AKtoGA Finale

The eagle has landed. We arrived in Augusta yesterday afternoon. It's funny how the last two days (13 hrs broken up into 8 and 5) seemed longer than the whole week we drove from Ak to Chi. I think being out of the car visiting family was the biggest tease and we both detested the idea of driving any further. Despite side roads, construction, traffic and losing our sanity, we made it! And so far, we're really liking Augusta.

G really appreciates the southern hospitality. Not me. I may be midwestern, but I am the kind of her who does not want strangers talking to me about their lives. I don't want to sit and chat in the store, I want to get in and out and on my way. I've still got some of that city blood in me no matter how far away I go. Or maybe it's east coast blood. Who knows. Just don't call me ma'am and be all social when I don't even know your name nor will I probably ever see you again. I'm too rude for the south. But I do enjoy the heat, the pools, the sun, and the greenery.

We still have no house, however we're working on it. Our three dogs are our downfall. Everywhere has a 2 dog policy if they allow pets. We found apartments that allow three dogs. It's a gated community and it's actually the same one we lived in down at Ft. Benning before we moved to AK and we loved it. We looked at it today and think that we'll enjoy it out there. The only part I'm sad about is that it doesn't have a huge pond like the one in Columbus did, but other than that, it has a pool, workout center, FREE coffee and snacks up at the office whenever I want, dog park, and we'd be able to get a three bedroom apartment to give us enough space for our dogs and visitors. It's awesome. It's going to be far from work for G, but he said he didn't mind the drive. It'll probably be about 45 mins with traffic I'm guessing-25 without. But I think we're both excited about it. Oh! And the pool has grills and a fireplace that we can use whenever we want and entertain guests if people come visit. Hopefully we'll get to meet some nice people in the neighborhood. I'm just so ready to unpack a little bit and get somewhat settled in somewhere.

Home sweet Motel 6. We finally made it to our destination!

I must say, if you're traveling with dogs, motel 6 is the way to go. Yes, it's a bit rundown. If you're looking for luxury, this is not the place to be, however pets stay free and there's no limits on weight, numbers, etc. Plus, when you've been stuck in a truck for 12 hours and just need a bed, you really don't pay attention to much else. The motel 6 we're camped up at right now has a pool. We took Ry for his first swim yesterday!! The water was a little chilly so at first he was timid. After his body adjusted, he had fun letting daddy float him around the water. Today, we went to Babies R Us and bought this giant giraffe pool raft. It's awesome!!! This thing is going to be my best friend because I can put him in it and pull him while I swim laps or jog in the water. Plus, he had fun. I'm being extra cautious about putting our arctic baby in the sun. He's got hats, multiple sunscreens, his raft shade, and his swim shirt. I'm hoping I can keep him burn-free all summer.

Giraffe Raft! My little water bug

Ry is such a little wiggle worm lately! He's close to crawling and he's starting to try to pull himself up. He's going to be moving before I know it. Today, we were playing on the bed and he just kept rolling all over the place and using my body as a jungle gym. He's in such a cute little phase right now. I always think I love the phase he's in the most until he hits a new one and I somehow love it even more.

I had my first mother's day on Sunday!!! It wasn't quite as I pictured it-sleeping in, breakfast and coffee in bed, not having to deal with a cranky baby or changing diapers, and getting to actually do what I want to do for the day, but it was still pretty great. G got me an AMAZING gift-the Fitbit Surge, which is basically a watch that will track my calories, running distance, steps, and a bunch of other stuff. I've been using it for three days and I'm obsessed with it. I can track how much I eat on the ap on my phone, which is soooo perfect because I don't really get to work out when we're on the road all day, so it helps me not to overeat like I had been. I can't wait until we're settled a bit so I can go for a run and test out the GPS. We also spent the day hanging with family. I ended the day perfectly with a fire pit and wine :)

My first mothers day with my peanut!

I never get time to update and when I do, I never know what I want to say. I want to be settled. I want to cook. My stomach can't handle eating all this fast food. I get sick every time we eat somewhere. I even tried "healthy" Subway. Those sandwiches are so disgusting. I don't understand how people keep some of these places in business. This is why I cook. My goal is to be super healthy while we're here. Now that Ry is eating solids more and more, I want to set an example. People always ask me stupid questions. This morning, we went to Krispy Kreme to get donuts for breakfast and a guy asked if Ry liked donuts. Um.. why the hell would I feed a donut to my baby? And this happens any time I eat a dessert out in public. People have asked what kind of ice cream he likes and if he'll eat cookies and other stuff too. So ridiculous. I want to set the example of health and teach my child that food is fuel and not a stress reliever or an activity when you're bored. It's a way to supplement vitamins and minerals throughout your body to keep it going. You know, the opposite of what our country believes--that every meal should be considered a "treat".  I guess that's why I'm in the fitness industry.

Took G for his first Krispy Kreme experience this morning. Ry did not have the donuts, only the paper. 

The puppies have been so great! Denali sits in the windowsill at our room like he's a cat. There are two cats a few doors down that do that. He's such a peanut. They all have been listening really well and I've tried rotating taking them for walks. The heat seems to be getting to them a bit because all they've been doing is sleeping. That, or they really don't have much to do in this small room. After we got settled here yesterday, I laid on the bed and just cuddled them all. At my parent's house, they were in the basement or outside so I didn't get to spend much time with them. I missed them so much. I'm very happy to have my little loves back.

Internet is slow here, and I still have a few more glasses of water to get in before the end of the day, so I better start attempted to upload pictures before bed. No editing, so if there are typos all over this thing, then just deal with it. This whole time change thing makes me feel like I'm cool for staying away til 9. I'm lame, but I love every second of it :) xoxoxo.

The Roadtrip

We made it to Chicago. We drove 4100 miles in 6 days from Alaska, but we're still not done yet. We got in Thursday evening, but luckily we're hanging out here for another week before we attempt our final 13 hour drive. 3 dogs, 1 baby, 2 parents and 1 extremely stuffed truck. Oh, and all three of us were extremely sick during the whole trip which made it that much more fun. We managed.

