I have a confession.....

So I have to confess I have been slacking on my blog because of another love... BAKING. I recently found Bakearella and her blog on cake pops! I had never heard of these tasty treats until a few months ago when Starbucks got them in. Basically they are cake mixed with a bit of frosting and covered in chocolate and put on a stick. A tiny but yummy treat. I decided to try this new project and boy, was it a project. It was very time consuming but they turned out super yummy. I made egg-themed ones for the upcoming Easter holiday. I tweeted the creator of these cake pops and even got a response back! It made all the hard work worth it. Here is a pic of the eggs! The inside cake is funfetti and it white chocolate on the outside! They are a bit too sweet to have on a regular and the are an all day task, but they will be great for a special event! 

New addition to the Mark's Family!

No, I am not having a baby, but we do have a new addition. His name is Oscar and he is a Beta fish. I have been wanting to get Preston a fish for a little while now. He LOVES Shark Tale and seems to have an interest in fish.  Also I needed a pet that didn't require much work. The guy at Pet Smart assured me that the Beta was the way to go and also had a much higher survival rate than the goldfish I planned on getting. I picked up Oscar, (that's the fish from Shark Tale so we figured it would work) on Saturday as a reward for the great job Preston has maintained with using the bathroom. Rob thought it was a waste, but I knew Preston would love it. He ended up looking at the fish and telling me his color(blue) and even tried to touch it. Overall, I think he likes his fish. He may be a bit disappointed that it doesn't talk like Oscar does in the movie, but it works for now!

SLEEP.....

So today I was reading an interesting post at BabyCenter.com about sleep. It basically highlighted the fact that the idea of sleeping through the night is more cultural and not really a biological milestone at all. It went into a lot of detail and studies, but basically the modern West has an odd view of sleep. I know all parents have been asked the question of "is your baby sleeping through the night?", it's like if your child is you are a super mom or dad and have super kids. Well for starters neither Rob nor myself are excellent sleepers. We often wake during the night, so it's no surprise that our kids aren't the best sleepers in the world. I remember when Preston was a few months old people told me to but cereal in his bottle to make him sleep longer. After a ton of research on that topic I decided filling my baby up with extra calories to make him sleep longer was not something I wanted to do. I also knew that since he was breast fed, his body was breaking down the milk faster and he would become hungrier sooner than a formula fed baby. Then came our sleeping situation. Since Rob deployed shortly after I had Preston, I started co-sleeping with him and really enjoyed it. Once Rob came back home he was not a fan of the co-sleeping. It grew on him after a couple of weeks though and he started to enjoy it as much as I did. Well, I started to feel pressure from some family and other friends with babies to make Preston get on a schedule and to learn how to fall asleep on his own. This was around 7 or 8 months and since I could remember I would rock Preston to sleep every night or nurse him to sleep and a lot of times just hold him while he was sleeping.  I looked online for tips on how to make this transition and found a ton of methods, none that I really liked, but I was willing to try them all. I didn't want to be the "bad" mom whose kid couldn't go to sleep unless mommy was there. So we tried the cry it out, ugh this was pure hell, it lasted maybe 2 and a half nights before I could not take it anymore. It also took Preston almost 4 hours of crying to fall asleep. I was in tears and once he cried so hard he threw up I knew this was not the method for me. I went in the room and got him and held him all night! We also tried the no cry sleep solution, which resulted in me picking him up when he cried and putting him back in the crib after he calmed back down about 75 times. It also took all night to get him to fall asleep. I told Rob that this was not for me and I couldn't put myself or Preston through this anymore. He agreed and we retuned to co-sleeping. As of today, Preston naps in his own bed which is now in his room and will sleep in his bed from about 9 PM until 1AM. At that point he takes off looking for Rob. Rob usually cuddles up with Preston since I have Gracie on my side. Through my attempt at "sleeping training" I realized that it's not for everyone. It didn't fit into my parenting style and it was causing more stress than it was worth. I don't look down at parents that do the methods I tried but hearing my little baby cry and being so helpless broke my heart. It also seemed so strange to give him so much love and attention during the day and then once night time came to shut him off in a crib, in his own room, in the dark all so that I could sleep more....It felt beyond unnatural and I feel horrible that I even let him cry those couple of nights. Once Gracie came along, we didn't even bother setting up the crib. She co-sleeps and it makes me so happy! There is no better feeling than to wake up to my kids laughter and smiling faces in the morning. For all the people that told me not to hold a sleeping baby must not realize how quickly they grow up. I treasure every moment with these kids, even when they are driving me nuts! And who can resist holding a cute sleeping baby, they look so peaceful and make the funniest faces! I'm sure I will look back when the kids are teens and wish that they didn't sleep as much and would wake up!

