Wordless Wednesday

Here are some pictures from a few weeks ago when Little M decided she needed to wear my hoodie all day.

Miscellany Monday

{one} My day started off with Little M covered in poop....then yogurt.

{two} Little M had at least 7 tantrums this morning

{three} I was eating M&M's and drinking Diet Coke by 10

{four} My husband secretly loves watching Army Wives.  He made me watch it again at midnight when he got home from work because he had missed it!

{five}  I bought a pack of the new Huggies Jean Diapers today.  Because they are so darn cute.  And it is way too hot for Little M to wear shorts

{six} My sister just texted me and said she wants to watch Little M tomorrow night so the husband and I can go on a movie date....she is my favorite person right now

{seven} This heat really needs to break.  Don't get me wrong, I love the 90* temperatures...but it is too hot to take Little M out and I *really* need to be able to take her out

{eight} Skip is working his second 16-hour shift at work today...which means he hasn't seen Little M since Saturday...and won't see her until tomorrow.  Even though she has been screaming all day, I think I've gotten the better end of the deal

Getting to Know Me

Today I actually decided to participate in the Sunday edition of Getting to Know You.  Head on over there and check it out yourself!

The Questions

1.If you had 5000.00 to spend on plastic surgery what would you have done?

             A boob job....and get my nose fixed!!

2. Do you watch Soap operas and if so what is your favorite and why?

             I don't have the time to watch it every day, but I just *love* General Hospital.  I started watching it with my mom when I was little {I'm talking Frisco days} and have been watching it off and on since.  I love  that even if I don't watch it for a few weeks I can still catch right back up!

3. Favorite clothing brand?

            Anything at Kohls.  I'm not a fancy person, nor do I have tons of money to spend on clothes.  So Kohl's it is!

4. An afternoon shopping spree at your favorite store or maid service for a year?

           I'll be totally honest...I really had to think about this one.  And you may think I'm crazy, but I'm going to choose the shopping spree!  I really don't mind cleaning...and I would feel weird with a stranger going through all my stuff.  So I pick the shopping! 

5. would you ever vajazzle?

            Umm, no

6. Favorite Disney Princess?

            Sleeping Beauty!

7. Last movie that made you bawl your eyes out?

           Skip and I watched "The Messenger" last night.  It is about two guys whose job it is in the Army to notify the next of kin when someone is killed.  Very very sad.

8. Have you ever broken any bones and if so what?

             Nope!  And hoping to keep it that way

First Overnight FAIL

As you can probably tell, since I am posting this blog from my house, things did not go so well today.  Little M and I hit the road at 10:15.  We were doing really well for about 45 minutes and then BAM....dead stopped traffic.  Bumper to bumper, barely moving.  The next three hours I sat in traffic, got off that highway and onto another, managed to use the most disgusting gas station bathroom I have ever seen while holding a toddler the entire time, had only a diet coke and gummy bears for lunch, and then sat in even more traffic.  When I hit the three hour mark I realized that I was only HALF WAY to my destination.  At that point I was at a crossroads.  I was about 65 miles from my friend's party, my sister, and my house.  So in my exhausted, hungry, hot, and frustrated state I made the decision to just turn around and come home.  Two more hours, another bathroom stop, and a pacifier flushed down the toilet later, we were home.

I was, and still am, really bummed that we had to miss our friend's party and we didn't get to hang out with my sister.  And I'm really frustrated that I pretty much just drove around in a giant circle for five hours.  But  I do think that I made the right decision in coming home.

Thankfully, during the entire trip, Little M could not have been more perfect.  She did not fuss AT ALL!  She napped, ate her lunch, and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks the Sqeakquel three whole times {we do not install the portable DVD player in the car unless we are going on a 2+ hour trip, but for those long rides it is an absolute LIFESAVER...seriously}  She made the day so much easier on her Mommy and I could not be prouder of her.

So now I'm home, relaxing on the couch with Skip, a belly full of Friendly's food, trying to figure out when I can drive down to see my sister and attempt this again {but maybe not like, this week, haha}

Oh, and in case you were curious, this is what was causing the miles and miles of traffic.

