38 weeks already!

Well, I've officially decided I'm going crazy. And I think I've come to the definite conclusion that having your third child is entirely different than having your first. I just simply can't do things like I used to. The preparations are different because I'm so busy with the raising of two other children. And With a hubby that is hardly around (by no fault of his own) that only increases the stress. And forget about nesting! I mean seriously? I feel like every time I organize something it is undone, either because its sort of "in their way" or they are curious and get into it. Like the changing table in their room. It was a bookshelf and some storage for them. It still has their DVDs, videos and books on the bottom shelves but I'm preparing the top for its actual original purpose. So, its the first time in awhile that it is available for them to climb all over. And of course, its there...they must climb.

I'd say its been an adjustment and something new and exciting. I would say I'm way more tired and a little more snappy then I like to be...but what are you going to do.

its almost over! I'm just getting anxious and excited now. I have come to this peaceful place where I could care less about the organizing and the cleaning. I'm just so excited to see my little babe and finally figure out if its a he or she.

My son is 5!!!

I've become worse at worse at this blogging thing of mine. Pregnancy really throws a doosy your way. And let me just say that having done this two times before really makes no difference. I was just lamenting to one of my biffs last night how remembering things concerning others and staying organzied that way has proven 10x easier then just like the day to day with me...or what I said, when I said it, did my question get answered, and so on and so on. I mean, seriously! But really the point of this post is another lamenting....the fact that my handsome Brian man is now five. I really can't believe that he's five now. It really does seem like only yesterday that we were having him, finding out we were pregnant, trying to figure out life as a married couple and as a military family.
Brian is named after a friend of ours who was tragically killed in 2004, about a month after we were married. Christopher actually knew him in high school and I knew him from church and then we realized we both knew him and we had been friends since High School. Our Brian's middle name is Christopher, after his Daddy.



Me and Brian's namesake

Brian is a five year old boy and that's really all I can say about that, LOL! He's super smart, super physical, always moving and has the attention span of maybe a fly now, instead of a knat. I love that he's 1000% boy ALL THE TIME!! He's always taking things apart, putting them back together, or wanting to. First it was an obsession with cars, and now we've moved on to bigger things like the physics of fire and how does the air conditioning work. He always is saying something funny and his baby book is just chaulk full of funny things. And now that he's five I've filled out the last of his baby book and I'm going to have to get another book where we just write down the funny things that he is saying.

And now as we are ready to add number 3 to our brood I feel myself getting sentimental about the fact that he was once in tummy. Where does time go? I feel like I've been savoring every moment but its just flying by so fast!

What moments have been flying by so fast for you? What are you needing to savor more in life?



Brian's "BIRTH" day




Brian - August 2011

Preggie Fashion.....

So I've come to the conclusion that I'm not alone in my dread of shopping while pregnant....and frankly it doesn't rate that much higher than Bra shopping. Ick. My amazingly comfy maternity capris recently took a turn for the worse. Lasting through one more pregnancy (as this will probably be it for us) just wasn't in the cards. I mean, really, you couldn't just last for one more!! Now, I have to go shopping for some. This was partly an inspiration for my newest endeavor, which I kind of explained on my first youtube video. I'm hoping to do a video series like many you see out there...where these girls go shopping or looking around for fashion, what's hot, what's not, what they bought, what they think is amazing.....except I wanna do it for Maternity clothing! I know, kinda of crazy, but we'll see. I think its kind of fun. And if it totally is lame and doesn't go anywhere, oh well!

So in celebration of the 4th I wanted to share some cute patriotic clothing that I just recently got. We are taking some family pictures with my husband in his uniforms, so i was looking for something that would go with that, be patriotic, without being PATRIOTIC!! If that makes any sense.

I know that sweet and feminine clothing is really big right now. I just love it. I think its all darling. Flowers, and soft prints, flowing fabric - all of it I love! What's cool about this style is that alot of it can work for your pregnant body, most of the way through. Flowy and forgiving tops that aren't maternity work amazingly well at keeping you all covered.

