The Life of an Army Wife

Cooper and Me and the Military

2012-02-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

I got the opportunity to review a children's book about the military and I jumped at the chance. With an upcoming deployment the hubs and I have been searching for child friendly literature and books that we can have on hand to help prepare us and Gianna for his deployment. Granted she is a little young to understand that Daddy is gone but it won't be long before she does and we want to be ready

Reading to Gianna is party of our daily and nightly routine so I'm always looking for cute books to read to her. I found that in Cooper and Me and the Military by Monique and Alexa Peters.

Overview:
Meet Trooper, Cooper's best friend and learn how he was adopted by Gracie and Joe and their parent's. who both serve in the military. Find out how this family stays close despite being separated. A must read during patriotic holiday's and for anyone with family and friends in the military. This book helps children know that even when loved ones aren't with us, they still love us and think about us.
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This book was really cute. It was written from the child's point of view so children reading the story will easily understand the concept and lesson's learned. The story line of the puppy will attract children, expecially those that have pet's of their own. The illustrations were bright and attractive, sure to catch any child's eye

This book is perfect for children whose parent's, aunts, uncle's or other family members who may be deployed. It is also a good story for a teacher to read to her student's who may have parent's deployed to help the kid's understand and to help kids relate to peer's who may have family member's serving overseas.

This book will def be added to our collection! This book is actually part of a series so if you are looking for some good read's for your kids I'd def go check out the Cooper and Me website. Click here
One of the coolest things about these books is the interactive features. These stories teach life lesson's, connections, learning together and a special memory creation. So not only are these books fun to read but they are great teaching resources for your kids

Disclaimer- Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend product's or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the federal trade commission's 16 CFR Part 255, Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in Advertising

Our Love Story

2012-02-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

Linking up with From Mrs to Mama

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
4 years!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}
On Myspace! In short I worked with his sister and she created a Myspace account to keep in touch with her deployed brother. Since he and I were her only friends on her page we became each others friends. We started talking and then met when he came to WI to visit his family. The rest was history. 5 months later we were married

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}In April it will be 4 years!

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?
We had a small wedding in Key West, Fl a month before the hubs was set to deploy. It was perfect. We had about 20 people there. OOur parent's, siblings and close friends and family. The reception was helf overlooking the marina and it was awesome in every way. Still gives me goosebumps when I watch our wedding video or look at pictures

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
Just babe! Kinda lame I know!

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
He loves me for who I am, he works so hard to provide for our family and he's a homebody. He loves just spending time with his girls

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?
Since he lived in NC and I in WI. We were dating long distance. One night he said he was driving to Charlotte to do some shopping. He called to say he was driving back to Fayetteville but his phone was dead so he'd call me when he got home. I thought nothing of it and went out to dinner for my dad's birthday. Once I got back to my apt I changed into pj's and started watching tv. The hubs called asking what I was doing. I told him and he told me to open the front door. There he was. Ring and flower's in hand. Such a surprise!
This pic cracks me up. I def was taken off guard

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
Ha neither. Last year I did get flower's but usually we don't do much for valentine's day. His bday is the 18th and mine is the 26th so usually we just order in chinese for valentines day and do something big for our bday's. That of course is when he's not deployed. Last year he was so I did receive a bouquet of calla lilies. My favorite flowers and the flowers I used in my wedding bouquet

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
Pop in a movie and relax on the couch. He's gone so much that it's the little things that matter most

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
Go to Ireland and Greece. Those places are on our to do list!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
Nothing. The hubs is back in NC for training. The first weekend of March we are going to New Orleans so that will be our Valentine's and bday celebration rolled into one

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
Nope. The hubs want's to buy a new house so we are saving up for a down payment.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
Communicate. A marriage with no communication won't last. Listen to your ppartner. Tell them how you feel. Keep those lines of communication open. Always

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

An Update on our House

2012-02-07T07:14:00.001-08:00

This past May we bought our first home. We knew that once we moved to Fl we would be staying here for at least 10 years and wanted something to call our own.

The requirements for the house was simple. A fenced in back yard, three bedrooms and wood floors. We found what we wanted in an amazing short sale and are paying a crazily low monthly mortgage payment.

The kitchens and bathrooms need updating but the hubs has always wanted to do that ourselves. We redid one bathroom and were planning on knocking out the master bath and kitchen this spring and summer. Until the hubby got the itch

The itch to buy a new house that is. His reasoning... We are running out of room. When we bought this house we figured we'd be in it 3-5 years tips before buying a bigger house. But sadly it looks like we may be moving sooner.

The dining room is already a play room and other than there really isn't any space to grow. Gianna's room and the guest bed are small along with the closets and side we have out of town visitors alot once baby number two arrives guests will have no place to go.

The hubs doesn't want to spend alot of money and time remodeling when we know we will putting the house on the market soon. A few weeks ago we decided to put it in the market sometime this coming fall.

And then we found our dream home. The home we had pictured in our heads and talked about for years.two stories, 4 bed 3 bath. Plenty of room to grow. Right here in town. We contacted the realtor, walked through the home and swooned. Its the house I can picture raising our family in. The house I can envision Gianna descending the stairs in her homecoming dress to her awaiting date. I want it and so does he. We contacted the realtor who sold our home and she said we wouldn't make anything on this house. She also did say if we remodeled that wouldn't add any value.

So now here's the dilemma. Do we stay in this house for a bit since the payment is amazing or do we go for our dream home.

The hubs won't be happy staying in our current home and I don't want to make a rash decision. I'm so grateful and thankful to God that we have such an amazing home already and ideal selfish for wanting more.

Have any of you been in this situation? I'm torn and don't know what to do!

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Happy Monday

2012-02-06T08:23:00.001-08:00

I've been in a bit of a blogging slump. Lots going on here. Hopefully I'll return with some more posts later on this week but until then I thought I'd share some pics of lovebug

She is now crawling all over the place and learned how to pull herself upright this weekend. She hates sitting and needs to stand at all time

She was playing in her crib yesterday while I was reading in the rocking chair in her room. All of a sudden I look over and see this

Hi Mom!

Guess its time to change the crib settings again

Someone loves prunes. Prunes of all things. Yuck but look at this face. She can't get enough

Saturday we went to my friends daughter's 5th bday party. It was princess themed and she had someone come dressed as Princess Tiana from princess and the frog. The princess gave all the little kiddos manicures and makeovers. It was the cutest thing ever

My little princess. It's obvious I take too many pictures( or spend too much time on my phone) when the minute I pull it out Gianna stops what she's doing, poses and smiles.

That's my girl!

Happy Monday everyone
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Mommy who?

2012-02-03T05:59:00.001-08:00

My living room looks like a tornado went through it! Gianna has reached that stage where
Her toys are fascinating. She loves all of them and she moves from one to the other. It is so fun to watch

Remember a few weeks ago when I was talking about how Gianna was so clingy and fussy anytime I left the room. That us not the case now. She could care less that I'm playing with her let alone in the room. She has become so absorbed in her toys. When they light up she's fascinated, when they talk to her she smiles and laughs and when they move or roll she crawls after them. I can spend minutes calling her name out but if she's engrossed in a toy she ignores me. 6 months old and already practicing selective hearing. To be honest though it worries me when she doesn't respond to her name. I immediately think the worst but I know it's because she's into her toys

And our dogs are her best friends. She watches them at all times cracking up at every little thing they do. And when she's playing with her toys she looks to make sure they are watching before doing something. Yesterday I had her in her walker and she looked around to make sure she had an audience and would then press the bottons and play with the toys on it. As soon as they moved or made sound she'd look to the dogs as if to see See how smart I am. Then she'd do it all over again. It was hilarious

And while it's so exciting to watch her actually understand toys and discover how to play with them I must admit its a little sad. I can plop her down with some toys and she's content. If she wants something shell let me know but she can now occupy herself for awhile. I can clean my house and catch up on things now even though mommy guilt kicks in and I feel like I should be interacting with her more. I know all the books say children learn through play and they have to learn how to play independently. But it does tug at my heart strings that my baby girl is becoming her own independent person.

I went to target yesterday to stock up on some things and they had a sale on clothes. I'm pretty much stocked up on clothes for her through 9 months but for some reason everytime I saw a cute 12 month outfit I'd put it down thinking it'll be awhile before she fits into that and started searching for smaller sizes. Then it hit me. 12 months is the size I need to start buying soon. Gone are the newborn days, Gone are the 3-6 month stage. She is growing up and fast. Becoming her own little person and growing and developing every day

It has been such a blast to watch!

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31 Party

2012-01-30T16:58:00.001-08:00

Since the hubs won't be home for my bday again this year I decided to get my girlfriends together and have a 31 party. For those of you that don't know what that is its basically a collection of bags and purses that come in really cute patterns and can be monogrammed with whatever you want! Super cute and affordable.

If anyone would like to take place in this party message me with your email address and I'll direct you to the website!

Thanks

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Downsizing and other randoms for the week

2012-01-25T07:00:00.001-08:00

1.

This is what our nights look like. Although the husband usually gets about half the bed and the baby and I share a quarter of the space. So last night I decided it was time to start putting her in her crib. She went down about 7 and slept until 12.
Our split bedroom floor plan which I loved when I moved in, I hate now! I felt so far away from my baby. And it makes me so nervous because when Gianna sleeps she prefers to lay on her stomach. Face flat in the mattress. No matter how much you move her or prop her to lay on her back that's how she ends up. So needless to say when she woke up at 1230 I pulled her into bed with me. But what the cutest thing of the night was walking into her room and finding my dog guarding her crib. Made my heart melt

2. I have a love hate relationship with the army. I hate then when they make my husband leave all the time but I love them for their solid paycheck and occasional perks. Like our first family vacation will be to New Orleans thanks to a marriage retreat the army is putting on. Score! I've never been to New Orleans and can't wait to go spend the weekend there!

3. Budgeting- I have been trying to really budget and save money these past few months. I only use cash and have envelopes for everything. It's hard to budget when your husband doesn't get the concept. We each get a amount for spending money. He blows his the first day of payday instead of stretching it out two weeks. And since he knows I have envelopes of money for other things he thinks he can just use that. The other day he's texting me about transferring money so he can go to breakfast with the guys. I said there was none so instead if not going like a normal person would do I get a text saying I owe his friend 20 bucks. Sigh. Maybe one day he will understand the budget concept

4. And on to my last point. Downsizing. Lately I've been feeling the need to downsize. Growing up I never had cable. Ever. I didn't get cable until the hubs and I were married and living in our own place. Here in Fl the price of cable is insane. Back in nc with Time Warner I had home phone, high speed Internet and cable with hvo, dvr and show time. Here in fl I only have Internet plus cable with hvo and dvr and I pay more than double what I paid in nc. So I've debated about getting rid of cable. Or just switching to basic. But then I hesitate. Can I survive without my trashy reality tv shows. We have been making a point to then off the tv at 9 every night and read. It's been so nice. But could I always do that. Give up cable. And isn't it horrible that I don't know if I can give it up lol. Yet every month I complain about the cable bill. So I'm giving myself to the end of the month to decide

How about any of you. Have you gotten rid of cable or downsized anything in your lives?

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Praying for Baby Daphne

2012-01-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

This beautiful baby girl needs our prayers.Daphne was born with Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder that is caused by there being 3 pairs of chromosome 18 rather than the normal 2.

The large majority of babies with Tri18 never make it past the womb and the ones that do, are rarely strong enough to live to see outside the NICU and hospital walls. Most deaths are caused by heart abnormalities, loss of kidney function, and other organ failures.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

When Daphne was in the womb, doctors told Danielle and Drew that their baby girl would have to undergo major heart surgery after birth. They told the both of them a lot of things in an attempt to prepare them for what they were sure would happen. Thing after thing would crop up, they would try to help her, but in the end, she would pass away.

Daphne was born at 2:20 on January 7th weighing in at 3 pounds 11 ounces. A tiny little angel sent down from God to bless the lives of her mama, daddy, and anyone who would meet her. It took a few days but Daphne was officially diagnosed with Trisomy 18 and things seemed to be getting tougher for her.
To read more of Daphne's inspiring story click HERE and visit The Adventures of Mr. Superman and Mrs S to read more of her story. I also got the above blurb from Mrs. S's blog. And Please pray for this little girl and her family

Weekend Recap

2012-01-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

Where do the weekends go? They always seem to fly by. It always seems the hubs and I plan on a lazy weekend at home and that never happens! This weekend was no exception

Friday- Gianna woke up at 5am with a 102.1 fever. I hate the day after shots. She spent most of her day sleeping and I enjoyed an afternoon of relaxing and reading which never happens since Lovebug does not like to nap!
Hubs got off work early and we spent the rest of the afternoon and night relaxing. We ordered chinese food from our favorite restaurant and enjoyed a date night in. It was great

Saturday- Lovebug had us up early so we planned on laying around on the couch all day. Until the hubs found that a house we had looked at prior to buying this one was still on the market. And he called the realtor to meet usx so we could take a look. The house was breathtaking. Def our dream home. But it's been on the market 6 years. Never occupied and we want to know why. Although we have no intention of selling our house yet, it was still fun to look. After that we looked drove through other neighborhoods and imagined where we could see living best with our family. It's fun to dream of the future! After that we headed home, made dinner and watched the Ides of March. Ehh not as great of movie as I thought it would be.

Sunday-Gianna was up bright and early again. My kid seriously does not like sleeping!We spent the morning lounging around playing with her and then headed to the hospital to visit some friends who had a baby boy the day before. I def was hit with the baby bug again although we will wait a bit before trying for number 2. Although if it was up to the hubs I'd be barefoot and pregnant again!
After visiting our friends we drove into Destin and did a little window shopping. After coming home we played some more with Gianna and enjoyed a nice eve3ning at home

Pretty low key but went by fast as usual. We find out today if the hubs will be gone the month of february for a training class. Nothing like going back to reality after a great weekend

Just Closed-The Hunger Games Trilogy(Review)

2012-01-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

After reading these books I cannot wait for this movie! I am half way through the third book but wanted to a do a book review of all three.
SPOILER ALERT-If you haven't read these and plan on it you may not want to read this

The Hunger Games(Book One) A book about the end of civilization as we know it, a post apocalyptic world, a story about "games" which include 24 kids fighting to the death. So not a book for me. Or so I thought. I bought this book over a year ago and just picked it up a few weeks ago. I couldn't get into it. Everyone kept telling me to give it another try so I did. It took me until page 100 to get hooked. And then I couldn't put it down. This book was amazing. I connected with the character's more than I thought I would and the story line kept me involved and interested. I loved it and couldn't wait to pick up book 2

Catching Fire- Loved loved loved. This is my favorite book of the trilogy. I like how we got to know more of our character's in depth. Such a Haymitch who probably is my favorite character. This book also kept me interested and I could not put it down. I loved how all the victor's were in on the plan to start a war against the Capitol. And how Haymitch helped orchestrate it all. If Katniss wouldn't have been so proud and stubborn maybe she would have realized that. I guessed what was going on when Haymitch told her to beware the real enemy. I finished it in 3 days which is a record for me post baby.I couldn't wait to start book three

Mockingjay-I started this book immediately after I finished book2 2 and I kept waiting for it to get interesting. Katniss really annoyed me in t his book. I felt like all the book talked about was Katniss sleeping in a linen closet. You know the district's were waging a war against the capital but nb specific details were given except what Katniss heard from Coin or Plutarch. She became whiny and irritating. Mad at people for doing what she wanted(starting to rebel against the capital) and her dislike towards character's she was previously close to bothered me. Like I said I'm half way through and am still waiting for this book to pick up. I don't want to continue reading about her making propo's or sleeping in her closet. I want them to rescue Peeta
And I don't like Gale. I feel like the author didn't really do much as far as character development for him and now in this book as she is starting too I could care less. Maybe because he is turning out not to be whom Katniss thought. I will keep on reading however.

I would def recommend this series to anyone. This is not my type of book series and now I am looking for more in this particular genre to read

Ive heard good things about Delirium by Lauren Oliver or Divergent by Veronica Roth. Has anyone read these or have any other suggestions for me. I've caught the reading bug again!

Mommy Guilt

2012-01-21T12:42:00.001-08:00

This post has been something I've wanted to write for a long time but have been afraid to. I don't want to be judges or to have people take this post the wrong way. But since my blog is my own personal space I decided to go ahead and write it

You know the saying a woman becomes a mom the minute they become pregnant and a dad becomes a dad the minute the baby is born. Well that is def true. Although I'm still waiting for that to sink in to the hubs sometimes.

Don't get me wrong. He is an amazing dad. Gianna loves him so much and he loves her. He is so good at making up silly little songs and playing with her that it makes me smile from ear to ear. It's just in other ways I wish he'd step up more.

Since Gianna has been born she is my number one priority. There are days I get no time to myself. The house looks like a tornado went through it, laundry doesn't get done or if it does it's thrown places instead of folded, I walk around with baby puke in my hair and puréed peas all over my shirt. And I honestly don't mind. I love it. I just sometimes wish I'd get one hour to myself!

It doesn't help when the hubby waltzes in after work, plops down in front of the tv, asks when dinners ready and enjoys a video game

Meanwhile I'm still covered in puke and peas, holding a screaming baby and trying to make a semi decent and healthy meal. Then after dinner is over I hope he will take over but nope back to plopping on the couch after a smoke outside for desert. Meanwhile I'm cleaning up the remains of dinner, feeding the baby and giving her a bath. Then it's 730 and time to put her to bed. At this point im so exhausted I fall asleep shortly after.

Weekends are no different. Every weekend I hope the hubs will give me the morning off but no he immediately gets up, makes coffee and plays a video game leaving me with a baby to change and feed.

Now I know I'm painting the hubs in a bad light and I'm
Not trying to. In his defense he doesn't work a simple 8-4 job. Most days he's up at 430, at work by 5 and he doesn't get home until 6 or 7. I certainly dont blame him for relaxing on the couch after work. And on the weekends he takes care of all of the cleaning I don't get to and he's amazing at doing all the chores I hate. All the nasty deep cleaning stuff

I admit our ideas of entertaining the baby are different. He's fine with playing video games as long as she's in the room and he can keep an eye on her, I think we actually need to entertain her.

And if he does give me the morning off and watches her or occupies her while I clean or read a book. I feel guilty, like I'm an awful mom abandoning her child. So I stop what I'm doing and join in with whatever they are doing. I'm constantly torn between trying to keep up with daily life and spending good quality time with my daughter. I beat myself up if I don't feel like I stimulated her enough during the day, or stress over her meeting her milestones, especially when it comes to her verbal skills. I pick her up immediately if she's crying and try to keep her as entertained as possible.

Meanwhile the hubs is content with just letting her be. He feels she has to learn to play by herself and he doesn't hover the way I do. Like I said he feels as if quality time with her is spent with her sitting in his lap watching daddy play video games. And I'm not saying its not

It's just different how we have to very different approaches to our daughter. My mom says it was the same way with my dad. He pretty much left everything up to her, the feeding, changing, getting to bed, etc etc and only stepping in wheel playing with her. Then she said the minute I turned one, was waking and talking and doing more things he stepped in and spent way more time with me from there on out.

