Army Bullshit

Okay...so here we go. Gloves are OFF! I am tired of reading deployment nonsense that has no truth to it. Face it, the Army is the Army. I am SO over the Army nonsense. I have my reasons which I will gladly share. First, the commander's wife. OMG...not enough words. My yahoo was hacked and the dumb bitch actually thought it came from me. Could have been forgiven had she not included the commander, rear detachment commander, both FRG leaders, and my husbands personal and private email accounts all condemning me and telling me I needed help. Who the HELL clicks on a SPAM link. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB bitch(and yes, watch me curse like a sailor courtesy of my Naval Officer background). All for a spam email. The dumb bitch dared to ruin my reputation because she was too stupid to recognize a SPAM email. A NICE person would have, I don't know, maybe EMAILED or CALLED ME?! Now those of you reading might think I'm being harsh. Bottom line is she tried, based on what an animal could see was false, to hurt not only me but my husband as well. I can take it, but mess with my family and I will come at you with EVERYTHING I have and to be honest, I'm cute, smarter than most, and and have a thick skin so bring it! Bottom line, not cool! You wish to fuck with me, go ahead. I'm a big girl. Bring it on (if you dare), but my hubby...he's an innocent bystander and should not have been included in this delusional bitches bullshit! A reminder to those of you that are not family...he's deployed. So this attack came as I am trying to take care of a 2 and 4 year old alone. Not cool. I start back at my blog with reality and ready and willing to take on the bullshit as I see it. NO MORE NICE ARMY wife. Over it. I am SOOOOOOO tired of reading these deployment blogs that are full of absolute nonsense. What is up with that?! Are you all on prozac? Is everyone too afraid of the realities of a deployment?! Not me. Here comes the good, benign, bad, and really ugly. As those of us on the real know...it sucks but there are also some AMAZING times. How often as an adult woman do you get to start a friendship with just the two of you? OR be able to concentrate on yourself without worrying about your significant other?! Here we go. Pete left in October so I am a little behind but ready a willing to share it on the real. the good, bad, ugly, and amazing. I hope you all stick with me.

Love,
April

Pneumonia vs. April

...and that darn pneumonia won...well...actually the pneumonia is gone and the antibiotics killed (almost) the germs. I'm left with bronchitis but it should soon all be gone. I've battled valiantly and have the dark circles and pasty skin to prove it! After a week of my mom visiting and being able to REST, I'm finally feeling better and should be in tip top ready to blog shape soon!

UGH...I'm 30...UGH!!!!

I can't believe that my 20's are finally behind me! In fact, I can't believe that I am a stay at home mother to two young children and I live in Alabama! If I had heard this about someone in my younger years I would have pitied them!!!!! HA! I would have even felt sorry for them! HOWEVER...it states nothing of the reality. The reality is that my husband proudly serves his country and is gone A LOT! This means that someone needs to be home consistently for our two beautiful blessings. This leaves me.I couldn't be any more content with my life. In fact, I LOVE my life. I have a wonderful husband (most of the time), two amazing kids (all of the time), and great friends and family to support me along the way! I occasionally have my "woe is me" moments but there is always someone to remind me. I got a little "reminer" from my sweet friend Jodi this weekend "April, you are OLD...you will never wear junior size jeans again because you have had TWO babies and it shouldn't matter." HA, HA, HA...if only my hips would be like they were when I was 20!!!!!

Pete was gone for my birthday...I know...surprise, surprise...so I spent the day with my amazing friends here in lower Alabama! Amy, Jodi, and I met at Mickey D's for a lunch with all of the kiddos. Between the three of us we had 8 kids! It was a wonderful time and a nice distraction for the afternoon! In the evening, Jodi, made me a home made Thai dinner complete with a wonderful dessert and candles! It was so surprising and sweet! I hardly missed Pete at all (well...I missed him a little bit!).

Once Pete returned home, the girls and I made plans to have a "girls night out"! We went into the big city Dothan(ha, ha, ha...I just said "big city" about Dothan). We had pedicures, a great Thai dinner (can you tell I like Thai food?!), and ended the night at the book store. To my GREAT delight they are all book nerds like myself!!!!!!!

In all, I met my 30th year in a great way. Thank you to everyone for making it such a wonderful celebration!


For those of you wondering what Pete did for me for my birthday...here ya go...

not his best...

sigh...

yep...that's an index card...

three days late...

but I did get wonderful flowers for V-day!



See the little arrow after the message?! There was more on the back, but it only went downhill from there! At least there's only room for improvement for next year!!!!