I found this top at Target, and right now its on sale for like thirteen bucks! The color is a really good true red, not orangie or pinky at all! The rouching on the side is very flattering and I simply can't get enough of all the elegant detailing on it, with the flowers and such!

and I'm pairing it with a beautiful soft grey tiered skirt from Old Navy, which is no longer listed on their website but you should still be able to find it in the store. Last night when I went on my failed expedition for capri's (they only had like 10 size 2's....sorry, lol) there were still some on the rack in grey, lavender, black...so go and check them out. its extremely comfortable and darling.

I'll be posting a video and pictures later! thanks for stopping by! WHAT I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU RIGHT NOW IS YOUR ONE MUST HAVE PIECE OF MATERNITY CLOTHING, BE IT ITEM, BRAND, WHATEVER! PLEASE SHARE!

Mil-Spouse Friday Fill-In June 24th

Once again its time for the Friday Fill-in, hosted by the lovely "Wife of a Sailor"....so check her out!

check out this weeks questions, join the blog roll, and meet some great wives! And as always, I'd love for you to stop by and check out my little private forum Love and Dog Tags. I also have a great tab up top with tons and tons of links and info for the military s/o. I'm a fountain of info (slightly obsessive in my research, lol) so if you ever have any questions, please post them here or come on over to the forum!!!

Are you a different person than you were five years ago?
I wouldn't say I'm a different person, in the sense that people wouldn't know me, but I definitely think I've experienced things in the past five years that have caused me to grow as a person, learning some difficult lessons, and experiencing wonderful things along the way.

If you could go on Amazing Race, who would you take with you as your partner and why?
For sure my hubby! I almost feel bad that I would be his partner, lol. He's mr. camping, outdoorsey, boy scout. He keeps me balanced and centered and focused. I think that would be so fun!

Does Facebook or Twitter actually bring more stress or good in to your life?
LOL, i've actually posted about this on my blog. I have a total love/hate relationship with social media. Its good and bad. I'm really old fashioned, so some of the things it brings to the table bother me. I love that i've been able to connect with people from the past, from far away and stuff like that...but i think its taken away realness in people, intimacy, and gives people some false bravado.

June is National Soul Food Month- what’s your soul food?
oh man, good 'ole southern food! my mom is from the south. meat, potatoes and greenbeans...yummy

If you could live in any other era than the current, which one would it be and why?
well, this pertains to the post about twitter and facebook. LOL. I think I would love to be in the 40's. the clothing, the hats.....really anywhere in the late 30s all the way into the early 50s. love it!

Week 20

Hello friends! I know, its been, well.....way too long since I've posted. This pregnancy has been full of sickness, sickness, sickness.....similar to Ami, but different. This time around we aren't finding out the sex of the baby and I'm kind of excited about that. Christopher has never wanted to, but of course I wanted to be prepared with pink and blue if I needed it. So now that we have one of each I'm all on board for the surprise. As the weeks go on I've become more and more excited about it! Next week I'm going in for a doctor's appointment and ultra sound and it may be really hard for me to not wanna take a peak, especially since christopher won't be able to be there at this one. But I'm going to be a good girl, Scout's honor.

So here's a look at week 20

This week you're carrying around 10.5 inches and 10.5 ounces of solid magical baby goodness!

Your fantastic fetus' fragile tiny bones continue to ossify and toughen while their itsy bitsy finger and toe pads (and unique finger prints) are finishing up.

Your little womb-dancer also has teeth buds sprouting beneath their gum line.

And finally! Your wee one's limbs have reached their relative proportions — no more bobble-head!

Head on over to Wife of a Sailor to join in with all the MilSpouses!!

