a brief break, and then I had my baby shower that afternoon which was also a TON of fun! I love getting together and eating good food, and it was so nice of the women from my church to throw me one! I got a huge amount of stuff, most of it from my family who like to spoil me, and here is a teaser for that:


And you can see the rest of the fun photos of the shower here! :)

So after the shower we came home and relaxed until bedtime for L, and then I had a friend come over and sit in the house while I went down to the boat and had a little quality time with my hubby, because he had duty and so couldn't come home that night.

Easter Sunday dawned, and as soon as my husband got off duty ( and took a quick shower!) we packed the car and headed up to ME to spend the holiday with his mom, and then that night spent it at his dads house in NH so that we could attend Erick's grandfather's memorial service Monday morning. It was a really nice service, his ashes are 'buried' at a Veterans Cemetery in NH, and I was really impressed by how organized and nice the cemetery was. It's a very pleasant place to go and visit, and the overall feeling of the service really wasn't too drab or depressing. It was nice. After wards, we went out to lunch with my husbands extended family and then we headed back to CT to spend the evening on the couch watching a movie before we passed out. :)

It really was a great weekend. I LOVE having my husband home obviously, and to have to concentrated days with him was really great. L was a little bit crazy, having daddy home and all the travel threw her off her schedule, and we all know what kind of havoc that creates in a young child's life. :) I'm still dealing with the repercussions of that. :) I wonder how she is going to do when the new baby comes? Luckily, her dad will have a bit of time off so I won't be dealing with that all on my lonesome!

Until next time,
Jen

Happy Birthday To Me :)

That's right....today.... is my birthday! :) It's actually been a pretty great day. I think I've decided that little to no celebration is really the way to go once you pass the age of...oh I don't know...25 :) I mean I had my family call me, my husband called me which really was the best of all gifts, plenty of good birthday wishes from friends on facebook. But as far as actually literally celebrating...not so much. I stayed in my pj's all day. Did a few chores, but pretty much just rested. Darling L was a little crazy first thing in the morning, but mellowed out after nap time. It was a really chill relaxing day, and pretty much exactly just what I needed!

Tomorrow is a bit of a different story. I've got a Dr. apt first thing that will include my GBS test. Nothing like getting violated by a large q-tip first thing in the morning. :) And then I'm helping out a good friend by watching her girls in the afternoon for a couple of hours.

Anyway...I'm not nearly so long winded today, I bet that's a bit of a relief for some! :) Just wanted to let everyone know...that after my some what depressing entry a few days ago, all is well in the world of Jen. :)

until next time,
Jen

Why do women do this too each other?

Oh my goodness....I don't know how a week got away from me without posting! Oh wait...actually I do. :) Probably has to do something with chasing after my rambunctious 18-month-old, the GORGEOUS 70 degree weather we've been having all week, and my need to get projects done so as to feel fully "nested" before our bouncing baby boy gets here at the end of next month!

Seriously though...I've had things I've wanted to talk about so I've been thinking about posting since like Wednesday. However I'm so wiped at the end of the night that I usually just pass out on the couch after I get darling L into bed! But not today! Today I will finally get my butt on here and write something interesting! REALLY! I swear :)

So my amazing husband didn't end up leaving until Tuesday if you can believe it. That's right...after saying goodbye to him for the second time in 2 days on Sunday, he came home Monday also. And we had to say "goodbye" again Tuesday morning!! In reality it didn't actually go like that. I dropped him off at the boat and told him that he'd better get a free moment and call me if they were actually leaving that day and THEN we could say goodbye, cause otherwise I'd just expect to get a call asking me to come pick him up again.

Well, he did call, and they did leave, and we did say "goodbye" three times in one weekend. I am grateful we got the extra time together. I think our daughter, in particular, really enjoyed having Daddy around ( because per my previous post, I was actually sick the whole weekend!) But holy emotional roller coaster! By Tuesday I was actually looking forward to him leaving! Well that is until the after the last phone call, when I hung up and the melancholy started to settle in again. :)

On another note, we've had new neighbors move into the house on our left. They have two young girls, a 4 year old and a 2 year old, and it's been nice having another family with young kids on the street, because since we've moved here our daughter has been the youngest. And it's just in time for summer!

Has anyone taken notice, though, how really odd women are? I remember just after my husband and I got married we were living in Charleston, SC while he was finishing up his Nuclear training at the Navy Nuc School down there. After the honeymoon my husband started school immediately, and thus began 12 to 16 hour days of me being by myself. I'd never lived in SC before, we had NO furniture besides my childhood bed I brought with me, some blankets, and a laptop computer that we watched movies on. We didn't even have a car for the first little while, so I couldn't even look for a job! After the first three weeks of sitting around in our little duplex, staring at white walls and getting tired of our VERY limited dvd collection, I finally decided to march myself across the street and make friends with the neighbors I'd been watching through our front windows. :)

I invited the wife over to my house that afternoon, and we played a card game on my bare living room floor, while I proceeded to tell her my entire life story, AND everything I had experienced in the short 3 weeks that my husband and I had been married. And I mean...everything. :) Things I would later, and more importantly my husband would, regret telling her. Fortunately for us, that couple ended up being some of our closest friends in SC, and we were very sad to see them leave. But the wife was the kind of person who would bring up things I had told her on that day just to see my husband squirm! For me...lesson learned; don't ever let yourself be stuck in a place with no furniture, no entertainment, no friends, and no escape! No matter how much you love the man. :)

I mention this because I find myself in a similar predicament with this new neighbor. Only I'm the one getting all the dirty laundry from my poor neighbor who obviously really just needs a friend. And honestly...and I know I'm going to hell for feeling this way...but I don't want to know, I don't actually care, AND I feel smothered now. :) I've learned that easing into friendships is REALLY, TRULY, the best way for both people to grow one. Because if one or the other just drops all the bombs in the first week...lets be honest, you scare people. WHY?? Why do women do this to each other???

What's even funnier is this week I've been paying attention to a wall on facebook that is discussing the issue of whether women belong on Submarines. My husband is stationed on a Fast Attack, and obviously most of the other Navy Wives that I socialize with are women whose husbands are, or have been, on submarines also. And none of us feel that it's a place where a woman should be. It's too demanding and dangerous and stressful! And women...lets face it...we can't help ourselves! We are made the way we're made, and we're NOT men and thank goodness for that! But take a situation similar to me and my new neighbor, (or worse!) put that into the confines of a tube that is underwater and doesn't surface for days, weeks, or even months on end and what do you people think is going to happen???

At least I can lock the door, close the blinds, and pretend no one is home. :)

until next time,
Jen