Blocker Boys On the Go!

     I know I have been totally slacking over here.  So this post will be a run down of what is happening in our world.  We have been totally busy doing an array of different things.

     Since my last post on my birthday we have been of course tackling the normal everyday life.  We are contemplating what to do if hubby is on the ship for Christmas.  This is a huge discussion that we both sat down and talked about.  I was actually amazed by a few responses we got when people were informed of the upcoming decision.  I got several questions related to the stability of our marriage.  Really we are fine I love hubby to death, and this is just one more thing that military families have to cope with.

     With the looming holidays and no daddy/hubby we are moving all of the holidays up this year.  So this coming weekend will be busy at our house.  We will be having K2's first birthday party and Christmas all on the same day.  We will wake up as a family pretending it is Christmas morning.  Then we will roll into the first birthday festivities.  There will be tons of food and fun to be had by all.  Of course no one has RSVP'd to little man's birthday so it may just be a family event.  I think the sister-in-law and her family will be coming, but they just decided not to RSVP based on the you know we are coming rule.

     I have been following my work out schedule everyday, and I am stoked to see the results in the mirror.  Next weekend is also a measurement weekend for my fitness goals.  It will be exciting to see how much progress I have made.  I did step on the scale for my 30th birthday, and was happy with that result.  Just since I have started my Insanity program I am down 5.5 pounds.  Since I have started eating healthy, and increasing my fitness I am down a whopping 16 pounds.  The measurements will just be icing on the cake since I can already see results in the mirror.

     I think hubby is getting on board with health and fitness improvement since the Navy is evaluating him for high blood pressure.  In his defense he does work in a high stress environment, but he also has some bad habits that are not good for his blood pressure.  Hopefully he will stick with it, and reach a goal while feeling better for doing it. 

     As for the kids K1 is in love with talking on the phone, and playing all the game apps that are on my cell phone.  K2 is coming into his own little world, and trying his best to walk.  Both of the boys are into anything they can reach.  Being a good big brother also includes giving the little man anything he can not reach on his own. 

     Let me know how your family is preparing for the holidays.  What will you be doing that is special this year?  Do you have a tradition that you share with your children each year?

     You can check out my health and fitness journey at Healthy Family Fitness.

     I am fairly certain that duty days come around to corrupt my schedule.  For all my non military readers a duty day is when the hubby stays at the ship for 24 hours straight, and then stays there for a regular work day the next day.

     Some how my 2 young children have figured out how know it is a duty day and just go haywire.  Thank goodness we typically have left overs to eat on duty days because I am not sure we would have made it to cooking mode today.

     My day started while hubby was still home, but I knew he needed sleep so tried to be quiet.  K1 came into our room at around 2am.  I am not sure of the precise time as it was way to early.  I guess he thought it was time to get up because he requested that I get him a blow of cereal. After convincing him he should go back to bed he took a cup of water and laid down.  I shuffled off to bed to try to catch a few more winks.

     At approximately 3:30am K2 wakes up screaming.  Being the good wife I turn off the monitor so that hubby will not wake up.  I go and get the little man as fast as I can stumble there so that he does not wake up his brother.  After all the typical checks diaper, fever, teeth it is verified that he is in fact just fine.  I opted to give him a bottled and lay him back in bed hoping he will return to slumber.  It worked!! I made it back to bed hooray.

     Ta da! It is now 4:30 am and the alarm to wake hubby up for work is going off.  My dear hubby never jumps out of bed.  I think he loves to hear the alarm go off multiple times.  I do mean hear because if the alarm is near him he just turns it off and goes back to sleep.  I now control the main alarm because I will hit snooze so that it will keep alarming.  Eventually he is up and on his way to work.

     Typically I have been working out from around 5:30 am until my dvd is over.  Today however I decided that I needed more than the few hours of interrupted sleep that I had so I rolled over after hubby left and got a little more sleep.  The kids promptly woke me up at 7am.  Then we had things that were already scheduled to do today.

     As we started getting ready K1 was washing his hands in the bathroom.  I have no clue what happened, but he slipped off of the step stool.  The poor little guy landed right on his forehead, and now has a lovely goose egg.  I am sure the forth coming bruise will look lovely.  Needless to say we were late getting across the bridge and tunnel to our scheduled meet up with friends. 

     I know I have previously mentioned the bridges and tunnels in our area.  Since we were late there was no reason to head back home after we met up because the tunnel would be jammed.  So we got back home around 8pm and both boys were asleep in the car.  K2 immediately went back to sleep once he was in bed.  K1 decided however that he felt the need to run around and play with his dog.  So after catching the now rested sprinting toddler I laid down with him for some soft music, and reading on the couch.

     Now I am exhausted, and have no intention of attempting my work out.  I really hope all of you have a great day today.  I am sure once you are reading this our Friday will be going much better than our Thursday.

     I want to start with a simple, but heart felt thank you to A Good Deal is Just Around the Corner.  She recently hosted a giveaway for the My Memories Suite V2.  Lucky me, I was the winner.  Well over the weekend I got to really use it, and now I am ready to share.

Here is a quick over view of the software.


