The Finnegans Lately

I snapped this pic of G at the park yesterday and as I was taking it I couldn't get over how big she looks. Next month she will be 3. 3!  Where did my baby go?

It seems like just yesterday I brought her home from hospital. In fact some days I wish we were back at those first few months of newborness. How I miss this days. But in reality she will be starting preschool in 2 and will no longer be at home with me 24/7. Good thing I'm teaching at the school she will be attending preschool right!

I can't imagine life without this crazy kid of mine. She is sassy, stubborn, strong willed, yet sensitive, sweet, warm hearted and generous. And she is smart. So smart. She picks things up easily and loves to learn. 

She loves ballet, princesses, swimming in the pool like a mermaid, going to the beach, and playing dress up. She has a slew of 8 dolls and stuffed animals that have to go everywhere with us and at night she sleeps with all those animals along with multiple blankets. Oh and she still sleeps with me. She will not sleep in her room. And in fact can't sleep unless she's snuggled as close to me as she can get. 

But don't let the princess stage fool you. She loves playing cars and dragons with her brother and she is fearless when it comes to the sport of furniture climbing and diving. 

Then there's Ethan.

I forgot how much I love this stage of toddlerhood. At 20 months we aren't quite to the terrible 2's and we are over the hardest parts of babyhood. Every day this kid learns and does something new. He's my go with the flow child. A little more sensitive than Gianna although he's starting to stand up for himself more and more. He probably listens and follows instructions better than Gianna does. He is a mommy's boy though that may change once daddy gets home.

He's my little goof ball. Always laughing and smiling. Right now he may be pouring a juice box over his sister's head and laughing hysterically. It's only payback for all the million things she had done to him

He loves playing with cars and dinosaurs. His favorite show is super why and he loves dancing to the music. He could spend all day outside and when it comes to the pool or beach he is fearless around water. Walks right in and tries to swim. Such a water baby

Life with these two can be tiring, frustrating and stressful but most days it is so fun and rewarding. Lets he honest. I'm not one of those parents who can't wait for her kids to grow up and leave the nest. I think I will always want them home with me. So time please slow down. My kids are growing up way to fast for my liking

What I'm Loving

I'm Loving

1. This Florida weather. My parents always try to get me to move back home to Wi. They fail to forget that we are stationed here for the next few years! But even if we could move I don't know if I could give up this amazing weather. In fact I think we will stay permanent floridians even after the hubby retires. And here's why

Impromptu beach days. It's like a vacation every day around here.

2. Planning my classroom!

I can't believe I will be going back to work in a few short months. I've been spending lots and lots of time on Pinterest planning activities and themes for my soon to be classroom. This camping theme is adorable

3. AdvoCare

My parents and brother are all doing the AdvoCare cleanse and sent me the kit so I can join in. I'm on day 3 of the ten day cleanse and have lost 3 pounds. 

Operation get fit for the hubby and our vacation is in full swing

4. The library

I've been devouring books lately and we all know books can be expensive. Sure having a book cuts down on the costs but I'm weird and prefer the feel of a book over the nook. Plus I can't use my nook outside. So the kids and I have been hitting up the library a lot. Tomm starts the summer program for the kids and Gianna is moving on up to the story time/craft group for 3 year olds! No more mom and me lap sit for her :(

5. Summer days

What is it about summer that just screams fun. Even if it's just stopping to enjoy cupcakes and ice cream after a day at the beach. 

6. These goofy kids

He's really coming into his own lately. He is talking more and more and is starting to show interest in more things. He's def not a baby anymore. He loves to make me laugh and yet is more sensitive than his sister. He is so easy going and go with the flow. I love this boy of mine

And when did this one get so big. Swimming lessons, dance camp, preschool in the fall. I still remember her newborn days. Did I mention she turns 3 in a month. Please stop growing up! 

7. The final countdown

We are weeks away from the hubby coming home. It can't come fast enough!

What are you loving these days?

Refreshed

This past weekend was just what I needed to recharge my batteries. I've always said that the last month of deployments are the hardest. For us at least. It's when shit really starts to hit the fan and you barely have the energy to deal with it.

If you read my post last week ranting and raving about this deployment I'm sure you'll understand. After I posted it my husband emailed me to say it sounded a little harsh. I laughed and responded that it was meant to be. I'm done when it comes to this deployment. I'm stressed and tired. The kids are too and just wan their daddy home. Plus if I have to do one more thing to the yard I'm going to scream. Luckily I did hire a lawn service to help out this deployment. Such a life saver. 