The road trip went a lot better than I thought it would. We plotted out our stops for each day. On day 1, we were supposed to stop in Tok, AK (a 7.5 hour drive) but by the time we got there, it was only about 2pm so we said, "Let's just keep going," and we made it to Haines Junction, Yukon after about 14 hours of driving. We put in about 14 hours for the first three days and it completely cut out an entire day of our planned trip.

Oh look, only about half our drive

On day one, I discovered that Ryan's bottom teeth started popping through!!!! I didn't discover it until we were past Tok and had zero service before hitting the border, so I couldn't even tell anyone until days later when we were out of Canada. Sweet boy! He was having trouble sleeping the week earlier and I thought it was because there was so much going on, but it was his teeth! I knew something was up though because when I'd feed him with a spoon, he was purposely trying eat with only the top of his mouth-not allowing the spoon to touch his bottom gums. And here they are! I'm so incredibly in love with his sweet smile when his tongue isn't covering them up, but I'm super sad!!! I LOVE his gummy smile. I'm NOT ready for baby teeth and him growing up. I can't handle what a grown up he is becoming! Although I must admit, being home right now with my little nephews calms my nerves. Seeing what cuties they still are gives me hope that it's okay for Ry to not be a baby forever. But I'm still trying to absorb every moment I can.

Baby teeth popping through

He did great on the trip! For the most part. We'd wake up in the mornings, feed him, pack and while he played, and when he was ready for his first nap, that's when we'd feed him and leave so we could drive a few hours while he slept. Whenever he woke up, we'd pull over, G would let the dogs out, and I'd get in back and change him then stay back there to feed and play with him. Our truck was so incredibly packed that I couldn't get into the back seat without moving a giant tote to my vacant seat. It was not easy. The good news is I was able to pump while plugged into the car. I'd pump while he slept, then feed him a bottle while we drove. It made the drive much easier and the stopping minimal. We had our own cd's of kid's songs for Ry that we'd pop in on occasion. BEST PURCHASE EVER: There's this car mirror that is set up so we can look back and see him. But the best part of it is it has a remote that turns music on. That music was magical. As soon as it played, that kid calmed down and was content. I don't think we'd have made it without that music mirror. Amazing.

I'm starting to believe that bears are mythical creatures. I have the worst luck with animals. We drove through the remainder of Alaska and didn't see ONE animal on the whole drive (other than eagles and some road kill). I may as well have been looking for unicorns, because bears DO NOT exist in Alaska. Greg has tried taking me bear searching so many different times, yet I never got to see bears when people were claiming they were all over the place. It wasn't until we were a few hours into Canada that we saw our first animal: some caribou. There were three of them and they crossed the road right in front of our car. It was pretty cool. Another time, we found another caribou that was just standing in the road, until our dogs discovered it and barked-scaring the crap out of it. They also tried barking at bison (who didn't really care) and a motorcyclist who was behind us at a red light. This sounds crazy, but one of my favorite animals we saw was in Canada. I woke up and was taking Denali out, and there were three giant rabbits eating grass out there. But they weren't brown rabbits like I see in my parents' yard, they were white with grey spots-they looked like they could be someone's pets. Giant pets. They were beautiful and so free. I loved them! We also saw some elk, deer (or antelope?) a porcupine, and a billion cows. I'm officially over red meat-those cows were so adorably sweet. I never really ate red meat before, but now I'm definitely done with it. I just wanted to gather them all together and cuddle them. I love cows.

I know I complained about not seeing bears, but we actually did see a bear! Just one for about 10 seconds and it was gone. It was awesome because it came from a really crappy situation. Ryan did really well on the trip, however he had a few moments where he freaked out. This particular time, he was screaming and we were in the middle of nowhere, Canada. There was no where to stop so G just kind of pulled over into this grassy spot on the highway. He went to go check on the dogs while I took care of Ry, and jokingly, he said, "Let me know if a bison sneaks up behind me." Well, I looked up and suddenly across the road, this small black bear walks out of the woods. I was in disbelief! (I seriously didn't think they existed) so I kept knocking on the back window to G to warn him. He finally figured out what I was saying and ran out just in time before the bear went back into the woods. If it weren't for Ryan screaming his face off, we'd never have seen the bear.

The dogs did GREAT on the trip as well. We set the back up so that our luggage was all on one side, and the dog beds were on the other. Belle enjoyed her little beds, but the boys were king of the castle and slept on top of our luggage mounds. They were all so adorable and whenever we'd walk near the truck, they would want to get back into their little apartment. They would just look out the windows at everything until their eyelids drooped and they fell asleep. Such angels.

The little pups cuddling in back

Traveling with three dogs is such a challenge, though, because most hotels that are pet friendly only allow two, or they have a weight limit. There were only a couple times we had to lie about how many we had. The good news is 1. Cato and Denali look the same. We just didn't have them out at the same time. And 2. most pet friendly rooms are in the back, near doors, away from the entrance. That way, people never really saw  the dogs anyway. One of the hotels even gave us a welcome basket for the dogs! It was adorable. Our dogs are good and don't generally bark too much, but when we were in a room and people would walk right past our door talking, then they would bark, which would wake up the baby, which would make us miserable. It made me feel good though because sometimes we'd have a room next to one dog who would bark like crazy, and ours were quiet. It makes me feel like I did something right with these little nuts.

The doggie welcome basket!

Okay, these paragraphs don't really flow well, cause I'm going back to traveling through Canada. I LOVED Canada!! So we get to the US/Canada border (from Alaska traveling into Canada) and we see the U.S. check point on the other side of the road. However, we don't see one going into Canada. We kept driving and I couldn't figure out if we were in Canada or not. Then we starting seeing signs in kilometers and litres (yes, spelled that way) and I knew we were in Canada, but there was no check point! It was at least another 30 minutes until we hit their check point. So weird! It's like they don't even care if people are illegally in their country. Ha! But I loved calculating our distance in kilometers better than miles because they go by more quickly! And the accents when we got lunch at Tim Hortons-so adorable. I didn't get to try any donuts in Canada like I wanted to, but that's okay. We've had enough donuts in the last couple weeks to last me a while.