So I just wander if anyone else had experiences like this. Again in not saying we are having problems, or he doesn't spend time with her. That's not the case. There are just some instances where we differ when it comes to her and I feel like sometimes it hasn't sank in to him that he had another person to take care of now and his needs don't always come first.

So what do y'all think. Is this typical first year of motherhood stuff. Any advice. Please share!

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6 months! Happy Half Birthday Lovebug

2012-01-20T06:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Half Birthday babygirl

I can't believe that you are 6 months old already. I know I say this every time but I do not know where the time is going. It has been flying by. It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with you and here you are, growing up before my eyes!

You truly are the love of my life.(Besides your daddy of course) You are such a happy baby. You are always smiling. You are trying so hard to crawl and you have officially mastered the scoot. That def get's you where you want to go.You can roll from front to back and back to front. You can pull yourself up to a standing position and hate laying down. You love your walker and bouncer and your two favorite toys are your Sophie or your Laugh and Play Puppy.

Your new favorite thing to do is stick out your tongue and blow raspberries. It's hilarious.You aren't talking yet though in the morning's you are very vocal. I'm trying to get you to say Mama before you say Dada.

You love your daddy. He can make you belly laugh like no one else can. If I try to imitate Daddy you look at me like I'm crazy. That being said you are a mommy's girl. If Daddy is holding you you crane your neck to make sure I'm in the room. If I leave you cry and when you are fussy or upset about something it is me you want and not Daddy. We certainly have our roles. Mommy for comfort Daddy for play

My favorite thing you do this month is lift up your arms and reach for us. Melts my heart. You can be playing away and when you want me you look all around and cry out until you see me. Than you lift up your arms and wait for me to pick you up. So Sweet. You also hug which is just the cutest thing ever! Ahh life with you is such a joy Gianna

Now on to your monthly stats

Weight-15.5lbs(32%)
Height-25.5 in(30%)
Head-41 in(17%)
We had your six month Dr appt yesterday and he said everything looked great. That you are such a interactive and strong baby! Ha. You only cried for a few seconds when you got your shots but took them like a champ

Diapers-Size 2

Clothes- Size 3, 3-6, or 6 months

Sleep- You still hate sleeping. You fight sleep all day, only taking two 15 minute cat naps and you still hate your crib or bassinet. It's a work in progress

Food- Last month we started you on rice cereal and oatmeal. You loved it though you do prefer your organic oatmeal. We have also introduced peas, sweet potatoes and squash. Your favorite is peas. This week we will also be starting banana's.
You only eat one meal a day and are still breastfed though the dr said I can start doing three meal's a day so that's what we are beginning starting today
I was also told to start you on a sippy cup. I gave you one yesterday and you had no idea what to do with it. Right now you just chew on it like it's a teehter. Oh well

Teeth- None yet although I can feel a little nub in the back of your mouth

Firsts- First time in a swimming pool, first hotel stay, first time sticking out your tongue, first New Year's, first time eating baby food.
Mom and Dad's first night out without you. After two hours we were ready to come home and cuddle up with you! We don't like being away from you for long

And now for some monthly pics

Our monthly basket photo shoot

Say Cheese

Your model pose

Look at me Mom

You love your puppy

First time in the pool-You are such a water baby

Your mommy and daddy love you so much. You have brought so much joy into our lives.
I can't wait to see what this next month brings

What Babies are really trying to tell us

2012-01-19T14:45:00.001-08:00

Please control your children!

2012-01-18T15:36:00.001-08:00

You know that joke, I love kids, just not other people's kids. Well that is totally true!

Okay I'm kidding but sometimes it's true. All of my friends here in town and toddlers or grade school age kids. My best friend has a newborn but she lives a half hour away so we are unable to get together as often as we'd like. I spend alot of time with my friend who has a three year old and while that worked out great before Gianna was born now things are different.

They spend a lot of time at my house and while I don't mind I feel like I'm constantly patenting the three year old.

Yesterday she was over and I caught her climbing on top of Gianna's bouncer while Gianna was in. After repeatedly telling her no she continued whole throwing a ball in Gianna's face. I tries so hard to stay calm but I was aggravated. My friend did nothing

Instances like this happen alot when we get together. One day the three year old smeared cupcakes all over my tv, broke my Christmas decoration and kept sliding across my coffee table like it was a toy. Again all while my friend did nothing

I feel like I'm constantly saying no, don't touch, please don't pick up Gianna constantly. And my friend gets mad at me for doing that. She's constantly reminding me that one day I'll have a toddler and will need to be more patient!!

Another friend of mine also has two toddlers who act the same. They first met Gianna when she was a few days old. My friends toddlers found their way to Gianna's room and crawled into her crib and played unbeknownst to me. I found them and Gianna's crib bumbers torn and ripped from her crib. Did I mention her crib set was 300 dollars

Another time when out with those kids the little girl licked her hands and rubbed them all over Gianna saying she needed a bath. I grabbed Gianna and indeed gave her one.

While I know that I'm prolly paranoid and anxious when others come around my baby, it's hard not to be.

I was talking with a girl I met today who also has a baby Gianna's age and she was saying the same thing. All her friends have older kids and she hates how they act around her baby.

Is this normal? Do I need to lighten up? Anyone else experience this

I do truly love kids. Hell I want three more. I just don't like the way kids can be around babies. Correction I don't like how parents just let their kids run wild and not parent them!

I remember as a kid if I did something wrong all I'd need was the look from my mom and I knew I was in trouble. None of this having moms friend tell me to stop doing something repeatedly while mom did nothing

Ok I'm done venting. And I swear I'm not a horrible person. I can tell my friend is a little irritated when I tell her child to stop doing something but in my defense it is things she shouldn't be doing

Advice?

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Birthday Wish List

2012-01-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

With my birthday coming up next month I decided to create myself a wish list.

Love this Jessica Simpson handbag

After I lose all this baby weight I'm buying these jeans

Again something for after I lose this baby weight

Love these boots

An Ipad!

Isn't this ring gorgeous. And it's lovebug's birthstone. I'm in heaven

I can dream right...

Now for more realistic options

I would love a Me day. Heck I'd take an hour where I could do whatever I wanted, nap, read a book, whatever. Without the baby crying for my attention or the hubs asking me a million questions. Aint gonna happen

And I really need to ask for this since Lovebug doesn't nap. At all

In all reality I will just ask for target and barnes and nobles gift cards. I'm boring but it's fun to wish for things! If only money grew on tree's

Toddlers and Tiarras/Dance Moms

2012-01-16T08:01:00.001-08:00

I don't know why I have become addicted to these shows. I think the moms are all living through their daughters and the majority of the kids are going to grow up to be such brats. Yet every Wednesday I tune in

What bothers me about Toddlers and tiarras is mostly the moms. Most are severely overweight, rude, obnoxious and are taking these pageants too seriously. C'mon dressing up your six year old in a meat bikini like Lady Gaga, telling your nine year old to push her candy cart onstage like a hooker in new York! Seriously

And who doesn't get a laugh over Watching these huge woman standing behind the judges hootin and hollering and flapping their arms about. Yes these women should be the ones onstage.

I'm not even going to mention the bribes they give their kids to participate. I'll buy you a puppy afterwards, how about 100 dollars if you go onstage and smile. Oh and let's not forget the mom who gives her three year old a bottle of mountain dew to get her pageant ready

And while I thought toddlers and tiarras was bad Dance Moms is worse! The dance instructor is another obese woman who probably hasn't laced up her dance shows in years. Yet she tells the kids to get off the couch and stop eating potato chips( hey she should take her own advice) tells one kiddo her mom doesn't care about her because she has to work and constantly tells them they are replaceable.

Now I danced for 18 years and if an instructor ever talked to me like this woman talks to these kids my mom would have yanked me outta her dance studio so fast

Don't get me wrong I debated putting Gianna in pageants. I have plenty of friends that put their kids in pageants. Friends that are not obese, not living through their daughters and avoid the glitz pageants because of the drama.

But the woman on these shows are just awful. I don't know how your teaching your child she is beautiful when you severely change their appearance to be presentable on stage. I get heavy makeup due to the lighting, but flippers, wigs, spray tans and fake nails on a 3 year old. These are kids for gosh sakes. Half of whom dont appear to want to be there

I'm all for teaching your children about healthy competition, striving to do their best and not going up. Those are all qualities and attributes that will help them in life. But at what price. At your child's happiness, at the cost of significantly damaging your relationship with them at a later date.pne I don't know about you but my mom and I would not have had much of a relationship later on in life if she was competing with me

Obviously these shows are just that. A tv show who strive to find that stereotypical pageant mom for our entertainment and you never know how much editing plays a part in what you see

I just know that when Gianna grows up she won't need a fake tan or nails to be beautiful and that all that matters is her complete happiness. No crown or award is worth belittling and degrading my daughter

What are your thoughts on these shows

And again I'm not knocking pageants or anything like that. Just the show and what is portrayed on the show!

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Fun Bags and baby weight

2012-01-15T08:26:00.001-08:00

Disclaimer- This post is about boobies! If you could care less about reading about my post pregnancy chest stop reading

Fun bags- that is the hubs nickname for my chest these days. And I guess that name suits them. I have gone from a 34B per pregnancy to a 36DD. Ouch

Back in my B days I desperately wanted a boob job. During college my mama(a nurse) worked at a day surgery clinic where they did a lot of plastic surgery. I seriously considered getting my boobs done. My mom relented and said I could use her family discount if I was serious about getting them done but only if I let her chose the dr. I agreed. However as I graduated college and got my first big girl job I decided to save my money and not get them done

After getting married I still debated about getting my boobs done. At this point however my fear of drs had grown so I no longer wanted to undergo an unnecessary surgery. I also didn't want to be that army wife who got her boobs done while her hubby was fighting in a war zone. ( no offense to those that do, I had plenty of friends get them done during deployments as surprises for their hubs) mine just would not appreciate that!

Anyway I used to joke that if somehow fat from my genetically ample bottom could somehow make its way up to my boobs I'd be happy. It never did.

Until now. Now I have no idea why I ever wanted a boob job. Bras don't fit. Let alone any of my shirts. I wear a bra, tank top and a shirt when out in public and my boobs are still spilling over. Last night at a friends birthday party I tried to keep them as covered as I could but my friends still joked about my porn star boobs.

I am anxious to see if these boobies are a gift that will last or go away. I wouldn't mind a little more than my previous B cups but these DD's are crazy!

Oh well I guess I will enjoy them when I have them. Long gone are the days of no longer filling out my shirts or swim suit tops. Now the cups spilleth over!

And on another note I thought breastfeeding was a great way to lose the baby weight. I'm stuck at the last ten pounds and it seems no matter what I do lately I gain instead of lose. For a few days this week I was sick and barely ate except for some soup. Yet I still managed to gain 2 pounds. How is that possible

A friend who recently had a baby said her dr told her that while breastfeeding your body hangs on today easier due to higher levels of estrogen and the influx of hormones. Is that true? I hope so

How long did it take any of you to lose the baby weight?

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Best Wifey Ever

2012-01-13T11:11:00.001-08:00

I'm hoping to earn some major wifey points with the hubs. His bday is coming up and I want to get him something that he'll love. And what's that you might ask, A Keurig coffee machine! My hubby is addicted to coffee. Every morning he makes a pot and fills up his mug and heads off to work. However I don't drink coffee all that much so if he makes a full pot it goes to waste. He has been wanting a coffee maker for awhile but we just haven't gotten one. We've been on a tight budget and with the house, and baby we have been trying not to spend a lot on things other than the necessities

Last year we didn't get each other anything for our birthdays, nor for our anniversary or Xmas this year. So I wanna spoil him big time this year

I found the keurig he wants and I can't wait to go purchase it. Of course I'm trying to be smart about it and am going to shop around waiting for it to go on sale or scoring a deal somewhere. So if anyone knows where to get these things for cheap please tell me!!

I'm hoping to score big with this one. The hubby never spoils himself or buys himself anything and he deserve it!

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How to build your child's library- For cheap

2012-01-12T10:46:00.001-08:00

The hubs and I are both avid readers and want to instill the love of reading to our kids. Gianna has an awesome book collection already and I'm always buying her books. Of course books can be expensive so I try to buy them on sale or as cheaply as possible. Here are some tricks I've leaned

1. Marshall's, Ross, TJ Maxx are amazing places to go for kids books. I saw an Olivia book at Barnes and nobles for 15 bucks that was being sold at Marshall's for 7. I always find Amazing books at the above store for an amazing price

2. The dollar tree- the dollar tree in town here sells hardback sesame street, my little pony and word world books. For a buck a pop you can't go wrong. These books are perfect for the littler kids. Gianna love putting the books in her mouth and I'd rather her chew on one of these books than a 17 dollar Fancy Nancy book! Plus who doesn't love sesame street or my little pony

3. Barnes and nobles or amazon online- online books are always cheaper than in the store. Even for adults. The hardcover hunger games books are 17 at BN, online they are 9.99. I always order my books online!

4. Kohls- Kohls has that kohls cares programs where you can er books for 5 bucks a pop. Last month I got Gianna all the Nancy Tillman books(on the night you were born) for five bucks a piece. This month they have the Brown bear brown bear book for 5 bucks plus others by the same author. You can't best 5 bucks for a nice hardcover book by a best selling author

5. I joined a children of the month book club. For 99cents I got 6 books. All hardcover books. The only thing I have to do to remain in this club is by 2 more books by the time the year is up. They do kind of get you on shipping but the books are highly discounted and they have a lot of buy one get one deals so in the end it all evens out

And that's how I've been stocking up Gianna's library!

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It's been a long week!

2012-01-11T15:19:00.001-08:00

It's only Wednesday and boy has this week dragged.

Sunday my parents left and I just felt empty all day. Like I told my husband I love our life here in Florida but its very isolating. I know only a handful of people and although I try to stay as busy as possible with Gianna some days I find myself really missing my family and friends in Wi. I guess them leaving Sunday brought up a whole mess of emotions. It also doesn't help that my dear friend "Flo" returned after a year long break. Que a wide rash of emotions! The poor hubby

Then yesterday morning I woke up with what I thought was a UTI. I felt better as the day progressed but this morning it was worse. I went to urgent care and sure enough a UTI is what I have. I hurried to Walmart to get my prescriptions filled and the tricare system was down. So either I could pay full price for two prescriptions or wait for the insurance system to start working. I will wait for the insurance system to be up and running since I'm going to have to pay out of pocket for my urgent care visit. It's going on 5 and the system still isn't running which means I still don't have my meds. I feel awful!

And my happy, sunny baby has been so crabby and clingy this week! I can't leave her sight for a minute without her freaking out. She needs to be held or close by me at all times. And when the hubby's home she still wont calm down with him. Sigh. I just feel helpless when she gets like this. Poor baby

On a happier note I started making Gianna her own baby food today. She has had sweet potatoes and I made bananas and peas for the next few weeks. My mil got me the baby bullet and I love it. I can't wait to make her more. As of now I'm still mostly breastfeeding and she gets one meal a day. I think though tomm I will start a serving of oatmeal in the morning and then another food at night. When did my baby girl get so big

My Mops group starts meeting up again tomorrow after a break for the holidays and next week I'm checking out another mommy group that has a book club, coupon club and more get together's. I can't wait to check them out

Score- my sweet hubs just walked in with my prescription. He had to pay full price but I guess next week I can bring in my receipts and get a refund when the system is back up.

I'm off to go cuddle with my cranky baby before hopefully being able to relax and read tonight

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Pampering for Mommy

2012-01-09T07:16:00.000-08:00

As an early birthday present to me My dad gave me money to go get my hair done. One bad thing about moving is to a new area is finding a good place to get your hair done! I havent gotten mine done since April. My split ends are horrible. I'm also going to dye it. I'm sticking with my natural dark roots but want to spruce up the color a bit. Here are some ideas I found off pinterest. Which one do y'all think. I cant decide

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The Hunger Games

2012-01-06T07:48:00.001-08:00

I have seen and heard people raving about these books via twitter, Facebook or my friends who had read them. After hearing so many good things about them I went out and bought book one. That was last October and on my bookshelf the book sat.

I finally picked it up again a few weeks ago. I had just finished reading the Help. A book that engrossed me and grabbed my attention from page 1 that I couldn't put it down. The hunger games did not do that however so I put it down after reading about 50 pages

Everyone says they arent usually the type of book they would read. And I agree. I do not like reading books that are about a post apocalyptic world, or the end of civilization as we know it.
And the subject of a type of games where there's only one survivor didn't sound appealing.

However everyone I know told me to try reading it again. That it is really good. So I picked it up on Wednesday and finished it yesterday. It took me until page 100 to get hooked but once I was I couldn't put it down! I'm off to Barnes and nobles today to get the next two books. I can't wait to read them

So if you are looking for a good read I would highly recommend it.

Tell me, what are y'all reading?

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Date night!

2012-01-05T17:17:00.001-08:00

The hubs are having our first official date night in six months. Our one and only outing without the baby was a ten minute trip to Lowes. Woohoo! So we are taking full advantage of my parents being in town and enjoying a night out.

In honor of date night I got my eyebrows waxed for the first time in six months. It's amazing how much better I feel. Pedicures and waxes were a once a month occurrence for me when I was working and pre baby. Now they are a luxury. I'm not complaining I'd rather spend money on her anyway but it was nice to be pampered at least for five minutes today!

We aren't doing anything too exciting. Just going to see the Girl with the Dragon tattoo but I still feel like a giddy high schooler about to go on my first date

Although I must say as the hubs and I were both getting ready we almost chickened out and stayed home. I know I know, she will be fine but hey I've never left her for longer than an hour before. But the hubs and I are in much need of some adult time to ourselves so off we go!

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New Year, New Me

2012-01-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

I've been absent from blogging lately due to the fact that my parent's are in town. They haven't seen Gianna since she was two weeks old so they are loving being able to spend time with her. While they hog her from me I decided to catch up on blogging.

Last year I didn't have any resolutions. There is no point in dieting or starting an exercise routine when you start the new year off 10 weeks pregnant! But this year I have many resolutions that I want to do for myself

1. Be a better wife.

I love my husband to death and we have a pretty good marriage but there's always room for improvement. I could be more supportive, more patient and not so quick to nag or get irritated when he's playing his video game. I also really want to work on spending quality time with the hubs. We haven't had any time alone together since Gianna was born and not that I mind, it would be nice to go out on a date with my husband. At night by the time dinner is done, Gianna is fed,bathed and asleep we plop down on separate couches and veg. I want to make more of an effort to turn off the tv or put my phone down and spend time together. Since we are both reader's I believe we are going to both read The Girl with the Dragon tattoo at night and start focusing more on the other

2. Be a better Mom

I need to stop stressing out over keeping my house spotless and making sure everything is put away and organized and instead enjoy every moment with Gianna. She is now at that stage where she is looking to be stimulated and loves to play with her toys. Instead of worrying about washing the floor I want to be on the floor playing with my daughter. The floors can wait until nap time!

