What was I thinking???

I've been thinking that more often than I should the past little bit. I know as a mother, even more so as a YOUNG mother, you tend to get in funks that bring you down. I am currently riding one. Don't you love it when the day starts with a few slip ups, you overreact a bit, and WHAM! most everything goes wrong for the rest of the day?

We finally get a chance to walk Mel to school since the weather is cooperating for a change, and I hear nothing but whining from my two children that CAN walk!! They beg me for it only to tell me how tired they are and they need me to hold them. No such luck little ones! Since my life has been a little special in the sleep department lately, I've been extra cranky. On our trek to school this morning, I kept replaying the questions, "What was I thinking having children now?! Even worse... THREE!!! I must have been extremely foolish when I signed up for all of this (Navy wife, mother of three, being "blessed" with a Julia)!" Not to mention the occasional anger that flows through me at my dear husband for leaving me all the time. (Even though I know perfectly well that it isn't really his fault - or his choice to be on the boat that he is) I know, I know... tough, that's life. Believe me, I tell myself that all the time too.

So, with Thanksgiving around the corner, I decided I was going to do all in my power to keep Hunter awake during the day so he would HOPEFULLY sleep all night, put my girls to bed ON TIME, and tuck myself in right after them. Doesn't really help me in the quest for "me" time, but I am happy to trade that for some Z's.

Neverending

Sometimes the monotonous items on my "To Do" list seem as though they will never be scratched off. Just so I don't get too discouraged with the "I have nots", I'm listing some things I have accomplished in the last week.

* Read the last two books in the Twilight saga
* Gotten an average of 3.5 hours of sleep per night
* Realized that I have a desperate need for a scale so I can figure out how my exercising is going
* Mostly organized the two rooms left in the house that really needed it
* Gotten my shopping done (even with all 3 kids in tow)
* Managed to keep my children alive
* Made a new recipe
* Gotten to the gym to work out
* Kept up with the dishes (laundry is another story)
* Maintained order well around the house for having 3 little ones

Might not seem like a lot to you - but it's progress to me!!

Wanna be Blizzard of '09

I'm not sure how many of you actually grew up on the East Coast, so I'll enlighten you. Normally when we hear (ok... so I'm an east coaster AND Yankee....it apparently makes a difference) Nor' Easter we think: BLIZZARD. This week when I heard Nor' Easter I thought someone was smoking something. Surely the temperatures were not that low to be able to welcome snow!!?? Of course they knew there would be people as dense as I was out there checking the weather/news so they threw up the definition for us. So, we buckle down and figure, what's the worst it could get? Thursday came and like a true Yank, I headed out the door with Melanie in tow to take her to school. We drove up to her school to check and see if there was indeed a school day ahead of us, only to find no cars in the parking lot. Ok... no school, check. So, I pull the car to my front door (literally) and drop Melanie off. Then I back it up to the actual street (and my parking spot) and get drenched as I come back to the house. Mind you, on our trip TO school, the umbrellas we were using blew inside out and no longer served their purpose for us outdoors. Yes, the wind was THAT strong (as I'm sure those of you that ventured out past your front of back doors are well aware). Also being a Yank, you hear that the snow to rain ratio is 10 inches of snow to every inch of rain. The reported rain fall for this wonderful bit of weather we've experienced is anywhere between 8 and 12 inches. Could you imagine 80-120 inches of snow??? That would be the biggest blizzard I have EVER seen if that happened! The last time I experienced 5-6 feet snow drifts, we were snowed in for over a week (pretty much everything was shut down). I certainly hope the earth recovers quickly because I don't want to be stuck inside much longer! Thank Heaven the wanna be blizzard never attained its dream!! Even though I would love to have some white around here for once! Plus as an upside, the base was closed yesterday and today - not sure if it would hold true for Jeremiah's boat if it was here...but we might have had him home with us for a VERY long weekend!!

Kindess of a Stranger

Saturday was, well, shall we say.... difficult. Alright, so ALL of last week was pretty difficult! My most challenging days though, were Friday and Saturday.

Friday because I was trying to get my string bean of a daughter some new pants for school and shirts that would be long enough so she could raise her arms in school. Off to the mall we went....and I dreaded almost EVERY minute of it! We get to Gymboree, Mel: "Mom, I have to go potty", so off to the elevators we go to hit the 3rd floor for the restrooms. After her freaking out and NOT going to the bathroom.... I drag them down to the first floor again.... about 15 minutes later, Mom... I have to go potty. Well... too bad, you missed your chance. We finally get done with Gymboree and I decide to let them have a few minutes to play. We do that and then we leave the mall for the night, off to get some dinner. After dinner we ended up cutting our outing short because Julia spilled her soda all over herself, it was dark, and I didn't feel like fighting them the whole way through Walmart and then maybe a thrift store. We go home and hit the beds.

