Easter Holiday and Other Come-uppins...

So Easter was today.

My family has never really made a huge deal out of the holiday. No big huge family meals or anything like that. It's not even close to a big deal. I never understood WHY families made a big deal of it. Not that there is anything wrong with it I suppose, I just never got it. Then again, why should I? I don't believe in any god, so I suppose this holiday is not for me. We basically use it as an excuse to give the kid a sugar high and give her little presents that we want an excuse to give her. This year it was Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakual and The Princess and The Frog. She had a pretty decent Easter. We hid eggs all over the downstairs of the house and just let her find them throughout the day. It was too nasty to do anything outside, so we just kinda did it at our own pace. Like I said -- Easter isn't my thing. Sometimes I almost feel bad doing anything on Easter BECAUSE we aren't religious, but right now, its just as much a commercialized holiday as Christmas is. So I just let it ride, and just hang out at home and spend time with the family. Which is what we did today. We watched one of Roo's new movies. I took a nap...all in all a relaxing day. I'm pretty tired and totally ready for bed, but we have Celebrity Apprentice to watch tonight (on till 11...yikes)

Tomorrow I have literally, a laundry list of shit to do. I'm so tired of feeling so exhausted, but having to play catch up on all this crap. So tomorrow, I think that I'm going to work on laundry and our bedroom and bathroom. I can usually tackle that in a day and a half or so, completely get it all the way done -- laundry folded and put away, the rest of the room picked up, that kinda thing. The house always seems to be in good condition (or at least acceptable condition) when Bradford comes home from TDY or whatever, but give it a couple weeks and its just horrid again. And with me being pregnant and not feeling even CLOSE to 100%, it takes me so much longer to get things done and I'm just constantly falling behind. I know it drives Bradford crazy, I just need everything to stand still for just a couple days and I can get it done.

So Reilly's birthday party was quite the success...had some family and friends over, and she got some fun stuff, all in all, a good day. Her ACTUAL birthday however, she was ridiculously cranky, and decided that she did not want to be 4. So we let her be 3 for her birthday. Haha. But she's been 4 now for almost a week...she just seems like she's grown up over night. Looks wise...she's always been a smart kid, but just looking at pictures of her, she just LOOKS like a big kid. I'm not sure where my baby girl went, but man its just so different to look at her now. Look at that!! She is officially NOT a baby anymore, she is officially a damn big kid. *sigh*


So I'm 16w3d pregnant. Almost half way through. We had a doctor appointment on Monday...just a quick check up. Got to hear the heartbeat. Well, it was my second time hearing the heartbeat. It was Bradford's first time. The baby's heart-rate was 140, which, if we go by the old wives tale, points to a little girl. But, I'm not ready to jump to conclusions right now...I have mixed feelings about what the sex of the baby is going to be, and right now, I'm not too concerned. We're finding out the sex at the next appointment, which is coming up on 26 April. I'm really excited about that. Mostly because then I can FINALLY start making my baby registry. I've started looking, but every time I sit down to get it done, I just fail miserably at it. I think its just because this isn't baby number one -- and I don't know what the baby is. I'm really frustrated with the fact that I can't get it done. It's just one more thing that I gotta get done before the move, since Brooklyn and Trish are planning my baby shower for the end of May. Yikes!

So there's that.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter weekend and celebrated how they saw fit!


<3

abortion. pregnancy. life in general.