3. Read More, Watch Tv Less

Back in Gianna's newborn day's when she was sleeping away most of the day I would find myself vegging in front of the tv. I started watching a whole new slew of crap tv and now I'm to the point where I'm over it. I have been trying to keep the tv off all day and if Gianna does get in a daily nap I read instead. I have fallen in love with reading all over again and I don't miss the tv. Sure I will watch my shows at night or catch up on the weekends when I have free time but now I find reading more relaxing than watching tv

4. Diet!

Gianna is almost 6 months which mean's the " I just had a baby" excuse isn't really going to cut it. I still have ten pounds to go to get back to pre pregnancy weight and I'd love to lose another ten on top of that to get back to my wedding weight. We shall see if that happens!

5. Budget and Save Money

We started the envelope system a few months ago. It was working great until we started redoing our bathroom floor and that cost more than we anticipated. Now we are slowly getting back on track with budgeting. It's amazing how when you actually pay attention to where your money goes you are able to see how much unnecessary spending you do!
My goal is to continue to save money and pay off our debt this year. Now if only I could get the hubby to quit smoking because a pack a day of cigarettes adds up!

I think that's a good start to kick off the new year. I'm sure I will be adding things to the list as the year goes on!

2011-A Year in Review

2011-12-31T11:31:00.000-08:00

2011- what an amazing year this has been! We have been so blessed this past year and I can't believe how fast it has flown by. I thought I'd take a look back this past year and share it with you

January- On the 3rd the hubs deployed for 3.5 months. I was so hormonal and anxious when he left! I was so afraid to be pregnant and alone.
On the 4th I had my first OB appt. Hearing lovebug's heartbeat for the first time was something I will never forget. Truly a magical moment!
My mom flew down to spend a few weeks with me and Nc even got hit with a ice and snow storm!
At the end of the month I hit the 12 week mark of pregnancy and breathed a sigh of relief!
9 weeks pregnant!

February- I turned the big 27 this month and the hubs turned 31. As a birthday present to the both of us I scheduled a 3d ultrasound and we found out we were having a baby girl!

15 weeks baby bump

They were able to live steam the ultrasound session to the hubs so he was able to enjoy the moment while being so far away
We also found out the hubs unit would be moving to Fl and we were moving in May!

March- My dad flew to Nc and drove with me down to Fl where we spent a weekend looking at houses. I found one I loved, made an offer and it was accepted! The hubs and I were official homeowners. I also hit the 20 week mark

April- my baby bro came to visit in the beginning of April. It was so much fun hanging out with him and reminiscing!
The hubs came home and was quite shocked by my 22 week baby bump!

We started packing up for our move and I quit my job
I also flew to Wi for baby shower #1 with my family and had baby shower #2 my last weekend in Nc

May- We set off for Fl. We spent the whole month painting, unpacking and setting up our new house.
The dogs loved their big backyard

And the hubs had fun being goofy while painting the house

My sweet grandma passed away this month

June- We had our maternity pics taken this month and spent the rest of the month finishing up the nursery, relaxing and enjoying our last month as a family of two

July-My final month of pregnancy. My due date was the 29th and I was getting excited and anxious to meet our little one
We found out she was breech and schedule a c section for the 22nd. Lovebug had other plans for us and the morning of my 38 week appt, I was sent straight up to L&D having lost all my amniotic fluid
On my way to the dr. Little did I know I'd be meeting lovebug later that day

Gianna was born July 15th at 2:31pm weighing in at 6lbs5oz and 17 in long. I never knew I could love someone so much

First family photo

August- We adjusted to life with a baby very well and were constantly amazed at how complete our life was with our newest addition. It was pure bliss!
My whole family came to visit and we had some pictures taken of Gianna
3 weeks old

Gianna got to meet her great grandparents. A moment ill treasure forever

September- hubs left for a class and Gianna and I braved our first tropical depression! A tornado hit down the block from us. Yikes! Lovebug slept through it all

October- Gianna's first Halloween

November-Hubs finished with his class and was finally home. And Gianna just loved having her daddy home. He makes her giggle like no one else!
My MIL also came to visit and Gianna loved spending time with her Grandma
Thanksgiving was so special this year as a new family of 3. We had so much to be thankful for

December- Gianna's first Christmas. The hubs and I had so much fun decorating the house and spoiling Gianna rotten!
My brother and SIL also came to visit and came with us to take Gianna to meet Santa for the first time.
Christmas was so much fun this year! We started a whole bunch of traditions that we can't wait to carry on each year

My favorite gift without a doubt. I am so blessed!

What a great trip down memory lane. Goodbye 2011. It was a great year. Looking forward to what 2012 will bring

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New Year's New Follower's

2011-12-30T20:46:00.001-08:00

So for the New Year we thought it would be fun to do a major blog hop with lots of hosts! Hopefully everyone can get some new followers, and we can find some new awesome blogs to follow ourselves!

This super awesome blog hop is hosted by the amazing blogs below:

Krista from ArmyWife-Style

Kacie from Chasing Fireflies

Whitney from Everything Happens for a Reason

Nykki from Another Day In Paradise

Katie from The Life of an Army Wife

Nancy from The Chrancy Family

Victoria from Smiles 'n' Snuggles

Stephanie from Moments That Take My Breath Away

Nicole from Our Pregnancy RoadTrip And Beyond

Stephanie from My Messmerized Life

Kelli from The How To Mommy

Annie from Letters to Mo

So the rules are:

* Visit each host, and any of the people linked up that you find interesting. The more you follow, the more followers you get in return, leave a comment telling them you found them from the New Years New Followers Fest!

* Link to your favorite blog post of 2011. Do not just link directly to your blog. We want to see your favorite post!

* Write a post about this blog hop on steroids and include the button in your post. Spread the word!

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Books of 2011

2011-12-28T20:55:00.001-08:00

This year I was on a reading funk. I couldn't get into anything and was constantly starting books and never finishing them. Within the past few weeks however I have been reading a ton and loving it. During the day I always keep the tv on for background noise and lovebug will just zone in front of it do I've started a no tv policy until late afternoon. During nap time my goal is to either clean or read.

I saw a few people post their books of 2011 and thought I would do the same

1. What to expect when your expecting

2. What to expect the first year

3. Baby 411

4. The Help- one of my all time favorites

5. The story of a beautiful girl- wasn't what I expected. Not worth reading

6. Dead Reckoning- a Sookie Stackhouse novel

7. Happy Chaos- Soleil Moon Frye

8. Cinderella Ate My Daughter- Peggy Orstein

I have tried reading some of the Harry Potter series, the hunger games and a variety of parenting books.

What should add to my reading list for 2012?

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Baby's First Christmas

2011-12-28T07:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Christmas is already over. There's always so much build up and anticipation leading to Christmas and then it just flies by! While we had an amazing Christmas it was hard being away from our families this year. This was the first Christmas I didn't spend with my family in 27 years and although M is used to being gone more than I am I know it really bothered him as well that we didn't go home to see our families. And 70 degree's on Christmas was a strange concept to us. We are used to 30 some degree weather and snow!

With that being said we did have a great first Christmas as a family of three. Since we weren't able to go home and be with our families we wanted to make it as special as possible. And since there's a change M will be deployed for Christmas next year we wanted to go all out.

Someone was unusually tired on Christmas Eve and spent all day sleeping.

Christmas Eve was always celebrated in my family with my dad's side so Christmas Eve was always more like Christmas day part 1. We spent the day relaxing and hanging around at home watching a Muppet's Christmas Carol and a Christmas Story. Later on in the afternoon I made a nice dinner for the two of us. Wouldn't you know it that friends stopped by to pick up their kigs presents hidden in our garage the minute we sat down to eat! So we got to our dinner a half hour after it had been ready. Oh well. After dinner we got dressed up and headed to church
Daddy and his little girl

She was so distracted by all the lights on the tree that this was the best picture I got!
href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D82YFHv1nKs/Tvs2PCaFBhI/AAAAAAAABds/DYHCrKyvy5U/s1600/L1030687.JPG">
The three of us. I tried snapping this one handed. Cant you tell?

Gianna did so good at church. There was a baby sitting behind us and they made goggly eyes at each other the whole service. G is such a ham. She smiles and giggles anytime some waves and talks to her. Mass ended at 9 and Gianna fell asleep the minute we got in the car. She was still asleep when we got home so the hubs and I enjoyed some cuddle time in our Christmas Pj's watching It's A Wonderful Life. That night we even camped out under the Christmas tree with lovebug.

Christmas morning came around bright and early. We were so excited to give Gianna all her present's. Santa even made a visit to our house
Someone was soo excited!

Our good friend's had M's whole team over for dinner since no one went home this year for Christmas. It was such a great night full of talking and laughter. Although we missed our families greatly we had such a great first Christmas starting our own family traditions

Book Review- Cinderella Ate My Daughter

2011-12-26T21:26:00.001-08:00

I love reading and will read anything and everything. Now lately I'm obsessed with finding any books pertaining to parenting or raising daughters. A friend recommended the above book to me and I thought it sounded interesting. The point of the book is the author's exploration of the girly girls princess trend that little girls are exposed to. So I started reading it this weekend

While the book was interesting and raised some good points I hated it. I dont agree with anything the author really had to say

You see I myself am a girlie girl. And I love anything princess related, tutu inspired, pink outfit I can find. Obviously that's not all I get for Gianna but what is wrong with calling her my little princess and finding all that sort of stuff cute

According to the author it's very wrong. She states that girls exposed to this princess phenomenon, grow up to be insecure and less successful than others. She claims that Disney Princess toys teach our daughters about excluding others since there is only one princess in those stories and on toys where the princesses are shown together they don't look at each other. Ugh that's reading so much into a princess toy!

And don't even get this author started on Disney movies. Apparently the Little Mermaids main purpose is teaching little girls they have to give things up to meet their prince. Pretty sure that when I was 7 and watching that movie I could have cared less about her and the prince. I just wanted to be a mermaid! And later on in my high school and college years I didn't refer back to the Little Mermaid for dating advice

Yet this author links playing with these toys and watching those movies will be the downfall of today's girls

Honestly I couldn't find any toy the author deemed appropriate for her daughter. She was against Abby Cadaby, American girl dolls, Bratz dolls(ok those I can see why she won't let her daughter have) and babies. She did let her daughter play with Polly Pockets but still found dlfault with those. And she despises anything pink

The whole time reading this book I just felt that the author was reading way to much into things. Taking her opinions a little to far. I agree as a parent you do need to limit exposure of certain things you deem inappropriate. Of course I'm gonna call my daughter my little princess and dress her up all nice and cute but I'm also going to instill in her values, kindness and the importance of an education and doing well in school.

Ohh and another point the author tried to make was that we place too much pressures on our daughters nowadays expecting them to be pretty and smart.these expectations lead to depression and higher risk of suicide in our girls.

C'mon! Why can't a girl be pretty and smart. Why does she have to choose one or the other?

Through it all the part I found very funny was when she started talking about boys toys. She states growing up she played with barbies and dolls along with Legos and guns with her brother. She goes on to explain that her friends with boys won't let them play with guns because it promotes violence. She thought that was crazy. She states that playing with guns or watching violence on tv won't make a boy grow up to be violent. Yet a princess dress will make a girl grow up to be selfish and insecure

I'm sure there are those that would disagree with my review about this book. As I told my his and when reading this that I could never be a feminist. I like gender roles and had a blast playing with my barbies as a kid
In all seriousness I found the author contradictory and biased. Did it piqué my interest and inform me on things I didn't know. Yes it did but it's def not a parenting book to refer to when raising girls. Unless of course you are against the whole girly girl culture!

Alright guys that's the end of my
Book review! Thanks for letting me share my opinions

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Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T11:23:00.001-08:00

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas
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Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

I will be back after the holdiay's to update you on all our festivities

The Reason of the Season

2011-12-23T08:06:00.000-08:00

As the holiday season approaches it is easy to get caught up in the excitement and frenzy that this time of year brings. All the rushing around trying to find the perfect gift for your loved one's, cranking up the Christmas music while decorating the house, planning family get togethers and Christmas parties, taking your kids to see Santa at the mall and making Christmas cookies. With all that going on how do you honor the real reason of the season?

As a kid growing up I went to a christian school and the story of Jesus' birth was read and celebrated every year at this time. One year we had a birthday party for Jesus and every year we had a Christmas concert. And while I think all that is important, how do you teach it to your kid's if that stuff isn't taught at their school. And do you teach your kid's that Christmas isn't all about receiving gifts but something so much more

I bought a good friend of mine kids Christmas gifts. The 7 year old didn't like anything I bought even though I got her things off her list. She cried and yelled about how she didn't like anything and while I felt bad that she was disappointed I couldn't help think to myself that my kid will never act like that.

Talking to the hubs later on we discussed how when Gianna gets older we will really try and teach her what this season is all about. Will we let her believe in Santa. Of course. But amongst writing letter's to Santa we want to try and do something like adopting a family or gong to the soup kitchen and helping those in need. I just think that's important. While it is always fun to receive it in my opinion is always better to give

So how do you guys honor the reason of the season while still celebrating all the other aspects of the holiday?

We were supposed to go see a living Nativity last night but due to a tornado watch and pouring rain we couldn't go. Maybe tonight we will have better luck!

Christmas Quiz

2011-12-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

I saw this little quiz on Another Day in Paradise blog and had to copy it! It's too cute!

CHRISTMAS QUIZ

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Choc. For some reason I don't really like eggnog

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We have both. White icicle lights around the house and colored lights around our porch

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No never have

5. When do you put your decorations up? The day after thanksgiving

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Hmm probably my grandma's cheesecake or her polish sausage

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Camping out under the Christmas tree with my brother trying to catch Santa Claus in action

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? See above. I caught my mom putting out our present's one year. I was devestated

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We normally celebrate Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family so there was some gift opening there. But our Santa gifts and the ones from our parent's we had to wait until Christmas day

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights with red and silver ornament's

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it! I'm from Wisconsin now living in Florida and I really miss the snow this year. It just doesn't feel like Christmas when it's 75 degrees outside

12. Can you ice skate? Yes my parent's would take us every year over Christmas break to go ice skating. It was also the hubby's and I very first date

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My bike from my parent's. This year it is my daughter

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Being with my family

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Pumpkin pie

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?I really don't have a favorite. Everything about Christmas I love. I love just watching holiday movies and being able to spend time with my loved ones

17. What tops your tree? Normally a star but this year it wouldn't fit on our tree

18. Which do you prefer-Giving or getting: GIVING! and I'm so bad at waiting to give people their present's I usually give it to them early

19. Candy canes: Ehh there ok

20. Favorite Christmas show? White Christmas. The ending always makes me cry

21. Saddest Christmas song? Hmm there isn't really one I can think of

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Mary Did you Know

It's almost that time of year

2011-12-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Christmas is only a few days away. With the 70 degree weather we have been having in Florida it doesn't seem like Christmas is approaching.

I have been finished early this year with all of our Christmas preparations. Presents are all wrapped, cards were sent weeks ago, and the house was decorated the day after Thanksgiving. And it will stay decorated probably until sometime in January. Yes we are those people

I am very excited for Christmas this year. Although we are not going home to be with our families I am excited to celebrate Christmas as a new family. A family of three.

Tomorrow I will be pre-making a breakfast casserole so on Christmas morning when we wake up all I have to do is pop that and some cinnamon rolls in the oven and we will be good to go. After present's are opened I know we will be busy putting all of Gianna's new toy's together. We may have gone crazy with toys for her

It is going to be so exciting watching her on Christmas morning. I know this year she doesn't know what is going on., nor will she even really be able to open her gifts butfrom here on out Christmas will have even more of a meaning now that Gianna is a part of our lives

And to get into the Christmas spirit I thought I'd share some of our Christmas decor with you

Tradition's

2011-12-20T07:07:00.001-08:00

I had originally had this post planned for later this week but then totally remember that the fabulous Miss Becky over at From Mrs. To Mama has this great link up going on about showing everyone your traditions. So go on over to her blog and link on up!

Traditions are big in our family, especially when it comes to Christmas. As a kid my parent's and grandparent's gave my brother and I a new ornament each year to hang on our tree. Now at the age of 27 I have 27 plus ornament's hanging on our tree symbolizing my childhood and significant events in my life. This tradition was something that we wanted to continue with Gianna.We went to Hallmark and got a Baby's first Christmas ornament for our tree this year. Other family member's also joined in and gave Gianna ornament's for our tree as well.
Here's a pic of some of the ornament's Gianna received this year.

Another tradition that my parent's did with us and that the hubs and I continue to do is the tradition of St Nick. I haven't met too many people that celebrate this tradition except those from my hometown in WI. St Nick's is a German tradition. On the night of the 5th you lay out your shoes or stocking and during the night St Nick comes and leaves you little treats. You will also get a potato or coal if you are bad or an orange if you were good that year. Then typically you will find some other sort of goodie's. My husband and I have done this every year so far and we did it again with Gianna this year. I can't wait until she actually knows what's going on!

Another tradition that we plan on doing deals with Santa. As a kid we used to write a letter to Santa and go visit him at the local mall. The night before Christmas we would lay out our milk, cookies and sugar for the reindeer and then my brother and I would camp out under the Christmas tree in the hopes of catching Santa Claus in action. It never worked!
My parent's had so much fun leaving a trail of sugar tracks to the back door as if the reindeer had actually come inside. Some years Santa even left his gloves or a bell behind. That day he would usually make an arrival at our house to come back and pick up the item's he forgot. It took us year's to figure out that it was either a family friend or my grandpa playing Santa. My dad still has the Santa suit to this day and I can't wait to continue that tradition with Gianna

Another tradition was the Pickle ornament. My brother and I each had our own pickle ornament on the tree. The point is to hide them and whoever finds one first gets an extra present. Since my mom didn't want either of us to be excluded we both got extra gifts. These were usually found hidden in our bed's on Christmas Day. We always knew that after we came home from celebrating with family that one extra gift would await us. We would run into our room's, tear our beds apart and find the little extra gift that Santa left us.This was the perfect ending to a perfect day

And finally some other tradition's include watching Christmas movies, decorating the christmas tree, and both the inside and outside of the house. Driving around to look at lights, going to a Christmas parade, dressing up in our christmas pj's when opening present's, visiting Santa and making Christmas cookies

In the year's to come I want to start the Elf on a shelf tradition. I've seen so many cool blogs about it. I also want to do the 24 books of Advent. Where every day in December the kid's open a Christmas themed book. I think that is such a neat idea

I am so excited to start all these tradition's with Gianna and to start new one's that she will carry on to her kid's one day

Firsts

2011-12-19T17:27:00.001-08:00

It is amazing how fast babies grow and change right before your very eyes. Gianna has had so many firsts this past month that I had to document them. She is becoming more and more independent every day and it is so fun to watch her develop and learn new things. Although I usually have to wipe away a tear or two when I think about how fast she is growing up!

Someone has found her feet. She now is able to get a toe all the way into her mouth. The look on her face when she does this is priceless

She started eating rice cereal this month and she loves it! She also loves helping us feed her which results in a huge mess. Isn't our little piggy cute

After months of not taking a bottle at all she will now hold one by herself.

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For some reason this dress makes her look like such a bug girl to me!

She has started trying to sit on her own.

