Army Wife Deployment Checklist

I've been an Army wife for about 12 years now but have been lucky enough to have gone through one deployment since being married. But I have been through my fair share of long absences. Three 4-6 week long ones this last year and we are coming upon a longer deployment. 

So I thought I would put together a little deployment survival list. These are just some things I've done or plan on doing to get through the time apart. It is so hard even more now with kids and you need those extra little things to make it a little easier!

ENTERTAINMENT 

Netflix/Hulu Subscription to binge on.
{Just waste time and plow through those shows.}

::Bingeworthy shows::
Stranger things
New Girl
Xfiles
Friends...of course

Movie nights/Game nights with friends or your kids

Books
Use that Library card so you don't have to buy books.
E-books/Audible Books
Podcasts
{These are super fun because you just subscribe on your phone and listen very little effort put in}

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

At home spa
{great to do if you have a daughter or have kids and can't get a babysitter}
Facial masks
Bubble bath
{with candles, little debbie cakes my personal fave, candles}
Caddy Tray  link {perfect for combining the entertainment and pampering yourself}

Dessert for one:
Microwavable cakes or pie for one
Low calorie ice cream like Halo {peanut butter chocolate is my fave}
Bark thins

Gym Membership:

Keeps you busy and keeps you healthy.
If you have kids make sure it has childcare.


HOME 

Paper goods so you don't have to do dishes all the time.

Cleaning lady
{If not all the time have them come once or twice a month for a deep cleaning. If you play your cards right you might not have to touch those toilets for the whole deployment}

OR if cleaning is your thing then you just go to town!

PROJECTS

DIY projects
{I have a lot of furniture to redo:}
China cabinet
bench
dresser
several chairs

BABYSITTER

This one is important for your mental health honestly.
Mommys' need those breaks even if its just to go grocery shopping by yourself.


WEEKEND ADVENTURES
w/kids

Trampoline parks
Laser Tag
Roller skating
Theme park
mini golf
Bowling
Theme/water park

GETAWAY ADVENTURES

Road trips
Visit family out of state
One adventure a month that your spouse is gone

HOBBIES

Photography
Learn an instrument
Learn a different language
Volunteer somewhere

Mommy Mondays {hush little baby}

Hey guys I know it's been awhile!

We have had a long vacation and move to hawaii!! But we are finally here and moved into our new house. It's been a slow process but we are finally getting everything in it's new place and it's starting to feel homey. I will be blogging a ton of new stuff soon. Vacation, family pictures and of course hawaii! So please check back!

So my little monkey is turning 7 months this week! Already !! I know it's not fair how fast it's going.
A huge milestone for us is making it this far exclusively breastfeeding. Longer than I did with Riley. He is now a 14lb chunky little man. It took us a bit to get into our groove. It ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be. But now we face the challenge of sleep. This kid still doesn't sleep through the night. He still sleeps right next to me in the pac n play. Now that we are in Hawaii I plan on setting up his room finally. I never had this issue with little miss. She was in her own room by this time. Some people have suggested his tummy isn't full enough. I tried baby food and nursing him and he still doesn't really sleep. The Dr said that it's more for comfort that he is waking up throughout the night. Have there been any things you may have tried that worked?

Riley's Frozen Tea party

So this year we did a frozen tea party for Riley's birthday. It ended up being a month late because of having a newborn and availability at the community center on base. It was originally planned as a low key tea party at home for a few friends. Riley just loves everybody so she wanted to invite all her friends. I had no choice we had to have an enormous "low key" tea party. 

As a party hostess I have a huge fear. One of my worst nightmares is hosting a party and guests show up before everything is set up. Then on top of that they ask to help. This huge fear of mine has not only happened once {Riley's 4th birthday party} but now twice. Maybe I should stop having parties outside of my house! Between the outrageous amount of snow we had been having. The house starting to leak. And having and extra member of the family that slows us down more. It happened again! I got to the community center 45 min before the party was supposed to start. And of course the guests showed up on time. I barely had the food table set up. Only had time for a snowflake garland and some table decor. I was mortified! To say the least. 

Despite all of my running around like a chicken without a head. Everyone had a great time. Riley even said it was her best party ever. 

Go figure!!

Moral of the story is. I'm not perfect but i sure can give some comic relief.

Anyone else have this fear?

Now on to the party details!

