another picture post

First rule of Fight Club.....

OK well not REALLY.  Knucklehead is a great runner, and was running sprints at school when he tripped on the blacktop and went down - FACE FIRST.  This was about a week before Dad came home.

My little moto-baby

(the bib is reversible, the other side

looks like a real blouse

with a nametape that says "RECRUIT")

For some reason, Bobblehead did not want his pacifier yesterday - but would NOT let go of my finger.

Lunch at Red Robin the other day - a moment of levity in an otherwise crappy day

(I will be posting later about DEERS .....as soon as I can edit out some of the MANY bad words that automatically find their way into the story whenever I try to retell it)

Knucklehead LOVES being a big brother - especially now that Bobblehead smiles and 'plays' with him.

And yes, my hubby really does ALWAYS wear his sunglasses, even indoors. 

Sometimes at church I have to remind him to remove them.

I need to blow this up and frame it - these smiles will get me through the CRAPPY days yet to come.

the picture post

Last week I promised you all pictures from Christmas - and since I am not in much of a writing mood, this seems the perfect time to do a PICTURE post.

First, my own Christmas present came early - the END of deployment!  YAY!

No more service star on my car!

When I had hubby take down the yellow ribbon, I noticed the tree had sort of grown into the ribbon.  It's a textured grosgrain ribbon, and the little stripes are now a permanent part of this little tree in our front yard! 

Well, I don't know about PERMANENT, but this made me look for marks from the ribbon from LAST deployment (which ended April 2008) and I found it!  Still there.  Kind of poetic, don't you think?  Even this little tree bears the 'scars' from deployment....and yet it continues to grow, and thrive, and change....

Speaking of trees, we had a little trouble finding a Christmas tree since we waited so long - we bought this lovely douglas fir one week before Christmas:

This is Bobblehead's first Christmas, of course.  We inherited a whole wardrobe from his cousin, but the "Baby's First Christmas" outfit is a little small - so he got to wear his big brother's Christmas outfit.  This was Knucklehead's, from ten years ago.  Knucklehead was a January baby, so he was almost a year old for his first Christmas - and his outfit is a little BIG on Bobblehead at the moment - but still cute, wouldn't you agree?  The little butt-flap on the back says "Baby's First Christmas"

Christmas morning was fun, but next year I am totally going back to my control-freak ways and getting everyone Christmas pajamas so the pictures will come out nice - this is ridiculous, especially little knucklehead with NO SHIRT ON.

Of course we saved the Kinect for last - can you tell Bonehead is excited with this gift?  One week later, and he's barely been out of the gameroom except for occasional meals.

After all the presents (and cinnamon rolls for breakfast - a family tradition) Bobblehead took a great nap on Daddy's chest.  Everyone all together now, 1, 2, 3, "AWWWWWW"!

We hung out for a little while at my brother's house Christmas Day, and got pictures with my parents and 6 of their 25 grandchildren. That's not a typo, Bobblehead is their twenty-fifth grandchild!  While we were there, my brother and his wife announced that they are expecting their second child - so grandbaby number 26 for my parents is on the way!

We went to my Sister-in-law's house for Christmas Dinner, and I basically forgot I had a camera with me - except when Hubby was reading Bobblehead a bedtime story in the guest room - too sweet!

battling the beast

disclaimer: alcohol was consumed prior to writing this post. and when/if I sober up, this post just MIGHT be taken down. We'll see.

So, question of the night - which dragon is harder to slay: the teething baby, the DISAPPEARING HUBBY, or the demons within my tormented mind?

right now, I am gonna say the worst dragon is the disappearing hubby, but that one is only as huge as it is BECAUSE of my inner demons. HMMMMM difficult call.

See, I've been feeling pretty insecure lately, based mostly on what I recently posted about (hubby's lack of certain 'attention'). Add to that the fact that he pulled a similar diappearing act after the FIRST deployment....and where/how I found him left me feeling both HOMICIDAL and SUICIDAL at the same time, and well, yeah I am going freaking CRAZY right about now.

Pretty much, if I don't at least HEAR from him by morning, then he damned well better NOT show his face around here, unless he is wearing full body armor! Seriously, I am torn between FEARING he is dead in a ditch somewhere, and HOPING he is, because at least if that's the case, I won't have to kill him for raking me over these same coals AGAIN.

I just can't fucking do this ANY MORE.

merry Christmas!

I'm enjoying some quality time with family but wanted to take a *BRIEF* moment to reach out to my BLOG FAMILY - you all know who you are - and wish you a Merry Christmas!