Saturday we wake up WAY too early (yes, that is life with MY children), and finally get off to the store. We stop at Target first.... As soon as we get in there... Julia: " I have to go potty...." Me: "Well, you'll just have to go in your pull up" Julia: "I can't breathe!!" Me: "What do you mean??" Julia: (getting sick all in her new coat from Old Navy) We book it out of the store, as quickly as possible without looking like we just shoplifted something. Once outside, we clean Julia up. I didn't have a spare jacket in the car though... so, the poor girl had to sport a t-shirt in the chilly weather. Mark my words... I will be better prepared with extra emergency clothes for the next time. She tells me she is ok now and she's not going to be sick anymore. I'm thinking, "Good, because we were going to go back in there anyway... I have SO much to get done!!"
Back in the store we go... finish our shopping (put a bunch of whining in there too and you'll be pretty much on the nose for that trip), and off to BJ's for salad - after that one, they told me how hungry they were. I roll my eyes and think, wow... maybe you should eat some breakfast for a change! The last stop on our run was Walmart. After the stress of that and the waiting in line thing was finally done, I take BOTH carts to the car (one for kids, one for Melanie to push) and lecture them on how hard it is for me to take all three of them shopping. An older man was walking towards the store as I unloaded my children. When I got done buckling Melanie in (she is #2 of the buckling process - those of you with more than one child will understand what I mean), I come to get Hunter and see the man standing near my car. "I'll go ahead and take your carts for you once you unload that precious bit of cargo" he says. I grab Hunter and start walking him around the car, the man notices that we have out of state tags, "Is your husband military, Are you military?" Me: "Yes, my husband is." Him: "Wow, well thank you very much for your service."

Yeah, TOTALLY cried as I was buckling Hunter in the car and the man walked away. All because he offered the simplest bit of assistance! I like to park as close to a cart corral as possible to make the distance I have to walk after loading my children in the car the shortest possible. I was literally one parking space away from the cart corral and this gentleman offered to take my carts the WHOLE way to the store for me. Then, to Thank me AND my husband for our service to our country. I will be forever grateful to him and people like him that notice us young mothers struggling. Whether we are at the very end of our extremely stressful day of shopping, errand running, etc or in the middle, thank you all for noticing and lending a hand! Sir, you made my day with that bit of service you showed me AND my family. Thank YOU!!

Taking some advice from the Young Women

Today's lesson was on the Word of Wisdom. Before you start thinking about what kind of great dirt you can get on me, I'm sure it is one we ALL struggle with. I need to decrease my consumption of sugar. Yes, that's right.... sugar. All things in moderation...right? Plus, that whole... "run and not be weary, walk and not faint" promise sounds really good for a girl trying to get back into the swing of things at the gym. BTW Jocelyn and Mom - they do have Zumba at my gym! Should I take it?

Since my new-found freedom (i.e being 6 weeks postpartum), I have been on a quest to lose that baby weight, as quickly as possible while still being healthy. I am making it official by sticking it up on my blog..... I AM ON A QUEST TO LOSE WEIGHT!! I don't want to say how much for fear of putting myself in a bad light...lets just say that my goal is to weigh 10-15 lbs less than I did before getting pregnant. So, I have a nice number to subtract from my current weight. =o\ I'm giving myself until mid-May to reach my goal. PLENTY of time! I'll periodically update with how much weight I've lost to date. So long nightly ice cream pow wows and sweet "highs". I will have you in moderation, maybe even just on Sundays. Good Bye American portion sizes, seconds, and prepared foods, from now on... it's realistic portions and "whole" foods for me! Oh how I'll miss you!!

The Ride

This morning, I decided I would venture out of the house (FINALLY) and hit the gym. The H1N1 infestation has put me on a bit of a scare, but I'm putting my trust in the Lord that Hunter will be ok. Julia and I will get vaccinated as soon as the vaccinations become available. Since he stays in a part of the play area that is specifically for babies, he doesn't have any contact with the other children really. He pretty much stays in his car seat carrier or a swing if need be. I need the gym so badly, I just had to go! This morning I decided to go ahead and take a spin class this morning. I wanted to challenge myself and jump start my routine. It felt great to be sweating on the bike today. At the end of our ride, our instructor told us some fabulous words of advice. " If we had a good time, enjoyed the workout that we should hold onto the feeling for the weekend, the next week, the future and bring the positive and happiness into our lives. It's more powerful than anything else. " So, I enjoyed the ride and I think I just might remember the feeling for later. So excited for some more "beating" in the future. Boy oh Boy I missed the gym!!

Our October

As I sit here with my bowl of Edys Vanilla Bean ice cream, I realize I really need to blog about SOMETHING, ANYTHING. So, since October is in essence, at an end, I figured I would give a recap of our adventures. We were daddy-less the beginning of the month, followed by Hunter's blessing and a birthday party for two (all in the same weekend). Happy Birthday Julia and Jocelyn!! Followed briefly with sick children (that caused me to reschedule BOTH appointments I had this month) and finished off with a move that took a week to accomplish and will continue to span the next few months (we're downsizing)!




