Christmas Morning!!

I need to write a blog about Christmas morning so when I go to scrapbook it, I won't have to rely on my faulty memory, haha!

Sabe and I could hear the boys waking up around 6:30. Jamesen had passed out on me the night before at 6:30 pm so we knew we were in for an early morning. We had planned to not let the boys do presents until at the earliest 7 but we figured we were close enough. We then spent the next half hour just listening as they played in their room and slowly made their way out.

Seriously they took FOREVER! The living room (so the kitchen we set up, the tree, the stockings, all the presents...) is right outside our bedroom door and they always come into our bedroom in the morning so we knew they'd eventually come our way. We didn't want to rush them over to us by calling them, but we sure were getting antsy in there, waiting for them.

They finally made it into the living room and we could hear them rustling around. We had left some cookie on the plate for Santa and we knew that would be the first place they went to. Then we heard Marcus go, "Oooh, mommy! Kitchen! Look, kitchen!" and both boys cross in front of our door. Sabe and I were trying to be quiet to see what they did and Marcus kept poking his head into our door whispering, "Pssssst, mommy! Kitchen!" it was so funny!

Sabe and I got up after that and we started on the stockings. They had no idea what to do with them at first, haha! Jamesen got stuck on the candy cane full of M&Ms but with some pushing he got through it.... after we pried Marcus' Chuggington Train from him, haha! He was happy to see some Cars 2 cars in his stocking and we ended up just dumping them both on the ground so they could see what all was in them.

After stockings we opened presents. I've been working on taking turns with things (like making cookies) and it went perfectly with opening presents. Jamesen got the first one and Marcus was practically screaming, "OK!! MY TURN! MARCUS TURN!" so funny! He was so cute. Jamesen did really well opening the gifts. I was afraid he would get bored before he would get his presents open, but he did really well.

We did have a melt down though... Jamesen wanted Marcus' toys and understandably, Marcus didn't want to share. We hadn't had breakfast yet though so I'm sure that contributed. Mom I really have a ton of respect for you and how you were able to make a huge breakfast for 9 people... I have a hard enough time doing it for 4! I finally got everything finished and we've all been breakfasted. Now we're watching Marcus' Scoobydoo movie that has a bunch of volcano action in it and he's stoked, haha!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas and what not...

We've had a lot going on since my last post. Thanksgiving went great! We went to one of my friend's houses (the same friend we went trick or treating with). Our kids get a long really well and we parent very similar so it's just natural for us to be friends! Our hubbies get along pretty well too so it's been nice to have them as friends.

Our store has been flourishing for the last little bit. A lot of hats being ordered with this cold weather! I doubt it's continue past Christmas, but for now we're doing pretty good. I'm using all my money from it to pay for stuff for Gemma's room, so I hope it continues! It's the only reason I've got money for her stuff, haha!

A week or two ago we had some pretty freezing temps here. It was cold enough to have some snow flurries in the wee hours of the morning, so I snuck some hats in for the boys in case we went anywhere. We didn't end up going anywhere because I had to wait for repair guys who took a million years, but at least they've got hats no just in case it gets that cold again! They didn't want to have anything to do with them until I took them into the bathroom so they could see themselves in the mirror. After that they put them on just long enough for me to take a couple pics and then they were off again.



We put up our Christmas tree right before Thanksgiving. We'd been searching for the perfect tree for a little bit but couldn't find any in our price range. We wanted to get a nicer tree that would last us for awhile without spending an arm and a leg for it. Finally after searching everywhere, we found the perfect tree at the PX on post. It was even on sale! We snatched up really fast! Of course I had to put it up right away. It was "pre lit" (I use that term loosely) so it made it a bit easier. The "pre lit" was that lights were already strung on it. I ended up having to add to it to make it look ok so the lights were pretty spaced. Oh, I think it's great looking now!

The boys had an absolute blast decorating it! I can't wait until they're older and have a few more ornaments in their boxes to put on.