P.S. Here's what 30 looks like!

Valentine's Day

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day this year! Preston is really starting to understand that a holiday is coming and he gets all excited about what we do to celebrate the different holidays! We had fun using our red colors and paints all day. (Well-Pres had a great time...I could have had more fun if he didn't insist on smearing paint up and down his arms!)

Pres, Pete, and I made a heart cake!!!!!




Pete bought me a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers!




After all of the snow, the weather began to get warm! We all played outside and enjoyed the fleeting warmth. It was a nice change to get out because we had been cooped up for a couple of days with a very sick Ashlyn. She had a nasty cold (her first) and she kept us both up all night crying and just being uncomfortable (my poor baby!). So if we look tired...WE WERE!!!!







According to Pete, no post for the next year would be complete if I did not put in a picture of his car! Here ya go...it's a view of the garage...can you guess who took this picture?!

The new "member" of our family!

Two years ago when Preston was born, Pete traded in his dream truck for our awesome family SUV. He took my smaller SUV and gave me the nice, leather dream car. He's been driving around in my old car for the past two years and has taken a lot of ridicule from the guys-especially over the past year in flight school! Apparently it is just not cool to drive around in a mommy SUV!!!! I share all of this so that you understand his excitement over his beautiful brand new Mustang or as Pres calls it: "Daddy's new race car"!!!!!

Introducing the car that will make the other men green with jealousy instead of burst into laughter when he pulls up for PT in the morning! (Pete told me I had to post pictures of the front, back, side, and inside.)

The snow fun on Griffith Lane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We woke up to real live snow! Not just the little flurries but crunchy, snowball making SNOW!!!!!

Preston enjoying the snowflakes...he couldn't believe them at first!


Ashlyn hanging out in the back of the car! We would take her out for a little bit at a time so she didn't get too cold, but she could still see Pres running around having fun.

Pres and I having fun making snowballs in the driveway!

Daddy taking Ashlyn out in the snow!

Playing in the backyard to make a little snowman before nap time.

Coming in for lunch and nap and eating some snow!


Our big snowman in the front! We were waiting for Pres to wake up to put the carrot nose in.

Our next door neighbor, Stacy's snowman. His son Corey and he made it and were out having fun! They are our neighbors that REALLY keep to themselves...a little strange...but always fun when they do decide to play!


The Fox family's snowman (our neighbors on the fun side...well until a certain Mr. Fox nailed me with a snowball)!!!!

The Gonzalez family's snowman (across the street and over one...Amy is becoming my super fun play date friend)! Crazy Gary made one for each person in the family! He did an awesome job!


It has been a really good day. I love being able to run around the neighborhood with all of the wonderful people and their awesome kiddos!!!!!!

Cookie Decorating Party (better late than never!)

This year we had our second annual cookie decorating party! Last year it was just me, Pres, Meggo, and Layla! This year it grew by about 20 more people...that's a LOT of cookies!!!!!! It was tons of fun and something we will continue to do each year. Let's start off with the prep pictures!

First we made all of the cookies! Pete and I were ready bake until we never wanted to see another cookie again and we let Pres stay up late to help us. We gave him is own batch of dough to do whatever he wanted with and he had a great time!








Next the wonderful party itself! As usual my girlie's Meggo and Melissa were there to help get everything set out and make sure all was ready! Then everyone began to arrive! We had so many kids that my house felt like a zoo for a bit! I loved every minute of it and can't believe how well all of the little ones play together! The kids did really well with the cookies and all of them ate enough icing to be on a sugar high until next Christmas!

Here are some pictures of the Santa Chef hats (all of the adults were awesome to wear them) and the festivities!

Ashlyn: Months 5 &6

Okay...so after my sister in law emailed me looking for an update I realized it was time because she was the 13th or 14th person to ask me! Life has been very full and there have always been a hundred other things to do rather than blog. I will catch up and try to stay with the blogging!

Ashlyn is so big! She's just become this really entertaining and energetic little one! She and Preston play and have tons of fun together! The favorite activity of both is when Ashlyn wakes up from a nap. Presotn will come running to tell me that he hears her through the monitor and will jump up and down in front of her door until I open it. Ashlyn (who usually is crying when she first wakes up) will immediately start to coo upon hearing her brother bust through the door and scramble to climb in her crib. The smile on her face at seeing him plop in her bed is so sweet that it never fails to make me teary eyed! The two of them will play in her bed for as long as I will let them. Preston turns on her mobile and they just have fun! I love seeing their little relationship grow and flourish!

