Yeesh! I suck at this updating thing!

We all (2 babies, 2 dogs and me!) made it safely to my mom's place in IL. We've been here just about 2 weeks now and are slowly getting settled in. The girls are starting to get into a schedule and I'm trying to acclimate to that. I should have figured I'd have to give up my noon time wake-ups sooner or later!
It has been great to see family and friends and I even met Mishu's dad and sister in Indiana so that they could see the girls and they could pass on to me some excersaucers. The girls love them and we use them outside. It has pretty much been non-stop doing things and seeing people since we arrived. I know that in the next few weeks it will slow down. I just need to survive those few weeks! No, I jest, it has been great to see everyone. I missed them all so much.
Mishu is doing well. I can't say much, but what I can say is that he is NOT meant for desk work and thankfully that did not last very long!
I am really glad that the girls are too young to remember him being gone like this, though I am a little worried about what will happen when he comes back for mid-tour leave and when he returns to the states for good. We read the book Daddy recorded for them (Hallmark's Guess How Much I Love You...or something like that) but I had to send it back to him over there because somehow in the move up here, the last page was recorded over. I also sent him one more Christmas book to record for the girls and then I have to eventually get more "regular" (read: non-Christmas) books so that the girls don't get bored by the one. They absolutely love listening to his voice read them the story. We also did a local Build-a-Bear type thing and there are voice boxes in each of the two Teddy Bears we had made for the girls saying "I love you Anna" or "I love you Lorraine." They also have these (slightly creepy looking) Daddy Dolls that go almost everywhere with us. They are ACU dressed stuffed dolls with yarn for hair (that you leave long for mommy or cut short for daddy) with a plastic window at the face for you to insert a picture of your soldier. They do seem to love to look at his picture. So hopefully it wont all be too foreign when he comes home.
Outside of the military things going on in our lives, I went to a little reading/play group at the local library today and it was pretty cool. It was the first playgroup I've ever taken the girls to and they seemed to enjoy it. It is every Friday and Saturday, maybe Mondays as well, and I am planning to make it at least to the Friday ones. Also, not tomorrow but the Saturday after, the girls start their first swim lessons! It is a Mom-and-Tot style and my mom will be helping me. I can't wait. I went to the Conquerors swim practice and the girls loved being in the water. If you'll remember, the Conquerors is the Special Olympics Swim Team that I used to volunteer with and that my brother is on. Well, as I said, the girls had a blast. Lolly just was chilling in my friend N's arms (who has twin boys herself that I used to teach swim to) and N's respite worker and myself held Anna. Anna just loved moving around in the water and even would kick her feet when I had her on her tummy, on the top of the water of course! She even started splashing! I can't wait to start the lessons with them! I know my mom is looking forward to it as well.
School is well, going. Too quickly and I have to get my butt moving in it. I know I can do it, it's just the motivation isn't there. Everyone around me is super supportive and my mom and Mishu even are constantly on me as to what I have gotten done. I can't wait for it to be done and it will all be worth it but it is such a long road to get there! Now is probably a bad time to say that I am kind of scared to have my own classroom! I think part of my problem right now is that I took on the hardest of the four classes I'm taking first and the 5+ page paper on two different cultures is kind of daunting. My plan right now is to get the two other topics done in this class (four total topics, I have one done already) and work on the research as I start on another class. The hardest part of this topic/paper is that six out of the ten research sources must be hard-copy book. I never realized how daunting of a task that is until I now have infants! Thankfully though, I have people here who are more than happy to watch the girls while I snoop around the library for an hour or so. I just looked at everything I have done and everything I have to do and I have 19 total assignments this session (which ends the end of September) and I have three of those finished. Eeek! I really have to get moving! I am working at having another two of those down by this coming Thursday though.
I can't think of much more going on right now other than all of that. I am going to try, right now, to update at least once a week.
Ciao!

