Blog Goals (ish)

The end of April marks two years that I've been blogging. Well, blogging like a grown up. I did the LiveJournal and DeadJournal thing in high school, but that doesn't count. If only I had been smart like Taylor Swift.

Since I'm approaching a large milestone, I figured it might be a good idea to attempt to focus on my blog some more. Between moving to Hawaii, getting settled into the new house, and making care packages, I haven't had a ton of time to dedicated to blogging. Part of this has to do with the fact that I had NO idea how much time selling these care packages would take. While Hubs was deployed, putting together care packages was something that I would do to pass the time. And boy, does the time pass as I'm cutting and gluing.

Last night, Hubster and his friends had a boy's night sleep over. I figured that in my alone time, I could accomplish a bunch of blogging tasks to get myself on track for April. Unfortunately, I had some over-tired little ladies who didn't go to bed until much later than I was hoping for. I have tons of ideas for post and general blog tasks that I'd like to accomplish, but hardly any time to do them in.

Before the end of April, these are a few of things I'd like to focus on:

• Write more consistent and well thought out posts. Using a blogging calendar and scheduling blog posts in advance helps me get this done. If I know what I'm going to write about before I sit down, and I have a few days to get it done, it always comes out 100 times better.
• Use better photos. Across the internet lately, I've seen many people (especially moms) talking about using their cameras versus their cell phones for photos. Although I usually carry my camera around, whipping out my cell phone from my back pocket is so much easier. Cell phone pictures suck.
• Read more blogs. I have a hard time finding a block of time to read. I use to read and comment almost on a daily basis, and now it's become like a once a week thing. I've missed lots of fun link ups in the process also. Hopefully, with some better organization, I can devote more time.
• The above statement goes for social media also. I know it can be a time suck, but I seriously feel like I've missed a ton of exciting announcements through Twitter and Instagram. I feel slightly guilty that I get on, load my tweet or photo, scroll a little, and then put it away.
• Revamp this page. In addition to possibly getting a new design, I'm thinking I might want to go through my tags and clean those out. My pages could probably use some work too. I can't think of the last time I updated my about me page.

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Gymnastics

My biggest munchkin has been in gymnastics for a few weeks now. Yesterday, she received her first progress report for the class. All of  their little skills were rated on a scale of 0 to 3. For the most part, she did really well. She did get a couple of 1's, but they were on things that she was pretty bad at.

I'm so happy with this gym, since it's much more similar to the gyms that my sister attended when we were younger. Unlike gymnastics in Missouri, there are two coaches per class, that actually help the students follow through with their skills.

The video isn't the greatest since it's form my cell phone, and Adri grabbed the phone towards the beginning of the recording, but I'm so impressed with what my little one is doing. After class, she revealed to me that she was scared jumping from bar to bar, but I think she did a great job. She's been doing great with handstands and swinging on the bars. We really need to work on the cartwheels.

Did you do gymnastics or any other fun activities as a child?

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Weekend Success

We had a pretty lovely past couple of days. Husbter and I got a ton done around the house, and although we didn't really do anything mega-exciting, we did get to spend some nice family time. I'm going to start my recap from Friday, since we did something that we normally wouldn't do during the week.

Although Hubs had to work on Friday, the girls and I took a trip to the Honolulu Zoo with some friends. The Soldier of their family had Friday off, so they decided to take a family trip and invite us along. Because of my experience with the Miami walk five miles to see animals that might as well just be stuffed Zoo, I had pretty low expectations going in. I have to say that I was impressed by this little zoo. The size seemed perfect for a bunch of toddlers and the animals actually looked alive and could be seen moving.

It took us a couple of hours to circle the entire zoo, but mostly because at each exhibit, there were three little ones that needed to be unloaded from the stroller/wagon, lifted up to actually see the animal, and then placed back in. My girls had a great time, but were ready to go by the time we were done. Even though they don't really nap anymore, once nap time hits, V and Adri both turn into little trolls. Troll time is usually remedied by a car ride which was extended slightly due to Hawaii traffic. No complaints from me though!