Whenever something on the news pops up about abortion, especially when politicians are involved, I almost immediately reach for the remote so that I can change the channel. Why? Because 99% of ALL politicians make me want to throw something at the TV. There are some things that I've scooted over to a more conservative point of view on, something that my father in law and I have had more than one conversation about, which is fine by me. I have my beliefs....but being pro-choice is the one thing that I am absolutely DEAD SET on being on the liberal side about. I can't STAND that we as Americans...as WOMEN have to sit by and let men (mostly) make decisions about what we can and can't do to our bodies. I personally, have never had a reason to have an abortion, and I don't foresee any reason to have an abortion in the near or distant future....BUT that doesn't mean that I don't think that every women in the continental United States shouldn't be able to get an abortion. Going to the rallies against the pro-lifers, I've seen a lot of people get out of hand...as in any rally. However, a lot of the problems can from the pro-life side of the spectrum. As pro-choicers, we were merely there to make our opinions heard. I can't tell you how many high-school (AND YOUNGER) kids were made to go with their pro-life schools and parents, and how many of them had questions about abortions. It wasn't "what is an abortion, or how does it work?" But questions like "why did you feel that you needed to get one" or "why should this be important to me". I saw numerous kids get shuffled away from these conversations because their parents/teachers....those are the kids who are going to rebel against their parents in a HUGE way because they have all these thoughts and questions that they aren't going to get answers to.

I respect the people who choose to think that abortion is wrong -- I'm not going to sit here and say that their opinion is wrong. That wouldn't be right. They have every right to not like abortion, to not believe that women shouldn't be able to get them....but what they DON'T have a right to do is tell me, or any other woman, what they SHOULD or SHOULDN'T be able to do to their bodies. As of age 18, I could go get whatever I wanted pierced or tattooed. I've been able to get pregnant and have babies if I choose to, or even if I didn't. Why shouldn't I be able to have an abortion if my life can't deal with a baby right now? What if I didn't make NEARLY enough money to cover the cost to have a child...should I have that baby anyway? Sure...there are TONS of couples looking to adopt....but um...hello?! How many children right now are stuck in the foster system and can't get out because people want babies, or people without disabilities? If you want a child THAT fucking bad, then you should be happy no matter what. Also, I do not condone abortion as birth control. Just because you continually forget your birth control and keep getting knocked up, doesn't mean you can just get abortions willy nilly. This is also why they have the Plan B pill! Come the fuck on people. I know more than one person who have had at least one abortion, and I can tell you that it affects everyone differently....some people are remorseful, some people aren't. It just depends on what kind of person you are, and under what circumstances you are getting an abortion. If they make abortion illegal, there are going to be back alley abortions again...people doing it in their own homes, not in a sterile environment, "doctors" performing them with coat hangers and surgical tools that are not supposed to be used....no counseling...no nothing...is that really how these cats in Washington want their wives, daughters, granddaughters to live? Really?!

Okay. I'm done with that topic for now.

On to pregnancy -- Soooo I'm 14 weeks pregnant. Still. Everyone is absolutely convinced I'm having twins....I'm still crossing my fingers for only one baby. Though, if we did have twins, I'd be getting my IUD put back in again and then scheduling a counseling session to get my tubes tied. I can't imagine having any more than 3 kids, and I think it would be a good idea. I'm still not feeling that great....I don't have the morning sickness anymore (though, there are some things I still can't eat...I have a hard time with shrimp for some reason), but I'm still completely exhausted and I try to take a nap at least once a day. I'm constantly getting headaches throughout the day, starting with the first one when I wake up. I've also been getting dizzy and feeling faint between 1 and 2 if I don't eat something right at lunch time. Sometimes other times during the day too. It's pretty fucking lame....as I told Bradford this morning, this is the part of pregnancy that is supposed to be GOOD. The part that makes me wanna have MORE kids. The part that reminds me that the first trimester sickness and the last trimester miserableness (I know, not a word) , and the labor pains and staying up all night is TOTALLY WORTH IT....I base all other pregnancies on this trimester alone! And so far, this trimester isn't looking that great. I'm going to talk to my doctor on the 29th and see what she (or he?) says...I'm just so tired of feeling like shit. Not to mention now I have this ridiculously stuffy nose, and I can't sleep more than a couple hours at a time for multiple reasons (the nose, having to pee, Reilly...whatever) I just want to feel better, and myself....and not like a fucking lump on a goddamn log. I'm so tired of this.


