New Year, New Hair??

So I have been wanting to cut my hair for a while now,

only problem is, its pretty long and has been for a while

so I am really really nervous about it.

But with a new baby coming soon, I already don't

enjoy doing it, so I'm sure that will only get worse.

So I have been wanting to cut it...

I don't know if I have it in me though, lol.

I know, I know. I'm difficult.

Hubs loves my long hair and told me if I wanted

to cut it, to do with while he was away, so it

would grow back by the time he came home, 

for good. 

Bless his heart.

I'm waiting to see what he has to say about the cut

I am looking at doing.

But I will leave you with the picture.

And mind you, my hair will go back to blonde

after the baby comes more than likely.

Pre-pregnancy

Baby Shower & Dark Hair

What I am thinking about doing

What do you think??

January Shall Be...

GREAT!!

Want to know why??

Not only will we have a beautiful little boy named Matthew Ryan

enter the world, BUT...

I will get to see my HUSBAND!!!

Yes, you heard that right. R&R is coming so quickly and I couldn't

be anymore excited!

Soon, maybe. But him being here for little baby's first couple

of weeks is WAY more important, we both agree!

So I obviously can't give exact dates, but I am ready for 2012 to be here,

like NOW!!

I DID IT!!

I finally did it and joined the Scentsy team. I am a little excited.

Although nervous because I really have no idea what I am 

doing yet, lol. But I got some for Christmas & I absolutely

LOVE them and I didn't know anyone who sold them, 

so I figured I would give it a try because I would be 

off work soon anyways, so what better way to try

and supplement our income!!

So please, go check out my WEBSITE and browse

around. I can ship your product to anywhere, so

whether you are near or far from me, you can

still order!

Christmas Pictures

Here are a few iPhone pictures from Christmas this year!!

My garage door opener :) :)

Got this in the mail from my best friend in Oklahoma..delicious!

My dog hated Kitty for the longest, lol

My 12 Days of Christmas box

All of my little presents out of the box

My little baby as Santa!

Merry Christmas!!

Let me start out by first saying,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day with whoever they shared today with!

I have been celebrating Christmas since Thursday evening. We started at my father-in-laws house. It was great, we had a very non-traditional dinner, which consisted of lasagna Mmmm, who doesn't love lasagna? It is personally one of my favorites. We got to Skype with hubs aunt & uncle & cousins who live in Texas. Then we opened some presents. Guess what Hubs and I got?? Yep, a garage door opener! I was beyond excited about this. Mainly because here in Ohio we get lot's of snow. It surprisingly hasn't struck yet, but it will soon, always does. But cleaning my car off, especially in the mornings, is one of my most hated things, but then again having to get in and out of the car to open and close the garage door equally irritates me. So what is better than having a garage door opener?? Also, got some candles and gift cards, too.

Friday, was probably my best day around this whole holiday season! I had to work, but I got such a good surprise at work. Hubs had signed me up for a program called the 12 days of Christmas. It is an organization funded by Full Circle Home based out of Rochester, New York. Sgt. 1st Class Fitzwater, not only has family who lives in my area, but he knew my husband from ROTC, so he told them that he needed to personally deliver this package to me. Well with him, he brought our local newspaper. So Saturday morning, I made the front page of the Community section in our newspaper. Here is the link to the article, if you care to read. I have no words for how shocked and surprised I was. Best part about it all, I talked to hubs a little while after they left my work and I was telling him about it, his response, "Oh shit, I forgot I signed up for that!". Haha, gotta love him.

Later that evening, I FINALLY received my actual present that hubs had got for me at his Grandma and Grandpa's house! I had been bugging him non-stop since he told me my present had shipped to his "secret" person who would give it to me. Turns out, that secret person was his step-dad. But I got my video camera, a very good one at all. We had talked about getting one, so that he wouldn't miss too much stuff when the baby came. So I think it is more of a present for the both of us! But either way, I was so excited. I also got lots of other presents from his grandparents that night too..

Saturday, I worked until 2. And then celebrated with my family at my sister's house. It is tradition to celebrate Christmas Eve together. So after spending time with my mom, dad, sisters, and my nieces & nephews, I went to Christmas Eve Mass with my sister and brother-in-law. Sunday morning, I went to my mother-in-laws, opened presents and had breakfast. 

All in all, my Christmas was not as bad as I thought it would be with my husband being deployed. Yeah, it is far from fun and I miss him terribly, but I managed to make it through. We are one holiday closer to seeing each other again!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN!!