I also told my husband I got a lot of private emails from fellow milspouse bloggers who said they were able to relate. It's sad that as a milspouse you always have to put on a good front. And when you do let loose and vent people respond negatively. Well, you knew what you signed up for. Or your looked upon as complaining about your spouse. Unless your calling to ask me how you can help than you should keep your opinions to yourself!! I've always used my blog as a online journal and as a place to vent. I'm not going to change now. Ok end rant. I'm getting way off topic

Back to this weekend. It was so good for the soul. Earlier in the week I had signed the kids up for Parents night out. A local church puts this on once a month and for 15 bucks a kid you get four hours of free time. The kids are provided with dinner and they have lots of activities to keep the kids entertained. After paying a few bills I hadn't expected I debated about canceling the kids spot at PNO. However as I went through the mail one day I accidentally opened my husbands Father's Day card from my parents. And inside was a check. So I treated myself to that money. Technically I've been playing both mom and dad these past few months right!! (Don't worry I told my hubby I took his check) anyway I dropped the kids off and didn't look back. 

Two friends who also had their kids in PNO and I went out for a nice dinner and then we went to see my boyfriend in his latest movie

2 hours of non-stop laughing. I literally had tears rolling down my face through most of the movie. Now it may not have been that funny of a movie or a good one for that matter. All I know is that I needed to laugh. And that movie delivered. We did miss the ending though since we had to go pick up our kids but we all agreed that that movie was just what we needed. And who doesn't want to spend two hoes staring at Channing Tatum

Saturday Gianna had swimming lessons. Afterwards we ran errands, went to a Mary Kay party and then came home where we all took a 4 hour nap. We woke up to a friend asking us over for dinner and off we went. We spent the night at our friends pool, where the kids enjoyed swimming and us mommies enjoyed a few drinks. My friends husband is gone too and she has three little ones. It's always nice to talk with someone whose in the same situation as you and who is just as stressed or frustrated. You can pour out your feelings without being judged. We both ended up texting the other after I had left saying that that night was much needed.

Sunday was low key. We went to church and headed home. The mood was somber in our house as we all really missed the hubby. Gianna especially kept asking for him to come home. After nap I tried to clean out my car but Murphy stuck it to me once again. Neither extension cord worked, nor did the shop vac or vacuum. So I gave up and the kids and I headed inside where we popped popcorn and had movie night.

Now that's it's Monday I feel ready to do quiet the week after such a relaxing weekend!!

Dad's

Dad's get the short end of the stick most days. Tv shows portray them as complete morons, sentimental commercials about parenting are geared more towards the mom's and there are countless books about the differences in men and women in regards to parenting and marriage. 

I myself am guilty of thinking my ways of parenting are superior to my husbands. Granted for the past few years I've been both mom and dad to our two little one's but that doesn't mean my husbands role isn't needed, or un-appreciated. 

Today's sermon at church was on this very same topic. The female pastor gave today's message and it was beyond amazing. She too admitted to micro-managing her husband when it came to raising their now adult sons and that she also found her ways superior to her husbands when it came to feeding, dressing and taking care of the kids. But she realized early on that she had to stop doing that. For while her husband did things different than her, her ways weren't always the better of the two.

And that really made me stop and think. My husband is such an amazing father and I never give him the credit he deserves. It's easy to get caught up in the frustrations and hardships of deployments instead of focusing on why he's away and appreciating all he does for our family 

Same with ways he deals with the kids. Sure we do things differently. I mean when I'm with the kids they are usually fed three well balanced meals, bathed, changed and entertained. My husband spends a few hours with them and I come home to them both wearing the same clothes I left them in and if I'm lucky he has fed them one meal. Usually spaghettio's. However the messy house is a good indication that they had loads and loads of fun. Priceless moments spent together that will never be forgotten. And for that I am grateful 

There are many things I excel at when it comes to parenting. And many ways I'm lacking. Same goes to my husband. But we balance each other out in the best way possible

From the moment our kids were born my hisband had silly songs made up for them. A song in Spanish about poop for Gianna which resulted in one of her nicknames and a course a song about Ethan's male parts. Some of my

Favorite memories of my husband are of him walking up and down the hallway of our house bouncing a little newborn singing away

And the singing doesn't stop. My husband can make up the best so g and games. He gets our kids laughing hysterically over the goofiest things. He can make anything into a game and he has such fun with the kids. He is clearly the fun parent out of the two of us

He teaches me to slow down. I like to go go go and plan every moment of every day. He has taught me that while the vacations and activities are fun and much needed, some of the best memories are created playing in the yard or reading a story together

Everything he does is for our family and our children. His constant depkpyments and TDY's were all for a promotion and an assurance that we will be taken care off after retirement

And what I love best about him is that he supports my staying home with the kiddos 100 percent. I couldn't ask for a better husband and a father to our kids. I love the life we lead and having him is what makes our family complete

When I first saw you I fell in love and you smiled because you knew 

Deployments and Murphy's Law

POh the Murphy's law of deployments. he's had quite a few laughs during this one leaving more and more things broken all the while draining my back account

The Murphy's law of deployments basically means that the minute your husband leaves everything that can go wrong will go wrong. And then some. It's summed up quite nicely by this picture 

This deployment has honestly been one of the worst. Not because of how much I missed my husband, or how hard it is to hear the kids crying for their dad, or because I'm lonely, or because the husband and I aren't communicating properly. But because it has been just one thing after the other. As I called my dad the other day and had a emotional break down I jokingly said I was one mental breakdown away from a mental breakdown. 