And she has started showing a lot of interest in her toys. Especially the ones that light up

I can't wait to see what this next month brings!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy 5 months Gianna

2011-12-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

My little lovebug is 5 months old. She is officially not a newborn anymore. This past month alone she has grown and changed so much. And while it has been so amazing watching her grow it is also a little sad.

Apparently I'm torturing her doing these basket pictures. I don't think I will be doing those next month

Now onto her monthly stats

Diapers
You are currently wearing size 2 diapers

Clothes
You can still squeeze into your 3 month clothes. 3-6 months are a little big and we aren't quite into your 6 month clothes just yet

Feedings
You are still exclusively breast fed although we did start rice cereal which you get at 5 every night. Next month we will start introducing other foods which Mommy plans to make herself!

Sleep
You still are not sleeping through the night. YOu wake up about 2-3 times to eat. I know some people say I should start weaning you off night feedings but you still eat quite a bit at night so I don't plan on doing that anytime soon. You absolutely hate you bassinet. You can be sound asleep yet the minute I place you in it you are up and screaming.

Favorite Things
You put everything in your mouth. Especially your hands. You are constantly sucking on them. Within the last week you discovered that you could grab your feet. The first time you stuck a toe in your mouth was priceless. IF only I could have captured the look on your face. It was hysterical
You still love your Sophie giraffe and your favorite place to play is on a new toy mat we got for you.
You are able to roll from your back to your belly and when you try to roll belly to back you still get stuck on your side. It's a work in progress
You want to crawl so bad. You get your whole body up on your arms and scoot yourself forward. I better start babyproofing the house. It won't be long until you are getting into anything and everything
You are a very smiley and happy baby. You wake up with a great big smile on your face. You have no problem being held by other people but it's no secret that I am your favorite
You love watching other kids and babies. We have started going to story time at the library and you were in heaven watching all the little kids. Next week we are taking you to a baby play class at Gymboree.

You have had so many firsts this past month that I will dedicate a separate post to those

You are growing up so fast baby girl. Mommy and Daddy love you so much.

Santa Baby

2011-12-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

Last week I had some holiday pictures taken of Gianna by our Christmas Tree. I thought I would share them all with you

Didn't they turn out great. What's even better is that my brother's girlfriend is a professional photographer so every time she comes to visit I get free, amazing pics of lovebug.

If you are in the Milwaukee, Wi or surrounding area's you should def look her up. She's affordable and extremely talented. You can check out her website HERE

Milspouse Holiday Blog Swap

2011-12-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Riding the Roller Coaster for hosting this event. Since my link isn't working click here to visit her blog and to read more p

I am so excited to participate in the Milspouse Holiday blog swap. Guest blogging today is to the Nth's talking about her holiday traditions

When Sampson and I moved to Kingsville, Texas just days after we said our vows under the chuppah and danced the hora with family and friends, we joked that we were doubling the town’s Jewish population. That was an exaggeration, of course, but not by much: even larger South Texas cities are not exactly known as Jewish cultural centers, and Kingsville was shockingly small to someone who had lived in the comparatively diverse Washington, DC region her entire life.

The frenetic pace of Sampson’s advanced flight training coupled with the staggering, wonderful novelty of finally being married after a half-decade of long-distance romance made our newlywed year speed by, and soon December was upon us. As the all-consuming demands of the Navy would have it, that month ushered in one of the most intense phases of flight training: carrier qualification. Through countless hours of practice touch-and-goes at an outlying field, Sampson and his fellow the Student Naval Aviators had sought to burn into their brains and muscle memories the exacting pattern required to make a successful landing aboard an aircraft carrier. Now, they were about to face the real thing for the first time, and the dates happened to coincide with our first Chanukah as a married couple.

Chanukah is actually one of the lesser holidays on the Jewish calendar — a commemoration of a minor military victory and the small miracle of an oil lamp lasting days longer than it should have. It is not a “Jewish Christmas” in theme or relative significance. Still, it is a warm, homey sort of festival, and a time when families gather to light candles, sing old songs, and bring laughter and joy to the longest winter nights.

Sampson and I had long looked forward to building our own family traditions around these eight evenings, with favorite latke recipes and silly dreidels and beautiful chanukiyot (menorahs) to enjoy year after year. The needs of the Navy allowed us the very beginning of our first Chanukah together before Sampson and his class headed to Florida and thence to the USS Boat, where they would put their long hours of training to the test. We did not know how many days it would take to complete CQ, but it seemed fairly certain that I would be spending the remainder of the festival alone.

Those were anxious days for me. My husband was strapping himself into a single-engine jet aircraft all by himself, flying out over the water, and attempting to land on a moving postage stamp in the middle of the ocean by snagging a wire stretched across the deck with a hook on the back of his aircraft. Oh yeah, and every single one of those traps (arrested landings) was being scrutinized and graded. Not everyone qualifies their first time at the Boat. Some people never figure it out, which can end a pilot's career before it truly begins.

Each day I attempted to distract myself from my preoccupation, and each night I did the best I could to celebrate Chanukah all by myself. Our flight school friends were all putting up Christmas trees, and our nearest Jewish acquaintances were forty-five miles away in Corpus Christi. I missed my husband, and I wasn’t feeling very social without him, anyway. As the number of candles I lit each night increased, so did my nervous anticipation of the phone call that would tell me how CQ had turned out.

When the call finally came, I made Sampson repeat what he said twice to make sure I was hearing correctly. “I’m a qual! I passed!” I was ecstatic. My husband was officially a tailhooker! I was so relieved and excited for him that I almost didn’t catch it when he added, “…and I’ll be home in time for the last night of Chanukah.” When that last bit sank in, I literally jumped up and down for joy.

The memory of what followed is as much a part of our Chanukah tradition as the scent of beeswax or the glint of foil-covered chocolate coins. The next day, Sampson arrived home to find a “Congratulations, Tailhooker!” sign on our door and an immensely proud wife waiting to greet him behind it. We grinned at each other as we lit two chanukiyot to their full capacity, in celebration not just of a victory long ago, but of the small miracle of being unexpectedly together for the culmination of our holiday — minor or not.

Such a sweet post! Hope you all enjoyed it

It's the most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-12-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. I have so many memories of the holiday's from my childhood. So many traditions that I can't wait to incorporate in our own family

One tradition was driving around and looking at Christmas lights. Back home in Wisconsin we always went to Candy Cane Lane. A neighborhood where the entire area decorated for Christmas. The purpose was to collect money for the Ronald Mcdonald house. It was always so much fun to drive around and look at all the lights. WHen we moved to NC we were shocked by how little people decorated. There was def no point in driving around looking at houses. We'd be driving for blocks before even finding one that was decorated

Here in Fl I am thankful that everyone decorates. Not to mention that all the surrounding towns have christmas display's and lighting ceremonies. I am so excited to check them all out

Last week we went to a light display in a neighboring town.In Defuniak Springs they have a little lake and the houses surrounding the lake all decorate plus on every square inch of land around the lake is every sort of christmas display imaginable. It was beautiful. They usually have horse drawn carriages to take you around but when we went the guy wasn't there to do that so we just pushed our stroller around the lake and looked at all the lights. It was weird to be looking at christmas lights in 70 degree weather.

Here are some pics from our little trip

My Brother with Gianna and myself

Pics with Aunt Gina

My attempt at capturing the cool light display

Gianna taking in all the lights

Can I please live in a house like this one day

Ramblings of an insomniac and a Giveaway Winner

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

It is midnight on Sunday and I can't sleep. I am typing this listening to both baby girl and hubby snoring loudly. Like father like daughter! And wouldn't you know it tonight baby girl fell asleep early and in her own bed, yet here I blog away since I am unable to sleep. Go figure

The winner of my customized tutu giveaway is B from Pigtails and Pacifiers. Congrats hun!

And since I can't sleep I thought I'd sit down and type up the jumble of thoughts running through my head

1. I used to think being a military spouse was like being back in high school. Which I graduated from Oh about 10 years ago. The drama drives me insane. But then I got to thinking I see the same type of cliquey catty behavior everywhere. Reading blogs, checking twitter, facebook. My mom even experiences it at the hospital she works at. Some girls just never grow outta that catty stage. I'm just glad that I am better able to recognize girls like that and steer away from them unlike high school where I used to get sucked into all that bs. I did find a funny quote though that sums things up quite nicely.
I may devote a post dedicated to this topic later on in the week

2. My brother and his girlfriend left after a week long visit. It was so nice to have company! And although I am going to miss them my waistline is not. My brother's girlfriend is quite the chef. She loves baking and cooking. In the week that she was here we made christmas cookies,oreo cake pops, jalapeno popper's, pizza roll ups, taco dip, and buffalo chicken bites. And yes everything is all gone. Guess who regained those last ten pregnancy pounds back. ME

3. I am finally getting back into reading again. I started rereading The Help since I watched the movie the other day. When the book first came out I read it in a day. I couldn't put it down. And I am just as engrossed in it now as I was then

4. I love love being a Mommy. Best thing ever. But every time I look for a good book on motherhood or parenting it's usually about mother's whining about how hard it is and how the first year is awful. I have a friend who just had a baby a few weeks ago who calls her baby annoying because all he does is eat, sleep and poop. Granted I'm by no means an expert on being a mom, Gianna is only 5 months old and I know it will only get harder but I still love everything about it. I guess it would be nice to read a book about how awesome it all is instead of being hit with all the negatives every time I open a book. Again maybe I will have to dedicate a post to the topic of motherhood in general

5. Gianna will be 5 months in 4 days. Where is the time going. Can it please slow down?

6. And speaking of time am I crazy for already starting to plan lovebugs 1st birthday. We just found out that the hubby leaves right before her birthday for 5 months. He's not deploying just going out of state for training. I plan on taking lovebug to visit him over her birthday so we can celebrate it just the 3 of us before heading to Wi where we can have her big party. As much as it stinks M won't be there for that, there are still some family member's who have yet to meet Gianna and we had originally planned to head home for awhile this summer for them to all do so. In the meantime I am having a blast deciding on a theme and figuring out how I want to decorate and planning her birthday outfit

7. We just converted our den into Gianna's playroom today. That girl has so many toys and things already and who knows what she's all getting for Christmas. I am excited though that she will have her own space to spread out and play

8. Why do weekend's go by so fast. I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already. What's even harder to believe is that there are only 14 days until Christmas. This year has flown by

Hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Now maybe I will be able to fall asleep

A Visit with Santa

2011-12-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

My brother and his girlfriend arrived in town last Thursday to visit with us. I was so excited to see them. The last time they were here Gianna was 2 weeks old so they got to see a totally different baby! One of the things we did with Gianna was take her to see Santa for the first time. We headed down to the Destin Commons where the Bass Pro Shop is located. They have the whole store decorated for Christmas and I had heard that the Santa there is awesome. Plus he looks like the real deal! So off we went.
Gianna did great. She didn't cry at all.

Here are some pictures of Gianna's first time meeting Santa

And today is the last day for your chance to win a customized tutu. Click here to enter

Thoughtless Thursday

2011-12-08T05:31:00.001-08:00

Thanks to my amazing brother and his girlfriend I am off to the spa to enjoy a facial, pedicure and massage! So excited to be pampered. This will be my longest outing without baby girl but it is def needed! My back has been killing me lately!
Here's a pic of my little princes. She is getting so big

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Supporting our Troops

2011-12-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

A youtube video came to my attention today that thoroughly disgusted me. Some woman by the name of LibertyChick posted a video on youtube about why she doesn't support our troops.

Now without being to political I understand that everyone has different viewpoints about the war, our troops and the current administration. One of the greatest things we as American's have is the freedom of speech. I appreciate hearing other people's viewpoints about current events and certain topics as long as they are accurate and valid points.

This youtube video makes such blatantly wrong statements about the war and our troops its hysterical. The woman also claims she hates the troops because those that join the military are dumb. She also dislikes them because she feels they seek out attention and expect everyone to applaud them when they see them in uniform.

While I stopped watching her video after 2 minutes I did watch member's of our military stand up and make video's in response to her asinine statements. Some of them I knew personally as this affected obviously the whole military community.

While you may not agree with the war our troops are people who deserve to be respected. They spend months and months away from their loved ones, suffer the loss of their close friends and put their lives on hold to serve our country. Can everyone say they would do the same.

And for this libertychick who dislikes the troops because she thinks they are all stupid, maybe you should research facts and statistics about the war before spouting off ignorant comments on a public video.

I will end my post with this since I do not like getting political on the blog

If you can't stand behind our troops feel free to stand in front of them!

And on a happier note don't forget to enter my tutu giveaway going on

It's that time again-Giveaway time!

2011-12-05T06:30:00.001-08:00

I have one more awesome giveaway for all my lovely reader's. This one is perfect for the little girl in your life. I don't know about all of you but our house is full of things that are very girly for Gianna. She is our little princess after all. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifThttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifutu's are my favorite thing to dress her in. Especially for pictures. A few weeks ago I was contacted by Kelle a fellow blogger and army wife who also runs an etsy shop selling customized tutu's. I was able to pick out a tutu for Gianna along with having the opportunity for one of my lucky reader's to win a customized tutu as well. Score!

I picked out my tutu for Gianna and it arrived in the mail a few days later. It was beautiful! Honestly the best made tutu I have ever seen or purchased since Gianna has a few hehe. Gianna wore the tutu for her 3 month pics and I plan on having her wear it for her birthday and one year pics as well.

The colors of the tutu are so pretty and vibrant and the tutu is so full! I just love it!
Here are pics of Gianna wearing it

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Gorgeous right!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Now onto the giveaway part. To enter here are the rules

1. Be a follower of mine (1 entry)
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2. Visit Kelle's blog at The Big Pink Cupcake and become a follower to learn more about Kelle and get info on any special's she has going on. I know for the month of November 20% of her proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior's Project. How awesome is that (2 entries)

3. Like the Big Pink Cupcake on facebook (2 entries)

4. Visit Kelle's etsy shop bigpinkcupcake.etsy.com and check out her product's and comment me about your favorite tutu (3 entries)

5. Tweet or facebook about this giveaway (4 entries)

I will be closing this giveaway next Monday

Gianna's First Xmas Parade

2011-12-04T13:19:00.001-08:00

As a kid my parents always took us to the annual Christmas parade. Our holidays were always filled with parades, long drives looking at Xmas lights, big family dinners, nights spent watching Christmas movies by the Christmas tree and sometimes going to see A Christmas Carol or the Nutcracker performed in downtown Milwaukee. These are all traditions and memories that will last a lifetime. Things that I can't wait to start doing with Gianna

Last night was the local Christmas parade. My brother and his girlfriend are in town visiting us and we all couldn't wait to go. Unfortunately the hubs and my bro ended up not being able to come because we also started redoing our bathroom yesterday and it wasn't quite finished in time

So Gina(my bro's gf) and I dressed up Gianna and headed to the parade. We got there an hour early in order to find a good spot to watch the parade. They had metal gates set up along the street and we found a great spot alongside the gate. Gianna was in her car seat having falling asleep so Gina and I were just hanging out and talking waiting for the parade to start. We were having a good time until some women and her four kids came and stood behind us. The kids who were older and should know better pushed us aside to stand alongside the gate. I didn't say anything just politely moved down the gate to get our of their way. That wasn't good enough. Gianna's stroller was right in front of me up against the gate and they pushed her aside and stepped between her and the gate. I was pissed. They were perfectly fine in their spot why did they have to continue moving down and pushing us out of the way. Then the kids started cloning on the gates and fooling around by letting go of the gate and catching it at the last minute. All the while continuing to bump into Gianna's stroller knocking it around. I politely commented about how I was going to have to take Gianna out of her car seat because I was afraid of someone falling on her. The kids mom just sat there screaming into her phone about a video game. (no joke) I pulled Gianna out of her car seat to hold her. The kids kept fooling around and continued to push us out of the way. I lost it and screamed something to the effect of Fing killing someone if they hurt my baby. The mom did nothing. At this point I was so mad I decided to move spots. At this time it was 520 and the parade was starting in ten minutes. We ended up in some spot at the very back of the crowd unable to see anything. And just my luck we were stuck by this weirdo who had to stand right next to us with his cigarette tucked behind his ear who would run up to the gates, pushing kids out of the way to get the candy that was being thrown.

That was enough for me. We left after ten minutes. Besides wanting to scream at someone I wanted to cry. I know Gianna will never remember this but I still wanted to create a fun, family tradition. Oh well I guess there's always next year. And on the bright side my daughter did look super cute!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Shabby Apple Giveaway Winner

2011-12-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry I'm a few days late in posting this. We had family come into town this past week.
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The winner of the Shabby Apple giveaway is Miss Alissa Marie over at Remembered Ramblings.

Congrats Alisa I'm so jealous over the dress you are getting. Please email me at Katie.finn411@gmail with your email address, the size of dress you like your shipping address and phone number! Check out their website for the sizing info. I think I read this dress runs a little big

Congrats!!

Gianna's 4 month update

2011-12-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a little late but here is Gianna's four month update!

Someone did not want to cooperate!

Her faces crack me up! She is getting such a personality!

4 month Stats
Weight- 13 lbs 2 oz (26%)
Height-21 inches (10%)

Diapers
You are currently in size 2 diapers although they are a little big but I had stocked up on diapers in larger sizes so they will have to do

Clothes
You are still in 3 month clothes although not for much longer. Sizes 3-6 mths and 6 mths are too big while your 3 mths are a little snug

Eating
You are exclusively breastfed. You still have quite a bit of reflux so we are waiting on introducing the rice cereal. I think we will that next month

Sleep
You still need to be rocked, nursed or held at night before falling asleep. You still wake up 3 times a night to eat though that has begun to vary. I am going to slowly try to wean you from one of your night feedings.
You hate your bassinet. The minute I lay you down in it the screaming begins. And doesn't end until you are picked up. Then if you are put down again the cycle continues. You are def our stubborn child

Toys
You are starting to pay attention to your toys and have begun grabbing them and trying to reach for them. Of course they all go into your mouth. Sophie the giraffe is your favorite toy. You love it. You also are in love with the new playmat we got you and your jenny jump up. You love standing up and being able to see everything around you

Personality
You are so smiley and happy in the mornings. You wake up with a huge smile on your face and chatter away. You love when people pay you attention and giggle at everything mommy says. You are such a happy baby

Firsts
Rolling over from stomach to back has become consistent
You are trying to hard to crawl. You are able to scootch yourself all over the place and its funny to see you getting mad when your not going where you want to go
You are also trying so hard to sit up on your own. Its as if you do mini situps!

This month(November) we celebrate your first thanksgiving and we are looking forward to celebrating our first christmas!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

We love you so much babygirl. You are truly the best thing that has ever happened to us. I never thought I could love someone as much as we love you. It has been such a blast to watch you grow these past few months. I look forward to what the next few months bring

And don't forget today is the last day to enter the Shabby Apple giveaway. Click HERE for more info

Victoria Secrets Fashion Show

2011-12-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Didn't you see me walking the runway at the Victoria Secrets Fashion show Tuesday night?

Ok just kidding. I don't think my 5'2, post baby body would be welcome on that stage. I have a lot of work to do to look like one of those model's. But hey I can pretend I look just like them!

