SNOW!!!

This is our 1st REAL snowfall since moving to VA. Normally we don't get hardly any accumulation. We FINALLY have enough to sled on! The girls had a blast but the wind is brutal out there (windchill is only 8 degrees) so 30 minutes was about all they could handle.

Dance Night!

Dance night! Bethany's 1st tap/ballet class was tonight. She was SOOO stoked. She's always pranced around the house like a ballerina, but this was definately her first intro into the world of tap. I was so proud of her...I was worried about her and her tendency to tell everyone ELSE what to do plus she is SUCH a chatterbox...but she was REALLY good about everything and was watching & focusing really intently.

Hair up, dressed & ready to go!


1st class!


Tap (not bad for a beginner)


Ballet

O.MY.GOODNESS

I think my head is going to explode...I was SO very glad to put the kids to bed tonight b/c though I love them dearly...I had just about completely reached my limit for the day. I have been lucky. Normally just 1 or 2 of them will have a bad or "off" day at a time. Today...my word, ALL THREE were just in MOODS. Abby and Emma were in bad moods from the start this morning (we are talking 7am)and Bethany had a bee in her bonnet ever since I picked her up from school today to head to therapy. Repeatedly ramming my forehead into a wall would have been preferable at this point...they had already given me a migraine by the time they got to bed. OYE! I need sleep.

Princess & The Frog-New Disney Movie

Took the girls to Princess & the Frog tonight. The frog & princess part was cute but I was NOT impressed with all the voo-doo crap. It scared the girls and I really couldn't believe they put that in a KIDS movie! I mean REALLY?? "help from my friends on the 'other side'"???? with the devil shadows and everything...SERIOUSLY?!?!?! I ALMOST walked out of there. If ha dbeen just me and the girls I would have. Heaven forbid our kids take a BIBLE to school or pray in school, but they can make G movies geared toward YOUNG kids with demon/devil references in it?!?!?!?!

Can this week get ANY better?!?!?! (insert sarcasm...)

THANK GOODNESS tomorrow is friday. My knee is still jacked up. The back part behind the knee is all puffy/swollen...not bruised or anything but bigger than the other side and the right back side of my knee hurts just doing nothing with no pressure on it...walking/stairs is excruciating...hyperextending your knee if you do it bad enough can tear your ACL....let REALLY hope that is not what I did....only way to fix that is surgery...gonna give it thru the weekend and if the swelling isn't down nor the pain...I'll make an appt early monday morning...not to mention that yesterday morning while running Dom crested the last hill and pulled a muscle in his back. BAD. Never seen him like this...he can barely move. We make such a great pair right now...neither of us can barely walk. He's already told me he is staying in bed all weekend. *SIGH* I have sympathy for the back pain I do...but man...its one thing for me to do everything all weekend with NOTHING WRONG. I have no issues with that...But I can barely walk myself...but I guess since his pain trumps mine...I am tired, PMS-ing, in pain, frustrated....I just want to sit here and cry. :'(

ok....pity party over...I needed to vent.

THAT was fun...

(hear the sarcasm) Just slipped in the shower and hyperextended my bad knee...wonderful. >:(

Another great morning along with a 3 yr old who has decided that SHE is in charge this morning and is tantruming at the slightest cross of her will and waking up to a kid kicking my kidneys, hollering about wanting breakfast...sigh. Can I go back to bed and start the day over?? Say sleeping in til 8 this time?!?!?! lol

WHAT a LOOOONG day!

I swear...I have like ONE freaking nerve left and all 3 girls are JUMPING on it. >:( I know that siblings will bicker but GOOD GRIEF!! I don't remember going at each other like this when I was growing up...I mean my older sister and I would occassionally go a few rounds...but this ridiculous!

(chant) "I love my kids. I love my kids. I love my kids"

O.o

Yes...that is a cloth diaper!

MY mama cloth diapered ME!!!

What do you do?

I am a little anxious and a tad frustrated. My Abby has been SO overly tired and weepy lately. At 7 it is UNHEARD of for her to take a nap, yet for the past 2 wks...she takes one on a regular basis if she is not in school. Her little eyes have huge dark cirles under them and she complains that she is tired a lot. I find her curled up on the couch often in the evenings (at 5-6pm)nearly asleep. She also has been complaining of headaches (wwager they are more migraines as she is incapasitated by them). I worry something maybe truely wrong. :( Of course it is a holiday tomorrow so I can't make a dr appt. :( I know I shouldn't borrow trouble, but I have this odd feeling its something more than "just" being tired. Your prayers would be apreciated. Also if anyone who has or works with children with autism thinks that these things sound familiar, I am open to advice!

