GIVEAWAY!!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

CSN Stores has over 200 websites where you can find everything from shoes, to a funky end table, or great cookware... And that's why I would like to offer you a chance to win a $45 gift certificate to use as you wish at any of their online stores!

*Contest Rules:
All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what you would purchase from CSN Stores with the $45 gift certificate if you won! Please include your email address at the bottom of your comment so you can be contacted if you win.

US and Canada residents only.

Contest begins on Monday, September 27, 2010 and ends on Saturday, October 2, 2010.

God Gave Me You

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Watch this great video by Dave Barnes and try to spot J & I :)

Dancing With The Stars

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I am so excited about the new season of DWTS! Last night was the season premiere and it was great! I already have a list of favorites + people I hope get voted off. I will just give you my top favorite and my least..

#1 favorite - Jennifer Grey
(She is best known for her role as "Baby" in Dirty Dancing.)
She did AWESOME last night!!
Watch the video to see for yourself..
The performance was very emotional for her, and it almost had me in tears!

Now for the person I hope gets voted off first..

Margaret Cho
Her performance was TERRIBLE.
I understand she is a comedian but she could have been a little more serious.


Who do you like & dislike so far??

Crib Bedding

Monday, September 20, 2010

On Sunday I finished something that I thought I would never get through... the baby registry! I always thought registering for baby stuff would be easy and fun but it was the complete opposite for me. I honestly found it overwhelming. This is my first baby so how should I know which brand (out of the millions they seem to have) of bottles or diaper bags will be the best to register for??

Trying to choose a bedding set for the crib was just as stressful. I didn't want anything that had cartoon characters on it but that's all they seem to make these days. & When I did finally find something I liked it was either sold out or missing something important that would complete the set. Thankfully I somehow stumbled upon the PB Kids website and found something J (my husband) and I both liked!

Now the only problem I have is finding decorations that will match!

Have any suggestions??

Our Baby Boy

We are thrilled to be expecting a boy! We have chosen Joel Cameron to be his name. :) We actually decided on his name 5 minutes after leaving the ultrasound appointment which was a huge surprise for me because I thought we would never agree on a name! Ha. We knew from the get-go that if we had a boy we wanted his initials to be the same as J and J's dad, so JC* it is!

(The name Joel comes from the Hebrew origin. I found two different meanings for the name when I looked it up--"Jehovah is the Lord" and "God is willing." I'm not sure which one is correct but both sound great to me!)


During the ultrasound he was very active.. in fact, every time the ultrasound tech tried to get a picture of his face he would turn his head or put his hands up! I still haven't felt him move yet though. There have been moments where I thought maybe I did but I'm not 100% sure if it was him. On Thursday I will be 20 weeks so hopefully I will start feeling him soon. & Just for the record, it totally blows my mind that I'm almost to the halfway point of this pregnancy! It feels like the weeks are flying by! I'm definitely not complaining though--I can't wait to meet our little boy!

It's A...

Friday, September 17, 2010

BOY! :)


When The World Stopped Turning

Saturday, September 11, 2010

It's been nine years but I still remember everything like it was yesterday..


I had just sat down at a table in my 9th grade Art class when a student ran in the classroom and told our teacher something was happening in New York and she needed to turn on the TV. I will never forget the panic on my teacher's face as she stared at the TV screen. It was just after the first plane hit and no one had any idea what was really going on, but from the look on our teacher's face we all knew it wasn't good. It didn't take long for the whole room to become silent. We all watched in horror as people jumped from the burning tower.. and then.. the second plane hit.

Most of our classes that day were spent watching the news. I, like everyone else, honestly didn't know what to think. I figured I had nothing to worry about though because my parents weren't rushing to the school to get me. I felt even more at ease when my mom picked me up that afternoon and she didn't really talk about it. But then my dad came home from work and he was glued to the TV all night... I could tell he was seriously concerned and it freaked me out. He tried to ease my fears, but all I remember him telling me was that the events of that day were going to affect my life forever...