I love love Victoria Secrets. I worked there all throughout college and had the best time working there. Every year my friends and I would get together and watch the fashion show. And I still tune in even though I no longer work there. Here are some of my favorite outfit's from the show
Miranda Kerr is def my favorite angel!

Family Pictures

2011-11-30T06:17:00.000-08:00

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About a month ago we had family pics taken along with her 3 month photo's. WE used the same photographer that has done my maternity and Gianna's newborn pics. I just love her. She is amazing at what she does and I'm so lucky I found a great photographer. I received the pics in the mail yesterday and thought I'd share a few of my favorite's.

These pictures are copyrighted by Jubilee Photography

Shabby Apple Giveaway!

2011-11-29T13:35:00.000-08:00

I am back this week with another exciting giveaway just in time for the upcoming holiday's!
I'm giving away the Nothin' Like a Dame dress from Shabby Apple(www.shabbyapple.com) an online boutique of women's dresses. Click HERE to enter their site
I saw their Nothin' Like a Dame dress and fell in love with it. It's the perfect dress to wear on Christmas or while out on the town ringing in the New Year's. The dress is the perfect mix of classic and elegant.

Sorry for the small pics. Click here to be taken directly to the link for the dress. Must say I'm going to be very jealous of whoever wins this amazing dress.

Entry Requirements

1. Like Shabby Apple on Facebook- 1 entry

2. Be a follower of my blog or become a follower- 1 entry

3. Tweet about this giveaway-2 entries

4. Blog about this giveaway-3 entries

Good luck everyone! I will be ending this giveaway Friday of this week. Don't miss out

Sleep Training

2011-11-28T07:18:00.001-08:00

Now that Gianna is four months old I think it's time to start some sleep training. Although I don't know where to start!

We started out with co-sleeping

-Here's a picture of the co-sleeper we used. So it's not like she was directly in the bed with us. I never thought we would co-sleep with our baby but it is what worked out best for us. It def helped for recovery after my c-section and when we first brought her home she was on the bili machine and screamed her poor lil head off all night long. This helped big time!

But now I am ready to have my bed back! I just started reading The Sleep easy solution recommended to me by a fellow blogger and Facebook friend. I haven't read to much as Gianna was sick last week. One tip many of the books say is to put your baby down in her crib or bassinet in a state of drowsiness. Well when I do that Gianna will play for a little bit before turning into a crying screaming machine. You know the kind that arches her back and kicks her legs. So I pick her up and comfort her. I'm not a fan of letting her cry it out. We did try that that other day for about 30-40 mins and she screamed the whole time. That was the end of that

If I rock, nurse and hold her she will fall asleep. She could be snoring away in my arms but the minute I gently place her in her bassinet the eyes pop open and the screaming begins. I try giving her a paci, she shoves it out of her mouth and continues the kicking and screaming.

Last night I was up until 2 am trying to get her to sleep. Id nurse her or hold her, place her down when she was semi asleep and go lay down. 5 mins later she was screaming. I'd wait and the screaming would get worse so I'd go give her a paci and comfort her. She'd calm down and then would scream the minute I laid back in bed. If she did fall Asleep it was only for about 40 mins tips.

So mommies any suggestions? I don't even know where to start. The hubs jokes that we've created a monster. That being said I don't regret co-sleeping or nursing, rocking and cuddling my baby girl to sleep. She will only be this little once and I want to enjoy every moment of it even if it means I'm sleep deprived!

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Thanksgiving Recap

2011-11-27T06:00:00.001-08:00

We had such a great weekend. I was even more excited for the Holiday's this year now that Gianna is here. I can't wait to carry on current traditions and start our own as a family!

On thanksgiving we went to celebrate with our good friends. They welcomed a baby last Sunday and it was fun to get the babes together and compare. He was exactly the same size as Gianna was as she was born! It's amazing how big Gianna seemed compared to him and how sad that although it was just four short months ago it seems like she is growing up so fast!
We had a great time celebrating with our friends. It's hard to be away from our families during the holidays but thankfully we have great friends who we consider family nearby

Thursday night we came home and watched A National Lampoon Christmas Vacation since the next day we were going to Griswald our house!

Friday we woke up bright and early and started decorating. The tree went up, the outside lights were strung and I put out the rest of my Christmas decor around the house. It's funny in our apartment I had a piece of Xmas decor on every available space. Now though I don't have enough stuff to truly decorate like I want. Guess that means I need to do some Xmas shopping.

Here's my lil Santa Baby by our tree

Saturday- I wrapped presents and finished putting the ornaments on along with hanging our stockings. There's nothing better than spending the day decorating and watching Xmas movies

Giana also tried out a new toy yesterday.

What a workout!

We finished the day by watching A Muppet Christmas Carol and heading to bed

Today the hubs and I are celebrating our own lil thanksgiving as a family of three. I better get back to cooking

Hope y'all had a great thanksgiving. This may have been are best yet. I am so thankful and have been so blessed this year
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Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T09:49:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Children's book exchange

2011-11-23T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hi Ladies

As a glorified book nerd I hope to pass on the love of reading to my daughter. Her library already rival's mine and the hubs and I am always looking to add new books to her collection. Through the blogosphere I found someone doing a childrens book exchange. Basically you buy one childrens book for the first person on the list and your child gets added to it as well. When all is said and done you will receive 36 books. All for the price of one

So who's in. I need six ladies! Comment with your email address and I will contact you with further details!

When my MIL came to visit!

2011-11-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

My MIL came to visit us this past weekend and we had such a great time!

I admit before she arrived I was a little nervous. OF course all my friend's had to share their crazy MIL stories. One friend's MIL refuses to eat my friend's cooking, anothers constantly critiques her on the way she raises her children. I am very fortunate that my MIL is not like that. The only thing I was nervous about was sharing Gianna. I know I know. I mentioned this to my friend and she said take full advantage of it. Enjoy it that's exactly what I did.

It was nice for Gianna to meet her Grandma who of course loved snuggling with her. I was able to clean, relax and just lay around. It was awesome! And of course it was so nice to visit with her. We had such a great time

Friday we went to go see Breaking Dawn. The hubs even came with.(someone was putting on a good show for his mom) lol! Later on that day she went grocery shopping with me. It was so nice to leave the baby home with M and grocery shop with another adult!

Saturday we packed up and headed to Destin where we enjoyed lunch on the beach and did some shopping at the outlet's.

Sunday we enjoyed an early thanksgiving. FOr the past few years it has been just the two of us on thanksgiving so it was so nice to have a family member share it with us.

It was a very nice, relaxing weekend and we were all sad to see her go. It's funny although we are used to living away from our families, whenever they come visit we are reminded of how much we really miss them. It takes a few days to get over that. Especially now that we have Gianna I so wish we were closer to our families and we could see them more than a few times a year.

Winner Winner and a Shabby Apple Giveaway

2011-11-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

The winner of my canvas photo giveaway is Amanda over at Little Changes, Lots of Life. Congrats!

I am back this week with another exciting giveaway just in time for the upcoming holiday's!
I'm giving away the Nothin' Like a Dame dress from Shabby Apple(www.shabbyapple.com) an online boutique of women's dresses. Click HERE to enter their site
I saw their Nothin' Like a Dame dress and fell in love with it. It's the perfect dress to wear on Christmas or while out on the town ringing in the New Year's. The dress is the perfect mix of classic and elegant.

Sorry for the small pics. Click here to be taken directly to the link for the dress. Must say I'm going to be very jealous of whoever wins this amazing dress.

Entry Requirements

1. Like Shabby Apple on Facebook- 1 entry

2. Be a follower of my blog or become a follower- 1 entry

3. Tweet about this giveaway-2 entries

4. Blog about this giveaway-3 entries

Good luck everyone!

One Year Ago

2011-11-20T10:36:00.000-08:00

One Year ago we found out we were expecting! I don't think I shared with everyone how we found out so I decided to do that now

The second weekend of November we went to meet M's aunt and uncle in Hilton Head. When we arrived at the hotel I wasn't feeling too good. Walking into the lobby the room started spinning. I sat down and felt better. I chalked it up to not having eaten breakfast that morning. When we went out to dinner again I felt dizzy and nauseous. I kept getting weird hot flashes and couldn't wait to go back to the hotel and go to bed.

The next day I felt better. That is until later that night. Again this feeling of extreme exhaustion overcame me. I went to bed early that night and woke up the next morning feeling very sick. I couldn't keep any food down but still drove to work that day. I spent my first two hours working running to the bathroom. I called in sick for the rest of the day and stayed home the next two. Food didn't stay down, I felt hot and flushed and just exhausted. I called my mom and she said it sounded like I had an extreme case of the flu. Since I worked with kids I figured that was the case. It was flu season after all. I went back to work that Friday and was able to make it through the day. During my lunch break I ran to Hobby lobby and Panera.Walking through hobby lobby I felt like I was going to pass out. When I got to my car and sat down to eat lunch I could barely choke it down. Although it was my favorite sandwich eating it made me gag. Something was up

My mom advised me to spend my whole weekend in bed and to drink lot's of fluids. That Saturday that's what I did. It took extreme effort to get up and even use the bathroom and food still did not want to stay down. The hubs ran out to buy me ginger ale and soup and I spent the morning in bed. He decided to go get a hair cut quick and then come home to take care of me

I popped in the movie A Walk to Remember and snuggled up with some crackers and ginger ale. For some reason I pulled out my phone and started to google Symptoms of the flu and auto correct changed it to pregnancy. So just for shits and giggles I read the symptoms. I had them all. It was impossible I thought. We had been trying for a few months but had stopped. Month after month I had taken test after test and they were all negative. I didn't want to get my hopes up. But I still ran to the bathroom to see if I had any pregnancy tests left. I found one shoved in the back of our bathroom closet and anxiously opened the package.

Those two minutes took forever. And I was surprised and happy to see two pink lines. Now when I imagined telling the hubs I planned on getting a baby onesie having to do with his work but I couldn't wait to tell him. He wasn't answering his phone so I snapped a picture of the test and sent him a text asking if there were two pink lines. That got his attention. He rushed home and we ran to target to buy more. 10 more actually and I peed on them all. All positive.

And now a year later we are so blessed to have a a happy, healthy four month old!

And before I forget don't forget to enter my canvas photo giveaway!!

Twilight Fans!

2011-11-17T05:25:00.000-08:00

How many of you out there are twihards! This nerd right here is bigtime. I will hopefully be seeing Breaking Dawn tomorrow afternoon. I can't freaking wait. I still remember when the first Twilight movie came out. I had never even heard of the books. It was 2008, the day before Thanksgiving and I was at school taking one of my master's classes in special ed. Everyone was talking about the books and the movie. My professor had gone with her daughter's at midnight to see Twilight and she was talking about how her daughter's dressed up as Bella and it seemed to be the new craze.

I was clueless. I asked what everyone was tlaking about and I was told a book series and now a movie about a teenager falling in love with a vampire. Not my type of book usually so I tuned out of the conversation after that.

Later on in the day when I was at target the hubs called. He was then deployed in Afghanistan. It was him that brought up reading the Twilight books. Apparently someone had left behind all four books at the compound where he waws staying and he picked up the first one and read it. The hubs like me is an avid reader and will read just about anything. He told me to read it and then we could read the whole series together. I was still hesitant. A book intended for teenager's about falling in love with a vampire. Come on! I was 24 years old. A little to old for the intended audience. But they had a paperback copy of Twilight on sale for 5 bucks so I bought it. I started it that day while waiting for another class to begin and ironically enough a good friend called and begged me to go see the movie with her. I agreed and off we went to see Twilight. We were prolly the oldest people in the theater since thanksgiving break had started and the place was crawling with high schoolers.

But I have to admit I loved the movie. I finished the first book on Thanksgiving and the day after rushed out to by the rest of the series. I would stay up all night reading them! I was hooked. And the best part was being able connect with the hubby when he was thousands of miles away and on a different time zone. Everytime we talked we were able to talk about the books and try and predict what would happen next. It helped to think about something other than the fact that we were spending the first 10 months of our marriage apart, or that deployment's were hard! Especially your first one! And it really helped the last few months of his deployments to fly by.

I still can't pick up a twilight book without thinking about them as my way to surviving my first deployment. So of course whenever a new movie comes out in the series I rush to see it. However the hubs isn't a big fan of the movie's. So he won't go with me. Luckily my MIL is coming into town today and mentioned she'd like to go see it. So now of course the hubs has agreed to take us. Woot Woot!

Breaking Dawn was my favorite book so I'm so excited to see how it turns out. Anyone else going to see it? What was your favorite movie? Book? Let's talk Twilight

And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a canvas photo. Go Here to see my post about it

New Mommy Advice

2011-11-16T05:51:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends is due any day now. And although I am def not an expert when it comes to parenting I decided to send her a cute little email with new mommy advice. Just some things I've learned along the way and I thought I'd share it with anyone. Feel free to add to my list!

1. Being a mom is the greatest thing in the world. Nothing compares to it. It is amazing how much you can love someone you have never met. Then that just multiplies after they are born.

2. You think you are emotional now, it gets worse after the babies are born. Your hormones are fluctuating and trying to settle down. Everything and anything will still make you cry. It's ok, just go with it. You have a new excuse, It's your mom hormones!

3. Take lots of pictures. They grow so fast it is unbelievable

4. Sleep when the baby sleeps. This is something I did not do and I regret it

5. In the beginning don't worry about the baby's schedule. All they do is eat and sleep!

6. Do not worry about your baby sleeping all the time. I did and my dad told me that in a few months I would be wishing she would be sleeping all day again. He was right. Sleeping is how their brain develops and they can never get enough sleep.

7. Do not wake your baby up to eat. Let them sleep! You will thank yourself for it the next day especially if you are able to sleep longer that night or get in a nap

8. Don't be afraid to ask friends for help. Even if it's just to get out of the house or have someone over for adult conversation. It helps big time

9. Don't stress too much about going back to work. If you do that's awesome. If you don't that's great too. You need to do what is best for your family and at the end of the day they are only babies for so long. One day you will be thinking that the newborn days last forever and the next day you will have a 4 month old who is cooing and laughing and growing out of things so fast you can't keep up. Time flies and as exciting as it is watching them grow, it's sad how fast they grow up

10. Try not to stress about losing the baby weight. They say it takes a good year for your body to bounce back and even though you may lose all the weight right away things still won't fit quite the same. It's amazing how your body changes. I had no stretch marks at all during my pregnancy and now after they are everywhere. It's hard to feel pretty when things don't fit quite right and you have pink stretch marks and cellulite everywhere. But at least we have an excuse. We gave birth and are mom's! It's not that we let ourselves go.

11. I just heard this recently and thought it was so true. As much as you love your baby, babies are meant to grow up and one day leave you. Your husband may never grow up but he is not supposed to leave you. So time spent with him is very important. The best thing you can give your child is loving their father. ( Remember this on days you want to scream at them for sleeping until noon while you are washing the floors with a baby in your hand. True story!!) You and your hubby's relationship is what set's the example for how your kids will grow up to be husbands and wives( I read this from a book)

12. Call me anytime for anything. I'm here for you all ways

13. You can never spoil a baby or hold them too much. In fact they say that the more you do so the better. The more you respond to your babies needs the more you are teaching them security and safety. This leads to a less fussy, whiny and clingy toddler later on(Again this is what I've read but have had friends who have said this really is true) So hold away. In a year from now they aren't going to want to be cuddled all the time anyway and in 15 years from now they will probably be telling you they hate you. (I'm not looking forward to those days)

14. If you don't decide to go back to work join some sort of group that gets you outta the house or plan weekly play dates with friend's. This gives you time spent with adult's. If not you will go crazy

15. Everyone parent's differently. What works for some doesn't work for others. You have to do with what you are most comfortable with. If you want to let him cry it out, Do it. If you don't don't. It's as simple as that. You are the parent! Listen to people's advice with a grain of salt. You can follow it or discard it. That's what's great about being a parent. You are in charge and at the end of the day you guys have to do what works best for you and your family.

16. Don't compare your baby to others or freak out if they are not meeting the milestones the books say they should be at a certain age. Everyone develops differently and at their own pace.

17. The Sophie giraffe toy is the best 24 bucks ever spent. Its a teething, squeak toy in one. Gianna loves her's. Just don't let Spirit get near it. She will think it's for her like my dog's did so I had to go out and buy another one. But it is the only toy Gianna is interested in

18. Stock up on diapers and wipes. You can never have to many. Sams is good or I hear diapers.com or pamper's online are always running specials.

Some of these things are topics her and I have discussed personally and have worried about, ie the baby weight, working, etc,etc. And some of this advice people won't agree with. And that's cool too. That's why I believe at the end of the day parenting is a personal thing. Only you can raise your child and you have to do it how you feel is right!

And don't forget to enter my canvas photo giveaway. Click HERE for details

Canvas Photo Giveaway

2011-11-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to be hosting this amazing giveaway from UPrinting.com. I have always been a picture person but ever since Gianna has been born I swear I walk around with my camera in hand! I love pictures printed on Canvas. Those are my absolute favorite and today I am giving you the chance to win a 16 x 20 rolled canvas photo!

Exciting right!
The winner of this giveaway will receive
- 16” x 20” Rolled Canvas Print for one winner
- with 2-inch border or no border

- 1 Business Days Turnaround time
- Free US shipping only
Here is what you have to do to enter
1. Like UPrinting Canvas Print Page and comment on what you will do with your canvas. You can click like down below!. 1 entry

2. Tweet about this giveaway and at the end of the message include the UPrinting Canvas Print URL (http://www.uprinting.com/canvas-printing.html Two entries ( Make sure Twitter includes the full link and doesn't shorten it)

3. Blog about this giveaway. Include a link to my site and a link to UPrinting- (http://www.uprinting.com/canvas-printing.html)3 entries

4. Be a follower of my blog- 1 entry

Disclaimer-This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive a rolled canvas print for hosting.

The giveaway will end this Friday November 18! So enter today!

Canvas Photo Giveaway

2011-11-13T12:13:00.001-08:00

I am so excited to be hosting this amazing giveaway from UPrinting.com. I have always been a picture person but ever since Gianna has been born I swear I walk around with my camera in hand! I love pictures printed on Canvas. Those are my absolute favorite and today I am giving you the chance to win a 16 x 20 rolled canvas photo!

Exciting right!
The winner of this giveaway will receive
- 16” x 20” Rolled Canvas Print for one winner
- with 2-inch border or no border

- 1 Business Days Turnaround time
- Free US shipping only
Here is what you have to do to enter
1. Like UPrinting Canvas Print Page and comment on what you will do with your canvas. 1 entry

2. Tweet about this giveaway and at the end of the message include the UPrinting Canvas Print URL (http://www.uprinting.com/canvas-printing.html Two entries ( Make sure Twitter includes the full link and doesn't shorten it)

3. Blog about this giveaway. Include a link to my site and a link to UPrinting- (http://www.uprinting.com/canvas-printing.html)3 entries

4. Be a follower of my blog- 1 entry

Disclaimer-This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive a rolled canvas print for hosting.

