Friday, November 11, 2011

Day Thirty-Three

Woke up to the wind this morning. It's quite normal here to be very windy. I just don't want it to blow my gazebo cover off. I'm going to take it down when it starts snowing, but don't want to have to take it down earlier. The kids got up and went down and put a movie on. I heated up some leftovers from dinner for breakfast. We ate and then I relaxed with the kids for a bit before deciding to take charge of the day. I spent the entire day doing stuff that I've been putting off for a while. We still had all our boxes from our bedroom set, so I broke them down, cut them up, and took them to the cardboard bin down the street. I did the same for all the packing paper still left over from when we moved here, as well as a few moving boxes we still had left. This took a good few hours, but I was lucky to have my favorite radio station from back home playing the whole time via the internet. I work so much better when i have my music =) It took a few runs to get it all taken out, and it was freezing outside, 2 degrees celsius according to my car, so it wasn't too fun. Once I was done with that I swept up all the dust that was behind the boxes and then thoroughly vacuumed the basement and the basement stairs. I found some money and quite a few toys in the process, lol. Then, I had to jump on loads of laundry, mostly stuff we'd still had packed away. I got it all put away as well, until I ran out of hangers for the kids' clothes. I guess I'll have to go buy some more. I cleaned out the kids closets and rearranged them, and packed away Hayden's old clothes that Brayden will grow into, and clothes that no longer fit Brayden that will go to the baby if it's a boy (but as always, hoping I will have to send them all to my sister instead because it turns out to be a girl =) )

This all took so long that literally by the time I was done it was dinner time. I had planned to just finish the meatloaf from last night since there was still plenty, and I don't want it to just sit in the fridge and go bad as usual with my leftovers. After dinner, the kids went upstairs and took a bath- not for hygienic purposes, purely for fun lol. Brayden put on some of his new footy pajamas that I had cleaned today, and he was excited about that. I went between relaxing and doing more laundry as loads finished. My right hip is really bugging me now- it's not so fun to step down on my right side, so I'm just trying to take it easy now. After this, I'm going to sit with the kids and finish watching Toy Story 3 with them, put the clothes from the wash into the dryer when the stuff in the dryer is done, and then head off to bed. I tried to call Denton today to wish him a happy Veteran's Day and let him know how proud I am of him, but he has his phone off =/. I really am so proud of him and everyone else he serves with and all those who served before him. I know there are people that do not support the military, but I think they should realize that if it weren't for people like my husband, we would still have an active draft and it's likely their husband/father/brother or someone they love would be in his place, so they could at the very least be thankful for that. Today, I am thankful for my soldier and all he does for this family =)

Goodnight.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Day Thirty-Two

Another good night of sleep for all of us. I say all of us because surprisingly Hayden jumped right out of bed when I did when normally I have to wake him up, and Brayden got up right away as well. We all headed downstairs and I got the kids some breakfast and then continued on as usual with the morning. I went over Hayden's words with him one last time as he got dressed to prepare for his test today. We headed out to school and dropped Hayden off at the gate, gave him hugs and kisses, and wished him well on his last day of the week. Brayden and I went back home, I ate some breakfast, and then we sat on the couch looking at his Seek and Find books. We were both quite exhausted, so we tried to lay down on the couch a bit but then retired upstairs in the big bed where it's nice and dark- I don't do so well sleeping with much light. We slept until it was time to get up and get ready for me meeting.

We took a shower and got dressed and went on to the USO. Brayden was happy because he knew he's be getting some hot chocolate, and I was happy because I had gotten an email alert about receiving a package at the post office and thought for sure it was my hypnobabies. We went in, got some hot chocolate, and headed into the conference room for the meeting. They were serving spaghetti which was so very nice because we hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was rather hungry. Brayden sat on my lap and quietly ate some spaghetti as well. They went over some good volunteer opportunities that we can put out to our FRGs and look forward to ourselves. I figure since I'm not working right now, it's good for me to take up a good amount of volunteer opportunities to make use of myself. Well, the meeting didn't last too long, so afterwards I grabbed another plate of spaghetti since Brayden finished most of mine, and let him play and watch Diego in the kid's corner while I finished up. We went over to the post office and unfortunately it wasn't my hypnobabies, but my bathing suit bottom that I had ordered. Oh well, it should be here next week sometime and I can get started on it right away.

We went over to the PX to look around and I finally got to go in to see the Vitamix demonstration- note: I already know how awesome it is, the best part if getting all the samples of the yummy, healthy stuff they make =P. I will own one one day, but that day was not today- I'll wait until I can save up and pay for it in cash, we finance too much and need to put an end to that. Of course it didn't help to pick up the Sunday after Thanksgiving sale and see a 59" Samsung LED HD 3D TV on sale for $1499. That price is insanely good, and we <3 Samsung TVs in this family, but, alas, we will not give in to temptation! Our tv works awesome, and we will upgrade once we get back to the states. Hopefully by then that will be about normal price for one of those TVs, right now they're typically just ridiculous. I may have to tell my family about it, though. They're crazy about buying new TVs for some reason lol. We walked around a bit more to see if there was anything to spark my interest for Christmas shopping, but it was just too crazy in there as today was the start of a 4-day weekend for the garrison. We left outta there and went over to the commissary to get some stuff for dinner. I got mostly veggies and then some meat for meatloaf and got the kids their favorite yogurt drinks. Luckily, they are healthy and were on sale since they'll be expiring soon, but they don't last more than a few hours in the house anyways lol.

By the time we were done it was time to head over and get Hayden. We got our coats on and went on down to wait. Hayden came out shortly after and had a great report from his teacher. We went on home and went through his backpack and he showed me his bus pass to start next week and his spelling test. He got 12 out of 10, the extra 2 points from bonus words! I am so proud of him, and so glad we worked so hard together on his words this week! I let the kids go out and ride their bikes since it's been a while since I let them last, but it's just so darn cold out now. I even had to get my headband and gloves on just to stand out there and watch them, but they really enjoyed it. I took that time as well to switch Hayden's booster seat back over to his True Fit harnessed seat. I've been meaning to do it since my mom left in September, but I just kept putting it off. I believe he's mature enough for the booster seat, but I prefer him in his safer seat until he grows out of it. It's about to get snowy and icy, and driving around here can be crazy sometimes, especially on the autobahn, so I prefer the kids as safe as they can be. Once they were done, we all came in and the kids played while I got started on dinner. I cleaned off the counters and stove to start preparing, and then got to it chopping and mixing. I threw the meatloaf in the oven and then  finally tried my Yoga for Beginners dvdlol. I'm more of a Zumba kinda girl, but there's no way I could be doing that right now with my hip issues. I'd regret it lol. I do have another dvd specifically to use with my yoga ball that I'm willing to try out, though, but if I don't like it either I will be returning them and getting the prenatal specific one. I finished cooking my side dishes and then dinner was ready. Of course as I bring the food out I see that Brayden is passed out on the couch. It stinks because meatloaf is one of his favorite foods, but I knew he'd eat once he got up later.

Hayden and I ate and then decided to make some brownies. He's been asking to make some kind of dessert for a while now, so I gave in tonight. He had a great day, so he deserved it. He helped me make them and we just chilled out while we waited. He put on a Batman movie and I took the brownies out to cool. I cut them up, we had one each, and then I went upstairs to get in the bath. I took my notebook so I could make lists and my phone to listen to the radio. I don't really like the music selection here, so I listen to my favorite stations from back home online or on an app on my phone. Brayden eventually got up and joined me. I stayed in extra long tonight because it was so relaxing. I got Hayden set up to play on the computer and he was good. Once I got out, Brayden was ready to eat so I got him a plate and Hayden went to lay down. Once he was done I talked to Denton for a little bit and then started this. Brayden has since passed out, and I am quite ready for bed myself. I am hoping to be able to sleep in tomorrow since Hayden is out of school, so hopefully the kids will let me.

Goodnight.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Just an FYI

As I've said in one of my posts before, please forgive me if there are any grammatical errors or even whole missing parts to some of my posts. By the time I am finished typing them, it really is time for me to go to bed, so I don't re-read my posts before publishing. I do a simple spell check, and that thing could really use some updating. But, I have read 1 or 2 of my posts after posting them and realized I had chunks of paragraphs that I had typed completely disappear, so it made things kind of weird. If there are any like that, I'm sorry.

Day Thirty-One

One month of deployment down. Who knows how much longer to go. The sooner the better. For anyone reading this that doesn't know more and thinks "one month is nothing," my husband deployed before it was put out that their whole company would be going on the big one year deployment in February, and now he will be coming home soon to start training up for that one. So yea, one or so months ain't bad, but it is when you know he'll be turning around and leaving for a long time soon after he gets back.

Anyways, slept much better last night, but still waking up a bit early. I guess it's good that my body has an internal alarm clock, but I wish it would just understand that I have an external one, and I'd prefer it to sleep until that one goes off! lol. I went to sleep to my hypnosis app again last night- it's nice to wake up and try to remember the last thing I heard from it to see how long it takes me to fall asleep. Some nights I'm really quick, but I fall asleep before the end every night either way which is great. So, I finally got up and got Hayden up. Brayden, once again, had lazy bones so stayed in bed. I made Hayden his breakfast, got his toothbrush and clothes ready, and packed up his backpack before moving on to getting myself ready. At some point Brayden woke up on his own and came downstairs to join us. He picked out his clothes from the pile of laundry I had left on the couch from last night =P We got all ready and got Hayden off to school.

Brayden and I came back home and ate some breakfast and then just sat on the couch and looked at some books. We were both still extremely exhausted, so we headed back upstairs to bed. It was nice to get to go back to sleep. After our nap, we got up and ate some lunch and just lazed around some more. I put on Cars for him and got to a little bit of cleaning. It's so frustrating how cleaning is just an endless cycle, especially with kids. I wish things would just stay clean, or at least walk themselves back to where they belong. A girl can dream, right? So it was pretty close to time to pick Hayden up so we got ready and headed out the door. We had a few minutes so I let Brayden play in the car and listen to Veggie Tales. Someone please send me a new Veggie Tales CD! We went on down to wait for Hayden and sat down. I really need a new winter jacket. I can no longer zip mine up. I can snap it shut, but only if I suck in, but it usually ends up popping open anyways lol. Not cool, and not warm either =( Hayden got out and we headed home. The kids watched a little bit of Cars, but then I turned it off and made them play with something, anything else. They're pretty good at that. It's kind of nice having two boys because they have similar personalities and play the same things, so they play well together. I try to imagine having 2 girls, and I really can't, so once again if this is a girl, we will probably be happy and stop. The boys might be loud and rowdy, but I'm ok with that. After years of being a mom, you really do learn to just tune stuff out. If I couldn't do that, I may have just gone crazy a while ago.