Dear Little Baby,

I know you are fully enjoying giving mom these little scares, as I have spent more times in the hospital than I can probably count on two hands anymore, including our little trip last night. But you are still safe and sound where you belong for another 5-8 weeks. Giving Daddy heart attacks doesn't help any either, lol.

You are loved so much already and I can't wait to meet you. Daddy is beyond excited to meet you. I can already see it now, how much "trouble" you two will get in together. Although Daddy won't be here for half of your first year of life, because he is doing his job and I hope one day you are just as proud of him as Mommy is. And I can't promise you he won't have to leave again in a couple more years, but know that you will never have to play the "man of the house" if or when Daddy does leave again. Your job will always be, to be the little wild crazy boy I know you will be. Sure I will probably be pulling my hair out at times, but it will be worth every minute of it.

So do Mommy a favor and calm down just a tad for a couple more weeks. We need you to be 100% okay and ready before you decide to come out and join the world. I love you so much and I will see you soon!

Stages of Deployment

(NOTE: I did not write this. I copied and pasted from here. I just really liked it, so im sharing)

The beginning will suck. There's no getting around it.

 You'll say goodbye and be torn in two. You'll take the drive home, and you'll probably calm down. You'll go back to the house and it'll almost feel like nothing has changed. You'll feel like "hey this isn't as hard as I thought it would bad." You'll think you're handling it really well, and while you probably are...wait for it.

The first day or so you'll be really bored but not too depressed. You'll want to be alone but you wont be suffering like you thought you would be....but it'll hit you. One day, probably in the first week you'll have a break down. You'll have been waiting for a call and it takes longer than you thought, or you just cant stand the thought of not having to share the bed, or you'll trip over a pair of old boots and everything will come crashing down.

Let it. That's the one thing you'll learn. If you need to fall apart, don't try and stop it. The only way to pick up the pieces is to let them fall.

Once this happens, deployment is going to hurt. A little every day but you'll manage the pain. Stay busy. In the beginning, you'll feel helpless and like you've give anything to keep him from where he's going. But you can't. That's why we send care packges. Go to the store and throw your heart and soul into a care package.

We rpesent care packages like we do it for them, but in all honesty, we do it for ourselves. We want to feel less helpless. Like we're in some way, in the only way, making their lives a little easier, the only way we can.

After the first 3 months you'll set yourself into a pseudo groove. You're used to the deployment by now and with 3 months under your belt, the next three will probably sail by like they never even happened. Before you know it you're 6 months down and only have half to go.

R&R: It's going to be amazing. You're going to have a hard time sharing him, but realize that this is his vacation and other people love and miss him too. realizing and accepting this will make it easier on everyone. He's going to have friends who he hasn't talked to since he left,want to hang out. Let them. That's what our loved ones do. They keep in touch with us and leave the friends for later, so don't hold it against them that they haven't been around. He hasn't let them. he's only made room enough for you in his deployed life.

The goodbye will be the most horrible day of your life and nothing will ever prepare you for it. It almost seems unfair, like there should be an in-between. Because here and gone isn't good enough. There's no slow goodbye, there's no easing into it. One second he's kissing you goodbye and the next you can't see him anymore and you know the next time you do will be in 6 months.

Cry. Scream. Do what you have to do because you need to get this out.

The deployment will be easier for the last halfbecause you have something to look forward to and because ta this point, you've done this before. But with the ease, you're going to run into arguments. You're both used to this and you're both tired of it. You're both trying to put on a happy face but you're both miserable.

While one is comfortable with the situation, another will have a rough day and want some reassurance and the other wont have the energy for it. You'll both go back and forth with this and the arguments will suck. There will be mis communications, jealousy, and simple frustration.

It's okay. Just figure out which battles don't need to be fought. if you're arguing because you've run out of thinsg to talk about (don't act like this doesn't apply to you) Then give communication a rest for the day. I know it's hard because we think "if we don't talk and something happens I'll never forgive myself"....it'll be okay. Sometimes you just need some time to yourself and so does he.

The end of the deployment will be horrible. Sorry, I know that's not comforting but I'm not going to lie to you. It sucks. If it went by any slower it may actually go backwards, and that's honestly alli can tell you about the end. It sucks and that's normal, but you'll get through it.

And then they come home.

Photo Card

Monogram Snowman Holiday

View this season's most popular holiday card designs here.

View the entire collection of cards.