The giveaway will end this Friday November 18! So enter today!

Mops

2011-11-11T06:57:00.001-08:00

One of the things I've learned about being a milspouse is that with our husbands being gone all the time and our families being so far away the best thing to do is to keep busy. Getting together with friends, joining some sort of meet up group, etc. It really helps

When we moved to Fl some of my good friends stayed behind in NC. I knew only a handful of people here and while everyone has kids, Gianna is the youngest by a few years. I had found a moms group on meetup, went to the first get together and knew it wasn't for me. The moms were older, quite older and we didn't have much in common

I knew a lot of people back in Nc that were a part of a MOPS group. I saw one advertised here in FL but when I looked it up and saw Moms of Preschoolers I thought I couldn't join. Wrong! I found out it's for kids 0- kindergarten age. So I went to my first Mops meeting a few weeks back to try it out

I was surprised by how many people were there. They have everyone broken down into small groups and the meetings start out with a devotion(nothing to preachy) small group discussion usually planning a mommy and me outing or discussing local events in town followed by either a craft or a speaker that comes to talk with us. One meeting I made countdown to Christmas blocks and at yesterday's meeting I listened to a local couple talk about their 25 year marriage and how to keep your marriage alive and thriving when adding kids to the mix. It was a truly great meeting

I also officially joined MOPs yesterday. I feel so welcomed there and have met so many great women. It's a great support system for moms and also a great way to get out of the house every so often. I know I'd go crazy staying in the house everyday. It's just nice to get together with a group of women and talk! It's also nice to find those with babies Giannas age and get sleep schedule advice, or teething advice and just to find that everything I'm going through someone else is going through

It's so refreshing to get together with a group of women who love being moms. Im probably describing this wrong. Obviously everyone is in agreement that having a baby and raising kids isnt going to be fun everyday. When you are exhausted and covered in baby puke there are times when everyone wants a break. So getting together and laughing about that stuff and talking with adults is such a great outlet. I haven't met one preachy mom whose kids are better than everyone and whose life is perfect. I haven't met the stay at home mom who looks down on working moms and I havent met the working mom who could never be the stay at home mom. Instead I've met other moms, like me who is discovering the joys of motherhood along with me and who are looking to meet other moms and to get out of the house very so often. Sure not every woman there is going to become my new best friend. But to meet others in the same situation at you is always nice

I feel since having Gianna some of my friends have lost touch. People who don't have kids don't understand how things change, people who do constantly want to rip apart your parenting and tell me what I'm doing wrong. And then there are the friends who constantly complain about having kids. One of my friend wrote on Facebook the other day that she is going to resign herself to the fact that being pregnant is boring and that life with a baby is prolly worse that life being pregnant. Wow!

So to meet a group of normal woman who enjoy being moms is what I needed. I am so glad I joined this Mops group and for those moms out there looking to get outta the house and meet other moms I'd highly recommend it

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Interview

2011-11-04T09:53:00.001-07:00

I was so nervous leading up to my interview. I dropped Gianna at a friends house and had a mini panic attack driving my interview

For those of you that don't know I am/was a behavioral therapist who provides ABA therapy to kiddos with autism

I pulled up to the clinic, took a deep breath and walked in. The clinic site was amazing. Three huge rooms full of toys. Whereas in Nc I drove from client to client and had to provide all my own toys here I would be working out of the clinic. The employees were so welcoming and friendly whereas in Nc they had all worked together for years and were very cliquey. I loved it. I could def see myself working there and I love everything they stood for. As the Interview went on I grew more and more comfortable with the thought of working there part time

Until pay was brought up. Since they are non profit and work off funding the pay is barely more than minimum wage. Now I wouldn't care. You don't really go into this field to be rich. But now I have a baby. Who needs childcare if I go back to work. And if I went the nanny route my nanny would be making more than me. If I went the daycare route I'd prolly bring home 50 bucks a month after daycare

So I will have to pass on the job. If I had family in town to watch her for free I would take it in an Instant. But to work just to work doesn't make sense when I have a beautiful lil girl at home who is growing up so quickly. So a stay at home mom my new job will be

I'm glad I went to the interview. I will support this clinic that opened up and maybe a few months From now I will revisit the option and see if they are still hiring

But today now that I'm done stressing over the thought of leaving her and going to work I am going to cuddle on my couch with lovebug.

Thanks everyone for your kind words about this! I appreciate it

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Seriously...

2011-11-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the week again. Not only am I excited for Seriously Thursday but I'm excited because it's almost the end of the week and hopefully the hubs will be home at least for one day this weekend

Head on over to From Mrs to Mama's blog to join in on Seriously Thursday

1. Seriously- I have a job interview today. I didn't sleep at all last night worrying about leaving baby girl. Note to self at 1am don't google the effects of daycare on babies. It's not pretty.(Disclaimer-I'm not against daycare. There are so many great one's out there, I'm just not ready to leave my little girl all day) So I'm heading into the interview being honest and saying I can only do a client by client basis starting with the minimum hours possible. We shall see what happens

2. Seriously-My family and friends I think are all secretly laughing at my anxiety over going back to work. Years ago I used to talk so smart and say I would never be a stay at home mom. Blah blah blah. Yet here I am loving being a stay at home mom and dreading possible going back. So yes I can eat my words from all those years ago

3. Seriously-Kim K. Is anyone surprised? Her divorce is spanning a whole lot of interest. All I have to say is divorce sucks no matter what. But divorce after 72 days. That's not even trying. They should still have been in the honeymoon period. That's my take on it

4. Seriously-I'm loving An American Horror Story on FX. I've even been watching it even though the hubs is gone. So I slept with the lights on last night. Who cares right?

5. Seriously- Halloween! Holy Costumes. Some 9 year old came to my door in a little mermaid outfit that showed her midriff and barely covered her butt. No way will Gianna ever walk out the door in something like that. And the rudeness of some kids. I gave out candy bars, one per kid and some kids either asked for more, tried to rip more out of my bowl or would stand and wait around for more. And have they heard of saying Trick or Treat, or thank you. I know I'm starting to sound like a mom

6. Seriously-My little girl is growing too fast. Why can't time slow down?

That's it for me this week. Now go link up!

How to Decorate Wooden Letter's

2011-11-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

Now I am not the most crafty person. Or the most creative for that matter. But lately thanks to pinterest I have been trying my hand at more things craft related.

Before Gianna was born I had bought white wooden letter's for her room. I had wanted to paint them or decorate them somehow but the hubs liked them the way they were. Then at a friend's house I saw she had decorated her daughter's letter's with scrapbook paper and I thought I would give it a try

Here are Gianna's letter's before. Quite plain

Here they are after

Here is how I decorated my letter's

What you need
Wooden Letter's-I got mine from Michael's
Elmer's glue stick
Scrapbook paper
ModPodge

Directions
Take your letter's and trace them on scrapbook paper
Cut out
Take a glue stick and evenly cover the scrapbook paper
Place on letter
Cover with modpodge

Some people use modpodge as the glue to stick the paper to the letter's but I found that caused the paper to bubble. The elmer's glue stick worked better to adhere the paper to the letter's and the modpodge gave the product a nice finish

And here are Gianna's new letter's in her room

Back to Work

2011-11-01T07:09:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted my decision about being a stay at home mom. Then yesterday I got a call from the company I had sent in my resume to over a month ago. I set up an interview for this Thursday without discussing it with the hubs or even thinking about it. The minute I hung up I looked over at Gianna and burst into tears. I started thinking about not being home with her every day, missing all of her first's and doing that gave me a full blown anxiety attack. I could not calm down!

When I first stopped working due to the move I thought I would go crazy staying at home. Then Gianna came along and I knew I didn't want to go back to work. I have loved staying at home with her so much. It is amazing how she changes day by day and I love being able to stay home and experience that with her. She is such a happy baby that I worry about if daycare would change that. She is highly needy and loves having her mommy close. And I have no problem with that

Originally the hubs and I discussed me going back to work when she was a year old but since he will be deploying around then we decided that I wouldn't be going back. I feel that having the hubby gone constantly is enough for her to get used to. She needs one parent constant in her life and I want that to be me.

I know I'm probably stressing over nothing. I haven't even interviewed yet or been offered the job. But when I go in there I am going to be honest and explain that I am only looking for something part time and it would all depend on the child care I could set up.

After doing some more thinking about it the only reason I would be going back to work is for the paycheck. While things are a little tight now, we are managing just fine and sure the extra money would be nice but it is not a necessity. So why even go back? It's not like I'm going bored staying at home and am looking to get out of the house for a few hours every day. I'm not bored at all. I honestly don't even know where the time. I am constantly busy.

And I def don't want someone else raising my kid. I wanted a baby for a reason and that reason wasn't to put her in daycare so I could work all day and we could still have the same lifestyle we had before she came along. I just don't know what to do. Maybe I should just cancel the interview? Ugh I'm torn

As you can prolly tell I am stressing big time about this decision. I'm going to give myself another anxiety attack!

Halloween Weekend Recap

2011-10-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

Gianna and I had a very busy weekend

Since the my hubby's whole team is gone for training I decided to have all the wives and kiddo's over for a little Halloween party. 11 kids in my house. Yikes but it turned out to be a great time. All the kids came dressed up in their costume's and we had them decorate sugar cookies, play games and watch Halloween themed movies. They had a blast. The adult's all had a great time as well. Until my friend's 2 year old had a seizure. One minute she was playing hide and seek with the other kid's the next minute she was laying on her mom's nap and her face turned white and her lips turned blue. She was completely unresponsive. Luckily I live a block behind the hospital here in town. Turns out she had a upper respiratory infection and a 103 degree fever which caused a febrile seizure. My friend had no idea her lil one was sick it came on that fast. I'm just glad she's ok

Despite that little mishap everyone had a great time. It was 11:00 before anyone even started thinking about leaving!
Here's a pic of lovebug dressed up in her ladybug pj's for the party

Saturday-We got up bright and early and headed into Destin. Barnes and Nobles had a special Halloween themed Story time where they read Goodnight Goon and the 13 Days of Halloween. I went with my friend and her two little ones and the kids had a blast.

After Barnes and Nobles we did a little shopping before heading back home and changing into our costumes. Our town had a little fall festival where all the shops passed out candy to the kids and had little booths set up with games for the kiddo's.It was so much fun
Mama Bug and Baby Bug

My friend's daughter went as a bee so she dressed up as well!

Today is trick or treating around here. I plan on dressing up Gianna in her costume again and passing out candy. The hubs got home late last night and although he leaves again tonight I'm so glad he is able to be back and celebrate Gianna's first Halloween. I'll be back tomm with pics but before I go Gianna wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween

Halloween

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

The first weekend of October the hubs and I started decorating for Halloween. After we finished the inside of the house we went and started on the outside. As we were hanging stuff up I noticed our neighbor's decorating their yard also. I commented on how we were decorating for Halloween too. She stopped and said Oh we aren't decorating for Halloween. We are decorating for Fall. Then she walked over, looked at my stuff and said you won't see many people decorate for Halloween here. This is the bible belt and it's very Christian.

Hmm, I didn't know my pumpkins and Happy Halloween sign were un-Christian. Before I continue with my post I should say that having been raised a Christian and attending a Christian school for both grade school and high school I personally have some friends that don't believe in Halloween and celebrate it. And that's fine. I persoanlly am a Christian who loves Halloween and I don't like it being implied that since I decorate for Halloween I'm not a Christian.

Instead of saying anything, bringing up the fact that one block over from us everyone had their houses decorated or commenting about how every church here in town has their own pumpkin patch I instead her Fall flag and scarecrow were cute and kept hanging up my decorations. I did however ask when trick or treating was

Again I got the we don't believe in trick or treating. We pull both cars in the garage, turn off all the lights and pretend we are not home. Ok scrooge! I will be on my front porch dressed as a ladybug with Gianna and passing out candy

I was telling my friend about this a few days later since she called and asked if I knew when trick or treating was. She ended up stopping by the house and said that she thought I told her my neighbor's didn't decorate for Halloween. I said no, they didn't. She then told me to look at the flag in their yard. My neighbor had changed it from a fall one to a trick or treat one. I was curious as to why but didn't say anything

The trick or treat flag hung there until this past Friday when I noticed it was taken down. I found out from the hubs who had talked to her hubby that day that his wife made him take it down because she didn't want it hanging up. So weird

Then Saturday they invited us over for dinner. We accepted and when we went over there I noticed the whole inside of the house was decorated for Halloween. Witches hat, black cats, pumpkins everywhere. I don't get it. I commented on how cute their decorations were wanting to see what they said. All she said was that she loved Halloween decorations. I again brought up trick or treat and got the same answer about how they won't be passing out candy. I left it alone while laughing to myself and on the way home noticed the trick or treat sign was back up. The whole situation I find amusing and just had to share with ya'll. Some people I tell you. I don't know why she made such a big deal about my decorations when her whole house is decorated to a T.

Here is a pic of our house decorated for Halloween

Gianna at one of the church's pumpkin patches

Our Little Pumpkin

Happy Fall

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday Gianna was scheduled to have her 3 month photo's and we had planned to also have some family pics taken

While the hubs watched Gianna that morning I hopped in the shower. It was so nice to take a long, hot shower instead of the quick two minute one's I take on days he is not home. I was able to shave, moisturize and actually paint my nails without having to rush and make sure the baby was ok. I took my time getting ready, fully applied my make up, did my hair for once and thought Wowo you haven't looked this good in a long time.

Does it come to any shock to y'all that the photographer canceled due to being sick. Since I was all ready and was having a great hair day I had the hubs take some pics of us outside. Here is our mini photo session

The photographer did reschedule for a weekend in November so Gianna's 3 month pics will be more like her 4 month pics

Gianna's 3 month update

2011-10-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Gianna

You are already three months old. Where is the time going? Every day brings something new and it is so much fun watching you change and grow. You are such a morning person. Every morning you wake up smiley and giggly ready to start the day. You are making a wide variety of sounds and are trying so hard to laugh. You smile the minute you see Mommy walk into a room and you love all the attention Mommy and Daddy give you.

You have become a fan of tummy time and can lift and hold your head up for a few minutes at a time. You are such a joy and I can't imaging life without you

Baby Stats
You weigh around 12 pounds. You have def had a huge growth spurt this past month. You grew out of your newborn clothes, bypassed 0-3 months and are now in 3 month clothes. I hate to admit that some of your 3 month clothes are a little snug!

You are still in size 1 diapers but after this box is done we will be switching to size 2's

You are wearing all 3 month clothes but I'm not sure how much longer that will last

You rarely nap. You are a fan of cat naps and I can only get you to nap twice a day for about 20 mins at a time. Unless I lay with you of course. Than you can sleep for about 2 hours.

You still sleep with us in your lil co sleeper. You usually fall asleep at 9, sleep until 1:30 and then get up every 2 hours after that.

You are so fussy from the hours of 5pm-7pm. You scream and scream. The only thing that really calms you down is Mommy. Nothing else works

You are still exclusively breast fed. We prolly won't introduce rice cereal until you are six months old and that's because you seem to have a very sensitive tummy

You love to look around at things and prefer to be sitting up so you can take everything in!

Now for some pics

Gianna's First Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

We took Gianna to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. She had been extremely fussy the day before and cried the entire time we were there but we were able to snap a few pics.

Getting ready to go to the Pumpkin Patch. She was clearly not too excited

Guest Blogger-From Mrs to Mama

2011-10-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I have a special treat for y'all. I have one of my favorite bloggers here with an awesome guest post for today. If you do not read Becky's blog you are missing out. I seriously stalk her blog. Daily. I can't get enough. She is hilarious and I think if we lived in the same city I'd be begging her to hang out with me! She is a mom to a beautiful little girl who will be turning 1 soon. I was so excited when she said she would write a post for little ole me. So here she is, Becky from over at From Mrs to Mama

Hey guys! My name is Becky and I blog over at my little corner called From Mrs to Mama. I blog all things related to motherhood, marriage, photography, couponing, and my adventures of becoming domestic.And because I just can't go on without showing you my greatest accomplishment in life... here it is. Or, shall I say, here she is.

So. As you can tell... I am a proud mama. More importantly, I am a mama.

Being a mom has been the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. It is truly a gift. A blessing. Something that we should never take for granted.

And now that I am {almost} 1 year into this mommyhood... there are a few things that I have learned.

{A Short list written to myself}

1. Kiss them often. You can't ever kiss them too much.

2. Teach them. Remember they look up to you. They pick up on everything.

3. Make Memories. Think of fun family activities to do. Go to the zoo. Go to the pumpkin patch. Do crafts together. And most importantly, love each of these moments.

4. Take pictures. Lots of them. Who cares if they are sitting in the same pose... those facial expressions are honestly priceless. And I guarantee you will appreciate having these in the future.

5. Plan ahead. Think about the future. Plan for the future. Buy clothes ahead of time. Review your finances a year in advance. And remember, your child should always come first.

6. Share. Share your child. Others want to love on him or her, or them. Let them. It's okay. Your child/children won't forget that you are the most important. And listen, you are.

7. Never regret. Don't "wish" you did this. Or that. Or why did I do this or that. Trust your decisions. Learn from them. And grow. Because at the end of the day....

You are that child's mother and no one can ever take that away from you.

Yes. I get sappy like that, and you can blame it on the "mom" thing. But in short, this list doesn't even compare to the extended list of lessons learned. Because remember, us moms, we strive for perfection. The super mom title. To be the best for our children. So that they can one day grow up and say.... "That's my mom. And she's my role model" Right? And yes, I just teared up thinking of my daughter saying that one day. Hoping that I meet her expectations. Praying that I make her proud.

Oh motherhood, thank you for such an amazing {almost} year. I can't wait for the many more years to come.

SAHM Vs Daycare

2011-10-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

After we found out we were pregnant we decided that I would not return to work once Gianna was born. We knew that we would have to tighten the belt a bit since we would be down to one income but we didn't worry too much about it since the hubs was going to reenlist in October and we were planning on using the bonus to pay off the rest of our credit card debt. The army has other plans and now the hubby can't reenlist until March. Which is fine but now we are going to have to tighten our belts even more until then.

One day when discussing finances and our bills we brought up the topic of me going back to work. I immediately started crying hysterically. I can't imagine leaving her alone with anyone. As I've stated in many post's Gianna is a high needs baby. She needs to be held all the time. I mean all the time. And right now I coddle her. She's my first and she is only little once so I cave in and hold her all the time. No one that works in a daycare would do that. If Gianna was the only kid they had all day then of course they could give her the attention she requires, but with four babies to one daycare provider it wouldn't be possible for them to do so. And that's not their fault. That's just the realty of daycare. They can't just give her all the attention and ignore the other kids!I would be stupid to expect them to

And even if I got a job am I only working just to work or would my income be significant enough to warrant going back to work. WE moved to a really small town. The only major store here is Walmart. The rest of the store's are your little mom and pop shops all family owned and ran. So getting a part time retail job would be a little difficult. And there aren't many other jobs available in this town.Especially in my career field. To get a job in my field I'm looking at a minimum of a 45 minute drive to work every day. Then you add in daycare. I priced a few here in town and the cheapest one is 125 bucks a week. Not to bad but if I'm driving an hour to work and an hour back, that's a lot of money going to gas. So in the end is the extra few dollar's I'd actually make worth going back to work for. Right now we decided that no it is not.