I decided to tackle the dishes that I've been letting pile up. It's only the big ones that can't fit into my dishwasher. I have no joy in washing dishes, so I procrastinate on the big ones that I actually have to put effort into. Sometimes I think they will just go away on their own. Other times I try to think of how much I could pay someone to come once or twice a week to take care of them lol. Once I finally got into it, though, it was pretty quick and easy. Now I've got an empty sink, just waiting to be filled again. I've gotten really good at not letting any of the dishwasher dishes go in the sink at all, though. It really helps out to just rinse and put it in, no matter how daunting it seems at the time =P. I feel like when Denton is gone a lot of pressure is off, and it seems like I would slack more because of it, but I really just get better at doing things, and learn how to manage my time better. By then end of his next deployment, I should be a domestic queen or something! lol. Eh. And, in case you were wondering, gone are the days of me feeling bad for myself for having such responsibilities and feelings at such a young age and wishing I was one of my friends from high school childless and working or something like a free bird. I'm happy with my marriage and my kids, and especially happy knowing that by the time my kids are grown, I will still be young and can then finally be a free bird, but by then I'll be a more responsible free bird =P.

Once I was done I went ahead and started dinner. Simple but healthy and yummy, but it was going to take a while so I did a bit more cleaning and got the kids involved as well. I figure it's about time for them to start doing more chores, and Hayden really is so good about helping because he has sympathy for me being pregnant and in pain a lot of the time and still having to do all that stuff. I love having such a mature, caring 6 year old. After we were done dinner was ready and we sat down to eat. The kids didn't really eat so much, but that was ok. I only emphasize that mealtime is for eating as much as you feel like, not that one must clean their plate. I was taught to clean my plate growing up, and I see where that got most of my family, so I'm trying my best to pretty much do the opposite of what I was taught for the sake of my kids lol. As I finished up dinner (always takes a mom longer because she has to continuously stop and get stuff for the kids), I had Hayden take a spelling test to prepare for his test in school tomorrow. It's not his best week of words, but he's doing great with me so far- 13 out of 15. Hopefully he can remember what we went over tomorrow! Once I finished I cleaned up all our plates and put the rest of dinner away. We then went to the couch to do his reading for the night where Brayden proceeded to fall asleep. Hayden finished up and I started on this. Denton called and we went over a few things and of course Hayden passed out on the couch where I told him not to. Once he falls asleep at night it is hard to get him up to get upstairs to bed. I've never seen someone so entirely incoherent as this child, so it's a fight to get him up, up the stairs, and on the right side of the bed lol, but it's precisely what I'll be doing as soon as I close this out. I do in fact have 1 meeting to go to tomorrow, so I can't be entirely lazy, but I know I'll be trying to get some rest in there somewhere. I really don't know why I'm so much more tired this pregnancy than my last 2. Maybe I'm busier? I don't know, I was in my whole junior year of high school with Hayden, and I was pretty busy. Maybe because I'm running after 2 kids now and doing so much stuff? Or maybe this baby is going to keep me up a lot? I really hope not. I've had really good babies, and co-sleeping, breastfeeding, and attachment parenting overall really makes it sooo much easier. However, whatever the reason, I have embraced my daily naps and no longer feel bad or ashamed about it. I have learned that listening to my body is the best thing I can do, and it is telling me to rest for some reason, so rest I must do, and I will go do some more now. =)

Goodnight.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Day Thirty

24 weeks pregnant today =D

I slept a little bit better last night, but was still super tired. Anyways, rolled outta bed (that's too literal now lol) and got Hayden up. Brayden, once again, had lazy bones, so he stayed in bed. I got Hayden's breakfast ready and then his toothbrush and clothes for the day. I went back upstairs and got myself ready as well. Got Brayden ready and came down to Hayden finishing up, and we were off. I just dropped him off at the gate because it was quite chilly and Brayden was still tired. We came back home and ate some breakfast, then I brought my heating pad down and set it up on the couch chair, laid back and relaxed. Brayden was still tired so he climbed up on the couch and laid down. We both ended up passing out for a few hours, and it was so nice. I've been kind of overdoing it the past few days with this cleaning, so this rest is definitely needed.

Afterwards, we got up and ate some lunch. I had a toasted sandwich with leftover chicken and spaghetti and mayonnaise. Definitely a pregnancy craving, and it was goooood. =P I ran out of chicken, so after that I just made a spaghetti sandwich. Brayden had a chicken sandwich and then a spaghetti sandwich. Then, I put on Cars 2 and we just kind of lazed around. I did some emailing and worked on securing a spot for our upcoming FRG meetings. Hopefully more space, tables, and chairs will be more appealing. It was then time to go pick up Hayden. I had a few minutes to spare after arriving, so I checked on where my hypnobabies package was to decide if I should head to the post office afterwards- they've been getting packages later in the afternoon recently, so I thought it may be worth a try. Unfortunately, it had only just left New Jersey at about midnight my time, so it definitely wouldn't have been there. I really can't wait until it gets here now so I can start working on it!

We got out and headed down to the school to wait for Hayden. We grabbed a seat and waited just a few minutes before Hayden came out. We went on home and I made Hayden some lunch. I finished up on some emails, and put Cars back on for the kids. I decided it was a great time to go take an epsom salt bath, so upstairs I went. Of course, Brayden wasn't too far behind lol, so he joined me. No book this time, just relaxing and watching Brayden play with his many bath toys. Luckily he did get out after a while leaving me to have more to relax, but then Hayden came in bugging me to download another game on my phone, and then bugged me to get out so he could get in. He "allowed" me a few more minutes and by then I was getting a little too hot anyways, so I got out and he got in. I dried off, got dressed, and came downstairs to see that Brayden had passed out on the couch. I started cleaning up the living room and moving stuff around so I could finally finish the floors. It turned out to be a lot of work and a lot more time than the rest of the floors because I had so much stuff to move, and then I decided to rearrange things a bit afterwards. I know I'm going to be feeling that tomorrow, but then I will be moving on to either the upstairs or the basement =/. A big house is nice, but it's a lot to keep up with >_<.

By the time I was done Brayden was up and I made us some dinner. Just finished up the leftovers because otherwise they'd end up just sitting there. I didn't have much of an appetite anyways. Then, I had Hayden work on his words and type them up on the computer. I figure it's good to start helping him learn how to type since computers and keyboards are such a staple in today's society. I then threw on Transformers, and just sat. Between my yoga ball and the couch with my feet propped up, it was nice. I can't wait to get into bed on my heating pad tonight. I've been trying to call Denton all day because I haven't talked to him since Sunday, but he's kept his phone off =/ I did tell him not to call me until he heard more info we've been waiting on, and he said that should be some time this week, so I guess it's my fault lol. Nothing important to talk to him about, I just miss talking to him. It stinks that it costs so much, or else we wouldn't have this problem. I really just can't wait for him to get him and spend as much time with us as possible before he has to leave again. This stinks =(

Goodnight.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Day Twenty-Nine

To say today was a busy day would be an understatement. It's already 2130, and I still have laundry to do after this =/. I didn't sleep so well last night. I woke up early and couldn't really get back to sleep for a while. Of course by the time it was time to get up I was nice and asleep, though. How it always seems to work. Anyways, got up, got Hayden up and prepared for the morning. Brayden had lazy bones so I let him sleep some more. This morning was one of my sorest mornings of the week, but I got through it. I got Hayden to the table with breakfast, set out his clothes, and fixed his toothbrush up, and then I went to take a shower to wake up and get prepared for the day. I got out and got all dressed and ready and finally dragged Brayden out of bed to get ready and made sure Hayden's bag was packed for the day. Out the door we went without a minute to spare. I had much to do so I just dropped Hayden off at the gate, kissed him goodbye, and sent him off. Brayden and I headed out to the commissary to get some breakfast foods, household necessities, and dinner stuff. We got home and I had just enough time to make us both some food, wolf it down, and run upstairs to get more presentable for my "professional" day. My Hawaiian hair was out of control, so all I could do was throw it back in a pony tail lol. No time for anything else.

After that, Brayden and I were on our way to the field house for the 1SG Change of Responsibility Ceremony. There was only other 1 other civilian there I believe, but it's good to support your company and of course find out who's next in a command position when you have to work with him. Brayden did a really good job, he stayed quiet and next to me the whole time. That really helped my nerves. It was over sooner than I thought it would be, so I was still able to make it over to the food handlers class I had planned to go to. It was the first change of command/responsibility reception I've missed, but I've been waiting to take that course for months now. I had a good cushion of time, so no rush, and enough time for me to get lost before finding where I need to be as usual =P. Luckily, though, I saw the signs for the building I needed to go to as I was on the way to the CDC for Brayden. I took Brayden into the CDC, and we hadn't been to this one yet. It was really quite nice looking. We went in and the kids were outside playing, so I put Brayden's stuff away and got him all bundled up and took him outside. I signed him in and introduced him, gave him a kiss, and off he went to play. Again, so glad he does so well in daycare. 

So I headed over to the education center and waited in the classroom. There was quite a turnout, but apparently only about 2 or 3 people usually show up. I forgot my folder somehow and had no paper, so had to just absorb it as best I could. It was mostly common sense material, but some technical stuff and requirements that I did not know about or think about. Good to know for all of our food handling ventures. It ended sooner than I thought it would, so I took 15 minutes to go browse around that post's PX as it is a rare occasion. Nothing much to that place unless I'm looking for furniture, and we just bought our bedroom set from there this year, so we're good until we get to our next post when we'll get the kids all new stuff. Got outta there and headed over to the CDC to pick Brayden up. It was nap time, but they let him stay up since they knew I was coming soon, so he was checking out some books when I came in. He had a great time and told me all about his day.

After that, we headed home which takes a little over half an hour, and had just enough time to eat a little something and relax a little before picking up Hayden. I took the time to clean out the car and get all our library stuff ready to return and my box that I needed to mail off into the car. Brayden slept the whole time. We left and got to the school a few minutes early, so I made a little list of what I needed to do the rest of the day. I had planned to go to an organics store to get some supplements and essential oils, but upon further investigation I found it is in fact closed on Mondays. I guess I will have to put that off until at least tomorrow if I get or feel up to taking the chance. It was time to get out so I get Brayden bundled up and we headed down to the school to wait for Hayden. Luckily, a lady was nice enough to let me sit because I was carrying BraydenBrayden kept telling me he had to go potty, but there was no bathroom in there and it took several trips out to the bushes before he finally agreed to just go lol. So I finally got my customs form filled out, and address on the box, had to wait in line of course, and wait even longer because they are training soldiers right now to help out I guess, and it seemed like the first day. After that was done I went back over to the other side of the post office and picked up my package. I excitedly thought it was my hypnobabies at first, but then I saw the Amazon packaging and knew it was my Kirby vacuum bags. Thank goodness, I've really been needing to replace my bag, and now that I know it only takes 5 days to get here, I will definitely be keeping up with them.

