Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!

Today marks five years that I have been blessed to be married to my best friend and the love of my life! It took some bad choices on both our parts to lead us to a point in our lives to find each other but it was worth it! I have been reflecting a lot lately about all of the grandiose plans we had made prior to getting married and even shortly after getting married and I have to stop and laugh. Obviously, those plans have not come to fruition and that is ok! If you would have asked us five years ago, we would be childless and spending our fifth anniversary back at a Sandals resort. Today we have a gorgeous daughter and Matt is working while I’m staying home nursing some pretty painful injuries and taking care of our little. We had also both planned on finishing our Master’s degree within these five years. Well, that hasn’t happened either. In fact, Matt hasn’t started his at all and while I have 2 1/12 years of part-time school remaining in mine, I believe I will never go back to complete that particular degree. But no matter what plans that we have made that we didn’t fulfill, we are happy and healthy and that is what is most important to us! Marriage is full of ups and downs and ours has been no different. It takes work, daily. And I really believe that those people who say that they don’t have to work daily on their marriage are just going through the motions of being married. I enjoy putting in the effort to have a good marriage. And I know that I will enjoy putting in the effort as we continue on down the road. It makes life fun! I did ask Matt the other day what plans he had for our next five years. He kinda chuckled and then said something about not wanting to make any plans. I’m guessing that this is probably because we failed miserably at our first set of plans. But, oh well. He knows me and knows that I will be making plans. It’s just my thing. So here goes:

My plans for our next five years of marriage!
1 – Get back to a Sandals resort for an “Us only” Vacation!
2 – Have another little.
3 – Continue working on us every day!

My plans aren’t super crazy this time around…I’ve learned! 🙂 But I still like plans. And I do have other hopes and dreams for us but I put those on a different list.

Well, time to get back to reality and nurse these injuries while playing mommy and chef and maid! One day maybe we can afford a chef and a maid!

S#*t my kid says! Installment #1

That’s right…welcome to my first ever S#*t my kid says. Kinda like the S#*t my dad says…but it’s munchkin instead! I got the idea while talking to my dad yesterday. I’ve also decided I really need to start writing down some of the things she says and does because OMG! She may be the funniest person I know. I see a career in comedy in our future…as long as she supports us! LOL! And disclaimer…the above picture is not my kid and I borrowed it from the interwebs!

Ok…so the other night, while putting munchkin down for bed, she starts misbehaving. Shocking, I know! But for 8:30 at night it was a bit excessive, even for her. I finally got to the point that I told her if she didn’t quit I was going to call her daddy up and he was going to spank her. (Yep…putting that all on daddy!) So about 5 minutes later, after she was good and calm, she asks for daddy. This is a common occurrence in our house. She has to have both of us at some point read a book before bed. Anywho, I told her I would go and get daddy. And her response: “Ok, mommy, but no hitting Brynnleigh.” SERIOUSLY CHILD?! Where does she come up with this stuff?! Could you imagine if she were to say that in the middle of a store with people listening?! And we rarely spank her as it is! I could just see the headlines now…”Local Sailor and spouse arrested following 2-year-old begging not be hit in the middle of Costco!” Ugh, this child! We are seriously going to have our hands full as she gets older!

Now on to yesterday. She seriously had my crying I was laughing so hard! Let me start with a bit of back story on this one (or it won’t make a lot of sense.) When munchkin was younger, like baby younger, Matt would sometimes frustrate me beyond belief (No! Not Matt!) And I used to have this saying “I just want to shake my fist at you!” And sometimes I would even shake my fist at him. He would laugh because I apparently would also make some face that he thought was funny. Ok, fast forward to present day. Last night we were all sitting on the couch and munchkin and Matt were in a tickle fight. Well, munchkin hurt her hand somehow so we paused the tickle fight to check it out. After she got down letting me inspect everything, I asked her to make a fist (just to make sure she could bend her fingers without pain.) And Matt is asking her to tell us if her hand hurts still. So what does this kid do?! She makes a fist, as asked, and then starts shaking it at Matt while he is talking to her! I died! I really do try to not laugh at everything she does but the look on Matt’s face and the look on her face was priceless! She, evidently, has gotten my “looks” down perfectly! I really hope she doesn’t do it again! But if she does…I might just pee my pants!