Do you or your {spouse} ever wish your {spouse} was in a different branch of the military? submitted by The Turner Family
Nah, for awhile he had considered the Army but he loves what he does for the Air Force

What duty station(s) are on your “No Way, Hell No, Not Going, Have Fun Unaccompanied” list and why? submitted by Every Branch
Honestly I can't really think of anywhere that i would be allowed to go that I wouldn't. I'm pretty much a go anywhere, do anything, i signed up for this too kinda gal ;)

If you could be one age forever, what age would you choose and why? submitted by Three Krakens
Gosh, i dunno. I really enjoyed 21 right after we got married. It was such a fun time and if I could go there are spend some more time soaking that in before the craziness I think I might.

If you were a breakfast cereal, which one would you be? submitted by the C.W.
I think i'd be the Special K with the chocolate pieces

What is your morning beverage of choice and why? submitted by NH Girl Displaced
coffee, coffee, coffeeeee - coffee bowl, coffee vat, coffee in an iv (gilmore girls reference)


Sorry this is so late! Been a crazy weekend. Please also stop by The Lily Pad
for this week's round-up! and next week, join us at Three Hands Full.

Also, if you're looking for support and like a small group please stop by my forum. We're a laid back bunch and some of my greatest friends (that now help me run it) have been made. Stop by Love and Dog Tags.

Mil-Spouse Fill-in #31 and Weekly Round-up

Thanks to Wife of a Sailor for another great Fill In and to all the other MilSpouses who submitted questions!!! Make sure to stop by and visit a new lovely MilSpouse at Consider the Lilies for the Weekly Round Up!!!

Thanks every for stopping by! Whether you're a MilSpouse or not I'm glad you're here!!! Please stop by and enter my CSN gift card giveaway, located on my other blog "Cammo Style Love"

1. Aside from no deployments, what is one thing you would want to make the MilSpouse life "perfect"? submitted by Oh How Delightful

Regular schedules...at least for me. I know some people that do have this, or something close to, but I do not! bleh!!!

2. Just how many peppers did Peter Piper pick? submitted by Married into Army

He picked a PECK...but considering the fact that you can't actually pick pickled peppers, we've got a bigger question......so this is what my research came up with...

"Peter Piper didn't pick any pecks of pickled peppers because pickled peppers aren't pickled when they are picked. So Peter Piper picked zero pecks of pickled peppers.
however assuming that he was able to pick at least one peck of pickled peppers (it never said he got them from a garden) it would be determined by the formula: (p)(t) where p is the number of pecks of pickled peppers pickable in a period of time (an hour) and t is the time that he spent picking the perfect pickled peppers that peter piper picked. let us, for arguments sake, assume that he picks 2 pecks of pickled peppers in an hour. let us also assume that he spent 5 hours picking his perfect pickled peppers. therefore by these calculations, he pick 10 pecks of pickled peppers but it could vary depending on the skill of peter piper at picking pickled peppers. and so peter piper picked at least 10 pecks of pickled peppers"

So the fact that I decided to research this for fun...and i do mean FUN, that should tell you a lot about me, lol!

3. If you could have any career in the world with nothing holding you back, what would you do? submitted by It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To

I would be a professional dancer. It just wasn't in the cards for me...but I was on my way. I chose to other things.

4. Do you have a service oriented tattoo and if so what is it. If you don't what would you get? submitted by The Squid's Accomplice

I'm kind of a whimpy kinda girl and don't think I could hack it. I would probably only get something if something actually were to - GOD FORBID - happen to my husband. And I would probably get the air force wings with like a yellow ribbon or something.

5. Imagine a block of time has opened up in your busy day for you to take a class in anything you like. What subject would you choose? submitted by To The Nth

I think French, or like a fancy cooking class or something along those lines.

Seriously, what are people thinking?

make sure to enter my $35 CSNstores gift card giveaway on my other blog, Cammo STyle Love!