What else do I need to update on? Let's see. We are adjusted to time! It was not fun. Ryan adjusted first, which means waking up at 5am meant waking up at 3am AK time. That got us adjusted pretty quickly. His sleep has been so off and it SUCKS. He slept so much on the drive, which was nice for us, but by the time we found a room at 9 and just wanted to lay down and pass out, he'd be up and ready to play for the night. No bueno. And now that we're around family, it seems like no one really gives a shit that he needs to sleep. "I want to see the baby." "Wake him up." "I want to play with him." That's freaking great that they all want to see our bundle of perfection, but it seems like people failed to forget that we didn't take a 6 hour flight to get here-we took a 6 day drive and we're TIRED and we really don't want to deal with a fussy baby all day long because he won't sleep. It's actually really frustrating not being on schedule and having to plan events that are either at night when he wants to sleep or during the day when he needs to nap. I'd get a sitter, but noooo... everyone wants us to bring the baby and I'm not from here! I don't have a sitter I can call. And no one cares about being quiet either when he naps. This kid gets waken up more times than I can keep track of.

It's honestly just really hard not having a place to live, no quiet rooms for Ry, and not having a place for the dogs to be happy. They LOVE my parents yard, but they are also social creatures. They're only allowed in the basement-when they're used to being able to cuddle and hang out with us all day. Denali is high anxiety and a mama's boy, so he just sits by the gate at the top of the stairs and whines when he sees me. It's heart breaking. The first night here, he woke up a couple times in the night howling. My babe. I feel so terrible. We don't have a house down in GA yet either. We literally just have our dogs, the baby, our luggage and our truck. And now that its' rainy out today, they won't get to just run around today, so I think there's going to be a lot of whining. And Cato! He's normally our good dog, but he's been acting out lately. I don't know if it's the stress of the move or he's upset that he's being kept downstairs and not getting enough attention, but he's been disobeying and destructive! When we play, he's been getting overly excited and trying to attack any toy we play with (not dog toys, but the kids' toys). He's so naughty! And he's not listening to the commands that we give, when normally he's very good about that kind of stuff.

Before I said I loved that G's and my family were so close so when we go home, we can see everyone. Now, I hate it. It sucks because we now have to see everyone. We have to find time to see both sides. By day one that we were home, our schedule was booked Fri-Wed. And this weekend is mother's day and my dad's bday. You'd think that since we drove 4100 miles to get here, people would be more than happy to accommodate their lives to our schedules, but there are some who are just being totally inconsiderate and I want to slap them in the face! If I don't see you, then I'm not going to sit here and feel awful about not squeezing you into my schedule. I feel like the people that care most about us will find a way to see us-and guess what? So far they are. There are people who I haven't talked to in months, have seen my posts on Facebook so there's really no possible way that they couldn't have known I wasn't coming to town, then last minute, try to make ME go out of MY way to try to see them. Um... no. I'm sorry, but this trip isn't going to work like that. So frustrating!

Took a detour to see Mt. Rushmore.

Okay, I've been trying to update all week and now I feel super distracted. Ry's awake. I feel like I have a million things I have to do today. I don't have time to just sit and relax anymore when there's constantly someone jumping down my throat about something. I'm sure I've missed about a billion things I wanted to talk about, but oh well. That's life.  I can't believe we have to get back into a car in less than a week and figure out the next 6 months of our lives... then do this all over again. The good news is my man hit his promotion and is now officially CAPTAIN! I'm so proud of him. Okay, enough. Need to work out since everyone is trying to fatten me up back home. I can't wait til we have our own house again and I can cook. xoxoxo. The joys of the army life.

7 1/2 Months

I suck! I haven't updated in so long!!! Things have been crazy, insane, psychotic busy. Once we (finally) got our orders, we've been in full gear trying to prep for our move to GA. Okay, that actually only accounts for 50% of my excuse. Another huge occurrence that kept me from updating was Game of Thrones Season 5 started up a couple weeks ago. That meant I not only had to catch up on season's 1, 2 and 4, but I had to finish reading book 5 so there were no spoilers. Priorities.

We move on FRIDAY!!! That's like... 4 days away. I cannot believe how quickly time is flying. Tomorrow, we have our final inspection of our unit on base so we have been cleaning, cleaning cleaning that thing. I wish I could say we were finished, but we aren't. We're waking up early to try to do final touches before our 10am inspection. Ay ay ay. We moved into temp housing yesterday (cleaning with dogs in the house is impossible) and although it's a little creepy, bland, long and creaks like a haunted house, it gives us plenty of room. Ry has his own bedroom, there are two bathrooms, a sitting room with a fridge and microwave and coffee maker, and our own bedroom. Not too bad. The pups freaked out yesterday- being in a new environment and whatnot, but today they've calmed down and they're being little angels.

Ry's been a little on the cranky side. And by little, I mean lot. Poor kid. Not only is his environment constantly changing, but my milk supply has been on the low side. I can't help it. We've been so busy that I have no time to pump/hydrate/eat "enriching" foods. This little boy uses his sweet little fingers to push my boob to try to squeeze out as much milk as he can, but my sensitive skin can barely handle it. I am mutilated. My poor lady parts are completely red and scabby. His tiny nails have even drawn blood. I'm even starting to dread having to feed him-it's like those first two weeks all over again. But I want to breast feed. I don't want to have to go to formula. I like the convenience and the bonding time and the fact that breast milk is in fact the best thing for him. I just need to figure out how to power through these next 4 months.

Ryan got the second part of his flu shot today. Surprisingly, he hasn't been nearly as grumpy as I thought he might be today. It still broke my heart. I cannot look him in the eyes until it's over, because the most devastating part is having him break out into his huge, gummy smile then immediately seeing his face drop like I allowed the pain to happen. But the second I pick his sweet little body up, he stops crying and I get to wipe the tears from his face. It's quick-thankfully.

I can't believe how fast this boy is growing! He grew again a few nights ago. I think his height is catching up. His face is looking so much less like a baby and he's thinning out (although, he's still such a chunk!) I love him. He's been in a new phase of sleep where he tends to wake up at 2am needing to be flipped cause he's stuck on his tummy. When Ry turned 3 months, he learned to roll from his tummy to his back, but after he learned to roll from back to tummy, he stopped rolling the other way. He just decided he was over it. So now, when he's on his tummy and doesn't want to be, instead of rolling over, he just fusses until someone gets him. And he's been taking 2am rolls lately. What a stinker! I love him.

