Military Spouse Appreciation Week

The week leading up to Mother's Day is "Military Spouse Appreciation Week"

It is this week that the general public is supposed to "recognize" the military spouses for all they do to support our service men and women.

Not that anyone does anything about it...

As I like to say "When the heck do I get a free Bloomin' Onion at Outback?"
(In reference to the many restaurants, such as Outback Steakhouse, offer active duty and retired military free menu items for Veterans Day)

First let me say this: YES I AM PROUD OF MY HUSBAND!

Now let me be passive-agressively bitter....

Military wives follow their husbands around from base to base, uprooting every few months and having to start fresh. It is nearly impossible to establish roots when you are so transient. Nearly impossible to establish a career. Hard to adjust to new people, new towns, new policies.

Even finding healthcare, finding a new person to cut your hair, finding a new grocery store, a new dry cleaner, ...EVERYTHING is a pain and a culture shock. Military wives (spouses) do this and so much more - uproot their lives every few months - because they love their husbands and want to be with them.

This country is so great at giving recognition to the support of our troops, thanking them for their service, offering generous discounts, and much more - but being a military spouse is a thankless, unpaid, unrecognized job.

Known as THE TOUGHEST JOB IN THE MILITARY!

When the heck do we get our free Bloomin' Onions?

Being a military wife means learning how to use tools...

Being a military wife means learning how to do the things your husband always did and you didn't even have to think about - like using tools :(


First... I had to open the box and cut all the little pieces off the cardboard (*Note - remind relatives not to give Brooklyn toys for Christmas unless THEY plan to put the toys together!!)

Then... I have to find all the tools I need. Like a screwdriver. Of course my husband has to have fancy gadgety screwdrivers that involve assembly.

Then... Blood--Sweat---Tears---Bad Words---Obstacles---Confusion---More Sweat---More Tears---

Then...

I felt like Santa!

The next day

She took off running! I guess all the hard work was worth it!

Calendar Squares

Being a military spouse, there are many phrases I use on a daily basis that are completely foreign to the rest of the english-speaking world. I learned about calendar squares only about a month before my husband deployed, but they were instantly something that affect me on a weekly basis.

I'm constantly either thinking about, dreading, planning, taking pictures for, creating, or planning my day around turning in calendar squares!

Calendar squares are little scrapbook pages (our squadron makes 8"x8" calendar squares because the "ready room" is small) that are hung in a calendar format (31 for January, 28 for February, etc) on a monthly basis as the squadron's monthly calendar in their "ready room" - the room they spend the majority of the day in. They looooooove seeing photos from home, a new set of calendar squares, and therefore a new set of photos, on a monthly basis.

Seriously..LOVE.

I dread them so much because I send SO many pictures to my husband instantly via email from my phone, that I have to actually sit and take photos of Brooklyn that are specifically for calendar squares, then upload them to my computer, print them on photo paper, cut them out, make a scrapbook page, etc etc etc. The only thing that motivates me is my husband's excitement every time a new month is posted. He is so happy when he lucks out and gets 2 calendar squares in 1 month.

Here is a photo I tweeted of my most recent squares!

Baby's First Disney Trip (Part 2)

Read Part 1 Here

I packed too many clothes, too much food, and too many disposable items... but better to be over-prepared than under, right?!

Here is the photo re-cap!!

The trip was SO AWESOME! It was very rainy, which put a damper on our plans. But we made the best of the icky weather and had a wonderful time! We can't wait to go again and booked another trip for September not too long after getting back.

Feeling the Magic! Arriving at Disney's Polynesian Resort

Walking out to the Monorail loading dock at Disney's Polynesian Resort

Trying some sugar-free fruit punch at Captain Cook's (she looooved it!)

Bundled up for an evening stroll around the Monorail Resort loop

Monorail Blue!

FIRST RIDE: Pirates of the Caribbean

Walking to Frontierland for lunch at Pecos Bill's

Waiting for our Jungle Cruise

Post-downpour castle photo

Day 2 Photo in front of our hotel

Playing with Grandpa in Downtown Disney

First swimming experience at the Riverside pool

Being silly on our last night. Dinner at Riverside

Waiting for the Disney's Magical Express bus to take us to the airport

Baby's First Disney Trip (Part 1)

Back in February my parents and I decided to take Brooklyn on her first trip to Walt Disney World in mid-April. I've been wanting to do a blog post that explained the why's and how's of the planning process for this trip, so I'll separate this topic into two parts: Part 1 is the planning process, Part 2 is the re-cap.

Why I chose mid-April:
The time of year: after the Spring Break crowds died down, after the chilly season, and before the Florida heat would be unbearable.
Brooklyn's age: 8.5 months seemed to me to be the perfect age for taking a baby to Disney. They are on a bit of a schedule (3 meals/day, nursing 3x/day, napping 3x/day, etc). Babies this age are more alert and aware of their surroundings. They are portable: although they are new crawlers, they are not independent enough yet to want to be "put down" and be independent just yet.

