Lazy Weekend

We had a super lazy weekend. I think I left the house one time the entire weekend. It was glorious. I could have done without the super-early wake-up call from Miss AJ on Saturday morning (6 am!) but what can you do?

On Friday Hubby brought home a carpet cleaner than he borrowed from one of his co-workers so we could shampoo our carpets. We have a few high-traffic areas in the family room and front hallway that are super dirty and we figured if we only did those two rooms it would be worth it. I went out to Wally World Saturday morning to get the solution for the cleaner and a few other things like milk and eggs.

As soon as I got home we poured the solution into the canister and filled it with water and got to work. We decided to start with a small area by the door to the garage instead of starting in the middle of the room. I'm glad we decided to start there because the thing didn't work! There was a tiny bit of wetness on the carpet (like barely any) and the machine would not suck anything up at all! D called the guy he borrowed it from and he said that the last person who borrowed it said she had the same issue. Uh, duh! Haha! Why would you not tell us that beforehand? Needless to say, the carpets are still dingy. I did at least mop the kitchen floor, though! I had to because I had to get the water and cleaning solution from the machine cleaned up after it got everywhere when we were trying to fix the machine!

Sunday we just bummed around the house. AJ woke up around 7 and once we got downstairs she asked if she could watch "Buddies" which is the Space Buddies movie we recorded on the DVR. I jumped at the chance to put that on instead of Yo Gabba Gabba since it basically makes me want to claw my eyes out. We lounged around on the couch in jammies until 10 and then I got started on the mountain of laundry that is always beckoning to me. Ugh. To make matters even worse, I ran out of my good diaper detergent last time I washed diapers, so I'm using my back-up stash, which I don't like as much.

This afternoon D was digging through my junk drawer and found the squeakers that go to these shoes AJ has. He decided to put them back in and see what happened. You can read about what happened last time, here. Let me tell you, it was so funny! As she took her first step she froze, I was anticipating the absolute fear that she had last time and she started to whine a little, looking like she was going to cry. We both looked at her and said, "its okay!" and she took another step and then she was off! She went crazy! It was the funniest thing. She was stomping all around the house, jumping, running, dancing, doing the funny straight-leg walk that we call the Nazi-walk.

The only part of the weekend that I wish we could change is that AJ is back to the absolute temper-tantrums and meltdowns because she wants me to hold her while I make dinner. She gets so totally bent out of shape that we have to put her in timeout until she calms down enough to agree to do something else. Its awful. I wish there was something we could do to get her past it, but I have a feeling its just a stage and that we'll be done with it in time. Advice? Suggestions?

We don't have much going on this week, just the usual! We're watching a friend's daughter tomorrow afternoon while she goes for her last ultrasound before baby #2, a boy, is born. Should be fun for both girls!

Don't You Just Hate That?

Right after I promise that I'm going to get back to my regularly scheduled blogging I go ahead and think I scheduled a post for today, when in reality, I did not. For that, friends, I apologize. With that being said, let's get back to it, shall we?

We have had an exciting few days around here. I'll start with Thursday.

We've been in our house for a year now and since it was new when we bought it, we had a 1-year manufacturers' warranty that was getting ready to expire. We had walked through the house and compiled a master list that we emailed to the warranty people back in December. Thursday the first group of sub-contractors came to start fixing the things that needed to be fixed.

We had some drywall issues since our house was built in the winter. The spackle they used to mud the drywall in some areas of the house apparently wasn't able to dry completely, so we had lots of nail pops and the tape and edging on the corners were peeling a little bit. It was nothing that few extra nails and some hammer strokes couldn't fix, so they plastered it all up again and left it to dry.

On Friday Hubby came home from work (early, yay!) and mentioned that the Natural Sciences Museum in Raleigh has an exhibit on Genghis Khan (only through Jan 22) and he wanted to see it. We decided to head North the next day to check the museum out and see the exhibit. See, hubby took Mandarin for six months and is currently enrolled in an Asian culture class, so this exhibit was of particular interest to him.