I love Google+ gifs

Saturday is when Hubster and I started unpacking our remaining boxes and getting the house a bit more organized. The majority of my morning was spent finishing a care package order, but once I was done with that, I tackled the piles of clothes that have been sitting on my closet floor. A second donation box was filled with stuff that I won't miss, just to give me enough room to fit the stuff that I actually wear into the closet. I still have a stack of 15 jeans that will never fit me again on the floor, but I'm having a difficult time parting with those. Mostly because I got them free or for very cheap from my college job and they each retail for around $125.

Let's not forget that Veronica gave Adri a pretty epic hair cut Saturday night. I kept thinking that Adri's hair looked shorter, but I attributed the look to it be dirty. It wasn't until later Saturday night that we started finding little curls all over the floor that we realized what had happened. Sunday morning we hit the jackpot, and found half of Adri's head scattered around Veronica's room.

Sunday was spent unpacking some more. My amazing husband tackled the garage while I made our bedroom look pretty. I got some stuff hung up on the walls and cleared out all of the clutter taking up space on the floor. Walking into my room now makes me so happy, because it finally feels like home. We're getting closer and closer to me being able to post a house tour.

This week will hopefully be spent taking care of the yard. I need to pass by our community center to pick up some supplies and find out what I'm allowed to do. Since we're only renting this place, I really didn't want to put any money into it, but if we'll be living here for three years, I figure the least we can do is make the yard look nice. We live on a relatively busy street, and I don't want to be that family with the crappy looking house exterior. Believe me, it seems like the people who lived here before us were those people and I'm still trying to scrub the walls clean.

Anyone else start their spring cleaning over the weekend?

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That Time My Dog Taught Me A Life Lesson

I came home from grocery shopping yesterday to find a huge mess on the floor around the trash can. I don't kennel Caesar when we leave the house (or ever, really), because the most trouble he gets into while were gone is napping on the couch. I swear he's like a kid. He wouldn't dare hop up on the couch while we're home and he makes sure to jump off when he hears us outside. Well, the night before last, we had Chicken Marsala for dinner, so there were chicken wrappers and flour everywhere!

As much as I wanted to freak out and pop Caesar on the nose, I tried my very hardest to not be the bitch mom again. I could already tell he knew what he did was wrong by the sad way he was cowering around. I didn't even bother raising my voice (too much). Instead, I used some of the same techniques that I read about using on kids with the dog. I bent down looked him square in the eyes, and calmly but sternly said, "Caesar, no!"


And that was that. I cleaned up the mess, felt awesome that I didn't lose my cool, and everyone went on with their day. The whole time, I just kept thinking that this is exactly the approach I need to continue to take with the girls. It probably took less effort to remain calm than it does to get all worked up over little things.

Overall, yesterday was a much better day. It helped that Veronica was in school and Adri and I kept busy just as I was hoping. Thanks for all of your kind comments.

Today, we'll be taking a trip to the zoo. Hubster is working, so we're going along with another family. Thank God it's Friday, and we'll get to spend the next few days relaxing.

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Today WILL Be Better

Yesterday was rough. I don't think it was even 10:00 am yet, and everyone in the house had shed their share of tears. This momma included. No one wanted to listen, I had work to do, and I was just frustrated with life. I yelled and lost my temper many more times than I would have liked. It felt like no matter what I asked, the girls wanted to do the opposite. The most frustrating part has to be that I hate being a bitch mom. I don't want the girls to remember me constantly being upset and yelling.