After that, the kids begged to go to the USO for some hot chocolate, so I gave in of course and we went in and had a few cups. Right after we were done, though we headed over to the library to drop our stuff into the drop box. Last thing on the list before we could finally head home. On my way home I got a call from Ms. Maja that people had been trying to get a hold of me all day, but I guess no one thought to call my cell phone or even shoot me a quick email. Upon getting home I noticed no missed calls on my house phone either. Perhaps they were trying to call my husband? Who knows. It was crazy, and could've been so simple, but oh well. Nothing big, all over a form, but I didn't even know anything about this, so I was highly confused. Got it taken care of and had a few laughs in the process. After that, got my dining room cleared out so I could vacuum and steam clean the floors. I love my little hard floor/carpet steamer so much- it is perfect for this house, and so easy. Took me about an hour, and we still hadn't eaten dinner, so I decided I will just have to put off the living room, the last floor on the main level, until tomorrow. After that I can breathe a sigh of relief, and then get right back up and start over again with either the upstairs or the basement lol. I can't wait until it's all done, and makes me wish I still had my mom here to help me. So, I got started on dinner, simple spaghetti with kielbasa, veggies, and garlic bread. We ate real quick, I cleaned up, and went over Hayden's words for the week and tested him , and then we read his book for the day. I sent the boys upstairs for their showers while I got on my email and got stuff done, and input my volunteer hours. I finally surpassed 350 hours for the year. I'm so proud of my self. The kids came back down and I got them ready for bed and sent them to bed and started on this. Soon after I saw the Conrad Murray trial verdict was in, so I of course had to pause life until it came out lol. I was so excited to hear a guilty verdict. I hope the Jackson family feels some sort of closure with it. 

Anyways, as I said, I still have a bit of laundry to get in the dryer, so I will sign off here, get that done, turn my heating pad on, and get to bed. I am soooo ready to sleep. 

Goodnight.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Day Twenty-Eight

I slept a lot better last night thanks to the cool air circulating through the room. Denton decided to call me right before 7 in the morning, much to my chagrin, but luckily he had to go literally 2 or 3 seconds after I answered. I went to the bathroom real quick, turned my heating pad back on, and went back to bed. The kids and I slept in as much as we could. We got up and had breakfast and had some fresh mango and pineapple as well. I need to start buying more mango, because Brayden could probably finish a whole one by himself =P. We finished up and cleaned up. I talked to Denton some more. He's obsessed at the moment with me buying him a Nintendo DS. I never thought I'd have to deal with one of those things in my house, but apparently someone over there has one and he loves to play it.

The kids and I watched some movies and played on and off, and I did some laundry. I decided after a few hours I really needed to lay down, so Brayden and I laid down for a little bit. It was nice. We got up and relaxed around the house some more and cleaned here and there. After a while, I decided to at least get started on tackling my floors, so I got my foyer, hallway, and kitchen vacuumed and steamed. After that, I got down to dinner. We switched over to chicken tonight and I just seasoned and baked it and made some homemade cheesy corn biscuits and peas as well. Surprisingly, Hayden's favorite part was the peas, and Brayden tore up his chicken. I liked it all =) I let the kids have a little bit of ice cream afterwards as well, and I had just a few bites because I was stuffed from dinner. I finished up the dishes, and then sat down with the kids. Once again, I had a few days to catch up on this, and it wasn't fun =/ I'll have to manage my time around this a bit better =P I'll be heading to bed after this. back to getting up early again, but luckily it's another 4 day school week, followed by a 3 day school week. Hayden's got his parent/teacher conference coming up next week, and that will be the deciding factor of whether we're going to keep him in school. I'm just not completely happy with it, and Denton told me this weekend he is finally on board fully supporting me in whatever I decide. That really made me feel good. We shall see in about 2 weeks what we'll do.

Goodnight.

Day Twenty-Seven

[Saturday, 5 November 2011]

This day was a completely lazy day for us. I cleaned up the main floor, but for the most part we lazed around. I did my emails and logged my volunteer hours- the only thing I really needed to do. I took another bath and then we took a nap. Afterwards, we got up and lazed around some more. My neighbors decided to grill some kind of meat and I had my back door propped open so the smell filled my house. We had just had steaks the night before, but there's nothing wrong with steak 2 nights in a row =P. We headed off to the commissary, got a few things from the bakery, some fruit, meat, snacks, and headed home. I stove-cooked some steaks again and finished the rest of dinner. I was definitely ready to sit down and eat after all that drooling in the afternoon. We ate, had a bit of dessert, and then sat down and watched Harry Potter ATDH1. Brayden passed out about halfway through, so I took the time to call my sister and catch up. I also thought it was a great opportunity for another epsom salt bath =D I finished up talking with my sister, and hopped in sans book this time. Just complete relaxation, and no having to share with Brayden. It was nice =) Hayden decided to sit in the bathroom and keep me company, though. I was so proud of him last night because at dinner Brayden had accidentally knocked over his cup of water and Hayden right away said "don't worry about it, Mom, I'll clean it up for you because I know you have a baby and your back hurts and it's hard for you to bend over right now." I couldn't believe my ears. It truly made my day. I have such a sweet boy =) finished up my bath and got out and got washed up and dressed. I got Hayden settled into bed and had promised to read him a book after I brought Brayden up.

I put Brayden on the potty go real quick before bed, and we headed upstairs. By the time I got back up into the room, only 5 minutes later, Hayden was already passed out with my eye cover on. I laid Brayden down and took a cute picture of them. I made sure the bathroom window was open along with the door, and propped the bedroom window open a little more than normal, got ready, and got into bed. I turned on my heating pad under my back, and went on to sleep. No worries, it has an automatic shut-off.  I was off to dreamland in no-time.

Day Twenty-Six

[Friday, 4 November 2011]

Ok, so I slacked off again, but my weekends I like to save for lazing around with my babies, not getting stuck on a computer rambling about my day to Lord knows who =P

So Friday was an atypical day. Hayden was out of school, and I had things to do. Luckily I could sleep about an extra hour longer, however, I didn't sleep so well at night. It was too hot in my room due to my not leaving the bathroom window open to let the air circulate, but of course I was way too lazy to get up and open it, so I lay there miserable sleeping on and off. Anyways, we got up, took a shower, got ready and ate some breakfast. First stop was a WIC appointment for Brayden and I. I love how here there's never anyone else but us there, and there's plenty of good toys to keep the kids busy. We got our weights and measurements. Alas, 2 days in a row proving that my scale at home is way off. I thought it was for a while, but I've been putting off replacing it. Now all but 1 of my weights in my Mutterpass are off. Oh well, it's a good thing my midwife doesn't care too much about the weight gain, and neither do I. I'm pretty much right at what's normal for me in pregnancy, and staying as active as I can with my hip pain, so I'm good. We were done and out, and I decided to head over to Tricare to try to figure out this referral craziness. I talked to one lady about it, and she sent me to another lady who sent me back to the first lady, and ended up being told basically what I have to do is: go to the clinic to get a referral to an OB, wait for the referral to go through, make an appt with that OB, get evaluated and recommendation for treatment from OB and if it involves a referral I then have to make an appt back at the clinic to turn in the referral, and then that doctor will have to turn in my referral. The referral will take time to be approved, and then I will have to make an appt with whomever I am referred to. Crazy, crazy, insane, crazy. So, I went over to the clinic to get the referral for the OB, and that won't even be ready for me to pick up until the 21st! SO just to recap, the 21st will come around, I will call the OB to make an appt, wait for the appt, go to the appt, possibly get a referral, make another appt at the clinic to turn in the referral, have the doctor put it in, wait for it to go through, and then finally make an appt with whomever I need to see. The baby is likely to be here by then LOL. We shall see.

Then, we went home and ate a bit of lunch before we had to go back out again. I got my folder ready, last second emails, and then we were out again. I had to drop Brayden off at the CDC because small children weren't recommended at the meeting I was going to so things could go by more smoothly. I have the free hours anyways, so not too bad- he loves playing with the other kids anyways. I kinda wish I could get him in part time so he would be able to play like he likes to, but can't afford it. Hayden was going to have to come with me because I couldn't get him into care- there would be stuff for him to do anyways, so he'd be ok. We went over to the USO and checked in at the meeting, put my stuff down, and then I got Hayden set up with one of our neighbor kids with the Wii and a cup of hot chocolate. He'd be well taken care of with all that lol. I grabbed myself some hot chocolate and went in and sat down ready for the meeting. It was an informational meeting for the gift wrapping table fundraiser at the PX we'd be doing. It was very, very informative, I don't think we'll have any issues, other than being able to wrap presents very well lol. I am ok at wrapping presents, but certainly not perfect. It was a lottery among 25 organizations to choose our time slots over the month, and I drew #9, so not so bad. We ended up getting 4 picks, and 3 of the 4 were pretty good. We finished just in time to pick Brayden up before his reserved time was over.

We headed over to the commissary to get some stuff for dinner and headed home. I cooked up some steaks, rice, bread, and salad, and it was good. After dinner we cleaned up and settled in for the night. Nice and relaxing with the boys. I was exhausted and wanted nothing to do but relax. I took a nice epsom salt bath, and then we all headed off to bed.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Day Twenty-Five

Another great night of sleep last night, always helps. I don't know what I'll do when I start losing sleep. I'm surprised I don't have to get up to go pee all the time yet, but surely that is to come soon especially since I just brought it up. I remember with Brayden it was like clockwork- I'd take my 2 antacids, use the bathroom, go to bed, get up at least once in the middle of the night to go again, and then first thing again after getting out of bed. Not looking forward to it.

Anyways, got up, had a typical morning, got all ready and headed out to school. I forgot to bring along Hayden's picture order form, so I knew I would be having to make a second trip right after. It was a really cold morning this morning, but no frost. We only had to wait 1 or 2 minutes before Hayden's class went in, so it wasn't too bad. Brayden wasn't in the best mood, though. He doesn't like having to do so much walking. Poor child is spoiled, but there's just no way I can be carrying him like normal anymore. We went back home and I picked up the picture form and went right back just to drop it off. After we got back home, I decided I should go ahead and call to try to get an appointment at the clinic to hopefully get some advice or a referral. I specifically asked the guy if I needed to go through the clinic or my midwife for this, and he said the clinic and had me an appointment 45 minutes later. I got Brayden some breakfast real quick and decided to take my chances calling the CDC to see if they had any opening so I didn't have to bring him along. Luckily, they had spots when I needed, so that was a relief. We both finished eating and hurried off to the CDC. He hasn't been in a while so I'm glad he got the chance. I got him all checked in and settled and I headed to my appointment.

