Life Through My iPhone

Just randomness from my iPhone this week.

 I've never made snow cream before.

In fact, I've never even heard of it until I moved here to New England!

I made some for Dannika on Sunday when she was playing outside in the snow.

It was a big hit!

I had her bring me a bowl of fresh untouched snow, I added some almond milk, sugar, and vanilla extract.

It was like a milky snow cone.

Delicious!

You can find all kinds of recipes for snow cream on Google.

She insisted that she eat her snow cream outside in the snow so that it wouldn't melt. 

Smart girl.

Mattis loves his jumper.

I love it because I can put him in it, and it gives me roughly 15-20 minutes of time to myself.

The day after Nick left, he figured out how to turn himself around in circles in it to play with the different toys and buttons on it.

Go figure, he does this AFTER daddy leaves.

Isn't that how it always works?

This kid is like his father.

He falls asleep in the most random places in the most random positions.

Notice the foot resting on his Bumbo chair.

I'm scared that he's already starting to be mobile.

They were facing each other when I left the room to go to the bathroom.

I came back, and he had turned himself completely away from his sister.

(Yes, my daughter is wearing her Christmas jammies, Don't judge. They still fit and cost me 20 bucks! Girl will be wearing them until 4th of July if they still fit!)

This is my favorite jacket from Old Navy.

Dannika is officially starting dance this week.

She is taking ballet and tap.

I figured gymnastics and dance compliment each other well.

After gymnastics yesterday, we went to the Capezio store in Wellesley Hills to buy leotards, tights, ballet shoes, and tap shoes.

I seriously hope our son chooses to do activities that require little to no equipment, because this stuff gets expensive!

Oh, and in case you couldn't tell by everyone's dashboard photos posted on Instagram and Facebook, it's been cold across the country.

Post pregnancy weight loss update.

I have like 7lbs more to go, and I know the loose skin around my belly will tighten itself back up.

I know that part just takes time.

I'm pretty happy with how I'm looking after just 4 months after giving birth.

I was pretty decent over the holidays about not indulging TOO much.

I took a week off from working out because I was dying sick.

Other than that, I'm hoping to be back to my normal self and bikini ready by the Summer!

Oh, and I'm having massive hair loss.

This is one of my favorite photos taken of Nick and I by Erin Dietrich Photography.

I finally had it blown up on canvas after two years of telling myself I would.

Lastly,

Johnny Football is leaving the Aggies to go the NFL.

As sad as I am, I am thrilled for him.

He put Aggie football back on the map this season.

He gave me two years of the most exciting Aggie football seasons EVER! 

Good Luck, Johnny!

There ya have it.

My life through my iPhone.

If you made it all the way down here, congrats!

You survived a piece of my life on my blog!

Snow Play While Daddy's Away

Instead of feeling sorry for myself all day yesterday, I was determined to try and liven up the mood in my house.

The day that my husband leaves is always the worst day.

The house feels empty just knowing that he won't be back that evening.

After he left, Dannika went upstairs to lay in my bed to watch cartoons.

I got comfortable downstairs with the baby, turned on Netflix, and tried to pray in my head for this feeling to go away. 

I realize that when hubby is gone, my daughter watches way more TV than I would normally allow.

I just need the extra break!

I looked outside our back porch, and saw all the foot prints in the snow that Nick and Dannika made together the day prior while they were playing outside.

Dannika loves playing in the snow, and as much as Nick despises it, he knows how much it makes her happy. 

So he'll happily freeze and play with her outside in it while I watch out the window from the comfort of my heated home with my coffee in hand.

I usually stick my head out the door just to get some pictures, but that's about as far as I'll go out in it. 

After daydreaming about the day before about them playing outside, I decided to get Dannika suited up in her snowsuit, and I sent her outside to play.

No, I didn't go outside.

I don't own "snow clothes", and I still have a mildly sick 4 month old.

But, she was in heaven.

I kept poking my head outside to ask if she was ready to come inside (from the frigid cold temps), and she would wipe the snot off her face with her mitten and give me a stern, "no".

She ended up playing outside by herself for 2 hours before I made her come inside.

I coaxed her with a warm bubble bath, and she happily obliged to come in.

I did manage to poke my head out with my new DSLR to get some cute snow day photos for the memory books :-)

Mattis thought it was the COOLEST thing ever to watch his sister play outside through the window.

His mind was officially blown.

Oh, and watching her play outside and be so happy definitely livened up my mood.

I just think about how REALLY lonely I would be if I didn't have kids to keep me company and drive me insane.

And a child's laughter is by far the best cure for any blues.

And Then There Were Three

Nick leaves today for some training/schooling for 2 months.

It's my first time being alone with both kids, and it terrifies me.

He's not gone for THAT long, but it's long enough for me to hate it.

Being alone with Dannika when he deployed or left for training didn't bother me (as much) because for the majority of the day, I dropped her off at daycare and went to work.

Having to take over parental responsibilities and duties 24/7 alone scares me.

The fact that I don't get a "break" while he's gone this time is scary.

There is no daycare that I can drop my kids off at.

There is no adult job that I go to everyday to regain some of my sanity. 

I'm really a stay at home mom now, and that reality is scary.

Look, I realize there are women in far worse situations than I'm in right now.

I have friends I know personally who have done these separations in the military with 3, 4, and 5 kids.