And he was right..

Because years later I would marry a man in the military, and most of our marriage would be spent apart due to him deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight in a war that began while we were both in the 9th grade..


Only The Strong Survive

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Amber @ Goodnight Moon wrote a blog post today that made me feel super awesome and I couldn't wait to share it will y'all! She basically reminded me that I survived something not many women can--a deployment--and for that reason I should consider myself Superwoman! ;)

When I was going through deployments I never felt strong.. I honestly just felt numb. My goal was to wake up and make it through the day, go to sleep, and then repeat. & I will be the first to admit that I had weak moments (during all three deployments I've been through with my husband) where I thought "God why did You choose ME to be military wife?? I'm obviously not strong enough for this -- if I were strong I wouldn't be sitting here bawling my eyes out!" The stress was just too much for me to handle sometimes, and I always felt like I was on the verge of a breakdown. Looking back now I realize that it was those moments where I thought I couldn't make it through that made me the strongest.. because even though I was a huge mess of emotions that cried most days, I survived. I conquered what I thought in my mind was impossible.

Sometimes J and I wonder how our relationship would would be different if he never had to leave.. and as much as we both hate deployments with a passion, we both know going through those horrible beasts (as I like to call them) helped make us + our relationship stronger. We are now able to communicate much better than most couples and we learned to never take our time together for granted.


* So if you are currently going through a deployment, hang in there! Because soon you will look back on this horrible beast (aka, deployment) and you will laugh & realize you were so much stronger than you ever thought possible! *


P.S. ~ Make sure you head over to Amber's blog to grab a Deployment Survivor button (like the one you see to the left, under my profile) for your blog, and be sure to share a post about how awesome you are for being a deployment survivor! ;)

Blog Makeover + Birthday Gifts

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

My blog received a makeover from Katie @ Fancy Pants Design Studio. I don't know about y'all but I LOVE it! It's exactly what I was wanting! If you are considering a new blog design I would highly recommend FP Designs!  
 


Today I received a birthday package from my mom and my aunt. Even though I had been expecting it, I cried while opening it! I guess it just made me homesick. =\ Anyway, I told my mom weeks before my birthday that I really wanted a box full of Southern candies.. and boy did she come through! I opened the box to find cinnamon glazed pecans, praline coated pecans, honey roasted pecans, pecan clusters, fudge, divinity, and pralines! Oh my goodness y'all, it was the PERFECT birthday gift EVER for this prego!

[It also included bamboo coasters and a cute shell tray thing
that I plan to sit out on our coffee table!]

They also sent me a CD from one of my favorite bands,

and a pregnancy book.

I also received a birthday gift from my mother-in-law today! She sent me the cutest "What's In Your Heart" bracelet! I tried taking a photo of it but it's not coming out clear. Here is a photo of a pendant that is similar to my bracelet so you can get an idea of what it looks like:
My heart is filled with a charm that says "Navy Wife," a charm that says "Happy Birthday," a sapphire birthstone heart, + a "J" and  a "K" charm. I love it!! & I can't wait to add a charm to represent the baby! :) 

Birthday & Baby Stuff

Sunday, September 5, 2010

J didn't have to work on Friday (my birthday) so he was able to spend the whole day with me. We had breakfast in bed and then chilled around the house until around dinner time. For dinner he took me to a super yummy restaurant in a nearby town. It's one of those restaurants where everything they have is fancy and you feel dumb for not knowing what things are so you end up ordering something that sounds very American & simple, like a hamburger. Well, that's what we did anyway! We did live a little on the edge with our starter meal though.. we both tried shrimp fritters for the first time. ha! For dessert we ordered a molten chocolate cake that was super YUMMY. After dinner we walked around the harbor [to work off all the food we ate] and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Overall I'd have to say it was the perfect birthday. =)

You can't see it but I'm carrying a fabulous KS bag that J got me!

