1st FTX

The Army LOVES to abbreviate everything!! So, I will fill you in on what it means. ;) I believe FTX means, Field Training eXercise, I'll have to check with Mat on that. It started on Wednesday and ends...who knows, the training schedule isn't very clear on it.

So, how did it go, you wonder?? HORRIBLE!!! :(

1st: I was NOT ok being alone!!! Now I am used to being by myself at nights, Mat just got off graveyards at the SO, so I was doing 3-4 overnights by myself, so why did I have such a rough time?? Well, I'm in a new town, new house, with all it's new noises, and it's a condo, so if the neighbor makes noise, it sounds like it's coming from your house!!! The 3rd night, I'm positive someone banged on our door about 10p!! It was a very unnerving 4 nights, to say the least.

2nd: At the beginning of the week, I was told it would only be 2 overnights, on Wednesday it became 3 nights, and by Thursday, it became 4 nights!!! WHAAAAA????? I was only mentally prepared for 2, so 4 nights just pushed me over the edge. :( Thank God for Mom's and cell phones!!!! I spent a lot of the last 5 days talking to my mom, she's the best!! :D

3rd: Saturday was a, I'm not going to nap, day for Gavin. By 3:30p I decided we'd go for a drive and get Gavin to nap. We stopped at Wendy's for a snack and I just started driving. Now, this is only my 2nd time ever driving in Saint Robert and get lost VERY easily, so glad we own a GPS!! Well, I'm on this road, no idea where I'm at, so I'm driving just under the speed limit, surveying the area. I found a HUGE park, by the way!! :D Well, I'm driving along and of course everyone else is going over the speed limit and passing me. Well, this truck goes around me and ALMOST sideswipes me!!!! :O I quickly took in the vehicle placements, thinking he was trying to avoid someone, and realized he hadn't, so I did what anyone else, like me, would do and I honked my horn at him!! What was his response?? I'm pretty sure I got the 'finger' and lots of cursing and shaking of his fist and just all out PISSED at me!?!? That did not help my nerves or overall well being, so I decided to go back home, it would be the safest option. :/

3rd: I just found out that Gavin is going through a sleep strike for, possibly, the next 4-6 weeks!!! Which means, he will only take about three-45 min naps, and between the night hours of 8p-7a, he will get up every 1.5-2 hrs and nurse for about 30 min each time. What does this produce?? An EXTREME state of exhaustion.......

4th: I was just looking at Mat's training schedule and am pretty sure, military time is still slightly confusing, and it looks like he has ANOTHER night training on Tuesday!!!! :O I'm soooo tempted to get a hotel room, which feels safe, is WARM (that's a whole nother story), has a real bed, a pool, and the best part...CABLE TV!!!!! :D

Well, there you have it, my 1st FTX experience and I am so ready to put the whole situation/memory behind me!!

But....this isn't the last you'll hear about this, he has 2 more FTX's. One is only 2 nights, and the last one, right before graduation, is..........

wait for it...........

7 days and 6 nights!!!!!! :O

Who wants to come visit for a whole week???? ;)

A new year, new state, new, temporary, home.....

Whew, it is only January 14, but soooo much has already happened!!

This is going to be the biggest year of first's for us. Mat was scheduled to go to BOLC, the last part of his officer training, which is located in Missouri. Neither of us have been there and we had no idea what to expect, we've lived in Wyoming and Montana our whole lives, what can you expect?? lol

So, the 1st week of January, we temporarily packed up our house, just enough to survive 5 months, and fit it in a 5'x8' Uhaul trailer!! Yep, I packed our family of 5 into that small trailer, whew!! :) Then we traveled 1300 miles and about 30 hrs in 2 days!! With two 3 yr olds, who did quite well, considering they were strapped into carseats the whole way, and a 3 month old who had to nurse every 3 hrs, was awake for 1 and slept for 2 and then repeated it all over again, who also did a LOT better than I expected. Guess what??? WE SURVIVED!!!! :D

We were able to find a 3 bedroom condo that fits us nicely, well, to be honest, we don't even come close to filling it up!!! The only furniture we have is a table, 4 folding chairs, a crib and dresser/changing table and 2 cots!!! No couches, or end tables, or entertainment center, or beds, nada. Although we're praying we can find these used or free, considering we won't take them back with us. ;)

The girls have done well, they haven't gotten 'home sick', of course they are with us, so just the location has changed. Gavin is too young to know any better, he has mom and that's all that he needs, lol. I am having a lil harder time adjusting than I had expected, but I just have to get into a new groove and hope that the weather warms up, NOW!! lol

So, stay tuned, I hope to keep everyone updated, at least weekly, with pictures, crosses fingers, but we will see, life tends to get hectic with 3 kiddo's, lol. ;)