So for now I will be a stay at home mom. I have put us on a strict budget and we are trying to not spend frivolously. It's def doable but still an adjustment after two income's. Would the extra cash be nice, of course but I wouldn't give up any time spent with my little girl. With her dad being gone all the time due to work she needs one source of constant and stability in her life.

While I know this decision isn't for everyone it is the best for us right now. I have looked into selling scentsy or other home based businesses but since we live in a predominately military town everyone I know sells something! Everyday I have an invite to a 31, scentsy, partylite, pampered chef or mary kay party. No I don't go due to our budget but that also made me give up on a home based business like that. I do wish I could find some other way to work from home and bring in cash but there aren't too many options. Anyone have any good budgeting tips? Work from home options?

Babies and Marriage

2011-10-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

Babies def change a marriage. Some for the worse, some for the better but whichever is the case things change. You bring home a wonderful little bundle of joy who needs constant attention and of course things get put on the back burner. A clean house, clean laundry and your way of doing things. This also includes time spent with your spouse. After Gianna finally falls asleep it's not long before the hubs goes to bed since he has to get up early. And with him being gone so much it's hard to fit in any quality time for the two of us. I know that will eventually change so I'm not worried about it. What I am worried about is a discussion we had the other day

I asked him to help out more. Gianna is a very needy baby. She has to be held. All day long. Putting her down results in screaming and naps are a thing of the past. (Apparently I was the same way as a baby, sorry mom and dad)And while I sound like I'm complaining about this I'm not. I love every moment spent with her. I love cuddling with her all day and playing with her especially now as she is starting to explore toys, and doing new things like sitting in her bumbo and playing in her jumperoo propped by pillows and blankets. I wouldn't have it any other way

But sometimes it is frustrating when the hubby breezes home from work and plops on the couch wanting to relax when I'm covered in baby puke, haven't showered yet for the day and the house is a disaster. So yesterday we had a little tit about how he would love to stay home while I work and how it must be nice to do nothing all day, followed by me yelling at how he does nothing at home and blah blah blah. We have since rationally discussed all this and have apologize for each being so testy with each other. Hey 4 hours of sleep a night will make anyone crabby.

But tonight as I was reading the book Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina I came across the chapter about how relationships and happy marriages impact your baby and I died laughing when I read this and had to share it with y'all

" If my husband tells me one more time that he needs to rest because he worked all day I will throw all his clothes on he front lawn, kick his car into neutral and watch it roll away and sell all of his precios sports stuff on ebay for a dollar. And then I'll kill him. He seriously doesn't get it. Yes he worked all day but he worked with English speaking, potty trained and fully capable adults"

"He didnt have to change their diapers, give them naps and clean their lunch from the wall. He didn't have to count to ten to calm himself, he didn't have to watch Barney 303 times and he didn't have to pop his boob out 6 times to feed a hungry baby and I know he didn't have peanut butter and jelly crust for lunch. He did get two 15 minute breaks to stroll, an hour break to hit the gym and a 1 hour train ride home to read or nap"

"So maybe I don't get a paycheck, maybe I stay in my sweatpants most of the day, maybe I only shower every 2 or 3 days, maybe I get to play with our kids all day. I still work a hell of a lot harder in one hour than he does all day. SO take your paycheck, stick it in the bank and let me go get a freakin pedicure once a month without hearing you say Maybe if you got a job,, and had your own money"

Ha typing this up I am still laughing. I even read it aloud to the hubby over the phone since he is gone for the week and we both had a good laugh. Probably because this sounded like the conversation we had during our little tift.

And while having a baby is an adjustment and our marriage will need to adjust with it, I think it's a good sign that we can have little arguments, get frustrated but then talk and work it out, later on having a good laugh about it all!

Where's My Daddy

2011-10-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

Being a part of a military family I know this is a question I will hear a lot in my future. I also know that it will be awhile before Gianna will fully comprehend where her daddy is. Whether he's away for training, a class, deployment preparation or an actual deployment all she will really understand is that he is gone. And that makes me sad

From the moment she was 10 days old he has been working like crazy. For these past 3 months the only time he is really home is the weekends. We try to cram as much family time in on those weekends as much as possible but it's still hard including daddy in our daily routine when he is gone most days. I know this has to be really frustrating for him.

WE already know that he will miss most of her second year due to a long deployment. That's why this year we planned to make every holiday and time spent together really important. We want traditions to start now. Take Halloween, we have Saturday the 29th planned down to the minute. We are going all out and couldn't be more excited about Gianna's first Halloween

Then today I got the bomb dropped on me.As he was getting ready to leave for yet another week he told me he'd be gone the last week of October and then for a part of November. (No I am not going against OPSEC) he is not deploying or going to some secretive training. He will just be gone for a few weeks doing work related things. This means that he will miss her first Halloween. I am devastated. He's already missed so much and now Halloween. And part of me is mad. Mad that he's always gone and mad that's he's missing so much. Before it never seemed to matter when he left. Sure I never wanted him to leave but I just dealt with it and went about my everyday routine. Now it's different. It's hard not to take him being gone so personal. I know he can't help it but knowing that he is hardly home to spend time with his first child breaks my heart. And I know that it won't get easier from here on out. It will get harder. Right now she doesn't really know that he is gone a lot. She won't look back and remember that he was working on her first Halloween. But later, as she gets older she will. The questions will come and how am I going to deal with that. What exactly do you tell a child so that they understand?

Some day's I hate the army. I know they can't postpone training or deployment just so that their soldier's are home for every first or important event in their life and it makes me feel bad for those that sacrifice so much. They are missing out too.

Even with him gone I know that for her sake I need to stay strong and still make a big deal about everything in her life. So even if it means I will be carving pumpkins by myself and pushing her in a stroller around the block during trick or treating I will take as many pics as possible and be there for her. Maybe when Daddy get's back we can have our own Halloween celebration. Regardless if it is the middle of November or not. Today though I am going to shed a few tears and have a few glasses of wine before putting on my big girl panties and sucking it up.

Seriously Thursday!

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I've participated in a Seriously Thursday and I had to get back in the fun. Head here to visit one of my favorite blogger's and join in the funhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

1. Seriously- I found that with a new baby in the house blogging has been pushed aside.It has helped to schedule my posts in advance so A few weeks ago I wrote my Seriously Thursday post the night before and scheduled it to post the following morning. When I woke up I jumped to Mrs. Mama's blog to read all the entries. Only to find out that she hadn't written a seriously Thursday post that week. I deleted my post and went about my day. It wasn't until later that I realized that it was a Friday and not a Thursday. Blogger fail! I blame it on my Mama brain. Seriously

2. Seriously- Did anyone watch Kim's fairy tale wedding? Poor Chris. Was it just me or did those two appear really dysfunctional? I know wedding planning is stressful but something just seemed off with those two. Maybe that's just me

3. Seriously- The only store here in town is a Walmart. If I want to go anywhere else I have to drive to Fort Walton or Destin which is about a 30-60 min drive depending on traffic. It never fails every time I pack Gianna up and drive to one of those places I am always met with a stinky baby. After pulling her out of her carset I discover that during the drive she had an explosive poop that has somehow ended up soaking through her outfits and getting on everything. And sometimes this Mama forgets a change of clothes. So this means I end up buying Gianna a brand new outfit every time we go out somewhere. I've come to realize that my little mini me is doing this on purpose to get a new outfit. Apparently I have a future shopaholic on my hands. I need to start saving money now!

4. Seriously- I am going to my first Mom's of Preschooler's meeting tomorrow. A friend told me about it and I thought I'd check it out. Kind of nervous to go but we shall see how it is

5. Seriously- When decorating outside for Halloween my neighbor's came outside and explained that most people in our neighborhood don't decorate because they are christians. I guess my black tulle wreath means I am not a christian! I commented about how I loved Halloween and asked when trick or treating was. They said it's always on Halloween night and they would be pulling their cars in their garage and turning off the lights in their house and pretending their not home. Seriously. Some people. I think just for fun Gianna and I should go over there and keep ringing their door bell!

6. Seriously- I can't wait for the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion show. I predict a lot of drama. I used to love Teresa but she is getting on my nerves lately. She is so catty and puts everyone down all the time. No wander everyone is turning against her!

That's it for now! Happy Thursday everyone

Gianna's first trip to the Beach

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Now that we live in Florida we decided we should take Gianna to the beach early on since she will be our little beach bunny. Well we hope so anyway. Here are some pics from our first time to the beach

Gianna loves being outside and didn't seem to mind the water! When we first arrived at the beach however we noticed everyone standing at the outskirts of the water and no one was in it. Why was that you may ask. Oh yes there was a clearly visible shark swimming in the water. Let's just say we didn't go in past our calf muscles. But we had a great first time at the beach. I'm hoping we can squeeze in one more beach day as the weather here is still in the 80's. If not I know we will be there every weekend next summer!

Go the F*** to Sleep

2011-10-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

When Gianna turned two months we finally had some sort of bedtime routine established. She usually fell asleep around 8:30/9 woke up around 1:30 or 2 and then woke up every 2 hours after that. I noticed that when she woke up after her 2am feeding it was only to comfort suck. At her dr's appt I mentioned this to the Dr and he said this was normal and not to worry about it. That it was to early to get her on a schedule and on some sort of routine and trying to do so would only make me more tired in the end. He said she would figure it out on her own

Then on Wednesday of this week I woke up suddenly at 4am. I wasn't sure what had woken me up. Then I realized that nothing had woken me up. No baby was crying! I immediately thought something was wrong. It was 7 hours after Gianna had gone to bed and she hadn't stirred. I was terrified she had stopped breathing. I looked over and placed my hand on Gianna's chest and sure enough she was still breathing. I breathed a sigh of relief and wasn't surprised that my freaking out had woken up gianna. I fed her and she went back to bed. At 6 am she was wide awake! The next day the same thing. The extra sleep was heaven! We will have to work on the 6am wake up call but hey you win some you lose some

I was so excited that she had started sleeping through the night that I called everyone to tell them about it. I had spoken too soon. Fri and saturday my happy baby has been replaced by a crabby,fussy baby. She screams when not being held, refuses a pacifier and wants to be attached to me 24/7. At night she is back up every 2 hours. I feel like we are back to the newborn days all over again!

I have noticed that she is drooling alot and is sucking on her hands at every free moment. Mommies is this a sign of teething? I've looked in her mouth and haven't seen any white teeth poking through. Not sure if this is just a stage she is going through or if this means teething is starting.

I just feel so helpless when she gets fussy like this. And isn't it amazing how guys can sleep through all this. It takes every ounce of restraint not to beat him with my pillow as he slumber peacefully in bed and then has the nerve to tell me that every time he woke up I was sleeping and didn't know why I was so tired

Best Brother Ever

2011-10-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

As I have stated many times in my blog I am addicted to reality tv. Something which will end come tomorrow when I downgrade our cable package to basic cable. I have decided we spend way to much time zoned out in front of the tv and I'm over paying a crazy cable bill each month so I am cutting down on our cable

That being said I blame my parent's on my tv addiction. Growing up we weren't allowed to have cable. To this day they still don't have cable. My dad hooked up one of those converter boxes to his nice flat screen tv in order to get the regular channels.(My dad is el cheapo) I can remember as a teenager rushing to my friend's houses and watching MTV and entering college where girl's nights watching Laguna Beach or the Hills became the norm. Then when I moved out of my parent's house senior year of college thr first thing I did was get cable. It was heaven and my love for even more reality tv began. My absolute favorite show was the Girls Next Door. I loved it. My roommates and I would sit and watch it every time it was on. Kendra was my absolute favorite.

So last year when her book came out I rushed to get it. It was a decent read. She ha def had a hard life. A few weeks ago I found out she was coming out with another book, discussing her life as a mom and her experience with postpartum depression. I ordered it from amazon and couldn't wait to read it. Then while on Twitter I saw she would be having a book signing in Chicago Il. I planned to go. Until I remembered that I didn't live in Milwaukee, WI anymore and a drive to Chicago from Florida would take a long time! So I called up my brother and begged him to go for me. He agreed and dragged his girlfriend along with him.

What a fiasco it turned out to be. On her website it said she would be at the Macy's in Chicago and didn't list an address. Well there are two Macy's within a 5 minute distance from each other and they went to the wrong one first. Then they get there only to find out you could only purchase her book from Macy's. They had picked one up from Barnes and Nobles to get signed. SO my brother spent 30 bucks on a book that he already had purchased. Then no pictures were allowed since they were filming the reality show as well. The whole time I kept receiving text messages from my brother, You owe me big time. Never again! Opps, now I felt really bad. When they actually made it up to the front of the line to get their book signed however my brother's story changed. Both him and his girlfriend said she was so nice and she told my brother's girlfriend that her outfit was super cute and that she needed to learn how to dress cute like her! I'm glad she turned out to be really nice and friendly!

My brother still has to send me my signed book. I can't wait to read it. And thanks again to the best brother in the world for doing me such a huge favor!

Never get Ahead

2011-10-08T17:23:00.001-07:00

Does it ever feel that no matter what you do you can never get ahead?

Now that the hubs and I are down to one income we have been trying hard to set a budget and stick to it. A new thing we started is paying for everything with cash. So after payday I figure out our bills and what is not needed for bills I pull out. I then separate the cash into separate envelopes such as gas/groceries, spending money and savings. We did have an online savings account but we found that it got us into trouble as it was linked to our checking account as well and we would transfer funds whenever we felt like it. I know not very smart. So I thought I would try this cash and envelope system. And this month it worked. We did good with sticking to our budget and even having money left over. That is until today

The hubs came home and commented on an email he received about one of our credit cards. He asked If the minimum payment was really a few hundred dollars. I said no and showed him what I had set up to pay online. When we went on to that credit cards website they had said we had missed last months payment. I logged onto our bank account and pulled up where the money had been taken out last month. So we called the credit card. Turns out due to a glitch in their system they took out a payment for October and November plus a late fee even though it did register our September payment. Since I only have what is needed in our account for bills we are going to be hit with some pretty hefty fees not to mention some other bills won't be paid. The company is going to send us the difference they owe us in ten business days but that still won't help us now.

I'm just so frustrated because I am anal about paying our bills. And we still get into trouble. The simple solution would be to go deposit our cash into the account but we bank through USAA. An online bank. So we would have to mail in the cash which would never get into our account by the time all the bills hit. I'm only praying that some of the bills scheduled for the 11th don't clear until we get the hubs next check.

I'm so stressed right now. A glass of wine is needed tonight

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What's with all the big words?

2011-10-04T07:18:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I showed y'all the huge stack of books on my nightstand. I have not made any progress and have added even more books to the list. Most of them are parenting books and I swear I feel like I'm back in college reading some of them!

I understand that most of these books are written by people who have phd's and who are considered experts in their chosen field but give me a break. What's with all the big words? I mean I'm college educated and all, one who loved English class and one who will read anything but geez if I wanted to read a textbook I would buy one!

Don't the authors realize that most of the time the ones who are reading their books are mommies during their 3am feeding or women who try to read during their kiddos nap time. Women who are so exhausted themselves that they should be napping too. Ok so that might not represent all you ninnies out there but it represents me.

I picked up to parenting books The Baby Bond and Einstein never used flashcards and I felt like I was reading my applied behavioral analysis textbook. It was so dry after a few pages each I put them both down and did what I should have been doing. Napped!

If all the books are like this the books on my nightstand will take years to read! Now I'm not saying the books are bad. They had some good info. I just may have to revisit them when I have more than a half hour break during my day. I just wish they would make these books more mama friendly. I know the scientific evidence they use and the case studies in those books are used to prove their viewpoints but liven it up a little! This mama is tired and wants a good, interesting read. Not a book where I feel the need to pull out my highlighter and take notes!
End rant

Hope everyone is having a great week so far

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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2011-10-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ok time to announce the winner of the My Memories giveaway. The winner is Amanda! Congrats hun! Email me for details

Giveaway!

2011-10-03T05:43:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone. If you haven't entered the My Memories giveaway nows your last chance.
I'll be picking the winner tonight At 5!

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Halloween

2011-09-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween.I think it is one of my favorite "holiday's. Now this year I have a reason to love it even more. I am so excited to take Gianna to the pumpkin patch, carve pumpkin's, take her on a hayride, go to all the fall festival's here in town and take her trick or treating

And I'm so excited about her costume. Gianna will be a ...

Ladybug!. I can't wait to dress her up in this and take picture's

The town we live in has a fall festival the weekend of Halloween. They have a big block party in the downtown area and adult's and children can come dressed up and go trick or treating.

Now I am all for dressing up for Halloween. This year however I will not be dressing up as a "slutty" pirate, cop, referee, etc that I have in the past. I was thinking of making myself a red/black tutu and pairing that with some leggings and dressing up like a ladybug as well

But then I got to thinking. Am I to old to dress up? Do any of you dress up with your little one's?

Gianna's two month update

2011-09-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

I finally have the time to sit down and write Gianna's two month update

Dear Gianna

You are two month's old already. I can't believe how fast time is flying. It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for your arrival. You have grown so much this past month. Remember how mommy was worried about all the sleeping you did, well you are much more active and alert during the day. You love to smile and you are starting to look around more at your surroundings.

You still love to be held all the time and get quite fussy when we put you down. Especially at night. But that's ok. Mommy and Daddy love cuddling as much as you do.

You are sleeping more at night. You usually go down around 8:30 and sleep until 1 or 2 depending on the night. Then I feed you and you fall back asleep with a little coaxing. You get up around 5 for a mini feeding session and then get up again around 6. Mommy has figured out that when you wake up at 6 you don't really want to eat, you are ready to be picked up and cuddled. Sometimes Mommy gets lucky and you fall back asleep on mommy's chest for another hour or two

You are wearing size 1 diaper's. You can wear some of your newborn clothes but we are mostly in 0-3. And if your daddy dresses you you wear 9 month clothes. But that's ok we will cut him some slack

At your 2 month Dr appt you were 9.9 lbs and 20 inches long. You are in the 40% for weight and 10% for height. You def are a little peanut

You are still exclusively breastfed and hate taking a bottle. In fact you push it out of the way and spit up the milk every time I try to give you one. You are def our stubborn little girl.

You love being held upright so you can see everything around you. You also love being placed in your crib. The mobile sends you into hysterics. You are trying so hard to laugh although right now it sounds like a cross between a cough and a choke. At first it scared me half to death but now it makes me smile.

You are growing up so fast little one. Mommy wishes I could keep you this little forever but that would take all the fun out of watching you grow

Always remember Mommy and Daddy love you so very much. We are so blessed to have you in our life

And for some 2 month pics!

