Friends and Family

This time of year gets me so excited, but also makes me sad because we are not near family and friends. The military scatters us everywhere, and that usually means far away from loved ones. However, I am so thankful to have some of the most amazing friends and family.


I miss all of these girls!


The Men on my Dad's side of the family (little bro is on the far left, my Pop is holding the Wee One, and my Dad is directly behind my Pop.)

The past few days have been an example of that. I recently got a quick phone call from a close college friend on her walk to work so that we could get caught up for just 20 minutes. It was wonderful to hear her smiling voice again. Then today we got all sorts of packages from my Aunt (who is sometimes like a big sister/second mother), James Bond's Dad, and then another close college friend. The package from my friend was a total surprise. She decided to send me her maternity clothes! HOLY COW! Just this morning I was realizing that I needed to get some more pants, and suddenly I get this package from her. Her note was even better. It is little things like that, that make my heart overflow with joy.

Speaking of wonderful family, my parents pretty much kick butt. I am flying up to my grandparents and meeting my parents there as they make their journey to our home for the Christmas Holidays. I am going to get to see all of my aunts and uncles from my Dad's side of the family too. I love these people, they totally rally around us and soak up every precious moment we have with them. My Mom is already starting to discuss how we are going to work her coming down when the baby is due. This time she won't have to stay as long because James Bond will actually be allowed time off. I swear that woman racks up some major driving/flying miles visiting us, but she does it because she wants to see her Grandson and because she purely loves us. My Dad will complain, but if he could do the same thing he totally would.

I hope all of you have the same types of friendships with your friends. I think this time of year helps to reiterate all of that.

A Book For Military Spouses

I don't usually recommend books to people unless I know them really well, because everyone has their own tastes and expectations in books. However, I must recommend a book I just finished reading. A friend of mine told me about it and said it was a good read so I picked it up - Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives.



Now I am not an Army Wife but I think this book can speak to pretty much any military wife. It begins shortly after the string of wives murdered at Fort Bragg in 2002. Tanya Biank covers the trials of the most junior enlisted spouse to the expectations of high ranking officer wives, these are real women and she uses their real names. It shows that even though we may not serve in the same capacity as our husbands we are still serving in the military and have our own issues we have to deal with. I am only a junior officer wife but I could relate to every aspect of all the wives (mostly) because as a wife you represent your husband and can affect what his superiors think of him (as asinine as that is, it is still the case), it is hard to make new friends, and hard to not get sucked into the gossip pool. I will also admit I cried a lot while reading the book, I can't say why because that would ruin things. I think every military spouse, regardless of your husbands rank or years of service, should read this book. I have had a hard time trying to find books specifically about military spouses that weren't just ridiculous and this one is the best I have found so far.

As a side note, my friend informed me that this is the book the Lifetime series Army Wives is based on. After hearing that I could totally recognize every single character. Give it a read, and decide for yourself.

Let the Decorating Begin!

I just wanted to update all of you on my thoughts on the Wee One's wall incident yesterday. Since James Bond had to leave shortly after the incident occurred I called my parents, just so I could talk it out with another adult. I realized that my child is an adrenaline junky, and has been ever since he could sit up on his own. When he gets going full speed he tends to forget his surroundings and doesn't pay attention to things like he should. It's not as if these things occur every single day. For now I think James Bond is right about holding off on seeing the doctor. If these incidents get worse then I'll set up an appointment. Thank you to everyone who reassured me that he is just being a kid.



Christmas at Rockefeller Center

Today, it FINALLY feels like winter in my little part of Texas. I am so happy that the high is in the mid-40's and that we could potentially get snow (not that it will stick, but if I can just see one snow flake I will be happy). This sort of weather helps get me into the holiday spirit. I have been listening to Christmas music since about 8:30 this morning, I am going to start making paper snow flakes to hang in our windows, then we are off to Target/Walgreens to get more lights. I'm hoping that sometime this week we can go and get our tree. James Bond has one thing that he will not budge on when it comes to Christmas, a REAL tree. When we were first married I brought up the idea of just getting a fake tree and he looked at me like I had three heads. We have both already agreed on where the tree is going in our house, and I can't wait to decorate it! I am also going to break out the stockings tonight and hang them over the fire place and make a red/green paper chain to decorate the mantle. I can't wait.

I have also written in all my favorite Christmas shows on our calendar. I can't wait to see the new Disney movie that is airing tonight! I am already starting to plan my Christmas meal so I can start buying up things now before my family and I get back into town. James Bond thinks it is funny how excited I get about the month of December. I just love everything about this month, the celebration of Our Savior's birth, the cold weather, the beautiful choir's, spending time with family, etc. What is not to love?

