Olivia Eileen

Well, technically, we are 5 weeks down...but who's counting weeks?!  Counting months is WAY easier! The first month flew by as sugar bean and I have been keeping a healthy level of activity during our daytime hours and we were able to Skype pretty regularly with hubby. While I haven't had a "meltdown", by God's grace alone, this last week has been a bit challenging, but God has been sweet, and I'll post about that later this week. Our exciting and "look forward to" activities for month one were a FREE weekend getaway to the beach and then a 10K road running race for mommy. Nothing like sunshine, sand, and endorphins to boost my mental state! Myrtle Beach, March 2012 Self Portrait Beach LOVER Probably more exciting than the free trip to the beach was the 10K road running race. A girlfriend (and fellow army wife) also ran the race with her TWO kiddos. We set our goal at averaging 10 minute miles because it was rolling hills and we were both pushing our...

Well, technically, we are 5 weeks down...but who's counting weeks?!  Counting months is WAY easier! The first month flew by as sugar bean and I have been keeping a healthy level of activity during our daytime hours and we were able to Skype pretty regularly with hubby. While I haven't had a "meltdown", by God's grace alone, this last week has been a bit challenging, but God has been sweet, and I'll post about that later this week. Our exciting and "look forward to" activities for month one were a FREE weekend getaway to the beach and then a 10K road running race for mommy. Nothing like sunshine, sand, and endorphins to boost my mental state! Myrtle Beach, March 2012 Self Portrait Beach LOVER

While this first deployment was a long time coming the last three or so months have been quite the whirlwind. One of the privileges we have with being stationed at Ft. Bragg is that my husband has learned how to do things the "right" way in the Army (or maybe it's just the Bragg way...). Anyway, what I mean by this is that hubby didn't get a nice break or many shortened workdays leading up to this deployment (except for Christmas block leave). So, right when you've got to finalize your personal and family life in preparation for a deployment, my husband was working from before sunrise to well after sunset nearly each and every workday. In all the hubbub and emotions whirling around I had this grand idea that I wanted to pursue one of my personal dreams and compete in my first Ironman while my husband is off pursuing one of his dream.  It only seemed "fair" that I get to "do" something I'm passionate about too... Well, that idea sounded real...

While this first deployment was a long time coming the last three or so months have been quite the whirlwind. One of the privileges we have with being stationed at Ft. Bragg is that my husband has learned how to do things the "right" way in the Army (or maybe it's just the Bragg way...). Anyway, what I mean by this is that hubby didn't get a nice break or many shortened workdays leading up to this deployment (except for Christmas block leave). So, right when you've got to finalize your personal and family life in preparation for a deployment, my husband was working from before sunrise to well after sunset nearly each and every workday. In all the hubbub and emotions whirling around I had this grand idea that I wanted to pursue one of my personal dreams and compete in my first Ironman while my husband is off pursuing one of his dream.  It only seemed "fair" that I get to "do" something I'm passionate about too...

I'm pushing my luck starting this blog because my little sugar bean has been down for a nap since 12:30pm...and it's 2:22pm! But here I am with my coffee hoping to get this blog updated. I wont be too sad if she wakes up though, because I have been productive in other areas of my life so far today: swam about 2200 meters, made dinner (in the crock pot), sent out FRG e-mails, paid a bill I forgot about (BUMMER!) blah blah blah :) Unfortunately, blogging has had to take the back burner the last month. I mean, we did move into a new house and sent my husband off on his first deployment this month... Two TOTALLY normal life activities occurring nearly simultaneously, right? Only if your military! But my husband is off and sugar bean and I are about one week into holding up our home front.  Last week I was very intentional about getting to the gym. I knew that if I did not make the childcare reservations for the entire week ahead of time I would not have been getting out of bed ver...

I'm pushing my luck starting this blog because my little sugar bean has been down for a nap since 12:30pm...and it's 2:22pm! But here I am with my coffee hoping to get this blog updated. I wont be too sad if she wakes up though, because I have been productive in other areas of my life so far today: swam about 2200 meters, made dinner (in the crock pot), sent out FRG e-mails, paid a bill I forgot about (BUMMER!) blah blah blah :) Unfortunately, blogging has had to take the back burner the last month. I mean, we did move into a new house and sent my husband off on his first deployment this month... Two TOTALLY normal life activities occurring nearly simultaneously, right? Only if your military! But my husband is off and sugar bean and I are about one week into holding up our home front.  Last week I was very intentional about getting to the gym. I knew that if I did not make the childcare reservations for the entire week ahead of time I would not have been getting ...

WHEW!!!  Or as my daughter and I like to say as I'm pushing her up a steep hill in the BOB:  "OOH WHEE!" After one solid week of packing, cleaning, and painting our old place; one solid weekend of unloading a 26 foot U-Haul (TWICE); one solid week of UNpacking, cleaning, and organizing our new place...we are feeling a bit settled :)  AND, I never want to move again! A great time to purge your belongings is right after you've moved your entire household, yourself. Because you're still pretty angry at that super heavy box of unknown "stuff" (that hasn't been opened since your last move) you had to remove from your old attic, put into the U-Haul, then removed from the U-Haul, only to put into your new attic... or better yet, the donation pile!!! Believe it or not I haven't actually taken any pictures of our new house. Been kinda busy nesting! BUT my extremely helpful mother in law did!!! She was a huge help over moving weekend. Whether it was simply...