This is who we are...if you disagree, feel free to not read.

I have been called a hippy, but I prefer the label-crunchy. Yes, I am a granola kinda person. I believe in breastfeeding, child-led weaning, delayed/selective vaccinating, babywearing, cloth diapering.

Breastfeeding
Breastfed all 3 of my girls and totally wouldn't have minded them nursing longer but they each chose to wean on their own at or around 6-9 months. Oh and a side note about NIP...I don't get the drama surrounding it. WHY do ppl freak out? Bottle-feeding in public isn't frowned upon...same difference, just a different way of feeding. I won't go on unless asked b/c I could definately go on and on...its one of my soapboxes.

Vaccinations
We have delayed both Bethany & Emma's vaccinating schedule. I don't mind them getting most their shots but I don't believe that their little bodies need to be bombarded with 5-7 shots every 2 months that first year. We also do not get the flu shots. We wash hands regularly and keep the house wiped/lysoled/cleaned. I know that every child will get sick at some point, we will deal with it when it comes. So far my girls have done totally fine without the flu shot for the past 4 years and I don't plan on them getting the H1N1 either.

Babywearing
While I don't mind taking my kids out in a stroller (kinda hard to jog with a 3 yr old wrapped on you)I prefer to wear my kids. Granted they don't prefer to be wron anymore so we generally don't babywear much at this point. The most recently I bw one of my kids is Emma this past July at Disney World.

I have however worn my 4 and 6 yr old on both my back and my husbands within the past year. (obviously not the 6 yr old for long periods...she just like to do what her baby sister was doing)

I leave it up to the comfort of the child being worn. If they want to be worn, fine, if not, ok. Mostly all 3 prefer to walk at this point.

Cloth Diapering
Its not the prefolds and plastic pants of the 50's. Cloth diapering has come a LONG way from that. Some of my favorites have been waterproof pockets (waterproof shell with a microfleece inside that wicks away moisture from baby's butt to whatever you chose to stuff into the pocket...microfiber auto towels work great!):


All-in-ones(waterproof shell with a microfleec or flannel inside that touches baby, with a flannel or microfiber inside all sewn together so that it goes on and comes off like a disposable):



These 2 are great for out and about trips. For at home I also tried my hand at the prefolds and fitted diapers with a cover...not plastic pants but with wool as a cover. While it is not WATERPROOF it IS water-RESISTANT. Any cover is only as good as the diaper under it. :) I really enjoyed my venture into wool...expensive though it was. lol Dom is glad that Emma is potty trained for sure. rofl Some of my favorites:
Prefolds-

Flats-

Fitteds-

Wool-knitted(yarn)wool:


Interlock wool:


See?!?!?! Diapering your child can be CUTE and FUN!! I found that especially with Emma that it wasn't a FIGHT to change her diaper with cloth diapers. She loved picking out which she would wear next. I know there are also those that GAG at the thought of dipping a pooped diaper in the toliet, again not your grandmothers diapering world. They make sprayers (much like a sink sprayer) that attaches to your toliet hook-up. When you need to clean off a diaper, simply hold it over the toliet bowl and spray it off! Easy-peasy!

Now that you are probably asleep...I will end my "book". Any questions, feel free to ask!

Need I say more?

FYI

FYI...do NOT pick a fight with a marine that turns into a grappling match...you WILL lose. lol

Driving in DC Traffic

Let'sme just say...I HATE driving from Quantico, VA to Bethesda, MD. That really is my only complaint about living in this area...is that for any specialty appts you have to drive all the way thru DC to get there...I nearly got sideswiped TWICE today. HELLO?!?!?! That's what BLINKERS are for!!! USE THEM!!! Seriously...traffic doesn't normally bother me...but when ppl act like complete idiots and try to run me off the road...I take offense. >:(

Our Family

Now that I have bored you to tears with my intro post and my explaination post...I'd like to introduce my family so that you know who I am talking about when I refer to or say their names.

