Wednesday, January 18, 2012

kids :)

i was going to write a blog about this rut im in but it sounded miserable LOL! and im not miserable.. just in a funk because im so bored here and tired all the time.. so anyways... this blog will not be abotu that really.. however, it has made me think about all the places ive been adn the things ive gotten to see adn people i met and things we did together.

you know when i first had my kids and we moved to FL i did everythign in my power to make sure life was normal. i was struggling with so many roles as a new mom of 2, and not losing my relationship i had with brody now that ethan was around and making time for mark, and school, and my own personal issues with moving away etc... i look back adn think holy crap i moved mountains LOL! wish i had th energy to do that now!

brody and i had an activity planned just about every day when ethan went down for his nap. he was my little buddy when he was a baby! i absolutely adored him! he came with me everywhere. awe i just love my little bummy :) once ethan came around i had to learn how to divide my time and after some time it came natural but at first i just felt so guilty for not having enough time with brody. so, now i get just about all day with ethan which is nice most days and i hardly see my brody man.. ethan and i are like how brody and i used to be... ethan is my little mini me and weve really bonded a lot! the older he gets the more we bond and hes justa fun silly kid... now brody, its a little different now because hes at the age where if his friends are around he wants to hang with them! which is ok, but some days i miss him. its not until days like tonight that i sit and think how much time has gone by, since i last had a nice alone time with brody... and without ethan. i think its important to make time with all your kdis together and separately.

so tonight, ethan fell asleep early which was nice. he was grumpy lol. so brody adn i played jenga and uno and he walked on my back lol! (im sore from yesterdays yoga class) and we had a great time! mark was at the gym so we had about 2 hours just to ourselves. i forget sometimes how cool brody is alone. around others hes just fine too dont get me wrong, but you know what i mean... certain traits come out in people when they are aroudn others vs being just them. i cant believe my kids gonna be 7 soon. makes me sad, but happy at the same time. hes becomming such a cool little guy :)

this all stemmed from a conversation with him yesterday. i forget what braught it up, but mark was upset with brody for something and he didnt have such a good day yesterday... and he looked bummed out so at night, i talked to him and long story short, asked him if he woudl like to go out somewhere just he and i ... and he said yes. and we talked some more adn he seemed happy before he went to bed. i tell my kids when they need attention, and im not giving it to them, please tell me... sometimes we all get caught up doing our own thing and i want my boys to know its ok to ask me for attention. i dont like when my kids are sad or feeling unloved... no matter how many times we tell our kids we love them, if they dont feel loved, or feel like their parents care about them, it can change who they are. so this is why i tell them to ask for attention if they arent getting enough from us. :)

i love being a mom. i have the best kids in the world for me.... honestly. other kids are fine and lovely, but no other kids could work with my personality, to be mine... my kids are good about expressing themselves and their feelings most of the time, and their overall just good. mark and i put a lot of work into the begining of our kids lives at a very early age and we take a lot of pride in that.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A military wifes (thats me) top ten

I can NOT sleep, and ive been looking up the most random things online and i think that is why my brain will not allow me to sleep. that and fighting off a major migraine a few hours ago. IN ADVANCE.. PLEASE forgive the typos. i probably will not edit this once i write it. im hoping this will make me feel tired. its been a while since ive typed up anything like this :)

I decided to come up with a top ten list of things you miss and exchange them for as a military wife.. and really as a family. you know how hard it is for me to think of JUST 10 THINGS? very.... i already have a slew coming to me which is why i had to jump up out of bed and type them out before i forgot.

You know, choosing to be an active duty military family for a career to me is very different than i think anyone can imagine unless your husband (family) has decided to do this as a career. This is why as time goes on, i feel myself detaching a bit from my old life and settling ok into this life now and almost at a loss for what it will be like when we are done with this career. it is becoming all ive known as an adult, and raising my kids, and i kind of dont mind it, aside from missing on the stuff back home. there is not a person that can relate to my life style back home.. not from a career perspective and moving around like we have, so the other families i have met along the way that have become my family, i really cherish because they get it! :)

ON WITH THE COUNT DOWN! in NO particular order.. come on, it IS 2am here, way too late to care about ordering for this OCD chick... ;P

1. You MISS OUT on family dinners for holidays which can sometimes turn routine or result in feuds. you dont have moms traditional plate and your aunts home made pie she has every year. INSTEAD... you get to have a new face at the table or go to a new friends home for dinner and share fond memories of dinners back home, and really appreciate those memories. You share one of your family traditional dishes with others and have a dish you never had before. This make you appreciate family more because you cant be with them, and you think about the day when you will be able to have a nice family dinner with them again.

