Yard Project

I've never really been a big fan of doing up the outside of the house. I loved watching my Dad do it and sometimes getting involved. But since Picerne at Bragg almost does nothing with the yards here the Hubs and I decided to tackle the yard.

At first it started off as getting the weeds and millions of cigarette butts out of the garden beds, and slowly that turned into yanking out bushes. We did all of that in a day. We didnt yank out too many bushes since it was a "spur of the moment" type of thing so we didnt pull out the bigger beasts, but the dead ones are now gone. Now that our "yard" looks a little better the Hubs and I have decided to make it a weekend project for us.

I kid you not I wouldnt recommend at least living in our Neighborhood at Bragg because we constantly have problems with the house and our yard wasnt ever cleaned up by previous owners or the neighborhood office. We have no grass, which is almost normal since its sand here and not dirt. I found empty beer bottles, oil cans with oil still inside and a huge amount of trash in the yard. Not to mention all the weeds they never got before we moved in.

The Hubs went about this with the saying "Leave it Better then you found it." I used to use that saying when we went camping! So we figured why not, at least this is on part we can control, and we are required to take care of.

Our plans are to dig up the rest of the bushes, lay down new wood chips, plant flowers and a few bushes. We'd love to lay down the tarp thing that stops weeds for future tenants but the fact that this yard has bushes and a huge tree, entirely too close to the house, there's not much we can do...and there is no way we're digging that tree up.

We'd love to buy a patio set and dress up our little deck area as well (backyard). Its going to be a big summer project, but it will be fun! Plus by the time The Hubs decides to get out of the Army hopefully we'll have a good green thumb and be able to tackle our own home! Practice makes perfect!

Here's a preview of what we did last night...I wish we had a before shot, but like I said it was sorta spur of the moment.

Just a general view of what the house looks like.

You can see how close the tree is to the house, 

the empty areas between bushes we pulled out the bush,

going to take the rest out.

Leaving the hedge and that mini tree, taking out the weird plant

and as you can see leaves from last year have to be picked up still.

yay!

week is done! haha I know I am pathetic and I am sure I got wives who want to strangle me. Its not even about missing my husband and being happy I can see him. I definitely miss him when he is gone, even for a week. But I miss him spending time with Evelyn, and helping me with her. Also I miss having my best friend to sit around and watch Prison Break with.

I realize that this is not a deployment. Duh I have done 2 deployments. I know that this does not compare to a deployment. So don't write me some mean comment about how I don't even know...ok! I do know! But with that all said, it still sucks. But I am not one of those wives who like to complain about it. This whole week didn't suck because I missed him. I also had some hard times with Evelyn and it would have been nice to have that extra help. But I did also miss hanging out with my best friend.

But other then that, I planned a few treats for my husband! Apparently Riley is a LAZY post. At least my husbands batallion was. Seriously pull-ups! No those didn't happen at Riley. So my husband has been thrown for a loop here. They haven't been sleeping in tents in the field, and it rained. So I figured I should do a few things for him. I bought Panera bagels for him and I am planning on making Chocolate Croissants and Chocolate Chip Cookies and a good dinner :) Spoiled boy!...just playing he earns it!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

This is me and my BFF!

Grah.

Say it out loud...GA-RA-AH.

I am so over this week. I know I really shouldn't complain, but holy crap! I cannot wait to have help with Evelyn again! I couldn't fall asleep last night until 1, then I woke up at 3am and couldnt fall back asleep so I went to the couch, Evelyn woke up at 5 screaming, and then she woke up at 7. Did I nap with her? No. So I've been sucking all day.

I even had a glass of wine before dinner, and may or may not have bought a dr. pepper and chocolate.

What? I need caffeine. I'm tired.

Tonight I'll be in bed earlier! For sure! in my bed before 11.

Not to mention today was an overly emotional day. I had a flash back buying songs on itunes and found a song that reminded me of my sister Suzy who passed almost 11 years ago, and I just kept wishing I could talk to her. That might be contributed to my tiredness. I do miss her though.

enough of my nothingness...I am going to grab my pillow and blanket and lay on the couch and watch yesterdays Glee.

Alone

The Hubs went to the field this week. I gotta say I'm not a fan. I am not going to whine and complain, but I definitely forgot what it was like to have Evelyn to myself for over 24 hours. Don't get me wrong, I love my baby! But I never realized how much I love when Paul comes home and gives me a hand with her. Guess it's always fun to have that little reminder.

Now that Evelyn is asleep, my washer is running...like it has been doing ALL DAY, I am in my PJ's watching House Hunters and random other things on the TV. Not to mention drinking my yummy glass of wine! These times are pretty great...if only I had a jetted tub, I'd be in heaven right now.