What are some decorating ideas or traditions you are looking forward to doing this year? What makes you get excited about this time of year?

HONESTLY!

James Bond and I are seriously starting to think that people are going to think we beat our child! Before Thanksgiving Day he was pushing his dump truck around the house and bit the big one. Landing on the dump truck and then skidding on the floor. He had a nice HUGE scab on his head... Then tonight he was upstairs showering with James Bond when I hear a giant thud and then a scream. I ran upstairs and asked what happened! The kid ran head first into a wall. He is going to have a nice shiner along with that scab on his forehead, AWESOME!!

Now, I am a clumsy person and my parents had the same worries when I was the Wee One's age. I have a knack for hitting corners of tables, walls, etc. By the time I was in third grade we realized part of the issue was that my eye sight was shot. Now I am starting to wonder if maybe we should get the Wee One's eye sight checked. James Bond thinks we should wait because he is still at the age where he doesn't pay attention to what he is doing, or even his surroundings. Plus, he is a toddler and they are going to get bumps, bruises, and scrapes.

Have any of you ever had concerns like this before? Did you wait it out or did you take the cautious road?

It's Begining to Look A Lot Like Christmas

December officially begins Tuesday, and that is when I will officially begin listening to Christmas music 24/7. Today, I am going to break my Christmas music rule and leave you with "It's Begining to Look A Lot Like Christmas" sung by Perry Como at his 1958 Christmas Special. I hope this gets you in the holiday spirit, I know it always helps me!

Day After Thankgiving Feast

Yesterday, the Bond's celebrated Thanksgiving. Boy was it quite a feast, and James Bond and I totally pigged out and had two huge plate fulls of food. I didn't quite make everything I had planned, but after three days of cooking by myself I was over cooking. This was the first time I have ever cooked a turkey by myself. I was so incredibly nervous, but it came out perfect! A few other things that came out that I've never made before was the cranberry sauce, and pumpkin and pecan pies.








This was the first Thanksgiving the Wee One could actually share the meal with us and not have to eat nasty baby food! He chowed down on the turkey, that was all he wanted to eat besides the rolls. However, I didn't realize it wasn't going to take that long to cook the turkey and fed him lunch a little to close to our feast time. I think the Wee One's favorite part of the day was racing upstairs to wake up James Bond for the feast. He flew up the stairs (with my assistance), ran into our room saying "HI DADDA!" ran out of the room to grab a book, and then ran back in and told a groggy James Bond "UP!" That was my cue to quickly leave so I could finish up the feast before the boys finally made it downstairs.

My biggest reward for all the cooking was nice kisses from the boys, and James Bond telling me it was one of the best Thanksgiving dinners he's ever had. I am just thankful that James Bond got to enjoy the celebration with us, even if it wasn't on the actual holiday.

I hope all of you had a successful dinner with your loved ones.

"Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"

Thank you Judith Viorst for writing a book with this title, because it describes my yesterday to a tee. There was lots of back pain, James Bond being a cranky jerk, me totally losing my cool on the Wee One, crying, eating off of paper towels because someone decided he wasn't going to do the dishes for two days, and me wanting to crawl back into bed and hit REWIND!

Ever have a day like that!? Where you want to leave your child in his room all day, and run outside and scream and then burst into tears because you are supposed to be the adult and you feel like a child?! Those days pretty much suck. Yesterday, I even counted how many days it was till I get to see my parents for Christmas. Then to top it all off James Bond decides to skype his Mom totally out of the blue. That should be totally fine, except for the fact that we don't exactly get along. I dismissed myself from the equation because she has made it perfectly clear that I'm not apart of her family. I can't believe I let a woman who lives so many states away from me get under my skin like that...ugh! And folks, we don't even have to deal with her for the holidays and I was still angry and bitter... I'm slowly working on it.

Thankfully, today is better. I got tons of sleep, my back isn't killing me as bad. I FINALLY have clean dishes, and I am starting the Thanksgiving pie baking tonight. Also, the Wee One saw how upset I was yesterday and has been wonderful today. Yesterday, when I started crying he gave me a giant toddler hug and started playing with my hair. He knows that always melts my heart. Today I am going to be more positive and if I have to stop doing something because I have pushed my physical limit I am going to give in for once. I am also going to turn on some lovely Brazilian jazz and start cooking away (sorry, I just can't bring myself to listen to Christmas music when it isn't even December yet.)

I hope that all of you have lovely days with your families and friends tomorrow and the rest of the weekend. I look forward to hearing about food overdoses from all of you.