Our next endeavor was to put lights on the house. This is the first year we've put lights onto a house that's ours. We've either lived in apartments, someone else's house or Sabe wasn't around to put lights up wherever we lived before. It's been really fun and to decorate our house! I know we'll be here for a few years so I don't feel bad decorating. The boys have loved it too. This house really feels like home to us! Anyways, the boys thought it was great watching Sabe put the lights up. Marcus was Daddy's big helper and handed him the hooks. Such a cutie!



I wish we had some pillars to decorate... or money for a few more lit lawn ornaments or something, but for now, I'll take it!


I wanted to get some pics of the boys in front of the tree. The back of our house is really dark so it was hard to get the nice quality, but I did what I could! I got a couple cute ones of them smiling really good.


They're getting to be such hams for the camera. I was trying to take a picture of an order to put on my fan page a few days ago and Marcus kept hopping in front of the camera and saying, "Cheese!" with a huge grin on his face. It was cute for the first few pics but got a little frustrating after a bit, haha!

We're battling pink eye in the house. It's been frustrating and annoying. I got it first. I was told it was "allergy induced pink eye". I've also had "allergy induced bronchitis" here in Georgia as well. Georgia just doesn't like me! Anyways, my eye allergies are pretty bad in the first place, so when my eye started to get irritated, I didn't think anything of it. Finally I woke up one morning to my eye stuck so shut I had to soak it open and it was pretty obvious that it was pink eye. I tried my hardest to keep the boys from getting it, but Jamesen caught it yesterday. Luckily, Sabe and I have been on the look out for it so we caught his pretty quickly and it doesn't look nearly as bad as mine did on day 2. We both have it in both eyes, but hopefully it'll go away fast since we caught J's eyes and my second eye pretty quickly. I've managed to keep Marcus from getting it so far, but I'm guessing it's just a matter of time now that Jamesen has it. Sabe doesn't have it either.

Anyways, that's what going on on our end. I'm turning 23 weeks this week and don't know where the time is going!

Marcus update

We had his speech screening a few days ago. I've been meaning to blog but I've been busy! My store has taken off a bit lately and it keeps me busy in between the boys keeping me busy, haha!

Anyways, we went to his speech screening and he failed pretty bad. I knew he would fail and I knew he would fail pretty bad, but he seriously failed bad. I don't know the total points it was out of, but they said he needed a ten at a minimum to pass and he got a 3. He's made such huge strides in speech though so I was hoping he wouldn't fail quite so bad. He did amazingly in the learning section though and impressed the two ladies with his ability to name cubes and cylinders and other 3D shapes! He got all his numbers, colors and letters right.

He wasn't able to say his name. That one is hit or miss. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. He couldn't say if he was a boy or a girl, but I've never worked on those with him. He wasn't able to pick the smallest or largest out of a group the first time. He's got a great memory though. They went through a few things and he missed like half, but they told him the answer and when they went back through a few minutes later he did it perfectly.

We're going back for a more extensive evaluation in January. He's going to be tested for Autism to rule it out (I doubt he has it... he's never given me any reason to believe he is), a pre eval for dyslexia (I'll be interested to see what they say with this one since I'm pretty convinced he has it) and some behavioral testing since he has a hard time sitting in classroom settings with other kids.

Jamesen is doing really well. Other than being a constant fuss bucket, he's talking so much. I feel really bad actually, he's getting close to being at the same level Marcus is. He's amazing me with his ability to speak and how clear he says things! He's already saying small sentences! Marcus didn't start doing that until after 3! He's such an amazing little boy and so affectionate when he's not crying. He def. has taught me patience. I don't know what his deal is, but he seems to always be crying, lol! It sure does make his smiles and giggles that much better though. It makes me appreciate every toothy grin he gives me so much more.

Gemma is doing great as well and is officially half way done with baking! Her movements are getting really strong. Sabe's been able to feel her move for a few weeks now, but she's really starting to get strong the last couple of days. It's actually hurt when she's moved a few times, haha! She moves way less than the boys did though, especially Jamesen, which is fine by me! Jamesen kicked the crap out of me! She usually only moves after I've eaten or when I lay down to go to bed.