It must have been a slow morning at the clinic because as soon as I walked in I got to the front desk (we have to take a number just to get to the front desk). Right after I checked in, my nurse had already walked out and called my name so I went straight back, got my vitals and all the hooplah, and got into the room. About 5 minutes later my Primary Care Manager walked in- she's really nice and I like her. However, she stated right away that she would not be able to help me or refer me at all, I would have to go through my midwife. The doctors at the clinic are not allowed to care for pregnant women with pregnancy-related issues due to legal reasons, it's a bunch of crap. So, a big waste of my time. Once I got in my car I called my midwife and let her know and she would be able to see me in the afternoon. I left there and decided to make use of my remaining CDC time and I headed over the PX to turn in the envelopes for the Santa letters for the kids, browsed the $1 clothes rack up front (nothing good unfortunately, but sometimes I can score some cute shirts for the kids), and grabbed 2 more things of epsom salt and a heating pad. From there I went over to the commissary to grab some stuff from the bakery- the manager was there putting stuff out and he nicely let me try a whole chocolate croissant. I shouldn't have let him do that, it was so good! lol. I also grabbed some more soup and then headed out. I still had a bit more time so thought I'd swing by the library, but unfortunately it wasn't set to open until 11- it was about 10 til and Brayden was only in the CDC until 11, so I just decided to go over and pick him up and we'd head over together.

When I got there he was out riding a little tricycle having fun. He always does such a good job there and has fun, so it really makes me happy. I went to the front desk to pay, and much to my happy surprise I was informed that I am in fact entitled to 16 free hours of childcare per child per month, so I didn't have to pay! I guess I overlooked that benefit in the matrix somehow. That's so nice to know, though. I will have to take advantage of that while I can, but I'm bummed that I missed a whole month of it last month! We went over to the library and caught the last few minutes of story time for the kids. Then, I went and looked for the Prenatal Yoga dvd I had checked out before but never got a chance to even try, but unfortunately it was out. I did end up getting 2 yoga for beginners DVDs though, so maybe I can work with those to my comfort level. Yoga is supposed to be good for my kind of pain, and I'm willing to do anything I can to work to get rid of it, except meds of course lol. I've been waiting for my bikini to come in, and even though I hadn't gotten an email yet that we had received any packages, I decided to go over to the post office just to check. I'm glad I did because it didso very nice. I did end up turning it down 1 or 2 settings after a while, but it still was just great.

So after the nap, it was time to get Hayden. I got up and got ready but had to coax Brayden to get out of bed- he was still sleepy. We got there at a good time but had a few minutes to spare in the car. After a while, Brayden and I headed down to wait for Hayden. It was nice knowing that there is no school tomorrow, so it's like the weekend is already here for us. I do have things to do tomorrow, however, but still not until later in the morning. I got Brayden set up to go to the CDC for one of my meetings, and I know he'll enjoy that. Well, Hayden came happily running out showing me his treat bag with bubbles and German egg for having such a good day, and we headed home. I tidied up our mess from the morning to prepare for Nina (my midwife) coming over, and she was there in no time. The kids played in and out of the house and kept themselves busy, so that was helpful. I talked to her about what I've been feeling, what I thought it was, and she examined me a bit and determined my hips are in fact most likely out of line. She showed my how to tie fabric around my hips to try to help, but it still hurt in my back =/. She also did a little rebozo to help and said my husband should try it as well when he gets home, I'm sure he'll have fun with that lol. She said I should probably see an osteopath to try to get things worked out. I need to call Tricare to see if for 1 they would refer to an osteopath, 2 if Nina could refer me, or if I need to get in to see an OB to get the referral. I hate this stupid process. I just want to go get my help =(. She said I was doing good with the stretched, trying the yoga, the epsom salt baths, the heating pad, the rest, and also recommended a supplement to start taking from the Apotheke. I will try to make it down there tomorrow to get some. It's so nice to have a provider that listens, knows your feelings about things, trusts you, and offers sound advice.

After she left I tried to call Tricare and they were supposed to be open for another half an hour, but of course it just rang and rang and rang, so I guess I will have to try again tomorrow. Hopefully they don't hold up too many hoops for me to jump through for this. After that, I bounced around on my medicine ball a bit and just relaxed. The kids put on Cars 2 and we watched that, and then I got, up to make some dinner. Oh it was yummy. Afterwards, the kids and I sat down and played a few rounds of Cars memory match game. Then, I decided it was to go ahead and get an epsom salt bath in, so I let the kids keep playing and I went upstairs. I got my book ready, the bath ready, got in and settled, and then of course the kids come up. Brayden decided he would join me so I of course begrudgingly obliged. It's become fairly simple for me over the years to still be able to read a book with a noisy child at my feet, so as long as he didn't splash, I was good. Of course Hayden then came in the room and wanted to talk the whole time, so that made it a bit harder, but somehow I managed to absorb 2 wonderful chapters. After a while, Brayden decided to get out and play with Hayden, so I did get a little peaceful time in there. Denton called me so I decided to get out and go lay down on my bed and talk to him for a bit. When he had to go, I came downstairs with the kids and played some more before they decided to pass out on the couch, so I started this. Denton just called again before he had to go to bed for the night. He got a battalion coin tonight from the battalion commander out there, and I'm so proud of him for all the hard work he's doing.  It's cold and snowing out there, and they don't have the warmest conditions, but he sticks it out and doesn't complain too  much lol. I would be a baby out there. The other side of the Army life would definitely not be for me- I'm happy on my side supporting him and the Army all I can, and taking care of our babies. But, that's it from me today. I'm going to get the kids upstairs and then take my butt upstairs and lay on my heating pad and go to sleep.

Goodnight.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Day Twenty-Four

Cold and foggy day today. Slept very well and not so much early waking up. I went to sleep with my hypnosis app on as usual, and I fell asleep very quickly. It's a good thing I'm getting all this practice in so when I start Hypnobabies I should hopefully catch on very well.

Hayden and I got up and got our day started, but Brayden had some lazy bones so I let him stay in bed for a while. I got Hayden some breakfast and got his clothes ready and got myself ready. I finally got Brayden up and he was just worried about finding where his Bumblebee toy ended up in the bed lol. I got him ready and we were all off to school. I got Hayden in just in time as they were walking to the classroom. Brayden and I got home and ate some breakfast, and then headed upstairs to take a nice hot epsom salt bath. I got another chapter into my book, and Brayden didn't even splash it =P. Afterwards, I got him all washed up and out, and then I took a shower to get cleaned up. I took the time after that to lotion up really good and then stretched as much as I could for about 20 minutes to help my sore joints and muscles. I don't ever remember feeling so much pain in my last 2 pregnancies. I really should call and see if I can get some kind of massage or physical therapy through Tricare. I went ahead and repainted my nails as well- it always makes me feel good =).

After that, I got dressed and decided to hop on some laundry to do all day. I let Brayden pick out a new pair of underwear he got for his birthday, and he decided to go for Thomas the Train. He helped me do the laundry and clean up the toy room. I had a meeting to go to soon, so I wanted to get done as much as I could. Denton called just to talk for a little and see how our day was going and talked to Brayden for a little. We went over key points from the meeting last night, especially financial plans for the next 2 years. Deployments really make things different, and communication and planning are key. As soon as we got off the phone, it was time for us to go. Brayden grabbed his Bumblebee and we were off. We got into the DFAC, paid, got our seats, and went and grabbed our food. We came on a good day, it was all so yummy =)  We sat down to eat and had some nice chatter before the meeting began. Brayden was such a good boy. He finished his food and played with his toy, and then wanted to sit with me and slept the rest of the meeting. We got some good information in, and I'm getting excited about the events and schedule ahead.

After the meeting, we headed over to the post office and then the USO to relax with a nice cup of hot chocolate. The USO here has some of the best, frothiest hot chocolate I've ever had, so we love to stop in when we can. We headed home after that and I continued on back to back laundry of mostly linens and regular cleaning. I got in just a little when we had to head out to get Hayden. I took my laptop so I could get some notes in before I had to leave the car. Brayden played with his Bumblebee the whole time, but of course right before we needed to get out of the car he passed out hard. I fumbled to get him out of his seat and his jacket on. As soon as I shut the door and started walking, Hayden came running up to the car, just a few seconds too late, lol, but at least I didn't have to walk all the way down with Brayden to get him; that would've killed my back and hips. We went on home, and once again continued on with the back to back laundry and more cleaning. I put the new Cars movie from Brayden's birthday on for the kids, answered a few emails, and continued on with the cleaning. Denton called and we talked for maybe 2 spontaneous minutes. Those are good =) I finished up with vacuuming the whole main floor, which led me to ordering some more vacuum bags online. The only con to owning a Kirby vacuum is the lack of retail to buy parts, so my only option here is online.

Finally able to cook some dinner and sit down and eat. It felt like it was extremely late, but it was only about 1830! After dinner Brayden laid down on the couch and passed out, and I worked with Hayden on his words and reading before getting more laundry done. I also went up to the attic and brought down my yoga ball to hopefully get some relief from so much pain while doing stuff around the house since regular chairs and even my couch do not help at all. I finished folding one last bit of laundry, and decided that was it for me. I put on a movie, the kids were already passed out, and I started this. Denton called and we talked for maybe 5 minutes to say goodnight, and when I finish this I'm heading upstairs and falling out, hoping for a better feeling day tomorrow =(

Goodnight.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Brayden's Birth Story

In honor of the journey we went through 3 years ago, here is his birth story with all the wonderful details =)


This is a real birth story with ooey gooey details and all just so ya know =)

