Feeding the geese

While we were in Montgomery, Mark and I would go walking/jogging in a park nearby our house that had 3 little lakes on it.  There were TONS of geese and ducks, and before we moved out, we had two boxes of crackers to get rid of, so we headed to the park to feed the animals.

Abbie was very excited about feeding the ducks (although she was pretty much afraid of them).

As soon as the geese saw you coming, they would practically run over to you.  Abbie stayed VERY close to Mark when they were surrounded by birds.

This was a cute little family of geese.  Those parents didn’t let ANYTHING near their babies, and a few times they tore into other geese that got to close.  It was rather entertaining to watch and the babies were really cute!

Ben even got in on the bird feeding action!

This dude was my favorite.  He didn’t eat much, he just wandered around honking.  Plus he was pretty. 

Love my boys!  (Although this picture kinda freaks me out.  Ben’s hand looks like a weird paw or something because his hand is in a fist and Mark’s fingers are perfectly lined up behind his hand.  Weird!!)

See on those little things that look like bubbles on the top of the water?  They’re turtles!

We’ll miss Blount Park.  I would love to live within walking distance of a park like this someday.

Ben at 5 months

Our little guy is already five months old!  He’s growing up way too quickly for my tastes.  I am so thankful that we were able to come to the States with Mark so he could witness these past two months of Ben’s changes first hand, instead of through pictures.

Ben is a much easier baby than Abbie was.  Abbie was INCREDIBLY high maintenance and Ben seems to be much more relaxed than Abbie was.  Although honestly, probably pretty much anyone would seem more relaxed than Abbie was/is.  Ben definitely likes to be part of the action and he’s not too keen on you laying him on a play mat and leaving him there by himself for a little bit, but he’s fine if you’re around.  If he’s fussy, there’s a reason.  He either wants to be held, or fed, or changed, or put to bed.  He lets you know when he’s tired by trying to arch his back when you’re holding him so he can lay down.  If he starts doing that, you can lay him in his bed and 3/4 of the time he’ll just go right to sleep.  It’s pretty nice.

He will sleep through the night (10pm – 8am) maybe once a week, twice if we’re lucky, but then other nights he’s up crying for his paci 6-10 times.  We try to put him down between 8:30pm and 9pm and he almost always wakes up and is fussy for a few minutes around midnight, but then if we’re lucky he’ll sleep until at least 6:30am without waking up.  If he is up at 6:30, I feed him a bottle and then he’ll go back to sleep until 8:30am – 9am usually. He’s completely ready to sleep through the night, but as I’ve said before, I think us sharing a room with him is what’s keeping him from doing that regularly.  That is probably the main reason I’m excited about going back to Italy – to get Ben in his own room.

Ben rolls over ALL the time now.  As soon as you lay him down, he flips over, and he only rolls to the left.  He hasn’t figured out how to roll to the right yet.  He likes to sleep on his left side, but when he gets fussy, sometimes he ends up on his belly and then he gets even more fussy because he doesn’t like to sleep on his belly.  So we have to go roll him back over since he doesn’t regularly from front to back yet.

Ben drinks six 6 ounce bottles per day, give or take 5 ounces.  He loves to rub his fingers along yours as he drinks his bottles.  It’s really sweet.  He drools a LOT, so I think he’ll be getting some teeth soon, but so far, he doesn’t have any.  He absolutely LOVES baby food and gets so excited when he sees that you’re making him some food.  It took him a while to warm up apples, but so far he’s had peas, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, pears, prunes, apples and carrots.  He loves his baby oatmeal and he watches us like a hawk when we eat and gets quite frustrated when we eat in front of him.

He got his DTaP/Hep B shot last week and he got a HUGE lump and red spot on his leg.  It’s the first reaction he’s ever had to a shot.  I’m glad I split up his shots.  It didn’t seems to bug him too much, but it bugged me.

Ben LOVES to laugh at Abbie.  The other day we were shopping at Kohl’s and Abbie was jumping all over the place and Ben was giggling like crazy at her.  It was really cute.  He’s also still very ticklish and Mark spends most of his free time tickling Ben.  He loves to be tossed around and smiles and laughs the whole time you’re doing it.  It’s really cute to hear his little laugh.  Ben freely gives smiles all the time and he’s generally a happy little boy.  I think he’s the perfect addition to our family.  He’s just growing up WAY too fast.  I wish I could keep him this age forever.

