Hmmm.....

Well it's quite obvious that I suck at this whole blogging thing. I guess right now life is a little too busy to sit myself down and have a few minutes to type something.

A lot has changed since I last blogged...let's see what all happened, it's now 2014!! [Whoa! Where's my jetpack?! ;)]  I am now a mother to TWO of the most amazingly beautiful girls in the entire world: Briley Elizabeth and Kyla Everly. Kyla was born on Oct 15th, 2013; she had a very dramatic entrance into the world, but that is a story for another time. We spent the holidays as a family of four. B turned two just a few weeks ago. Brian and I are on a "lifestyle change" (mostly because I LOATHE the word diet, it's a bad 4- letter word!) And we are currently waiting on my husband's orders to drill school and then we will be moving in a few months. Did I get everything? Yup, I think I did.

Life has been a little crazy lately with having two under two. I feel like somedays I don't even get a second to think of things that I need to get done, let alone actually do them. I consider the day a real success if I manage to get a pair of real pants on. Ah, the life of a mother, eh? Maybe naptimes can beome blog time? We will just have to see! ;) I think I will start to make my posts as alphabetical posts and go letter by letter, Seasame Street style! So the next post you will read will be brought to you by the letter "A". Well my household is asleep, I guess that's my cue to follow.

Night world!

Moving

Well we made it! We moved all of a few miles! But we officially got all our crap from a little 2 bedroom to a bigger 3 bedroom. So far we all love it!

The actual process felt like it took forever, but I'm so glad that's over. We wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of our friends and Army family. They guys helped go back and forth between the houses loading and unloading their pick up trucks numerous times. They also helped me pack the rest of random crap that my preggo brain may have forgotten! ;) They did all this without complaining and me not having to lift anything heavier than 15 pounds. I can definitely say that we are blessed. Oh, and did I mention that they did it all in the course of a day? I feel like beer and pizza weren't enough payment.

The next step was cleaning the house we just moved out of! That was a sucky task! I definitely couldn't have done it without the help of my friend Ashley. She helped me organize the chaos of my new house, wrangle the children, and clean my old house from top to bottom! I don't know what I would've done without you Ashley!  Thank you so much! :) And I owe you coffee next time we go out!

Now we are just taking our time settling into our new house. So far we are all loving the space and change in layout. Not to mention having a third bedroom! Woo! So now the question is, who's coming to visit? :)

All American Week

This week here at Fort Bragg is All American Week! That means last week was clean sweep week, filled with long days of "area beautification", and this upcoming weekend is Memorial Day weekend. It also means a four day weekend! Woo!

This week is filled with all kinds of activities, it kicks off tomorrow morning with a division run of about 18,000 people running together. It looks really cool, although my husband reassures me all the time that it's beyond stupid.

And to top off all the activities, we are moving! Allllll the way across post. ;) Not too far, but still have to pack up and clean a house. Its going to be a crazy week that's for sure! So I'll be sure to update after all the craziness passes. What are y'all's plans for Memorial Day?

Body image

Any other women who's body didn't go back to the way it was after a pregnancy will relate to this post. When I got pregnant with baby #2 I was not where I wanted to be with my body and weight. It was difficult to accept that my body would yet be changing again when I hadn't even gotten to my goal first.
Before I was pregnant I was one of the many girls that didn't fit into society's idea of thin. I was a year round athlete, thicker built, with larger shoulders and boobs. I never felt that I was skinny enough and always felt the need to work at being that way. I didn't appreciate the way my body was pre baby. Now, I wouldn't trade my babies for anything but I wish that I could go back to tell myself to relax and enjoy the body that I had. To be proud of the way my body was made. I should've been fine with my body and not felt the need to be embarrassed at the beach or the pool.
Not every body changes the same way during a pregnancy. I learned that quickly. I always hoped that I'd be one of those lucky girls that was all belly, nope! Not at all! I gained weight every where and looked swollen. :-/ Celebrities and models and super cute pregnant women give you false hope of what you think you'll look like. I was also one of the unlucky ones to get stretch marks, and not just a few, and not light ones either. I had quite a bit and they were purple and redish. I didn't feel horrible about the ones on my belly, they were my baby battle scars, but the ones that appeared on my legs post labor still to this day make me self conscious.
After I had Briley I did get back to my pre pregnancy weight but my body didn't get the memo. I still didn't fit my old clothes the right way, I still felt awkward and frumpy in my own skin. And going to the pool when a swim suit didn't fit right and my new tiger stripes (stretch marks) on my stomach and legs? Fagetta'bout it! I tried really hard to lose more weight and make myself feel better and after a while I did. But I didn't reach my ultimate goal before I found out that I was expecting for a second time. And now that I'm pregnant again I worry how my body will change this go round. Will I get even bigger? Will the stretch marks get even worse? If the worst happens to my body, will I ever get time to go to the gym?
I hope to eventually feel comfortable in my own skin again. I'm not sure when that will be, but hopefully someday in the not too distant future.