There really haven't been too many updates over here other than us prepping to leave. I've been so busy attempting to just get through each and every day that I haven't had time to stop and enjoy things one last time. I really hate goodbyes, so I kind of want to just dip out and avoid it, but people aren't letting me! I had a friend tell me she wanted to get dinner with us on Friday-when I got there, ALL of my fellow base Zumba instructors were there to surprise me and say goodbye and got me gifts. It was so amazing. I got home and cried-lol! I'm such a lame-ass but I'm really going to miss them. And my wonderful students. This is the place that I got licensed to teach Zumba. This is where I quit my job and tried to go for my dream of teaching. I did Zumba with these people all throughout my pregnancy (I took my friend's Zumba class the day before my water broke). My students have bought presents for Ryan and were there for me when G deployed. They watched me get back into shape these past 7 months. This has been such a giant part of my life that I can't believe I'm leaving them all behind and having to start it all over again somewhere new with a whole new group of people. But that's our life. That's how it goes. And guess what? It just gives me the chance to meet some more amazing people to impact my life :)

Okay, as much as I need to update everyone on my life, I'm too tired to continue. I'm starting to get sick so I need to try to sleep whatever this is off before our road trip. If I don't get to update again this week, I'm going to throw it out there that we'll be driving through Canada for about a week and we'll have no internet or phone service. Don't try calling or texting me and don't get offended if I don't respond. ;) And if you never hear from me again, send the Canadians to look for us.

I may type as we road trip via Microsoft word and copy and paste into posts as we hit internet. We'll see if I have time. Next time I update, I may be in the lower 48 :) :) Here's to new experiences, adventures and a  fresh start. Farewell, Alaska. This has been unforgettable. xoxoxo.

6 1/2 Month

This month has flown by!! I can't believe this boy is going to be 7 month old in a weeks. Ay caramba! That sounds so grown up. And he is grown up! He's now facing forwards in his stroller-and he LOVES it. My runs are so much easier now because 1. It's 40 degrees outside and beautiful! No more boring indoor tracks. 2. Ry stays so content watching the scenery change in front of him. It's really encouraged me to go even further with my runs.

Not only is he out of his car seat carrier for the stroller, but also for carts when we shop. I caved. I'm totally one of those obnoxious mom's who bought a cart cover. Not because I'm worried about cart germs, but because I wanted a little extra padding in the seat for when Ryan tips. And guess what? The cart cover I got came with a mini Boppy-looking pillow that smooshes in there and holds him up. It's awesome!!! And, like with running, it makes shopping SO much easier when I have a content baby who just looks around all happily. I don't care how uptight it makes me look as a mom. However, I do gets lots of comments from other shoppers. I've had grandma's ask me where I got it for their expecting daughters and I had another woman tell me, well, she told Ryan technically that he has a great mommy who treats him like a prince. Fact. Plus, so many people love talking to him while he sits up like a big boy and they constantly tell me how cute he is. What's not to love about that?

This boy has been doing so well eating solids. I feed him once a day towards the end of the day when my milk supply is lower. He's been devouring avocado, bananas and rice cereal like it's his job. He'll yell at me between bites until he gets the next one. As for my milk supply, it's having it's ups and downs. I've been baking lactation cookies right and left trying to up my supply, and I think they have been working. The only thing is I wish there was something a little healthier to stuff my face with-although I do switch out the butter for coconut oil and I use less sugar than the recipe calls for. Yesterday, I even threw some blueberries in them with a few chocolate chips. They were good! But more importantly, they're helping me continue to feed my boy.

We are now officially at the disgusting poop phase. His diapers stink! I can no longer throw dirty diapers away in the garbage without the whole house smelling. They've been banished to the outdoors with the dog poop. I've seriously gagged a few times changing diapers. Not to mention the fact that every time he poops, there seems to be dog fur in it... poor kid. He's going to be ingesting fur for the rest of his life.

This week, my mom has been in town visiting for her spring break. We've had such a fun time! Our original plan was to drive up to Denali on Monday after my class and camp over night and come home the next day. Then I had to teach Wed night and we were going to drive back up to Fairbanks and Chena for the last 3 days of her trip. We were going to use these drives as practice for when we drive down to Georgia. So we drove down to Denali and by the time we got there, it was 7pm. We didn't see any animals, and we were only a couple miles out from Fairbanks, so my mom suggested that we just keep driving and come home Wednesday. We did! We kept driving. I passed out in the car and my mom and G woke me up at 1am. We were parked in some random truck stop (creepy) but the northern lights were out and they were amazing!!! They were across the entire sky. I watched until my eyes could no longer stay awake. At about 4, the dogs started barking so we were on the road again. We went to Walmart and shut our eyes for another couple hours.

That actually worked out well because Walmart was the only thing really open at 6:30 in the morning. We were able to stock up on groceries, toiletries and get some apparel to wear in the hot springs, since we had only brought camping gear. In fact, the only other clothes I brought were fleece footie pajamas. Not cute. We drove the extra hour up to Chena and my mom got to see a moose in the middle of the road! So that was exciting. I think she was starting to believe that there were no animals in Alaska.

Chena was a blast! We called them a few days earlier and asked if they allow dogs. They said yes, but only 2, so when we checked in, we didn't mention how many dogs we had. It was SUCH a relief that we weren't given a hard time or turned away. We went of a dog sled ride which was pretty awesome. It wasn't a long course, but it was still quite an experience. We visited the ice museum they have there, and it was very impressive. We even got to drive martini's from ice martini glasses. By that point, Ryan was extremely unhappy since he refused to nap if there were things to see, so we went back to our room and tried to get him down to sleep. Finally, my mom watched him while G and I had a date night and stuffed our faces with calamari and king crab legs then headed into the hot springs. It was so beautiful!!! You can't beat a natural hot tub in the middle of the snowy mountains. That was probably one of my favorite things we did in Alaska. Then again, I'm also a girl who's all about relaxing and pampering versus camping and four-wheeling.