Hubs saw how irritated I was while he was home or lunch and tried to help with some internet suggestions. Some I agree with, some we've tried with lackluster results. I've made it my goal today to not have a repeat of yesterday. Today I'm going to try speaking to them (especially V) at eye level while using friendly tones. I'm also going to make sure that I follow through with what I say. If I threaten to take stuff away, it's going to get taken away. I'm tired of feeling like the only person whose kids are assholes. Hopefully, this will be a step in the right direction.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to get us all on a good structured schedule. It would help if I would actually print all of those schedules and to-do lists that I've pinned on Pinterest. I made a consequence chart that has been stuck to the fridge and untouched since it left the printer. I'm hoping that once everyone is on the same page about expectations, life might go a bit more smoothly.

Having V in school today will help. I'm hoping to keep the day packed with errands, so that Adri doesn't have time to disobey. And if all else fails, I'll just sit in a corner and eat the chocolate that Hubs brought home last night while Adri eats ice cream for lunch.

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Date Day

When you move around a lot, finding a trust worthy baby sitter can be tough. In the past, we've always relied on the teenage child of someone we knew to watch the girls. So far, we haven't had much luck with that in Hawaii. Hubster is kind of a one man show when it comes to his unit, and all of the people we know, also have young kids. I'm half hoping that when he takes command, he'll have a 1SG with a teenage daughter.

In the meantime, I'm getting closer and closer to getting on Care.com. And now that I think about it, I'll probably check it out once I'm done blogging. I've had multiple friends recommend it, but something about getting a baby sitter from the internet skeeves me out. I'm sure that it won't be an issue once I'm really desperate to get some hubby time.

To make up for our lack of date nights, Hubster planned a date day over the weekend. Kids included. No worries though, it wasn't nearly as disastrous as you're thinking. In fact, it was a rather nice time.

We started off with a late lunch at Moe's (better than Chipotle) Southwest Grill. I freaking LOVE Moe's'(?) burritos! The next part is where the real fun happened. We went to an indoor bounce house place at the mall. They had four bounce houses set up with one of them being for kids three and under. It was totally empty for the most part, so Hubs and I were able to park it there for close to two hours. YES! TWO hours of almost uninterrupted nothing. And that ladies and gentlemen, is my idea of fun.

Hubster and I chatted a little about baby names, a little about our university trying to buy the fair grounds, laughed every time one of our kids tripped and fell on their faces in the bounce house (which happened frequently). But really, the best part was being able to watch the girls have so much fin tiring themselves out. I wasn't so sure about the $10/kid price tag at first, but it's definitely something I'd be willing to pay again to get a bit of peace and maybe an afternoon nap.

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Crafting Lately

It feels like I've been in somewhat of a blogging slump for a while now. I have ideas, I just haven't been getting them out as well as I'd like. So, in lieu of blogging, I've been crafting.

After doing the care package thing for a while, I feel like I'm running low on ideas. Well, maybe not ideas, but creative inspiration to really make them stand out how I'd like. Plus, with the lack of craft stores here, it's been slightly difficult to get all of the materials that I really want. Without any major holidays coming up after Easter, I've got a little while until the Father's Day and 4th of July anyway. A Memorial Day care package would be weird, right?

Instead of care packaging and scrapbooking, I've been doing some sewing. Up until this past week, my machine had just been sitting in the garage unloved. I figured it was finally time to bring it into the house. Although it's been a little while since I've sewn, it's one of those things that is like riding a bicycle. I've been practicing with some really cute bow patterns for the girls that I found on Pinterest.

With some of the scraps, I also tried making fabric button earrings. OMG! So freaking cute! I'm not huge on switching my earrings out all the time, but if I could have matching earrings for every outfit, I'd be willing to give it a shot. It's perfect for the girls, since I mostly sew for them, and usually have plenty of scraps left over.

Along those lines, I also gave ACU earrings a try. I have 53408237 yards of Army fabric from making wreaths back in the day. I also had some USMC fabric since my sister's husband is a Marine. I added some earrings to my Etsy shop in hopes of it becoming more of a military inspired shop versus just care packages. We'll see how that goes.

