"B"

Today's post is brought to you by the letter "b". Wow, that was very Sesame Street of me. But seriously, b, and b is for babies and Briley (my B).

You think you know how your life is going to turn out. You make plans, graduate, get married have such and such a job and then have babies. It's funny how life actually pans out compared to your plans.

I wasn't sure when I wanted to have children, when I was in college it was the furthest think from my mind. But when I met my husband and I knew he was the one, I realized that I wanted children much sooner than I thought.

I always knew that I wanted to be a mother; and with that being said, my babies are the easiest and hardest decision that I've ever made in my life. When you become a parent you are making the decision to always put yourself last. And, real talk, sometimes it is really REALLY hard. Seriously. When your baby is hungry, you feed them first. When your baby is tired you put them to sleep first. When your baby wakes up in the middle of the night, so do you to care for them, no matter how tired or sleep deprived you are. YOU end up changing your schedule and life to accommodate your baby. Some days you don't get to put real clothes on, much less run a brush through your hair, and you have some form of smeg smeared all over your shirt. But when your babies smile at you, or fall asleep on your chest it makes all the other stuff melt away.

I know that when Briley came along my world was changed forever. She made me understand the true meaning of love and wanting everything for your child. She taught me patience and strength that I didn't know that I had. It also made me realize that I wanted to be the best person that I possibly could for my children.


Children are the best gift that you can be given in the entire world. You truly learn the meaning of love and awe. I am still in awe that I created two perfect beings. They have changed me for nothing but the better. Some days are a blessing, and some make me want to pull my hair out, but all my fellow parents know, we wouldn't change it for the world.

"A"

Today's post is brought to you by the letter "A". And A is for Army. Even though I am not the one in the military my life is still dictated by the Army. They tell us when my husband can use his "vacation time", when we have to pay to get his hair cut (which is every two weeks by the way!), when to donate money, and etc. Being a military spouse is not for the weak, gold diggers, glory hounds, or the plain ol' un-flexible. My husband doesn't have set work hours, he doesn't work a 9 to 5, he normally works a 5 to 6 (am to pm that is). Sometimes we don't get to see him for a few days at a time, sometimes a few weeks, being an infantryman his schedule never seems to be the same. My girls don't see him but a few hours a day during the work week. And of course it sucks when he is away from us, but we couldn't be any more proud of him! Being married to the Army gets quite ridiculous at times to say the least. But over the past 5+ years I have grown accustomed to the said ridiculousness and learned some key lessons along the way.

I've learned many things from the good ol' US Army, mainly the 82nd Airborne (all the way!):
Never write your plans in pen, always in pencil. They will change. And then change again.
When something starts at a specific time, always be 15 minutes early, even though you will be waiting at least 30 minutes for the event to begin.
Expect to buy replacements of things, multiple replacements of things.
Plan to have an extra closet, or a whole storage unit, dedicated just to all that ACU or multicam crap.
Always wash uniforms in their own loads because if you wash something else with them, it will become a causality of that funky smell.
You learn many terms, acronyms, and sayings that make no sense to you, you will know that you've officially become a military spouse when you begin to use them.
Making a meal that can easily be reheated will become second nature. (Side note: they don't care if it's cold anyways)
Some wives wear their husband's rank; why? I don't know, they sure as hell didn't earn it, and it will make you want to donkey punch them in the throat.

But in all seriousness, I love my husband and I am so proud of the soldier he is. We have met so many amazing people, seen many things, and have had great opportunities. And I'm sure that there are more to come. The Army is our life; we love it, we hate it, but we wouldn't know what to do without it. After all, home is where the Army sends us. <3

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. ;) ♥