Show Some Blog Love, y'all.

Okay...so Crystal over at Domestic, But Not Martha is having a sort of Pay It Forward thing going on over at her blog. it's a spectacular idea. i can't tell you how many times i've come across a wicked blog that i just have to keep coming back to, but they don't have a huge following. not that you need a ton of people to hear you out or anything, because just one person matters. but i know there are times i'd love to do a giveaway or whatever, but not too many people comment or participate and it just feeds the low-blog-self-esteem bug. lol

so i'm not saying that these bloggers are desperate for more readers, but they are blogs that i love to see in my reader and i think you would too. so check 'em out!

Our Little Lentil

{she just had the cutest little girl!}

Las Vegas Mama

{seriously, funny.}

The Whole FamDamily

{just came across her blog. wicked.}

Confessions of a Disgruntled Army Wife

{we live a few blocks from each other. she keeps it real!}

YUMMommy

{we tweet a lot.}

okay so there are a ton more. and i just hope that you'll get out there and find some. you can also check out Crystal's blog for a big ole' list of 'em. you're welcome.

I died a little today.

Last night before bed, I was facebook chatting [that's now a verb...I shake my head] with one of my good Army wife friends and she told me she needed to get to bed so she could go to the Aerobathon in the morning. I'd heard about it and was pretty interested, but worried that I couldn't hang being almost five months pregnant and all. But I told her I wanted to go. We made plans to carpool and I started hydrating and fueling my body with lime and chili almonds.

And, I fueled my soul with reese's pieces and sour s'ghetti worms. Because....well, um. I needed it okay. lol

After resetting my alarm several times, I finally dragged my butt out of bed, got dressed, ate some oatie-meal, packed some snacks and my water bottle and headed out to the gym.

side note: SCORE! We got free t-shirts since were one of the first 250 participants!! FAIL: we didn't receive our five minute massages like we were promised. But oh well...

**let me apologize in advance for the horrid face of mine you are about to witness. no makeup and winter makes me look as pale as a ghost. my gawd.**

This is our grainy cell phone pic pre-fitness. The aerobathon was 3 hours of aerobic/spin classes: 6 classes each at 25min intervals and a five minute break. They had refreshments and free childcare. It was basically trying to recruit more people to come to their classes. The schedule went something like this: 

1. Typical Aerobic class [i forgo what it was called]

2. Some kind of exercise with a weight bar [forgot that one too]

3. Zumba

4. Total Body Shock

5. Step Aerobics

6. Zumba

I did all but the total body shock class. At that point, my body was shocked enough and I honestly needed a refuel break for my body and my spirit. I was pretty tapped out after the first Zumba session and I really wanted to go home. But if any one of you saw my Tweets last night, I had something to prove to my husband [who said I couldn't do it.] Thankfully Leslie and Kristin were there to help motivate me! 

And ...shocker! I wasn't the only pregnant fool up in there working on my fitness!

This was how I felt after, but surprisingly...I managed to hobble my way out of there with a smile on my face!

GO US!

**see what i mean about the face. ew.**

All in all. I survived the classes and I am in EXCRUCIATING PAIN. I even soaked in the tub with Austin tonight. Just sitting upright is a battle! Hopefully I'll be a little bit better tomorrow! Probably not though. Anyone have any remedies for sore muscles besides doing more work and hurting myself?

Burgerama.

I spent the day with my little boy today and it was fun to get out of the house and do something together! This morning, all three of us went to the mall and took pictures with Santa. I've got to get a picture of it up on here because...wait, get this...dun dun dun...HE SMILED! lol

Third times the charm, I suppose?! He was a bit fussy right before Santa came out. We'd been waiting in line for an hour at this point, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. And when I walked with him over and paused in front of the big man, he was SUPER skeptical. But when I set him on his lap, he was ALL smiles! I was so happy!

Then, with the 20% off coupon we got for Crazy 8  [this SUPER cute kid's clothing store], we headed over and bought a few shirts and a pair of jeans for the lil' guy. He's just getting so big on us, we FINALLY have to keep up with clothes on him. Seriously, this is the first time I've really bought clothes for him. We have a lot of hand-me-downs!! We shopped the sales rack and scored the few items for under $20!! Awesome deal. And then we FINALLY bought Austin the one present I KNOW he'll love this year...

A PILLOW PET!

[the turtle, if you're curious]

We looked at the entire rack of animals and handed him different ones and this was the one he loved! He had a DEATH GRIP on it and a big smile on his face so we knew he wanted it. He literally goes NUTS when he sees the commercial on tv.

After a quick nap, the chublet and I headed out to Seattle for Burgerama with the rest of the CFK crew. [A little backstory: CFK stands for Closet Fat Kids. Because we like to eat. We're the kids at fat camp caught stuffing our cheeks in the cabin closet. lol] It's been awhile since all four of us had gotten together, what with Susan moving all the way to Tennessee and the other three of us scattered across the Seattle/Tacoma area. I miss all my girls! And it'd been awhile since they'd all seen Austin, so it was great that he could come with me!

side note: Sorry Susan, I forgot to take a picture of you today!!

