Sunny Day at the Park

The sun is out, so we hit the park... again! 

Time is Flying By!

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. It seemed just like yesterday I delivered the baby. It seems like a minute ago we were in Germany. Here we are now in March!! The middle of March at that. Who would have thought?! Definitely not me since I feel like time is dragging by.

Anyway, there is no point to this blog post other than that I have finalized most of Baby A's birthday party things. I just need to find someone to do the cake because the person I booked hasn't emailed me back with the confirmation even though we have been emailing back and forth for the past month. I checked her Facebook page to see if she was on vacation or anything, but I did not see anything. So now I am searching for a back up plan.

Speaking of Facebook, I really hate TimeLine. It takes forever to load, and it is hard to find things. I do not find that it lists things in order either. Maybe it's just me and my "not-so-understanding-of-Facebook" self, but it is quiet annoying. I got a noticed today saying that all pages will go to TimeLine by March 30. Boo hoo.

I am slowly organizing the Germany pictures. As I was going through them, I realized I never posted the Scotland pictures. At least I don't remember doing it. So I HAVE to go back and do that if I haven't because I really look at this blog as our journey of life, and I hope that one day I can share all this information and lovely random posts (like this one - lol) with Baby A.

Baby A is just over 11 months old, and she is doing really well. She happy and independent, and has also started weaning herself. She started at 10 months old. She only nurses for nap and bed time now. I can't say that I am bummed, but I did not think it would happen this way at all. I thought I would have to be the one to put my foot down, but she totally knows what she wants and I am happy and thankful to see that in her. She has 4 teeth now. She loves to eat. Her new favorite snack is Blueberry Bars, but they are a specialty snack in this house. She loves peanut butter... of course Mr. Man introduced that one to her. We are also still cloth diapering, and I do plan on doing an updated post of it. It is going well! Nothing more exciting, though.

I have been researching a lot about Italy. Trying to look at houses to get a feel for what we may end up living like. With Mr. Man being the rank he is, it seems we have a lot of options this go round, which I am extremely thankful for. I really only have 3 must-haves - 1. 3-4 bedrooms 2. fenced in backyard for Buttons and 3. off road parking for two vehicles - whether it is a garage, car port, or none covered parking area. I would like to be within 15-20 minutes of base, but willing to go up to 30 as long as we get a feel for the drive first. Other than that, I think I am fairly laid back with my requests! lol :)

Mr. Man tested for Tech a few weeks ago. He feels confident about it, but I don't have my hopes up. He has only been in for 6.5 years, and he is only 24. Plus, he got an early test date so only got to study hard for a month with working long hours and not getting any time off. We will find out if he made it by June (I think).

So, that's about it. We are still staying busy and active. Letting the baby be a kid and enjoy herself. And of course, enjoying ourselves and trying to get things done one at a time.

Here's to a happy and healthy life that I can not complain about. I just wish sometimes I could make time pass a bit slower... or speed it up when need be. I think everyone has those moments. I think?

Germany: Berlin 1

After we spent a couple of days in Cologne, we headed out to Berlin. We took the train, and the ride was about 4.5 hours. Baby A loves the trains and did very well. She found out that she does not like small spaces, which made diaper changing hard on the train, but not unbearable.

The first night there we did what became a tradition for the whole trip. We went and checked in at our hotel, set up our hotel room, and grabbed a bite to eat. Later that night we went on our first evening, nightly walk to take some pictures. We spent four days in Berlin, and we cram packed them with tours, museums, and other sightseeing adventures. Baby A did very well, as always.

While we were in Berlin, Mr. Man and I both got food poisoning. We think it was from some turkey we ate one night with dinner, but it past within 12 hours. Lucky us.

Here are some pictures of the first night there.

11 Months @ the Park

I brought Baby A to the park today. We walked there since it is right across the street. It is just a small toddler playground, and she loves it. She climbs the stairs and goes head first down the slide. Here are so pictures of her walking and playing! 

My Daughter = Cutest Thing Ever!

My daughter is seriously the most lovable, huggable, squeezable, kissable... you know - one of the cutest little creatures ever! ;) At least to me. 

Today after nap time we let Buttons outside to go potty. I always ask her to let me know when he is ready to come in because it entertains her. When he gets ready to come in, she always bangs on the door or crawls to me. This time it was banging on the door. 

You can see that going on here. 

Lately she has been giving lots of kisses. She has become a pro at it. So, I asked her to give Buttons a kiss. Look how cute!!! She even did it on her tippy toes! :D 

Pure preciousness! 

I Made THIS!

The top one was made recently for Baby A for Easter. I have been making these for a while, but never posted a picture. So many varieties for that style, and they are one of my favorites to make.