Moving

We're moving! No not to Oklahoma,  or another post, we are moving across post to a bigger house. Woo, three bedrooms instead of two! I'm excited to be in a bigger house but I LOATHE moving! I've done it three times by myself, with some help from family and friends. And let me tell ya, it sucks. Luckily this move isn't an 800 mile move, just a few miles.

I always feel overwhelmed when I have to move. I know all the packing and cleaning and painting that is soon to be in my future. I just see the overall picture and tasks that I have to get done and it feels daunting. I think with this one, I'm going to go room by room and pack up what I don't use on a daily basis and then stuff from other seasons. What are y'alls packing methods? Any tips that you feel make it easier?  This is the first time I will be packing up a home with a child, so packing and such has to be during nap times which limits what I can get done in a day by myself. Oh well, I guess I better get cracking then, huh? ;)

By the way, thanks everyone for the love and support on my blog. ;) ♥

For all the wrong reasons

I have been having an internal argument with myself over my lack of volunteerism lately. I mean with one toddler and being pregnant I feel like I don't have time for myself, let alone strangers that I don't know. But there are other people that do and it makes me wonder if I am (or sometimes others) doing it for the right reasons. My husband tells me often that I have the best heart, and I don't know why he says it honestly. I just try to help others when I can.

When my husband was deployed it was easy to be at every single FRG function and help set up and run it. But I feel now that he's home I want to spend my time as family time. Is that wrong? Part of me feels selfish and the other part feels justified. My main question is where do you divide your time between helping others and helping your own family? It's not just the FRG that I like to help out, I like to do other things as well, when I wasn't pregnant I would donate blood every 6 weeks, I am always a sucker for the kids at St.Jude's, and I feel like I'm always getting rid of spare change or one dollar bills in those donation boxes by cashiers. I don't do it to promote my selfworth, but it feels good to help others that have less than I do.
With that being said I do know some people in other companies that have been very public about their "selflessness" and dedication to the FRG logging so many of their hours just so they can get the recognition. And those kind of people make me want to vomit. How hard is it to just be a nice person and a decent human being? If we were all selfless just once a month imagine how many people we could help.
For those of you that dedicate your time and money to helping others, I applaude you and look up to you. I hope to be more of a helper and less selfish. But mostly I want to teach my children to help those that need it. ♥

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well if y'all don't know by now from my Facebook page, I am currently pregnant with baby Dutton #2! It was a big surprise for both of us, to say we weren't trying is beyond accurate. God definitely threw us a curve ball with this one. Brian and I had actually just discussed how horrible the timing would be for a baby and about a week later those two pink lines showed up. We are both scared and excited. Scared because I feel that I wasn't ready for another baby yet, and ready to be a mother of two when I had just mastered mother of one. But excited because there is no better joy than bringing a baby into this world. <br>
I am currently 16 weeks pregnant with baby Dutton #2. My estimated due date is October 10, 2013; but we all know this baby wil arrive when it wants to. Brian and I think that this baby will be a girl, due to the pregnancy being identical to Briley's and because of the infantryman's curse. ;) Sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant but then I have the slight bulge in my middle that looks like I hate a dozen donuts too many. I don't have many symptoms but I didn't have much with B either. And I thank sweet baby Jesus for no morning sickness so far (*knock on wood*) because I'm not sure how caring for a 15 month old and puking my guts out would coincide.

I can say that now I am getting more excited about my second pregnancy. I have my next doctor appointment in 2 weeks and I get to schedule my ultrasound for the anatomy scan around 20 weeks. So soon we will find out if baby #2 is a she or he. :) Any gusses?