On Halloween 2008, I had taken Hayden trick-or-treating and we did maybe 3 or 4 streets up and back, so a pretty good amount of walking. When we were almost done I felt warm fluid coming out and when I checked at home I had about a 4X1 in liquid spot in my undies, but I still don't know if that was amniotic fluid lol. We then went over a friends house to hang out for a few hours and I was completely exhausted, I changed out of my costume and just sat on the couch trying not to fall asleep, and that's really abnormal for me, I'm never a party pooper haha, but looking back I think that was my body telling me to slow down before the big event! At about 2 am we got home and got our son into bed and got ourselves settled in. I used the bathroom, walked back into my room, walked to the hallway bathroom to put something away and all of a sudden felt something really warm coming down and quickly ran back to my bedroom bathroom, pulled down my undies and put my hands between my legs and caught my mucous plug haha. It was almost as if someone had cracked a large egg into my hand except without the yellow yolk. It was thick, gooey, white, and clear. I showed my husband and he got grossed out and all I could think was if he thinks that's bad, just wait! haha. I laid down in the bed next to my husband and watched him play on his new Mac and just talked. About an hour later I felt more warmth and was smart enough to have put on a pad, so I went to check it and there was a tinge of pink, so I'm guessing that was my bloody show. After that I went to bed for the night. Probably around 7 in the morning I started getting up continuously to go pee and I was getting these cramps which I just thought were cramps. I kept getting up to pee because I thought that was the only way to stop the cramps. (Between staying up late and having to get up so much to pee, and not to mention tossing and turning all night, I was pretty out of it.) At about 10 I ended up going up to Walmart for a few groceries and was having what I then knew were definitely contractions about 10 minutes apart. I was able to get through them pretty easily. After Walmart I had to stop at a friends house to pick up something, and by then they were about 8 minutes apart and I'd have to concentrate a bit more on them. By about 11 when I got home and settled in they were 6-8 minutes apart and I was definitely having to concentrate but still able to do normal things in between. By noon I knew I was in for the day which sucked because we had planned on taking our son to our church's Fall Festival that afternoon, but there would've been no way I could comfortably get through contractions there. Between 1 and 2, my contractions were steadily about 5-6 minutes apart. After this I pretty much lost all track of time. Nothing mattered anymore. All I could think about was trying my hardest to get comfortable and get through the contractions. Everything I had taught myself about getting through labor "properly" went out the window. I felt so defeated because all I could do during contractions was tense up and damn near hold my breath, and in between contractions all I could do was dread the next contraction, all of which is exactly what I had taught myself NOT to do because of all I had read about fear-tension-pain syndrome, but I just could NOT help it. A ways into it during some contractions I ended up doing pretty well at relaxing physically, but I could do nothing to control the disaster in my mind. All I could think about was the pain. I went back and forth among laying on my side on the bed, hands and knees on the floor, and in my rinky dink tub (next time, I WILL pay a million dollars for a birth tub with a heater! haha) At some point our 2 friends came over to help out with our son. I had originally wanted to do it with just myself, my husband, and our son, but I am SO glad I said they could come over because it was such a huge help. I couldn't tell you how far apart my contractions were because my husband stopped timing them and the only time I worried about was how long the darn contraction was gonna last! I tried everything from reading all the labels on stuff in my bathroom, watching the screensaver on the TV, mantras like "my body is doing what it needs to do to get my baby out", and even singing my ABC's, but the only things that would work is holding my husband, locking eyes with him, and praying to God for strength. My husband checked me to see if he could feel the baby, and he said he could and said he thought I was fully dilated and told me to start pushing (granted this was about 4 or 5 pm) and I just knew I wasn't and knew I shouldn't start pushing, but then I remembered the Rule of 10 or whatever that article is called and tried to give myself some sort of hope and started pushing a little. I'd do that during each contraction and eventually ended up checking myself and realized I had a swollen lip. This was devastating because I knew this was definitely going to slow things down. I started feeling like I could not go on, that I just wanted to give up, and I just wanted this to be over with! At that point I ended up on my hands and knees posting on BU (a forum I loved) for HELP!! Luckily, Christy (a midwife) was on and we were able to talk on the phone and she gave me the advice and encouragement I needed to continue on. Without her, my chances of ending up in the hospital would've been much higher, but I honestly don't think I would've resorted to that. It would still be a few hours before we met our little one though. I took her advice and went and stood in the shower and probably stayed in at least half an hour. All I wanted to do was sleep, so my husband decided I should lay down for a while, so he and I laid down holding each other for at least a good half hour. It was nice but I was hot and miserable. After that he suggested I go outside a little while to cool down and walk around so gravity could help things along. I put on my little island wrap and went outside and leaned over our porch rail and squatted during contractions and ended up starting out pushing a little on my own and then my body would take over and push really hard. I came back inside so I could go back to my room and another contraction came and I had to run to the kitchen so I could lean over the counter. I continued the same pushing. I quickly got back to my bedroom and got on my bed and got on my knees and leaned onto a stack of pillows. I started feeling what felt like an inflated balloon come down so I screamed for my husband and my friend was at the room at the time and she quickly retrieved him. He checked me and could feel the baby closer so he quickly set up some towels and a plastic table cover in front of the crib and with all my might I got out of bed and walked to the crib and squatted and clenched the crib during contractions and pushed and then ended up on my knees holding onto the crib. I pushed 3 times each contraction until I felt the ring of fire! After that I think I somehow psychologically skipped 1 or 2 contractions because I was so scared to continue pushing even though the baby was right there because it hurt so bad! I screamed out loud once, yelled to just get him out of me, and then prayed to God. After that I womaned up and just pushed with the set goal of getting him out. The first thing to come out was my bag partially filled with fluid. I still am not sure whether the bag was intact or broken when my baby came out, but my husband said it was intact and finally broke when he came out. My husband was behind me and our friend was next to me ready to take pictures. He ended up coming out in just one push instead of head, relax, body. He somersaulted into my husband's hands. He immediately took his first breath and a few seconds later started to cry. He pinked up quite quickly. His cord was loosely around his neck once which my husband easily unwrapped. I was so relieved to have him out and just wanted to see him. With a little help I turned around and got onto the bed and my husband wiped him off a little and handed him to me and I held him at a downwards angle and all the ucky fluids easily drained out. The cord was luckily pretty long so holding him and maneuvering was no problem.My husband and I just sat there checking him out and we made sure it was a boy with 10 fingers and toes haha. I just wrapped him up and held him. Our son met his new brother and was so excited. My husband started clean up and I just enjoyed my new baby but so wanted to get cleaned up. After about a half an hour I remember the placenta and started trying to push with each contraction but nothing was happening, so 45 minutes after our son was born we decided to go ahead and cut the cord so I could work on passing the placenta. I tried nursing but he wasn't ready yet, so I had my husband take him and I called Christy to get some advice. I was doing a lot of bleeding and started getting worried. I tried pushing, pushing on my stomach, squatting, walking, and nothing, so she then suggested I just rest and let my body get enough energy stored up to help pass the placenta. My husband also got me some cinnamon toast to help with the bleeding. I started getting worried because my husband was telling me he was going to take me to the hospital because he didn't like how long it was taking and how much I was bleeding, and that was the last thing I wanted to do! So I went to the tub, squatted, and just prayed to God to help me pass the placenta so I would not have to go the hospital and I could finally get cleaned up so I could relax and enjoy my new baby. Finally, 3 hours after I had my baby, The placenta came out and I was SOOOO relieved. I cleaned myself up, cleaned up the blood in the bathroom, and finally relaxed with my new baby and he started nursing and ate so well! He proved to be a pretty good sleeper too!

Brayden Eugene was born Saturday, November 1, 2008 at 9:00 pm cst and had the exact same measurements as his big brother- 7lbs 12 ozs 20 inches long.

Looking back, I am so happy I toughed it out and got through it. I would've hated myself so much if I had given up and gone to the hospital. This homebirth was the most amazing experience I have ever had in my life, and after experiencing a hospital birth with my first and then this, I would never choose to hospital birth again unless there was a true medical reason of course. It was a learning experience, but it was truly all worth it.

Day Twenty-Three

Today was a great day. 23 weeks pregnant and my little man's 3rd birthday. I slept pretty decently compared to the night before which helped a lot. I had slathered some Vick's on my chest, put the humidifier on the radiator with a few drops of tea tree oil in it, propped my pillows up, and had a glass of water on the nightstand just in case. I also rubbed some Icy Hot on my lower back from the pain of walking, which was nice at first, however, I did wake up at one point feeling like that area of my back was literally on fire, but I was too tired to get up and rub it off. I just kept imagining sending a telepathic request out to anyone and everyone that could hear me to please come to me house and wipe that crap off my back LOL. Somehow, though, I did my best to get over it and get back to sleep. I did feel myself trying to wake up a the wrong time, but didn't stress and tried my best to stay asleep until the alarm.

I got up out of bed, turned on the light, and sang Happy Birthday to Brayden. He woke up all smiles =D. We all went downstairs and got into our routine to get Hayden to school. It was another cold morning, but not cold enough for frost or anything. As we were just about to go Denton called and had me put him on speaker, he told Brayden happy birthday, and then he and all the soldiers in his tent (a lot of them) sang Happy Birthday to Brayden. I cried, it was the best start to the day ever. Brayden was so happy to hear that. After that though he had to go off to formation and we had to head out to school. We got Hayden to school, waited for his class to go in, and Brayden and I went to the commissary for his request of oatmeal for breakfast. I also let him pick out some popsicles since it's been so long since I've bought some for them. He got his D-D-Dora popsicles lol. We went home, ate some oatmeal, had a popsicle, and cleaned up. Brayden played and I checked my emails to prepare for my day. It was FRG night, so I had to get ready. I was in pain, though, as I knew I'd be from last night's walking. Felt like someone had punched me in my right thigh =(. I ended up having to lay down a bit with Brayden. After a while though, I decided we should head out to the PX to shop for his birthday so we'd have enough time to do that and get things for the night at the commissary before we had to get Hayden. I decided I was going to make the same carrot cake I had made him for his first birthday courtesy of www.wholesomebabyfood.com

I got Brayden up and ready and off we went. I picked up the sales papers again because they're having a big toy sale for Christmas shopping. I already knew I was going to get him Transformers and Cars stuff, and some more underwear as well. I am proud to say that in just the last week he's gone from diapers to underwear all day and night and peeing *and* pooping in the potty in and out of the house. The poop part was the real accomplishment. It was almost as if he was too afraid to do it anywhere other than his diaper, but one day this week he went and did it all by himself and hasn't looked back. Anyways, we went straight for the toys section and eyed the Transformers immediately. Got 2 of those and then got the Cars memory match game on sale that I definitely wanted for him. Ended up having to move to the next aisle due to this impatient lady bulldozing her way through knowing darn well she wasn't even going to buy anything (she ended up in checkout behind me and sure enough, not one toy in her cart *rolls eyes*), but saw the funnest Mater toy from Cars and decided to grab that as well. Went back to the powerzone section to check out what the new release of the week was, and wouldn't you know it was Cars 2 with the Blu-Ray on sale for $19.95, so of course we scooped that up. After that we headed over to the birthday section so I could get him a birthday boy crown. Funnily, they had the Birthday *Girl* buttons, but none for boys, so I decided to buy him a gold crown and then some blue sparkly letters to stick on there that said Birthday Boy. Underwear was the last thing on the list, so over to the kids section, picked some out, and checked out. I was going to use my gift card one of my wonderful soccer parents got me, but unfortunately systems were down and cash and credit were the only options. Oh well, I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, so I will need that care down the line sometime.