Abigail, better known to everyone as Abby who just turned 7 in November. Green-eyed, red-headed, stubborn as all get out like her daddy, my firstborn and also my introduction into the world of special needs. Abby has autism. She is high functioning, but still has many issues. As time passes and she gets older, more educational/developmental issues are emerging. Transitioning between activities and mess-ups in her routine continue to be her biggest struggle. Right now, we are also struggling with sleeping issues. Since I also have a toddler that still wakes at night with night terrors, this week I am functioning mainly on coffee and more coffee. :) Her disability aside, Abby LOVES to read, play dress up, is highly competitive in nearly any type of game she plays, excels at math. She is VERY addicted to playing ball and I hope to get her on the Little League T-ball team this year. She is very loving and is constantly hugging those around her...kids and adults alike. She has a way of helping me keep my life in perspective.


Bethany, who is 5 1/2 and can't wait to turn 6 in May, is my prima donna. She loves to sing and dance and draw/paint and has a gift for anything music or art-related. She LOVES anything ballet related (girl after my own heart) and I hope to get her into ballet class here soon. She is also mommy's little clone in looks and in actions. She has a memory like a steel trap and is quick to parrot anything I say...which means I have to be VERY careful with what I say. She is learning to read and making a ton of progress in the area. She is also turned into Little Miss Sassy Pants and since even now Abby struggles with her speech, this is a new area for me to deal with.


Emma, who just turned 3 in October, is my youngest and better known as the resident Drama Queen. She has by far been my most handful at the toddler age since both of her sisters initially had some developmental issues, she has always done things quicker than the older two and even now at age 3 is doing things that the other two didn't do til they were 4 or 5. Currently at age 3, she academically ahead of where her sisters were at this age and gets into TONS more mischief. Just since our move in July, we have had marker on the rugs, pen on the ENTIRE body, toliet paper strewn over an entire bathroom, q-tips all over mommy's bedroom floor...the list could go on...lol She LOVES her markers/crayons and has been the hardest to teach that you only draw on PAPER!!!! Not everything in the world is a canvas for her to draw on! lol She is my cuddlebug, my chatterbox, her little eyes twinkle and her smile lights up a room. Everyone (even complete strangers in a store) love to comment on her red hair and how cute she is...so by 3...she KNOWS she is cute! That grin makes it hard to say no to her...but mommy does lay down the law. 



My husband, whom I will mostly refer to as Dom, better known as the person who knows how to push all my buttons and drives me up a wall most the time, but I love him anyways.



Well, that is my family in a nutshell. Now you know who am talking about. ;)

BOY was I wrong!

For those about to marry someone in the military...if you have ANY preconcieved notions....FORGET THEM! I was an Air Force brat half my life and ended up marrying a marine. My husband had asked me (we were already engaged by this time) if I minded him joining the marines. Having experience of growing up military I said no. How difference can being a military brat to a military wife?? How naive I was!!!!

For starters, my dad was in the AIR FORCE. my husband was joining the MARINES. There are those of you that will know what I mean when I say they are two COMPLETELY different things. Second, being CHILD of a prent in the military and being the WIFE of a spouse in the military, ALSO two COMPLETELY different things.

After being the wife of a Marine for almost 9 years now, I can say that I have learned a LOT more than I ever thought possible about the military in general and moreso about the Marine Corps. I have to say that becoming a wife and learning the ropes of marriage in itself was a daunting task, but learning it while also learning the ropes as a military wife...let's just say I definately got a crash course in both!

Work in Progress

Argh! Or in the words of a friend of mine, GLARGLE!!! Frustrating day in the midst of a frustrating week.

But more on that at a later time.

I've started this blog in the hopes that maybe there will be others who read and will, sympathize, comisserate(sp?) or offer advise on various issues that I discuss. Mostly this will be a blog that allows me to voice and/or vent without driving my friends crazy listening to me...I can just drive my readers crazy. lol

Also, just to let those of you that read know...I am voicing my opinions, views, etc on subjects. Everyone has an opinion. Whether you agree or disagree with mine is besides the point. I am neither uneducated(I have a college degree-thank you much) nor uninformed(I have read up on what I belive to be the best course of action for MY family). If you disagree, feel free to comment, but do with tact, and we can respectfully agree to disagree. ;)