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My Recent Addiction

Guys, I might have a problem. I can't stop shopping online. Sure the shipping is sometimes a killer, but sometimes it's not! I just signed up to be a Bloomingdale's Loyalist (pfftt..), which gets me free shipping. Even to Hawaii. I rarely shop at Bloomy's because their stuff is so damn expensive, but since I have a gift card, might as well, right?

Let's talk about Target and their current $5 sale on t-shirts and tank tops for a second. Heaven. Most of the Target items are marked up here, so these prices certainly wouldn't apply if I tried to shop in store. Our dollar spot is sad. Since I get free shipping with the REDcard anyway, it only makes sense to shop online to score mainland prices plus the 5% off.

Half of my wardrobe consists of a rainbow of these three items

Just a few days ago, I had to jot down my credit card number so that I wouldn't have to pull out the card every time I see something I like. No worries, expiration date and the security code are stored in my noggin.

Having a PayPal doesn't help either. What? Just enter my email address and password and I can have all of these awesome things on Etsy?! Done.

I know I'm not the only one with this problem. I've always been pretty cheap, but having a surprise in my mailbox every time I open it gives me a serious rush. I'll probably hit up Old Navy next, but what are some of your favorite online retailers?

BTW... Does anyone remember back in middle school when it wasn't cool to wear Target clothes and everyone called it Targét to sound fancy? Suck it cool kids. I like my $5 shirts!

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My Unpopular Opinion

I'm not the type of person to get into serious discussions/arguments on Facebook. Personally, I prefer to steer clear of confrontation, and I'm really just not comfortable sharing my opinions on things such as politics and religion on the internet. Yesterday, something strange happened though. I saw a status that I strongly disagreed with, and I couldn't help but add my two cents.

The post on Facebook was in reference to this article by the Army Times. The majority of the comments above mine were about how if you want to join our military, you need to dress like us. While I do agree with that statement to an extent, there are currently plenty of exceptions in place that allow Soldiers to sort of bend those rules for a variety of reasons. A few of those reasons are stated in my response at the bottom of the image.

After posting, I couldn't stop thinking about the whole issue, so when Hubster came home for lunch, I asked him what he thought about beards in the military. I was super surprised when he said "no". What?! You're my husband, you're supposed to agree with me! So I asked him why. His two word answer actually had nothing to do with uniformity, and "letting people get away with everything". Actually, in my opinion, it was much more thought out than any of the comments that I had read on Facebook. His answer: "gas masks".

So I'm curious. I know that many of my readers are either in the military, veterans, or military spouses. Am I totally crazy for not agreeing with the masses?

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Fun-Filled Weekend

Because of my little announcement yesterday, my weekend post is coming a day late. The drab weather finally let up (for the most part), and we were able to enjoy a nice weekend out and about in Hawaii. The weather has been crappy just about every weekend lately, and staying home has gotten extremely old.

Saturday afternoon started out with a trip to a local food truck rally. The food truck thing really took off in Miami just after we moved away, which has left me intrigued by it since then. I finally had my chance to go! This group hosts monthly food truck get togethers, but they're always in Honolulu, and that seems like a far drive just for food. Luckily, this one was 10 minutes away and it was bacon themed.

I was a little let down that not everyone stuck to the bacon theme, but I was still blown away by all of the varieties of food that were available! There was a Puerto Rican inspired truck that even had bacon empanadas. Holy yum! We walked the entire venue along with some of Hubster's work boyfriends, sampling treats along the way, but since the weather decided not to cooperate, we headed out.

NOT bacon flavored ice cream

Bacon mac & cheese wontons

Waffle dog topped with bacon, cheese & possibly syrup

The rendezvous location was boyfriend #3's house not too far away. The boys drank beers outside, the girls chatted inside, and the kids played and watched TV. In the evening, there was a man-date, and the girls continued to hangout for a little longer.

Sunday was a beach day that Caesar got to tag along on. One of the boy friends live literally across the street from the ocean, and part of the beach there has a dog section. I was afraid to let Caesar off of his leash, and according to the law, you're not suppose to anyway. Plenty of other dogs were, but since my big guy hasn't interacted with anyone lately, I was afraid of him taking off, and not listening. He did well, so maybe next time. If we do a next time.