Um, hi blog...been gone for a while! :p

So yes, long story short but I am still here, I have so far survived mommyhood of twins and I'm still kicking! Just...been super busy! I will update very soon but here is what has happened recently. Half over with school and freaking out about that....have almost nothing done and 4 classes to finish before the end of September. The girls are 6 freaking months old already!!! Mishu is deployed and while that sucks, I will survive it fully intact...if the girls let me! We (Mishu and I as a family) decided that it would be best for everyone for me to move up to IL with my family during this time, due to health concerns (which if I haven't addressed yet, I will soon.) for a majority of the deployment. Um...Oh, yeah...he was involved in a crash a few days before he was set to go over, still got sent over just a day late and well, the truck has been in the shop every since. Grr...that sucks. Because this is a whole month that I've been here alone. If it weren't for my health issues, I could easily do this alone. But...we have the girls and since there is no way for family to be down here at the drop of a hat due to an emergency, basically I feel this is playing with fire. So the sooner I can get moved up north, the better. But I digress. I have like, 2 minutes of coherent thought (who ever would have thought that would happen at what...Ass-crack O'Thirty?!) to post a little bit of an update. So there. Yep. I'm still alive and kickin'. I'll post something that makes sense soon! :p

MilSpouse Friday Fill In

 
What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)? submitted by Our Crazy Life (Wifey note: whaaaat? You can’t say my blog? No fun! LOL, just kidding)

Hrm. I follow a lot and I don’t read them often enough. I’d have to say one of my favorite to follow is Jessica at It's a beautiful ride... . Maybe it’s because I know her in person and it’s good to see some of her candid insights on things. 

What are your favorite perks about your s/o being deployed (we all know there are perks)? submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife

I would have to say the MONEY was the biggest perk. We were not living together nor technically back “on” in our relationship at the beginning of his deployment though so I will get back to you on that after the next one (because I’m sure there is going to be another before his ETS date.)

How long did you date your before getting engaged? Married? submitted by Utterly Chaotic

We dated 3 months before getting engaged…the first time. It was 6 years before we were engaged for the last time and were married 7ish years after we first started seeing each other. 

What do you think your would do if s/he wasn’t in the military? submitted by Adventures of M-Squared

Oh man, I have no clue. I doubt he would still be working at FedEx, he was getting fed up there, that’s one of the many reasons he joined. I would have to say probably be in law enforcement. It’s something he’s always been interested in. That or as a firefighter/paramedic. 

If you could talk to the Secretary of (fill in your appropriate branch) what is one suggestion you would like to bring to their attention in order to improve the lives of military families?  submitted by My Life as His (Air Force) Wife

I would say make every post/installation/whatever have the DoDEA and really focus on the quality of the education. Make it easier for the records to be transferred and the curriculum to be a smooth transfer. Also make it possible for the children of the families that live off post (but close by) to attend the schools as well.

25 week bump update and a lot of other updates!

I know it's been a while but I've been super busy. :)
I went to Chicago to see family and friends and my mom threw me an awesome baby shower. It was Dr. Seuss themed with a lot of emphasis on Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat. I was thrilled. I promise I will have more pictures soon but here are a couple pictures that I have so far:
A friend of ours made the diaper cake:

And here are some of the cupcakes that my mom bought for the shower: (These are from a local bakery in Skokie that I LOVE! Sweety Pies Bakery

The cupcakes were red velvet (I LOVE!) and they were just to die for! There were only a couple mini ones left over, so needless to say...everyone loved them! I feel so blessed. We were given so much and so much great stuff for the girls! I had to put it all into storage for the time being until Mishu comes back. Honestly, right now, we don't have the room. We still have to get the house in order. There are boxes everywhere and we need to clean this place up before we can bring the baby stuff in here.
That brings me to the next thing. Mishu is *sigh* playing soldier in the middle of nowhere until sometime around the end of the month. I was able to have my friend Jessica (It's a beautiful ride...) and her husband unload my truck full of baby stuff into our storage room, but there is just soooo much that needs to be done around here that I need to wait for Mishu for one reason or another. I know this is minor in relation to the time he "could" be gone for a deployment...it's just that any time away sucks. There really is so much we need to get done before the babies get here.
And I will use that to lead me into the next subject: the twins! I'm getting bigger and bigger and I will show a picture again but I was getting more and more worried there for a little bit. Before Mishu left, I would have him feel for the babies all the time. I knew they were moving and what not but I just couldn't feel it all that much. Well, he would always feel Thing 1 but it was harder to feel Thing 2. A short time after he left, I started to really feel Thing 1 move, but again...I barely felt Thing 2 move at all. When I got to Chicago, my mom and everyone else (I honestly love the attention!) were feeling my belly and I think we got 2-3 kicks out of her the whole time. I was there Thursday evening through Sunday night. I get back to NC and again...I still barely feel her. I was getting anxious. I finally had the referral approved for a new OB and was just waiting for them to approve me and schedule me. It was taking some time so I mentioned to them my concern about Thing 2. They had me go in last night (I told them about Thing 2 earlier that morning) and they did an ultrasound and cervix check. Both of the babies looked good and Thing 2 was moving well, just for whatever reason it's not coming through to me. It did put my mind at ease though, and they were able to definitively tell me that there were two amniotic sacs (which the other OB office couldn't tell me one way or the other. ) My job isn't going to like it, but they have me coming in again this next Tuesday for a full ultrasound (1 hour or so) which they said I will be getting one of those for every "regular" appointment so that they can measure and track the babies. This made me happy because the other OB office said they would do this but never did it. I am also going in on the 25th for a "high risk" appointment. I asked about being/going on bed rest and I was told that bed rest would be talked about during this appointment. I am not liking the idea of bed rest but as I get further along, I see the need for it. My hips and hip/leg joints are really starting to hurt, especially late at night. The last 2 days I have been limping on one side or the other almost all day due to the pain. My lower abdomen is also feeling sore, more so towards the end of the day. I also talked to the doctor about how the babies are positioned and if it's possible to give birth naturally (without surgery). He said that the babies are in a "yingyang" position and that makes it pretty impossible to do a "natural" birth. He said it is too risky and explained the risks. So while I do NOT like the idea of a C-Section...I understand that it is almost positive that I will have one and I understand the reasoning behind it. Not just the "no, we don't do that and you are going to have a c-section" that I was told at the other OB. So it was basically the same answer, I'm aware of that, just handled with more tact and professionalism. Which makes it a much easier pill to swallow! I'm still crossing my fingers that Thing 2 will flip over and be head first but it doesn't look realistic. But hey, one can dream right?

