Blogging

My husband thinks I idle the day away watching soap operas and eating bon bons. Needless to say, it just isn't true- I idle the day away eating peanut butter and jelly and blogging! Not quite the whole day, I do have two small children that require 98% of my attention. I split the other 2% between my lovely husband and lovely laptop. I find the most interesting people to read about online, interesting crafts to try, and amazing recipes! As the weather has been getting nicer I've spent less time online, but I do miss it... It's a sickness... Anyone have any great blogs or site to share?

This is really happening...

For about a year now our answer to the question "So, what's going on with going active?" has been "...we're waiting on the Marine Corps... A few more pounds... another meeting..." or several other reasons for it to be unknown and in the future. Well we are finally at the place where we can say "We'll have orders by the middle of May."
I have such mixed feelings about this. We are in a place in our lives where we NEED a change. We have to start moving forward- we have small children that are not going to wait for preschool (though I don't know if we'll send them yet) and new shoes, clothes, sports, classes, birthday parties... the list goes on. It doesn't help that I want the best for them, and the best is not cheap. I don't care! I'll sacrifice so they don't have to.
I need my own home again! I think that pretty much all I need to say about that...
At the same time I'm scared to leave the familiarity of our little island, and be across the country from our family. They are our support system, have helped us more than they'll ever know, and I feel so selfish to take my boys away from them.
I'm excited, terrified, optimistic, and anxious all at the same time. I've been using this story to explain how I'm feeling. "We knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, we just didn't know how far away the light was. Within one week the light flew toward us and we're blinded!"
I don't know if I'm ready, but this is really happening and I can't wait!

50 Years

This past weekend we took a 6 hour drive to Spokane, WA to attend a 50th anniversary party and vow renewal. The ceremony began with a slideshow of pictures of the two of them, starting with baby pictures from 1938 and ending with a photo taken only weeks ago. It was so touching to see them grow together, from wedding pictures, to their first baby, to grandchildren. By the end of the slideshow I was already in tears, and by the end of the ceremony they were streaming. How beautiful the long life they've already had together, and the great relationship they still have for the years to come. I hope wish and pray my own marriage will blossom the way theirs has!!

O went on the big potty!

Just when I was ready to go out and buy another product that people got by without for thousands of years, my toddler once again surprised me by adapting. I put him on the big potty sitting backwards (something he wouldn't tolerate a month ago) and he held himself up and went just fine. I guess we'll just be doing that!! He still wont go unless his pants and underwear and completely off, if they are around his ankles its a no go. This will be our next thing to work on!!

Learning and Cloth update!!

Learning time is going really well with O. He loves to sort pom-poms by color, and loves to point to the shapes he knows. The only shape he will verbally say is circle, but he knows the others by sight, and will point to them if you ask him to. I made some foam domino type things with shapes on them (see the pics) and he likes to make the shapes match. I am getting ready to print off some activities to try, and we'll see how he likes doing something new. Any ideas? (seeing as my "followers" both have small children LOL)

Every time I am on the computer he asks for "B" which is what he calls starfall.com. He LOVES to watch the letter videos, and "talks" along with them. He makes the sounds, and a few times he's said other words he knows that start with that letter. We were watching "B" yesterday (big surprise, it's his favorite letter) and he said "buh, baby." I was blown away!

We are also to the point now that we are cloth diapering more than not. I bought some all in one's so B will help out. They are so easy! It's just like a using a disposable diaper, except we put it in a wet bag and wash it, instead of throw it away. I don't know why I didn't do this from the beginning with O. With part time ECing E, and O almost done learning the potty, cloth is a great choice so they feel when they go. I need to get O a seat to go on the big potty (since he'll only go on his potty chair) and I think we'll take another step forward. I'm so excited with these changes I've made!!

Next green project, switch to all cloth bags for the store. Baby steps!!

EC beginnings

I started E with elimination communication today. I originally planned on starting sooner, but I wasn't ready to devote the time to it, especially since I'm still working with O on the potty. Well, I put E on the potty for the first time today. I saw a pee-pee cue, and decided "what the hey, lets go" and he peed!! I'm so proud of my little one for his first successful pee on the potty, and I'm looking forward to seeing how potty learning differs for him from O since I didn't start EC with O until much older.

Toddlers in Tiaras

I had never seen this show before, and frankly I am appauled!! I can't believe these parents, it's not the kids... They push these little girls to do such adult things- little booty shake dance moves, fake hair, makeup. One little girl was grumpy and when the mother reprimanded her (in a ridiculous way) the little girl answered "Mommy, I'm starving!" These poor little girls, and shame on those women. I can't wait to have a little girl, and I will never subject her to these types of things. Why are people so eager for children to grow up? Let them be little...