Family Vacation and Photos

2011-09-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

My whole family came to visit us the first week of August. My grandparent's will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this November and decided to celebrate it by going on one big family vacation. Now my grandma is terrified of traveling. Won't leave Wisconsin but decided to venture out of her comfort zone and come visit us down in Florida so she could meet her great granddaughter. So my parent's, brother and his girlfriend, my cousin's and their significant other's along with my aunt and grandparent's all came down for a visit.
It was a blast having everyone in town.I am so blessed to have had that time with them and for Gianna to meet everyone. We won't be going home until this coming July so it would have been awhile before Gianna was able to meet everyone. Since this was a special occasion we also had a photographer come out and take family photo's of everyone. I am so glad we had them taken, especially since they will be a great keepsake for Gianna. Family is very important to me and I miss being near my family every day. I only wish we all lived closer to each other! Now onto picture overload

Here is the house my family rented

Our Little Family

The Whole Family

My brother and Gianna. He is also her Godfather

My Dad and Gianna

My Mom, Grandma and Gianna

My Mom, Me and Gianna

The Great Grandparents and Gianna

Another pic with My mom and Gianna

This is my favorite pic of the three of us

My Family. My parent's, brother his girlfriend and the three of us

The whole clan

My Dad, My Aunt and my grandparent's

My adorable grandparent's. Married for 60 years

Gianna's newborn photo's

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

I finally received Gianna's newborn photo's and just had to share them with y'all. We found a great photographer here in Destin and have scheduled Gianna's three month pics with her as well. All photo's are copyrighted by Jubilee Photography

My Memories Giveaway

2011-09-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to tell you about this awesome giveaway. A few years ago I got hooked on scrapbooking. I was already addicted to taking pictures, I take a camera with me everywhere so scrapbooking seemed like the perfect hobby. But it was too expensive and time consuming for all the picture's I had. So I stopped scrapbooking and in a way my blog has become my own personal scrapbook and journal
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
I was contacted by My Memories which is a digital scrabooking software to offer my reader's one copy of My Memories Suite. With this software you can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars and gifts. And it is very affordable.
Along with giving one of my lucky reader's a copy of this digital software I also am able to share with y'all this promo code which will give you $10.00 off anything on their site from the My Memories Suite Software to a digital scrapbooking kit or a album template.
The promo code is STMMMS17808 so head on over to MyMemories.com and get started today

I had made some really cute scrapbook pages to show y'all how great this site is but my computer is acting up. WhenI can get it uploaded I will bhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifut for now you will have to head on over to the website and check it out for yourself

To enter this awesome giveaway here is what you have to do
1. Be a follower of my blog. Leave a comment and let me know you are following me(1 entry)http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

2. Visit www.MyMemories.com chose your favorite digital paper pack or layout and then comment on my blog and let me know which one you chose(1 entry)

3. Visit their facebook page, like it and let them know you entered the giveaway from my blog(2 entries)

4. Tweet about this giveaway(1 entry)

I will end this giveaway one week from today. Good luck everyone

Easy Canvas Prints

2011-09-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to get some picture's turned into canvas photos and just never got around to doing so. Until I found the website Easy Canvas Prints. This website is amazing. All I had to do was upload a picture, follow the simple steps and the photo was ordered. I received the photo in about a week and I love it!
Here is my canvas photo

I love it. And for those of you that are wandering I stillhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif have the plastic covering over the picture because I am waiting to hang it up on the wall.
Another great thing about this website is that they are affordable, offer amazing deal's and every so often have it where you can get a free 8 x 10 where you only pay shipping. How great is that!
SO head on over to Easy Canvas Prints and make your own canvas photo today

And for all you milspouses this same company offer Free Welcome Home Banner's. I have yet to order one since every time the hubs has come home we haven't been able to go and greet them until they are back at their company headquarter's but you can bet now that we have a little one we will be going all out welcoming Daddy home. So if any of you are coming up on the end of a deployment or R&R head on over to www.buildasign.com/troops or click HERE

2 mth appt

2011-09-16T14:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Gianna had her two month well baby appt. I was dreading this one since this was the dreaded 2 month shot appt. I've been on the fence about vaccines. I know what you all are thinking but hear me out

After working with kids with autism who wouldn't be paranoid about vaccines. I'm in no way saying they cause autism, all I'm saying is that some research suggests that some kiddos are born with weakened immune systems. And that when they get multiple shots at one time it can bring out pre existing conditions that may or may not have come out later in life.

Before I had her I was convinced we would space them apart or do the delayed vaccine schedule. My nurse of a mother was horrified. Kids have been getting shots for years and they are perfectly safe. Just the other day she was telling me about how in Wi there is a measles outbreak due to kids not being vaccinated. That scared me. So I spoke with Giannas dr about it. He explained that the current schedule is the safest combination of the shots in years. He said if I spaced out the shots they may not be as effective. So I did what I thought was best and she got all of her shots.

It was awful. I cried. Seeing her scrunch up her face, turn bright red and scream did me in. But I know it's what's best for her

She def slept a lot yesterday. In fact I got my first 7 hour stretch of sleep! And every time she woke up she would give this little scream. It was heartbreaking. Today again she has been sleeping alot, not eating as much and just wants to be cuddled. Hopefully tomm she will be more alert

I also discussed with her dr my concerns about her sleeping. After falling asleep for the night she sleeps three hours, then wakes up every two after that. But sometimes she doesn't want to eat. She wants to comfort suck and will only fall asleep being held or while attached to me. When she puts down she screams. He laughed and said this was perfectly normal. That she is trying to figure our and adjust to her own routine and schedule. I was told pushing it and making her conform to a schedule would only make me more tired! So at least I felt justified that I have been doing things right

I will be back Monday with her officiall two month update.

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The Beauty of Parenting

2011-09-13T19:48:00.001-07:00

Thanks ladies for all the comments on my book review. I have a whole stack of parenting books I plan on reading and reviewing so it's not strictly limited to BabyWise
Again I feel that everyone has different view points and beliefs about the type of parent they want to be and the methods they want to follow. That's the joy about parenting. It's your kid and the way you chose to raise them it's up to you. It shouldnt matter what someone else thinks or believes. How I chose to raise my baby may be different from yours and although I may not agree with one method it doesn't meant that I think that method is wrong. Just like although you may not agree with my method it also doesn't mean that it's wrong. Since I am a huge book nerd I have found many contradictory things about each parenting method. Some books bash attachment parenting, other books support it. Some bash the Ferber method and BabyWise, others support it. I am just trying to make myself as educated as possible while following what my own Dr tells me and following my own instincts. And I feel that it is working so far. Like I also stated, before Gianna was born I thought BabyWise would be the book for us. But due to the type of baby she is right now it's not. She is on as much of a schedule as can be right now. And she has started sleeping longer during the night. Yay for more sleep for me! I don't care if I have to hold her more often than some other babies need to be held, they are only little once and in a few years she will be screaming at me and slamming doors in my face! Well maybe not a few years but ya never know!

Parenting is a complex and amazing job. I'm sure any new parent can attest to the fact that with your first you are stumbling along with blinders on. People are constantly telling you one thing whole someone tells you another. There were so many things I swore I'd never do that we are doing right now. In the end the only thing that matters is you and your baby.

Next up on my list to read and review is The No Cry Sleep solution. I also had read about the book Cinderella ate my daughter which I just picked up from the library so hopefully I'll crack open the books and have a review soon for ya!

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BabyWise-A Book Review

2011-09-12T21:55:00.001-07:00

This book came highly recommended by some and received negative reviews by others. Despite that I added it to my to-read list anyway. I should also add that when it comes to reading, if I can't relate to or find interest in the subject matter within the first few chapters I will not finish the book. And this is one of those books

Here is why. Before having Gianna the hubs and I discussed the types of parents we wanted to be. We definitely didn't want a baby sleeping with us and we were firm believers in crying it out.

Then Gianna came along. Our high needs baby. Who wants to be held at all times, needs to be rocked and soothed to sleep and loves to comfort suck on me instead of using a pacifier. We've discussed these things with our pediatrician, the lactation consultant, other mommies, my own mom who is also a nurse and read articles and books relating to this. They all say this is normal. That holding her at all times won't spoil her and that we should be following along her schedule instead of trying to adapt her to ours. I was also instructed that I should be nursing on demand. So this is what I do. I guess you can say we have adopted the "attachment" parenting frame of mind

In the past few weeks Gianna has started to taking a pacifier more, she has slowly gotten her nights and days back on track and she has become a smiley happy baby. One who still needs to e held at all waking moments
In my Baby412 book it had said that all this is ok. That up until 3 months no bad habits are being formed. Since she is just two I figure we have one more month before we really need to focus on Settling her into some sort of routine. Many resources also say babies don't know how to self soothe until they are about 4 months anyway so until then the parents are there source of comfort

What does this have to do with BabyWise. Well BabyWise doesn't seem to like the child centered approach or the attachment parenting approach. From the few parts I read, since as stated above I didn't finish the book they seem to go against the type of parenting we have adopted.

I found this book quite contradictory. I understand they were trying to explain that once a child comes along we should have them become a part of our life, not center our lives around them. That being said how can you not center your life around a baby who has constant needs. I find that their advice about parenting is much better suited for parents of an older infant or toddler. Not my 2 month old

I found the author to be preachy about subject matters such as feeding and sleeping, yet he didn't really provide me with much information about how to adopt the correct way of parenting in his opinion. If you are looking for a book to help you with your child sleep or eating habits this isn't it.

I had taken this issue to twitter and someone commented that the Academy of Pediatrics have come out against this book. I found that interesting.

At the end of the day everybody is different when it comes to raising their children. For some this book has worked wonders. For others it has not. It all depends on your parenting style. Again this book didn't agree to much with my parenting style. And that's fine by me. I am following along with what my pediatrician has instructed me to do. In a few months when Gianna is older I will revisit reading BabyWise and come to my own conclusions then. Until then I didn't bother finishing the book since right now it doesn't pertain to me. Again I know for many it does and maybe I'm looking at the book the wrong way. Maybe I'm missing something?

What are your thoughts for those that have read this book? Did you like it or dislike it? And please let's keep the comments positive. This isn't a bashing session about parenting styles. Everyone has different views and beliefs on that and they all should be respected.

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Settling In

2011-09-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

The hubs has finally finished the class he was in. He will finally be home with us again. The last five weeks of him being gone 5 days and home for 2 has sucked. Not so much for me, as I'm used to him being gone but for Gianna and him. Obviously at 2 months she doesn't know what's going on but except for his 10 days paternity leave he hasn't been able to spend much time with her.I know this has killed him. In these last few weeks her and I have settled into a routine and when he would come home I could sense he felt like an outsider.

Gianna is what is considered a "high needs" baby according to some of the books I've read. She wants to be held at all times and gets very fussy in the evening. When the hubs would come home he wasn't sure what to do. And since I'm breastfeeding her I was an instant source of comfort. I remember running to the grocery store for 30 mins the night before he was set to leave again only to come home to the hubs on our front porch smoking and a screaming baby inside the house. He was so upset because he said he didn't know what to do to calm her down that he had to step outside. (He wasn't annoyed or irritated by her crying, he just felt useless)

I've had to explain countless times that she just has to get to know him. That she just needs to bond with him a little due to his absence. And don't get me wrong, he is great with her. He sings to her, walks her around the house and loves playing with her on her floor mat. But the minute she cries he freezes. It also upsets him when she falls asleep easily on me and not on him.

It is kind of funny to see my big tough army man be so outdone by a baby. Luckily he will be home now for awhile so he will be able to spend quality time with her. And I must admit I've had a hard time of letting go and letting him take over. I've had to bite my tongue when he has done something not necessarily wrong but different that I would do. Or to not re-do things he has done. Like last night after bath time he was playing with her while putting on her pj's or night nights as we call them in our house. Anyway I come into the room to her in pj's that are huge on her. When I asked what size they were he said 3-6mths. Keep in mind she is 2mths old and just outgrew her newborn clothes a week ago. I debated about what to do, quietly change her outfit, comment about how big they were on her or just leave it alone. I decided to leave it alone. I know he is trying so hard to make up for lost time

And I have to laugh at how clueless men are sometimes. Saturday night lovebug would not sleep. She seemed to think her play time wasw from 3-530am. So of course I was up with her all night. Hubby slept peacefully through it all. So sunday morning at 8am I shook him awake and handed her to him asking him to change her diaper so I could sleep for 10 more minutes. He did and after that got up to make breakfast. I fed her and walked into the kitchen where he told me to go back to bed. I gladly did thinking he was going to watch her so I could sleep. 5 minutes later he walks in, lays down a wide awake baby and leaves to get a hair cut. MEN!! And what was even funnier was that he didn't get it. He thought he was doing me a favor and letting me sleep. Oh well I was able to catch a nap with her later on.

I can't wait till the hubs gets home tonight so we can go for a family walk. And before I go I'll leave you with a pic of my love's

9.11.11

2011-09-11T08:16:00.001-07:00

10 years ago our nation was attacked. 10 years later that attack is still impacting the world

I was a senior in high school when the twin towers were attacked. My understanding of the world changed forever that day. My safe bubble was shattered and talks of war, terrorist attacks and Al Queda became every day topics.

Although my life wasn't directly affected by the attacks that day, now ten years later it is. My husbands job is a result of the terror attacks that fateful day. him and thousands others put their lives on the line to ensure that something like 9.11 never happens again.

I have been staying away from the news coverage today. I was watching some of it the other day and could not stop crying. It breaks my heart to hear the survivors stories,and to hear the stories of those who lost loved ones.

I watched one segment about the wish kids of 9.11. One two year old lost his dad. He said he didn't know which was worse, not remembering his dad at all or never getting the chance to know him. His sister who is now a teenager said she gets upset when her friends complain about their dads being strict, or not letting them stay out past curfew. She then went on to say how she wishes her dad was here to say those things.

All those lives lost 10 years ago. May they not be in vain. For those that say this war is stupid never forget why we are there in the first place

Not only does 9.11 make me
Sad it makes me scared. Scared that something like this will happen again and scared about when the hubby will be returning to Afghanistan which will be soon. And I'm scared for my daughter. That she will grow up in a world with increasing hatred and war

But today I remember those that were killed ten years ago. Gone but never forgotten.

So regardless you viewpoint of the war and what political stance you take, today should also serve as a reminder that life is short. Always tell those you love them and never take anything for granted

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The Great Diaper Debate

2011-09-07T20:40:00.001-07:00

When we first found out we were pregnant one of the first things my dad told us was... I hope you plan to use cloth diapers. Mr Cheapo was shocked when we said we planned to use disposables. My parents used cloth diapers for my brother and I. But that was back in the 80's and they had a diaper service so things were a little different.

Too be honest the thought of cloth diapering grosses me out. I love the fact that I can throw a nasty diaper in my diaper genie and be done with it. I can't imagine throwing a nasty, poop filled diaper in my wash. I also didn't think that cloth diapering would be any cheaper than using disposables once you factor in the added laundry and increase on your electric and water bill due to that.

However I saw a friend on Facebook who is very frugal comment on making the switch to cloth diapers because after spending 80bucks or more on diapers and wipes each month, cloth diapers were way cheaper

So I decided to look into it but u have no idea where to start. How do you know which cloth diapers to get, how many do you buy and how does cloth diapering even work?

Help!!!

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A Mother's Prayer for Her Daughter

2011-09-05T14:34:00.000-07:00

I love this! I'm sure most of you have read this but I can't help but post this. It's hilarious. Written by the hysterical Tina Fey and taken from her book BossyPants

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered,

May she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half

And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her

When crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the nearby subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock N’ Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance.

Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes

And not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.

Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long,

For Childhood is short — a Tiger Flower blooming

Magenta for one day –

And Adulthood is long and Dry-Humping in Cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever,

That she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers

And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister,

Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends,

For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord,

That I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 a.m., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.

“My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck.

“My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental note to call me. And she will forget.

But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.

My Biggest Fear

2011-09-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

My biggest fear next to something happening to me and leaving Gianna motherless are tornado's. You would think growing up in the midwest I would be used to storm's and tornado's. Granted they are nothing like you see in Oklahoma and Texas but summer's in Wisconsin are prone to a lot of thunderstorms. I actually was in a tornado once as a little girl while girl scout camping which spawned my fear of storms and tornado's forever. All it took was for it to start drizzling outside and I was turning on the news and heading into my basement.

A basement. I really miss having one of those. Living in NC I can honestly say that I never really experienced a bad storm like the ones I experienced in Wi. Sure it rains more there but the storms always blew over very fast and were never as severe. Even now living in Florida we have been in the midst of a drought and I can count on one hand how many times it has rained.

So now with Tropical Storm Lee hitting Louisiana we are under a tropical storm warning and a tornado watch. This sent me into a panic. This is my first summer living in Florida. Whereas in NC we were 2.5 hours from the coast, I am 20 mins away. I have our hurricane kit all ready but as far as what to expect or really what to be prepared for I have no idea. When we first moved her our neighbor's said if a hurricane hit's we will have the heavy rain and damaging winds but the main concern is the spin off torando's. Perfect. Give me a basement please

I woke up at 3 this morning to it storming outside. I managed to fall asleep but when I woke up we had no power and to top it off the hubs leaves for 4 days today. Perfect. Now I am def not the army wife to complain about her husband leaving for four days. Don't get me wrong, I miss him and hate when he goes but we have been through 3 deployments and numerous classes and training that has taken him away from home. This past month alone he has been gone for 5 days a week, home for 2 and then leaves again. So this four days should have been a breeze. Now I'm just irritated. I can't believe they are still sending that guys away when not only are they leaving their families behind in severe weather in an area we all just moved to, but they are sending the guys to the middle of it. That's the army I guess. And I know this but I can't help but be irritated and afraid when they are still predicting tornado's in our area. As M left this morning he said it looked like a tornado touched down in a neighbor's yard since there fence is gone. And on the local news reports of funnel's touching down are now coming in. I already have my bathroom loaded with blanket's and a flashlight and Gianna and the dogs are not going to be let out of my sight for one second today!(AHH as I'm typing this the tv beeped and we are now under a tornado warning)

Hopefully everyone stays safe during this storm.

I had called my parent's this morning to tell them about the weather. They had gone to northern Wisconsin to stay at our family cottage. They were supposed to leave Friday to go up there but waited until yesterday to leave. Good thing they did. Once they neared the area where our cottage is they exit off the highway was blocked by a tree. Further driving they noticed a lot of damage and trees down. WHen they worked their way around the damage and got to our cottage both entrances to the cottage were blocked by tree's and a tree had fallen onto the roof. 45 years the cottage has been there and it has weathered it's fair share of storms. Luckily the tree didn't cause much damage. My dad and brother spent all day yesterday clearing the property and said about 75 trees had fallen down. That's a lot of trees. I'm just glad they are safe as well.

Looks like it's the weekend for bad weather. Praying for all those affected by this line of storms

A Shout Out

2011-09-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

Many of you had asked where Gianna got the outfit she was wearing in this picture

I got this from the fabulous etsy shop Ella's Bows. I had ordered some other cute headbands and outfit's from her but those we are using for her 3 month pictures so I have no pictures of her in them yet.
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Ella's Bow's is one of my favorite etsy shops. Her site is filled with some very unique things. If I could I would buy one of everything!
To check out her shop click HERE

I just saw on her facebook page that she has added a lot of new things for fall! Have fun shopping