Meh. Alright, on to other things. Nothing really has been going on -- we're gearing up to go through everything in the house in anticipation for our move. I can't believe that we'll be outta here in just THREE MONTHS. There are so many things that we want to do and so many things that we HAVE to do before we move. We want to make a list of things that we can enjoy with Brooklyn and Steven (only our best friends in the entire world) which include going up to Seattle AT LEAST once. I also have to have a baby shower (which Brooklyn has so graciously offered to plan for me) and do family stuff and it just seems like we don't have the time. I wish we could go to Brooke and Steve's wedding and I wish we could go to Ohio and visit before we move...but we just can't. I'm not going to put my body through THAT much flying and time change and Bradford doesn't want to either.

Expect pictures for one of my next posts as well because its going to be after Reilly's birthday party. I also need to do what I said I was going to do and start doing a food blog. Maybe I'll do one later for the dinner we had last night. It was delicious. Tonight I'm going to make cheddar biscuits and some kind of chicken. Haven't decided yet. Reilly and I are also going to be making Muddy Buddies at some point in the next day or so.

Reilly is calling me to take a shower...sooooo I guess that's what I'll be doing.

<3

yikes. 10 days!?

So its been awhile since I've updated. So lets get to gettin!

So lets see -- Bradford came home last week. Which, besides him being home again, was pretty uneventful. Though Reilly was very very excited, jumping out of the car and screaming "DADDY!!" while running to him. It was completely adorable. She loves him a ton. So since he's been home its been business as usual...he gets up and goes to work, and Reilly and I hang out and home and do home stuff. It's pretty boring staying at home all day again.

We went out for date night last weekend -- we went to The Rock, where I ate a ridiculous amount of pizza and chips (and drank way too much diet coke) and then we went and saw a movie (Shutter Island to be exact -- was an alright movie....). I love date night. We rarely get nights to ourselves, so it's always welcome. And since we don't have Jax anymore, we actually get to do stuff for date night.

So as of tomorrow, I'll be starting my 14th week of pregnancy. I've been feeling a little better, but it seems like once something goes away, something else comes to take its place. I still feel sick every once in awhile, usually early in the morning, or late at night, and my RLS (restless leg syndrome) has been completely ridiculous the last week or so. It keeps me up at night (unless I'm taking something to help me sleep) and then if I wake up at any point during the night, I can't get back to sleep. I've also been completely exhausted, again...I always want to take naps, and usually end up dozing off during the day at some point...I try to get as much done as I possible can, but my body just needs me to take it easy. I feel bad because I know I need to keep up on the house and stuff, I mean shit, its my goddamn JOB for fucks sake, but I just don't have the energy. After I take a shower, I have to lay down for a little bit. After dinner, I have to lay down for a little bit (or like the other night, I have to lay down in the middle of MAKING dinner) I'm pretty sure I caught Brad's cold, which is why I've been feeling so uber icky lately....but I know its not all cold. So I've just been trying to take it easy -- luckily Bradford has been pretty understanding with everything and giving me a break. I think that he's okay as long as I get something done during the day. And I'm trying really hard, but then again, it took me a little more than a week to get the house clean for his arrival home, and even then it wasn't perfect. I just really hope that I start feeling better and more energetic. On the plus side, we have a couple appointments coming up!! March 29th (Reilly's birthday!!) is my 16 week appointment that Bradford will be coming with me to. And then April 26th is our ultrasound appointment! Yay! I'm still debating on if I want bring Reilly with us -- if we do, Brad has to watch her in the waiting room until right before we're done with the appointment. Mom talked about coming and hanging out with her, but I don't wanna make her do that if she doesn't have to. I think there are pros and cons to both having her come and not having her come. But I think in the end I'll see if someone can watch her for a little bit while we go to the appointment. Whatever, we'll figure it out when the time comes, we still have awhile. So picture update time. (The picture is at 13w2d I believe) Please ignore the ridiculous face I'm making. I was concentrating on sucking in the fat. Everyone seems to be thinking I'm having more than one baby, but I honestly highly doubt it. If that's the case, they might as well cut me open and tie my tubes after the birth...because I think if I had twins, I'd be done. Haha. but anyway. So I'm not as huge as I feel, I don't think. It's just really hard to think that I'm both only 14 weeks AND HOLY CRAP 14 WEEKS! I feel much farther along than I actually am, but at the same time, the last couple months have flown by. I found out exactly 2 months ago that I was pregnant. 26 more weeks to go. Haha. Ish.