I hope you all enjoyed this installment of S#*t My Kid Says! Stay tuned because I guarantee there will be more!

Where has the year gone?

I just realized it’s been over two months since I posted anything. Holy heck! Where has the time gone? I feel like I just sat down to type that post. Obviously have been failing at my plan to blog more…I NEED to work on that. My other New Year’s resolutions aren’t going so well either. And some of them I really NEED to work on. Well, enough crying about what I need to do. Here’s a little recap. My darling hubby classed up at A-school the day after my last post. While I was hopeful that would be the case, I have learned not to hold my breath when it comes to anything related to the military. So he has been in class for over two months now. He is doing so well! Top of the class! I am so proud of him. His A-school should be done in April sometime (I actually know the date but can’t really post it for OPSEC reasons…all these rules!) We should hopefully know about orders in the next 2-3 weeks. The time has really been flying by but knowing that we will soon be learning what the future has in store for us makes it feel like the slowest weeks ever! We are actually hoping you can go to C-school as soon as he is done with A-school. I know that sounds weird that we are wanting this since we will have to be apart longer but it is really what is best. I support anything that will help his Navy career and it will also give me time to get the house stuff situated and allow me to work a bit longer. We would definitely only stay here until the apartment lease is up and then probably head to stay with mom until his school was done. So fingers crossed that he can get that school.

Since my last post, my younger brother has also joined the military and is currently at bootcamp. He joined the Air Force and is doing really well and really enjoying bootcamp, or so he says 🙂 I just know that I am so proud of him. It has been a dream of his for as long as I can remember to be in the AF. He went off track a little because of a stupid girl a few years back but he is now in a much better place and the timing fell together perfectly. He will also be graduating in April so our month will be super busy!

Work has been even more stressful lately and I don’t see an end in sight until we move. I am really looking forward to vacation in April and getting to see my parents, brother and husband. It will be one whirlwind of a trip and I’m a little nervous at how my daughter will do but it will be worth it.

Well, I guess it’s time to get myself and the munchkin ready for the day. I look forward to getting back into blogging…and I will do it this time! It does help that I have finally remembered by password 🙂 Have a great day everyone!

Happy New Year!

Oh it has been a long time since I have posted. Life remained and continues to remain crazy, but that’s okay! I wouldn’t have it any other way! First off…HAPPY NEW YEAR! I cannot believe that 2014 is already here! If someone is able to locate the last half of 2013 please let me know! I feel like I slept through all of it! A lot has happened in our little family and I know that a lot is going to be happening in the near future and I cannot wait! Here’s a little recap of our 2013:

-The hubby joined the Navy. We truly believe that this was the best thing for our family!
-We rented out our home and moved into an apartment prior to the husband going to bootcamp. I really miss our house and I really don’t like apartment living but it definitely was the right decision.
-Our little munchkin turned two! I can’t really believe we are now close to her being 2 1/2 but it’s here! We began the Autism evaluation and it is still ongoing. We started speech therapy, behavioral/coping/social therapy and it is ongoing as well. Cardiological issues were ruled out (Yay!) and the physical therapy evaluation showed a bit of concern with her bone structure in her legs but only time will tell on this. She is slowly starting to use more words but we are still struggling to understand her. We sure do try our hardest though!
-Hubby left for bootcamp on 10/9/13. He was in a 900 division, a section leader and a fly boy. He graduated bootcamp on 12/13/13 and I am so incredibly proud of his accomplishment! He was able to come home for a week during the holiday standdown which was fabulous since our munchkin did not attend the graduation with me. We had a lovely visit that went too fast and he returned to school today. We are now just waiting for him to class up (what they call classes starting.) Once he is able to class up we will be one step closer to starting our new lives as a new Navy family!

