Car seats are expensive, part 2

Shot from inside the truck...

while we were driving.




Or maybe not.

Our little hoodlum

Emily is cracking us up these days. She is finally at the point where she does actual funny stuff which makes me roll on the floor in laughter. I'm so glad she is finally a toddler and her true personality is coming out. (More on me not enjoying the baby stage later.) The other day, she insisted on wearing one of Daniel's sweatshirts around the house. It was so big on her, you couldn't see an inch of her body. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard.

We desperately need a haircut.

Let me mope for a second

I have been in a funk lately.

I think it has been a combination of things.

I was working out quite a bit, and then I got pregnant. I mean, I can't really complain about the morning sickness I am experiencing now after what I went through with Emily. It was absolutely horrible. I have been exhausted, though, which I didn't experience with Emily. So now, I don't go workout anymore, which means I don't get out of the house to workout, which was a really important factor. When you consider getting ready for the gym, driving there, working out, and showering when you get home, it takes a pretty good chunk out of your day. Now half of my day is empty.

Also, we made new friends when Daniel got back from deployment that I absolutely love. Chuck Boyle was deployed with Daniel and they became best friends. His wife, Sarah, is pretty much a clone of me, who happens to have a little boy a couple of months younger than Emily. We got together all the time for playdates. Now the children are on completely opposite sleep schedules, so that leaves no time to get together during the day. This leaves the other half of my day empty.

On top of that, the weather has been horribly hot. Even if I had something else to do, I don't even want to open my door to go do it. Do you know how boring a house can be all day when you have nothing to do?

We are also doing this "no spend month" where we only spend $300 for the month after bills are paid. That leaves no money for anything, including exciting meals. Food soothes the soul, but apparently cheap food doesn't soothe my soul. It's nice to see how much we are saving this month, but I cannot wait for August to be over.

Basically, I need a life.

There are some exciting things on the horizon, though. This week I'm going to start a stroller strides class. It's basically a workout group where the children tag along in their stroller. I needed a break from the gym, so hopefully this will take it's place. Plus, I will get to socialize with a bunch of new moms. If anything, it will get me out of the house. I'm going to start attending the neighborhood coffee on Thursday, as well. It was at the same time as my favorite workout class, so I never went before, but like I said, I am so over the gym. And then, next week, the Bible study I have been waiting for all summer starts back up. This I need more than anything, because let's face it... nothing soothes your soul more that a group of Christian women.


ps - I promise to start taking more pictures of our life... once it gets more exciting.

How babies soothe your soul

I couldn't sleep the other night around 2:30 in the morning, so I decided to browse through facebook. It has been a long time since I plowed through that site. I spent hours on there in college, back in the day when it was only open to college students who were most likely trying to find productive ways to not study. Although I didn't get far, thanks to our slow computer that froze, I was on there long enough for my morning sickness to make its first visit. (In the middle of the night, really?) After what I experienced the first time around, I was sure that I would have no morning sickness at all this time. Hmm... I guess not. I decided to go back to bed, in hopes that sleep would help, but on the way, I wanted to check in on my sweet little girl. Turns out I accidentally (maybe?) woke her up and felt the need to rock her, although I think it was more for my benefit. It's amazing what a little girl laying on your chest can do for your morning sickness.

I guess if I end up with another perfect child the second time, I will go through the morning sickness again. I guess.

365 days of brilliance

When you are in high school you are all tied up in what you will wear everyday, or at least I was. I carefully planned out my outfits to make sure I wore a variety of clothes, but whatever I did, I always felt like I was repeating my wardrobe. That's when my friend Susan and I came up with a brilliant idea. Of course we remembered what we wore everyday, but how much do other people? We decided for a week, we would wear the same bright yellow shirt over and over. (Of course with washings, in between.) We waited for the comments, but we really didn't get any. It wasn't even until the 4th day that my boyfriend at the time asked, "Didn't you wear that yesterday?" I was thinking, "Yes, and the day before that, and the day before that."

Now, this girl is absolutely amazing! She has vowed to wear the same dress for 365, which may seem difficult, but she definitely has the style to pull it off. If you don't look closely, you can't even tell she was repeating her outfits. Even better, she is doing it to raise money for a foundation close to her heart.

Check out the Uniform Project here.

High hopes

I always have these grand ideas in my head... I'm going to start sewing, I'm going to redesign my blog layout, I'm going to make a high chair cover, I'm going to learn how to use every function on my camera, I'm going to blog everyday. I have the skill to do all these things, but it turns out time is pretty crucial and apparently I don't have any. I find this fact funny, though, because I'm sure I will look back in 10 years and think how stupid I was. But isn't that always the case? Nobody ever feels like they have time, but lives just continue to get busier.

The past month has been hectic. Daniel left for a 2 week trip to New York and I started packing for our move. Ironically, every time we move, Daniel seems to have a business trip of some sort that gets him out of a lot of work. It was a challenge to pack alone, with a little one getting into the middle of everything, but I still got a lot done in those two weeks. We moved from our home out in the middle of nowhere to a house on base when he got back. I don't know why I was so against living on base in the beginning. I guess a lot changes when you have a little one. Most people around us have kids Emily's age, we live right next door to a beautiful park, and the pool is only a mile away. We really are loving it so far!

To add a little more spice to our life, we had the brilliant idea of having Emily's first birthday party the day after we moved. Daniel actually pushed for having the party the day of the move, but thankfully I won that battle. Some of our dear friends offered the party to be held at their house, which was such a blessing given that our house was an absolute disaster. The party was a lot of fun and Emily enjoyed her first taste of sugar.

I only had about a week to unpack as much as I could before Emily and I set off for a wedding in Texas. We had a wonderful time and we even got to spend some time with Aunt Susan doing wedding stuff of her own. Now it is back to this house we live in that hasn't turned into a home yet. My list for this month...

1. unpack
2. paint and decorate
3. make high chair cover
4. sew Emily a little top
5. pool, pool, and more pool

Hopefully things will come together slowly. I did turn my blog design over to a friend from college. At least that is one thing I won't have to worry about for a while...

Poor Daniel...

You have to feel bad for the guy -- he doesn't look like he is having any fun in New York.

Picture with Trace Gallagher, co-host of "The Live Desk" on Fox News.