The move will be good for us - I like that there is more room to live here. Melanie has been doing GREAT with school!! GO GREEN DAYS!!! Yipee!! Although in the grand scheme of things - I think public schools have it in for our young ones. They will get less desirable colors (yellow, red) for "working" (read fighting) things out with peers. They promptly receive a green day (very ideal color) for tattling on everyone around them. ugh.... and thus the tattling phase has begun. At least we see those green days and have stopped receiving little notes stating our child has bitten another child or keeps messing with another girls hair!! What has the educational system come to??? On an up note, Melanie has been reciting her months of the year and other random facts throughout the day - VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!

Living life by the seat of our pants!

As if our little family hasn't had enough "big" changes lately, we are moving this week!! Yikes! We will be moving (literally a few houses away)starting Thursday. We have to move ourselves and they are giving us a week to do it! I think if we got much less than that I wouldn't be able to get it all done. (We learned we were moving on Friday of last week) On our quest for boxes this past weekend, we were not very successful, so I think it will end up being a gradual process (since we are due for a much bigger move in a little over 6 months). If any of us needed to adjust to change, now is our chance! I am getting EXTREMELY excited about getting the OK for exercise this week (yes, it will be 6 weeks since Hunter arrived). Can't wait to hit the gym running! Please bear with me as I am really truly planning on updating, we are just busy busy!!

Hunter's Blessing

Our little man got blessed today. So exciting! It's actually one of my friend's birthdays today too!! Happy Birthday - you know who you are! I can't believe Hunter is already a month old!! Time flies. The only plus of him growing up means that I will be back to the YMCA REAL soon. Yipee!! I'm so excited to start exercising again.
That's all beside the point though....our little bundle of joy has brought so much joy to our lives! He likes to look around and take it all in a lot more lately and is a really good sleeper. I think he will end up being our biggest cuddler so far - he LOVES to be held. Of course I think he is way too cute! Today when he was blessed, he wore his dad's blessing outfit. Yes... this little outfit was worn several decades ago when my husband was given his name and a blessing (and has been worn at least 3 times after that before today). How stinkin cool is that?

p.s. We tried taking his paci out for the photo... he didn't like that much, so I had to settle for this.

TOFW

Got back from Time Out For Women this weekend and really wish it would have been longer. =0( There will be more opportunities later I guess(sigh). i think I speak for the entire group as a whole when I say that I had a blast. Thank you ladies!! It was too much fun! We had a lot of laughs and went through a TON of tissues (H.K). I did my best to get pictures of every speaker/performer there - I just didn't get a good picture of Mary Ellen Edmunds (MEE). Here's our collage.
 

We hung out with Michael McLean, Hilary Weeks, Deanne Flynn, Brent Top, Kim Nelson, Mark Mabry, and Mary Ellen Edmonds this weekend. After the first night, we high tailed it to Cold Stone for a treat. We made it just in time before they closed... really they closed when we ran inside... but they helped us anyway. Thanks again for a GREAT time ladies!!

Oh, and there was this SUPER cute little girl sitting in front of us (she is 5 months).... yeah, can you tell I was missing on my little boy?? Here's her mug...

Juggling Life

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I have been "juggling life" lately. Last week was almost full with appointments and running to the pharmacy. Just when I think I am getting in the swing of things and getting a great schedule down... and... dare I say... having "free time" things change. Thus... the life with a newborn. I love it though - our little man is such a good baby. He has his bad nights (and bad days) - what can I say? (FYI By "Bad" I mean that he doesn't want to be put down OR he wants to "snack" all night) He LOVES to be cuddled!! I may end up strapping him on me like my dear friend Jenn does with her little girl! I'm sure he likes life better still being able to hear mommy's heart beat during the day! I'll gather up some things to post here in the near future. I just wanted to be sure everyone knew I was still alive (Jocelyn) and well!

So much going on....

Welcoming a new addition to the family has been a fabulous experience so far. We aren't quite a week into the swing of things, but I think life will be good. I try to eat up as much time as I can snuggling with Hunter. He has been VERY laid back so far. We all really do love him to pieces. Melanie looks forward to coming home from school everyday so she can hold her little brother. She is fabulous with him, and Julia doesn't mess with him much. We hear her talking to him sometimes and trying to carry on a conversation (i.e "Hunter... we're going to the library, we're going to have fun.... right??) with him. I find myself trying to just enjoy this week with Jeremiah since he will leave once it's over. Then the fun begins. We haven't been crazy busy... just busy trying to enjoy each other. I think Jeremiah is just loving it up. Life without the belly bump has been wonderful. I enjoy moments of being pregnant - at the end however... I'm just miserable!! Bending comes easily, I can roll over in bed without problems, I can bathe the girls, and I feel like my energy is back! (still waiting on some of it though - gearing up for some workouts in the next few weeks) HOORAY!!