I LOVE IT!

Today we made our first big baby purchase! We saw online that Tarjay was having a sale on baby stuff, and you could get a free changing table with the purchase of select matching cribs. The crib just so happened to be one that we both really liked. It was a Graco Lauren 4-in-1 Convertible Crib..
We actually saw the crib at a different store for more $$$ so we knew we needed to take advantage of the sale while it lasted. Well, apparently everyone and their momma had the same idea because they were sold out. The manager even checked with a store in a different town but they were sold out too! So he offered us a different crib + changing table and said we could use the sale coupon. At first I wasn't too sure about it because the crib he was offering us (a Delta Glenwood in Cinnamon) wasn't dark like we wanted and it was only a 3-in-1, but the changing table looked better & in the end we would be saving money.. so we bought it! I can't wait for J to put them together!

We also bought a Fisher-Price Lil Lamb Dream Swing that was on sale...

At first I was unsure if we should go ahead and buy it because I've heard that some babies don't like swings, but it was too good of a deal to pass up. It's usually around $150 and we got it for $119! So I'm just going to cross all my fingers and hope our baby will enjoy it!

Our receipt said we saved $120.98 on everything we bought, which made us super happy! :)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Most women have an obsession with buying shoes..
[photo via]
I, however, would much rather buy candles.
(Yes, candles.)

Right now all the candles I have no place for are hidden
[behind a plant and a rooster]
in a cabinet above our fridge.

&Even though I know my cabinet is about to overflow,
 I continue to buy more candles...

So I'm starting to think I either need
(a.) candle shopping addiction therapy
or
(b.) a huge shoe closet to store all my candles



Yep, I think (b.) sounds like a good choice too!
=P

Prego Update

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

*UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST!*

I recently made the switch from a military OB to a civilian and I'm SO glad I did! I absolutely LOVE my new doctor!! She makes me feel much more relaxed than the military doctors did. (Plus, it's nice knowing exactly who will be delivering my baby. The Naval hospital couldn't tell me who my doctor would be.. they said it depends on who is training that day. Um.. yeah.. no thanks.)

Anyway, today I had an appointment and it went very well. The baby's heartbeat is still beating good & strong. The first time we heard the heartbeat it was beating around 162, and today it was around the same. It still amazes me every time I hear it! :) Yes people, I'm still in shock that I'm actually pregnant! haha

As for me, I've been feeling much better. I still have days where I don't feel like doing anything but laying around (usually after a night of no sleep due to the fact that I was waking up a bunch to tinkle) but for the most part my energy is coming back. I'm still craving lots of fruit, and for a while I was wanting grilled cheeses every single day.. usually around midnight.

Speaking of cravings.. One night I couldn't sleep so I sat in bed and watched TV, and a HV Ranch commercial came on. You know the one where the people are at a fair and instead of eating popcorn or cotton candy they are eating veggies covered in ranch dressing? Well, after watching that commercial I had a sudden craving for some veggies + ranch. It felt like if I didn't get any and quick I was going to die. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit but it was a strong craving! The only problem was that we didn't have any and J was sound asleep. I was sooooo tempted to wake him up but I knew he needed to get up early for work so I didn't. I even considered driving to Walmart alone but I was still learning my way around the area so I was afraid I would get lost. Thankfully J got me some the next day though! ha

I've been slowly gaining weight (probably from all those grilled cheeses) and it's mostly in my belly. Not that I'm complaining! & In case you're wondering I didn't take any pictures of my belly until I was almost 14 weeks.. mainly because I didn't feel like I had much of a bump until then.

13 weeks & 6 days
(Please excuse my hair.. it needed to be cut.)

And here is a photo from today:
16 weeks & 6 days
We should find out the sex in two weeks!! It's going to be the longest two weeks of my life! :)

*UPDATE*  I made a poll so you can vote what you think the sex will be! You can find it at the top right.
 
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