D and AJ in front of a giant praying mantis at the museum.

After the museum we went across the quad to a little grill and got some lunch. We rarely go out to eat, especially somewhere that you sit down, so this was a little treat for all of us. It was a casual place that had a 50's vibe.

AJ at lunch.

The rest of the weekend we just hung around the house mostly and were lazy.

The first decent picture I've gotten of AJ in a long while.

She found some sunglasses from when she was a baby that she has been wearing around the house for the past few days. She always wants one of us to wear our sunglasses with her when she's wearing them. As soon as we get them on she holds her hand up and says, "Walk!" So we walk around the house wearing sunglasses together.

Wearing sunglasses with Daddy!

Once the weekend was over I was thrust into the life of the stranded home-bound SAHM because we had the painters come to finish painting all the drywall work the guys did last week. We also had them replace the door frame on AJ's bedroom door because there was a huge crack that they just tried to plaster and paint over. I'm sure you can guess how that worked out. Ha!

We were supposed to get our back door replaced on Monday as well because it wasn't installed properly the first time and we had a bunch of water damage to the door frame and the kitchen cabinets next to the door. Well, the door couldn't be put in yesterday because it was raining, so we had to wait until today, but its all finished now except the frame needs to be painted once the putty dries. We're having the damaged parts of the cabinets replaced later this week now that the door is fixed.

Its been kind of a pain to have to be home all the time waiting for them to come and fix stuff, but at least I know that there won't be any issues with things if we have to put the house on the market in the next few months. I guess there are perks to buying new construction aside from having a brand new house!

So that's it. That is what I've been up to the past few days. I'm currently sitting around, watching Teen Mom 2 from last week on the DVR while AJ naps and I wait for someone to come back and paint the door frame. After that we just have to get someone here to caulk the shower heads and some of the trim.

Also, D has a 4-day week this week and again next week, so I'm definitely looking forward to the 4-day weekend this weekend. I feel like there are certain months that he gets a lot of time off and then other months when we go weeks without any time off.

Some Updates

I'm not sure that I'm back, but I have been feeling like I should write about the things that are happening around these parts, so I'm heeding the call. I don't even know that I'll publish most of the stuff I write, but I figure I'll see where the spirit moves me.


D was in a 6-month-long school that ended and he was home for about 2 weeks before starting his next phase of the program. This phase is already proving to be a bit more unpredictable than the guaranteed-home-by-4:30-everynight routine we had going on before. One day he's home by 2:30 (sweet!) and the next he texts me at 5:45 to tell me he's leaving the office. Oy!


Either way, its one step closer to the next stage, which is still (typical Army) undetermined. We're not sure if we'll be able to stay here or not, but we've got 3 options and we're okay with all of the outcomes.


As for baby girl, well, things are craaaaazay! She is intense. She is emotional. She is stubborn. She is energetic. She is talking!


She has mastered the stairs. She knows what she wants, when she wants it and she will ask for it (typically) by name. She says "please" and "thank you."


Her tantrums have decreased markedly now that she is able to verbally express what she wants or needs, but that doesn't mean that they don't still grace us when she is told "no."


One of her favorite things to do is wash her hands. She also likes to stand on our step stool, ride her rocking horse, color, watch "tt", eat hummus, wear my shoes, kiss the dog, pick berries off our bushes, carry rocks around, pretend to put chapstick on us, blow bubbles (she calls them "bubbos"), make silly cheesy faces when I take her picture, and sit in chairs like a big girl (even though she falls off them).

As for me, I'm counting down the days until Thanksgiving so we can spend some time in (hopefully) sunny Florida! This year we're holding another recipe contest, but instead of appetizers we're tasked with making anything as long as it uses 5 ingredients or less and costs less than $20.


I've been busy with lots of things, but I also feel like whenever there is something I really want to do, like go to the Spouses' Club meetings, or MOPs, things come up (either AJ gets sick or something else). Speaking of AJ getting sick, she's had a few minor colds over the past few months, she also had her first ear infection. It cleared right up once she got on an antibiotic, but we were trapped in the house for almost 2 weeks! Ugh!