I stopped at one of the table outside the coffee shop and got Brayden

I love this recipe because it's from scratch and has great ingredients. It did take a while to prepare though, so by the time I got it in the oven there was no way I'd be able to make the biscuits, but oh well. I had my favorite radio station form back home playing online to keep me going. Music while cooking or cleaning is just the best. I took that time while it was baking to go ahead and make my notes and get organized for the meeting. Once the cake was in the oven I cleaned up everything I had just used and cleared the counter to prepare to make the icing. When the cake was done, I sat each pan on a chair in front of the open back door to start cooling, and then got started on the icing. I didn't make the icing last time when I made the cake before, so wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but oh my goodness was it delicious. I will have to make that icing again and again from now on. It was so easy to make, too! So, I got the cake iced, popped it in the freezer to set a bit and went upstairs and changed. After that, got the kids in the car and all my stuff, and we headed out. We got their and helped set everything up and got situated and prepared as the first few people arrived shortly after. We had a wonderful speaker come talk about finances which will be very helpful during the deployment. As always, great info was put out by everyone involved. After all the talking, it was time to dig in. Our potluck theme for the night was Thanksgiving recipes, so yummy, yummy food all around, including some fabulous desserts =). I took the time to make it around the room and talk to people as best as I could and still eat at the same time. I was in a great mood because of the great food, great turnout, and of course because of Brayden's birthday. He came home with another duck for his birthday as well, which he loved.

By the end of the meeting, people were heading out, and it was time to clean up and head home. I didn't realize until I was walking out of the company that I had missed a bunch of calls from Denton. Whoops lol. I called him back and talked to him and told him about our day and Brayden's wonderful birthday, and thanked him again for the wonderful surprise singing in the morning and how appreciated it was. During the call I heard the weirdest sound from my phone. I looked and saw that it was a notification from eBay. I had won the Hypnobabies Home Study Course that I had bid on but totally didn't expect to win. I was in shock, completely stunned. I hadn't told Denton about it because I thought for sure my low max bid would be outbid, but he was fine with it thank the Lord. I'd wanted this since I was pregnant with Brayden, just never thought I'd actually be able to get it, but I had to get it now lol. At the end, he talked to the kids for a bit and told them goodnight, and talked to Brayden about his birthday for a bit before saying by and heading to bed. After that, I finished wrapping up Brayden's presents and brought them downstairs for him to open. Yes, he helped pick them out, but that doesn't mean he should lose out on the funnest part of the day =P. He opened them up excitedly and then I opened them from their packages so they could play. I set up the match game and we all played a round before bed. After that, we cleaned up and headed upstairs. Hayden fell asleep very soon, and Brayden played on my phone as I did Paypal stuff and paid for my winning on eBay. I got into this, and am so ready to sign off and head to bed. It was a fabulous day, and I can't believe it's over already. Ready for my husband to come home so all can be right with the world again.

Goodnight.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Day Twenty-Two

The date is finally correct. This will be me entirely catching up. My sleep last night was miserable to say the least. My nose is still clogged, so it had me ending up sleeping with my mouth open all night causing dry mouth, and it kept waking me up. I was way too tired to get up and get anything to drink or blow my nose, so I just slept miserably. My body is also apparently still trying to adjust to the daylight saving time, because I really woke up this morning thinking it *had* to be minutes before my alarm was set to go off, and it was 530 instead of 630. Dratz. Not only could I not sleep, but my body was already trying to wake up when it shouldn't have been. I'm not looking forward to adjusting to this. I tried my best to fall back to sleep, but I have such a hard time with that after I've already woken up so much. To top it off, it was really hot in the room adding to the miserable scale. I guess I did get back to sleep a bit sometime because when my alarm finally went off at 640 it woke me up. I snoozed it until 7 as usual =P.

After that, I got up, brushed my teeth and washed my face, got Hayden up, and got him downstairs for breakfast. As he ate, I replaced the patched on his jeans he'd be wearing today. The third set of patches on 1 pair of pants alone. I swear I'd be broke from buying this kid new pants is I hadn't found these patches lol, he's just so rough and clumsy. Anyways, I got him all set p to get dressed and ready after he ate, and about that time Brayden came down. I got him set up and dressed as well. I still had enough time to take a quick shower and get dressed, and I really needed it to wake up. After all that, it was time to head to school. It was cool, but not overly freezing this morning. I took Hayden in to his classroom, and Brayden and I headed home. We ate some breakfast and then I did some laundry. I checked my emails and responded to a few. I looked over to find that Brayden was so tired that he passed out on the floor while playing with his toys. That was a perfect cue for a nice morning nap. We went upstairs, got comfortable, and laid down. I got up about 2 hours later while Brayden continued to sleep and cleaned up downstairs. I did some more laundry, put dishes away, and put more in the dishwasher. I paid our car insurance and Denton's credit card since we got paid today. After all that it was about time to head out to pick up Hayden. I had enough time to make a little lunch for Brayden and I and to sit down and get our phone bills ready to pay after picking up Hayden.

By the time we left, it was really nice out. Warm almost. Brayden decided to stay in his tank top, though, so I did put him in a light jacket, but I was fine in my regular shirt. We headed up and waited for Hayden. As soon as Hayden got out, we went straight to the ATM and then on to the phone company to pay the bills. After that, I had to go on to post to get some gas, and then we headed home to get ready for trick or treating. I had to drag the kids' buckets out, got a stroller ready because I knew Brayden wouldn't have walking all the way, got some glow sticks out to make necklaces with, taped some lights to the kids buckets, got a bookbag to put on the stroller to dump the candy as their buckets filled, put our blow-up Halloween cat out front, taped a poster on our front door that read "NO CANDY" so I didn't have to worry about people coming by the house (no one was going to be home, so there was no point in getting candy this year), got the kids all ready, and took some pictures of them while it was still daylight out. They were ready and rearing to go, but we had to wait until 5 o'clock to start. I locked up my car, locked my backyard gate, and locked our front door. I do not trust these potentially crazy people lol, especially since there are many Germans that come up to our neighborhood just to trick or treat because Germans do not celebrate Halloween. Not to say that Germans are crazy house-robbers, but I just prefer to lock up when I know a bunch of strangers are going to be coming by my house.

5 o'clock rolled around so we decided to head out. Our neighbors put on an awesome, scary walkthrough in their backyard, but we always make it the last stop so we'll go through when it's dark. We ended up going out with a friend on our street whose kid is friends with Hayden and husband is also deployed with Dentonspooktacular* time no matter what. Brayden was lazy as usual and spent his time in the stroller in between houses, but he didn't fall asleep =). About half way or so in, however, I was pretty much numb from the waist down,  not from the cold, from the walking, but I trucked on to get our full 2 hours in for the kids. We went across the neighborhood, but the further we went direction and time-wise, the deader the streets. I guess people underestimated how much candy they really needed to buy for all these kids lol.

We headed home and hit up the neighbors house for our last stop. It proved nice and scary as usual. I had to keep reminding the kids it was just the neighbors and their friends under there and not to be scared. They got through, got their candy, and we headed home. I hadn't planned anything for dinner, so I let the kid dump their candy out, pick one piece each, and we headed for the food court to eat. I was glad I did because they had a table there where they were taking pictures of all the kids individually to enter them into some costume contest, and they gave each child a ticket for a free kids meal anywhere in the food court, and a free movie ticket through the end of November. I got the kids food, sat them down to eat, and went on to get my food. We sat down and ate, and headed home.

I immediately got the kids undressed and got them in a nice epsom salt bath to soothe their tired bodies. After they were done, I got them dressed and ready for bed and then got in my own nice epsom salt bath with the added luxury of a lit pumpkin-scented candle. I really, really needed that. I also got another chapter in on my book How to Raise a Healthy Child...In Spite of Your Doctor. This chapter was a lot about pregnancy, the importance of breastfeeding, and the importance of overall nutrition and how typically doctors know nothing about the importance of good nutrition and the impact it can have on one's health. I really love this book. After I finished a chapter, I put it down, turned over on my sad, and relaxed and felt and watched the baby kick. I guess he/she enjoyed Mama relaxing as well. I finished up and sprayed myself down with cold water, got out, and got dressed. I came down and did a little more laundry and folded up the blankets that I had done today. I also brought in our blow-up cat, and then just sat down to catch up on all these posts I had missed this weekend. I hate getting behind on things, and will try my best to keep up with this daily so I don't have to take the time to do this again. My husband may be home much sooner than later which is bitter sweet because it would be so he can deploy with his company in February, but it is what it is. I want him home ASAP so we can spend as much time with him as we can, and so I can stop paying $1/minute just to talk to him =P. We're inseparable ;). After I close this, I will be blowing my nose, heading to bed, and hoping for a much better night than the last. =/

Goodnight.

Day Twenty-One

[Sunday, October 30, 2011]

This day was going to be a dedicated lazy day. We had had such a busy, long, exhausting past 2 days, so we needed to catch up on some rest this day. Thank goodness we fell back in the middle of the night so we ended up with an extra hour of sleep, and still slept in. When we finally got out of bed we came down, had breakfast, and just relaxed. I had nothing planned for the day except for lounging around, maybe some light cleaning, and inputting my volunteer hours that I had written down on scratch paper before I lost it. We watched movies, played games, took a nap, and just relaxed. We talked to Denton a bit here and there to catch up on our wonderful weekends as well. I did end up inputting my volunteer hours, and caught up on some emails as well.

I did some laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, and made dinner. We also worked on Hayden's reading for school. After all that, it was time for bed. As I said, it was a relaxing, boring, but very nice day.

Day Twenty

[Saturday, October 29, 2011]

So, I got up at about 8 am- I had planned 7, but 5 hours was not going to cut it for my day ahead. Upon getting up, I took a shower to really wake up and get my day started. I put the kids in the bath after so they could get their day started as well, and came downstairs to finish up my posters. It was nice to already have some done so I could just copy what I'd already done, but it still took a lot of time lining things up and getting it done. They came together quite nicely, though. I had to stop for a bit to get the kids dressed and get them some breakfast. I decided it would probably be good for me to eat something as well so I didn't end up passing out later that day lol.

After the posters were finished, I cleared off the table and got the kids all set up to decorate their cupcakes. Crushed up oreo, pull-and-peel twizzlers, red hots, a piping bag, an example by Mommy, and they were good to go. I got started on mine as well. I decided to go for the easiest Halloween cupcakes ever- mummies. Just a flat tip on the piping bag, plain white frosting, straight lines across the cupcake, and 2 red hots for eyes =P. Simple and fast, exactly what I needed. After we were done, I got the kids into their costumes, and tried to figure out what I was doing for mine. I decided to go for simple and something I had already done this year- eighties. It was also nice and comfortable for being pregnant. We got all ready, and headed out to the company.