I hope I can sleep in my bed though, I always hate sleeping in that bed by myself. Oh well!

Cheers everyone!

(excuse my shitty photo skill, I am pretty tired)

(ps...I wrote this last night, I am not drinking at 8:00am)

Prison Break

If you haven't watched this show, your seriously missing out. I'm only I think 8 episodes in and I am completely hooked!

I do have to admit I sorta have a thing for Prison shows, don't know why so don't ask. But this is so far fetched from real prison...you know from my love of prison shows.

The main character, Michael Schofield get sent to prison to purpose to try and break out his brother who is on death row, Lincoln Burrows.  Michael had gotten a hold of the prisons blueprints before he was sent to prison and have them tattooed on him. As weird as that sounds its actually super cool!!

Thats that in a nutshell, so much happens its unbelievable how much happens. Like I said 8 episodes in and I am hooked...I was hooked just off of episode one. Its currently on netflix :)

I am also super upset I cant watch this show again until Friday since The Hubs is in the field for the week.

What shows are you hooked on?

9 Months!

Oh Evelyn,

My screaming, yelling, trying to talk baby girl! I cant believe it. 9 months old. You have now been apart of the world for longer then you were in my tummy. It just seems like yesterday. Your such a beautiful girl inside and out and I'm beyond blessed to have you. I hope you always stay my baby girl!

Love, Mommy

Diapers-Size 3.

Clothes- 6 months and a few 6-9 months.

Sleep- Sleeping through the night! (although you've been waking up screaming for some odd reason.)

Food- Loves every type of baby food! 5oz of formula, and anywhere from 8 to 10oz at night.

Teeth- You have 4 teeth now! 

Firsts- You learned how to pull yourself up onto things, and walk around holding onto objects. You blow raspberries! You went to Disney World for the first time and LOVED it!!

(gotta love her bruises!)

Friends

I am so thankful to be apart of this blogging community. It has really made this move much easier! I was so worried I would get here and turn into a hermit. But I have been pushing myself out there.

I did write that I had a date with Lyzz at Defying Gravity, which was awesome and I cant wait to hang out with her again. I met Morgan at Stars Stripes and a Military Life today and we had so much fun! I even bought myself a new bag! I told her I was tired of carrying around my diaper bag when I was just headed out to the grocery store.

I have really been missing some friends at Riley, and I have been surprised at how many of my friends back there do not talk to me anymore. Its like I fell off the face of the planet for them, and I gotta admit that hurts. It was hard to leave my girlfriends. I wish that it had been the same on both ends.

Moving is apart of this life and I am embracing that friends that I think are lifetime friends might not always be. I will always have my best friend though. Yepp, my husband :) I'm so glad he cant get rid of me! :)

What do you all think of my new bag??

Guest Blog!

Head on over to Flip Flops and Combat Boots to check out my guest blog for her! Its all about Vacations!

Sleep Training PT3

Hello Sleepless Mommys, Mothers-to-be, and everyone else who is just curious!

This mommy has a baby sleeping through the night. Yes you heard me correctly! All night! It wasn't an easy task but I am so glad I got her sleep trained!

As you saw in Part1 and Part2, sleep training is no easy task and I definitely should have started when Evelyn was a little younger. I bought the book Baby Wise to get a handle on things. I always thought the Cry It Out method didn't work, and I hated the idea of Evelyn sitting in her room screaming, well from what I personally got from Baby Wise is it all started with a schedule. Feedings at certain times, such as after her naps, a regular routine, and no giving in.

The 1st night I was up and prepared for her. We spent 2 hours up in the middle of the night and she did eventually go back to sleep without a bottle, I would calm her down and pat her belly and reassure her that she was just fine, lay her back down in her crib, give her the binkie, lay her blanket on her, turn the sound machine on and leave the room. I was doing this at least 5 or more times during the night to reassure her that I was still here but she wasn't going to get the bottle.. The next night was the same deal, up 2 hours and fell back asleep without a bottle. We did this for a good 3 days before I finally started to see some improvement.

On the 4th night I heard Evelyn fussing at around 5:30am, which was a lot later then the times I was waking up at with her, which was anywhere from 12 to 2 am. I decided to just listen and see if she'd just go back to sleep. Which she did.

We now give her anywhere from 8 to 10oz of formula at night, and she is now sleeping from 8pm to 7:30-8am.