My sweet boy wasn't a huge fan of the water and definitely wasn't feeling the waves. He had no problem hanging out in the sand and digging huge holes. The other dog that we were with (with no leash) had a great time running into the ocean to fetch a toy. If only my puppy liked the water. Still had a blast though! No little dogs were mauled which made the experience even better.

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It's A....

I ended up not really doing anything special for our little gender reveal on Friday. I had the sonographer put the results in an envelope which Hubs and I opened together when he passed by the house between his brief and heading back to his office. Baby #3 ended up being exactly what we were expecting.

Even though I had a bit of hope that things might go in Hubster's favor because of some of the wive's tales in last week's post, it turns out that we'll be having another baby girl! It was the Chinese gender predictor that really got my hopes up that Hubs would get his boy. No such luck.

Twenty-ish weeks from now, we'll be a household of four ladies, one papa, and a neutered Caesar. My hubba bubba will be all on his own.

Twenty-ish years for now, we'll be paying for three weddings. For now, we'll be saving money by passing down the same clothes that all the other lovely ladies have worn.

Although it may have been nice to have a boy, I take comfort in knowing that I have plenty of practice when it comes to girls.

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20 Week Bumpdate

Yesterday was the halfway (hopefully) point for this pregnancy. Yay! I also had my ultrasound yesterday to reveal the gender of baby #3. You'll have to wait until Monday for that though.

So, how are things going with pregnancy and baby? Thankfully, baby is growing right as it should be, and my due date is still July 25. Everything at the ultrasound looked normal, which is great, because I was a bit concerned after the last one. The placenta was a little low, but should move up as everything grows.

I've been feeling pretty good. I've just started to feel the baby kicking. I have a little bit of a hard time falling sleep and staying asleep.  A lot of it has to do with the fact that I constantly have to pee. I've gotten better about going to the bathroom before bed, but honestly, even if I wake up in the middle of the night with an urge, there's a slim chance that I'm getting up. Yes, I am that lazy. And that's probably my biggest issue. I lack all motivation to do anything.

I've been doing my best to keep the girls busy. Since we live on a dead end street, the girls have been riding their bikes down there. There are still a few Pinterest projects that we haven't gotten around to. I'm relatively satisfied with how we've been able to space them out.

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Boy or A Girl?

Tomorrow afternoon is my anatomy ultrasound! Aside from measuring all of the little pieces of our munchkin, we'll also be finding out the gender. At my 12 week ultrasound, the tech gave us an idea of what she thought the baby was, but it'll be interesting to see if everything stayed the same. I thought it would be fun to share some gender-predicting wives tales and compare how those predictions worked out when it came to Veronica and Adriana. Both of which are girls, by the way..

Heart Rate: They say that if the baby's heart beat is below 140 beats per minute, it's a boy. Above that, it's a girl. This time, we've consistently been in the 150's and 160's. Veronica: girl, Adri: girl, Baby 3: girl

Mother's Beauty: If you're plagued with acne and other skin blemishes, it's supposedly because your baby girl is stealing your beauty. I've had great skin (and hair) each time. Veronica: boy, Adri: boy, Baby 3: boy

Cravings: Craving sweets is supposed to indicate that you're having a girl, while craving salty treats is indicative of a boy. I'm a sucker for sweets, all the time. This time around all I want is a Whopper. Veronica: girl, Adri: boy (sand counts as salty, right?) Baby 3: boy

Morning Sickness: Apparently, mommas of boys don't have to deal with morning sickness. Or those fun hormones in the teenage years.. I've gotten progressively better at dealing with morning sickness since Veronica, it's definitely still there though. At least in the first trimester. Veronica: girl, Adri: girl, Baby 3: girl

Chinese Gender Predictor: This is a fun one. The Chinese have a calendar that is supposed to predict the gender of your baby based on your age at conception and month that you conceived in. Supposedly, it's 90% accurate. I won't get my hopes up just in case it works like the Mayan calendar. Veronica: girl, Adri: girl, Baby 3: boy

via

High or Low: If the baby is carrying high, it's supposed to be a girl. If you carry low, it's a boy. I honestly can't remember what it was like with V or Adri. I'm not showing much yet, but everything seems to be pretty low. Baby 3: boy

So, predictions? Come back on Monday, to find out what we're having!