I will always be a southern girl...at least in my heart

So in a little less than 4 months we will be a West coast family. So odd to think. I have lived in Savannah, Valdosta and Jacksonville, so living out west will be a new experience. Although I am kinda excited I realized there are some things that I will miss about living in the South, and even some things that I will miss about (GASP)....VALDOSTA! We have been waiting patiently to get orders to somewhere new and now that we have them I am starting to see how much Valdosta has grown on me. Okay, for starters being close to Savannah. Anyone that knows me, knows how much I love going home. Although my parents no longer live there I have a lot of good friends that still do, so it's nice to get to see them and for people to get to meet the kids. I will miss day trips to Jacksonville. Yes, it is a pain to have to drive 2 hours for good shopping, but it's always a fun trip. We go down to the St. John's Town Center and have a lot of fun shopping and eating! I will miss our condo. I absolutely LOVE where we live. This is our 3rd move in Valdosta as a family, about the 5th or 6th for me all together, and this is my favorite place. We moved out of our Sherwood condo for a house that was bigger and closer to the base. It made me realize very quickly, we didn't need all that room or yard and I was excited to move back into a condo. Our condo now has a very small community of people, great location, wonderful saline swimming pool, and they are super nice on the inside with a great floor plan. I also love the fact that Preston's and Savannah's doctor office is about a 2 minute car drive away! We could walk there if it wasn't so hot outside. I also LOVE their doctor, Dr. Criscola is an amazing pediatrician and so good with the kids. He even entertains my crazy mom questions! I will also miss the lack of traffic. The only time you see traffic in Valdosta is during football season and if you get caught at a train! I will miss being 3 minutes away from Chick-fil-A, I love their food and even if i don't leave the house until 10:25 I can still catch breakfast! I also will miss the comfort level I have living here. Although I still hate being by myself when Rob goes out of town (the smallest noises scare me), I have a very high comfort level because I know the area and feel safe. I will also miss Moody AFB....not because it's a super cool base or anything, but I know my way around it! I am awful with directions and can get to any building or part of the base pretty easily. I will be using my GPS a lot out in Cali. Of course I will miss the handful of friends that I do hang out here with and the fact that both my family and Rob's family can drive down here without much notice. So, while Valdosta is not the most fun place to live and Rob and I seriously feel depressed driving back here after we have been out of town, there are a few things that will be missed! Not to be a totally sappy person, Valdosta is where Rob and I met, where we brought both of our children home to, and a lot of other family memories.

Easter Came Early

So we had a fun weekend! Our condo had a Easter Egg hunt on Saturday for all the kids. In February, we all went to the Mardi Gras party the condo threw and had a really good time, so when I saw the invite for the Easter Egg hunt I was pretty excited. I didn't know how well Preston would really do, but he likes putting stuff in containers, so I figured this would be a lot of fun. So, Saturday morning we all got up and had breakfast and I got the kids ready for the hunt. I was running a little behind so Rob went ahead and took Preston. As soon as I walked out of the condo and got closer to the park I spotted Preston's Easter colored polo running all around. It made me pretty happy, to top it off he had a basket running over with eggs and was still trying to add more! I was so proud. Rob told me that he showed him how to do it one time and Preston took off! Above is a video clip and here are some pics.

Overflowing basket!

Still collecting more!

They also had a art station, juices, bubbles, balloons, candy and my favorite nuggets from Chick-fil-a

Gracie wanted in on the eggs once we got home

This is the face she made when Preston took the eggs from her!