Being an army wife is hard. Raising kids alone is exhausting and frustrating. Doing it all alone with no family nearby on top of dealing with the house and all the other stuff that us wives do is beyond hard sometimes. And Murphy doesn't make it any better

Just when I thought things were picking up something else would happen. Last week I literally woke up to a new issue every day. And because I love to document so I can look back and read about how hard I thought deployments were I thought I'd write a little list

- We made it through a tornado. On our own and luckily only suffered minor damage to our fence, grill, playhouse and yard

- I bought Gianna a little purse from the dollar section of the store as a reward for good behavior. On our return home she went in her room to play with it. When I entered her room I saw she had colored all her walls with the markers I didn't know came inside the purse

- Ethan grabbed one of the above markers and decorated his room and the hallways

- we all caught a massive stomach bug and let's just say I went through a large thing of tide, and a jumbo box of diapers and wipes in two days

- the smoke alarms in the house all started beeping randomly. Even after the batteries were changed and they were unplugged with the wall. Leaving my dogs terrified of being in the house alone

- The router died so we no longer have internet. Or Netflix or anything like that

- the dogs dug massive holes around our freshly sodded backyard. It's so bad but our air conditioner that you can see the underground poles and wires. I've had to rig up a fence outta the kids toys

- storm number 2 made us lose our second pool of the summer and broke our patio table

- upon returning home from the store the other night with dinner I placed said dinner on the counter only to come inside after getting the kids out of the car to find the dinner eaten by the dogs

- the kids fighting and crying has gone from cute to kind of funny to some what annoying to down right irritating 

- Yestersay I thought we made it through the day unscathed. I had to volunteer at church and afterwards some friends and I took the kids to the park. I treated them to McDonald's after that and we finally headed home at 9. Way after bedtime but I had two exhausted kids that I couldn't wait to put to sleep. I was thinking that it was a really good day until my phone beeped. My friends daughter has lice. And they were just over at our house. 

It was in that moment that I felt utterly defeated. I don't think I can handle anything more on my plate. I should have a husband home here to help me with all this. Luckily a good friend lives across the street from me. She isn't married and has no kids. Plus she works at a school so I know she'd know what to do. I intended for her to come and stay at my House to watch my sleeping kids while I ran to Walgreens. She ended up going to walgreens for me. And gave us all lice checks since I had no idea what to look for. Luckily we were given the all clear although I'm still washing all the bedding, blankets, washable toys and treating the kid hair just in case.

But as far as this deployment goes I wave the white flag. I'm tired, exhausted, stressed and overwhelmed

The most frustrating part of it is the fact that my husband doesn't understand. Take this pix

So true. I thjnk my husband thinks I'm exaggerating when I tell him about what's been going on at home. During the tornado he called to check on his car. His car. Not his wife and kids crammed in the laundry room but his car. And since he's never spent more than a few hours alone with the kids by himself he has no clue what it's like to be with them all day everyday. To him I spend my day going to the park or hanging out with friends on play dates and then finish out the day watching disney movies. What's so hard about that? So clueless

But while this post may sound like constant complaint after complaint it's really not meant to be. I know things could be so much worse. Despite all the things that have broken or gone wrong we are all healthy and happy and that's what really matters. Compared to a friend whose two year old just had major heart surgery or the little girl in my Sunday school class that has cancer I am grateful that although Murphy has struck, it has been minor little things. And I thank god every day for that. Because despite it all I am beyond blessed 

Although the day after the husband gets home I am heading for the beach. Alone. And staying until after the kids go to her. Army life is so romantic isn't it!

Our Summer So Far

I can't believe it's almost the middle of June. We are busy counting down th days till the hubby comes home and we leave for our family vacation. I don't want to wish the days away too fast though since I'll be returning to work in 3 months! How crazy is that

Now that the kids are older it's easier to plan and do things with them. However I have two totally different children. Ethan is content to entertain himself and is perfectly fine staying at home. Gianna is high energy and needs constant stimulation. It's exhausting some days to constantly have to entertain her

I try to do one outing a day and on days we have nothing planned we spend a lot of time outdoors. However since another storm hit us this weekend we no longer have a pool or a patio table. And the backyard is now full of glass pieces so our time in the yard has to be on the driveway or on the front. And since we were on pool number 2 this summer I probably won't be buying another. I will be calling a pool company about getting an estimate for an actual above ground pool. (The hubby doesn't know this yet) which hopefully I can scrimp and save for to have done sometime next summer. But that's probably wishful thinking. Any who I thought Id write about our daily schedule and get some ideas and tips from all of you out there. Here is what our week looks like

Monday- Gianna has ballet class at 10. Since it's right by the beach we usually go there or to the playground. This Monday we skipped ballet due to all of us being overtired. Big mistake. By noon we were all going crazy at home

Tuesday- nothing major planned. The movie theater in town has free movies on Tuesdays so we tried it out yesterday. Ethan was a nightmare. So I think Tuesday will be spent having people over for play dates or hiting up my friends neighborhood pool which she so graciously gave me the code to!