Let me tell you Moms who are trying to sleep train, it sucks! It sucks to be up for hours at a time during the night, and I almost caved so many times. At the times I was so close to caving I told myself give it another hour, and then before that hour was even up Evelyn would fall asleep. Believe me it does not come easy, and I know I am lucky I didn't have to do this with Evelyn for longer then a week, but it was completely worth it! I wish I had done it sooner and believe me when we have baby #2 I will do it earlier. All baby's deserve there Momma's fully rested! and this is very much helping me with my weight loss! I no longer constantly feel like I need a soda pop or chocolate because I am getting a good nights sleep.

Lets get Curvy PT3

I just have to say THANK YOU to all of you who commented on my last Lets Get Curvy Post, I am blonde and just barely figured out how to reply to comments...at least I think I did, correct me if I don't ever respond, its not my intention to do so.

I have lost 15 pounds and it sorta stayed that way...Easter threw me off so bad since we had a friend from the USMC here and him and the Hubs wanted to work out together, and instead of me being a big girl and working out myself...I just didn't. Oops. So now I am paying for it.

I started taking some supplements from GNC to help boost my metabolism. I think I am going to need a tad bit of help. The Hubs has been very good at pushing me, especially since I have been sleep training Evelyn (a post later to come), I have been way too tired and haven't wanted to go. He let me have 1 day were I became a couch potato and then he said that, that was enough.

The Hubs is also a little out of shape as well...by Army standards anyways, and so he has been working out really hard. By him just doing that its giving me that extra push. I know he wants me to be healthy and  I am pretty sure he is sick of me complaining about how fat I feel, so its been nice to have him here.

So far I walk 1 mile or more in the mornings and The Hubs and I take a 2 mile walk at night. I have yet to go to the gym in the morning, because I am honestly tired! Again...I will explain in another post another day but I also know its not an excuse. I know there are many more hours in the day.

I have done awesome at eating better! I have my 2 snacks a day to keep my metabolism going and healthy  meals. I don't care what some people say about "rewarding yourself" and how "your not a dog", but umm I deserve a break sometimes. I don't mean dive into a tub of ice cream, although I have been craving bubblegum ice cream, I mean a few pieces of chocolate, or even a diet coke. I make sure that I achieve a goal before I even let myself take a mini break.

I have been thinking about doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, but in reviews I have read to not do it in 30 straight days if you have overweight, since it can be hard on your knees. I would love to be at a good weight to do yoga again and last time I took yoga classes I hurt my knee, so I would have to take it easy doing that. But I also haven't done it! If anyone has done it please let me know so I can get a good idea on it!


Hopefully one day I will look like this again! I am aiming to lose 30+ pounds by August!

(I was 19!)

Back to Work

The Hub's 30 leave has ended and he started to in-process on Wednesday. I was kind of excited and although I'll miss the help with Evelyn at night time, I am pretty grateful he is going back to work. As much as I love that dear sweet man, he has a tendency to make me a tad bit lazy with housework. Although before he did go back to work to leave me with a crawling, pulling herself up onto everything 8 month old I did manage to deep clean :)

The Hubs got to his new unit here at Bragg on Friday and was told he will be going into the field in 2 weeks. My husband is in an Airborne Unit and has not done Airborne School yet, so while all the other soldiers drop into the field he will be driven out there. HAHA. We've also learned that within the next 60 days he must go to Airborne School, YIPPY! I'm pretty excited for him!

When he came home on Friday he had his new red...oh excuse me maroon beret on with his new unit patch and just told me "I am going to Airborne School, I am going to the field in 2 weeks, I need new boots for my dress uniform" So things to be done :)


My mom will be here the week that he is in the field so it wont be so bad. I haven't met anyone besides Elizabeth at Defying Gravity and also a girl that was friends with one of my best girlfriends back at Riley. So it would have almost been a very lonely week, so I am pretty glad my mom will be here.

Other then that it seems like we are getting to know Bragg and Fayettville pretty well! I was worried that the hubs would start work and I'd have to figure this all out on my own, but it seems like I know this post a little better then him :)

Defying Gravity

I went out on a blog date with Elizabeth from Defying Gravity she used to be the author of City Lights Camo Nights, head on over and check out our date! *Click Here*

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

SAHM

So with some of the controversy with some people thinking being a Stay At Home Mom is a bad thing, I'd just like to write about what being a SAHM means to me.

I never felt like I should be doing anything other then what I am doing now. Being a SAHM is not being "lazy" or not contributing to society. Its true, I do not earn money for staying home, I do however earn some great blessings by watching my daughter learn new things and taking a lot of work off my husbands shoulders.

As a MilSpouse I think most of us are SAHM's, its hard not to be in this life since you have one spouse who can leave for days, weeks, and months at a time. We want that time with our husbands if we are lucky enough to have it, and also stability for our children.