I got there and our wonderful volunteers were already there getting stuff put up, out, and stuffed. I jumped right on in and the kids enjoyed themselves playing with the games, toys, candy, and running around all crazy kid-like. After everything was ready, we had a small meeting before everyone dispersed to get ready. I realized at that point that I had only had a very small breakfast and would not be eating for at least another 4 hours, so I decided it was best to go ahead and just grab a large pizza for the kids and I to split throughout the afternoon. I went and grabbed it, came back, and finished up some last minute things in the conference room before people were set to arrive. At just before 2, our first few people arrived and the kids got right into playing the games. People came more and more soon after, and soon we had nearly a full conference room. The kids realllly enjoyed themselves, and the adults seemed to have a pretty good time as well. We had some new faces come out of the woodwork, and that's always good. We had a costume contest, cupcake decorating contest, and pumpkin carving/decorating contest for people of all ages. Hayden and Brayden ended up winning the pumpkin decorating contests for their age groups by default since they were the only ones that entered, but they loved it. My poor mummy cupcakes had NO chance against the creepily lifelike finger cupcakes made out of peanut butter. Poor Brayden was so tired that he ended up falling asleep in a chair about halfway into the party. I'm so glad he's able to sleep through just about anything, though. Once the contests were all done, the party died down and people headed out. We spent a good amount of time cleaning up and packing things away. It was a great turnout and we were so glad about it.

We had quite a few cupcakes and candy left, so we headed over to the barracks to hand them out. We ended up going door-to-door dropping the candy bags on the doorsteps in a sort of backwards trick-or-treating style =P. We took the rest of the cupcakes that we didn't hand out over to the USO since we knew plenty of people would eat them there. After that, the kids and I headed home to crash. I was truly, truly exhausted and knew I would be loving my bed that night. The kids weren't as exhausted and wanted to watch a movie, so I laid down on the couch while they watched a movie, and then after the first one I got up and made dinner. We ate dinner, and I laid my foot down that it was definitely time for bed. We closed up shop, went upstairs and got all cleaned up, and fell out.

Day Nineteen

[Friday October 28, 2011]

I am soooo sorry I have missed a few days. It was a lonnnng busy weekend to say the least, and pregnancy exhaustion took over. I decided my sleep at night was more important than this for a few days, but I'll try my best to rack my pregnancy brain and catch up!

SOoooooo, Friday morning was another regular morning. It was finally the weekend, so that was the best part. Hayden was off to school and Brayden and I came home to eat breakfast and relax. I had emails to do, and posters to make, but I decided to put the posters off until after Hayden got home from school because I know my mornings are not so productive; it takes me a while to really wake up my brain, and by the time I'm almost there, it's nap time lol. So Brayden and I just had a typical morning, playing games, watching a movie, I did some dishes and laundry. After all was said and done, like I said, it was nap time. We got up to go get Hayden from school, and then I had to go straight to the stores to get my supplies and also some things for dinner.

It was 4 o'clock when I heard my infamous calendar reminder go off when I was in the middle of shopping at the commissary. "What in the world do I have planned?" I thought to myself. See, if I don't put these reminders in my phone, I wouldn't make it anywhere, lol. I looked and saw that it was the parent/son pancake dinner to raise awareness for Domestic Violence scheduled 2 hours later at the post about 35 minutes away (plus driving around to find the building time lol). Woops. Been planned for weeks and I completely forget in all the hooplah. I decided to finish up as fast as I could so I could get home. This was a complete wrench in my plans because I still had cupcakes to bake and posters to make. I knew I was in for a long night. We got home and I took a quick shower and got myself and the kids ready, and by that time it was time to go so I could still have time to get lost and make it to the dinner in time =P. Just as I thought, I had no clue where this place was, and apparently no one thought it would be smart to put a building number on any flyer or email. Luckily, though, I am not above asking for directions, and I asked a very nice soldier who happily drove in front of me to lead me to the place. We ended up getting there a good 15 minutes early, but still went ahead in.

We were, not surprisingly, one of the first families there, so we took a seat, relaxed, and waited. I tried my best to explain what we were there for to Hayden, Brayden would have no clue, but they were mostly worried about when they could get up and get their pancakes. The 15 minutes went by pretty quickly, and they opened up the dinner and let us go ahead and grab some grub. The food was great, but as I always say, free food makes everything taste better =P. As we were eating they had a speaker come up to talk about domestic violence especially as it pertains to the Army environment, and told a chilling story of his own. They also passed out safety contracts to go between the parents and the child. I'll wait until Denton gets home to go over it with him. After the whole presentation was done and we were done eating, we left so I could get home and get started on all my work. Denton called on the way home so I turned on speaker phone, propped the phone on my shoulder, and drove on home. I keep forgetting to put headphones in my car for such a time.

After we got home, the kids threw in a movie and laid down on the couch, and I got right into the kitchen to bake the cupcakes. I knew I needed to at least get them baked tonight and I could worry about decorating them in the morning. After I got them in the oven I got started on my posters. I immediately knew what I was going to do, but it involved, printing, lots of cutting and tracing, coloring, and proper spacing. I had to do this times 4. I started all of this at about 11 pm, and had to call it quits by 2 am because I was nearing dementia due to lack of sleep. Definitely not a good idea to be staying up that late knowing I had to get up early in the morning and had a full day ahead. >_< I ended up getting 2 of the posters done I believe. So I went on upstairs, crawled into bed, set my alarm, and fell out.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Day Eighteen

Another typical day. Got up, got the kids ready and Hayden fed. Today was crazy sock day at Hayden's school, so I set him up with a pair of Daddy's long green Army socks on the outside of his pants. About as crazy as our socks get in this house lol. We were all ready and we were off. It wasn't too cold out this morning thankfully. I waited with Hayden until it was time for his class to go in, and Brayden and I headed home. We ate some breakfast and then followed up with a little game of kick the beach ball in the living room. It was a lot of fun to do something so simple and see it make Brayden so happy. This went on for quite a while. After that my hips and lower back were really hurting, so I decided to lay down and rest a little. Resting is about the only thing that has helped when I get these pains, but it makes me feel so lazy =( There's a lot of things I'd like to be doing around the house now that Shrek is gone, but my body doesn't want that to happen. I put on some cartoons for Brayden and he played with his drawing toy, and I just relaxed. Our neighbor came by with her daughter who's just 12 days apart from Brayden to give us a thank you card from her birthday party. That really woke me up, so I got up and turned Army of Darkness on and played and colored with Brayden. That movie is such a classic. Great one-liners like "give me some sugar, Baby." lol. It was also mild enough due to the cheesy factor that it wasn't bad for Brayden. Once that was over, though, Brayden was really tired so I figured it was a good time for a nap. I got up a little early to take a shower so I could try out some coconut oil to moisturize. I put it on my face and hair. It softened up my face, and really helped with my dry ends that severely need a cut.

Then, Brayden and I got ready and left a little early today to get Hayden. I wanted to get a good parking spot so I didn't have to cross the street to get Hayden, and arrived just in time. It really ticks me off when people just park not worrying about making space for other people and leave gaps *just* big enough to not fit another car. Anyways, Brayden and I sat in the car for a good 10 minutes snacking and listening to the radio before it was time to head up. I forgot my jacket at home, but luckily it wasn't too cold. Brayden hopped in his stroller, and we head down the path to wait for Hayden. He came out in a great mood, and we went across the street to take a look at the pumpkins the guy brought from his pumpkin patch over 70 kms away. Perhaps he didn't think he would sell so well because he certainly didn't bring enough for us Americans. He only had less than a dozen left when I went, and they weren't anything to ge excited over, so I passed. We already have our pumpkins, so we're good. Halloween isn't celebrated here in Germany, so pumpkin patches are quite rare. You'd think, though, that one of the many farmers around here would smarten up and grow pumpkins so he could make a bunch of money off of us. I just may try my hand at pumpkins next year.

Then, we went on to post so I could take Brayden's sports physical in to put on file so he can play basketball this season. It was annoying because I called ahead to let the girl know I was coming, but it ended up with me standing in the doorway directly in front of her being completely ignored for about 10 minutes before she even came up to me. Got that weight off my back and we headed over to the USO to get some hot chocolate. Their machine puts out some of the best hot chocolate I've ever had. It's so frothy for about 1/4 of the cup down and so yummy. We sat down in their comfy lounge chairs and enjoyed our hot chocolate, and then went on to the commissary to pick up some stuff for dinner. I decided to keep it simple tonight with an easy homemade soup so got some veggies and then some fruits to snack on, and that was it, we were out. We came home, got stuff in order, and then finished all of Hayden's make-up work he had for missing Monday and Tuesday. It was quite a few pages, but he got through them well. Once we were done, I had him start on reading and I got on to dinner. After the prepping was done and we just had to wait for it to cook, I came back and worked on the reading with Hayden. Pretty soon, it was done and we all sat down for dinner. It was quite yummy, and tasted almost just like how my family always makes it. Homestyle stuff is always a good choice. Once dinner was over, though I really helped Hayden finish up his reading, and then sent him off to bed. I put Brayden in the shower and washed him up real quick and dressed and put him to bed as well.

facebook groups to get some advice, and then just decided to browse around for a bikini for labor. I had a dream the other night that I found this really cute bikini in a store, but there's no way that's happening here anywhere. I ended up on my never-failing www.6pm.com and found a realllly cute pink Juicy Couture bikini for only $19.90 total, with free shipping as well! I really hope it fits, because if so, it will make me one happy mama. I already posted in another post that I don't want to end up the crazy naked lady in the window, so the bikini will make me feel much better, even if it's in February =P I'm sure my husband would appreciate it as well, here or not. I hope it gets here soon so I can try it on. They do have a 30 day return policy, but hopefully I won't have to worry about using it. Ok, well, I'm super tired and ready for bed. After I wrap this up I'm going to throw some stuff in the dryer, and head to bed.

Goodnight.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Day Seventeen

A much warmer day today, but still cold for normal Elizabeth standards lol.

Got up this morning, had Hayden take a quick shower, and went to for a normal morning routine. Spiked his hair all up for crazy hair day and took him to school. Brayden and I came home and ate some breakfast and got ready to head to the farm. The drive wasn't too bad, wasn't really foggy so that was good. Definitely got the hang of using the machine now so I'm in an out as soon as my glasses are filled. Brayden always gets excited when I come back to the car with the milk. "You got the milk, Mom?!" he says =) We headed back home, dropped off the milk, and then went to the commissary for a few things. It's so nice to go in the morning when no one is there. We came back home and I checked my emails and talked to Denton for a bit. Yeah, I know, racking up a phone bill, but I just can't stay away from my man lol. I miss him so much.