During the past few weeks, many of you know I have been called to serve with the Young Women of the ward. I am SO excited! I look forward to the activities and chances to get to know them (as well as the girls from the other ward). My first activity as a Young Women leader was to go crabbing with them. Here are a few pictures from that.




We're hoping to get a chance to head up to the temple this weekend as well. We aren't sure if we will be attending the meetings with our stake, but we look forward to partaking of the spirit there as a couple before Jeremiah has to start work ups. Hopefully our next duty station will place us MUCH closer to a temple so we can get there more regularly. I am so grateful for my family that is fortunate enough to be able to help us when we plan these temple trips. They normally come down to the temple as well and help watch the children while we go in for a session.

Melanie has also started school and has been enjoying it for the most part. It is sometimes crazy to think she is that big, but then she will do things that are proof she is growing up. Hopefully school attendance will help her with her listening skills. Since she is in school, it ties us down here in the area a bit more. I don't have as much freedom to just pick up and go out of town for a bit - most of my visits will have to be during the holiday "off days". I think it will make the holiday time off a bit more rewarding and special. We certainly can't be too lazy in the mornings now!

Pictures of Hunter's big Debut

 

(from left to right)
Top Row: Hunter's first bath, Mommy after delivery, Lying around
Middle Row: Hunter with his girls
Bottom Row: He fell asleep in this position today - too cute!, Daddy with Hunter right after delivery, Going home outfit

Pictures are In....

Well, Hunter finally joined our family on Thursday Sept 10. He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and a length of 19 3/4 inches. It took forever to get him here, we had a lot of trials through the ordeal and overall, the blessings triumphantly dominated. We are so thankful for all that Heavenly Father did to help us welcome Hunter to our family that day. His face is a little purple/bruised because they told me I delivered him too quickly (two pushes). Because of his facial bruising, I waited a day to take most of his "newborn" pictures. He has made a lot of progress and doesn't show too much of his mother's early unintentional abuse. Here are a lot of them... with more to come as time passes.

Have I ever mentioned that I have wonderful friends?

I have the great blessing of having a lot of ladies from church that I consider my friends. I enjoy every chance I get to visit with them and hang out. The last Saturday in August I got to "hang out" a little bit with some of them. Only... there was a little twist, it was held to celebrate the upcoming birth of my first little man!! Brief explanation about that: I have ALWAYS wanted a male in the family....I begged my parents for a brother for years and of course I put in a lot of orders for a son before getting pregnant with him. As well as a lot of prayers that it was a boy up until the ultrasound day when we found out for sure. It's definitely been something that I have REALLY REALLY wanted for a REALLY long time. My friends wanted to help me celebrate that and threw a shower for me!

Upon arriving at my dear friend Allyn's house (she was gracious enough to let us borrow her house for the afternoon) I was totally shocked. There was tons and tons of delicious food and a beautiful cake (picture below) not to mention the super fun decorations in the living room (which I didn't get a picture of - I don't think). Well, needless to say, we had great fun, played a few games (I found out that I am 11 toilet paper squares around right now), and I think Hunter is set for the entire first year of his life!! The clothes were beyond adorable and I'm excited to see him in each of the outfits. Thank you guys for throwing the shower for me and going through all the trouble of planning and preparing. I love you all and am truly grateful for your friendship!! Hopefully I have the product that caused all of this celebrating REAL soon so you all can see him. My hospital room is open for visitors anytime!


Tara's beautiful cake. The top layer is coconut and the bottom layer is chocolate!

 

Some of the photos my friends took for me - all surrounding the notorious face shot of Deborah and Jenn!! A collage just isn't a collage without that kind of picture! Please don't mind the pregnant face - or belly for that matter!

Growing up?? WAY too fast!

So I hear that this time of year is like this for a lot of parents. I find myself being a little anxious and excited for Melanie this year. I think she will do great and have so much fun she'll forget about dear 'ol mom! To me, that is what being a little kid is all about though - enjoying yourself. I can't believe that come Tuesday.... my little girl will technically be a big girl. I'll update this post with some pictures of her first day and some of her own "quotes" as well. For now... enjoy the commercial.... a few friends told me about it.

And the Winner Is....

I remember a few months back, Vicki saying that her son would be on Wipeout. That episode got postponed and was scheduled for tonight. I decided I would watch (I do occasionally) and see how he fared. Low and behold.... he WON! He did a great job! Imagine that... someone we know (sort of) just made 50,000 on a TV show!! If you've never checked out Wipeout, you can catch it on the ABC website tomorrow. The episode should be available then. Congrats Travis!