Now I don't judge anyone who works out of the home, I can at times be really jealous. But like I said I never felt like I should be doing anything other then what I am doing right now, but I will admit sometimes it would be nice to be with adults all day. When High School was over I never even applied for college, not because I didn't want to go, I did. I wanted the experience, but I didn't want to waste money on something I wasn't sure about. Even now, I am almost 23 and if you told me if I could go to college what would I study, and I would still say, "I Don't Know". Anyone who does know what they want to be, hats off to you because that's amazing that you can be that. I believe that since I had my daughter that this is what I was born to do.

I seriously kick ass at being a SAHM, I work so hard to keep my house clean, to try different recipes for my husband, and to spend a lot of time with my daughter. I will admit sometimes Evelyn drives me crazy, but at the end of the day I am grateful and blessed to spend this time with my daughter, she'll only be a baby once!and not to toot my own horn, but I am becoming a pretty good cook. Thank you Pintrest!

I don't like when people judge me for staying home. It was a personal decision that my husband and I decided, together. I was a stay-at-home-wife before we had Evelyn, due to my husband deploying much earlier then we thought after his 1st one. I don't regret that either. My day is not fueled by sitting in front of the tv, vegging out of bon bons and spending all my husbands money. Believe me sometimes I wish that was the case. My day is busy with my 8 month old, teaching her new things and getting her out of trouble. trying to figure out what she wants, trying to sleep train her, and keep her on a good schedule. Its a lot of work, but I am proud I have the opportunity to do so.

Believe me I wouldn't change this for anything.

Easter 2012

Woops I didn't post about Evelyn's first Easter.

Evelyn of course didn't really notice a basket sitting in the living room, but after we got her dressed and put her on the floor with her basket she was excited as you can see...

The Easter Bunny brought her; Cinderella, Beauty & The Beast, Chains and a Toy Purse. No candy...what a bummer ;)

She enjoyed crawling around in her dress and pulling herself up onto other things. She also got another tooth for Easter!

We had a friend up from the MCAS Cherry Point and I made an awesome dinner! We had turkey instead of ham since its less fattening. Remember the diet. I made an awesome breakfast too.

It was an amazing day, we all had fun!

Goodbye "B"

I have wrote before about taking Evelyn off the Binkie aka "The B" before she turned 1. While we were at Disney World we really started to noticed how attached she was becoming to the 'B' and we decided after the trip we would start the process of taking it away from her. I had a friend recently take her daughter binkie away and I saw how hard it was on her, and I wanted to try to avoid a lot of that.

We now only give it to get at Nap and Bedtime and she will no longer be getting it during the day. She hasn't seemed to notice it but that might also be because she still has it at those certain times. In about a month we'll start taking it away at nap times. According to my friend taking it away at Nap and Bedtime is the worst, so hopefully by doing the slow process she'll ease into it.

I am also in the process of weaning her off the bottle. I tried to give her, her formula in her sippy yesterday and she just didnt understand, as soon and I gave her a bottle she sucked it down. Sometimes I think she does that to show me I am wrong...but I'm not wrong Evelyn.She has a Doctors appointment this month so I'll be asking him/her about getting her off the bottle.

I'm Seriously going to miss this cute binkie smile face!

Mommy Blues.

The last month I have started to feel like a horrible mom...now I'm not talking horrid, I am talking like "I don't know how to keep doing what I feel is best for my child when she wont corporate" horrible. I find myself giving into her more and not trying as hard because I am just plain exhausted.

If your my friend on FB you know that I have still been struggling with Evelyn on sleeping through the night. The one night she slept from 8pm to 7am was an amazing night and needed but since then it hasn't been happening. We're still giving her 8oz of food at night so we know she's not starving when she wakes up anymore, she's now doing it purely out of habit. And its a habit I'm not sure how to break.

I bought the book Baby Wise, and I am working my way through the book, and this last weekend wasn't a very good time to sit and read when we had a friend up from Cherry Point, and the boys thinking it was all about playing games. So I read only basic sleeping chapters.

Evelyn used to put herself on a schedule almost with naps. She always wanted a nap about every 3 hours. Since the move I have no clue where that went. I am trying to get her back onto a nap schedule. Even as I write this Evelyn is in her crib really mad because she doesn't want to nap, but tough luck kid-o! She needs at least 2 naps a day and I'm gonna start doing this.

The Hubs starts work back up on Wednesday and I am determined to get Evelyn back on something. I usually let Evelyn wake me up, but its about that time I start waking up and getting her out of bed for a while. Get her on something and stick to it. 