...when you're having fun!

My, how time flies...

We've all come down with some sort of cold the last few weeks, and it's E's turn. His poor little almost 4 month old body couldn't fight this particular stomach bug! He is so grumpy and only wants me to hold him. Now I'm okay with being his favorite, but I have never felt so bad in my life to go to the bathroom! I hope his little tummy turns up soon...

O is having a language boom. He has been learning new words daily now for awhile, but he's really trying to say them correctly now. Ball has always come out "ba-o" and he is now trying to put an ending sound on it, "ba-o-ch" A friend hit the nail on the head when she said he sounds like a little jewish baby. He's putting words together to make mini sentances, although most of them contain the words NO or NOT, and still flinging signs in the middle. Our pediatrician said as long as he's getting the point across, he's fine- Well he is definately communicating!! He is also doing great with his modified EC/ potty learning. We didn't start until he was 18 months so I don't know if it's really EC, but we go off cues and timers so it's not really "potty training." I hate that phrase, but that's a whole different post.. LOL He is in underwear during the day, and we recently bought some plastic pants to go over the underwear so we can start taking him out in public in underwear. He still has a little fear of the big potty, but he'll get there in his own time!

The ball has began rolling for B joining the Navy. The Marine Corps unit has accepted his application to change services, and now we are waiting for a General to sign the paperwork. From the date of that signature we have 45 days to accept Navy orders. Although we don't know when that paper will be signed, we are starting to feel the crunch. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, now if we just knew how long the tunnel is...

I am having a huge case of cabin fever!! I'm sooo ready for nice weather, less clothing, playing outdoors, BBQ's, longer walks, parks, beaches, 3 of 4 birthdays, and lots of new babies (thanks to my friends!) I can't wait to take E to the beach for the first time, O to get to swim everyday, and our poor dogs to get to stay out longer than a few minutes to potty!

Bring on the Navy, well baby, potty learning, and nice weather!! We're ready for it!

Internet Friends

I am very involved in a parenting message board, and have quite a few women on there I would consider "friends," if it is possible to be friends with people you've never met. Anyway, we have had a recent incident where a woman faked a pregnancy, complete with a terrible ending. My heart ached for this woman for days before the truth came out that her c-section and the eventual death of her baby were all made up. What would cause someone to lie about something like this? I am trying to keep in mind that a person that would do something like this is not in their right mind and I will continue to pray for her. I just felt so betrayed...

For those people that have lost a child in this way, my heart aches. I could only imagine, and hope to God I never have to know that kind of pain.

The switch

We are finally making the switch to cloth diapers. N is trying to change one thing in our lives a month to be more "green." This month it is the type of diapers we use. She has ordered the covers, snappis and wet bags and once we are out of the diapers we already have, we will not be buying disposables again. We'll keep you posted on how this works out...

Another switch we are currently making is implementing "learning" time into O's day. He is such a smart little boy, and he learsn so fast. We are giving him a specific time daily to work on preschool, gross and fine motor, and language skills. He was pretty excited about it while we were buying the supplies in the craft store. While O is having his art time every day, E will be having his tummy and back time, his own sort of learning. N is really excited about this change in the day.

Debt

There is a strange satisfaction that comes from paying off debts. Who knew that paying off past debts would feel so different than it would have felt to have paid it at the time? With our tax return this year we have decided to pay off everything. We will not splurge on the things we want until the things we've already splurged on are gone. Each check I've signed and each POS confirmation number I've recorded has brought us closer to the goal that is now within our reach- Financial Comfort!! As much as we'd love to take a vacation, or have a shopping spree with the same money, we are so happy with our decision. Who knows, maybe there will miraculously be tons of money left in our account when we are done... Oh, dreaming!

Getting Started

This being our first family blog, I'll introduce ourselves. I am N, a full time stay at home mother and wife. I love scrapbooking, swimming, baking, traveling, and attachment parenting my beautiful boys. Daddy is B, a hard working, hands on, Marine Corps reservist, and full time provider. He loves anything outdoors, hunting, gaming, baseball, and home projects. O, or Bubby, is 20 months old and the life of the party. He is smart, funny, and learns things faster than anyone we've ever seen. He is curious, loves to try new things, and is pretty well behaved for a just-hit-his-terrible-two's kid! E, our monster, is three months old and is just starting to get a personality. He smiles all the time, and his giggle is contagious. He is a big baby, but such a cuddly & loving child. I can't wait to see what our children will become and accomplish!!

I watched Wifeswap the other day and came up with a good explaination of us. We'll never be on that show because we are not an extreme of anything. B calls me a hippie, but I'm only half hippie- B is a conservative republican, but he married me so we aren't on that extreme either! We are a little of everything, and it fits us like a glove.

Well, that's us.