So I haven't decided yet if I just raise my kids weirdly or if other people are absolutely insane. I mean have you ever been out in a public place and maybe wonder, "what the heck are those people doing?" Now, I'm not talking about the people with the screaming kids or the kids running around in circles around their parents...because we have ALL been there, we have. I'm talking about the people that let their kids do things that one would consider common sense to not let their kids do. Its freezing here so I'm looking for some different things to do around town that are out of my house because you can only be in here so long with a four year old boy especially. So they have this little play area in the mall and I've taken the kids a couple times in the last week or two. Today there was a large group of moms that had been walking around the mall with their strollers. they all come in and park all their strollers in this teeny tiny place, taking up precious running room (strike one). So there are a lot of kids now, so i tell my son (in what I believe is a totally common sense move) that climbing up the slide playing is okay, but not when there are so many little ones wanting to go down the slide. He looks at me and understands. One of the stroller mom's kids proceeds to go around and around climbing up the slide, pushing smaller children out of the way, not letting kids go down. My son, with the whole five seconds of attention span proceeds to follow the girl. I go back over (very near where the mom is sitting) and quietly explain to brian that he can't do that. He looks at me, understands and goes around to slide down. the little girl continues to do it...and it is completely obvious that she is totally getting in the way, being rude, as there is a long line of little ones waiting that she is making it quite difficult for. Well that was about it for me. Brian is now looking at my totally frustrated. I yell across the way, "Just because somebody else is climbing up the slide brian doesn't mean that you should do it." My two girlfriends that were with me just cracked up, as well as two other moms that were sitting next to us. I mean, clearly!! That to me should be a common sense kind of rule. That was strike two. I had gone to take Ami to the potty and by this time Brian has moved on and is running around with another little boy. out of no where this other little boy just starts totally attacking brian, smacking him in the face, hitting him. All this while I was gone. My friends were pissed when I came back. They told me that this kid had been running around tormenting other kids and finally one of my friends said something and the mom caught him in the act apparently. And of course acted all appalled, like this was the first time he'd ever done anything like that before. Sorry lady, i don't buy that. Sheesh! Strike three!! Seriously, what is wrong with people, just watch your kids when you're around other kids that you don't know and strangers and an open area. I mean, kids are kids, i get it and you do your best when you have that many in a small space...but come on...lets start by actually watching them...what a novel idea.

Anyone else ever experienced this kind of stuff? Please let me know I'm not alone?

Mil-Spouse Fill-in and Weekly Round-up

1. What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)? submitted by Our Crazy Life

Oh man, how do I pick one. I don't think I could do it! LOL

2. What are your favorite perks about your s/o being deployed (we all know there are perks)? submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife
Hmmm, well all in all its not my favorite thing, lol! But the pay is a pretty nice perk :)

3. How long did you date your before getting engaged? Married? submitted by Utterly Chaotic
We have been dating since 1999, got married in 2004 :)

4. What do you think your would do if s/he wasn’t in the military? submitted by Adventures of M-Squared
He would be in some type of Law Enforcement.....its in his blood

5. If you could talk to the Secretary of (fill in your appropriate branch) what is one suggestion you would like to bring to their attention in order to improve the lives of military families? submitted by My Life as His (Air Force) Wife

I would bring to their attention those of us Active Duty Guardsman. People don't really know about us or what that means. Sometimes we miss out on a lot of perks because we aren't technically Active Duty...but we aren't technically National Guard. I would also have a talk about some things having to do specifically with the hubby's job, which per OPSEC I can't really talk about it.

Thank you to Wife of a Sailor for another awesome fill-in! Also check out this week's host of the Mil-Spouse Weekly Round up - The Whole FamDamily


you can also head over to my other blog Cammo Style Love and enter to win a giftcard to CSNstores.com, which is kind of like overstock.com. its pretty cool.

Wordless Wednesday

We got some more snow! yay!!!

A Year Ago Today

Well these are my pics of a year ago today. I'm not sure what is going on here except Ami was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. I'm guess this might have been her first pudding cup experience :) Yeah, she's adorable :)







Where I'm hopping on Cammo Style Love

A Healthy and Happy Life?