Running out of Space and Time

I'm starting to think that my son must really have the wrong impression. It seems as though he thinks I still have plenty of room to spare in that uterus of mine and that my organs don't really need the amount of space they are currently taking up. Maybe he is shooting for some kind of goal to make sure my stomach and bladder stay as flat as pancakes so that he can continue with his exercise routine. My theory continues with the realization that there must be about a month's worth of memory erasing that happens the moment the baby is born. Gone are the memories and suffering of heartburn, restless nights, constant punching bag practice, and of course natural delivery.

My time is almost up, that egg timer is really getting ahead of me. There is so much I want to accomplish and that I need to do. My body is gradually giving up! Anytime I take the opportunity to lay on my side to "relax" a bit... my eyelids start drooping and I nod off to sleep. Now, that isn't going to help my nesting instincts! This week has been a little busy for me with taking that driving course test (which I passed by the way), phone conferences, trying to enjoy the last few days of Jeremiah's leave, school orientations, and hospital preparations. I'll find out Monday if my body is really as ready for this as I'm thinking it is. I'm hoping I'm dilating already, even though that doesn't mean much for predicting the big day. Tomorrow will make it official that it is finally "safe" to have the little man without the fear of him being pre-term. Yay!

Would you want to hang out with these guys for a week?

I got to hang out with these cuties for a week. I was so excited to have some time with some babies (I need to fill the void I currently have). Now that vacation is over, I just have to hang in there for a few more weeks before I get to have my own! Not to mention that I don't get to give this one back when he's hungry or wakes up in the middle of the night. Eh...I'll just have to live. I do have two amazing helpers though - the girls were just beside themselves trying to help with these little ones. It was wonderful to watch!

Baby Brooklyn at 5 months with her Momma Steph


I love those cheeks!


My husband's cousin, Tristen's, little guy. His name is Julien. How cute is he!? He's just a month old! I didn't get to hold him... but watching him was WONDERFUL!

Julien with his grandpa (known to us as Uncle Tom)! Yes, Jeremiah's family is just filled with big guys.


This is Tristen, Julien's proud daddy. I was hoping to get some family pictures done before the week was done, but they had to scoot out earlier than the rest of our pack.

Part II

We headed off to Hatteras/Buxton for some exploring one morning. Jeremiah climbed the lighthouse and I stayed with the kids (there was a height limit... and no carrying allowed - that's two strikes for our girls!) and waited as the temperature outside started to climb for the day. We also tried exploring some other things, but pretty much just got pictures of the lighthouse.

 

The girls were HILARIOUS at the beach. Julia was really into the water, once she was "bored" with that - she hung out in the sand and dug like a champ! She even made some fun poses for the camera. She cracks me up. Melanie was mostly busy playing with the sand toys and running away from the water when her dad wouldn't hold her. I just sat there on a boogie board in the sand and looked 9 months pregnant. Oh wait, I AM!

 

Justin joined in the digging fun and Wyatt even came up to punch my shoulder for a close-up!







The Dads were having some fun tossing the kids up in the air - and of course the kids loved it more than the dads! Cousin Tristen stood in to be Mel's tosser since Jeremiah was busy with Julia. It was great to see the guys in the water with the little ones.

Uncle Ben used to work with a lot of pools and hot tubs. One day this week he decided he would help educate the children on different parts of the pool and how to stay safe. It was so cute to watch the kids just watch him and be so excited about their "game".

We're Back! Vacation Part I

We finally arrived home from vacation today. It was sad knowing that our week of "away" time had already come to an end. However, with Hurricane Bill off in the Atlantic, it made parting so much easier this year! On the way home we encountered numerous bits of congestion with people stopping for 2 inches of water on the roads. Then the roads were lined with parked cars - people waiting to catch a glimpse of the waves. There were plenty of surfers out there just checking out the surf. I couldn't see the water from the road because the dunes were so high... but I could see the people hanging out at the tippy top of the dunes so I guess the waves were coming in pretty close.

Anyway... .
the beginning of the week started with the girls, boys, and Dads on a "monster truck" ride at the Grave Digger attraction. The girls were loving it and screaming the whole way. Wyatt was um... yeah... pretty terrified. He kept screaming (in a frightenend kind of way and trying to cling to Jeremiah) and Justin loved it so much that he cried when he had to get off! I'll do what I can to post the video I got, I don't seem to have the best luck at posting those. Hopefully this time we will be successful! They also had a little "petting zoo" that wasn't really being run at the time. The kids just looked at the pigs and chickens - but really enjoyed seeing them for sure



Then we had tons of time in the pool - swimming almost everyday. The girls really took to the water this year, I'm smelling swim lessons for this fall! Then we headed off to the beach.




