Housemom, not a housewife

So I constantly have to remind my dear husband what I am and what I am NOT. You see, he was raised by a mother who did everything, cooked all the meals, cleaned up after these said meals, kept the house super duper clean, and read to them every night. She should have known not to set up her son with expectations that one day, when he was grown, he would find a loving woman who would do those said things.

While he found the loving woman, he most definitely did not find himself a houswife. I believe some men think that staying home with your child means you have all the time in the world to keep the house immaculate, prepare gourmet meals, and clean up after them. HA HA! A girl still needs her time to blog :) Overtime, my husband is starting to learn:

- I will keep our house clean, not tidy. Yes you will find piles of clutter around the house, I'll get to them eventually, usually with his help.
- I DO NOT clean up after his clutter, he made the mess and he can put it away.
-I am not his maid, he knows to put his own laundry in the hamper, rinse his dishes, etc.

These are just a few of the many adjustments my husband has had to make by marrying me, poor guy :) Thankfully we've found a happy balance. He knows now to pester me, and I'm not afraid to remind him to clean up after himself. And if asked, he will always chip in and help.

But to be fair, I've also had to step my game up a bit. I've established a schedule to stay on top of everything and I'm doing pretty good so far. I've even developed a monthly schedule for deep cleaning! Though I think that has more to do with the baby who is becoming more and more mobile.

What I am though, is a housemom. My life is 100% devoted to our sweet baby Bee. I strive to provide for her needs and help her to learn and have fun in the process. I was destined to be a mother and I am dedicated to doing my best. Now, by no way does this mean I"m an amazing mother, I make plenty of mistakes. But so far... I think we're surviving :)

Side note: I just cooked up some peas and sweet potatoes for Bee to try! I think it's about time to transition from the baby pureed food, to the big girl finger foods :) I'll keep y'all posted!

Family Visits

So I'm way behind, but in June Courtney came out to visit us after she graduated from college, way to go girl!! Unfortunately, the day after Courtney bought her tickets, Jordan found out he would be gone her entire visit with what else... training. Nobody tells you about all the time they are away for training while in battalion, but I'll save that rant for another post :)

So us girls spent most of our time hanging out at the house, Courtney and I reading books during naptime. It was actually quite nice to just relax.

Courtney adored Brooklyn and was very helpful. I was able to go to the grocery store by myself and even mowed the lawn (first time in my 25 years!)

Auntie Courtney snuggling with the sleepy girl, about to go down for her nap.

My mom and sister were also able to visit at the beginning of July. The issue of mommy separation had just taken into affect before Courtney left so unfortunately they didn't get near the one on one time with Brooklyn that Courtney had. But none the less, they seemed to soak up what the could.

Looks like Brooklyn wasn't hating their attention too much ;) She loved kisses from Grandma Sherri.

And Auntie Shan was so much fun! I believe she may have even attempted a diaper change :)

We ended their trip with dinner out on my momma's birthday. It was so nice having visitors!

Next up, Toni and Travis in a week!!

Daycare and Crocodile Tears...

This morning, I had a doctors appointment so I had no choice but to load up the girl and take her to the Child Development Center (daycare) on base. I won't lie, I was nervous about the whole thing. I think I've mentioned it already but we've been dealing with mommy separation issues for about a month now.

Drop off went well, atleast while I was still in the room :) I handed her off to the trusty Miss Shannon, filled out her morning stats, gave her a kiss and was off. About an hour later I was done with my appointment. I contemplated running to the grocery store and then grabbing her, but I won't lie, that thought only lasted maybe a second.

I'm not sure exactly what I expected to see as I entered the room, optimistically I envisioned her sitting on the floor playing with other children. As I approached the door I could hear babies fussing, but whether one of them was my sweet girl I couldn't be sure. Once inside the door I could see, just past Miss Shannon, were those precious little toes I love and adore. All circled around Miss Shannon and her assistant were babies in all different bouncy's. I said hello and my eyes went from those cute little toes to my baby's face. She was vigorously sucking her thumb and as I looked into those baby blues I saw the remnants of crocodile tears :( My sweet baby girl missed her momma, so I did what any mother would do and I went up to her and wiped those tears and gave her lots of lovin. For the first couple minutes I think she was trying to process the fact that I did indeed return for her and that it was actually me.