So what else is there to update on? OH! Sooooo since my due date was supposed to be about a month before we had to be in Hawaii, Brad and I were talking about leaving early...which I think I mentioned...anyway, when he got back from Maldives, he put in paperwork to see if it would get approved for us to move earlier....well -- it did. July 10 is his new report date, which means, we'll be outta here probably at the very end of June. I feel like we have a lot to do before we move, and of course, I'm the only one that thinks so...but we have to make sure we get all of our utilities shut off and our last bills, we have to get movers here to pack up everything, go through everything, decide what we are going to do about housing, and a car when we get there....and a ton more stuff....it just FEELS like a lot -- it probably isn't all that much. And depending on when we can get all of our stuff shipped will depend on when we can get outta our house....its just deciding a lot of dates and times and what not and we need to kinda get everything as set in concrete as we can since we are depending on mom and dad for a couple weeks before we move for a place to live and a car. This isn't going to be anywhere near as easy as when Brad moved from Hawaii to here....he didn't have a wife and a kid (with one on the way) to move too. *sigh* I'm just glad that we'll be there and we can get settled before the baby comes...I should learn to just let things go and let them happen as they happen and deal with things, but I like to be in control and know exactly what is going to happen and when, and the Army doesn't help with that. :/ But I'll deal and everything will be fine, and I'll just be stressed and Brad will deal with it like he always does because he loves me. It's weird that in just a couple months we'll be in Hawaii starting a new chapter in our lives...a new state, a new baby....my how time flies. Also with moving so fast, I'll have to have a baby shower in time for everything to get packed up by the movers -- so like, the end of May-ish...but then again, its one of those things that needs an exact date....and Brooklyn is dealing with it, so yea.

So Reilly's birthday is coming up. (March 29 like I mentioned earlier) and so is her birthday party (SpongeBob!!) ! I have almost everything -- minus the cake, and a menu...unfortunately, the menu is going to depend on if its sunny outside or not. I'd really love to BBQ something...but I'm not entirely sure what to make! I'll have to sit down this weekend and figure it out...(thought I just checked out weather.com and it doesn't look like its going to be nice at all...sooo) maybe crab cakes or something along those lines? I guess I don't really have to MAKE anything (like lunch) I could just do snacks or something. I dunno. I'll figure it out. I'll get help from Brooke/Steve & Bradford and make a semi-kid friendly menu. I also have to deal with the balloon situation...I want to blow up 50+ balloons to give the house an "underwater" feel, but Bradford doesn't want that many balloons in the house. LAME! I bought them for a reason. Whatever, I'm going to call the Party Store and see how much renting a tank would be vs. having them blow them up.

So I think that's all for now! More updates to come! I'm going to start a weekly food post as well, since I'm always cooking and everyone seems to enjoy my food. It's pretty nommy.

<3

almost there...

So firstly, I'm almost done with my first trimester of pregnancy! A little less than a week left, and I'm pretty excited about that. I'll be even happier when I don't feel like such crap all the time (morning sickness AND just plain exhaustion) Secondly, Bradford comes home soon! In about a week! I'm really excited about that. He hasn't really seen me since knowing about the pregnancy -- he's seen pictures, and he's seen over the web-cam, but that's about it. So I'm sure it'll be quite the shock for him. But that's just what I think. I could be totally wrong. Anyway, I'm excited to see him again -- I've missed him a whole bunch. I just don't want to leave my house super early in the morning to get to the airport on time. And I'll have to leave a little earlier than normal since I'll be heading up north around morning rush hour. Yeesh. Anyway.