Military Monday

So let me just start by saying heyyy to any new followers or visitors from

Military Monday! A little bit of information about me:

Name is Lauren

I am married to a Soldier

He is my best friend

He is currently in the sand box

Yes, we are going through our 1st deployment

We are expecting a baby boy in January/February

Depending on when baby wants to come

I love making new friends

So leave some comments so I can come follow you back 

In other news, I seriously live for phone calls now. I have my phone 

glued to me at all times. I am really thankful to hear from my husband as 

often as I do. And extra thankful that I got an iPhone recently 

because with my phone and his iPod, we get to FaceTime

quite often and I LOVE every minute of it. I mailed out his 

first goodie boxes today. Only had intentions on making 

one box, but ended up with two full boxes. There are lots 

of goodies and stuff he needs in them though.

In baby news, I am 26 weeks and a day today! I can not

believe how fast time as flown by. My baby shower is this 

coming Sunday already and we could possibly only have

9 more weeks until baby gets here, depending on how

anxious he is at 35 weeks. I'm hoping not much longer

after 35 weeks because I am ready to be done and 

to meet my little man. 

Still Alive, I Promise

I have been in a blogging rut lately. I am just all out of writing

right now. Maybe I will get some inspiration today,

I did mail my husbands first boxes today!

Halloween Came and Went...

So lately I have been in these moods where I don't even want to get out of bed. I know it's not healthy at all and I'm working on it. Reality is sinking in and being thrown in my face. My husband is off fighting a war and here I am six months pregnant all alone. I don't think things would be as difficult if I wasn't pregnant. Obviously I am not complaining about him, I'm overly excited for him. Just not excited that I have no friends to help keep me busy because I can't go out and party with them. Halloween has came and gone, one of my favorite holidays. Guess what I did? Absolutely nothing. And everyone who knows what I'm going through and are going through it as well are 2 hours away from me. I know it's not healthy for me and baby...I'm working on it.

Friday Fill-In

1. The best part of October was having my husband home for his 4 day pass

2. The worst part of October was  having to say goodbye all over again

3. For Halloween, I’ll be with family taking my nieces and nephew trick or treating

4. I hope that in November it doesn't snow like a mad man outside. I hate the snow. I need to move

5. Wifey has posted MilSpouse Secret Santa. I  will be participating, hopefully! :)

I give you...

My version of those Halloween cupcakes. Their not as 

good because the frosting I made kind of sucked.

It was really runny until it hardened up on the cupcake.

Gotta find a new one for sure.

But they are for 8 and 9 year old's, so they don't need 

to be perfect. They also made a huge mess of my kitchen..

It's Thursday, again!

So that means, it is time to link up with Goodnight Moon for a good

ol' jam session. In honor of Halloween becoming so close and all

the trick or treats starting today in various parts of where I live,

I thought it would only be fitting to pick this song. I LOVED

this song as a kid, not exactly sure why, but I did.

With that being said, I am off to bake cupcakes for

my niece's Halloween party tomorrow. I am such an

awesome aunt! :)

Here is what I plan on them looking like

Hope they look this good!!

Dreams

Last night I kept having these awful dreams about hubs.

Not anything to have to do with his deployment, but he 

was home, we were living our normal life. It all felt so

real. I was pregnant, a little further along than I am now,

and I had just found out that he cheated on me, again...

(It's not secret what happened before)....

Yes, I woke up crying & I was tossing and turning.

But that fact that he just didn't care killed me, again.

And here I was pregnant with his baby.

The kicker though, I woke up probably 3 

different times and ALL 3 times I would go

right back to that dream, it just kept continuing

every time and it didn't get much better any time.

I finally woke up around 730am and stayed up 

because I couldn't deal with that again. But now

I have this horrible gut wrenching feeling that

maybe it was trying to tell me something.

How often do dreams just continue on like that?

The last thing I want to do is bring it up to hubs

though, because the whole topic is touch and go

because I tend to make it worse ( I think I have

every right though). But I still can't shake that

bad feeling and its only10:50am...

Baby Stuff

So I realize I haven't put any pictures of baby stuff on here,

only Facebook. So I thought I would share some of the

baby items that have been bought FOR us!!

We have gotten really lucky with all the help with

purchasing baby items. These items alone are 

close to a $1,000. This baby has nicer stuff than

hubs and I combined. 

Here are a few photos for viewing. I'll post an

ultrasound picture as soon as I make it "mine", 

so no crazy people try to steal my baby's photos.

What I REALLY want!! But the turn around time for

this girl making them is MONTHS! I understand a

couple of weeks, but not months. Anyone who knows

someone who makes these and can make me one,

I appreciate it!

via

via

Really want the first one, just ACU print!