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I Can't Complain

I started typing up today's post, and then I got annoyed with myself and what I was typing. It was going to be a long complaint. Well, I hate reading about other people's complaints, and I really need want to stop bringing that negativity to my blog.

So, I'm going to mention this once, and then hopefully get over it and not mention it again.

Hubster won't be able to make it to my ultrasound on Friday. I scheduled it around his schedule, but of course in the Army, things come up. I was mostly disappointed, because he's always had the flexibility to make it to anything I've needed him to be at, but in actuality, it could be worse.

The positives:

• I was able to get a friend to watch the girls. Hubs was supposed to drop them off at daycare, which didn't open until the same time as my appointment, so he was just going to meet me there. 
• He isn't a continent away getting shot at. 

Now I just have to decide how I want to find out. Either I can find out at the ultrasound, on my own, and then surprise Hubster -or- I can do it so that we find out together, later on. And by later on, I mean that night when the husband gets home.

Knowing that this baby is our last (hopefully), makes it a little bit of a big deal. What do you guys think? 

Also, happy Founder's Day to my lovely Phi Mu sisters!

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Our Weekend

Now that I'm thinking about it, it doesn't seem like we did very much this weekend. The weather has been pretty crappy lately, which makes it feel like I've been trapped in a preschool for far to long. Even with the rain, we were able to break away from the monotony of being home with some quick trips out. All the cool kids seem to be doing bullet points lately, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

• Hubster is leaving me. Luckily, it's only for a month. He has to go to the mainland for some temporary duty. He's pretty disappointed that it's to a not so awesome location and isn't somewhere cool like Thailand. I'm still trying to figure out how we're going to survive. I suppose I've done it before with the two munchkins. I just don't wannnna!

• I started cloth diapering Adri over the weekend. The diapers that I ordered got here on Friday, so I washed them that night and started with her first diaper change on Saturday. I'm very happy with how it's gone thus far. I even ended up ordering more diapers. I'm not a huge fan of her solid stuff, which needs to be tossed in the toilet, but it really isn't that bad. I keep reminding myself that #3 will be exclusively breastfed for many many months, so I'll just be able to throw those diapers straight into the wash.

• We tried a new restaurant for dinner Saturday night. Because our friends had really hyped the place up, I took it upon myself to read all of the negative Yelp reviews to lower my expectations. It ended up being really good! Hubs wasn't as impressed. Probably because he was expecting a golden piece of ahi on his plate delivered by Ronald Reagan. Should've read the reviews..

• My boobs have become obscenely large. For me anyway. All of my regular bras seem to cut of my circulation and ability to breathe, so I picked up new bras at Target. I'm not a fan of Victoria and her crappy bras. I didn't feel like trying stuff on, so I guessed at the size and got it right. Holy moly. I can breathe again!

• The lack of craft stores on Oahu is starting to get to me. I spent hours on Friday Googleing scrapbook shops on the island. All of the ones that came up have closed down. Saturday morning was spent searching online for stores that sell paper by the sheet. I had no problem finding large pads of scrapbook paper, but not so much luck with single sheets. And the shops that had sheets, we're outrageously priced for a sheet of paper. I decided that I'm going to have my sister go to Michael's for me, and send the paper with my mom when she comes back in a few weeks. 

This week we have our 20 week ultrasound, where we'll be finding out the gender of baby #3, and V is finally starting gymnastics, yay! 

Have a lovely week!

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