We drove home Wednesday morning. We left Chena at about 6am to make it in time for my night class. It was a long ride but we made it. And most importantly, the baby and the dogs made it. They all did AWESOME. The dogs were so good in the back of the truck. They had their dog beds and Cato was a little king sitting on top of all the blankets we stacked back there. Denali didn't whine like I thought he would and he didn't throw up or jump out the window next to a highway like he did on our previous road trip. And Ryan was mostly content playing in his seat with his toys and instead of stopping to feed him, we gave him bottles while we drove and I'd pump in between-making our stops less frequent and shorter. We still had to stop for diaper changes and to let the pups out/feed them, but I think for the most part, our trip down to GA should be better than expected.

Speaking of, we FINALLY got our orders last week. You know, less than a month away from our moving date. We leave Alaska on the 24th. I can't believe it! That's 3 weeks away now. I'm going to miss it up here so much. This is where we got married-twice. This is where we spent the majority of our relationship. This is where our son was born (and Cato's son). This is where I got my Zumba license and discovered that teaching is my dream job. We've had SO many experiences here that it's unbelievable when you string those memories all together. I've made a lot of friends-most of whom have already left, but still a handful that are not military and live out here. As much as I've complained about how far away we are (which we are, I'm sick of paying so much money to leave the state), I truly am going to miss living here. And now, I'm going to spend these next three weeks busting my butt trying to get everything packed, cleaned, settled, organized, and just plain old ready to go. It's going to be so insanely hectic.

No pictures today. Until next time. Hopefully I find more time next week to update. I rarely have time to just sit and not be bothered. But I wouldn't want it any other way :)

Baby's First... March?

O.M.G. I have so much to say! It's been so long. I've been looking for a day where I had a couple hours to just sit and focus and today is finally that day! FINALLLLLLY! Phew.

Let me start by saying that daylight savings is a little beeee-atch. It took Ryan a week and a half to get adjusted. Oh wait, that's false. Ryan managed to fall asleep about 5:30 and woke up between 4:30-5. I, on the other hand, could not fall asleep, and by the time I did, it'd be like waking up at 3:30 everyday to start my day. So basically, I missed out on 2 hours of sleep each night. But then Ryan's eating and napping throughout the day was off which made for a grumpy baby til bed time. We had a handful of rough days. I'd wake up in the morning wishing I had a 9-5 job because it'd be easier than taking care of a baby all day. But we're back on track and things are much better-well, more or less.

My little monkey

I switched from the progesterone only BC to regular BC with estrogen and it's been amazing and awful at the same time. I do not like the person I am without my dose of estrogen! The POP made me sooooo moody and axious and uptight!! I could not handle my emotions. I went over a week without making it to the gym-which is not like me at all, and my body felt so incredibly run down that I didn't even want to get up off the couch. It was worse than pregnancy! I even took a pregnancy test because all of the symptoms reminded me of my first trimester! It was not fun. It took a while for my hormones to regulate after I made the switch, but this new BC has made me a happier girl-I feel like myself again. That's the good news.

The bad news is once I switched, my milk supply went down. A lot. I used to pump 5 oz in 5 min on one side, and then I was barely able to pump 1 once between both sides. It was devastating. I noticed it was taking Ry a lot longer to eat and after I pumped, I found out why. I talked to our lactation specialist yesterday and she gave me some good ideas. She said to eat oatmeal, flaxseed, and barley and those not only boost my supply, but also the quality of my milk. I think I'm going to look up some recipes for lactation cookies (basically cookies with those ingredients) and start eating them. I've also been drinking Mother's Milk tea (which contains flaxseed and fenugreek) along with trying to pump throughout the day and feed Ryan more often to try to help out. I think it's working-I was able to pump 3 oz the other day!!!

Just chilling on the couch like a big boy! I can't believe how grown up he is

It's seriously such a sad feeling when you think you can't supply your own child with milk. I felt so inadequate and wanted to cry at the thought that my breast feeding days might be over and I'd have to switch to formula. I feel it for the mama's that can't breast feed. Even though it isn't your fault, it still makes you feel like it is. I'm seriously going to try everything I can to prevent myself from completely drying up. And I can't sit here saying I didn't know. The doctor warned me that it could happen once I switched my BC over, but they also said if I felt my supply was strong, it'd probably be fine-and my supply was extremely strong! I guess I didn't think it'd actually happen. Oh well, I'm remedying it!

Ryan's becoming quite the little eater!!! At first he was not a fan of the bananas, but now he's a pro! We also introduced him to brown rice cereal. He's adorable! It took a while for him to get a hang of it. I had to do one bit for me, one for him. Once he saw what he was supposed to do, he did it! And I'd cheer after each bite which made him excited to keep eating. Now, as soon as he swallows his bite, he'll yell at me until I spoon the next one in his mouth. I originally wanted to try led weaning, where he feeds himself with small bites of food while exploring, but that didn't see to work out too well for us. Maybe I'll try again as he gets more familiar with his foods.

Ready for spring!

Now that Ry's older, he's napping less, which means going out and running errands includes a baby who's awake. It makes it so much harder to get things done. If he's grumpy, it makes my day that much more stressful. I might invest in one of those cart covers so he can ride around with me outside of his car seat-not because I'm worried about him being exposed to germs (I definitely think the more germs, the better for his immunity system) but because even though he sits up, he's still too little to sit in there without any cushion. But I do love hanging out with him! The other day, G asked me if I wanted to leave Ry home while I ran errands and I said no, because then I wouldn't have a shopping buddy. As frustrating as it is to get things done somethings, I still love the fact that he goes with me everywhere! BESTIES.

Now that he's sitting up on his own, we've transitioned bath time to a solo event. Last week was maybe the third time ever G got to be there for bath time and he watched as Ry sat up on his own in the tub. I threw in a few of his bath toys and it was adorable!! He would splash around in the water and watch the boat and turtle float around him. We skipped bath time last night because we had stuff going on, but I'm going to make up for it tonight and I can't wait. It's too cute to pass up. We only do the full-on bath time once a week and the other nights, we do sponge baths because trying to do that every night would be a nightmare.

He loves his daddy!!! Playing together

He's such a big boy and so incredibly fun to hang out with. He's mostly all smiles and such an independent player. I can just sit and watch him play all day long. Most of the time, he doesn't even care if I'm there or not, which makes getting things done around the house a little easier. I love his face so much!!!!