After that, Brayden and I decided it was time for a nap. Soccer was tonight, so I needed all the rest I could get. We got up to go get Hayden, and Brayden wasn't quite ready to get up, but he did begrudgingly. Went to get Hayden, la-di-dah, and came back home. We worked on his reading and his spelling words a while and then I had him work on more reading while I made some lunch and cleaned up a bit. Soon, it was time to get ready for soccer. I got Hayden all dressed up which takes the longest, then Brayden, and finally myself. I got all our stuff ready, and we were off. It takes a good while to get to the other post where we were playing, so we had to leave early. The drive wasn't bad. I'm so glad to have the new one community road that connects both the posts together so I no longer have to drive on the regular roads. We got there, I took Brayden to the bathroom since we're now working really hard on potty training- no diapers in the last 3 days! I was a little iffy about not putting him in at least a pull-up for the game since I knew I'd be occupied for at least an hour and he may end up having an accident, but I think making him go right before the game helped us out. Our kids played so very well. I was so proud of them. Hayden scored quite a few goals as well, so it was a great ending for him. As always, I worked to instill good teamwork and sportsmanship. It was wonderful seeing them play so well, but I really am relieved that now I can just sit down and watch from now on. It was really taking a toll on my hips anyways. I really need to ask my midwife if she knows a good chiropractor or something similar around here who could help me =/. Anyways, once we were done, I gave the boys their medals, and then a few of us headed over to the BK with the playland so the boys could play one last time and celebrate. One of the moms gave me a nice candle and gift card for the PX to show appreciation. That was so nice and thoughtful. Another mom decided to pay for my and the kids food. I almost cried. I never expect my parents to do anything for me or pay me back in any way because despite all the bickering, I really enjoy working with the kids and seeing their hard work pay off and just seeing them have fun, but it's so nice when someone shows such appreciation. I hope to pay it forward with my kids future coaches as well.

Well, I saw that I had missed a few calls from Denton while at the game, so I decided to call him back, and he ended up giving me some pretty surprising news. I won't reveal anything right now due to OPSEC, and of course in case anything changes, but this changes a whole lot if it remains. The kids ate and had a great time playing, and we stayed for about an hour until it closed. We headed home and it was a bit foggy, but not as bad as it will be. We got in, got Hayden all undressed, and then I sent the kids to the shower. I made shower was all nice and clean because he sure was covered in sweat, ick. Once they were done I called Denton and let Brayden talk to him some more and I talked to him some more before he had to go. I relaxed with the kids and got online for a bit. The baby was kicking up a storm so I let the kids feel and they felt the baby for the first time. They thought it was pretty cool. Brayden also talked to the baby a little bit which was cute. I think he really likes the idea of a baby right now, but not sure if that will stick once the baby finally comes and gets so much attention. If he's anything like Hayden, though, he will be an *awesome* big brother. The baby was also doing a lot more that could be seen on the outside which is pretty new. That's so much fun to see- the baby show sometimes known as the alien in the belly show. lol. The kids soon fell asleep on the couch and I browsed around facebook and our yardsale

Goodnight.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Day Sixteen

22 weeks pregnant today =)


Well, this morning I was supposed to run to the farm for more milk, but the girl I was going to take changed her mind so I decided to take that and run with sleeping in = P. The kids were still dead asleep, so I didn't want to wake them up for it either. I can go a day without having it. My prenatal appointment was this morning, though, so I couldn't sleep too long as I still had to make everyone breakfast and then clean up and be ready. We all got up and I made us some eggs and buttered Hawaiian bread. It was quite yummy. Hayden helped me clean up and I vacuumed the floors and cleaned the bathroom. I don't know why, but I always have to make sure I clean my bathroom very well when I know someone is coming over even though more than half the time the person or people don't even end up using it! Better safe than sorry I guess lol. I set the kids up with some drawing stuff they could do to keep quiet if they stayed downstairs, or I let them pick a movie to watch upstairs in the toy room. I was all ready but still had some time, so I decided to go ahead and do some more recordings of the heartbeat and count BPMs. It was faster today than before, but stil beautifully normal. It's getting much louder now as baby is growing. 


Nina, my midwife, arrived and we settled in. I hadn't seen or really talked to her since my last appointment because she's been on holiday. She got to go to the Midwifery Today conference hosted here in Germany. I wanted to go to that sooo very badly since it was so close and had such amazing speakers and topics, but I'm glad I ended up not being able to go because Denton is now gone and I would've had no one at all to watch the kids. It's times like these when I realize things happen for a reason, and we can't get all upset for not getting things we really want because it's most likely for a reason. Being able to accept loss or not getting what you want, will leave you much happier than mourning over what you can't change. We chatted a bit over what she learned, who she met, and just her overall experience. Yes, she met Ina May Gaskin, and I am totally jealous about that lol. She also told me about the Turkish Midwifery conference she went to. Apparently the state of maternity in Turkey is even worse than in the US, and that's pretty hard to do lol. Things like all first time mothers must give birth tied to stirrups, must have an episiotomy, must have pitocin, etc, and the c-section rate is over 50%. That is just alarmingly disgusting. She did tell me that she learned from a speaker that when one receives pitocin, artificial oxytocin, the body shuts down natural oxytocin production, and therefore can lead to greater risk of hemorrhaging after birth because pitocin is typically shut off and the body is still not making oxytocin to help stop bleeding. This lack of natural oxytocin also prevents the "birth high" or surge of endorphins called the "love cocktail" that helps mom fall in love with baby after birth. If we have a nation with such great numbers of women receiving pitocin during labor and unable to receive the natural "love cocktail" after birth, what will that say about our emotional ability as people especially relating to our children compared to what it could be? It is things like this that further reinforce my absolute love of knowledge and being able to make a choice such as homebirth so I can give not only my baby the best start in life, but the both of us the best start as a family.


So, after all that was done I did the little urine test stick to test for proteins and sugars and it came back wonderfully normal as usual. She then took my blood pressure- normal as well. She asked my weight and marked it down. She then measured fundal height and then belly circumference- the latter I have never had done before, and it was quite alarming to hear the number, especially because it was centimeters lol. My fundal height was great, a week below, but that is completely normal. She tried to hear for the heartbeat with her fetoscope to no avail which we both expected, but I let her listen to my recordings of the baby's heartbeat on the phone. She was quite intrigued by this. At the conference, she had learned about a new gadget that's pretty much a mechanical fetoscope with a microphone to amplify the sound but does not use doppler ultrasound, and she is looking into buying one of those, so hopefully in the near future more of her moms will have the ability to listen to their baby's heartbeats sooner than with the fetoscope, and without the risks of using doppler ultrasound. After all that she marked everything down in my Mutterpass, in her notes, and we chatted a bit more before she left. It's so nice that I don't even have to leave my house for my appointments, I don't have to worry about what to do with the kids, I have a care provider that fully supports me and shares my philosophies in pregnancy, labor, and birth, and that we have a personal relationship on top of the professional one- not to mention that it's all fully covered by insurance =) You just don't hear very many women with such a good experience. I know in my past 2 pregnancies it was always going to the clinic, waiting a long time in a place full of germs or sick people, going back to just have someone mark off a checklist in 15 minutes or less, and send you on your way to make room for the next patient. I didn't always get to see the same provider, and wasn't guaranteed who would be there to catch the baby. Luckily, I was smart enough to change that when Brayden came around. His daddy was always guaranteed the blessing of catching his baby. I'm only hoping we'll have the same this time around =/ Praying everyday Daddy will be home when the baby is born, but after more news today I don't have my hopes too high, but this is the Army, what's put out this morning can change by the afternoon =/ 


Well, Nina left and I turned my phone on to see that I had missed a call from Denton. That put another big smile on my face. I called him back right away and let him know how things went and he was happy. We went over some business I needed to take care of and he talked to the kids for a bit. We got off and I ate a little bit because by that time I was pretty hungry. I got myself and the kids ready, and we headed out. First stop was the post office. Got a nice Halloween card from Denton's grandma, along with a stack of bills lol. Thanking the Lord Jesus that they are bills we can pay on time every time, though, and they will be paid OFF come tax time! Next stop was our phone company. There's no use in ever calling because of the long wait time, and then 9 times out of 10 you end up with someone who doesn't speak more than a few words of English but knows how to tell you "no one here speaks English, call later" and then hangs up on you. I take the time to avoid the frustration and just drive down to the office. I needed to ask how much we are spending when Denton uses his phone to call or receive a call. It wasn't as extreme as I thought, but still pretty bad. Pretty much 30 minutes of talking costs 21 euro which is equal to about $30. Ridiculous, and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it except wait for the possible phone lines. Let's just say I don't ever want anything to do with where he is on a personal level, they suck at everything. 


After that I headed to vehicle registration to pick up a form and ask questions so we can further work on getting a car transferred over to us, but it makes it harder when it's non-operational =/. Im really hoping God will work his magic on this one time-wise so we can at least get it in our name soon and exhale. After that, headed over to the library to see if they had the books that Hayden's class is reading this week so he could get caught up on that, but surprisingly they didn't, so we left and headed to the PX. Tomorrow at school is crazy hair day, and I wanted to find some color hair spray for Hayden, but they were all out of the normal stock they carried, which is very very little. One would think the PX would have been smart enough to make a big order of that for Halloween, but then again this is a European based PX we're talking about- they can't always be on the ball with these things. We went over to the commissary to get a few things for dinner and some cupcake stuff to make cupcakes for the Halloween party this Saturday. After all that it was finally time to head home. We got home and I ate a little snack. We'd surprisingly been out for a few hours, so naturally I was hungry again. I did some more laundry and then decided it was time for dinner. We had some lumpia, PF Chang's beef and veggies, and some brown rice. As I was cooking I went over Hayden's words for the week with him a few times and then finally quizzed him. He got 13 out of 15 on his first try- that is such a good job. By the time we were done, dinner was on the table, and Brayden had already started stuffing his face before we could even pray lol. We dug in, enjoyed, and then it was time to get some reading in. We got in a whole hour to cover the 3 nights we've neglected to do. Hayden did such a great job. Really, just a month ago I would have to fight with him to read a few sentences, and now he doesn't want to stop unless he's tired. Such a big turnaround.


So by the time we were finished, Brayden was already passed out on my arm. I got up to put dinner away, tidy up a bit, and then brought up some laundry to fold and put more in the dryer and washer. Hayden helped me every step of the way. Walking up from the basement to the upstairs makes me so so happy that we chose the 3 story instead of the 4-story. I'd be hooking up some kind of makeshift rope and pulley system for the laundry if that were the case, but the stairs would still be a nightmare. As I get further and further in this pregnancy, regular everyday things like climbing stairs gets harder and harder- it stinks, but also helps me realize I need to try my best to keep fit throughout life so that doesn't up being an everyday thing I end up with as I age in bad health like most of my family. After we finished, I got the bed climb-in ready and went downstairs to grab Brayden and bring him up. Hayden and I crawled into bed, I started this, and he passed out soon after. Tomorrow, I'd really like to get out to the farm to replenish my milk supply, but we'll see how I feel about that in the morning lol. I also need to work on more volunteer stuff, get lots of laundry and *put away* and prepare for our final soccer game of the season. I will *have* to fit a nap in there somewhere before Hayden gets home, though, or else it will most certainly be tough.


Goodnight.