Since we went so far south this year, there was 4 wheel drive access at the beach we went to and Jeremiah drove the Xterra onto the beach where we were "camped out". After loading up all of our gear (plus ourselves) we got a little stuck in the sand. After a few minutes of letting a bit more air out of the tires and having a Sand 101 lesson, we were as good as gold!

OcraJoke

Since we are staying further south than we have in the past, we thought it would be fun to see some of the "sights" near by. There was a map in the vacation guide of Ocracoke Island. In order to get there - you need to catch a free ferry ride from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke. Needless to say.... we had to wait 2.5 hours to get on the ferry for a 30 minute ride to the Island. Then upon finally arriving...quite a few places were closed/out of business and there was WAY too few parking spaces available for the different shops. It seemed as though the beaches were catching the biggest crowds. We would have loved to see the lighthouse there, but there were no parking spots and definitely no space on the road to park anywhere and walk to it. Quite a disappointing (not to mention hot as well) day. Fortunately, once we finally turned back for home... the return wait for the ferry was about 20 minutes. YAY! I think the girls enjoyed the ferry the most out of the entire day. The sights were so disappointing, I didn't even get pictures! Poor Jeremiah was excited to see Teach's Hole (Blackbeard exhibit) and was so disappointed, he didn't even stop to go see! Upside is, it did have some great views when you could see over the dunes to the ocean or sound sides.

Hanging in Hatteras

Here are a few of the things we've been up to this week. It's sad that our time away from home is almost over. Jeremiah and I went for our first massage at a spa today - I forgot to get a picture of the place... so we'll run by tomorrow so that I can have documentation.

 

Having Fun

We arrived here in Salvo, NC safe and sound on Sunday afternoon and checked into our "home" for the week. We took a few stops along the way to stretch and get those kiddos out of the car a bit. I think overall everyone enjoyed it. By the time we reached the house I was wishing Hunter was already here so I didn't have to be so uncomfortable. I even got sunburned on my right arm and right knee (where my shorts stopped)from sitting in the car so long. Ugh. OH WELL!! We also quickly discovered that we had left all but one of the girls swimsuits at the house (Jeremiah washed them up on Saturday and we just forgot to get them in the bag). Needless to say - we bought a new one Monday so that Julia could go swimming - we hope to go to the beach early this morning before the temperatures get too warm. So excited!

Drum Roll....

It is almost vacation time, I am so stinkin excited. I hope this year is extremely relaxing as I think that is going to be the only key to my survival with these past crazy stressful months/weeks/days. Here is the place we will be calling "home" for a week starting Sunday. It should be fun and I hope I don't go into labor while I'm gone!

Explaination

For those of you who saw my facebook and noticed I had a pretty rotten day yesterday and care to read my small novel, let me elaborate.

It all started on Friday, July 10 when I went to the temple. I hadn't been in ages and I wanted to have my little sister Jocelyn down for a visit before she had to get back to school (and I had to gear up to have a baby). We were traveling 95 south and was still in North/Central Virginia (interpreted as still over 100 miles until home) in CONGESTED traffic. I know that is so hard for all of you who have ever traveled up to the temple to believe. (sarcasm) It was about 3 pm too. Anywho.... a State Trooper decided he wanted to pull over the pregnant lady from Pennsylvania and accuse her of going an outrageous speed in such conditions. Not to mention that I saw at least 20 State Troopers on the road that day up and down 95 (I really counted and there were AT LEAST that many). So... he pegged me with 77 in a 65 and didn't even bat an eyelash when I told him it couldn't have been me and that I was traveling safely at a speed of 70mph. He gave me a ticket (my first ever) and proceeded to let me continue on my journey home (which took 4 hours by the way.... yup, you guessed it.... it took me 7 hours to get home from the temple that day). The court date on the ticket was for August 13 (a day I think I will always sleep through from now on) at 9:30 am in HANOVER county VA. Jeremiah was hoping to get off work but the request was denied due to his duty day conditions (he was the only one there for duty in his entire division... doesn't make for much opportunity to get off work then... eh). I took the trip with the girls - we left at 6 am to make the 100 mile trip (with plenty of time to spare incase of traffic) to Hanover County. We arrived at 7:40am and walked around the court house and administration offices for the county for about an hour. Then we went into the court house and had a potty break and tried to settle in for the appointed time. 9:30 came and went, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30... all passed without me being called (I was waiting in the lobby area due to my two children having to tag along with me and the baliff was supposed to come get me when it was time). Finally a little after 12:30 the baliff comes out and says I'm getting close. Ok... FINALLY. They call me in... I plea not guilty to the judge, police officer adds his dity and the judge makes me raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth (to which I agreed). I proceeded to tell him the truth but was honestly scared to death and didn't really know what to say other than I had a clean record, I was only driving 70 mph and I was being passed by other cars on the road when the officer decided to come after me. By the time I explain I was being passed (all less than 30 seconds mind you) he was looking over at the officer with the most bored expression on his face that could be humanly possible. He didn't even give me two glances... he says, "Ok... you're guilty but I will dismiss the charges if you are willing to take a driving course" I asked what that would entail (as I am holding Melanie, Julia is asleep in the stroller and I have this huge belly) and he told me I could even take it in Pennsylvania if I wanted to. So, I humbly agreed and went to wait my turn AGAIN for the clerk's office. I ended up paying half of my ticket ($61 court fee that is AKA processing fee on a ticket) and then sent on my merry way to make the 100 mile trip home. My children put in a 6.5 hour day before the judge even saw me. Then add another 2 hours to that to travel home. Upon reaching home and reading the information I was given about driving school... I called the courthouse to verify some information. I was told I would have to take a course that was recognized by the state that issued my license. Ok... check with PennDOT... fine. I call PennDOT and am told they do not have such things. So... call back the court house and the lady tells me she's never heard of that and that she doesn't know what I'm going to do and, I quote "Nobody else here is going to know what to tell you either."

