Isaac, and tigers, and mountain lions?!?! Oh MY!

Yep, I totally screwed that saying up on purpose! Why, you ask? Because there have been at least five mountain lion sitings in BASE HOUSING in the last month. Peoples' pets are missing, and this guy's hanging around town. I am not ok with that! There have been many people just brushing it off saying that it's no big deal, and mountain lions don't hurt people, etc. This is no situation to take lightly, in my opinion. I have to state "in my opinion" because obviously that is not the thought of everyone, even though it seems common sense to me. Oh, but common sense is something that really isn't common enough! Common sense tells us that even though mountain lions general avoid people, if they are hungry enough, they will venture into housing developments, etc. So this guy is obviously hungry! He can't find what he wants elsewhere, so he has to come out of his comfort zone and come our way! I don't know about you, but I do NOT want to be eaten for dinner by a wild animal, so I am keeping myself and my babies inside as much as possible!

Also, Hurricane Isaac is headed straight for Mississippi, my home! We have family all over Mississippi including the gulf coast, so I am saying a few prayers that the destruction is little and that it doesn't gain too much strength in the gulf before hitting land. What's eerie to me is that he is coming on Katrina's 7th anniversary. If you know what Katrina is, you know what it did to Mississippi. Yes, I say Mississippi. The EYE of the hurricane hit in Bay St. Louis/Waveland, MISSISSIPPI, not New Orleans or anywhere else. Despite what the media covered, Mississippi was devastated by that storm, and it cannot handle another major hurricane! Our families are not evacuating, so please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as Isaac hits early Wednesday morning!

I did it!

I did it people, I did it! I kept to my word. :) Only a month or so late, but the blog has a new look, and I am thrilled with it. Maybe it will inspire me to update more often!

Fail!

Okay, keeping with my track record, I have failed to update the look of my blog! Let's face it folks, I am BUSY! The weekend I was supposed to work on it, we had issue with the dog that lives behind us, and Security Forces was at our house for about three hours filling out paperwork. So, I have been working out the new design throughout the last two weeks, but it is not quite done yet! Aaron has been in exercise this week, and it has been really hard for the girls and I to adjust to not having him here. We have made it with only one day left, yahoo! We will survive. ;)

Anywho: Something that's been on my mind A LOT lately is car seat safety! First off, extended rearfacing! I wish more moms would consider keeping their children rearfacing after the age of one. It is 500 times safer! Please, watch this video! It's a little long, but totally worth it!

Another huge thing that bothers me is position of the car seat's chest clip. It is called a CHEST clip for a reason people. It's not a belly clip or a crotch clip. It needs to be level with your baby/toddler's ARMPITS!

Also, if the car seat didn't come with it, chances are it ISN'T safe! Those strap covers, toss 'em. That head support, toss it! Seriously! Nothing should between your child and the car seat. Not even a coat in cold weather!


Here is a great blog post about common mistakes made when using car seats!

Blog Design

I am excited to say that a total redesign of my blog is coming your way! I am hoping to have it completely finished by the end of the weekend! I have had the same design for way too long, and plus, I need to update to include both girls in my design. Yay for crafty things! :))

Oh, California

Lately, I've been pretty bummed about living in California. We've had a mountain of obstacles thrown at us, and it's been hard to not have the support of a family down the street. As you know, baby 2 was born. He turned out to be a SHE, and I couldn't have been happier! We kept the name Elliot and will call her Ellie. Upon her arrival, we noticed that she had a toe that was a little crazy, so naturally, we asked the pediatrician about it. After a few extra doctors appointments and a visit with a pediatric surgeon, we learned she will have to have a series of surgeries from the age of 1 until the age of 12 to fix it. Our dilemma here is that we are nearly 3000 miles from home, and we live in the middle of NOWHERE. The nearest pediatric surgeon is an hour and a half a way, and surgery on a tiny little one means at least one night in the hospital. This would be fine if we only had Ellie, but we have Emma as well! If you know me, you know I trust no one with my children. (Ok, I really need to do better about the anxiety.) This is a problem because now Emma and Aaron will have to be home while Ellie and I are at a hospital over an hour away. The Air Force won't move us because they say that we have adequate care here even though it's not convenient. This is our major struggle at this point. We have no chance of getting orders out of this place until Aaron is eligible for Base of Preference (BOP), which is January 2015! Emma will be FOUR! Yowza. That seems like such a long time to be here, but we will make it! I will know more about Elliot's surgeries once we meet with the new surgeon at Shriner's hospital. That appointment should be within the next month, and I will update then!

Finding Balance

Here lately, our life has been about finding balance. We have been taking more steps to become a more intentional and natural-living family and learning new things as we go. At the beginning of April, we took the plunge into clean eating! We cleared our cabinets almost completely and started basically from scratch! I am happy to say that while we are not 100% clean eaters, we are at about 90%, and we have never felt better! Aaron has lost about 10 pounds so far! Since I am pregnant, there is no real way to gauge my weight since I am gaining weekly from the pregnancy. (I can say though, at 36 weeks, I have only gained 18lbs!) My favorite thing about eating clean thus far has been the experimentation with new recipes, especially desserts! We have definitely found some favorites and some not so favorites so far, which I plan to start sharing! :) I am a little anxious about our eating with Elliot's arrival approaching quickly since we will be in the hospital for two days and then things will be incredibly hectic around here for a while, I'm sure! But, I am confident that we can FIND BALANCE!

Another balance issue we've been working with is discipline for Emma. I am anti spanking and want to practice gentle discipline for her. She is such a spit fire that it really is difficult at times to keep my cool with her. I have been doing really well with giving her words for her feelings when she is mad or upset and trying to redirect her when she is doing something that is not allowed. She has started to get "swats" for dangerous actions, like her new favorite of running into the street. But, that is the only thing I will swat for. Swatting/Spanking/etc. for hitting, biting, scratching is one of my biggest pet peeves. If a child hits, and you do not want him/her to hit, then what good is it for you to hit him/her back? No good. Basically you're saying, I can do this, but you can't. That may work when you're child is 16, but definitely not when they are toddlers. One thing we are struggling with is her hitting and scratching. She only does this to Aaron, and I haven't figured out why she always directs her frustrations towards him. Okay, well, he is REALLY aggravating at times, so I can see that. ;) But, what we have been doing is if we are holding her and she hits/scratches is putting her down and walking away. This really seems to work at home, but what do we do in public? At a restaurant or the park, etc? This is the struggle we are having lately. I have been reading a lot of gentle discipline articles on blogs and trying to get some guidance, so I will let you know what I come with!

Why, Hello Again!

Oh my! I just realized I haven't blogged since SEPTEMBER! Yikes! Needless to say, it has been a crazy, hectic 7 months since then! I am pretty sure September was the month we found out we were expecting again! Or maybe it was the beginning of October? Either way, geez that's been a long time! I am now 32 weeks 5 days along, and yes, that means I have 7ish weeks left! Thankfully because I have been over this pregnancy for a long time now! We have an exciting few months coming up, and that is why I decided to start blogging again. :) So, while I may not post daily like I used to, I hope to at least post once or twice a week!