And now we are all grown up!

As you grow your relationships change. You have friends, boyfriends, fiances, husbands, and someday kids. Each relationship comes with joys and challenges, but none more important than the one you categorize as FAMILY.
Family can include some, or all of these relationships, but sometimes you realize that even they can't be there all the time.
My family is awesome, but as life goes on we learn that being "grown up" is a lonely place, especially when you are the only one of 5 kids who has moved across the US. This is further complicated by the arrival of my identical twin sister's baby a month ago, because our son is due any day now and we are discovering we are truly alone.
By alone I mean that our son is going to be present, in the room, for the arrival of his brother. Some people encourage this, but if things were different, and we had family closer or who could be here, he would be with them.
I'm proud to be married to a service member, and I wouldn't change our life, but when you are "all grown up" and so far from your family....sometimes you realize you are truly alone!

How to tame the "Laundry Monster"

My husband and son aren't allergic to anything, but they have some of the most sensitive skin of anyone I've ever met. We use cloth diapers and wipes because every brand of disposable seems to make him red somehow, and the wipes have just water on them just to keep it as chemical and fragrance free as we can. So, in desperation, and in an attempt to see if it could actually be a cheaper alternative to the store brands of detergent I searched the internet for a laundry soap recipe. We used to use ARM and Hammer free and clear, and this one seemed the closest to that, and it had no fragrances.

WWW.thesimpledollar.com: this is where I got the original recipe, but I do add stuff to mine that this guy doesn't.

Need: 5 gallon bucket with a lid, 1C washing soda, 1/2C borax, 1 bar soap (any brand, I use ivory or fels naptha), 3gallons of water+4C, long dowel to stir ingredients in the bucket, 2qt saucepan for making soap mixture, grater for the soap

Instructions: Put 4C water in the saucepan and heat until boiling. While water is boiling grate the bar of soap. Turn water down and slowly add soap flakes. Stir every so often until soap has completely dissolved. Add 3 gallons of water to the bucket(when using fels naptha fill to the top of the bucket after adding soap mixture as it is a very large bar), hot is best. Add washing soda, soap solution from the pan, borax, and baking soda to the bucket. Stir lightly to dissolve so that you don't create too many bubbles. Let mixture stand for 24hours, or until cooled completely, with the lid on it.
Consistancy will vary, it can be jelly-like or very watery with chunks. Any consistancy is fine, color will vary depending on what bar of soap you choose. Mix with the dowel before each use.
*1C of detergent per load. Can also be put directly on stains as a pretreater.
A single batch makes approximately 52 loads worth of detergent or more.

Three little words

Before we had our first son I sat my husband down and had a discussion with him. It was about three important words. No, I'm not talking about "I love you", even though those three words are important for couples to tell eachother every day...even if you are so angry with them that you want to hit them! The three words I'm talking about are "I NEED YOU". Now, I know that may sound like a purely "lets go to the bedroom.." statement, and it certainly can be, but to me it means more than that.
When we had our discussion I told him that I didn't want us to get so caught up in being parents that we forgot about eachother. As a couple you have "needs": time, affection, intimacy, and countless other things from eachother. Sometimes we forget to tell eachother "I need you". It's one of the simplest sentences that you can say, and yet it can mean everything, especially when you are so preoccupied with the things you have to do every day.
Men, we aren't mind readers and if you need us we may not notice between loads of laundry and diaper changes, so tell us in our ear while giving us a hug like its a big secret; guaranteed to get our attention...and Ladies, sometimes those words are hard for both of you to say but sometimes he needs to hear it too, so sit on his lap like your kids do, and tell him!

When "someday" becomes TODAY.

Yesterday as I was making bread I broke my hand mixer. I had mentioned to my husband, off and on for a few months now, that "someday" I would love to have a Kitchenaid stand mixer. He remembered every time he saw one in a store and would look in the paper to see what kind of sales they have on them because he agreed that it would be a great help to me in the kitchen, especially since he enjoys me making our bread now as opposed to the store bought kind. As things sometimes go..."someday" became TODAY!
I asked him this morning what we were going to do since I'm trying to get a few loaves of bread on hand for when I go into labor, to help make things easier. He said that he was gonna go out today and get the mixer I wanted.
I love how we discuss "needs vs want" to make decisions like this...and it was determined to be a need, so off we went to get it! I am truly blessed to have a husband who doesn't just look at things and assume, he takes the time to see the bigger picture.

Put your heart into it...

When we went to visit family last Christmas we stopped by my cousin's house. She has three boys, and stays home to take care of, and school them. The morning after we got there she made these awesome muffins, and told me about her blog so I could find the recipe. (assortment is the name of her blog)...I looked at it and got several recipes, not to mention a healthy dose of inspiration.
What I thought, and continue to see, is that she put her whole heart into everything to do with her family. From planning birthday parties to the simplest of tasks...making food.
I realized that's what's missing in most of our daily life...our heart! No, I don't mean romance, I mean joy and sacrifice. We have a hard time doing thing just because we can without expecting a little return for our sacrifice. That's not how we show our heart, and I'm resolved to try in everything I do for my boys and my husband, to put my whole heart in it! I may fall short some days, but trying is what makes all the difference.

A lot to catch up on in such a short time, we've been busy!

As you can see it's been some time since I've posted anything. In the last few months our son turned one, finally began to walk, and is now determined that running will be his next feat accomplished in toddler-hood.

I have discovered a few new recipes that I may share very soon; some edible and some not. I have also become very pregnant...but we all knew that was going to happen a couple months ago ;-). I also got a chance to cook my very first thanksgiving dinner all on my own! I have now reached 37 weeks, so we now have a "full-term" baby, PRAISE GOD! With this week comes several blessings, but it also brings a lot of worries. I feel like we are inconveniencing people with the timing, even though I think that our son's Christmas day due date is such a special present for us, and someday I hope he would feel the same. I have discovered that pleasing everyone one is impossible, but it would be nice to feel that we were important to some people who seem to be so pessimistic about everything...the weather near the delivery day, the cost of trying to be here for us, ect. I'm ready to just tell people that we are going to do it all ourselves and that they don't need to worry about us!

My husband is acclimating to his new job, but this new schedule is a hard adjustment for us, especially since I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat at this point in the pregnancy. He's on nights, which means that when he wants to come home and tell me how work went he can't wake me. We will get thru it, and probably come to enjoy this schedule in the end.

Back to the new normal

welcomeFinally!!!.....my hubby is home from school! We're slowly getting back into our old routines, or as similar to them as we can as we all try to adjust to a new job...in a new squadron.
We are now officially halfway thru the pregnancy as well, and last week got a chance to find out the gender.....drum roll please....IT'S ANOTHER BOY!
Our other boy is going to be one year in about 3 weeks, and we are hoping to be with family to celebrate. I have no doubt that he will LOVE digging into a cake all on his own :-)...yes I'm one of those people who thinks that is cute. You're only 1 once, why not?
With age comes character...and our son has it in spades. He does everything on his own timetable. He doesn't seem to think that walking is his thing just yet, but we still try. Every "milestone" has come on his terms....man I love babies lol! He's starting to notice that my belly is growing, and after 6 months of not breastfeeding and not seeming to miss it at all he now has tried to mouth them and has been pawing at them....sorry buster they are brokedown until the next baby gets here.
Life goes on lol....