She started to crawl in her 6th month and hasn't slowed down a bit since!!!!! We had been waiting and waiting for her to do it and then one evening Preston was playing on my laptop and up she goes and chases after it. Pres caught on to this quickly and we had a good hour of moving the computer from one side of the room to the other. She started off on her knees but doing a low crawl with her arms! It was too cute!

She is also eating food. The girl has a BIG appetite and I have yet to find a food she won't eat! Now she just needs to hurry up and get some teeth!!!!

Words
ma ma
da da
bubba

Favorite Food
Strawberry yogurt

Favorite Toy
Preston's blanket!!!!!

Here are some pictures to update you on the kiddos!

New Babies!

I am in Florida visitng and had the wonderful opportunity to meet up with a high school friend Tammy. She had her beautiful baby girl yesterday and I had a blast going to visit and being able to hold this little blessing! She was so tiny in my arms. It's amazing how fast babies grow! I also was able to meet her husband and my heart was so glad to see that he is just as sweet as Tammy is! I would like to say a BIG congratulations to the Reedy family for their beautiful new addition!!!!!! Make sure and stop by her blog in a couple of days to see the pictures of the new addition!

P.S. We are having a wonderful time in Florida and I will post some pictures from my phone soon. (Can you believe I forgot the camera?!)

Life as we now know it!

Our little family of four has finally found the groove. The first few months were a bit tough, but we have found our way and now each day brings us all great joy!

Ashlyn has to be the best baby in the whole world! I know most parents probably think that, but my experience with Pres at this stage was not fun at all. My baby girl is just this peaceful breath of fresh air! She will play while I work out in the morning, happily watch her brother in the afternoons outside, and easily bounces in the Baby Bjorn in the evenings as we take our nightly walks! I can lay her down in her crib for her three times a day nap and Pres and I both have a great time doing tummy time with her!

Preston is this big bundle of energy and never, ever pauses to rest! He is a great big brother and gives his little sister endless hugs and kisses. He is such a boy and his favorite new activity is to ride his scooter up and down the driveway! I can't believe how grown up he seems and the time is passing so quickly.

Pete is doing really well in flight school and I am so proud of him. It is and will continue to take a big toll on us as a family and him individually. Despite the long hours, missing out on almost all family activities, and having his nose in his study material all the time, he has finally found a nice balance to make us all feel important! Hubbsies...I can't put into words how proud of you I am and I love you for making sure that you will always be able to take care of us!

As for myself, I am truly enjoying this time with my babies! Most days Preston has me laughing to the point of tears with the crazy things he does and says and Ashlyn has stolen my heart with her sweet smiles! I have thrown myself into our life here in backwoods Alabama head first and am making sure to take advantage of the few good aspects to living in a small town. Preston and Ashlyn have been dragged to farms, plantations, and as many museums as I can find in the paper! I have found a few wonderful people here (thank you Megan and Jodi) that make the days go faster! They both are willing to go with me to these silly small town things! Check out Megan's pictures from the New Brockton Homecoming parade here.

Today we started off our rare family time with a trip to Pioneer Days at the Pioneer Museum in Troy, Alabama. I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area because it was awesome!

That's about all for now, but I have more pictures to show everyone that I will post this weekend since I have Pete here!

P.S. My life is defined by my love for the Lord, my family, and my friends who are family to me. The rest is not important to me and for those that might think it is, there is a reason that I do not choose to spend my time with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pres and Mommy date!

I was able to take Preston and have a day with just him. We went to Alpin Farm in Dothan and it was a blast. We took a hay ride, picked a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, cut down our own sunflower from the field, went through the corn maize, and played with all of the animals! It was a great day! I was so glad to have the time with him! Thank you to my special peanut for spending the time with me!

Here we are on our way to the farm!

Ashlyn: Three months!

WOW, WOW, WOW is all I can really say about my baby girl right now. She is advancing super fast and is already waaaaay past any sort of newborn status. At three months and 1 day, she mastered rolling over. At three months and 2 days, she can now sit up with the boppy around her! I could continue like this over and over. She doesn't give me any time to delight in her new milestones before she is moving on to the next one! Pete and I call her our little overachiever.

Here is our little overachiever at work! Much to my surprise/dismay, she's starting to scoot once she's on her belly! Yikes! My baby is determined to not be my baby for long!




It's amazing how different she is from Preston. At this time with him, I was one frazzled momma with my still colic baby boy. There is none of this with my baby girl who now only wakes up once in night to only take two ounces!

She is always quick with the smiles and seeing those chubby baby cheeks get even chubbier in a big toothless grin is enough to make my whole day!