I guess I don't have nearly as much to say as I thought I did-mostly because I can't remember half of the stuff I wanted to talk about. I guess I'll make a shout out to one of my amazingly beautiful friends. She's about to have a baby any day now!!! I'm so incredibly excited for her!!!! The thing is, I remember how terrified I was before having Ry. Everyone talked about the pain (which yes, that part was so true-but every situation is different) and everyone was so focused on, "oh, get sleep now while you can cause you'll never sleep" and people would keep saying, "just wait-it gets worse" or if their baby cries they'd say, "this is what you have to look forward to" and everything was so negative. Well I disagree.

He toppled over while playing. He didn't cry or try to move, he just gave up on life and laid there. Lol! He cracks me up. 

You're going to be tired as %#*& but the fact of the matter is-it's so worth it! My favorite part was waking up at 3am to Ry trying to talk to me because for whatever reason, that's the time of the morning he liked to talk and it was so incredibly cute. Your baby cries because he needs something and he's trying to talk to you-not because he wants to make your life miserable. Hearing him cry breaks my heart-it doesn't annoy me (although I do have those days). I love every second I have with him and I hate when I pick him up in the morning and he's bigger than he was the day before. In fact, I hear him stirring right now and I'm soooo excited that I get to go run over and play with him because I've missed him the past two hours he's been sleeping (yes, we got up at 4 today and I am excited to still see him). The labor pain is unimaginable, but I would 100% go back and do that again just to start all over with this amazing bundle of joy that I get to claim as mine. Motherhood is amazing. And you know what else is unimaginable? The love you get from this child! It outweighs the pain more than you can ever guess until it happens. And even better? It's not something that only lasts for a few hours-the love is every day!

Okay, time to hang out with my little man :) :) :) xoxoxo to you all! Thanks for being a part of my life!

P.S. Mommy fail: I'm totally watching Frozen this morning. I hate when Ry watches the TV, but I know he likes the songs from Pandora so I'll allow it this time.

6 MONTH BIRTHDAY!!!

I CANNOT BELIEVE YESTERDAY WAS RYAN'S 6 MONTH MARK!! When I first started this whole motherhood thing, I just kept telling myself stuff like, "Oh, don't even worry about that until he's 6 months. That's so far down the road." Well, it's no longer so far down the road. It's here. I want to slam on the brakes. I absolutely LOVE having a baby. Maybe I should have put "baby" in caps. I have such baby fever now!!! I just want to sit and cuddle babies all day long. He is so precious, and loving, and sweet, and doesn't talk. He's like a puppy, and we all know how much I love puppies-I have three. I'm not at all ready for him to become a toddler. Or a kid. Oh my, thinking of living with a  kid sounds awful ha! I'm not a kid person. But I also wasn't a baby person, so it'll be interesting to see how life continues to change me.

6 month baby!!!! Nothing makes him happier than his daddy :)

We had his six month check up yesterday!!! His pediatrician (Dr. McCaig for those of you here who need a good recommendation) is so amazing. I'm in love with him (not as a husband, but as my baby's doctor). I am devastated that this was our last appointment with him. After the 6 month check up, he informed us that babies don't need to be seen except every 3-6 months. He said if we are staying here, Ry is so healthy that he wouldn't need to see us until his 12 month (oy, I could collapse thinking how soon that is) mark. Whether we move next month or not, we're still due to be out of AK before his 12 month mark. I wish we could take Dr. McCaig with! :( :( :( Oh well, even if we stayed, he'd probably leave us. That's the beauty of military life.

Anyway, our appointment went well! The pediatrician was impressed with how well Ryan was sitting up. He weighed in at 18lbs 10 oz (he was 17lbs at his 4 month check up) in the 73%! Not nearly as tubby as he used to be but still a big, healthy boy! His height is 25 inches (last check up was 24) and he dropped from 46 to 11% lol. The doctor didn't really seem to care. He said all of his measurements are right on track and he is a very healthy boy! My short chunk! Oh, how I love him so much. I have a feeling this kid may be tall at some point, the size of his feet and hands are massive! He needs to grow into them.

Those cheeks make my heart melt. 

One other update about our little man is he has what I thought is a little skin virus on his chin. It basically looks like a pimple, but it's been there for almost 2 months now (super tempting not to pop it). I brought it up to the pediatrician and he agreed that it's most likely a virus and to put some Neosporin on it and see if that helps reduce the redness at all. He also said it may take a while to go away. Nothing too crazy to worry about, but that's what that thing on his chin in every picture is. Our baby isn't a grease ball.

Now that he's six months, he's ready to start eating solids. We tried yesterday with a banana. It did not go well. He made faces of disgust every time the banana touched his mouth. The genius that our baby is... he already knows how to put a spoon in his mouth, so we put little mushy pieces on the spoon but he still managed to spit it out. We will try again these next few days and get him familiar with it and if not, we'll move on to a new food.

This face says it all. Banana is not his friend

Mommy confession: I freaked out about feeding him solids. I have been SO excited all week to watch Ryan attempt to eat a banana but as soon as I put those teenie tiny mushy pieces in front of his hands, I regretted it. I had a minor panic attack which sounded something like this, "Omg, no G, I don't think we should do this. What if he chokes? What do we do? I regret this. Take the banana away. He's not ready for this. I'm not ready for this. He's going to choke. Those pieces are still too big. Mash them up more! I don't want him to eat. Get him out. What if he chokes???" I think all of that was said within approximately 3 seconds time. Well, he didn't choke. Mostly because he didn't want the banana anywhere near his mouth. I was secretly relieved that he didn't want to eat. But I know this is now a new part of our routine and feeding him solids is something we're going to attempt every day. Forever. And I know "choking" is a part of learning (not the kind that requires CPR) but I'm still a little skeptical. Oh well, I'll get over it. I can't let this kid live off of my boobies forever. Ain't nobody got time for that.