The Saints bow is ancient now, but still one of my favorites. I made it to match her tutu. A friend of mine just had a baby girl, and they are obsessed with the New Orleans Saints so I made her a tutu and matching hair bow as well.

You can find me at Southern Belles & Puppy Dog Tails on Facebook!

Homemade Old Bay Seasoning

With the research of building our home into an all natural environment, I have started making my own seasonings. This time around I needed an Old Bay Seasoning Copycat Recipe. I got this one from The Restaurant Recipe Blog. We will be using this one this week in our meal plan! Salmon Cakes!! 

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon ground bay leaves
2 1/2 teaspoons celery salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions:

Combine all ingredients, then store in an airtight container.

Homemade Cloth Diaper Detergent

Recently, I have become really intrigued by making your own natural cleaners, detergents, and spray smells. I started gathering recipes to determine which was the best for myself, and which would be the most beneficial. It had to be easy, peasy; cost efficient, smell fresh, and contain ingredients that are safe for our diapers.

I went through numerous websites, numerous blogs, and an insane amount on Pinterest. This is the one that I found to be the best so far. There are many reasons why the others were not safe for the diapers or not cost effective. I could cover that in another post if anyone is interested, but for now I am recording this recipe so I can use it for future use!

1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
1/2 cup Oxyclean

Combine all ingredients.

Use 2 tablespoons for a small load, 1/4 cup for a large load. 

PCS-ing

I mentioned in one of my previous posts about possibly moving and needing to do this and that to be prepared for it. Well, some of you asked about if we knew where we were going and what not. I had not been blogger about it because - to be honest - I had been bummed about the results. Most of you knew that we wanted to try and extend our time here in England.

We absolutely love it here, and we have built so many memories here. From travelling to raising our daughter, we have done a lot here. I could not imagine our life being any different.

When the time came, we did put in to extend. While Mr. Man was in Korea, we got denied that opportunity. I was bummed; we were bummed. Mr. Man and I discussed our next step and decided that we would try to extend by either 1 year or 2 years. It was our choice. We chose to go with 1 year because the thought of going somewhere new became exciting and exhilarating. We became anxious, and we were curious were life was going to lead us. With that said, we decided to try for just one more year. One year would give me the opportuntiy to finish school without working, and Mr. Man would finish off what he started here with his new job. Sadly, we never heard back.

Fast forward to December time frame. We knew our chance of getting an overseas base was going to happen in January. The list came out, but there was not much for Mr. Man's job and rank. Other than Korea.. which we did not want at this time. I was bummed; we were bummed. We kept our overseas dream sheet the same and moved on to what stateside had to offer us. We thought we would find out where we were going in January, but we missed that cycle by just a few days. At this time, we knew we were not staying overseas (or thought) so we began thinking about where in the states we would like to go. We built our dream sheet based from that, not the listing. While we were in Germany the stateside listing came out, we didn't know about it. We didn't get to try and play the list, but it worked out for us because what was on the list was places we had on our sheet. Still no orders, realize we have to wait until April.

Then March 1st comes around. This was this past Thursday. Mr. Man was off for the day because the next day he would be testing for Technical Sgt. He had been studying his head off, seriously... spending every waking hour studying, all of his weekends studying, too. On Thursday, we get a call from his shop. One of his buddies asks him if he checked his work email and stated that he probably should.

At this point, we knew. We knew we got orders, but the questions was where to? Mr. Man told me and pulled up his work email. Internet goes down. I get a bit emotional realizing that we are not staying here in England. We will not be living in the house that our daughter was raised in for her first year, and there would be a chance she would never get to see England - the place she was born, the country that she is a legal citizen of. I sit patiently and not think, not look - just wondering. Everything possible happens to delay us seeing what was in store for us. Finally, it worked.

And.......... it was the best news of a lifetime. WE ARE STAYING OVERSEAS. Not England, though. We will be moving at the end of the summer.

Would anyone like to take a guess as to where we will be going before I spill the beans?

No?! You just want to know already.

Okay, okay. I am excited too and truly I can't keep it in.

We are moving to........

ITALY! Aviano AB!!

Nail Obsession

I have become obsessed with fingernail polish lately. I have even been looking at simple ways to create fun "doodles" on the nails. There are so many that I am like "I have to have that!" or "I must try that!" But then reality sets in and I wonder where I would find the time or energy to even do such a thing. I have had time to paint my toes, which I did for Christmas. Painted Baby A's too. But that's about it. Plus, it is definitely still too cool for sandals here, so ties don't show. Nails on the other hand.... I better get with it!









How about some Easter themed nails?