latest project

for those of you that know me well you've heard me rave about the diaper/wipes holders that i have for DRAMA and MONKEY. being an organizing junky i find that they just save me stress in my diaper bag. i have a boy one and a girl one and they hold the appropriate sized diapers. i can just grab their particular holder and head to the bathroom or wherever i need to change that child. and if HA wants to take one of the kids out he can just grab that one case instead of lugging the diaper bag that doubles as my purse. of course since JUNE BUG is coming i can't for the life of me find any locally. and everywhere online is priced ridiculously as well has having to pay shipping on top of that.
so my sewing-savvy MIL listened to my complaint and said "i could probably figure out how to make them". and she did, in like less than 2 seconds. she wrote down the directions and made a pattern for me to follow and some scrap fabric to try it out on. and then i made one. it turned out awesome. and i really enjoyed making it. so i got more fabric and made some more. and now I'm going to sell them! for only $10 each. which is about half the price you'd find them anywhere else. so if you need one for your little one (or little ones) let me know. I'll find fabric to match a theme or color scheme you prefer. of course i have camouflage ones too! and that's what JUNE BUG will use. i think i will make them for some preggo friends of mine. i was thinking to pair it with a bag of diapers and a thing of disposable changing pads.
so if I'm not returning your call, its cuz i can't hear you over the sewing machine.
**i am on the look out for USMC fabric as its all out around my town currently. some moms have asked if they could get some because their fashion conscious husbands would rather carry that than the Elmo diaper bags. hehe.

lovin' my new stroller

thank you to my family (i will get thank you cards out soon) for all pitching in and getting me this new double umbrella stroller. it has been awesome! as you can see in the picture, i was able to go to wally world with 2 sleeping babies and get the items i seriously was in need of.

the stroller is made by JEEP. it folds up like an umbrella stroller. the umbrella shade just clips right on. you can recline these seats separately if one kid is asleep but the other is not. the handles are tall enough that I'm not hunched over and it has a cup holder for parents. the down fall to this stroller is that it tips over just like any umbrella stroller when you have something hanging on the back and the kids get off. and its wider than my other stroller which makes some aisles in the store harder to get through than others. i will mostly use this stroller for quick trips around town. this coming weekend is the relay for life which i will be going to with my mother-in-law and my nieces. so the 2 littlest kids will be in the umbrella stroller and the 2 eldest will be walking around the track with us. should be fun!

contraction scare and one on one time

Tuesday i felt the JUNE BUG drop. so I've been in pretty consistent pain from that point on. but wed i over did myself with errands and household work in the 101 degree weather. because of dehydration and over doing it i sent myself into labor. my contractions were every 10 min for about 5 hours. my nurse told me to drink a gallon of water and stay off my feet for the rest of the night. my contractions did stop and never got too intense. the next morning i went to my Dr. JUNE BUG's head is against my cervix and I'm already 1.5 centimeters dilated. i was given medication to take if and when i go into labor again. as long as we can get the contractions to stop all should go well up until my due date. i am instructed to stay off my feet and take it easy as much as possible. to which i have to laugh. i have a 3 yo and a 21 mo. that's not easy to do!
so today HA had off work. he took the MONKEY to chuck e. cheeses for some father/son time. and DRAMA and i went to lunch together. it was so awesome. she ordered her food by herself and was so grown up. its so amazing to think that 3 years ago i was holding this tiny baby just imagining doing things like going out to lunch with her together. and now we can do that. she carried a purse too! she's just way too cute. I'm so glad we got to do one on one time with our kids today. soon we will be switching and i can have some time with the MONKEY.