A nice little sinkhole on the Turnpike.  Thanks New Jersey roads....thanks

First Overnight

Tomorrow Little M and I are embarking on our first ever overtime trip all by ourselves!  My friend's nephew is turning 2 and since he and Little M are destined to marry one day, we are of course packing up the car and heading down to south Jersey to attend his birthday party!  We are then going to head over to my sister's place {she lives a lot closer to the party than I do} and spend the night with her.

I am excited for Little M to get to play with her little 'boyfriends' and it will be so great to spend a relaxing night with my big sis {and sleep in her guest room which seriously looks like it is straight out of a hotel} but I am still embarking on this journey with the slightest bit of nervousness.  It will be a long day with just me and the baby and lots of driving.  But what makes me saddest is that it is our first night away from Skip!  I have this slight crazy obsession attachment to him and hate to leave him :(  Silly and ridiculous I know!    But I know it will be a really fun day/night for both Little M and I!

Catch Up

 I have been kind of MIA from the blogging world recently.  I have been keeping up with all your blogs, but by the time I am able to sit down at the computer and really dedicate some time to it, I am so far behind reading I don't really have time to comment.  I promise to get better about that!

Part of the reason I have been so busy is all the family time we have been spending.  We had a playdate with my SIL and nephew {who at six months is bigger than Little M...he's going to be a football stud for sure!}  We had my parents, sister, and her bf over for dinner, and Skip's parents over for lunch.  And with all of that comes a lot of cooking and Father's Day gift buying and wrapping {on top of all the regular housework and stuff}.  So we've been busy.

Another reason  I have been busy is that Little M has decided to hit the 'terrible twos' a whole six months early {though my mom assures me that this is totally normal}  Skip and I have been knee deep in Little M's tantrums.  She is just screaming all.day.long.  Some of it is that she gets frustrated with her inability to communicate with us exactly what she wants.  With those situations we are trying to help her learn more words or find other ways to communicate.  But other times she is just screaming because she wants something she can't have or wants to do something she isn't allowed to. In those situations we have started doing time-outs.  She is still very young and doesn't quite get the concept, but we are trying to show her that there are consequences for her actions.  We also want to stay on top of her tantrums now before they get too out of control.  I love my little girl with every fiber of my being, but these past few days have been very trying.  Thankfully my mom is coming over tomorrow so I can have some me time at the nail salon tomorrow, yay pedicures!  And Skip surprised me with a gift certificate for a massage the other day {best.husband.ever} and I am counting down the days until I can use it next week!

So that is what we have been up to.  I promise to get back into more blogging again.  Any extra advice of what we should be doing with Little M would be greatly appreciated!

Wordless Wednesday

Focus on the cute girl and ignore the fact that her Mommy has been the worst blog poster / commenter recently.  Will be back soon!

A Day at the Park

First off, thank you so much for all the comments on my last post...it was really interesting to read what you all had to say!  It gave me a lot to think about and I've pretty much decided that we will only know if we are having two or three kids after we have our next one.  In terms of spacing, my sisters and I were all three years apart and I really think a balance similar to that would work for our family.

But now onto yesterday.  We had an early Father's Day celebration.  Skip is working the 3 pm - 11 pm shift on Father's Day this year {as well as Friday, Saturday, and Monday}  We are still going to go out to lunch on Sunday and give him his presents then, but I wanted to do something else special for him.

We started the morning at a local park by us.  It literally has everything!  It has a miniature zoo with tons of animals, {Little M's favorite thing these days} a train that takes you around the park, a carousel, a playground, and tons of picnic tables.  We packed a lunch that morning and headed out.

It was one of the most wonderful times we've had as a family.  Little M was absolutely amazed by everything!  She got to run around and experience it all.  And she was sooo well-behaved...no fussing at all!

After our picnic lunch we headed back home and she took a long nap.  Then we all went to dinner at a local Italian place.  It wasn't the best experience we've had there, but our main courses were fabulous and again Little M was just so well behaved, sitting there nicely and eating her grilled cheese dinner.