And after much promising...here is the latest baby bump picture!

I know it's been a while...

So here are some updates:
Finally moved to NC and am in the house. :) Still in the process of unpacking but a lot of that revolves around when Mishu is able to be home. The last 2 weeks he was out in the field training so not much got done. The kitchen is slightly more usable than it was before so YAAAY!
Still nothing on the job front, though I did have an interview with a local school that I am feeling fairly positive about! Though, I've resigned myself to the idea that I might actually not find a job because:











Wheeee big surprise! We are pregnant! Found out mid-May that we were pregnant. Last Tuesday I was in the ER with abdominal pains and we found out it was gall stones. During the ultrasound, the tech looked surprised and said, "Has anyone told you that you are having twins???"



Color me shocked! I have no twins in my family at all and only Mishu's grandma is a twin. So yeah! Now we are expecting Thing 1 and Thing 2. We both love Dr. Seuss and the book The Lorax so we are doing the walls in the Lorax theme and Dr. Seuss throughout the room. Originally, we weren't going to find out genders but now we think we are going to. I have an appointment next week and maybe we will find out then.





But until then, here are a few pictures I have so far!


2 heads are better than 1, right??


And here, I introduce to you Thing 1:

And now, Thing 2:






I will be sure to put more pictures up later when I get them!!!! :D

OK so...

I know I haven't been on here much but I do have a post that I would like everyone to re-post if possible and if you are in the DC area, please go participate!

Please re-post: If you are free on Memorial Day morning, what better way to pay honor to all who have been lost in service to our country...The Westboro Baptist Church will be outside Arlington National Cemetery attempting to spread their hatred. Please come out from 9am-11am to stand in FRONT of them to show your support of the US military and their families. Please bring flags, signs, etc. to show your support.

 

 

Yes, I know by posting this, and by people showing up, we are giving them attention. But we are also showing them we will NOT stand for the desecration of these brave souls' memories. 

House update...

Well, Mishu and I decided not to pursue the house I talked about a couple posts ago. The current owners apparently owe more on the house than what they were asking for it and are refusing to pay any closing costs, so that is a major deal breaker for us. We have one more house that we definitely loved and another we just found online that I hopefully will be going to see soon! It looks less and less likely that we will be able to get a contract written before the April 30th deadline for the tax credit. :( Well, all we can do is stay positive and hope it all goes through!

A big update. Kind of. I think?

Mishu and I have been looking at houses in Fayetteville. Neither of us are opposed to the idea of settling there for a little while, and knowing the 82nd Airborne, we could easily be there for a while. Between the two of us (he went on his own, then we went together, then I went on my own) we looked at over 30 houses. At least. Not even counting the ones we drove up to with the agent and just said NO to before even getting out of the car. We liked two and are putting an offer in on one after getting some local input. The offer should be getting to the current owner s today and we put in the stipulations that we want to hear back on or before Friday.  I really hope we get this house. If we can have a contract settled before the end of the month, we will qualify for the $8,000 tax credit for new home buyers! That would help a ton in paying off some bills and buying some household items we don't own currently (like a lawn mower!).