5QF

1. What advice would you give a couple getting married?  Make sure that you’re each other’s best friend and that there is something more than passion between you.  Treat each other with respect at all times.  Be willing to compromise.  Realize that things won’t always be perfect, but be willing to put in the effort to make things work.  Have VERY open lines of communication and be able to talk about your feelings.
2. If you could tell your 16 year old self ONE thing, what would it be?   Talk my parents into letting me play volleyball in high school.  I still regret not playing a sport.  And major in nursing instead of business management in college.
3. What do you do to keep cool in the summer? (AC, windows, fans, swimming, etc.)  I use the A/C, a lot.  However, they don’t have central air in any house in Italy, so we have one tiny wall unit for our entire house.  Since our bedroom is upstairs, we’re not going to benefit much from the current A/C unit.  We might have to see if the landlord will put another one up in our room so I can sleep.  I can’t sleep when I’m sweating hot.  Gross.
4. What did you (or your wife) crave most while pregnant?  With Abbie’s pregnancy, I craved sweets, mainly chocolate.  With Ben’s pregnancy, I craved roast beef subs from Jimmy John’s and Pepsi.
5. Who is your favorite TV mom? Why?  Lynnette from Desperate Housewives.  I think she’s grounded and I like her sarcastic sense of humor.

Happy Friday!!  And Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day to all my fellow mil-spouses!

Military Spouse Appreciation Day Blog Hop

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day and welcome to my blog!
I am Monica, and I have been married to my husband, Mark, for 6 years.  We have two kiddos:  Abbie, who is 3 years old, and Ben, who is 5 months old.  We also have two weinas (Dachshunds), Oliver and Sadie.   I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Management but I am a stay at home mom for now. Mark is a fighter pilot for the Air Force; he flies F-16’s.  We have moved five times in 6 years and we are currently stationed in Italy.
We love to travel, and living in Italy provides us the opportunity to travel more than most.  We are very thankful for the chance to live overseas, even though it isn’t always the easiest.  I love to take pictures and I post my favorites on the blog.  I’m teaching myself to quilt.  I love to read and cook and watch mindless TV.  I’m probably one of the few people that regularly writes letters to my friends and family.
I use this blog as a journal of sorts, so I basically blog about anything going on in our life.  (At the end of every year, I have it printed out into a book.)  I keep track of the kids developments (honestly, it’s the only way I’d remember half the stuff they do and when they do it), all of our travels, my hobbies, living overseas, the military lifestyle – anything that interests me.  It is a way for me to keep everyone near and far up-to-date on what we’re up to and to meet other people in the blogging community.  I occasionally do giveaways when I find neat things during our travels to give away.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!  I hope you’ll come back regularly!

A weekend in Pensacola

This past weekend we drove down to Pensacola to spend time at the beach.  I was frustrated when trying to find a place to stay since most places were booked and every place by the beach was really expensive.  Most hotels were $200+ per night.  Even when I called them directly and asked if they had a military discount, they were still $200.  Friday morning I finally did the Priceline Negotiator thing and ended up getting us a hotel at the Holiday Inn Resort, right on the beach, for $140/night.  I saved us about $80/night doing that, so I was happy.  The hotel was really nice too and it had a great pool area with a lazy river.

Mark got done with work at 12:30pm on Friday (rough life, I know), so we headed out of town then.  We were on the road by 1:30 by the time I got everything packed and in the car and both kids all ready to go.  No small feat when you’re doing it all yourself and Mark got done with work over an hour earlier than he was anticipating, so I was rather rushed.

It was only 2.5 hours down to the beach so we got there around 4pm and got all checked in.  We decided to walk down the beach a little bit and eat at Crabs, which is right on the beach.  The walk took 5 times longer than it should have thanks to Abbie wanting to pick up every single shell she saw.  Luckily Crabs had a little jungle gym playground thing so we sat 10 ft away from it at a picnic table to eat while Abbie ran around and played with other kids.  I think every family friendly restaurant should have a kids play area that you can sit right by and watch them play while you eat.  Mark and I could actually talk without being interrupted every third word.  It was great and Abbie had fun too!

(The view from our hotel room.)

The kids actually both slept great both nights in the hotel.  I’m always a little nervous because our kids aren’t very good sleepers.  Abbie won’t sleep if she can see you and Ben just doesn’t sleep well period.  But Abbie did great once she actually went to sleep and Ben slept for 10 hours both nights!  It was really, really nice.  (Of course, last night he was up at LEAST 15 times…  I don’t know what his deal was…)

Saturday we decided to head down to the beach for a bit.  The beach was literally right out the back of the hotel.  Just the pool area was in between the hotel and the beach.  We stayed there for maybe an hour.  Abbie and Mark built a sand castle and went in the ocean a bit, and Ben and I chilled out in the shade of an umbrella.  Ben started getting really fussy after a while though.  He was hot and it was his naptime, so we decided to go hang out by the pool instead.  The beach is great, and it’s beautiful, but it’s kind of a pain in the butt with 2 young kids.  Sand gets EVERYWHERE and any time you drop anything it’s covered in sand.  I think I’d prefer the beach without kids, when you can actually relax, but that’s quite a few years down the road.

Abbie 100% takes after Mark in her love of water.  She spent all day in the pool and still wasn’t ready to leave when we were.  She absolutely loves it.  And she’s not content staying where she can touch now.  She wants to go where she can “swim”, although she doesn’t know how to yet.  Thank God for the water wings.  I need to get her into swimming lessons.