We didn't want to have dessert there though so afterwards we went and got some ice cream at Dairy Queen.  Yum!!  It was just the perfect day to relax and spent time with our little family.  Here are just a few of the almost 200 pictures we took yesterday!!  What are your plans for Father's Day?

Heading into the zoo with Daddy

Checking out the animals

My favorites!

Skip telling Little M about all the animals

'Mommy, why can't I go in the pen with the turtles?'

Checking out what I thought was a llama...can't remember what it actually was

Best picture we could get of us in front of this barn

Riding high to see the bison

First train ride!

First time on the carousel

As soon as it started she cried out 'Oh wow!'

Love her

On the playground

Enjoying lunch in the park

Busy morning...she passed right out in the car!

When and How Many?

The Mrs. from Trying Our Best has been writing some very thought provoking posts this week.  She has put in to writing a lot of what I have been thinking about, and Skip and I have been talking about recently.  First let me preface this by saying that no we are not yet trying for another baby...just didn't want anyone to get excited just yet!

Anyways, Skip and I have been talking alot about when to have our next baby.  And then how many children do we want to have?  When I was younger, I wanted 8...no really.  But then that got worked down to about 4.  Skip was always happy with the idea of 2.  So we compromised and after we got married decided on 3.  Then I got pregnant.

I was so so so very sick the first five months when I was pregnant.  The doctors put me on Zofran and while that helped, I was still nauseous all.the.time and throwing up at least once a week.  I was tired, sore, and miserable being so big. {please don't get me wrong, I was so happy and blessed to be pregnant and bring such a healthy baby into the world, but it really took a toll on my body}  And it's hard for me to imagine trying to do that again while chasing after a toddler.  Will I be able to do it?  Would I be able to do it with two kids running around??

The other consideration when discussing the number of children is money.  I know that God provides, and money should not be a concern, but for what we want to provide for our children it is.  It is very important to us that I stay home with our children until they are all in kindergarten...then I will be going back to work.  But living on one income is tough and requires a decent amount of sacrifice.

It is also extremely important to us to send our children to Catholic elementary school and high school.  I went to Catholic school from pre-k through college.  Skip also went to Catholic high school.  We feel it is important to us to do the same for our children.  But those things come with a hefty price tag.  As of right now, most elementary schools are $5,000 a year...and the high schools are currently at $15,000.  Ouch.  We didn't even get to college yet!  We would also like to pay for our children's college education.  It is an amazing gift that my parents gave to me, and I would like to do the same for our children.  We have already started a 529 account for Little M, but as we all know, college is expensive...even state schools.

So after all of that we would still like our children to live a comfortable lifestyle...family vacations...trips to museums...field trips and whatnot.  We are not going to materialistically spoil our children.  And they will be getting jobs when they are in high school to pay for things that they want.  But we want to give them as much as possible.

So with all of that, it seems like 2 children is more manageable.  But will I get the baby itch after our second again?  How did you know when you were done having children?  And how far apart did you space your children.  I am only 27, so I know I have time, but I also don't want them to be spaced too far apart.  Skip and I do have an idea of when we will start trying for a second, but I am interested to hear about how all of you spaced out your children.  All comments and opinions welcome!

In Remembrance...

 Today marks the five year anniversary of the death of one of Skip's friends from the Marines.  In honor of Jesse I am reposting what I wrote about him last May.  We miss you Jesse...

Not All Precious Jewelry Has to Sparkle

By nature I am not really a bracelet type of girl. I have a few beautiful ones that I save for special occasions, but never day-to-day.  However, recently I have taken to wearing a bracelet every day that my husband gave me a few years ago.  Now my husband has WONDERFUL taste in jewelry and has gotten me several beautiful pieces over the years.  However this particular bracelet may not appeal to most of the general public.  Here are two pictures:

It is made of green parachute cord, attached with a button found lying around somewhere.  It was a birthday present from my husband when he was only my fiance, back in October of 2004...when he was deployed to Iraq.  See...it's all starting to make sense now:)  All of the Marines in my husband unit wore these 24 hours a day 7 days a week, the entire length of their deployment.  He had one made for me, that matched his, so we could always be connected to each other in some way while he was gone.  Neither of us took it off until months after he came home. (I had even wanted to wear it to my wedding, but my mom refused and knew it would look terrible:) ) While he was gone, whenever I missed him, I would look down and touch the bracelet, wondering if he was doing the same thing at the same time.  It really helped to get us through those long hours, days, and months.  