So, so much has been going on lately. I'm finally feeling like I'm moving past so much of the stuff that was putting me in a funk. I recently started my second round of P90X and I'm feeling really good about it. I feel stronger and like I can do a little bit more than the last round. I feel like this is the time in my life where I really need to be working out and getting back into shape. As we get older our metabolism slows down, and just being a woman is rough. That whole annoying, women have fat over their muscle - men have muscle over their fat thing....something annoying about having to bare children and what not, LOL!! But this is also the time in my life where I'm the busiest and a day will literally fly by me and I have haven't worked out. And I swear its not one of those things i'm avoiding...although one could point out that I'm sitting here putting a blog entry in...yes I see the irony in that. But I have a four and two year old!! And neither of them are in the napping stage anymore. Fun! They do however play nice and will take "quiet times" with a movie or something...so that's helpful.

But anyway, I'm working out and doing really well with my eating and feeling good. I'm in some smaller jeans and I have had people say to me their notice the change. But my stomach....ugh...I don't know about anyone else but this whole having two kids thing has really wreaked havoc on my stomach. I do, however, want to point out that I was never a waif of a thing. Even when I was at my most active, as a dancer, I was never really a beanpole. And I know I could never be physical enough to get back to that point. I've just got to figure out what is a realistic goal for me. And I don't weigh really weigh myself. I got into the habit of not weighing myself when I was a dancer. Muscle weighs more than fat...so when I would hear all these girls at school talking about how much they weighed and I always weighed more than them...even though i didn't look like I really did....it suddenly dawned on me that that was because muscle weighs more. And I realize doing this p90x thing will be a process of slimming down and building muscle so i can't really weigh myself...I mean, i guess i could but I know it would just frustrate me. I would get frustrated in the dance world because now ballerinas are skinny with no boobs. i would love to have been a dancer in the 1700s. Man, I would have been a star man!! Sorry people, i can't do anything about my boobs.

So then I figure...well, I'll go by clothing size. I still have some of my pre-baby clothes that I've kept for inspiration. Then I hear all these news stories about how stores are playing around with their sizing. So even if I get back into the clothes pre-baby, they won't necessarily be the same size in the store because they've been messing around with the sizes. I mean, think about it for a second....my mom at her skinniest was 5'7" 112 lbs and wore like a size 6. I mean, come on people?!!! That is ridiculous! You ask your moms or grandmas...they will tell you that there was no such thing as a size 2 or 0. I mean, how selfish and self-centered of a society have we become. We've got this obsession with being "healthy" and "skinny" and society is so messed up. Yes we live longer and healthier lives...but do we really happier lives? We are obsessed, counting calories and working out...but then we put our kids in front of video games and the television and force education down their throats at a younger and younger age. We've created this whole generation of unsocial, computer focused, our idea of "educated" kids, who count calories, have eating disorders and self-image issues and are having sex and sexual encounters at a younger and younger age.

yes, I want to be healthy and yes I will continue to work out and try to eat healthy. But I hope that I also live a happy life. I want to teach my kids to eat the good stuff as well as the fun stuff...to run around and play and be active, they are beautiful (and handsome, respectively) no matter what they look like and no matter what size they are.

If you haven't read "Hungry" by Crystal Renn....stop what you're doing and go out right now and find it! Instantly!!! I read this book and it really encouraged me and reinforced how I always knew I felt and thought. A friend recommended it to me and now I tell everyone I know to go out and read it.

So I guess the question is...Are you Happy?

Wordless Wednesday

and where I'm hopping

Mil-Spouse Friday Fill-In #29

Well here we are and its friday already! Sheesh. I got swamped again mid-week and totally failed at my blogging! I have a whole list of things I'm totally behind on. Do you ever feel like that? I'm sure someone else has, hopefully. I'm telling you what. Every once in awhile its like you start out right, all on top of things and before you know it you're like, whoa....wait a second.....the weeks over? Well, at least every week I start out with good intentions.

Thanks again to Wife of a Sailor for another round of amazing questions. Can't wait to read all the amazing responses from all my lovely mil-spouse ladies

1. Since most of the country has had nasty weather, what has your weather been like this week? This week its been that deceptive freezing thing..where you look out the window and its bright and sunny and then you step outside and its like 25 degrees! Usually doesn't go over too well with the kids. I eventually let them outside and they only last about 3o minutes before they are like, "mommy the sun is too cold!!" lol! that's my favorite thing my son has said regarding the crazy Reno weather.
   