I've started the arduous task of applying for jobs again. Already got turned down for one. It's probably for the best. Now I can focus on getting a job in my degree field. :)

Army Wives, the book

I started reading Army Wives yesterday or the day before and I'm about half way through it. I'm liking the book so far, and I will try not to give any spoilers away. But here is what I think of it so far: (There may be some topics here I discuss that may be sensitive to some so I caution you not to read if death and the situations that go along with it are somethings that will make you upset)























I have never...NEVER had to put a book down because it made me cry so much. Never ever. I finished a section I was reading and I just had to put the book down and walk away. I can only say..."There but for the Grace of God go I." I am going to continue reading this book, and I am sure I will get to more parts in this book that make it very hard to get through but wow. I guess it's just that this is so close to home sometimes. Mishu isn't out deployed but he has been. I know that fear of that phone call being the last. It sucks. I hope to never have to experience it, as I hope those I know never have to experience it. I can't even imagine the pain and anguish that spouse must endure. But Mrs. Biank (the author) describes it in such a heart-wrenching way that, like I said before, I almost found myself sobbing at her descriptions of it.

My heart truly goes out to those that have lost a service member.

Busy!

Tomorrow (or technically, later today) is pretty busy. Or rather not...but it's a lot of waiting I have to do.
We bought a new washer and dryer and it's being delivered today. It isn't top of the line, but not bottom either. We were originally going to buy a used set off of Craigslist, but we ended up thinking better of it. We've both have limited schedules, mostly Mishu, but we would have to move them ourselves and hook them up. Hooking them up wouldn't be a big deal, we both know how to follow directions, but the laundry room is on the 2nd floor. Both Mishu and I have finnicky bakcs and if we ask a friend, we have to rely on someone else's schedule. Also, we wouldn't be able to fit both the washer and dryer in his truck. We would either have to take 2 trips (and waste gas) or borrow a friend's heavy duty, which is fine and all...but again we run into schedule issues.
So...it's getting delivered tomorrow and they are hooking it up. I just have to be home and available any time between 11A-5P. (I think...LOL! I can't remember if it was 5P or 8P!)
Other than that...I have more packing (the landlord's stuff away, he left a crap-ton of stuff here) and unpacking to do. I want to find my EA Active for the Wii accessories. I found the game but I need the band and nunchuck holder.
Which leads to something else I might be doing tomorrow. Mishu and I qualified for and recieved gift cards through the Sears Heroes at Home program. It's made it possible for us to get some nice things that we couldn't have afforded otherwise. Some nice "after Christmas" presents so to say. :) He is getting some tool stuff (man-toys) and I got some work clothes and I am getting the Wii. If I get a chance tomorrow, I want to go buy it from the store. THANK YOU SEARS!
Oh! Mishu, while going through some boxes, found my Goddess Workout DVD. It's belly dancing, so I think I will start that tomorrow. That is, if I can't get to the gym on post. They have a few classes that I want to try out, one of them being belly dancing. The others are Zumba classes and spin classes. I'm all about losing the extra pounds this new year!

I have an interview tomorrow!

I've been ready to tear my hair out since I got her to GA. I'm used to working at least one job, usually 2. I've been off of work since the middle of December! So, I pre-gamed. I applied anywhere and every where I could down here, starting as soon as November. Unfortunately, no one wants to talk to you unless you are in the city where you are applying. I got a couple places that said no, but good luck and one of the local Home Depots sounded genuinely interested in me. They asked me to call them back when I got down here. Well, the lady I needed to talk to was a PITA to get ahold of, but eventually, I finally did.
That leads us to today. She called me back (they were having some big shot meetings so were swamped for a few days) and said that they want me to come in for an interview! :) Awesome! I really hope this works out!

Movers...part whatever!

So the movers came today to drop off all of my stuff. :) YAY! Went pretty well, they were on time. There are at least 2 scratches on the hardwood floor, so I will have to do a claim for those at least. We still have to go through all the boxes and make sure nothing is broken but it looks (so far) like everything is good. The china cabinet does have some damage but I am not sure if that was from before or not.

:D

Got a call...

So as I was typing up that last blog post, I got a call from the mover. :) He said he should be here tomorrow morning, between 8A and 8:30A. We shall see how this goes, and believe you me...I will be updating! Seriously though...I cannot wait to have my couch back!

MilSpouse of the Year is back!

