New Look & Catching Up

I've been missing writing my blog lately, (as weird as that sounnds) and was thinking it was about time for a change. So this is it, The new me. If I have any readers left after my horrible lack of blogging over the last two months I'd be amazed...I guess thats what happens when you work 40 hours a week and have a toddler and husband to care for. ;) 

I'll be the first one to admit I was pretty unprepared for it all. I'm still getting into a routine and trying to juggle everything, which seems impossible most days. Let's just say I have a new found respect for all you working moms out there and especially my mama who worked and raised four children. Despite that, overall life has been pretty good. Things aren't quite what I was hoping for with this new job but then again they usually aren't. I'm praying things get easier as time goes on. 

[Enjoying some snuggle time with Grandma in St. Augustine]

My son is growing like a little weed and it seems as though he's doing something new everyday. He makes me smile and helps me forget even the most awful of days. I really wish I could slow down these sweet moments just a bit so I can enjoy them a little longer. In January we celebrated Bubby's first birthday and really enjoyed our visit with his Grandma. She loves him so much and we had a great time visiting St. Augustine and getting everything ready for Bubby's first birthday party. I was a little sad that the rest of our family couldn't be here with us, but so thankful we were able to share it with my mother in law. 

[The Birthday Boy, One Year Old!]

[La la la la...it's birthday time!]

[Finger Lickin' Good...]

Since then we spent the entire month of February and March being sick one time after another, (thanks grubby little daycare kids...) and Bubby ended up with a bad cold that turned into a double ear infection. We thought he had gotten better when another ear infection came on and he had to get more antibiotics. Not two days after he was done with his second round he caught another cold and he is still fighting it. We've been told by his doctor along with everyone and their mother that it's normal for kids to catch 7-8 colds their first year in daycare and I can't even think about how we are going to get through the next nine months of this!

 Every time he gets sick he passes it along to my husband and I which makes for an unusually cranky household. My job doesn't pay sick time until you've accumulated so many hours over the year so it has been extremely difficult to schedule doctors appointments and take trips to the er when I technically can't leave work and not get paid for it. I could care less about losing out on the money when it comes to making sure my child is healthy but it really frustrates me how behind the times America is when it comes to this sort of stuff. As a parent when your child is sick it's stressful enough without having to worry about being fired if you leave work because they need to see a doctor. Since we are a miliatry family and we recently pcs'd here we don't know too many people or have any family close by that could help out during these times. Sometimes I really wish we lived closer to home! 

Anyway, there have been lots of exciting things going on along with all the crappy stuff. Bubby started walking last month and I still can't get over how adorable he is walking all over the house. ♥

[Walking around with his basketball♥]

 I also found out that my husband was planning to surprise me with a visit from my mom who I've been missing so much lately. She'll be here in a little less than two weeks and I absolutely can't wait! I'm still going to be working of course but we will have the weekends together and will get to celebrate Easter and my birthday while she's here with us. :) I can't wait to take lots of pictures and do some sightseeing around Florida and hopefully Georgia. I'm so ready for what this month has in store for me and am thankful for all my blessings. If you stuck around and made it through this neverending post then God Bless You! Lol ;) Until next time...XOXO. 

Today is the day

My mother in law is flying in tonight to spend the next week with us and celebrate my baby boy's first birthday! This will be the first time we've seen any of our family since our visit to California in April. I am so looking forward to making memories and celebrating with her, I only wish all of our family could be here to celebrate with us. 

I'm hoping we can take a visit down to St. Augustine once the weather warms up a bit, (this arctic blast is no joke!) and do some sightseeing. We've also gotta get everything ready for Jeremiah's 1st birthday celebration which I have not planned a single thing for yet. 

I know, I know....MAJOR PROCRASTINATION!

 I know I said I was gonna work on my procrastinating, but in my defense these last two weeks have been crazy busy between the holidays, multiple interviews, searching for a daycare, applying for fee assistance and doing my drug screening for my new job. There has been so much going on that my head is still spinning!

 I can't wait to spend some quality time together while my mil is here. I want to soak up every moment with my family and especially my sweet boy before I go back to work soon. It's going to be here before I know it. 

Happy Wednesday everyone! ♥

Birthday Margaritas And My Easter Sunday!

Since my birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year, I decided to "officially" celebrate it on Saturday. My love Sarah and I decided we NEEDED some birthday margaritas from Texas Roadhouse....and don't forget the fried pickles!!!! Mmmmmm...we went all out and it was so much fun hanging out with Sarah and her hubby. 

This was actually my first time drinking a frozen margarita...can you believe that? I think it was a good thing considering how much I liked it...I'll probably be drinking them all the time now! ;) After we finished stuffing our faces like our food was going to disappear, we headed to the Mall and did a little retail therapy. ♥ I happened to find another gorgeous dress for 50% off at Aeropostale and they give a military discount so I got an extra 10% off. Score!!!! My mom would be so proud, she's the one who taught me how to bargain hunt. :) 

I think we dragged poor Joshua all over the entire mall, so he was beginning to act a little loopy. We were busy trying to pick out some sunnies at pacsun when he tried these on and I HAD to take his picture! Lol! 

 He's pretty fabulous right? Gotta love the toothpick in his mouth and the popped collar. So classy! ;) lol!

We also hit up Hot topic where I found this adorable little cupcake lip gloss. Its coconut flavored and I absolutely love it! ♥ 

 Sometimes it's the little things in life that make a girl happy. :) I also found this amazing turquoise nail polish by black poppy while we were on our search for sunnies.