2. What is/are your best money saving tip(s)? meal planning has proven to be a huge money saver for us. I was amazed at how much I could save when I really planned all the meals. Of course I get a few staples that I have around the house if we don't feel like PB&J for lunch every day. But planning out dinners has been a huge money saver!
   
3. What was your favorite vehicle you’ve ever owned?? oh man, my adorable gold/brown subaru legacy with a turbo! oh man, i loved that thing. some stupid idiot hit me and totaled it. sigh...now i might cry
   
4. What is a question you’d like to see asked in a future fill-in? (Your question & blog just may appear one week!) Were you a part of the joining the military question or did you sign up for the relationship when your man was already in the military?
   
5. Fill in the blank: You might be a MilSpouse if….
   (I will be including some of your answers in a future post (with a link to your blog, of course!) your children respond to your command to come here with, "stand by one mom". and I'm totally serious when i say that this occurs in our home with my 4 year old! LOL!!

Thanks so much ladies for reading! If anyone is looking for support or answers to any questions or just some fun please check out my Military tab here on the blog and/or my support forum that I run with a couple girl friends. we're pretty tiny so if you like a more intimate setting we just might be the place for you. Come visit Love and Dog Tags!

I leave you with an awesome and adorable video of my kids!!!

Mil-Spouse Friday Fill-In #28 and A Year Ago Today....

Before I begin my fill-in, please check out my giveaway page above! I'm running a great giveaway for Zippy Doo's, which is a great kids product. This is only third giveaway and I need to get it going here!! Anyway, enough of my shameless plug...on with the best part...Thanks to Wife of a Sailor for another great set of questions!

MIL-SPOUSE FILL-IN:

1. If you were a famous movie star, what types of movies would you star in?

I would probably star in either Romantic Comedy's, Musical or Dance Movies and maybe the Hitchcock-style of movie...real actual suspense without all the annoying gore

2. What is a vacation you would like to take if money were no object?

I would want to go to Europe and do like a two or three week tour of a bunch of countries and really do it right

3. Did you have pets growing up?

I had a dog when I was real little, then we had another dog, which ended up having special needs so we had to give here away *tear*, and then we had brother/sister cats :)

4. What do you do for exercise?

Right now I'm on my second round of p90x and loving it. its one of the only work out programs that you can do at home that I've actually stuck with. I even canceled my gym membership!


5. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received as a MilSpouse?

Get used to change and don't sweat the small stuff. I don't know about you guys but man, sometimes I feel like in my husband's line of work things are always changing....like he is going to deploy, he isn't....he leaves - change of location, i will be able to call, i won't be able to call. Even at home - honey i'm working late, oh wait, i'm coming home early. I'm getting promoted, oh, i'm not....oh they are putting the paperwork through.....and it goes on and on and on, LOL!




Now A Year Ago Today is actually a Thursday hop. I forgot to do it last night and its still technically thursday and I wanted to give a shout out to my girl Heather at Mommy Only Has Two Hands, because I love her and she's awesome!!!


I can't believe it's already been a year, but a year ago my husband was leaving for a deployment to heaven knows where...and when I did find out I couldn't tell anyone! It was crazy. It was the hardest one I've gone through. I think the kids were just at that right age, maybe more my son then my daughter. But he was fully aware of what was going on and he did not handle it well at all. I couldn't leave him anywhere. I remember taking him to Gymboree, and his sister and I go into one class and he goes into music class. I remember walking him into the teacher to explain to her what was going on and that he's been acting out a bit and he i looked down at him and he just burst into tears and said, "don't leave mommy." I started crying, oh heavens it was horrible. Wow, what a total growing experience for me. I was so exhausted I almost didn't really have time to miss him because I was so focused on the kids. Which, in retrospect was actually a good thing. But we survived and here we are!












HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!!!! TGIF!!!!