This bracelet also has special meaning for me in another way.  The Marine who actually made the bracelet was one of my husband's closest friends, Jesse.  Jesse was Skip's roommate for the entire deployment, sleeping on the top of their bunk beds.  He was the turret gunner in their Humvee and was always great for some comic relief.  He made me the bracelet in return for a mix CD (Skip and I don't agree on music, but Jesse and I did, haha) and I even talked to him on the phone once in Iraq.  The last time I saw him was the day they came home, underneath the plane, while waiting for all their bags.  I gave him a hug and said I was glad he was home safe.  Sadly, that was the last time I saw Jesse, because only 3 months after they got home, he drown while on vacation with some of his friends from home.  The shock that someone could survive a war and then come home and die, tore my heart apart.  Being at a military funeral for someone so young was one of the worst days I have ever experienced.  That day, and every year on the anniversary of his death, I put on the bracelet and think of Jesse.  I feel lucky that all the guys in his unit will forever has this special tie to him.

So why am I wearing this bracelet again?  I put it on the other day in support of my husband as he ran his first 5K race (he laughed at me, because he runs at least a 5K length of 3.2 miles about 4 times a week, but I was excited about the first actual race)  And as I was looking at the bracelet that day, it reminded me again about how much he and I went through when he was deployed, and how it strengthened our relationship.  It is a reminder of just how lucky I am every day to have him home with me.  And as with Jesse, it is a reminder that even though someone survives a war, they are not immortal and bad things can still happen (an especially big worry when your husband is a cop!) It reminds me of all the Marines and soldiers still over there, and all the families at home struggling without them.  It reminds me that even when things seem impossibly hard, I can find the inner strength to do them.  It reminds me that if my husband had not come home, I would never have my beautiful daughter.  It reminds me that small problems and annoyances are trivial in the face of real danger.  It reminds me that my husband is a true hero in all sense of the word, and I will never fully be able to express how proud I am of him.  It reminds me that just because someone leaves the war, doesn't mean that the war leaves them.  It reminds me that Skip and I can get through anything life throws at us, together.

Sandbox Fun!

My parents recently bought a sandbox for Little M to play with when are down the shore.  Last week was the first time she saw it and she absolutely loved it!  She played in it for almost 45 minutes straights without fussing!  I'm sure she is excited to go back down and get to play with it again.

Mr. B likes the sandbox too!

Relaxing

As much as we loved being on the beach, it was also really nice just to hang out at my parent's house.  It was just the five of us {me, Skip, Little M, Mr. B, and Shiba!} and it was so nice to just relax and have some quality family time!

Showing off her hat and pretty dress

Chillin on the couch with Shiba

Yes that is a teething ring...I hate 1 year molars!

Our feeble attempt at taking a family picture in the mirror

Nothin' but a t-shirt on

Snuggling with Mommy

She's just getting so big!!

Beach Bunny

We managed to do alot on our short little vacation so I'm going to split it up into a few posts.  We spent the majority of the time though just relaxing on the beach!  We spent alot of time on the beach last summer too, but this was the first time Little M was walking and running on the beach!  It took her a minute to get used to the sand, but then she was off!  She loved chasing seagulls, walking with Daddy, digging in the sand with her bucket and shovel, and staring out at the waves {though she *hates* putting her feet in the water....maybe because it was only 60*!!} I love the beach more than any other place in the world and I am so glad my daughter has taken such a liking to it as well.  Here are some pictures from our two days enjoying the sand and surf.

Eating a sweet treat from Daddy!

Not sure what this face is about!

Chocolate face!

View on the beach...love it!

Putting sand in the bucket

So happy she likes wearing her hat

Beach bunnies! {yes that is a new bikini...I stupidly left all of mine at home!}

Love this little girl!