I have friends who have husbands who are deployed and in combat.

I realize this.

I miss my network of military spouses.

I feel like this complaining and whining I am doing would be well received with a wine night in our PJ's and free babysitting. 

Complete with a night of complaining and whining about how much this life can suck sometimes with no judgment passed.

I don't have that here.

The other day, one of my friends asked me why I couldn't just go with Nick.

She oftentimes went with her husband when he went on extended business trips, and she didn't get why I couldn't just go with him.

I didn't even bother explaining the long explanation of how the military works.

I wasn't in the mood to answer all the "whys" and "how comes".

I just told her it was because Dannika is in school.

So, here I go on an adventure.

That's what I'll call it...an adventure.

My daughter will probably watch A LOT more TV than usual, and I hope the snow stays put for a while. 

And of course, some pics of my crazy (but beautiful) life.

We finally got little man to the ER two nights ago.

He tested negative for pneumonia, and he still just had a bad case of RSV.

And he was all smiles yesterday!

We had ridiculously freezing temperatures yesterday, but after being couped up in the house for a week being sick, we ALL needed to get out.

Since the kids' fevers were under control, I bundled them up, and took them out and about with the hubby while he ran errands.

Murphy's Law of Military Wife Life

You know the whole "Murphy's Law" of military wife life?

"If anything can go wrong during a deployment/separation, it will go wrong?"

 I've become victim to that law just about every single time my husband has had to deploy and/or leave for training for a period of time. 

My worst case so far?

I once had a plumbing issue while he was gone for training, and when we came home, they (the plumbers) had ripped apart my daughter's nursery, and had jack hammered a gigantic hole in the floor of her nursery into the foundation of our house to find a pipe that was disintegrating under our home...UNDER our home!!

We had sewage that backed up into our washing machine.....while I had laundry in it.

It took weeks for me to get the smell out of the washing machine.

Let me just add to this story...

We eventually had to rip up ALL of our nice hardwood floors, tear down walls, and rip apart our fireplace because of severe water damage to our entire house, and we lived out of the master bedroom for about a month.

Yes...all this happened while my husband was in Bridgeport, CA doing cold weather training.

This time, he hasn't even left yet.

He leaves on Sunday for 8 weeks to attend a school in Virginia.

We were excited for him to have all this time off during the holidays before he left us.

I had a lot of things that I wanted to do as a family.

Of course those plans were put to an immediate halt when I came down with a stomach flu on Christmas Day.

As soon as I got over it (2 days after Christmas), Nick got it, and was laid out in bed for 2 days.

Just when we thought things were going to be ok, BOOM!

BOTH of my kids AND I woke up with a cough, stuffy noses, and a fever.

Because our son is so young, he hasn't been handling it as well, so we took him to see the doctor, and it turns out he has RSV.

So pretty much since Christmas day, our entire family has been sick.

Sick child #1

Notice the watery eyeballs, and red cheeks....yeah....that's fever, plus ear ache (which we are taking her in for today), congestion and coughing. 

Sick child #2

You can't tell in this pic, but his nose and upper lip are covered in baby mucus and snot, puffy red eyes....that's the fever, the congested hacking.... (sad face)

Sick child #2 with awesome husband #1 (ok, I only have 1 husband ;) )

Our son took a turn for the worse last night, and we are currently in the middle of a snowstorm. 

I woke up this morning and decided we needed to take him to the ER.

Poor little man can barely breathe, and his fever spiked to an all time high in the past 3 days.

Too bad our street has not been snow plowed yet, and we can't get out of our driveway yet until one of us (my husband) gets outside to snow blow/shovel.

Seriously...this is a "living up north" problem!

My husband leaves on Sunday, and I am PRAYING to God that our children are feeling better by then!

New Years Day Thoughts

It's 2014, and my kids and I are all sick with awful colds.

I just can't seem to get a break!

My hubby and I did manage to make it to midnight last night, and I got to pop open a bottle of the bubbly stuff to ring in the New Year.

Oh, and did anyone else watch that ridiculously amazing AGGIE FOOTBALL GAME?!?!?

I was seriously screaming and jumping and clapping and having a heart attack!

Go Johnny Football!

 

I don't make resolutions.

I don't hate on people that do.

I just choose to live life trying to make each year better than the last.

I know 2014 will be great because it'll be our first full year as a family of 4.

Mattis will turn 1 this year.

Dannika will start Kindergarten this year.

I'm going to turn 30!

 

I will be starting off the beginning of this year "husbandless" for 8 weeks.

Another part of military life that you would think I'm used to, but I'm not.

This will be my first time being alone with 2 kids for that long, so I'm a little lot stressed about that.

I'm actually praying that it doesn't snow any significant amounts while Nick's gone, cause Lord knows I don't shovel snow, and I don't know how to work the dang snow blower.

I will also be starting the New Year deeply invested in the Word.

I joined a "Bible in 90 days" Facebook group with some ladies I went to high school with, and I'm really excited about it!

Other than that, I hope this new year brings everyone lots of blessings.

I pray that each and every one of you have a better year than last.

And with that...

Off I go to prepare a traditional southern New Years Day meal....

Collard greens, ham hock, and black eyed peas!

 

Last family photo of 2013

As you can tell, we got down and dirty for New Years...in our PJ's...