Not so fat Wednesday, er Friday

Well, here I go, I've finally started my pp workout, of course it only took me 11 weeks, oops. :) I have a 10 min pp workout that I'm following, not too long, so it's easy to stick to, and after we move, Mat and I hope to start working out together. :)

Here's a few pics to show what I used to look like. Oh, Nicole, I have a pic of us at my 16th birthday party, years before we were even married. :)

2006, our wedding, pre kids


2009, 2 yrs after the girls were born (I know I was sucking it in, too :o)


2010, 6 weeks pp, 3 kids later :)


So this week has been pretty stressful and had a health issue, too and found out that I lost 3 lbs because of it. :/ I weigh 122 lbs. I am hoping to regain my flat belly and loose my mommy pooch. I just want to tone and strengthen my body and also eat healthier. :)

I combined three cards into one!!! :D

This was an exciting year for us, we added another addition to our family, Gavin!! :D

He arrived October 1st and by November I realized I hadn't gotten his birth announcements done!! I started looking around and made the family/friend list and found out how expensive it was, yikes!! I realized I also needed to do Christmas cards on top of birth announcements and my family/friends list is in the 70's. So the $$ for almost 150 cards is way more than we can afford, so I decided to combine them. :)

I also haven't gotten my thank you's sent out, so I'm looking to get the folded greeting cards, to get that done, too. I'm, in a sense, killing 3 birds with 1 stone, as they say, lol.

I'm looking at using the layout of this card.



I have always wanted to put together a calendar. Shutterfly has an awesome selection and might just do one for ourselves. :) Mat really likes the calendar posters.

Well, since I'm combining the birth announcement with our christmas card, I'll show you the one I was going to order, isn't it adorable? :)



A big thanks to Shutterfly for allowing me to blog about their 2010 holiday collection and giving me 50 free cards!! :D
Both pictures were taken from their website, so go check them out for yourself.

Hevea review

After trying 3 different pacifier's and having Gavin not like any of them, I started looking online. I stumbled upon Hevea Baby pacifiers and was interested in them, because they're all natural and I was also drawn to the color. ;)

I 'liked' their page on facebook and saw that they were looking for bloggers to review their pacifier. I was excited to get chosen and couldn't wait for it to show up in the mail and see if Gavin would like it.

When I recieved the Crown Orthodontic Pacifier, I opened it immedietely and my first thought was, 'wow, this is really soft'!!! :D





I really liked the look and feel of the pacifier. I was happy that when Gavin used it, it didn't leave any marks on his face. I really liked everything about it, except I didn't like the strong rubber smell. That might be why Gavin wasn't into it, but I'm sure the smell can't be helped, since it goes with being all natural. :)

Gavin isn't too into pacifiers right now, but I will deffinetely be keeping it around just incase he decides to!! :)



A big thanks to Hevea for allowing me to review their pacifier! All opinions are my own and a few from Gavin. Both pictures were taken from their website here.

I've been converted!!

Yep, it's official, I've switched over to cloth diapers!!! :O

We lost sooooo much money in diapers. Especially considering the girls just recently potty trained at 3 years 2 months!!! That is another story that you will get the pleasure of reading.

I have done a lot of research and made the decision when I was a couple months prego. Switching to cloth would save us a lot of money, it's healthier, especially considering the girls and I have a sensitivity to anything not natural fibers, it's easy to fit into my almost daily laundry and they're totally cute!! :)

I tried him in flats and a snappi, but they're a bit bulky on him, so I will probably use them when he's a lil bit older and after I hopefully get some wool soakers and longies knitted. :)





Right now he's wearing BumGenius Elements, they're a 100% cotton inner and water proof outer. It's just as easy to use as disposables, the only difference is that they get put in the wetbag, instead of the garbage, and get washed every or every other day, by themselves. Then I dry them, in the dryer in winter and outside during the summer, fold them and they're ready to use. :)

I've just started and got the 5 BG elements used and am planning on buying some more and really want to try the Rump-a-rooz, too. :) I will get some action shots put up after I get some taken.

1st time fishing

We bought the girls fishing poles with their birthday money and took them to River Front Park. They had a blast and the only person to get hooked was Natalie. The fish were very hungry, so it was fairly easy for the girls to catch the fish.


Mat's showing Kiley her fish. He showed them the different parts of the fish and the girls 'pet' the fish, lol. :)


Natalie reeling in her line. :)

Mat spent the whole time casting and unhooking fish, lol, but the girls had a blast!! :)

After the girls got tired fishing, we decided to take a walk doen the path. This was my view, since I'm a slow prego lady, but it's precious!!! :)