We're doing great here! Just hanging out and preparing for Thanksgiving. We're going to be going to a friend's house. We went trick or treating with them and are excited to do thanksgiving too! She's got a little Autistic boy that Marcus has really taken to. I think they both know each other is different and so they just gravitate towards each other. It's sweet really! Marcus has only seen him a few times, but calls all little boys (in pics, other kids at the park, etc) Logan when he sees them for a week after a play date! Amber says that Logan is really excited about Marcus being his friend too :) I think it's so great that Marcus has a little playmate who doesn't see him as weird because he doesn't act the same. The kids at church his age treat him weird and it makes me sad.

I've been Christmas shopping and I feel so great this year! I've been saving up all my amazon gift cards from swagbucks and a lot of the money from my store to pay for Christmas this year. I can't tell you how good it felt to have money saved up specifically for Christmas and not tap into our savings or put it on our credit card and just try not to feel guilty for doing so. We've got Christmas 100% shopped and paid for and it didn't even eat into our savings or hurt our bills! What a great feeling that is.

Sabe and I have been slowly but surely chipping away at our debt. We don't have much other than car debt, but the car debt is getting us pretty good. We have to be really careful how we spend our money every paycheck or we end up almost starving the last few days before he gets paid again! I've got a plan though. We should be 100% debt free in 7 years and then we'll start saving for a house because eventually we'll get out of the military and need somewhere to stay! Sabe's got at least 15 years left in the military though so we've got awhile.

Anyways, that's it for now. nothing special, just hanging out and counting down to Christmas! The holidays are so much better when you've got kids!!

My kids are awesome.

All day long they've been showing me just how awesome they are. Take Marcus for example. I made tuna noodle casserole for the first time for dinner and not only did Marcus (who use to be SO picky) try it, he snarfed it! He was pretending to be cookie monster. Normally I don't like him using his fingers but he was being so funny I just laughed at him. "Oh greenbeans. nomnomnomnomnom. Oh tuna. nomnomnomnonnom." So flippin' funny. He's such a ham.

Earlier today I was sitting there crocheting away while the boys were playing. Jamesen brought me a book and plopped into my lap (on top of my crochet, haha) and snuggled up to me while I was reading it. He kept putting his cheek to mine and snuggling in. Sooo flippin' cute.

Today at the post office there was a really long line. The boys were a bit crazy but for the most part stayed out of people's way and listened to me. At one point, Marcus went running back down the line away from me and I called him and he came running back, grabbed my hand and pretended to eat it. Jamesen of course had to get in on it when I started laughing and it turned into them both licking me, but it was pretty funny anyway.

I've gotten barely any crocheting done because they've been wanting to snuggle me so much today. I can't say no to two little boys attacking me with kisses and hugs and wanting in my lap! I've got no power against their attacks, haha. I feel so blessed to have their little spirits in my life and that they're healthy. What more could a mother ask for?

We've not really been doing much. We've just been hanging out while Sabe's been gone. I didn't blog about Halloween I just realized. It's a lot easier for me to upload pics on FB so you can see that album here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100177140136719.2482872.17817329&type=1&l=2d75f9f845

They did really well on Halloween for the most part. I was worried J was going to freak out and thought M would be so gung ho. The opposite happened haha! Marcus wanted to ring doorbells, but apparently on Fort Benning, if you're giving out candy, you sit outside and hand it out. He got pretty upset about that and threw a huge fit. Jamesen though... That kid did so good! He was dragging his bag after awhile because it was so heavy. After awhile, Marcus stopped being a brat and just went for the candy. They were so cute in their costumes!

Anyways, not much more to blog about. We don't do much other than go to the park, the post office or the grocery store. I'll try to blog more often for you mom!

Full Blown Terrible Two's

We've hit the terrible two's and we've hit them hard! He's been toying with the idea of terrible two's for the last few months, but it was never this intense. The last week and a half -two weeks however have been full blown melt down central! He completely melted while we were at the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago (a few times too actually) and he also melted when we tried to get him to help us carve pumpkins. There have been quite a few times that I'll be on the phone with my mom or best friend Shauna and J will just go crazy and they get to try and hear me over a screaming toddler.