There are tons of videos linked on their website. So I watched a few videos, and here is my first attempt at digital scrap booking.  

 

     Ok it might seem a little overboard, but I am totally pumped.  The Zoo where we live is having a military appreciation day!!! That means we get to go to the zoo for FREE!

     Now while I am sure I will not have near as much fun as my two year old I am stoked.  He is going to LOVE it.  Currently he runs around our house pretending to be different animals.  I can only imagine his excitement with getting to see all the animals in person.  Then there is the obligatory petting zoo inside the zoo.  He is going to completely flip at the idea of petting all the animals.  I just hope the goats behave.

     I am not quite sure my husband shares the same enthusiasm about the impending zoo trip that I do.  He has duty the day before, and will need a nap before we go.  However I am certain that once he gets there, and sees the boys having a good time he will also have fun.  Little baby Ken, I have to use baby as long as possible because his first birthday is coming up.  Anyway little baby Ken will most like not think it is the best trip of his life, but he will enjoy riding in the stroller. Now I just hope the nice weather will hold out.

     Do you remember your first trip to the zoo? Maybe you have fond memories of your little ones first trip to the zoo.  Please leave a comment sharing your favorite moment at the zoo.

     The first thing I ever remember about the zoo was as family trip we took when I was little.  Being the oldest I was out prancing around, and being reminded to keep up with our group.  We had to stop for awhile at the hippo building.  Not that I don't like hippos, but it felt like we were there forever.  All because my little brother got covered in bird poop.  That is right he was the target of a fly by pooping.  I still remember this as being totally hilarious.  The good news is he was most likely to small to remember.  The bad news he hates being the center of attention.  Sorry man I had to share!  Maybe something awesome will happen on our first family trip to the zoo, and then I can use a new story.  Stay tuned for update next week all about the zoo.

     So lets hear it what is your best memory of the zoo.

 WARNING: Do not read any further if you do not want to hear about potty training type information.  This post includes poop, pee, and frustration.   



     My dear 2 year old is going to drive me off the deep end with this venture.  We started with the typical 3 day training plan.  I stared at his crotch for hours, and we ran to the potty all day for 3 days.  That worked for a bit he would run screaming to the potty after awhile, and there was no mess to clean for a few days.  He began to falter so we added M&M rewards for pee, and little toys like a new matchbox car for a poop success.  Our poop success ratio was very low.  I mean this kid must love pooping in his pants.  We finally got to about 2 weeks with an excellent potty record.  I for one am overjoyed.

     This triumph was however short lived.  I have tried everything I can think of to get him back to where he was.  Now days he just sits where ever he is  and tells us after he pees that he "Pee bed" or whatever may be the case.  Friday and today have me climbing the walls with frustration.  For the first time in 2 1/2 years he has decided to play in his poop, and put it on the wall.  So as to not encourage the behavior by getting upset I remained calm, and placed him in the shower to contain the poop.  Now add to the factor that my nearly 11 month old is every where and into every thing.  Now I have to catch and contain the little man before I can even begin cleaning the poop.

     So now I am asking for advice.  What do I do?  I am terribly tempted to just put him back in diapers, and throw my hands in the air.  This has been over a 2 month battle already.  Am I just rushing the process?  I knew when we started that even when he was doing really well we would still have occasional accidents.  Should I just take a few weeks off, and start all over?  Help I am grasping to the last threads of my sanity here.

     I have received some suggestions from mom friends, but they do not really fit our military life style.  My husband is gone at least twice a week for around 40 hours at a time.  I do not have the ability to just hand him the baby and devote multiple days to potty training.  Our first attempt at the 3 day method was over a holiday weekend when my husband had a rare 3 days off.  Now I know there are plenty of families that have similar situations that are not in the military.  So please give me all of your tips!! I will try anything once in this case. Thank you for reading this much of my insanity.

     So busy day around these parts.  Hubby is on duty so no break from the kiddos in sight until some time on Friday.  We made it through are day safely, and with only minor potty train accidents.  That screams victory at our house.  Dinner was left overs because Daddy was on the ship, so no reason for me to cook myself a meal.  The kids still really do not eat enough for me to justify cooking a meal with no other adults at the house.

    Then my friends tells me I should market one of my skills.  She may be right on with that thought.  So my brain is spinning 90 miles an hour with questions.

1. What would I call my business?
2. Is that name already taken on the web?
3. Would people really want to buy that from me?
4. How would I start it off?
5. Do I build a client list first, or start on the product?
6. When is a realistic goal to launch my product?
7. Will my husband think I am insane?
8. Will this benefit my family in the long run?
9. Why did I never think of this my self?
10. Then just a general AHHHHHH??? As I sit here pondering all of the above.

I love to experiment in my kitchen with everything. I will take a new recipe and twist around to make a new dish. I take my old recipes and twist them around for a new taste. Today I am going to attempt the latter. I am going to take my classic oatmeal peanut butter balls and coat them in white chocolate. I will post the recipe for ever one tonight if it works out to my liking. Really what could go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate. Well I am off to experiment with my two year old in tow. I hope you all have a great day with the weekend blog hops.