Wednesday- Story time/library days.

Both kids are really starting to love books and they love going to the library. Afterward I'll got up the park to let them burn off energy before heading home for a nap. 

Thursday- Snall group. All of my fellow co-workers and I decided to start our own small group. Since we all have kids we figured we could meet during the day and let the kids play while we do our study. We are starting Captivating. Has anyoe done that? I've heard such good things

Friday- Another free day. I want to designate this as our craft day but I'm not sure Ethan is ready for crafts yet

Our weekends are usually full of trips to the beach or birthday parties. Only a few more weekends till the hubby is home! So ready for our family to be complete again 

What do you do to occupy your time? I've found the day goes by so smoothly if the kids are out of the house till naptime. Then we come home for nap and everyone wakes up refreshed. I usually let the kids watch a movie or free play when I make dinner and after dinner they go for a run with me and then it's bath and bed time. I tried letting the kids stay up later than normal and they each got up a hour earlier than usual. My sleeping in plan backfired. Back to regular bedtimes it is!!

And of course Gianna has swimming lessons these next few weeks and come July she has a week of Fairy princess dance camp. After that we leave for Sanibel. I am so ready for a relaxing vacation.

Bring on Summer

Mom, your doing ok

These past few weeks have been rough around here. I've found myself yelling more than I'd like and begging the kids for five seconds of quiet. I am more irritable than usual and just over being a single parent! And the kids know it. They are pushing my limits every chance they get and are eagerly awaiting their dad to come home so they can get away from me

After a rough day of typical toddler behavior from the two of them I was trying my best not to explode. Every second one of the kids would start screaming for me or crying because the other had hit or took their toy away. I finally turned on the magical thing called a tv and walked into the kitchen for a snack.

I heard Ethan start to cry and sighed before walking  back into the living room to get him. Once there though I stopped. Gianna was rubbing Ethan's head and singing you are my sunshine. Something I do often. After she was done she turned to me and said Ethan was sad so I sung sunshine like you Mom.

As hard as some days are and as often as I feel like I'm doing it all wrong, moments like these occur and I know I'm doing something right 

Pillow Talk

Shortly before Gianna turned 1 the hubby went TDY. I was 24 weeks pregnant with Ethan and the fact that Gianna wouldn't be an only child in a few short months was starting to sink in

So when it came to bedtime with her I kind of slacked on our routine. Instead of bath, book and bed, we would do bath, book and then snuggles on the couch. Up until Ethan was born Gianna fell asleep curled around my belly as I lay on the living room couch

After he was born obviously things changed and we are back to our bedtime routine. However there are days I let it slack when it comes to Gianna's bedtime

As a mom of two with kids so close together in age I've found it impossible to give both kids the one on one attention they crave and deserve. Especially when the hubby is gone. So I have to be creative and make things count when I do have one on one time with either of them. And with Gianna it starts after Ethan goes to bed

She knows this as well. As soon as Ethan gets put down her whole demeanor changes. There are days when she is beyond terrible in regards to listening, sharing with Ethan and your usual typical toddler stuff. But when he goes to bed it's as if she knows she no longer has to fight him for my attention and she breathes a sigh of relief knowing she has me all to herself

I must say I love our nights together. Some nights we pop popcorn and watch movies. Some night we camp out on the living room floor. Some nights we lay in my bed having conversations and reading books. Her newest interests are Jesus stories and reading her toddler bible. My mommy heart swells every time she asks for a "Jesus story"

Some night we have silly conversations about scary darth Vadar, or our fairy garden or about how much she misses daddy and how she just wants him to sleep with her. We sing songs and make faces and just enjoy spending time together

And my favorite part of our nights is this. For as long as I can remember I've sung You are my sunshine to my kids. I've spent hours rocking each one of them from newborn on singing that song over and over. Usually I tuck them in, sing a few verses while rubbing their backs, say I love you and walk out the door.

Now Gianna will initiate me singing on her own. She will snuggle up to me, squeeze me as hard as she can, tell me she loved me and then ask for "sunshine" and so I sing and rub her head. And you better believe I can't stop until she's asleep. But listening to her ask for it and having her hug me and tell me she loves me on her own is the best way to end my night