It's not been ALL bad though, I have to admit. He's sleeping better, though he's fighting naps. He's also gone from calling me meme to calling me ahmee which is really cute. We've also FINALLY gotten him to say please for something without freaking out which is a huge plus.

Marcus had his hearing and eye screening on Tuesday. He passed! Now we can finally move on to speech therapy. I've heard really good stuff about the speech therapy around here so I'm hoping it will really help things to move along on Marcus' talking department. I really don't want to have to hold him back from school a year because he can't talk properly. As it stands, he would not do well in school because he doesn't communicate with you except for when he needs something. He's just started answering questions and interacting with tv shows though so I'm hoping that improves drastically in the next few months.

We also found out that our baby is indeed a GIRL! I was right again :) I'm pretty good at guessing baby genders if I do say so myself. We're going to name her Gemma Nichole. I've kind of gone crazy in the clothes buying department lately. I'm buying everything clearance or second hand so we can afford to clothe this princess! We won't be having a baby shower because we don't know anybody here so we're on our own! I know we'll get some help from my mom but she's got a lot of grandkids to spread the love to so I can't expect too much. We're super stoked though. We would have been happy with another boy, but we're so excited and happy about a little girl! Sabe's already talking about her being wrapped around his finger! :)

I hope to be able to get some good shots of the boy in their costumes. They don't really like costumes too much sadly so I expect lots of screaming and crying when I go to put them in them. I'll post them anyway. You know me :)

Until then!

The clock is ticking

I've got an ultrasound on Saturday at 1130 to find out the gender of our little bub. I'm pretty sure it's a girl though so it's just going to be confirmation. With that date quickly approaching, it's suddenly hit me that I'm having another baby. The constant sickness and fatigue of the first trimester didn't really mean much apparently, haha! I've been feeling better, feeling kicks, buying girl clothes (careful to make sure I can return them in the off chance it's a boy) and it's just getting so real. The clock is ticking. I hit 16 weeks yesterday. I'm over a third of the way there, in fact, I'm almost half way there. by Christmas time I'll be almost 2/3 of the way over and Christmas is coming fast!! I'm going to be having this baby before I know it!

So because of this, I've been really trying to soak up as much of the boys as I can. When I had Jamesen, a lot changed in Marcus and I really miss his carefree little self. He's not been the same. I'm preparing for the boys to change again. I predict Marcus will want to help with the baby... a lot... like I'll have to watch the baby like a hawk or Marcus will pick her up. Jamesen is going to be very jealous.

Anyways, on top of everything, I'm just feeling so grateful for the little spirits I've got the blessing of being the mother of. My kids really are such great and wonderful kids. They drive me nuts sometimes, but for the most part they tug at my heartstrings and make me want to do anything I can to see those giant smiles on their faces.

We went to a pumpkin patch last weekend and had so much fun! It took us almost 2 hours to get there but it was worth it. Sabe and I were actually kind of laughing. Jamesen was really grumpy and done with the car after about an hour. We drove for hours on end for 4 days straight when we went from Utah to Georgia. Why can't they take a 2 hour drive with DVD players? Silly boys. Anyways so when we pulled up, the first thing we saw was this giant playground. What a welcomed sight after being in the car for that long! The boys were in heaven! They went running as soon as we paid to get in and we spent the first almost hour on it.

Then I was able to entice Marcus over to the "chicken coop". It was a little building with the bottom full of corn kernels. I've never seen anything like that before, but it was a huge hit. The boys loved it. Two down falls though, corn in the shoes and covered in a yellow dust afterwards. They had a ton of fun though so it was worth it as well.

We then got to go on the boy's first hay ride. They were so cute and cuddly, just enjoying watching the scenery go by and playing with the hay. Jamesen kept picking up handfuls and throwing it into the air, it was really cute. Marcus just snuggled right up to Sabe and didn't want to move. He stepped in a pot hole and hurt his knee on the way to the hay ride so I'm not sure if that's why or if he was just soaking up daddy time since we don't see much of him during the week.