2. You MISS OUT of friends getting married and having children of their own and your friends kids growing up with yours and the dream you once had of living next door to your best friend doesnt happen. INSTEAD you get to meet a TON of new people, your kids have best friends all over the U.S. and maybe over seas, and every chance you get to talk to your best friend on the phone it puts a smile on your heart because had you lived so close to one another, you wouldnt appreciate your friend the way you do being away from them. with every visit back home, you realize just how much you miss your friend, but also just how special they are and unique from the military friends you now have... its something very special :)

3. you MISS OUT on feeling like any new place is home and just when you get used to being somewhere, your up and moving again! in EXCHANGE, you know you ALWAYS have a place to call home when you go visit your home town... you know someone will always let you crash at their place. You have memories of special events that took place at certain locations... you leave your foot prints and will always have places to go back and visit once you settle down. like for us, Florida is where we really became a family. i will always remember florida for that. it is our home away from home. California is where life changed again for us and Mark made chief and i will be finishing college. Some day, it will be nice to travel again to the places we had lived and say "remember when..."

4. you MISS OUT on nights out with your friends, and doing each others makeup and hair and asking them how do i look and them giving you an honest opinion..and going to the same little dive bar on the corner every so often where people know you.INSTEAD, you can have a new friend to go out with every time you go out. you dont have to love the person your hanging out with because in a few months maybe theyre moving... but for right now, theyre actually pretty cool to hang with, you havent known them that long so you havent had enough time to figure out what annoys you about them. Or maybe you really click with them and you know you will both be stationed here for 4 years, so you have 4 years to cram in everything you can without the BS because you dont have time to waste on BS!

5. You MISS OUT on your husband having a regular 9-5 job with weekends off. INSTEAD its pretty random at times, sometimes they do work weekends, but sometimes they get extra days off of work too. The unpredictable schedule gives you a chance to catch up on some house chores or treat yourself to a pedicure, or watch some really awful reality tv show your husband hates while you wait for him to get home.

6. you MISS OUT on being able to sleep next to your husband every night and sometimes for 6 months or more at a time. INSTEEEEAAADDD.... you get the ENTIRE BED to yourself, you can spread out, sleep witha light on, or the tv, have your kids snuggle with you on those nights, eat in bed, wear your footie jammies, ...whatever you wanna do because the entire bed is yours!

7. you MISS OUT on being able to eat at your favorite places that are 'back home' and even if you try to attempt to make your favorite food, you cant find all the ingredients you need at your local stores in your new town. INSTEAD... you learn to improvise, or try a new dish to cook for dinner, or get take out at a restaurant youve never heard of before then tell your friends back home all about it.

8. you MISS OUT on taking your kids to do things that you did as a kid unless you do some really careful planning and even then its just not enough time. INSTEAD, when you do get the chance to show your child where you grew up and played, its pretty special because its not a place down the road they can go to any time they want... you know they wouldnt.... how many times have you complained about not having a gym to go to then when you find one within walking distance how often have you gone? if youre like me, not that often!

9. you MISS OUT on bonding with your younger family members the way you imagined it would be when your brother told you he was having a child...and every time you see them it is almost like reintroducing yourself to them then you have to leave and it can be heart breaking. INSTEAD you can create a really special bond with them long distance in unique ways and when you come to town they are really excited that the coolest aunt in the world is coming to visit! ;P

10. you MISS OUT on tradition.. which isnt always a bad thing. trying to keep up with traditions when you are moving around and life is fairly rapidly changing can be a challenge. INSTEAD you choose a traditional cookie recipe to make for christmas or try a new way of exchanging gifts long distance and its not as stressful trying to keep up with all these traditions and no one is looking over your shoulder making sure you are doing the traditions or even doing them correct! can you imagine if your mother knew you werent using grandmas china for christmas dinner that year... the same dish set thats been used every thanksgiving for the last 50 years!? and you wanted to use a new, much cooler dish set you just bought? she may just pass out! but its YOUR house, YOUR new tradition of not having much tradition... you pick and choose which traditions are important to you rather than doing all of the traditions because well.. youd just collapse trying to keep everything perfect as though life around you hadnt changed.

11. (yes 11, a bonus one.. arent you lucky!!) you "MISS OUT" on getting family member hand me downs you dont have room for. shucks. All those damn dishes from all 4 of your grandparents that mom dug out of their attics in 1976 cant POSSIBLY survive a move across the country! whatever shall you do? INSTEAD you can buy a new dish set :) you can pick and choose what you will and can not/will not accept because you may not have room or it could break etc...

and THAT my friends is my 'top ten' things you miss out on and exchange for something else. its a good life, enjoy it while you can. the good, the bad AND yes the ugly because some day it will be all over. ive been in this life style for 8 years and not everything gets easier, but you just adjust and make things work, and become stronger and learn things you never would have known had you stayed "home" all your life and not ventured past the mississippi lol. :) HOWEVER, i WILL be very happy to move back to new england some day or at least within a few hours drive of my friends and family who i adore so much <3