I wanted to stay true to the tea party theme. So we had mini foods. We made little tea sandwiches cut into snowflakes. Along with veggies, fruit, mini strawberry cheesecakes, brownie bites, and cookie dough dip with snacks to dip. 

We played pin the carrot on Olaf

Frozen bean bag toss, and Olaf sack race. Everything was a blur. It went by super fast. We had such a huge turnout I'm surprised I'm still standing. 

What a crazy day! 

Decorations: Dollar Tree and orientral trading company.

Party games: party city 

Introducing Caleb Landyn Reed {Caleb's birth story}

It was 4:16 am on a Wednesday morning and I was already used to not getting much sleep. I was at 36 weeks already and I knew it was only a matter of time. I guess you could call it Mothers intuition. I was taking weekly injections to help me get to at least 37 weeks and I was set to get my last shot that next day. I felt a little trickle and then another one. So I went to the bathroom. I wasn't really sure if it was my water breaking yet. I was nervous because I was only 36 weeks after all. Riley had come closer to 37-38 weeks. So I wasn't sure what this was going to mean. Especially being high risk, and especially having a loss before. So I lay in bed and I tried to wait it out. After all we had no one to help with Riley. The Grandmas weren't set to arrive til Christmas. Which was another week away. Nothing else happened after I got back in bed. So I went back to sleep. 6:00am came and Evan and Riley were getting up now and getting ready for the day. I felt another trickle and I knew then for sure it was it. I got up and went to tell Evan who was in the shower. While I was already calling the doctors office. Then the rest of my water broke for sure as I stood in the bathroom. {Thankfully I was prepared and the bags were already packed} I knew this kid was going to come early! I knew I had some time so I got a quick shower put on comfy clothes. Grabbed the bags and headed to the hospital. Once I got all checked in there was still time to get Riley to school. Evan headed out and dropped her off. I didn't have contractions right away. I got some pitocin and away we went. They kept upping the dosage and getting me all ready. As the pain started getting worse and more uncomfortable. I asked about an epidural. I had one before and it was a lot better for me during labor. I wanted to wait as long as I could so it wouldn't wear off. That's when they told me that it was set up as a pump. So it wouldn't last the whole time. I looked at Evan and said "Then what are we waiting for!" They called the guy in and we got to work. It was nice this time they allowed Evan to stay in the room with me while I got it. I got it was already at 5 cm which was the perfect time. Because 20-30 min later I was at 9cm and I didn't feel a thing! In fact I didn't even know I was having contractions at all. I was just sitting there eating a popsicle and trying to file my nails before he came. Which I then had to hurry up because he was ready to go! I felt absolutely no pain. It was a lot of work pushing though! I thought for sure he would come out faster than he did. But no...I kept pushing and pushing! He finally came at 4:26pm! 6lb and 2.1 oz 18.5 inches long of absolute perfection. We both cried a bit and were so relieved. Once you lose a child you hold your breath every time after that. When we heard his sweet little cries we were overjoyed. They let us have him immediately. Didn't even take the time to do his bath or anything first just let us have our bonding time, which was great! From start to finish was 12 hours! I am so thankful it all worked out fine. Riley was even able to go to a friends house after school which I was stressing about too. Evan went and got Riley so she could meet her little brother. It's amazing how much bigger your older child now looks to you once you have a new baby. She walked in with the biggest smile on her face while I was holding him. It was such a sweet moment for them and for me. That morning before the craziness I had given her a "big sister" bag that I had put together. {I literally finished all of that the day before}. I filled it with fun little activities so she had things to do in the hospital, a big sister shirt and book. I wanted her to feel special and that she is still our baby girl. Even though we have a new part of our family. 

Once we got moved to postpartum we had lots of time to just enjoy our little family. Since we now had two kids to think about. We had to start splitting apart. Evan took Riley home so she could still go to school and I stayed with Caleb obviously. It was kinda sad because I wanted him to stay overnight with me but it's our new reality.

We got released on Saturday after 3 nights in the hospital. Caleb had a little jaundice, and he also had a small dent in his head they weren't sure what to make of it. 

The term craniosynostosis was thrown around or a fracture that might require surgery to correct or even a helmet. We had to get an x-ray and everything and they referred us to a neurologist in Boston. So we had a horrifying 5 weeks to worry and endure. But thankfully all it was was a ping pong fracture. So he got the all clear from the doctor which was another relief. We are feeling really blessed with our little family. Thankful that God has given us these precious babies.