It's that time of the year again. Military Spouse Magazine has a contest every year where you can vote for a military spouse from every branch to be the Military Spouse of the Year. I personally know one of the nominees this year. Her name is Nicki B. Back in July, I posted a blog about Bubba's Belly Run (http://arielanna84.blogspot.com/2009/07/bubbas-belly-run.html). Well, that was Nicki and Bubba was her husband. The race was a huge success, raising over $50,000 that benefited Bubba's children's education, The Fisher House®, American Widows Project and Flat Daddies. She is such a strong woman and I personally and completely feel she deserves this honor.


Voting is at http://www.msoy.milspouse.com/ and she is under the Army icon. You can vote every 8 hours, so please vote often! You can also vote for spouses in all of the other military branches as well. :)

Move Pt. 2

So I'm down here at Ft. G right now!!!
Most of my stuff fit in the car. A couple things didn't so I just put that in a pile of stuff in my mom's basement. There were a few boxes that the movers did not get because I did not know they were there so in the next couple of months, I need to head back up there to get them. :)
I left the Chicago area Wednesday morning and drove through to Chattanooga. Spent the night there and started out to finish the rest of the drive Thursday morning. In Chattanooga I discovered that my fish, most if not all of them...had died. I was really upset about this. But when I got to Gordon, half of them were alive so I was still upset I lost half the tank, but happy some of them survived the move! I've got a makeshift tank set up in their tote I have them in.
It's nice here so far. We went to a party last night. One of Mishu's friends was having his birthday party and New Years party, so we rang in the new year with them.

I hope the New Year has found everyone in good spirits and in good health!

Part 1 of the move

The movers came today. :)

I'll be driving down to GA on Wednesday morning. I'm just emotionally and physically exhausted right now. They moved most everything and there were only a few things that were not taken, mostly due to stuff being moved around the in basement and I did not realize there was stuff on my mom's side of the crawlspace in the basement. The movers DID end up taking my things out of the crawlspace and basement in general. They moved everything out of the apartment and the storage room, so there were no issues with that. :)
I have to finish cleaning tomorrow and then in the afternoon I am going to be spending time with my family. Ok, I'm out. Just wanted to update. :)

:)

Welp...the movers should be here by now, 25 minutes late! AHHHH! I know it's not that big of a deal, they WILL get the job done. I'm just freaking out with everything right now.

To update you all...I was told that they will move from both locations. Total win! I was also told that they will move the stuff from the basement. So we will see today how this all goes. I PROMISE I will update tonight.

My fish tank is empty and fish in a tote that I will be taking down with me to GA in a few days. I'm just petrified right now I won't be able to fit the stuff in my car that I have to take myself!

Show me the money!..and other stuff

:D I got the job! I can't wait! I go get fingerprinted tomorrow morning and then I have to finish filling out all the paperwork for health care and retirement fund crap. :D I am so excited though! Tomorrow afternoon, I go and observe the classroom I will be in. Then I start full time on Wednesday morning! :D I am finally gainfully employed! Wheee! Yes! Yay!

I'm really getting annoyed with the swim lessons I teach. Just over half of my students showed up last week. Some of them had legit excuses, some had questionable ones. I mean, people, you pay a certain amount of money for these lessons, I teach your children how to swim, I give you a 30 minute break from your hectic life. Please give me the courtesy of SHOWING UP! I love my job. I love what I do. I love the children, believe me if I didn't I wouldn't still be doing this. I would have found a job that pays more with more hours. Hell, I probably wouldn't have left a good paying job just so that I could continue TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN! I need to figure this out soon, because I am still getting more students but if they don't show up this isn't going to be worth my time. I am saving for a wedding, I am trying to get myself out of debt. I'm trying to live day to day without pulling mty hair out about money. And when I could be making a mice bit of change and they don't show up...needless to say...this gets me a bit perturbed.

Other than that, Mishu is doing some kind of training, some sort of medic thing that he does not want to do but has to do any way. It looks like he wont be able to call me for a few days and that sucks...but hell, this is the Army. I should be used to this by now! I know I am definitely going to need to get used to it, hell, we are going to be in this for the long haul. At least 8 or so years from now. Grr! But at least he will have a marketable job when he gets out. Or we could stay in longer and have an even more marketable job...and a pretty nice pension. So the long and short of it is we dont know how long we are going to be in for, but he says he wants to make it a family decision when we get to that point. It will basically depend on where we are in our life together, where I am in my career and where we are with children.

I should probably say that Mishu is my fiance, my heart, my soldier.