A with Auntie Lauren. She was one of the FIRST to see him come into this world!

Being funny with Aunt Maggie.

all three of them being super silly.

All in all we had a fantastic day! And now we're spending it relaxing. I think Austin might even go to sleep early tonight! Whew. Hopefully he sleeps well, Mommy has to work in the morning!!

xoXo ♥

You No Like Me? For Why?

You ever wonder if people hate you? Or if you're the odd man out because of something you've said that was taken the wrong way?

I'm totally feeling that way right now. lol And I could either be totally right or completely wrong.

Here's your warning: if you don't want to hear my whine and gripe, press the little red EX in the corner or the BACK button on your browser.

I want mommy friends. I have awesome friends...don't get me wrong. I love my friends. But I need friends with kidlets that do awesomely cool things so I can relate to people. Blogging has opened my eyes to this awesome world of mommyhood beyond my house and I just want to connect in person.

Not gonna lie: that last phrase made me feel like a creeper. I want to connect in person....creep.


I see posts from meetups and playdates and it just makes me sad. It also makes me wonder if maybe I'm not invited because I'm "controversial" or "too-opinionated"?? Or maybe because no one knows where I live? Or maybe because I'm ugly? I don't know.

I'm logging off now. Sorry for being such a nerd.

My Awesome Kid and I.

Today, I spent the entire day with my sweet sweet babe. And no, I didn't skip school!! lol. Due to unfortunate illnesses with my babysitters' two littles, I decided to bring chubbah with me and my absolutely awesome friend, Lauren [aka Laura-Jean, Auntie Lauren] came and played with the bubs during classes. AND..my other great friend, Maggie [aka Maggles, MaggieMay, Auntie Maggie] came and we all had lunch together at Deluxe.

Seriously. If you live in Seattle or any area near here...you HAVE to go to Deluxe. I might be biased because it's our "college hangout", but it's fabulous anyway. So go.

It was fun knowing that as soon as I left the classroom, I'd get to see my smiley bubbah. And considering he didn't really get a good nap in at ALL today...he was a pretty happy baby. He was quiet most of the day and then at the work meeting we had at my job, he decided that he wanted to talk. LOUDLY. Especially when the owner of the company was talking to us. Thanks, Chub. :)

I love my baby. He's awesome. Really. He is.

Oh yea....and he's 8 months old today. Wowee....

ending friendships.

you know how you can feel an instant connection with someone and it feels like you've known them for years? how they seamlessly and effortlessly fit into your life and you into theirs and it's just a beautiful friendship? and you feel like, "how did i ever NOT know this person?" and you wonder how you'll ever not have that person in your life?

well that happened to me. i had a friend that became so close, so fast and it felt like we'd known each other for years. i could go to that friend whenever i had anything going on, good or bad, and they would be there. it was great. they understood me in a way that few people have. it was awesome.

well, i lost that friend today.

i lost that friend due to craziness and stress. my friend, was a male. and his wife [the craziness i spoke of earlier] didn't like our friendship. despite already having issues in their marriage, she chose to focus solely on me. when it was decided that they were no longer going to be together, it was hard on him and i was there for him just like he would be for me. i tried to accentuate the positive. when the ish hit the fan, he had to leave and spend some time away from the house and his children. the entire time, she fed these poor kids lies about the situation and told them that he didn't care about them.

he returned home to three brokenhearted children.

it kills me to know that there are women out there in the world who would do this just because they are upset. if charlie and i ever decided to not be together for whatever reason, i would make sure that austin knew that it had nothing to do with him and that his dad loves him and that mommy and daddy just love each other in a different way now. and all that jazz.

i hate that i had to lose a friend to all of this. i hate that because of her own insecurity, he had to choose. not that i expected or wished he would choose me over his kids. oh Lord no, but i hate that it even got to that point. we were great friends. fast friends. close friends. he was my shoulder when i couldn't come home. because let's face it, sometimes i need a male perspective when dealing with my husband. i'm going to miss the heck outta that kid. the effortless way we just "clicked"....i'm gonna miss that.

i wish him and his children the best of luck. and i hope that his wife gets her act together. i know he is unhappy and desperate for happiness. i wish i could be there and help him. not that i'm an advocate for divorce, i urged him to constantly give it another go. to try and listen when they went to counseling, to be honest and forthright, to keep it real with her. i hope that in the future we can be friends again and all of this will be a thing of the past.

::tearshed::

2 Year Summer Vaca

Tonight is the last night of my two year summer vacation from school. No, I didn't inTEND to take two years off, but life happened and here I am...two years later, still one year shy of finishing my Bachelor's degree. I'm totally scared and super apprehensive about it. True, it's no University by typical standards, but it's not high school either. I've got a lot of hard work ahead of me [including my Senior Recital]. Pre-Austin, I would've laughed at all the work ahead of me. Now being a mom and wife, I've gotta figure out how to balance it all. I can't spend all day at school on myspace and facebook or in the practice room for hours trying to work on tricky tune. And on top of that, I'm still breastfeeding and have no plans to stop anytime soon. I've gotta figure out where and when to pump so that I can maintain my supply throughout the day.