So today (1 March) was my "12" week appointment...even though I'm not actually 12 weeks until Thursday. But I had that appointment today. Reilly came with me. She was so good. It was a pretty quick appointment...like most of them are. Got weighed (I lost a pound. lolz. Thanks morning sickness!!), they took my blood pressure (all normal), talked a little bit...including getting a memo from my Doc saying when my "no fly" date starts so that we can start the process of getting able to leave early. We're hopefully shooting for the end of July *crossing fingers* which, would give us only about 4 months to tie up loose ends here. Wow. 4 months? It seems like just yesterday Bradford was reenlisting! Oh, okay, back to the doctor appointment -- Reilly and I both got to hear the heart beat. Which was very exciting, of course! Reilly even got to help with the doppler by pushing the button to turn it on and off, and then helping wipe the gel off my stomach. Ew. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but I hate that fucking gel. Whatever, Reilly was a huge big help, and she was such a good girl at the appointment. My next appointment is on 29 March (Reilly's birthday!) and she can't come to that one, so she's going to go hang out with Auntie Brooke for a little bit -- the next appointment is a "big" one I guess? Labs and what not. Doing some normal genetic testing (the same one that I had done with Reilly -- mehh I forget what its called) - blah blah blah. Bradford will be able to come to that one - pending they'll let him take off for it from work, which, they really have no reason not to. So that's whats up with the pregnancy thing. (Above picture is 11w2d) Also! I'll be making my appointment for my ultrasound sometime at the end of this week. That would be the ultrasound to find out the sex and make sure the baby is growing the right way. I'm so excited and so nervous at the same time. At first I really really wanted another girl -- but now, I really don't care either way. And I really mean that. I wouldn't mind having a girl OR a boy. Reilly gets to come to that one too -- unfortunately, her and daddy will have to hang out and wait until they get done taking measurements before they get to come in...which makes me sad...but kids under a certain age can't come in for the whole ultrasound. Sad.

Reilly's birthday is coming up, as previously stated, and I think I got all of her decorations for her party taken care of. I feel like I'm going way overboard for her birthday this year, but I have my reasons -- first, its her last birthday as an only child...and second, its her last birthday here in Washington for at least a couple years. So I want to make this one a good one. But I can't believe that my little girl is going to be 4! It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms and she was so tiny...ahhh, hopefully I won't be getting teary-eyed on her birthday. So she's gonna have a SpongeBob themed birthday -- pictures will be coming afterward. I'm HOPING *crossing my fingers* that its going to be nice out. I'd really like to BBQ...but I won't hold my breath. It IS Washington after all. But that WOULD make me very awesomely happy. I would love it. Now I just have to get her birthday presents. I'm getting her a couple Transformer toys...and that's about all I got so far. We're talking about giving her Bradford's iTouch (its 8gb) because he's eventually going to get an iPhone...which I think is a great idea. She would absolutely love it.

What else? Oh! I am completely OBSESSED with etsy lately. I LOVE all the stuff that people put on there. I am completely obsessed and I wish I could afford all the stuff I want on there. The first order I placed was for reusable produce bags from etsy seller LoveForEarth. I CAN'T wait to use them! That over there to the left is what they look like. I use reusable bags 99% of the time (except the odd time I forget them at home when I go grocery shopping) and I'm so happy that I came across these, so now I don't have to use those crappy little produce bags that we just throw away. SOO excited! There are so many more things that I wish I could buy. I'm really big on cameo jewelry and vintage kitchen gadgets right now. So maybe soon. I also got Season 1 of Glee on Amazon for a little over $30 for everything (including shipping) and a book (more like a journal) for all the recipes that i have floating around in my head, and around my house. I need a cute, nice place that I can keep them all, especially when we move -- I don't need all that stuff floating around all over the house! So I'm also excited for all those goodies. I love internet goodies.

Also! One more thing. Today is my dad's birthday! He's 50 today! Old fart. :D I love my dad. I've been through so many mixed feelings towards him over the last 10 years, and I've had to work past a lot of things, but, I know my dad loves me, and I love him and I'm so glad that I have him in my life. He's very important to me, and Reilly, and I would like to assume Brad too. And I know he's important to my mom and my brother and sister-in-law. So Happy Birthday to my favorite dad ever. I hope he has had a fantastic day and enjoys being half a century old. And just a couple years away from senior discounts! ;)

That's it for today -- more soon. Back to trying to outbid other ebayers.

<3