Well, I’m pretty sure a lot more happened during the past year but these were the big highlights that I will always remember. Now we are in 2014 and I am anxious to see what will be brought our way. As the saying goes, God will not give us more than we can handle! I have lots planned in the near future and have made what is probably the longest New Years resolution list I have ever had. But that’s okay…it’s good to have goals! I won’t share them all with you right this second but don’t you worry! I will end up sharing them soon! The largest, and longest running, resolution I have is to lose weight. My weight has been a struggle for me over the past four years but unfortunately I have not done much to fight it. I have decided that this is the year I WILL make a change. I have to. Not just for me, although it has to be for me first and foremost, but also for my family. It’s so important to get healthy so I can be here for my family. And I just want to feel healthy again and I don’t want to be embarrassed about myself any longer. So buckle up because it’s going to be an interesting year! I took the first step and reactivated my gym membership. I want to go all in and do multiple workouts at the same time but the hubby has strongly encourged me to not overdue it. I guess I will listen to the hubby 🙂

Well, I guess I will wrap it up for now. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that you are all excited to take on the new year! I am also really working to keep the blog updated…at least so I can remember all of our craziness!

Our first weekend…

Happy Sunday everyone! This is our first weekend with my husband at bootcamp. It has definitely been an adjustment! Since my last post I have really had to put on my big girl panties so to speak. Hubby got to bootcamp on Thursday. I was able to talk to him until about 7 that evening and then they finally made them get off their phones and stop texting. He was getting nervous, which was to be expected, but I just kept telling him he would be fine. He had been made team leader over everyone that flew up there with him and then over everyone that had dinner with him. Basically, he was responsible that all of those people made it on the bus. I received his scripted call about 9pm…all 24 seconds of it. Now when they say scripted they mean scripted. Basically he said he was there and fine and then told me when I could expect his box, letter and next call. I’m really hoping that the next call comes sooner but I know it probably won’t.

Then Friday arrived. Life has to continue on the homefront even when he is away and it was time for me to realize that it’s my job to make that happen. So I did. I kept my daughter on her routine as best I could. And I kept the waterworks at bay. It’s definitely hard but what’s harder is having my daughter comfort me when I’m crying. It should be the other way around. I have found it difficult trying to explain to here that daddy isn’t here. I just keep telling her that he is at work. It’s not a lie so I don’t feel bad but she isn’t really old enough to understand.

So now here we are. I survived a trip to Walmart with a two year old and managed to only get one dirty look. I have accepted that bribing said two year old to behave in Walmart is completely acceptable and I do strongly encourage it. We will be spending the rest of our weekend hanging out, watching Dora and The Fresh Beat Band, yelling at the TV together during football and just relaxing in general. Oh and don’t forget writing letters to my husband! I have been tasked with providing weekly football updates. It’s a good thing I like football!

I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend! And if you have any ideas on ways to pass the time when our loved ones are away, please share!

Helmets required!

Our daughter is so much fun to be around! While she is unique in her own way to us, some people find it necessary to take pity on us. My response…Don’t! Our daughter just turned two last week. Why is she unique? Well, besides the all around bias from me, she has autistic tendencies. While we don’t have a definite diagnosis at this time, due mainly to physicians not wanting to diagnose at her age, we just take everything day by day and do as much research as we can.

Children with autism swear by routines and that is very true in our house. One of our routines is that we must watch Monsters Inc. when we get home every day. And we must watch it while wearing a helmet. This seems like the most random thing in the world but, in the beautiful mind of our daughter, it makes total sense and that is all that matters! So instead of taking pity, I say you should be jealous. Why? Because you don’t get to wear a helmet while watching movies! And if you do, I bet you don’t look as cute as she does! 🙂

Military pride runs deep

Today marks just a little more than 70 days until my hubby leaves for bootcamp. It’s going so fast considering we still have so much to do but at the same time it’s not going fast enough. I know it sounds crazy but I’m just very ready for the next chapter in our life to begin. While I sit her impatiently waiting my husband’s departure we are blessed to have someone else to celebrate today. One of my younger cousins is leaving for National Guard bootcamp today! I am so incredibly proud of him! He just graduated high school in May and had been planning on attending Texas State. Before graduation he decided he wanted to go talk to a recruiter. He has a strong desire to go to college but also wants to serve our country which is why he went with the National Guard. He will be delaying college for a year in order to complete bootcamp and technical training. I can’t wait to hear all about his bootcamp when he is able to contact everyone!