Hubby has never been supportive of this blog, but he does not realize how much it has helped me deal with this deployment (and now, reintegration).

This morning after we opened all of our presents, I thanked hubby for my new iPad dock/keyboard, and said "I can't wait to BLOG on it!" He rolled his eyes, but smiled because he knew he had made me happy. I was kind of teasing him, because I know he's not a fan of blogging in general, and specifically THIS blog, but I was also serious - I could not wait to sit down and type a blog with my new keyboard :)

This blog is my home-away-from-home....or really, my 'running away to join the circus' home. So happy its always here for me, as so many of you have been.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for being a part of my crazy life, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
(photos from today coming SOON)

Whiskey tango foxtrot?!

Warning: this post will fall under the TMI category for some of you.

If you are offended, fuck off! Oh yeah, language advisory, too. FUCK.

Sorry, I am in a bitchy mood, can you tell?

I am pretty sure this mood was caused by deployment/reintegration, but let me break it down for you, so you can tell me what YOU think brought out my inner bitch.

See, I don't think it was the costco-trip-from-hell (though I hope I can someday come up with the words to describe that one - maybe in a future post?)

Nor do I think that my mood has anything to do with my mother in law, though she is doing her best to get on my last nerve.

It's definitely not caused pre-holiday stress, but maybe thats a small contributing factor?

I'm pretty darned sure this is a 'lack-of-sex' kind of cranky.

Yes, you read that right.

LACK.

OF.

SEX.

Hubby has been back from Funghanistan for a full week, and we've had sex three times - counting the two times that I initiated it.

WTF?!

Oh, and hubby was a lot less, well, EXCITED than usual. A lot less.

First night, I attacked him as soon as I knew Bobblehead was asleep for the night. This was after Hubby had been napping for like 6 hours, so the 'too tired' excuse just won't hold water here. It was fun, aside from the fact that I felt like he wasn't really that into it.

Second night I thought for sure he would be back on his game - but when he made no move to start anything with me, I took the initiative again. This time it took a little less, well, 'fluffing' to get him ready, but I still felt like he was not really enjoying himself.

By the third night, I let my hurt feelings take over and keep me from starting anything - and when hubby promptly began snoring, I did that stupid silent-cry thing...for a couple HOURS. Just lying there next to him, sobbing, resenting him for even being ABLE to sleep.

Fourth night he repeated his snore-fest, and I really wanted to wake him up, scream, yell, figure out what the hell was wrong with him. Or with me. But I could not bring myself to wake him (maybe part of me does not want to know?). Instead, I took a long bubble bath and stayed up reading/facebooking until I couldn't keep my eyes open, then crawled into bed beside Mr. Oblivious for a couple hours of fitful sleep.

Thankfully, the next morning he woke up horny, but then Bobblehead woke up and we rushed to the finish line....leaving me wondering if our 'fireworks' would ever come back. But in the post-quickie haze, as I nursed Bobblehead back to sleep, I did find the courage to tell hubby how I had perceived his lack of desire for me as all-out rejection, and he apologized and kissed me - promising me that he DOES still want me.

Really? Got a funny way of showing that. Fifth, sixth, and seventh nights all brought NO action. And now that I've made my feelings known, my poor bruised ego will not let me start anything with him.

So, either my post-baby body looks WAY worse than I thought it did, or....

FUCKING DEPLOYMENT STOLE MY HUBBY'S LIBIDO.

Either way, I'm screwed. And not in a good way.

I knew there was a chance things would not necessarily go smoothly our first time or two post-deployment/post-baby. I figured it could take, oh, I don't know TEN TIMES to get our mojo back? Sadly, at the rate we're going, it could be Valentine's Day by the time we reach ten times.  And there's a pretty good chance I will hate him by then. Or hate myself.

So, what do you think? was this bitchy mood brought on by deployment/reintegration?

You know in the end I'm just a comment whore, so please, show me some love! Drop a line - even if it's to tell me I am way OUT of line with this post.

Just comment.

crazy train

ALL ABOARD!  The crazy train is now preparing to depart for parts unknown.

I've battled clinical depression for over a decade now. It started out as POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION when Knucklehead was about 3 months old, and has continued (off and on).  I know that this is not something I can 'cure' so I watch diligently for signs that I need to go back on my meds. Sometimes I only need drugs for a few months at a time, other times for as long as a year.