Length of Trip:
5 days. Thurs-Mon
Day 1 - Arrival Day
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom, Epcot
Day 3 - Rest (We planned to go to the pool and otherwise spend lots of time in the air conditioning, but it ended up being a heavy rain day so we hung out in the hotel room most of the day)
Day 4 - Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom
Day 5 - Departure Day

Where we Stayed:
On property! At Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort
We NEVER stay on property (my grandparents own a timeshare very close to the parks) but I insisted for a few reasons
-Magical Express = Disney transports all of our checked luggage directly to our hotel room
-Disney Busses/Transportation = No rental car (and therefore I didn't have to lug her new, bulky Britax Advocate OR consider a rental car seat)
-Extra Magic Hours at the parks. We were able to participate in late-evening hours with reduced crowds and cooler temps while Brooklyn happily slept

Travel Essentials:
-ERGO baby carrier
-Chicco Liteway stroller
-Backpack for carry-on/diaper bag
-Giant Suitcase that has 4 rollers

• Baby Food, Bibs, Spoons
• Baby Snacks - Tons! She was at the age where a hand-held snack would keep her busy for a very long time (airport, airplane, bus, waiting in line, etc)
• Lots and lots of bleach wipes (for tables, high chairs) and wet wipes for sticky hands and face
• Plenty of outfits for any temperatures (I brought about 15 for Brooklyn so that each day she would have a hot-weather option, a chilly-weather option (pants, jacket, socks), an emergency outfit for the backpack, and jammies) I also brought plenty of outfits for myself (9) because Brooklyn spits up so much that I wanted to be able to change my clothes if I started smelling sour!
• 5 diapers per day, tons of baby wipes, disposable changing pads
• Diaper cream, tylenol, benadryl (adult and baby versions), band aids, etc
• Changes of shoes
• Several sun hats
• Brooklyn's rain coat and a poncho for me
• Swim suits, baby float, baby cover up, swim diapers
• Camcorder, DLSR, phone, cords, chargers, extra batteries, etc
• Books for Brooklyn and a few baby toys

Up Next... Part 2!

Month 9 in review

My princess turns 9 months old tomorrow!

Here's a description of what our schedule has been this month.

7:30a - Nurse, Brooklyn goes back to sleep while I make my bed and get ready for the day

8:30a - Breakfast (Any combination of oatmeal, barley, yogurt, applesauce, bananas, peaches)

9:00a - Different every day - play, baby classes, walks in the neighborhood, wrestling with the doggies, watching Sid the Science kid, etc

11:00a - Nap (I have lunch and works on Sweet Chicky)

2:00p - Nurse, Lunch (Any combination of iced pears, cheese, organic spaghetti Os, yogurt melts, diced carrots, pureed veggies)

2:30p - Play

3:30p - Nap (More often than not I also nap)

5:00p - Nurse, Play while I make dinner

6:00p - Dinner (6oz jar of Earth's Best chunky blends OR 4oz jar + oatmeal)

6:30p - Play

7:00p - Bath (2-3x/week), Read, Nurse

7:30p - Bedtime for Brooklyn (I clean the kitchen and family room, do laundry, watch a tv show or 2)

9:30p - Average bedtime for me is any time between 8p and 11p

Getting Brooklyn involved in activities has been great - we dropped one of the classes (the Library) because it wasn't challenging her enough and I would have to fight her to pay attention. Right now we're only signed up for one per week, but we both really love it. I'm thinking about starting her at the Little Gym in June when she turns 10 months old.

Movie Night!

I have huge list of movies that have come out in the past few years that I really wanted to see at the time but never did. I was either too busy, too pregnant, my husband didn't want to see it, or now I have a baby and haven't been to the theater since the day before she was born. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was at the top of my list, and it just so happened to be on ABC Family last night!

It was AWESOME! I loved everything about the movie from Tim Burton's twist on the story, to the costumes, to the graphics, to Johnny Depp's hilarious body language (which also cracks me up in the Pirates movies). I'm so happy I finally got to see this one! It was a great Saturday evening movie night for moi. Next week's movie night will be "Leap Year"

My reflection on our first playgroup

This morning Brooklyn and I hosted a playgroup! There are two other babies in my husband's new squadron, and coincidentally they are both exactly the same age as Brooklyn. This was her first time playing with other babies - all of my friends' kids are at least 18 months older than she is, so she's always "the baby" of the group.

I was surprised, once I had the opportunity to compare, at how busy Brooklyn is for her age! She was up and down and over here and over there and she would crawl and climb on the other babies and take their toys away! I felt like I couldn't step away because I was worried my baby would hurt another baby - a feeling I never expected to feel.

I decided to quit my job when I had Brooklyn and not return to the workforce because I was worried about putting her in daycare (and mind you, I was a manager at a daycare and she would have been at my facility). I was worried that she would get picked on by other babies. I was concerned that a stranger would not give my baby the love and affection that she deserves on a daily basis. At any given moment I could just scoop Brooklyn up and smooch her and give her a giant hug and let her know she is loved.

I didn't want to put her in a situation where she wouldn't learn to trust that someone would always be there if she ever needed anything.

And I had trust issues myself. I am the only person in the whole world who can pick up on Brooklyn's cues - her sleepy cues, her hungry cues, her "I need a hug" cues.

Besides the psychological aspect of daycare, or letting her be in someone else's care in any form, there are obviously the physical concerns. I was terrified that she'd fall and bump her head because her caregiver wasn't there to protect her when she was learning to pull up and balance. I was afraid another baby would cause physical harm as well (think of unsupervised "eye poking").

After this playgroup, it turns out #1. babies are resilient and #2. my baby is a tough cookie!

It's just you and me now, kid!

We're just past the one-month mark of Daddy's deployment. We've been able to Skype with him twice, and it's so nice to hear is voice and see him on the computer! Brooklyn is changing so much from day to day, and Daddy is grateful to be able to see how much she has grown every few weeks. When Daddy left last month, Brooklyn was barely sitting on her own. In just a matter of weeks, she's crawling and getting into everything, she's pulling up, and cruising along furniture to get closer to things she wants. She's also at a point now where she can eat just about anything (in baby-sized bites), and he enjoys the pictures I send him of her messy faces! This is a picture I took the morning we dropped him off at base.

Let's get started!

 

The before..........................

 

Miss Brooklyn, born 8/1/11

This blog is to document the daily life of my baby girl and me, as we keep busy while her daddy (my husband) is deployed with the United States Navy. I will write about our various activities, deployment issues, baby news, our travels and my business, Sweet Chicky. Welcome!