Well, I took the kids home and put them to bed for a nap after the egg hunt and had a little mommy time at the pool. Once I got home we just watched TV and hung out! Sunday, I decided I would take Preston to the pool early before it got too crowded. He had fun and had no problem getting in the water, even though it was a little cold to me. We had snacks, blew bubbles and he even colored with the chalk. After about a hour and a half, I took him back home because the sun was no joke out there and his little brown skin was getting a little red! I got him home, he got a bath and took a nap. I went back to the pool for about 3 more hours. I don't think I realized how hot it was, nor how burned I was getting. When I got home Rob immediately told me how red my shoulders were and that he could feel the heat coming off of me! We were pretty much bums the rest of the day, which makes me very happy. I love lazy days! 

Snack Time! 

Coloring with the chalk, the only way I could get him to stay in the shade!

That's my kid....

So today I decided that I wanted to try something new and go to a soft play area. I never thought that I would let my kid play in a public area like that because I am a germ freak, but I figured all the months of breast feeding built up a healthy enough immune system to handle it. So I decided we would do Chickfila for lunch and play there as well. They are a pretty clean place and I figured the play area wouldn't be too bad. Well when we arrived we realized it was spring break in valdosta so it was crazy in there, we also went around 12:45 so it was a lunch rush. We got our food and had a booth right by the window and Preston was so excited looking out at the play area while eating his food and sucking down the yummy lemonade....that darn lemonade! Anyways, I took him out to the play area and there were two grandmothers whose grands were way above the height and age limit to be out there, but I didn't say anything. They were also really rude and didn't offer to move their wide loads of an ass over when I came out. I let it slide because Preston was so happy and excited. He never went up the slide but had a blast climbing up the stairs and just running around and laughing at the other kids. He was squealing and laughing so hard, the grandmoms were letting out irritated moans everytime my kids squealed but I didn't care, it was a play area! Well, all that lemonade caught up to Preston and being so caught up in all the new playing he let out a little pee. I picked him up as soon as it started and he only let out a Litle bit on the turf (floor) on th
e play area. I ended up getting some on me as well, but as a mom it didn't really phase me. Grandmoms freaked out and told there grands that they had to go immediately. Ughhh I was super embarrassed, and apologized. They were so rude and ignored my apology.WTF. There was another mom in there that grabbed her wipes and actually got down on the turf and helped me blot it up. I was so grateful that she didn't freak out! I told her thank you and apologized a billon times, she told me not to worry about it and said obviously the old ladies don't know what it's like to have a toddler in the early statues of potty training and that their kids probably stayed in diapers until they were 5! I asked someone that worked there if they sprayed anything special down and he said as long as it was on the floor, they really don't care. I also kinda felt bad because the mom that helped annoyed me earlier. She was talking
super loud, about a serious topic, but still super loud at the table next to ours when we were eating. Her daughter had brain cancer and had been through a ton on treatments and was doing better! I heard her whole convo while we were eating and she knew one of the grandmothers that freaked out and was talking to her when we were in the play area. They were also talking about how her husband was in the air force and the old ladies were saying so much good stuff about military members. I read in Miesha's post about all the stuff you could have said after the fact and I am gonna use my blog to say it! I would have said ummm really old grandma wide ass bitch??? You are probably wearing depends so you don't pee your pants so calm the hell down! And FYI, my husband is a Chaplain in the AF, so you can stop giving me all those oh young single mom stares that you were throwing my way. And your grandkids are too damn big to be in here anyways and the fact that they want to play on this little kid playset makes me wonder about what kind of parents they have! Oh and your perfume stinks! And my kid is a billion times cutter than your grands wish they could be. Oh and my purse is better than yours and you can kiss my ass because accidents happen and I don't need to feel bad about it!I would also like to give a super mom award to the mom that got down and helped me wipe up my kids pee with no hesitation!(sorry for any typos, I'm on my iPhone and auto correct is a pain!)

PARTY TIME! (Is 4 enough to call it a party???)