Psych meds can be a hot button issue for a lot of people, and that's really not what this post is about - but I will say that, for me, they have saved my life.  More than once.  My own criteria for going back on meds are MY OWN.  Mainly, if the depression is limiting my ability to FUNCTION, I go back on meds. **I also use psychotherapy a.k.a. COUNSELING as often as I can.**

So, here I am at Christmas time (prime time of year for depression/anxiety to rear its ugly head) AND dealing with the process of reintegration at the same time.

Crazy soup, right?

One more important ingredient: Postpartum hormones.

Served hot, this will definitely feed all the voices in your head.  Or in mine. Or both.

My poor husband has no idea what he's really up against, and I am not ready to spell this all out for him just yet. Don't wanna scare him if it turns out to be nothing, right?

So far I have only had ONE bad crying jag since he got home, and he slept through the whole thing.  Well, that's part of what I was crying about, but I will save that for another post.

I guess what I am trying to say is, GET MY STRAIGHTJACKET READY, I am on the crazy train -

FULL

SPEED

AHEAD.

sushi boat

This is NOT a paid advertisement or anything, just me giving a shout-out to one of our favorite restaurants.

The night before hubby deployed, we enjoyed a meal at Sushi Boat. This is the same restaurant we were at three months prior, when I told hubby that we were pregnant with little Bobblehead. It is easily hubby's favorite restaurant, and its in my top 5, even though I do NOT eat Sushi. I don't even like cooked fish! Thankfully the chicken teryaki there is delicious.

We love the quality of the food, the reasonable prices, and the casual atmosphere, but the main thing that keeps us coming back every couple weeks is the fantastic customer service.

The owner always greets us personally, and the wait staff remembers us and our preferences (like the fact that I always want a fork because I am chopstick-challenged). I often drop hubby and the boys off in front of the restaurant so they can get a table while I park the car, and when I walk in, the staff all recognize me and point me to the table they've seated my family at.

How can you not love that?

Oh, and they have a 10% military discount, too!

So, it was fitting that Sushi Boat would be the first restaurant we visited as a family when hubby returned from deployment.  Last night was our first time back there since May 4th, and the owner still recognized us and greeted us warmly, commenting that it had been awhile since he saw us - and when he noticed Baby Bobblehead in his carrier, he got all excited and congratulated us.  Several times.

Our waiter repeated the whole process, excited to see us again and full of good wishes for the new baby.

Seriously, it was like COMING HOME.

We heart Sushi Boat!  (and I am pretty sure they heart us back)

Classifieds

my day in Classified Ads:



Free to good home:

One spoiled Teenager, answers to 'Bonehead'. Strong and healthy, but may play with fire when he's bored. Will include all clothing and virtually every possible toy/game imaginable.





Wanted:

Operator's Manual for recently returned Marine. Does not need to be a complete set, just the volumes dealing with post-deployment reintigration.





Lost:
My mind. If found, please return to.....nevermind, it doesn't matter





(because.....)



Found:
The other half of my heart!

HOMECOMING

I can't wait to see (and share) our OpLove pictures - I cried when I kissed my sweet Jarhead for the first time in SEVEN LONG MONTHS.

But until I get those, these snapshots will have to do. Can you believe these are ALL the pictures I took today? And I didn't get ANY video, even though I had my Flip camera in hand most of the day.

Bobblehead happened to fill his diaper RIGHT before the bus pulled up.  I almost missed that big moment, but it would have been OK if I had, since he was almost the last one off the bus.

I am just SO SO SO HAPPY to have my hubby home!  My heart is whole again.

XOXOX

last minute preparations

I don't know why it should matter, but I really want everything to look PERFECT when hubby comes home.  Not perfect the way I would clean it for guests, but perfect as in, the way he left it.  Mostly.

But I have BOYS, so this house shows significant wear and tear after seven long months.

Can you guess what I've been doing today?

That's right, PAINTING.  It was supposed to be simple touch-up paint in a few small spots, but since the walls in most of the house are WHITE, well you can't just paint one spot.  All that does is make the rest of the wall look dingy/dirty.  So I painted the whole stairwell, most of the entryway, most of the boys' bedroom, half of the upstairs hallway, and then 'touched up' part of the living room.  Far more work than I anticipated, and it sucked BAD that Bobblehead decided he's just not in a napping mood today.  Thankfully he loves his swing, but I still had to stop about every fifteen minutes to make silly faces at him, sing him a song, or offer him his pacifier.