So grown up! I can't handle it. (P.S. I assembled this bad boy all by myself)

I had done some reading (all the time) last month and came across something that said around 6 months, Ry starts to get really impressionable and we need to start watching what we say because this is when his learning is going to start taking off (even though it'll be a while before he has conversations with us). I've already noticed this happening in the past month. When we was three months, I read another thing that said some babies will start recognizing their favorite nursery rhymes and books. When I read that, I thought, "How in the world am I supposed to know if he recognizes something. I can't read his brain.."Three months ago.. how stupid and naive I still was. I know my baby more than ever right now and I can tell you, he already has favorite songs. This kid can be screaming his head off and I'll start singing out a song with no response, but if I throw in a line of Happy and You Know It or 5 In the Bed, he will stop his crying and start smiling and laughing while I sing. (And I swear-ask G- yesterday, we were singing Happy and You Know It and Ry totally clapped his hands at the right part. Was it a fluke? Probably. But I'm going to stick with the notion that Ryan's the smartest baby ever.)

We've had a LOT of poop explosions lately. And let me tell you.. Target wipes are not the wipes for 6 month old explosions. It kind of sucks that we bought the giant sized box of them, so we still have maybe 4 full packages left. They are so flimsy and small. I end up with poop all over my fingers every time. So nasty. They worked really well when he was only a few months old and had little baby poops, and they do work fine for normal sized diaper changes, but when it comes to blow outs, I don't know if my cost-effective wipes are really worth it. Maybe when it comes to wipes, it's the same concept as make-up or Charmin: Less is more. (Not applying this to the price). I'd probably only need two brand name wipes whereas I'm tossing endless amounts of Target band into the poop mess. Not worth it to me.

Speaking of Target.. such a rip off! I was shopping yesterday for swim wear for Ry (!!!!!!) for the summer (I'm ready for ya, GA) and found an item that did not have the perforated bottom of the tag ripped off like all of the other clothes. Guess what it said on that one tag that I found? $10. Flip the tag over and there's a sticker that said $11.99. What a rip off! I know retailers bump up the price to make a profit, but when I see something that says it's $10 and then the Target price is $2 more, you better believe I'm taking it to the register to get the prices adjusted! And now, every time I shop at Target, I'm going to look through every item of clothes to see if there's just ONE that has the original price on there. Baby clothes is expensive, so I'll take what I can get.

Speaking of which, I'm also that crazy lady that shops sales now for clothes Ryan won't wear for another year. I found a really cute 18 month sweatshirt for $3 that I bought so he can wear next winter. A few months ago, I found a tee-shirt for $1 and a Zip up for $2 that he can hopefully wear this summer in GA. I'm not going to pay $15-20 for something he'll wear for maybe 3 months. That's crazy! (Unless it's something specific, like holiday or his 12 month bday item.) The ironic part is that I would never buy that kind of stuff for my kid, but I totally would pay $20 for a onesie for a friend's baby! And that's my theory too. Let's friends and family buy the expensive stuff. Why? Because they only need to do it once. I need to buy the whole closet full! And I'm only a Zumba instructor. Ha!

Zumba has been going so well!!! I'm finally getting my body back into the swing of things and back to the high energy levels I used to have! I'm not 100% there yet, but it's getting closer. But I'm very happy at where I'm at right now. I still have a lifetime to let myself recover. Unless we decide to have a second...

6 month progress! Girl look at that body (I work out)

Oh goodness, this is a whole other topic. I don't know if it's the birth control or what, but I have been SUPER hormonal lately and more moody than when I was pregnant (I really wasn't moody when pregnant). My brain has been having a never ending debate about a second child. It's on my mind ALL the time. I sometimes can't sleep over it. I really don't know if I want a second child or not. Here's the deal-I already have 4 bodies to keep alive and a husband. I feel like I spend so much energy taking care of Ryan that the pups never get attention any more. Then when Ry goes to sleep, I finally get cuddle time with my babies and then G comes home and feels left out. I feel like no matter who I spend time with, there's always someone left out. I love my dogs so incredibly much and they already don't get the attention they deserve, that I imagine how it'll be with a 6 body added to my list. It seriously makes me want to cry thinking about them being neglected and ignored. Like I said, my puppies are my children and they forever have my heart.

Also, I love Ryan so unbelievably much that I don't ever want him to feel like he's being ignored or neglected. I don't want to miss a single thing that he does. I want to be there to see every step of him learning and growing up. I want to go to all of his games and school events and I want to be there with a smile on my face-not stressed out from juggling him and his little brother/sister or having to miss out on the school play because my baby is crying and I have to leave the room. Plus, G and I are huge travelers. We want to see the world. If we can, we'd like to have Ry see the world with us. Having a second only diminishes our budget of what we can do (don't even get me started on the price of having the dogs taken care of while we're gone for a week). I'd rather do more with Ry then less with two. Or would I?

I also don't want Ryan to have the "only child" blues. I know there's going to be a time where he tells us he wants a little brother or sister and I'll feel incredibly guilty. When G's mom passed away, I thought to myself I want another child so that Ry will never feel alone when he and I are gone, but I also realize that even though I have a sister, I still have my really close friends who are like sisters to me, and Ry will get that too, sibling or not so he won't actually be alone. And if we do go on vacations, Ry would probably have more fun going with someone closer to his own age... although he has cousins that we could bring with us (with maybe spending money from mom?) so they can play together. This is my brain. It's constantly going back and forth. I don't want to regret never having a second, but I don't want to be so stressed out that I stop appreciating the family that I have. It's not like I have to make this decision today, but I seriously can't shake these thoughts. EVER. It's torture. And welcome to my life.

<3

Okay, I'll end with a mommy fail. This week has been so incredibly stressful. We're still dealing with stupid court stuff, and as I said, my hormones are all over the place. I yelled at Ryan when he was fussy. Yelled at him. As if he has any idea what the hell I was saying or what he was even doing "wrong". G came home and I told him I'm a terrible person. What kind of sick person yells at a 6 month old baby? I'm sure you all are going to say the same thing he told me. It's okay. He'd rather me yell than do other worse things people do to their kids and it's normal to get frustrated. I know, I know, it's not like it's something I do all the time, but I still feel so incredibly guilty and terrible. I don't ever want to yell at him again. He's my sweet angel baby who can do no wrong and I love him so much. I at least owe it to him to be the best mother I can be at all times. He deserves more than that. I wish I could give him the whole world and promise him a future of happiness and success. But I can't. So at least I will give him the things that I know I can control.