hand holding 4-21-09

i went to our neighborhood shopette (tiny store that sells mostly food) today. i had DRAMA and MONKEY hold hands as they walked and followed me around the store to pick up things for dinner tonight. we are having chicken enchiladas. besides the fact that my children are gorgeous, i also got comments today about how cute they were holding hands and walking around the store with me. because they did so well i rewarded them with some chocolate chip cookies (which they picked out). i just love those little moments when i realize that they are capable of more than i give them credit for. i mean, do you know any other 3 yo and 1.5 yo siblings that can walk around a store following mommy and not touching anything while holding each others hands? my kids are wonderful! ...today.
yesterday was another story. even though we made a "cave" out of blankets and the dining room table and i even let the kids eat their lunch under the table, they still managed to drive me to the edge of my sanity. somehow MONKEY found a crayon (no idea how, i don't keep any coloring items in their playroom) and colored on the wall. luckily i knew the trick of using toothpaste to remove it from walls (thanks HGTV). and DRAMA was exactly that. she spent half the day in time-outs for the things she would say or the looks she would give.
which brings me to my next point: the mothers curse.
it works. i will be more specific however when i pass on the curse to my kids. i will say "i hope you have a child that is just like you, but another different child that is also like your spouse". because its just plain MEAN that i have 1 child that has both of HEAVILY ARMED's mother's curse and my mother's curse! she is dramatic and stubborn. so its not just "its to hard to finish my dinner mother" followed by a dramatic whine. its "i absolutely can not finish my dinner mother and you will totally not be able to make me either" while whining and staring at me evilly. i ask you, is that fair? let me answer that for you.... uh, no! hopefully she'll make me millions and become an award winning actress or something. whats that saying "tomorrow is another day". good, cuz tomorrow i'm attempting to take both of them to the theater with the MOMS Club to watch the new movie "earth" by disney. they've never been to a theater before so we'll see how that goes. i'll be sure to share.

first post

OK, I'm not sure how long i said I'd do this. but hey, I'm finally doing it. this blog is to keep our family up to date on the kiddos that i keep popping out yearly. any time you need a fix of my gorgeous kids, or are waiting for a few weeks for my to return your emails, just look here and hopefully i can keep this up to date at least.

================================================

OK, lets go through some of the basics. since we need some security here (it is the Internet after all and Obama is watching) i will set up some ground rules. i will go by aliases when it comes to the kids and the hubby.

-hubby will be called HEAVILY ARMED (cuz that's what he is) or HA for short

-the first born will be known as DRAMA (cuz she is)

-the second born is MONKEY (cuz its so cute when you ask him to tell you what a monkey says, plus he's always climbing on something)

-the third yet-to-be-born is JUNE BUG. until he makes his presence and we get to know him better, that's all i could come up with.

-i will be narrating all, so don't need a name. and if you come up with one for me... keep it to yourself. :)

================================================

this past Friday HA and i celebrated our 4th year married. in 4 years we have 2.5 kids, survived 2 deployments, a miscarriage, and buying our first home together. how you ask? when so many others seem to fall apart. punching bags, faith, and family. if i didn't have my mil (mother-in-law) i can guarantee you we would not have lasted. that woman is a saint and should have her picture on a candle with glowing light around her.

for our anniversary we decided to take the kids to sea world. i think HA and i had more fun. just watching DRAMA and MONKEY's faces was worth walking around for 5 hours and dealing with the general public and tourists. if you don't already know HA and i do not like the general public. and we both avoid them when we can. anyhow, it was a great time and we can't say enough how wonderful a memory it is. let me just mention here that anyone who is 32 weeks pregnant with their 3rd MUST only drink water through out a 5 hour long walking spree around any amusement park. 'nuff said. here are some pix.

the family as we entered sea world.

HEAVILY ARMED and i on our anniv.!

DRAMA, the map follower

and the MONKEY looking at a manatee

we saw flamingos, eels, dolphins, sharks, all kinds of fish, penguins, otters, and even horses. MONKEY touched a sting ray! and DRAMA talked like a dolphin for half the day. there was seasame street rides that the kids got to ride on with their daddy too. also, sea world allows military to have 1 free day per year with 3 dependants. so we all got in for free. this will end up being a yearly event for us now. and we can't wait for next year.

Love to you all,