Once we got home we ate some yummy fruit and laughed and played way past naptime, but I think we were both soaking up our time together :)

I know there will be more times when we have to resort to the daycare and hopefully eventually it will be something she enjoys. Truthfully I knew it wasn't going to be the most exciting experience for her because, well, I'm going to say it... I'm a pretty awesome mommy and I keep my girl entertained :)

Preparing for Deployment

As many of you know, Jordan will be deploying this December and will be gone for 8 months. While it may seem like we still have months until then, with all his training leading up to the deployment we really only have about 10 weeks left together. When we first moved here our good friends the Matvays were just finishing up a deployment and they also had a little one. It was nice to see how Elisha and Emma functioned without Dave at home and the little things they've done to help keep daddy fresh in Emma's mind. Dave was gone from the time Emma was 6 months old to I believe 14 months. We think it will be a little easier for Brooklyn to remember who daddy is with him leaving when she is 11 months. But regardless, we want to find ways to keep him a part of her day as much as possible.

We've began to make a list of things we will do to make the time go by quickly and how we will keep daddy in our day-to-day:

- We are going to tape 8 separate videos of daddy reading stories to Brooklyn and saying a little something special to here. We will watch each video for one month and then rotate onto another one. Dave did this for Emma but was only able to record one, I think the same video for 8 months may drive mommy crazy! Elisha had a great routine that I will be stealing as well :) Daddy's story time will happen each night before bed while she's drinking her bottle. It will be her special daddy time :)

-If Jordan stays with the main body we should be able to skype somewhat often so that will also be another way to talk to daddy.

-Keep lots of pictures of daddy around the house for both Brooklyn and myself!

-Hopefully Brooklyn will take up an interest in making things for daddy, or helping me put together care packages for him.

- I plan on keeping Brooklyn and myself busy with as many activities for the girl as possible, swimming, kindermusic, playdates. Anything that will fill our time.

- We plan on going home to Oregon for this deployment. There is nothing in Mississippi keeping us here so it really just makes more sense to be near friends and family.

- I hope to focus on my photography, building my own business should keep me busy!

Don't really know who all reads this, but if any of you out there have any suggestions for me to add to my list I'd love to hear them! Your husband/wife may not deploy, but maybe they work away from home a lot and you may have a secret list up your sleeve to share as well.

We sure are going to miss daddy, but this is something we signed up for, so rather than feeling bad for myself I'm going to pick myself up and make the best of it. I know it's only a short time in our life together and it will be another story to tell when we're old and grey :)

Crib Par-tay!

Sometimes you've just got to laugh at babies. For some odd reason every couple weeks Brooklyn will decide to throw a little party in her crib... AT 4 A.M.!!

She'll usually only do it for two mornings in a row, and then she'll take a little break to focus on her sleep again :)

This week was party week and on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, Jordan and I would listen in on our little girl having a good ole time in her crib. Laughing and talking away, sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes 45. I don't think Jordan and I are fans of the 45 minutes since we don't sleep 12 hours a night, that 45 minutes is a big deal! And how can you just tune out the adorable high pitched voice of our baby girl (maybe I should ask Jordan how he does it?)

Thankfully I am blessed with a child who since about 8 weeks old has slept through the night and I can only count on one hand the number of times she's actually woken up upset during the night. So I welcome these 4 a.m. parties, hey, maybe I'll join her sometime :)

6 Months Already???

I can't believe my lil baby will be six months old tomorrow, where has the time gone? It's amazing just how much they change in their first six months. Gone is my baby that would need, or even want to be rocked and cradled to sleep. She has been replaced by my independant little sleeper, who just wants to be in her own space, and do everything just the way she wants.

While she once needed me to get her to and from, now she can roll herself to that toy she so desperately wants. My big girl eats from a spoon and wiggles her toes to the music (her version of dancing) all in her favorite chair, the bumbo.

Those beautiful baby blues used to look up at me in wonder, taking in this magical world. Now they glow, paired with that big grin, because she knows she's being cute :)

But don't let her fool you, she still needs her momma, for only momma can do things just the way Miss Brooklyn likes :)

Big girl now!

Brooklyn hated her infant car seat, she would get sweaty so easily and I don't think she was a fan of being cradled like a baby. That all together resulted in a VERY VERY fussy child whenever we went anywhere, which only made her even more sweaty as her fits are a full body experience. So we loaded up the car and drove to Mobile Alabama to find her a convertible car seat with the hope that she would be a more pleasant car rider. As you can see, she is much more comfortable and will now fall asleep without any crying fits! Thankfully we went and got this before our trip to the beach, it made such a difference.

Now getting rid of the infant car seat meant that we no longer had it to take her into restaurants. She's had to upgrade to the highchair! Not too bad, we just have to do some stuffing around her with a blanket :)

She loves that thumb :)

Such a big girl now!!