We've been trying to be more financially responsible as of late. This means we're introducing some new practices into our everyday lives, namely spending less, saving more and not eating out (like, ever). Its obviously not as much fun as spending more, saving less and eating out all the time, but we all have to grow up someday, right? I guess this is my time.

So folks, that's the update from our house since I last posted a month and a half ago. We're getting ready for Halloween and I, for one, am very excited for all the candy.

Our Life In iPhone Pics

AJ has been feeling a little under the weather the past few days, so we've mostly been hanging around the house.  We like to watch college football and this weekend we got super lucky and both my team and D's team were on TV here!  We both eked out wins, too!

AJ was representing both our teams all day on Saturday--she was wearing the t-shirt for my alma mater and D's Army boots (along with her jammie pants, of course)!

Here she is posing with the Army megaphone in hopes of an Army win!

I have also noticed over the past few days that the temper tantrums have increased in duration and frequency.  I think we're definitely inching closer and closer toward the terrible two's!  Heaven help me!  The thing about these tantrums that is different from before is that she's not really mad about anything like she was before (when she was banging her head on the floor), she just isn't getting her way.  She usually throws herself on the floor and just cries or yells.  It looks a lot like this (please note that this particular tantrum lasted well over 15 minutes in this position):

The best (or most amusing) part about these tantrums is that if I give in and let her have her way, she looks at me, instantly stops crying, smiles and says, "Tan You!" which is her version of thank you.

I did a little crafting and made a little something for our front hallway table.  I went a little crazy at Kohl's the other day and the table was a little lopsided, so I added this:

I made the little tree.  By made I mean, I walked out into my yard, found some twigs and spray painted them white, then made a little bunting banner that reads: "Happy Halloween".  The best part is that I can always make a new banner for each holiday if I want to!

One of the most random things that happened lately was I received a package from allrecipes.com that contained two orange reusable shopping bags.  I'm not sure why I received them (thinking it was because I'm a contributing member--I paid $25/year or something?  I don't know.) but I like it.

Fiiiiiinally, AJ is officially stealing my clothes and shoes.  We've actually had a lot of shoe sagas lately, more about that soon.  She has decided that she'd rather wear my shoes around the house.

She also has a new-found love for Nutella.

Girl has her priorities in line.

Thoughts Bouncing Around

I don't really have one solid thing to post about right now and I tend to like reading the random posts that people just talk about whatever is on their minds. I'm going to do it!

• I have been watching an incredible amount of t.v. this week. To the point where I think I need to just stop. Its too bad that I love t.v. and will continue to watch 24/7.
• I set my DVR to record Most Eligible Dallas and it recorded Millionaire Matchmaker instead. Seriously? That is annoying.
  
• I went to the doctor this morning and I was running late. I got there approximately 13 minutes after my scheduled time and they told me I had to reschedule. This wouldn't bug me if I didn't have to wait at LEAST 15 minutes past my scheduled appointment time in the waiting room each and every time I have an appointment there. I even called on the way there to let them know I was running late so they might be able to see someone who was already there. I understand that I was late, but seriously? How freaking rude!
• This, coupled with some other negative experiences I've had with my PCM (read: this was the first appt available in 2 weeks) is prompting me to seriously consider changing my PCM. I expect to receive poor service and experience long wait times when I'm seen on post, but I chose a civilian provider to avoid this. If I wanted to wait half a month to be seen I'd go to the MTF.
  