Eight and a half hours with my children (no food allowed during most of that time) - and we all know my kids... they screamed and had their fits throughout the waiting. I had cried a total of at least 3 times throughout the day and I just broke down crying after talking to this rude woman. She finally told me that I could write to the judge and explain my situation. If he didn't listen to me even after he made me swear to tell the truth... what makes a letter better than looking at my face!?

Then, the power goes out at our house (happens a lot... maybe that's the military's way of cutting down on housing costs is to shut down the power a few times every few weeks). Upon restoring our electricity... my computer dies. (I am writing this on Jeremiah's laptop) Thankfully we bought a large capacity hard drive shortly after Jeremiah getting home and put our pictures and music on it. So, I only lost my word documents so far. I am still trying to get the computer up and running and will hopefully only have to purchase a new mouse instead of a new PC. As of bedtime last night though - I had no luck in restoring my computer to working condition.

Poor pregnant lady has to attend driving school before the beginning of Nov, had to pay half the ticket for court costs, drove 200 miles round trip and spent 8 hours of my day waiting to be basically told that I didn't have a fighting chance against this ticket anyway.... and all before I was able to get to bed.

After sleeping on it and trying to figure out my court problems this morning, the day has so far gone much better. I was able to find out that since PA doesn't have any policy about driving courses, I can just take a VA course and that will be sufficient. They accept online courses as well which will be good since I'm having a baby in a month. Then with reformatting the hard drive on my computer... hopefully that will be fine after I fix the water damage my children did to the mouse while I was trying to get everything done this morning. Not to metion Julia taking my deodorant to our television screen last night while I was having a nervous break down (Jeremiah had duty). Pretty emotional past two days. I think I deserve a vacation... don't you??

A day of "FUN"

Lately, not much has worked out for our little family to have much time to plan anything fun to do together. Jeremiah has had a day off here and there - only to be called back into work for an "emergency". (Basically... he's the only one that can fix anything - and no one else wants to do their job or figure it out - so he has to "Save" them) Saturday was FINALLY the first day we didn't get a phone call from the boat and were able to enjoy our day together. (Honestly, we didn't stick around near home long enough to give them much of a chance at getting us to come back home to "rescue" anyone) We took off for Williamsburg for some adventures. Since my husband is from around here - a lot of the area on that side of the tunnel is his old "stomping ground" and since we won't be around much longer... it was great to let him reminisce. We will have to do it again soon and take pictures of all the places he wants to remember. We headed for the outlets to check out some clothing stores (for the girls of course!! ;) haha... and Hunter too) that I had coupons for. We ended up running into some friends we were hoping to visit with over there and the girls got to play with their grandchildren (also girls). They had a BLAST! We went swimming (I conveniently had swimming suits for the girls already in the car and we stopped in at Motherhood Maternity Outlet to grab me a colorful - yet cheap suit of my own to use at the last minute), cooked out, and really enjoyed catching up. Their daughter, who already has 2 daughters as well, is close to Jeremiah's age and is also expecting a boy (their third child too)that's due next month (just like me!!)It was nice to get to know her better and visit with another pregnant lady (that doesn't mind talking about babies). I would have liked to take some pictures of the day - most of it was reminiscing, running around to different stores, walking, checking out Pepperidge Farms outlet, bathroom breaks, and lots of playing with new found friends. It was great starting the day with no expectations, so that we could really fully enjoy the day together.

Baking time coming to an end

This pregnancy is almost done. I can not believe it! I know that having 6 1/2 weeks left for most is FOREVER (and it can be) but with how time has been flying in this family, it's just around the corner!! The last 2 weeks of Jeremiah's deployment went fast and now he's home starting his first week back to work! In two weeks, I'll have a month left until my due date! Yikes! Once it all gets down to the "nitty-gritty" time frame.... I get all anxious about how the delivery will go. Naturally, the prayers are starting up about the baby not being too big, delivery going well, baby Hunter being healthy, etc. I'm looking forward to the family vacation this year and hoping that I get some time to kick back and have some "re-charge" time. I'm just so eager to see what this little guy is going to look like! Our family is incredibly blessed!