So now that I have Rob's birthday out of the way the next PARTY is for Savannah Grace the big 1! It seems that time goes by so fast. I feel as though I just found out I was preggo with her, but May 11, she will be 1. It makes me sad and happy at the same time. I think that i am excited about picking out girl toys to get her. the kids got so much stuff for Christmas and Preston already had just about every Fisher-Price toy for Gracie's age that Rob and I decided not to buy any toys until her birthday. Our place really looks likes a daycare with the amount of toys all over the place. So today I plan on checking out a few of my favorite kid web-sites and picking out some overly girly stuff for Miss Gracie. We won't have a party, well not a big one. I always thought that for my kids birthdays I would want a huge over the top party, but after seeing a friend do it and get stressed and spend so much money, I decided well, Rob helped me decide that we didn't need to really do all that stuff. My kids don't really have any "friends" to invite anyways! They won't remember and I honestly don't need it. Everyone says the 1st birthday is for the parents, not the kid. I don't knock the parents that go all out, but it's not for us. Once they get in school and have friends to invite I will be the birthday party Queen, but until then family parties. My favorite part about not having a party is the fact that I get to spend more on PRESENTS!!!!! The only thing that makes me happier than shopping for kids clothes is kids toys, I get really excited. So Gracie will have fun decorations, a cake to make a mess of, toys, clothes, savings bonds, and her parents and brother celebrating with her! What else do you really need at the ripe age of 1???

Happy Birthday!

So Monday was Rob's birthday. He turned the big 42, not exactly the most exciting number to turn, but it's still a birthday. He usually isn't in to the bday thing and I usually make a big deal about it, but for some reason this year he was kinda pumped! Maybe my birthday spirit is rubbing off on him. Well anyways he had to go to work yesterday, so while he was gone the kids and I went crazy at the Dollar Tree buying silly party decor and balloons! He was surprised when he came home and said for me not to expect the same on my birthday because he is just not that creative! We ended up having cake and champagne and catching up on some tv shows. I am taking him out to dinner tonight as well! Overall it was a pretty low key birthday and we got to spend it together, which is all that matter, at least to me! The kids even had fun decorating their cards to him and Preston decided that Gracie needed a blue hand during this time! I can't believe she sat there and let him color her hand. It was kinda funny though. For it to be a Monday it was a pretty fun evening. Oh and Dancing With The Stars is always an added bonus!!!!!! Tuesday the kids to him to dinner which was a surprise to Rob! Check out the party pics.

Gotta find a better SMILE face!

The kid has a SUPER SMILE

Part of the decor

I even put signs in the yard

YUMMY!

Silly hat!

Preston wanted to make it work!

Fantastic Friday, kinda...

Well it's Friday!!!! Although it really doesn't mean too much to me, just another day, but since it's Lent we will have fish and grits for dinner...YUMMY! It's also April Fool's Day which means Rob's birthday is right around the corner, the 4th. Since we have been married I always do him a special cake, last year I really didn't do anything too special because he had to fly to Texas on his birthday so we didn't have a ton of time. I was also about 8.5 months pregnant and taking care of a dog and toddler, so I wasn't really in the festive mood. But this year I once again made him a cool cake! It's an iPad 2 cake! I expected it to take a lot longer so he got it early. I am really bad at keeping things a secret, I just get too excited. I'm not sure of the gift that he will be getting yet, but since his birthday is Monday I guess I need to figure it out. I always do a cool gift that has a personal touch to it, but I'm coming up short this year. Oh well I will figure it out soon. Mr. Preston decided that he was feeling a little creative as well, by coloring on the kitchen floor! Oh happy Friday. Check out the pics of birthday's past and Preston's wonderful artwork!!!

2008 downtown Valdosta, dinner at Bistro and hung out at Bass Bleu Cafe

2009 at Mori

 Beck's Lite Cake, everything is editable 

Alpha T-shirt quilt, I took all of his fraternity shirts and made a quilt out of them

2010 opening B-day card from Pres

Preston after eating the chocolate birthday cake!

iPad 2 cake, Preston thought it was really and got upset when he couldn't swipe it

Preston's  art work on the kitchen floor