• Not sure if I ever mentioned the fact that when we moved here this was supposed to be our last move for a long while. Well, notice that I said it WAS SUPPOSED to be. Everything changed over the past two weeks and its looking more and more like we're going to be moving at least once but probably twice in the next two years. Awesome. So glad we bought our dream house here.
• I'm planning to spend AJ's naptime moving our lawn furniture and other stuff into the garage so it doesn't blow around with all the storms and wind we're expecting tomorrow.
• I don't know if you heard, but there's a hurricane heading this way. Oh, you heard?
• I really can't wait for this weekend to be over so I can stop listening to everyone (and I mean everyone) freak out about the storm. Its annoying to me because I'm an anxious person and when others spaz, it makes me freak out inside. I mean, I got all caught up in the hype and went and bought bottled water and got gas yesterday. I'm guessing that the worst we'll see is some strong winds and some rain. That is it. *fingers and toes are crossed*
  
• AJ has had a cold all week and I am so ready to have everyone in my house be healthy again. I'm going crazy all cooped up in the house and judging by the weather forecast, I foresee more time inside. Ugh.
• Even worse than AJ being sick is that hubby has been sick all week as well. Can you guess who has been more needy in illness? You guessed it. ;)
  
• I'm praying for all those on the coast who are likely to get hit hard by Irene and I hope you will too.
  

Hopefully we'll have power the whole weekend and I'll be able to post after the worst of the storm has passed us. If not, I'll get back on here as soon as our power and Internet is up and running again!

Also, sorry this post ended up being super negative. Its where I'm at right now.

I have decided to suck it up and write a post for you all since I promised last time that I was working on a post. When I wrote that, I had ever intention of doing just that, working on the post. Let me be honest here. I have not written a word for that post since I started it! Ha.

The past week has been busy. D and I had a talk about finances because I've determined that my previous plan of "spending less money" wasn't really working all that well for my goal of "saving more money." I have looked into Dave Ramsey's plans in the past and while its not completely for us, I like some of the aspects of it, so we're doing a modified version. I sat down the other day and really laid out what our monthly expenses are and I think we have a solid plan in place. There is something to be said about simply discussing and coming to an agreement. I feel like our goals are actually attainable now. Funny how that works, huh?

Anyways, I also decided this week that I spend too much time on the computer. I want to get to know people here and make friends and I'm not going to do that on Facebook. I've been really putting forth an effort to keep my computer in the office and not in the common living areas anymore. I think that has helped a lot. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to Facebook, and blog and all that, I just don't want to feel like I'm tethered to status updates. Ever feel that way? My cutting back on Internet and computer time has been part of the reason I've been slacking on blogging lately.

I have some crafts and sewing projects that I'm working on that I really can't work on while AJ's awake, so that leaves nap time, which is when I typically write my blog posts.

I've also been busy meeting new friends! Yesterday D got done with work early, and I had been invited to join a bunch of girls to go to a movie, so I went! We saw The King's Speech and it was awesome! I had no idea what it was about before it started, and I'm not usually into historical movies, but I loved it. I laughed, I cried, fantastic! Afterwards we walked over to the frozen yogurt place and my life was complete. Ha.

Last night we ordered Chinese food and had our neighbor over to hang and eat with us. They just moved in and her hubby had to go back to our old duty station for a few more weeks, so she's alone. We like her, so we do nice, neighborly things like make her come over and eat and hang out with us.

This morning we decided that it was time to venture out in the rain and check out some mattress stores in the area. We want a mattress for our guest room and the tax refund finally came, so off we went! We were in and out of the mattress store in no time (and we got a great deal on a mattress) so we headed to the Mecca (aka, Tarjay). Apparently everyone else on Earth also decided that this afternoon was a perfect time to hit up the holy land. I mean, I knew it would be crowded and all, it being Saturday afternoon, but come on. It was ridiculous. D and I were both like, seriously? I've never seen a store so busy in my life, except maybe Costco on a Tuesday ;). We also went to Home Depot and bought a ladder. Oh the joys and excitement of home-ownership.

So there you have it, my week in a nutshell. Not super eventful, but that's kind of how I roll these days. We've mainly just been enjoying the new house (more pictures to come of the guest room once the mattress gets delivered) and spending time together while D is working mostly short days. Pretty soon he'll have to actually work and then I have a feeling that we'll rarely see him.

Look for me in a few days, I should have found enough motivation to write my other post by then! Otherwise, if you don't hear from me for a few days, don't worry, all is well!

Oh, and GO STEELERS!

(We're Bears fans in this house, so I think legally we're not allowed to root for the Packers...)