We bought a little floaty thing for Ben.  At first he didn’t like the pool AT ALL.  He screamed.  But after he warmed up to it a little bit and got adjusted to the water temp, we put him in the floaty.  He wasn’t too sure about it at first, and then he fell asleep.  No joke.  He was down for the count, except I got him out of it and took him back to a lawn chair to nap.  In the picture on the right below, he’s asleep.

Saturday night we went to dinner at the Tuscan Oven with our friends, Amber and Joe.  I worked with Amber when we lived in Pensacola and we’ve kept in touch over the years since then.  Mark and I used to love eating at the Tuscan Oven and it didn’t disappoint this time either.

(I love this picture of my husband!)

Sunday we ate breakfast and checked out of the hotel.  We decided to head to the beach one more time to get pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.

(Ben’s first time in the ocean.)

Lastly, we met another friend that I worked with in Fort Walton Beach at McGuire’s for lunch.  It was great to see Tanya, especially since she’s due with her first child at the end of this month!

Overall, it was a great weekend.  Abbie is already asking when we’re going to go back to the beach to go swimming.  Good thing we only live about 45 mins from the beach in Italy!  Looks like we’ll be headed there a few times this summer so she can get her beach fix!

Our time in Montgomery

Our time together in the States has been priceless.  We’ve gotten to spend more time as a family in the past 6 weeks than we have in the past year combined.  It is so nice to have Mark home before 5pm every. single. night. and to be able to meet him for lunch 2-4 times a week because he has 1.5 – 2 hours for lunch.  He’s not constantly stressed out by work, or feeling guilty that he’s not at work when he’s home with us.  It has just been really, really nice and I’m sad that we only have a few weeks left in the States.  I think going back to Italy is going to be a rough transition for us all.  We’ve gotten accustomed to Mark working 3-6 hour days so going back to the 12-14 hour days is going to be hard on all of us.

Besides all the time we’ve been able to spend together, just being back in the States has been really nice.  The convenience of everything here is something I don’t think I’ll ever take for granted again.  I could go out and buy anything I could ever wish for within a 20 mile radius of where I live.  Businesses don’t close on random days at random hours.  There’s every type of food imaginable available, along with FAST food, which is basically non-existent in Italy, with the exception of a few McDonald’s and Burger Kings.  Restaurants are kid friendly and have changing tables and kids menu's and high chairs.  (Nine times out of 10 that doesn’t happen in Italy, and more than once we’ve gone to restaurants where their toilet is a hole in the ground – literally.)  I can listen to the radio and it’s all in English and there are a variety of genre’s to listen to, and they’re all in English.  I don’t have to download TV shows or wait for them to buffer to watch them.  We’re in the same time zone as our parents and the majority of our families.  I can watch HGTV and the Food Network as much as I want!!  It doesn’t take 3 hours to do one load of laundry.

However, the apartment we’re staying at here in Montgomery is HORRIBLE.  It has been the one downfall to our time in the States.  We’re staying at Azalea Hill Apartments in Montgomery, and we’ve had one thing after another go wrong with this place.  From the carpet being FILTHY, and them refusing to replace it, to the appliances all being from the 1970’s (no joke), to the washing machine leaking, to the water heater in the apartment above ours breaking and flooding part of our apartment, to our air conditioner breaking… twice, to the beds being so old and making so much noise when you move on them that it wakes up Ben every. single. time…  It’s just not been fun.  And it says a lot about a place when we can go out of town for the weekend and stay in a hotel and Ben slept 10 hours straight both nights.  This place just sucks and I’m excited to get out of here.  It is nice because it’s so small and there’s not much stuff in it so it’s super easy to clean.

We have two weeks left in Montgomery before we head up to IL for a bit to visit our families and then we head back to Italy.  I really miss my weina dogs and not being woken up 3 – 10 times a night, so I’m looking forward to getting home and putting Ben in his own room so we all sleep better!!

April 2012 Abbie-isms

**Abbie was being particularly annoying one night and I told her to quit bugging me because I was trying to get stuff done.  She immediately ran up to Mark, who was also working on stuff, and said, “Do you want me to bug you??”

**I had the kids with me when I was grocery shopping.  It was a really windy day and when we came out of the store the receipt blew out of one of the bags, across the parking lot.  I chased it but never caught it.  Abbie was really upset and kept saying that our “secret” blew away in the wind.  I told her it was a receipt and then she started called it a “resecret”.  She finally has it right now and calls it a receipt. 

**My parents were down visiting and they call me “bear”.  After a while of hearing this, Abbie looked at my mom and said, “She’s not a bear.  She’s mommy!”

**There was a mosquito flying around the car and Mark smashed it.  Abbie wanted to see it so Mark showed her the smashed mosquito on his hand.  Abbie’s response was, “Oh, he’s so cute!!”.

**We pulled into a Hardee’s and Abbie pointed to the sign and said, “There’s a twinkle, twinkle little star!!”