WHEW!!!  Or as my daughter and I like to say as I'm pushing her up a steep hill in the BOB:  "OOH WHEE!" After one solid week of packing, cleaning, and painting our old place; one solid weekend of unloading a 26 foot U-Haul (TWICE); one solid week of UNpacking, cleaning, and organizing our new place...we are feeling a bit settled :)  AND, I never want to move again! A great time to purge your belongings is right after you've moved your entire household, yourself. Because you're still pretty angry at that super heavy box of unknown "stuff" (that hasn't been opened since your last move) you had to remove from your old attic, put into the U-Haul, then removed from the U-Haul, only to put into your new attic... or better yet, the donation pile!!! Believe it or not I haven't actually taken any pictures of our new house. Been kinda busy nesting! BUT my extremely helpful mother in law did!!! She was a huge help over moving weekend. Wh...

So, we are officially MOVING! After praying and seriously weighing all the pros and cons we took the plunge. We found THE house last Tuesday, signed the lease, paid the deposit, and are in the process of packing up all of our belongings....................which is going faster than ever....................but is still.................a very..................long.............................process! The goal is to be moved into our new house this weekend! I am SO excited. And I have been non stop packing since we signed our lease last Tuesday, thus falling off techno world! But, redeeming thing about all this packing, I found a bike trainer I thought we gave away! No more interval workout excuses. My butt will be in the saddle doing intervals during nap times starting next week. Ironman Louisville is still very much on the radar. Awesome back story to finding THE house...two Sunday nights ago I was up searching the web again for rentals. Up late because I was nervous about the house we ...

So, we are officially MOVING! After praying and seriously weighing all the pros and cons we took the plunge. We found THE house last Tuesday, signed the lease, paid the deposit, and are in the process of packing up all of our belongings....................which is going faster than ever....................but is still.................a very..................long.............................process! The goal is to be moved into our new house this weekend! I am SO excited. And I have been non stop packing since we signed our lease last Tuesday, thus falling off techno world! But, redeeming thing about all this packing, I found a bike trainer I thought we gave away! No more interval workout excuses. My butt will be in the saddle doing intervals during nap times starting next week. Ironman Louisville is still very much on the radar. Awesome back story to finding THE house...two Sunday nights ago I was up searching the web again for rentals. Up late because I was nervous about the house...

Having a baby changes everything. But, you don't realize it changes everything until you have your very own! As I am learning to roll with the frequent spontaneity and inconsistency of the military lifestyle I am also learning how to use my time more wisely and effectively as a wife, mom, and athlete. Otherwise, I'd probably be pretty frazzled and grumpy all of the time. Two of my favorite, already owned, time savers are the door frame pull up bar we've owned for a long time and our new Vitamix Blender! If you don't have either, consider the following my recommendation for you to put this on your next birthday or Christmas wish list! What are your favorite in-home time savers?! Tell me your in-home time savers or solutions in the comment section below! For the longest time I was intimidated by pull ups (and still am to a degree). And now that we have a baby, I initially complained ( often ) about not being able to weight lift anymore for lack of childcare or proximity t...

Having a baby changes everything. But, you don't realize it changes everything until you have your very own! As I am learning to roll with the frequent spontaneity and inconsistency of the military lifestyle I am also learning how to use my time more wisely and effectively as a wife, mom, and athlete. Otherwise, I'd probably be pretty frazzled and grumpy all of the time. Two of my favorite, already owned, time savers are the door frame pull up bar we've owned for a long time and our new Vitamix Blender! If you don't have either, consider the following my recommendation for you to put this on your next birthday or Christmas wish list! What are your favorite in-home time savers?! Tell me your in-home time savers or solutions in the comment section below!

Yesterday I spent my time trying to find hourly child care for our almost 17 month old, just a few times a week, so I could swim/bike/run without a 24+ pound baby in tow (well, during the swim I would be worrying about whether or not she was vying for my attention in the jogger, pool side, not pulling her in a raft!). I, unfortunately, discovered that where we live in the Fort Bragg, North Carolina area is No-Mans-Land for hourly child care. Well, hourly child care that would allow me to pack my daughters lunch. When sugar bean was nursing it was easy to drop her off at the hourly child care center on Fort Bragg because they were REQUIRED to feed her the pumped breast milk I supplied.  Now, she's older and eating table food, so she's required to eat whatever they serve-unless a doctor has signed off that she has an allergy/intolerance, which she doesn't. So, the only way to take advantage of the $4/hour child care on post is to throw our chosen daughter's nutrition out ...

Yesterday I spent my time trying to find hourly child care for our almost 17 month old, just a few times a week, so I could swim/bike/run without a 24+ pound baby in tow (well, during the swim I would be worrying about whether or not she was vying for my attention in the jogger, pool side, not pulling her in a raft!). I, unfortunately, discovered that where we live in the Fort Bragg, North Carolina area is No-Mans-Land for hourly child care. Well, hourly child care that would allow me to pack my daughters lunch. When sugar bean was nursing it was easy to drop her off at the hourly child care center on Fort Bragg because they were REQUIRED to feed her the pumped breast milk I supplied.  Now, she's older and eating table food, so she's required to eat whatever they serve-unless a doctor has signed off that she has an allergy/intolerance, which she doesn't. So, the only way to take advantage of the $4/hour child care on post is to throw our chosen daughter's nutritio...