Well that's all for today. We'll see how the week of banana eating goes, and Sunday I start on a new birth control so hopefully moody momma doesn't turn into psycho bitch. That's probably the one thing I miss about pregnancy-the guarantee without hormones. You can't get pregnant cause you already are! Who knows, if the pill ends up not agreeing with me like it used to, maybe I will try one of those new technology IUDs or something :/ Happy weekend to all!!!

March Madness

It's a new month!!! Which obviously means I have a whole list of new goals. This is going to be an insane month all around. Ry turns 6 months on Friday!!! which means solids will be a part of his every day life. That's more work for me, more cleaning for me, more stress for me, new BC for me, and a whole lot of craziness. Not only do we have 2 more court dates this month, but we are still waiting on orders to find out if we're moving in LESS than two months. Which means there's a lot of prepping to get finalized. I'm reaching my final weeks in my couch to 10K program, I have a 5K on the books, lots of Zumba including a day-long training session, and goals of trying to keep my body from aching every second of the day (mostly includes a LOT of yoga and stretching). And of course, I really want to eat healthier, but I think I have that goal every week. 

We had a giant day care success this week... RYAN DRANK 3 1/2 OZ FROM A BOTTLE!!! It doesn't sound like much, but that's the first time he's had more than an oz since the first 3 weeks of his life. Which means..... daddy can be the one to feed him at times AND I can trust him to be away from me for more than 2-3 hours. It's super stressful worrying whether or not he'll eat if I'm not there. Especially when court days come up and take up a good 5 hours of your day... ugh. 

He's such a silly little boy!! 

Another goal I'm going to work on..... getting Ryan to sleep in! How do I do this, you ask? He usually wakes up anywhere from 4:30-5am. Which is fine. Like I said, I really don't mind waking up early. But there are going to be nights where we start going out and having date nights and will want to sleep in a bit the next day. So here's my plan: Every morning I'm going to try to delay feeding him 5 minutes past the usual time. As the days going on, I'll prolong feedings 10 mins, 15 mins, 20 mins etc. until we hit may 90 mins or so. That way, Ry won't wake up so early feeling like he needs to eat and I'm hoping it'll either get him to sleep in more or at least play quietly in his crib while I sleep. We will see how it goes. 

This weekend is Fur Rondy weekend. I LOVE Fur Rondy (for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's a giant festival in AK leading up to the Iditarod) because I am in love with the dog sled races! I fell in love our first year here. However, due to NO FREAKING SNOW in alaska (seriously, you can see grass on the ground now and the mountains haven't been completely covered once this winter), they were cancelled this year. And the Iditarod next week is pushed out to starting up in Fairbanks so I won't get to see any mush dogs this year. It's as if this state is telling me there's no reason for me to stay and it's time to move. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE living in Alaska, but I hate being so far away from family and G and I are travelers. I'm sick of paying $1,000 just to fly out of the state to go anywhere. Plus, education is not a huge value out here, and people are idiots. Seriously, if I have one more job out here that screws up my paycheck..... I'm dealing with ANOTHER pay check f*@% up and it's pissing me off. That's the 4th place now that I've had issues with. Like I said, people are just &*@%ing stupid out here. Maybe it's prepping me for when we go back to the south... Although that's a whole different breed of stupid... I hate people so much sometimes... I wish we could send certain people to a 3rd world nation for a week just so they can realize how lucky they are to live in this country and have basic things like plumbing and education. Okay, I'm getting off onto a rant. Let's switch back. 

I have been testing out a lot of the Honest Co. products. This is Jessica Alba's line of all chemical free baby products. If you go to their site, you can get free samples sent to your home (however, you have to cancel the subscription so you don't get charged). I tested their diapers, along with lotion, body wash/shampoo, hand soap, cleaner, and healing ointment. At first, I loved their diapers. They are ADORABLE because they have little patterns on them, so I went to Target and bought a box of them. Yes, they are more expensive, but if it's better for my baby, I don't mind paying extra. I noticed that Ryan was more fussy overnight in them. It's really hard to tell when he's peed in them, so I don't think they absorb the moisture as well as our other brands (mostly Target) do. For me, I don't think it's worth it for my baby to be uncomfortable all the time and unable to sleep through the night. Plus, that's how rashes start-too much moisture. I think I'll take my chances (and save my money) and stick to the regular diaper brands. 

As for the other products. The lotion... it's doesn't absorb into his skin. Every time I put it on his face, it gets smeared around like sunscreen. And I'm 80% sure it's made his cheeks break out into a rash. It could be coincidence with the fact that they were exposed to the outdoor weather and got cold and cracked, but I really don't think that's the case. We had no issues with the body wash/shampoo two in one combo. It was convenient to be able to use the same product for both. The cleaner... I like the idea that it's safe so I use it on his toys on occasion, however it doesn't clean my kitchen counters. It doesn't get food stains out. I keep it around for things that are just a little dusty that I know Ry will come into contact with-nothing that actually needs cleansing. The healing ointment I love!! I think the actual product is like... $11 or something, but I think I'll still pay for it. It healed his cracked cheeks quickly and is great when he scratches his face or has blemishes. I'm obsessed. 

Now that I have a little sitter-upper, Ry is now back into fitting into his 3-6 month clothes. I think he lost a little weight using all the core strength to stay upright. That makes me happy. I don't want him to grow!!! Of course, there are a few of his onesies (the ones that seem to shrink down to 3 month sizes) that no longer fit-either because they aren't long enough near the snaps or his sleeves are too short. It's crazy... it seems like the bigger he gets, the smaller he gets. He's growing into such a big baby, but it only makes him more and more into a little person! Each day he's less baby and more grown up. I can't handle it! I know one day, he's going to be this teenage boy who is ready to leave the house, and I'm just going to sit and remember how incredibly adorable his tiny body was in his footie pajamas, in my arms while I fed him. *Sigh* He's practically going to college next week. 

Such a big boy. Loving his ball pit. 

This reminds me, my mom is also coming to visit at the end of the month!! She had free airline miles so I told her to waste them on a trip out here. And she is :) I can't wait. 

Okay, Ryan is fussing hard core now. Maybe because he was up since 4. Nap time..