A Toilet Seat. Seriously (Care Packages Galore Day 52!)

First, let me apologize for what a crap blogger I have been. We have just packed up and "moved" from NC to my parents house in MD. It's not a permanent thing, just an extended visit so I can continue to have a lil extra help while hubby's away. We'll be back and forth between our home and my parents for the next few months before settling back in to NC in May(ish). So with the new baby girl here and all the moving and craziness, blogging hasn't been a top priority, I'm truly sorry my loves! I have been reading all your wonderful posts tho even if I haven't been commenting as much as usual. Also, I'm going to post the answers from the Q&A on Monday, so if you haven't done so yet, head on back and ask me a question!

So, wow, 52 days we've been at this deployment thing! It feels like both "just yesterday" and "forever ago" that I last saw my Marine. I have been very fortunate lately in the fact that he's had pretty regular access to email so I get to talk to him often. I like it but I hate getting used to that kind of thing because then he moves or they lose comm or whatever and I don't hear from him for even a day and I panic. I have to remember to remain calm.

Recently, I sent hubby his second care package of this deployment (yes, only second, I've chosen to space them out. I had been sending him regular letters, but as I said above, life is just catching up to me and I haven't had much time for anything besides Ari these few weeks). One day, a week or so ago, when he called he told me there was one thing he could really use. Anything my dear, I told him. What was that thing?? Well, a toilet seat, of course! Yeah, I was pretty surprised when that was his answer, too. Excuse me? Did I hear you correctly?? Toilet seat!? Yup. He said where he's at he sits on basically a wooden box with a hole in it and "It pinches my ass" sooo a toilet seat would make his stay much more comfortable. He says also that members of the ANA don't sit on the "seat" provided, they instead stand on the box and squat over the hole (umm... gross.) so there's always mud and gross stuff (gag, gag, gag) on the box. So of course, due to hygeine concerns and my poor baby's ass, I went out an purchased a nice squishy toilet seat from WalMart. My dad had to help rig a box together to send it because all the boxes I had were either way too big or way too small so we had to modify one so it would be just right. The toilet seat is now on it's way to the sand box, and my husband will soon have the most pampered ass in the whole Corps. Told ya I was an awesome wife.

I am also preparing his Valentine's Day/Birthday Package. I am not going all out super awesome here's a ton of stuff, because whatever I send to him, he has to lug around the rest of the time over there. I've decided to bake some Snickerdoodles (his fave), send some more pics of Ari and myself, and maybe do up a lil calendar thing for him. Maybe. I guess we're just not big gift-y people. We never have been huge on gifts and it's fine by both of us. Maybe one day when we hit the lottery I'll buy him a leer jet or a small island or something to make up for it... Until then a toilet seat and snicker doodles will have to cut it.

Also, quick bloggy question - how do I get fancy writing with my name at the bottom of my post, or some other lil signature thang? I see a lot of you ladies have them and I want one. Now. Thanks :)

Why?

Is my newest post not showing up?!
Boo.

Bloggy BFF and Q&A Sesh (Ask It, I Dare Ya)

First, and foremost, I was awarded a very cool blog award. Actually I got this award from two bloggy friends, Katie and Amber (The Life of an Army Wife and The Survival Guide for the Young, Fabulous, & Newlywed, respectively - go check them out. Now.)

One special note is that Katie created this award and I'm one of the first people who received it. Ever. Woop woop.

Ok, anyway, for this award I post it and thank them and link to them (above) Thank you ladies! This award was created to notify the significance blog friends are to us. How great it is to be able to share our lives with "strangers" and from that grow bonds of friendship. The next part consists of me awarding this to 5 of my bloggy bffs. This part is gonna be hard because I have more than 5 bloggy bffs... so maybe I'll pick more... and Katie and Amber, I'd totally award this back to you but that would be kinda pointless and redundant, so just know that I would have if you hadn't given it to me first ;-) That being said, my bloggy bffs...

ASHLEY! @ Kiwis and Cocktails
Expat Girl @ The Sand is Different Here
Mrs. Muffins
Mrs. GI Joe @ ACUs, Stiletto Shoes, and Pretty Pink Tutus
Kate @ Imagine All the People, Living for Today
Katie @ Loves of Life
WC @ Everything Happens for a Reason

Ok I'm getting lazy so there are some bloggy BFFs that if you haven't checked out yet, you should.



Also, now that I've gone over the 50 followers mark (People actually read this... wow) I have decided to open up to you, readers. A Q&A session, just for you. So go ahead, ask whatever you want, I am all yours.

Gettin' It Down Pat (Eating Machine!)

*Let me preface this with the fact that I wrote it last night, but blogger decided to be a punk and just stop working, telling me "Error" every time I tried to access it. Anyone else experience this??*

If I didn't love her so much, I may feel a tad bit used by my daughter and her incessant eating. "All you want from me is my delicious milk!" Seriously though, she is going through a growth spurt. Both today and yesterday I was lucky if I could get 2 hours in between feedings. I'm not complaining, not in the slightest, I actually find it slightly amusing. How can someone so little eat so much?? I blame this on her father, he's got quite the appetite as well. She's so cute when she eats though and we bond so much during these times that it doesn't matter if she wanted to eat every 5 minutes. Ok, maybe that'd be a little much but you get it.

So, I guess you may be wondering how the breastfeeding is going if I'm feeding her so often. Well even if you're not wondering, I'm going to tell you anyway. It has finally started to be pretty enjoyable. At first, it was awful. I'm not going to lie either, I was in tears a couple times. My nipples hurt and when my milk came in my boobs were GINORMOUS and not in a nice way. They were hard and they huuuurt like none other. Even my armpits hurt. I often had to sit and milk myself to relieve the pressure (TMI, I know, but it's my blog and I can talk about whatever I choose). Finally it seems they have adjusted to the whole supply and demand deal and are no longer like little bowling balls pulling at my armpit muscles. The nip pain has also decreased and we are now working on weaning off the nipple shield that we had to use for a few days because mommy here has a lovely case of flat nips. So it is safe to say that we have made progress and while it is very challenging, it is more so very, very rewarding.

Now while baby girl naps on her boppy I am going to enjoy "Pregnancy Pact" on Lifetime. What a riveting Saturday ;-)

Oh, and stand by for my review of Dear John, which I basically hated. And am only going to see the movie because it 1. looks different from the book and 2. Has Channing Tatum in it... yum.