We're Home!

I just wanted to stop in and make a quick post to let you all know that AJ and I made it home late this afternoon.

The hubs had the house nice and clean (he even sparkled the bathroom) and dinner was prepared, he just had to throw it on the grill. It was a pretty chill evening and I'm not looking forward to all the stuff I have to do tomorrow. I have to unpack still, get some laundry going and make a massive trip to the commissary to start with. I also should run since my training officially started yesterday and I haven't actually done anything yet. I swear that I'm going to stick with the training once I get started this week!

Anyways, I'll be back tomorrow with pictures and a recap from our trip! I'll also be attempting to catch up with all of your blogs and hopefully get back to commenting again soon!

Just a quick update to let you all know that date night went well and we had a fun day at the river yesterday. AJ and I only stayed for an hour or so, but the rest of the crew was there most of the day. They ended up back here last night and I made dinner for them.

Today I'm off to the USO to volunteer for a few hours. Should be a fun time.

In baby news, AJ has decided that she doesn't want to lay in her crib to nap anymore. She likes to be rocked to sleep and then as soon as you set her down she wakes back up crying. We're currently on hour 2 of trying to get her down for her morning nap. If you've got any, send some good "sleeping baby" vibes our way!

I'll be back tomorrow!

I Changed My URL

I just wanted to let everyone know that I changed the URL for my blog. My old address included my whole name and I didn't really want that out there for everyone to know. If you follow me I don't think you'll have any problems finding me, but if you have it bookmarked the old URL doesn't work! Just wanted to let you all know.

Still Alive...

Barely.

Got food poisoning on the way home from the wedding. Spent most of Sunday afternoon/evening sick (and on an airplane, with a baby...fun, fun).

Today was D's promotion to Captain. I've been crazy busy and will continue to be that way until we get to our new duty station next week. I'm not sure if I will have time to blog between now and then, but I hope to be on a few times. Hopefully I'll be able to post from our hotels along the way and possibly upload pictures from the wedding and the promotion tomorrow!

Packers come tomorrow and movers will be here Thursday! Eek!

Its Naptime!

So D and AJ are upstairs in the hotel room taking a nap and I decided to find the business center and get a quick post in.

This morning we were able to get up and drive about an hour and a half to our new post and see the house we're going to get. We (well, I...long story) were excited about it, even though its tiny! The whole house is about half of what we're in right now. Kind of crazy. At least the Army will pay to store a bunch of our stuff for 6 months. The neighborhood looks nice and there's a HUGE tree in the backyard! Hooray for another duty station with vegetation!

So the story behind D not being excited about our new house....

We got in late last night and of course, since its a wedding, there was drinking going on. He got roped into having a drink and then going out after that. They didn't come back until about 3 am and he was in rare form. Needless to say, he wasn't really feeling the hour and a half long car ride with a screeching infant this morning!

Anyways, I'm off to relax while my babies are sleeping!

I'm Boring!

So I don't really have much to update about. We are going out of town next weekend to attend a wedding, most of my family should be there, so it will be a fun time! I haven't seen most of them since our wedding, almost 2 years ago!

I have been doing a lot of research and online window shopping, looking for the baby stuff that I want so we can either buy it or register for it. I got the invitation to our baby shower yesterday, I'm so excited to see everyone and have me some good ol' Chicago style food! Hopefully most of the people we invited can make it, we don't get to go home much!

I am also starting to freak out a little about how much money all the stuff we want for the baby is actually going to cost! I'm starting to think that we won't ever be able to spend any money because we won't ever have any after this baby either! I guess that is the price (literally) of having a baby!

I have been busy with the Family Readiness Group (FRG) for D's unit. We are planning a Holiday Party that is starting to take shape and there are tons of other activities that are going on as well since we are coming into the holiday season. Should keep me fairly busy until the baby is born, then I'm planning on passing the reigns off to someone else!

We also have a Holiday Ball in December for D's work that I still need to buy a dress for. Should be interesting seeing that I'll be 6.5 months pregnant!