I cannot explain why I didn't do this earlier and waited this long. I have always trusted my daughter to be smart and figure it out, but now I can see she needs help. No problem, but Momma needs some help too. I let way too many things go to make excuses. "Dad's Coming Home Soon", "We're Going on Vacation", "We're moving", "We're unpacking"...Umm no, no more excuses. Yes while some of those we're reasonable, its not time to freaking buckle down and get her sleeping through the night and back onto a schedule. 

17.

I had to just say this morning that its my baby sisters birthday! She's one of my hero's. She is mentally and physically handicapped. She was born at 23 weeks and by all means she shouldn't be here. Her birth mom couldn't take care of her and our family took her in. My parents are angels. Alisha shouldn't have made it passed 3 and today she is 17!

Happy Birthday Alisha!! Your an amazing sister!! Cant wait to see you!!

Happy Easter!

Love, Miss Evelyn

Answers!

I was kinda surprised I didn't get more questions but hey I love the 2 questions I did get.

First was from Morgan, another girl at Bragg, at Stars, Stripes and A Military Life

Will you go on a date with me all ready? Lol. Kidding of course, but your girl is dying to meet you! Maybe we can go see "The Lucky One" together next weekend?

I have already text her and told her we could go! Yay for friends!!

Another was from Chantal at B+C & Baby!!

How did you come up with the name Evelyn?

I wrote this post right after I had Evelyn that explained a little of how we came up with her name. 

Her name was ultimately suppose to be Emily, after my Great-Grandmother, but in fear to making family mad we decided to change it. Its weird how we knew her name began with an 'E', but 'E' names just sounded good to us. Being that Hubs was in Iraq I brainstormed a lot more then he did. One day I was looking through a book on my Grandfathers past and I saw that his Grandmas name was Evelyn, suddenly I realized how much I really did like that name. I let Hubs know and he loved it too! So that's how it all came about.

If you read that post though it will tell you about her Middle Name too :)

Thanks for the Questions you 2! 

Lets Get Curvy! PT.2

Dont forget! Today is the last day to Ask Me Anything.

Since I last wrote about getting curvy, I have lost 15 lbs! Yepp, just by changing my eating habits. I have to admit it was a piece of cake, but for me to give up chocolate when I am such a sucker for Cadbury Eggs...I have to admit though I had maybe 5 eggs.

The Hubs and I have been walking a lot more often. His goal is to loose 15 lbs by the end of this month, and I'm just hoping to keep losing weight.

The Hubs starts work again on Monday and it will be all up to me to keep up with my success. I am pretty hopeful since the pool is opening next month I'll have plenty to walk to :)

Are any of you trying to lose weight? What are you doing?

What's Sleep?

dont forget to ask me anything

The last few days I have had a horrids night sleep...Why?

1. We have Cockroaches in our house.
2. Evelyns not sleeping.

Now the cockroaches just give me the hebe-gebies...I doubt I spelled that right. Every time I get even a little touched I am flipping out. But its not bothering me so bad.

Evelyn on the other hand is driving me up the wall! I seriously love my girl, but she's gonna make me go nuts. All I want is to SLEEP! She wakes up every 1 to 2 hours at night, just to complain! I am pretty sure there is a tooth coming out, like 95% sure. But this is insane. I've never had a problem with her having teeth. Ever. I finally felt a little lucky that my daughter just loves sleep that much. Wrong!

Last night at 12:30 the husband and I both got up with her put her on the floor in her room and tried to calm her down and feed her. Do anything to make her go to bed. We finally decided to give her tylenol and teething tables along with some nighttime oragel. She slept 2 hours.

I delt with her all night begging her to sleep. I put her in bed with us and she just thought it was play time, so back in bed she went. I ignored her for 15 minutes trying to see if she'd just go back to sleep on her own but she cried and did her "MMM" sounds. So at 6 I finally just said EFF IT! and woke up and brought her into the living room. I did not at all feel bad turning on Mickey Mouse for her while I laid on the couch about ready to burst into tears.

At 8 she finally decided to go back to bed, and I didnt even care. I went to bed too! and when she woke up and hour later, I made sure to yell tell my husband to get his ass out of bed so I could sleep. As much as he hated that he finally did it. Thank the lord! I slept till 10:45. MMMAZING.

I dont know how long this is gonna take for her to sleep normal again but damn it, it better happen soon! I also ordered the Baby Wise book, my own methods dont work anymore. I need professional help.

Ask Me Anything.

I saw this floating around while I was away on my Disney World Vacation. So I thought HEY WHY NOT!?!?

Anyways, you can ask me anything if you comment below, or if you'd rather your question be personal email me at::  optimisticarmywife dot gmail dot com and I will answer!

I will answer the questions on Friday! :)