After the hayride we went and fed the animals. They had goats, a sheep, a donkey and a llama. We were told to feed the llama first because he was a prideful thing and would spit if you tried to feed him after feeding another animal. Marcus was all for it and was super excited to feed the animals. Jamesen, not so much. That is, until Sabe picked him up and fed the llama with him in his arms. He made a munch munch sound while the llama was eating and Jamesen got a kick out of it. He wanted down and then timidly fed an animal. Once he fed the first one, he was all for feeding the others and we went through our food pretty fast. The smiles on their faces were so sweet. Jamesen kept making the munch munch sound when he was feeding the animals. It was really funny! We should have gotten a video.

After the animals, we did a pumpkin catapult. It was right down Sabe's alley! We were aiming for buckets but didn't make one. The boys had a blast anyways. The pumpkins were tiny little things and they thought it was so cool that they were actually allowed to launch something into the air without getting into trouble.

After that we went and painted some pumpkins. By this time it was Jamesen's naptime and we had a few meltdowns, but it was still fun. The pumpkins are covered in blobs of paint and sitting outside our door. They're such perfect decorations :) Too bad they won't keep forever. I'm the type of mom to keep her kid's art projects, haha!

After pumpkin painting, it was clear Jamesen was ready for his nap so we grabbed a quick bite of their famous strawberry icecream and headed for home. It was such a great day. The kids had a blast and loved it so much. They do strawberry picking in April. I really want to go but it all depends on how easy going the baby is.

Jamesen is seriously talking so much. It's amazing to me. After having Marcus not talk for so long and be so far behind, it's amazing to have my two year old saying the things he does. He says thank you, bless you, you're welcome and we're working on please. He's a little parrot lately and we have to be careful what we say. Marcus will repeat us and Jamesen repeats everything Marcus says so we have to be careful, lol. He knows almost all of his letters and we're working on colors. He's such a smart little boy.

We've got Marcus' hearing and eye screening on Sabe's birthday (the 25). Once he gets that out of the way we'll be able to put him into speech therapy. He's already doing so well catching up, but I'm hoping that he'll learn better through someone who's 1. not me and 2. trained to teach kids this sort of thing. I'll update you when we've gone to that appointment and what they tell me. I still think he's dyslexic. I hope he's not but he just seems like there's something wrong sometimes. We'll see.

Anyways, I wanted to share with you the faces I've been spending all day every day with. They're so beautiful and sweet to me. I've got my mommy goggles on really tight! :)















Mom I thought you'd get a kick out of this one. It makes me giggle every time he does this.

Another sleepless night

I've had really bad insomnia this pregnancy. I have it bad anyways but lately I just can't sleep. It's almost 2 am and I'm laying awake thinking about things and running through memories in my head. Makes it impossible to sleep. I just can't shut my brain off. So I'm going to blog my thoughts in hopes that I can get them out of my head so I can sleep. I'm sorry if this is totally random or makes no sense.

I was thinking back to high school and back to the me I was back then. I wish I was the me now back then. HS would have one a lot better. I had no self confidence. I had nobody telling me I was worth anything. People at church didn't like me, my siblings didn't like me, my "friends" at school were awful to me. I don't even know why they pretended to be my friends. They kept me around to bully and humiliate me and I was so starved for attention that any attention was worth it, only they made me feel even more awful about myself.

By the time I went to college, I was so ready to leave. I felt a sudden freedom. I was my own person. I no longer had to deal with other people's rules. Only I was still me and I still had this knack of making people think I was annoying or what not. People didn't like me in college either. I dated, but guys never asked me out. I made them think they did, but it was always me planting the idea in their head to make them think it was their idea. They always got bored of me really fast and broke up with me (though I have to admit that most of the time I made it boring on purpose so they would break up with me. I also planted that idea in their heads to make them think it was theirs).