My husband has duty so he is gone for about 36-40 hours.  He will then come home exhausted because he rarely sleeps on duty.  Korvin is potty training, and Kenaniah is cutting a tooth.  Really could use some adult conversation right about now. 

I wonder some days where I got the idea that homeschooling might be for us.  I feel confident that I will make a good teacher.  The thing that bothers me is will I be able to maintain the house, direct school, and still make time for myself?

I just started putting time for myself back on the list of things I need to do.  Kenaniah is just now 10 months old, and playing by him self a bit more.  Korvin is turning out to be an awesome big brother. In fact so much so that it is making bed time a circus at our house.  The boys share a room so if Kenaniah starts crying at bed time Korvin gets up and gives him a toy.  If that does not work he reads him books.  All the while I just want them to both lay down and SLEEP!! Korvin likes to have the light on as he has recently started waking with bad dreams in the middle of the night.  Kenaniah seems to prefer the room to be pitch black, cold, and quiet so he can go to sleep.  Just another never ending battle right there.

Now the good news for the blog.  It turns out I have bouts of insomnia when the hubby is on duty.  So I will have plenty of time to write stuff, and keep it up to date.  The bad news is that the next day I might not be so up in the SUPER MOM rankings.  One day at a time! We have been dealing with duty days for months, and I still get very little sleep on duty nights.  That leaves me to wonder how I will survive an entire deployment with kids. That however is an entirely different blog post.

I hope everyone out there in the blog world is doing well.

     Well we moved.  When we arrived the people who had rented our house trashed it. So that turned into a clean up / kitchen remodel.  Then I took the boys on a three week trip around Texas to see family.  Now we are back home and getting in to a new routine.

     I am planning on attempting to start home pre schooling my 2 year old that should be a great learning curve for both of us.  We are currently in the middle of potty training so one step at a time.  I am compiling collection of resources to teach from and getting supplies.

Now that we are all caught up hopefully I will get back to the blogging.

Wow so most of the day I have existed with a headache that feels like I spent the entire night last night pounding alcoholic beverages.  Oh well hopefully it will be gone soon.  To top that off K1 is rebelling by trying to choose the food he will and will not eat.  He refused to eat all of his lunch, but immediately asked for goldfish crackers when he got done.  So he screamed all day and refused to eat the lunch I continued to offer.  K2 was good pretty much all day which was totally necessary for me to cope with the array of things his big brother was into.  Just before B got home from work K1 was half way up the stairs on the landing.  He stood up to go down the stairs, and he slipped and rolled down the remaining stairs.  I just about had a mom heart attack as there was no way I could catch him.  On a good note, he is perfectly fine and commenced running around after the initial shock was over.

Hopefully Ken sleeps for awhile tonight.  Which in turn means I will sleep and tomorrow will be a better day

It has just hit me like a ton of bricks that we will be moving in less than 6 weeks.  We verified what day our current renters are moving out of our house.  Then my husband  gets me the information we need to schedule the move online.  I am extremely grateful that the military is paying for us to move this time around.  I am also excited to not have to do all the packing of our stuff.

The boys and i will be moving few weeks before B does.  He will be staying behind to finish working, and to fix up our rental.  One of our dear friends rented his house to us so we are going all out on the clean up.  We even plan to paint a few rooms and the front door.  We have had to put so much money into our house in Virginia that is will look like an entirely different place when we move.

On the excellent news side there is an awesome park near our house in Virginia.  They had just finished the park renovation before we moved out last time.  The park has one of those awesome water play areas for the summer too.  I was envious with no kids to play in it last time.  Really I just want to play in the water area myself.  I am sure K1 will love the park in the upcoming summer.  They were putting in a nice walking track so that will be awesome.

On another plus side we are doing much better on our healthy eating.  We have only gone out to eat once in the last month at a sit down place, and 2or 3 times to a drive thru.  B taking his lunch to work is saving quite a bit of money.  It also is helping to keep the refrigerator clean since he is taking leftovers most days.  I do need to go pack his lunch really quick while both of the boys are asleep.

Well I needed a new place to vent so taking up blogging again. It did me a world of good the first time when I kept up with it.  Tonight my husband is out a Navy conference until sometime tomorrow.  My almost 2 year old son is in bed, and my 2 month old is in his swing.  So I currently have a little time to try to set up a new blog.

So a quick bio before I go do a little more blog setup.  I married my husband in 2007 (to be known in the blog as B).  We met while we were in the Navy, and Stationed in Norfolk, VA.  In early 2009 we had our first son (to be known in the blog as K1), and we had our second son in late 2010 (to be known in the blog as K2).  Our family also includes two greyhounds, a chihuahua, and 2 cats. We are preparing to move due to Navy transfer in a few months.  I am mildly worried about getting everything ready to move in a timely manner.  I have a million things to put on craigslist, and stuff that just generally needs to be clean out before we move.  I am extremely grateful that the Navy will be paying for movers to move our stuff.  I can not imagine getting it all packed with a 2yr old and a 4 month old.

So if you decide to follow this thanks.  I will try to keep it more organized and consistent this go round.  I like to post recipes, and our daily life happenings.  Thanks for reading this far.