It's That Wonderful Time of the Year

So it's only the end of October, but who doesn't love

Christmas!! I know I do! With that being said, I am 

browsing my favorite website to create Christmas

cards for 2011, Shutterfly. They have SO many

options to choose from. We did a simple but

very cute Christmas card last year. This year 

I want to do something more creative, with

more photos and some sweet words.

It's really blurry, but that was our Christmas card

last year! This year I really like these..

I am still searching the website to find the perfect one

but I can guarentee I will be purchasing my cards

from here! 

Family Matters

Saturday afternoon I went and watched hubs little niece cheer 

her last football game. A bunch of the family came out. She 

was so cute. I have photos on my phone, but no clue how

to get them on here (anyone can help). All was good, or

so I thought. I got left alone with his grandmother for 

about 10 minutes, normally it wouldn't be a big deal,

except ever since hubs deployment she has been

a basket case.

I completely understand that the deployment is hard

on EVERYONE. I am in no way putting down how

she is dealing with it, I just don't necessarily agree.

She cries ALL the time, but whatever, if it helps her

so be it. Just don't do it around me is all I ask. She

then proceeds to go on and on about, "Oh, I just

really hope he comes home. I couldn't handle 

losing him." Ummm...hello!!! Your talking to his 

WIFE here, do you really think I want to hear this?

I continue to try to be nice and tell her that she can

not think like that or the next year will be miserable.

I couldn't be nice anymore when she proceeded to

tell me that, although our situation is unique and I am 

his wife and carrying his baby but because I haven't

"known" him for as long as her and the rest of his family

that essentially they should take precedence over me,

because she basically raised him and he is "special" to

her. I get that he is her first grandchild, but she has 5 

other one's to focus on now. They have a hard time

accepting the fact that he is not a baby anymore

and that he has a wife and a baby of his own coming.

I think they fail to realize that I will be the first one to

know almost everything. It's just so frustrating.

They have done a lot for us and the baby already

so I don't want to be a bitch, but seriously, where

does the line get drawn? 

Does anyone else have family in-laws that have been

the same way? How have you dealt with them?

Song Link-Up

So, deployment sucks. I miss my husband. I am lonely.

Being pregnant isn't helping any.

Especially a high risk pregnancy.

Okay, I'm done complaining.

Here's my song.

It's not Blake Shelton, but their pretty good too

Hope everyone had a wonderful day!
And thank goodness for Skype!!
Just got to talk and see the hubs, I feel better!

Disciple Photography

These are a few of my favorite photos from a little shoot hubs and I 

did while he was home. My friend Morgan did them for 

FREE! She is amazing. Be sure to check out her other

work.

Disciple Photography

Let me know what you think of them :)

It's been a while...

Hey guys! Sorry I have been MIA for a while. A lot has happened since

the last time I was able to blog. To get you all caught up though, this

is what has been happening.

Mine and hubs first deployment is well under way. He was just 

home this past weekend for his four day pass. It was 

probably the fastest four days of my life thus far. Sadly 

though, I had to share him with A LOT of people.

As unhappy as I was about sharing him, I was just

happy to have him home. Now he is gone, for 

quite some time too. 

As proud of him as I am, it still sucks. I miss him

so much, especially with the baby coming soon

and all of the baby activities taking place soon.

I just want more than anything to have him here, 

but that isn't an option. I need a hobby.

Preferably one that isn't expensive. Or

an easy coping method to deal with everything.

I am now 23 weeks pregnant. I still have 

a ways to go, but time is going FAST!

January will be here before I know it.

We finally picked out a name for baby, after

much debate. And we didn't fully agree until

hubs was seconds away from getting on

the plane to leave us again. Kind of cute,

definitely not something we will forget.

But we plan on keeping the name a 

secret until baby is born since I didn't

want to tell anyone it was a boy from

the beginning but hubs was so excited.

We also got all moved in to our new place.

And we got to set up the baby's bed & dresser

while hubs was home. So that was exciting.

That is all for now. I promise I will be back

to regularly blogging again. I just had to wait

until the internet got hooked up and spent

time with the hubs. Hope everyone

is well. I have some serious catching up to do.

Hopefully if you follow me on twitter,

your not too far behind on me :)

Bed Rest to No Bed Rest

Today has been an absolute roller coaster. It all started at 8:15am,

I went for baby boys 20 week check up. Now, let me give you a little

back history first. I see my normal OB and then I also see a high risk

doctor. Well, my high risk doctor has had me off work for about

a month and a half, I just went back to work last Monday, but

on extended circumstances.