I never broke up with any of my boyfriends in college or high school except for one (he was scary and it was much needed!) I couldn't let go of them, no matter how awful they were treating me or how unhappy they were making me. I stuck around because I needed to feel needed. I drove away quite a few good prospects with that fault of mine too. I was super clingy and needy.

And then Sabe came a long. Sabe actually saw me as something worth keeping. He even told me at one point he didn't want to lose me. Suddenly I was genuinely worth something to someone. Slowly ever so slowly I grew in confidence with myself. I started to like myself and Sabe liked who I was and who I was becoming. He was the reason I had confidence. The only reason. He was the reason I felt beautiful. He was the reason for me trying to be something more than just a pretty piece of meat. He took the time to get to know me and nourish me and help me gain confidence. He brought out the best in me.

Of course he also brought out the worst in me, but that was after I was ok with who I was. I was able to put the two side by side and realize that just because my legs had been kicked out from under me didn't mean that I had been crippled. I'd been hurt, but not enough to ruin me like it would have ruined HS me. Yes I have my bad mopey days where I hate the world or get so fired up over what a certain person has done to me in the past that I'm a ball of negative, but it's not very often. I'm not perfect, but thanks to Sabe I'm getting closer (not that I think I'll ever reach perfection in this life, but at least I'm not as high maintenance as before!)

I just really wish I could go back to HS me and tell her to stand up for herself, to stop letting people bully and humiliate me. To just relax through college and not be so petrified of being alone for the rest of my life that I latch onto boys like a parasite holding on for dear life.

That being said, I've come really far in who I am and yet I'm still petrified of people not liking me. It's so pathetic sometimes. Some of my siblings dislike me and have made it very clear they feel that way. Some of Sabe's family has done the same and I just can't help but feel like they're not judging me on the entire picture. They're judging me on what they want to see and it's so much easier to put the blame on me rather than admitting there might just be a legitimate reason for how I'm acting.

I've become a reactor. I react to things and that's it. I never act anymore. I've come to realize that people don't really know the real me. They have an idea of who I am in their heads so when I act, they see something totally different than what's really there and react accordingly, even though it may be totally unwarranted for them to react that way towards me. I've come to realize that I'm a magnet for drama, especially when it comes to mine and Sabe's family. I can't even sneeze without somehow having drama smack me in the head because of it. So I've learned it's better to just not act. But that even backfires on me. People are expecting me to act so when I react, they don't see that the reason I've just reacted that was is because of THEM. It's really quite frustrating to be honest and it's caused me to cut a lot of caustic relationships out of my life. I can't win for losing and I was sick and tired of fighting a losing battle.

It's really funny for me to sit here and write how much more confident I am only to sit here and realize that while I'm typing it, I'm still very very vulnerable. I'm still desperate for attention. I'm desperate for friendship. I'm desperate to be accepted and not be judged. It's gotten to the point where I don't even bother trying to make friends because the rejection hurts more now than it did even in HS. I'm constantly wondering how certain family member's of Sabe's really feel about me. I'm constantly worried they're spreading nasty rumors about me between each other (and I've got a right to feel that way too as it's happened before and somehow nobody even cared to admit that the person starting the rumor was in the wrong. I was the drama queen for getting upset).

I dunno. I just feel like I'm done. I'm done worrying about other people's feelings. I'm done trying to feel accepted. Here I am admitting that I will probably never be accepted anywhere. For some reason people just don't like me. I have that gene where I tend to say stuff and it comes out completely wrong and by the time I realize what I've said people are super offended and won't listen to me when I try to explain myself.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to just be content with how it is now. I've got wonderful company in my crazy boys. They def. keep me busy during the day and give me plenty of affection. At least I can hope for them to have the gene Sabe has towards his mother; unwavering loyalty, no matter what the situation is, even if she's wrong.

Anyways, I'm starting to get tired. I shouldn't publish this, but I'm going to. I'm going to and then tomorrow morning I'm going to read it back to myself and come to more realizations about my life and what direction I need to go in. We've got big big changes coming up. A double whammy that will rock my world. I need to be prepared in any way possible.