For the first time, I won't have my girls!! *sniffle* What will I do with myself? What if no one likes me?

[btw: this bathroom where we took these pics has the BEST lighting. seriously]

we look so young!!!

and don't forget Susan!

I'm tellin ya! Friends like these are hard to find and impossible to duplicate. Oh well, right?

I've gotta get all my stuff together for myself and Austin. He's going to Aunt Katie's to hang with her and his girlfriend, Tay Tay! G'night y'all!!!

BusyBusyBusy

Whew! Austin and I had SUCH a busy weekend! This is the first time I've had things to do since he emerged from the ute' so it was interesting to see how different it was. No more pick up and go at the drop of a hat! Oh no! Not only did I have to make sure I had all of my things packed and ready to go, I had to make sure he was dressed appropriately and his diaper bag was full of the essentials. But it gets even MORE interesting. I don't have a vehicle anymore since my tranny went out in my car [perfect timing, huh?] so all of my running this weekend came courtesy of people coming to pick me and Austin up. So on top of all the miscellaneous bags and such, I had to bring his car seat and booster thing that keeps it secure in the car and his stroller and his moby wrap! lol. Oh yea..AND I live on Joint Base Lewis McChord so everyone who came by had to stop and get a visitors pass before getting to my house! lol

Saturday, we had to go into Seattle for my re-audition at Cornish. The bestie Maggie came by around 10:30 and picked us up and we drove out to the Corn. Our other bestie, Susan, was helping run the auditions and since mine wasn't until 2:30 [it was noon when we got there] we decided to go to lunch at Deluxe! It's been SO long since I'd been to Deluxe. Actually, the last time I was there was for my 22nd birthday after we went to the fair! OOOOOH IT WAS FUN!  Anyway, lunch was fun! It's great to be out with the girls, especially since Susan just got accepted to the University of Tennessee for grad school so she'll be outta here come August! *sniffles* Oh well, I guess we'll just be flying out to Tenn for a CFK get together at some point! Afterwards, we headed back to the school and I had to change Austin's diaper so we went upstairs and I helped Maggie get settled in for babysitting duty. After some time, I eventually went off to rehearse and had my audition. [side note: everyone thought it was stupid for me to re-audition since I'm 23 credits away from graduation..lol. but i digress..] I was done a lot sooner than we'd planned so we waited for Susan to finish up [Austin got a LOT of love and attention in the meantime] and then went to Emerald City Smoothie for some delish treats. We hadn't planned on doing more than just hanging out at Corn so I didn't bring the stroller, so this guy was really heavy. I had left his carseat back at the car so we decided to make the trek from Broadway and Roy up to 14th and Pine to Bootyland [a kids store] to buy a moby wrap! I was so excited. By the time we got there, my arms were sooo sore from holding him. We managed to find a wrap for SUPER cheap [50%+ off, my friends!] so the lady at the shop showed me how to put it on and we put my sleeping babe in there.  

Then Maggie dropped Austin and I off at cheer practice. It was fun seeing and hanging out with her! And she helped MAJOR with little Aussie-roo. [Thanks Maggles!!] Cheer practice was fun! I hadn't seen the girls since January. I don't even remember my last practice. I stopped going around the time I took maternity leave because I did NOT want to have my baby at practice or on the way to or from! lol I got my uniform and poms. The jersey fits perfectly, but the skirt is WAAAAY large. I know I'd ordered it larger to account for my postbaby bod, but I have to roll is twice just so it looks normal! lol..oh well. I can totally take it in. I don't have any pics of me in it yet, but they're coming!

Sunday we had a calendar photoshoot for the Colts cheer squad [aka Filly Girls]. So Austin and I got up super early with daddy and got ready for the day. One of the girls, Ashley, drove out to pick us up [again with the large load of stuff to bring!] and we went to Gasworks Park in Fremont/Wallingford area for the shoot. I'd never been out to Gasworks, but had heard about it. WOW.It's so beautiful. It was super cold out there though! We were FREEZING! I don't know why I decided that leggings, a tank top, a hoodie and flats were a good idea to wear early in the morning. Had I been smart, I would've looked it up and realized it's near the water! I am glad, though, that I prepared for cold weather with Austin. He was warm the entire time!! 

After the shoot, Austin and I met up with some of the army wives for a birthday party. It was his first birthday party! Everyone just loved on him and showered him with attention! We had a lot of fun at the party. Charlie even came out to pick us up and hung out with the girls for a little bit! I met some of the other wives and just LOVE them all. Now that Austin is here, I'm going to make a bigger effort to hang out! I think we're hanging out some more this week too!

I'm so glad to finally get to rest and sleep in! lol. I wonder how it's going to be with the little Mister this week. He tends to be really clingy when he's been busy and running around. I just love cuddling my little buddy!!