Pres is totally in love with his little sister and loves to give her big, messy kisses. She has completely gotten used to him running up to her, scream out "HI ASHWYN" and give her a not gentle at all hug! He loves to help me as I work with her on belly time and motor skills. The favorite game is Open-Close which consists of us opening and closing our hands in front of Ashlyn and then doing it to her hands (Pres loves to grab her little hands and open her fingers and then close them!)

While she is 99% of the time happy, she has her moments and they are so sad. She gives the lower lip wobble and then just breaks out in the most pathetic cry I have ever heard. It's not the piercing scream of baby Preston but rather a whimper that can progress into a forlorn, tear filled sob. It already makes her daddy almost breakdown with the feeling of failure at not getting her what she wanted/needed before the bottom lip wobble! As for me, it nearly stops me in my tracks at how patient they are compared to her brothers. (I know you are scratching your head and wondering what a patient cry is, but I'm telling you that's what it is!)

Like her brother was, she is not content to sit still. When you grab her hands, she not only wants to pull herself up into a sitting position, but would rather go all the way to standing. Once she reaches standing, she is so pleased with herself that it is usually followed by a lot of cooing and squealing!

Here Ashlyn is after bath. She loves bath time! Can you believe how big she is?! She's 27 inches long!!!!!



I could go on and on, but will end this as it's just meant to be a quick update. I will say that my son was a huge blessing and never ceases to inspire me and now I have this beautiful gift in my daughter. Preston will force the world to change for him, but Ashlyn will be the one to make everyone in the world feel better!

One last picture! Here she is playing with daddy!

A Walk through New Brockton

We live in this really quiet and wonderfully quaint town in Alabama called New Brockton. I absolutely love it here! The only drawback is that there isn't really any place to shop here so I have to either go on post (a 30 minute drive) or go into the dirty and annoying city of Enterprise (not all parts, just near the Wal-Mart). Besides being out in the middle of nowhere, it is a wonderful place to be with young children. We live in this subdivision called Mayberry (it makes me chuckle every time I tell someone). Our subdivision is right outside of New Brockton and an easy walk into the main street of New Brockton. Every day I go on a three mile walk through the city and every day I see something completely crazy and new. There are some everyday sightings from the pot bellied pig named Tallulah May to the homegrown Joe that always comes out of the woods with a big stick that he keeps with him because of all of the diamond back snakes!

I was lucky enough to have Megan come with me on one of my walks. I handed her my camera and she deigned to take pictures with my Canon!!!!

Sooooooo...without further ado, welcome to my daily walk in a small southern town!

Our first stop is always to bring a treat to the horses. The friendly ones are Rocket and the Young One. Their owner, Dwight, is a sweet southern man who has welcomed us to used his pool, ride the horses, and has given us permission to bring them treats at our leisure. Preston loves this part of our walk and will gladly feed the horses treats. He has learned that apples are their favorite and gets pretty annoyed with me when I only bring the horses carrots!



After the horses, we always get to walk past the old black school. It is a beautiful building that is now used for Sunday school by one of the local churches. This very friendly stray dog is always there and on some days much to Preston's delight, she joins us for the rest of our walks!


The next part of our walk is past the mission house and church. The building used to be some sort of business and the name is still in big letters on the side. They have a weekly auction of donated goods to help and provide for the needy of New Brockton. It's always an adventure to walk past here because you never know what you will see-including the cowboys from the local cattle farms taking a mid-afternoon ride!



Next we pass the police station and the post office. The police station has a broken window that has just been fixed with a piece of plywood!

After there we pass the house with all of the animals. On the front porch there are kittens, birds, a little annoying dog, and as of last week, a rodent of some kind. The house looks a WHOLE lot nicer on film than in person. The people that live there always run inside when ever we pass.

This "animal house" is right next door to the post office. We continue along and turn down one of the residential streets. This is my favorite part of the walk! There are all of these vines that grow over everything and they are just super beautiful!




After we pass the vines we walk up the road to head back. The last thing on our walk is the stinky sewer system that overflows and puts poop water down the road every time it rains! You can see Ashlyn in her favorite place...strapped in the baby carrier close to mommy!!!!!


Finally, our neighborhood. This is always Preston's favorite part because I let him get out of the stroller and he runs/dawdles the rest of the way home!


There are so many other crazy things that happen on these walks. Everything from being invited to house parties by the cousin to the Mayor (he told me that which is the only reason I know) to dodging copperhead snakes! Life in a small town really is small, but it is also never the same two days in a row!