For some reason I didn't end up getting any, but we were having so much fun trying on all the different ones. I really liked these ones! :)

Look at us! That is double trouble for sure, and we even got asked if we were sisters which we both thought was funny. ;)

After roaming the entire mall for sales and just being silly, we decided it was time for the movie. We got some popcorn and went to see "Water For Elephants." 

 This movie was spectacular. I loved every minute of it. The story takes place in 1931, so I loved the vintage feel and look of the film...the costumes, hair and makeup were amazing! Reese Witherspoon looked even more gorgeous than usual and Robert Pattinson was looking pretty hunky as well. ;)

Although I didn't hear from my hubby that day, (stupid comms!) he did manage to send me flowers, a beanie baby and a sweet card. I also got my very own Coach bag! ♥ This is my first Coach purse and I am in LOVE with it! :)

I'll admit I was still bummed about not being able to see or talk to my husband this weekend, which I've already complained enough about...but I did get to talk to him today for a few minutes, which made me really happy. I know I need to try harder to be understanding about him being gone and not having control over certain things...and I know he does love me and want to be with me, otherwise he wouldn't have done all this for my bday. I guess it's easy to assume the worst when you can't talk at all and I think I was just going a little crazy, but I'm trying to be better and not get upset so easily. 

Anyway, overall Saturday was a GREAT day and I just wanted to say thank you to Sarah and Josh for making me feel loved and special!♥

Sunday was Easter and my actual birthday, so I headed to my other good friends Megan and Brian's house. Megan is Italian and is the best cook ever...we had stuffed mushrooms, ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, and a ton of other stuff. I always look forward to eating her cooking. :) They were sweet enough to get me a birthday cake and a cute card, which was nice. I can't remember the last time I had an actual birthday cake. 

I got to wear my Easter Dress which I picked out especially for that day. I love it!♥

 Overall it was a fabulous weekend and I really felt like my friends tried very hard to cheer me up and make sure I had a good time. I am so blessed to have made such sweet friends. ♥ I was bummed and missing my husband but I still managed to make myself get out of bed and try to put a smile on my face. Each day I'm hoping it'll get a little easier and I'm so thankful for the blessings I do have in my life. I hope you all had a Great Easter and were able to spend it with family and friends!

Birthdays and Blogaversaries

When I started my blog last year, I barely knew what blogging was. I stumbled across some mil spouse blogs and thought, "hey that's a pretty great idea, I could do something like that." At the time I was a brand new military wife and had been thrust into this lifestyle very quickly and painfully. My husband and I had big plans. We both believed once my husband had graduated boot camp and a-school that we would reunite and move to our new duty station asap...

....Which of course would be San Diego since we only lived about two hours away! We would get an amazing apartment near the beach and enjoy the beautiful California sunsets while we hung out with our friends around the bonfire every weekend. We would only be an hour away from my family and two hours away from his, and would still get to see everyone for the holidays. And most importantly we would finally be together and enjoy being newlyweds in love.

If you've been following my blog for awhile now you can obviously see that did not happen for us. Instead my husband deployed right from a-school and didn't return home until August 2010. He had been gone since October 2009! Not only did we get stuck with sea duty but we also got stationed in good old Norfolk Virginia...a whopping 2,700 miles away from all our family and friends. We both had to kiss our dreams of what we thought was the "perfect military life" goodbye and were faced instead with the harsh reality of what the military is really like. We were both very naive and it was a good wake up call for us both.

Those ten months were the hardest of my life, and I honestly believe I wouldn't have made it through deployment number 1 with my sanity in tact (or most of it anyway) without my bloggy loves. You were all there to support me, give me advice, or just leave thoughtful words of encouragement and hope. I have made some great friendships through my blog, even if some are only through emails, fb and of course blogger. 

Its always nice to have people who know what you are going through and can be there when you really need a friend. So thank you to all my bloggy loves for sticking by me through the last year, and for your continued support during Deployment number two. I love you all and cherish the friendships we have made! So with that being said, today I am celebrating my One Year Blogaversay!!! I'm not sure if I spelled that right, considering its a made up word...but who cares? ;)

Happy Blogaversary to Me!!!!! ♥ I hope you'll all join me in celebrating this milestone :) 

....And now on to other important matters. My Golden Birthday is coming up this month! For those of you who are wondering what a "Golden Birthday" is...Let me explain. A "Golden Birthday" is something crazy my friend Aimee came up with...she says, "your Golden birthday only happens once and its when you turn the same age as the date of your birthday"...Yup This year I will be turning 24 on April 24th...So it has been dubbed my Golden Birthday!

...And 24 just so happens to be my favorite number, so I'm taking this as a sign that I need to make this year GREAT. ♥ Also by some strange coincidence, this year my birthday just so happens to fall on Easter Sunday...

My hubby has been asking me what I want this year, but so far I've got nothing...I asked him if he thought he could send himself home to me in a giant package. That would honestly be the best gift ever.♥...but since I know that hell would freeze over before that happened I guess I'll have to think of something else to ask for. Maybe a huge bouquet of flowers? 

Gerber Daisies always put an enormous smile on my face.♥

I guess I could just ask to go shopping for a few summer outfits...I do need to spruce up my closet...it's been ages since I've bought anything new! Anyway, even though my love won't be here to celebrate with me and neither will my family or besties I am determined to have a good time this year. After all your "Golden Birthday" only happens once!