He's Home

Hooray, he's home!! We picked him up from base about 2:30ish on Thursday and have been enjoying a work free day with him today. I am super excited about having him back and the girls are just loving him to death!! He was supposed to get off the boat sooner than he did, but they decided they wanted him to help hook up the boat instead of getting off to be with his family. I wasn't expecting for them to be finished with all of their work when I got the call from him saying he was getting ready to leave the boat. I had just gotten the girls out of the tub - so we quickly dressed and did hair and off we went! We parked the car and took a short (yet hot) stroll to the pier to find Jeremiah. When we got there - we saw him coming toward the gate and waited there. I showed Melanie where he was and when he walked through the gate - she kept looking around him for a different guy that was supposed to be her dad (he had sunglasses on and they never see him in his whites). So... she looked right past her daddy. If you notice the picture where she has two lollipops - she insisted on bringing one to the pier to give to her Daddy. I guess she figured he would like the same flavor she did .... green apple! Julia later told him, "Daddy, we found you!". Everyone got hugs and kisses when we got back to the car. Here are a few pictures....


The girls posing before we head down the road for a short stroll to the pier to pick up Daddy!













Here is my little family.... all reunited again!

















This is the best picture I found on my camera of our little family. Photography isn't a strong point in our family.









Daddy taking a nap while the girls watch Bolt. It was the cutest thing.

My hair

I figured I would post a picture of my "do". It is too short up front because of me. I can't blame anyone but myself. Hopefully it will grow out fast and I won't have to sport the almost "perfect" bob for too long. P.S. Leg shine courtesy of Venus (thank you!)

Dresses.... check!

The paper links are almost gone, the to do list is getting shorter. One of the biggest things I needed to get done to get ready for the return of my "better half" is make those white dresses for the girls. I finally finished them at 1:30 am this morning. I worked (along with a long time favorite "A Knights Tale")late last night to get them all together and I absolutely love how they turned out. They are very simple, and they give me the chance and the option to dress them up with flowers, bows, whatever I want basically. For now they will stay simple and the girls will have a bow accessory courtesy of the fabulous Tara (thanks again!). They tried the bows on this morning and LOVED them!! Here is the finished product. I'm so proud of myself! Stay tuned... I hope to have some actual Homecoming Day pictures to load later in the week and then I'll have models for those dresses!

Too excited!!

I just have to say (since it's the most recent thing going on in my life... that I'M excited about) I am too excited to deal with it! I am getting all the final preparations in order and just am tickled pink to have some exciting stuff happen a little later this week. I hope to even get a little bit ahead of myself and get some things accomplished that I will need to have ready for the next few weeks (Visiting Teaching handouts and Birthday Cards for Card exchange... here I come!). I love it when I try to make a plan and things sort of work out for me - almost giving me time to sit on my bum and ENJOY some relaxin!! Oh golly.... so stinking happy. I will most definitely post more about this week as the week unfolds. I got my haircut today with a good friend (Tara) - her's looks AWESOME! Mine is a little different than I was hoping for (kinda my own fault though... not so good on the communication sometimes). Next time will be better - plus... having it a bit shorter than anticipated gives me a little more to play with for Hunter's arrival. I'll get my next trim after his debut. I'll post a pic of my hair a little later.

Ever Been.....?

Have you ever been 32 weeks pregnant and had the most incurable sweet tooth? The whole wives tale about craving salty things with boys is definitely a myth for me!! I had a "quick trip" to Walmart today and over HALF of my little bill was sweets!! YIKES!! Maybe I'll get to put some of it to good use so I'll have something to "munch" on while I sew tonight and tomorrow to get final preparations in order for the big day. BTW I FINALLY found my free motion quilting foot so I can get Hunter's blankets started on the top stitching! I'm glad he's a baby (and a boy) and won't care that my pattern is most definitely flawed. I think the overall outcome will be fine though. Cheers to the next 8 weeks (as I hold up my glass of ice water) when I can start losing some of this weight! Ugh! Not to mention the gorgeous baby boy I'll get to carry around everywhere.

Gotta see this

If you haven't seen this... you HAVE to! I thought it was very good and definitely not as scary as it could have been portrayed. Sure it's darker than the others - but with a super evil wizard running loose, what do you expect?! I am excited to buy it when it comes out on DVD. I wasn't there to share the midnight viewing with a lot of you ladies, but I was there Friday night!! I got to take my little sister with me and I'm glad I had her company. Jeremiah will usually tag along with me when I want him to... but he doesn't understand what's going on. He's not a big Harry Potter fan. I'm sure he's glad I took Jocelyn along too!