So this morning, I start telling my doctor about this pain that I have

down in my girl area's, but only on the left side, weird huh? I 

thought so too. High risk doctor told me my potassium was low,

asked my normal doc this morning, he basically told me High Risk

doctor was a moron, that more than likely when I had the cerclage 

done, he hit a nerve. Awesome right? And there is nothing I can 

do about it until 35 weeks when its time for the cerclage to come

out.

He then proceeds to tell me that I need to be resting and not doing

much, I then proceed to tell him that I am back to work. He basically

goes all crazy again because my other doctor sent me back to work

without consulting with him first. Immediately takes me back out 

of work. And then tells me have a nice day, see you in two weeks.

Sure, I left like okay. But 20 minutes after I got home, panic set in.

Hubs was busy doing training so I couldn't talk to him right away.

Everyone in my family is obviously biased, so that was no help.

I know my body and what I can and can't handle, I only work

four hours a day right now and they give me a chair. I freaked

out because well, yeah hubs is making good money, but I still

need to be making something too.

I eventually got to talk to hubs, he told me to do what I feel is 

right for baby and me, as far as continuing to work. I 

eventually called my doctor back, talked to him some more.

He agreed with certain restrictions, that my job is okay with,

thank goodness, I can continue to work only if I am in my 

chair at almost all times...

So, that was my day.

Crazyness.

With that being said, I officially move in 2 days & I will have no

internet or cable until further notice. Unless I can figure out

how to steal the internet from my phone, which I know is possible.

Just have to figure out how.

And, one more thing? Does anyone sell scentsy or any other

work from home type of businesses. I'm trying to come

up with something I can do IF I get taken off work all

together again or just to add some more cash flow, 

since I'm not making quite half of what I normally make.

Let me know :)

So...

completely overwhelmed, with everything.

Not such a Monday Funday

So today, I woke up at 7am. Not sure why exactly and quite frankly

I don't appreciate it. I am tired all the time, so waking up that

early for no real reason is just annoying. I supposed I have a 

million things I could be doing, like packing for 1 or getting 

my baby shower invites started, but I did nothing.

I feel so crappy today. Maybe because it has been raining nonstop

here in good ol' Ohio, or maybe its the fact that I miss my husband.

I feel like I shouldn't be doing things without him. Obviously, I need

to get over that because well, I have a year of him being gone. I 

can't put off doing things until he gets home in about a year from now..

So with that being said, I will go do something productive, like actually

make myself presentable for dinner at my father-in-laws tonight.

1 Monday down....a whole bunch more to go!!

Oh, and be sure to leave comments if your new followers from

the Military Monday Link-Up!! :)

All things baby

We recently found out that we are having a little baby BOY! As
much as I was really hoping for a little girl, I am beyond excited.
I just can't wait for little baby to get here. Today, I am 19 weeks.
 I am almost half way done with being pregnant. I feel like
 I just found out yesterday that I was pregnant
 and here we are, at the almost half way point. It's crazy!

With that being said, we are having a really hard time coming
to a liking of baby names. Hubs is stuck on having a Jr., but
 let me tell you, it just isn't happening. I can only handle one
 hubs everyday, not two. So, here is
 my question, what are your favorite baby

boy names and why?

We are also working on planning my baby shower. I know I'm
not supposed to be planning my own shower, which technically I'm not,
 I'm just making sure things go as I hope for them to. So, I am letting
 myself have a little more input than I probably should, lol. Which
 leads me to my next question, what are your favorite baby
 shower games  to play? And also, what kind of prizes do you like
 to receive, that are inexpensive..Every time I go to showers,
I seem to get pointless game gifts, if that makes any sense.

I leave you with some fun facts about baby this week :)

your baby's the size of a mango!

At about 6.0 inches long and weighing in at about 8.5 ounces, she's getting there!

The Dreaded D Word Has Begun

So I have been MIA for a while now, my apologies. I have had good reason though, I was spending as much quality time with my husband as I could because our very first deployment as officially started. He actually got to come home a couple days sooner than planned from his AT because they all like him and they really knew I was struggling with things at home with the baby. So, God bless them for giving me a few more days with my husband, there are no words to express how grateful I am. But now he is gone, again. The reality of it hasn't sunk in much because I am used to him being gone for all sorts of training. It hasn't really hit me yet that this time is different.

I will leave you with some photos from babe's Call to Duty Ceremony. I cried my eyes out the entire time...

Our Little Family

Yes, they sang "I'm leaving, on a jet plane". I cried hysterically..

This is just too funny, I look so disgusted

Last 3 = My Favorites!!