When I finished the painting (and cleaned up the mess from that job) I was patting myself on the back for accomplishing that without getting any paint on the carpet, or in my hair, or anywhere else that would suck.  Obviously my hands are all speckled, but they're easy to wash.  Halfway through patting myself on the back,  I saw a big white splotch on Bobblehead's cheek and FREAKED OUT!  I frantically looked for something I could use to clean the paint off the baby without hurting him, and then saw MORE white stuff on Bobblehead's drooler-bib. And laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants.

It wasn't paint. It was just spit-up!  (DUH)

Now I'm waiting for the paint and the carpet to dry.  I used two cans of Spot Shot to clean the traffic areas because I procrastinated for too long in my plans to get the carpet cleaned professionally.  Oops.

And, wouldn't you know it, NOW Bobblehead wants to take an nap!  Maybe I should join him. 

Right after I give myself a mani/pedi.

The blasphemous post...

Since I already broke my rule about discussing religion on here, I'm writing today about the fact that sometimes I wonder if God HATES me. Or is at least laughing at me. Really hard.

Hubby has been gone for over 7 months, so naturally I am looking forward to a whole lotta BOOM CHICKA WOW WOW when he gets home. Now I can't say specifically on here WHEN he is coming home, but it will be SOON.

REALLY SOON.

As in, he has already been 'safe' for a couple days now.  I don't even know how much OPSEC even matters at this point, that's how CLOSE he is to coming home.  But I will do my best to respect/follow OPSEC anyway, just to be sure.  So, for now, nothing more specific than "SOON".

Am I excited to give hubby a WARM WELCOME?  Yes Yes Yes Yes YESSSSSS! (just did my best impersonation of Meg Ryan in that scene from 'When Harry Met Sally')

Of course, Baby Bobblehead could throw a wrench in my sexy-time plans, since he's not even three months old yet - and he's breastfeeding. But I've been pretty optimistic about this homecoming, and with good reason...

8 days prior to hubby's scheduled homecoming, Bobblehead suddenly decided to start sleeping through the night! Well, not ALL night of course, but for six solid hours, then he wakes up for a quick snack and goes back to sleep for 2 or 3 more hours before needing to eat again.

Awesome, right?

6 days prior to homecoming, I finally found an outfit to wear to the base to pick up my hubby. This was really hard to do, and once accomplished literally called for a happy dance.

Yay!

5 days prior to homecoming, I found something sexy to wear JUST for hubby when he gets home. It's not breastfeeding-friendly, but it doesn't need to be, since Bobblehead will already be asleep FOR THE NIGHT by the time I put my frilly pretties on. And hubby is definitely gonna like this outfit! I hope he doesn't like it TOO much, because in my mind I'm already picturing him ripping it right off of me. Maybe he will even be sooooo excited he will rip it to shreds? Just sayin'.

(this is not the actual outift,

but it's pretty

similar to this - sorry, I am NOT

going to take actual pictures

of ME in this getup and

post it here in blogland!  ha ha ha)

Woot woot!

X days prior to homecoming, I woke up to a very 'special' surprise...the kind that makes me want to ask God, "WTF?!"  Or at least, "God, why do you hate me?"

(Stole this graphic from

Amber at Goodnight Moon.

I'm not sure where she got it,

but it is forever burned

into my memory - and now

into YOURS!  HA HA HA!)

I haven't had a period in almost a year - my last period before Bobblehead was conceived showed up right before last Christmas.  Obviously I had all that lovely post-partum mess to deal with, but that's been done for, like, 7 or 8 weeks now.  With all my other babies, my dear 'Aunt Flo' didn't come to visit for AT LEAST six months after birth.  Did I mention I am breastfeeding?  Breastfeeding by itself normally holds ovulation & menstruation at bay for a long time, but I am also ON THE PILL. (hey, when I said I was Catholic, I didn't claim to be a good Catholic, OK?)

But even my birth control pill can't seem to stop this bloody mess.

It's gotta be just stress, which is just that much MORE unfair -because now I am stressing about how to STOP STRESSING so I can stop bleeding before my honey comes home.

WHY, God, why?

the Taboo post - COMMENTS, PLEASE!

Certain things are simply Taboo.  And no, this is not going to be another 'TMI' post, I'm talking about a different kind of Taboo.

As a rule, I don't discuss politics or religion via social networks - both issues are simply too divisive.  I've broken my rule a couple times, and am about to break it again.

I recently had an interesting conversation with a friend who is Athiest, and learned two things:

1. As a practicing Catholic, I am nowhere near as 'tolerant' as I previously thought I was, and

2. Lack of religion is sort of a religion, as well.

You see, for me, religion fills several purposes.  It is a social structure that, among other things, links me to people with similar values.  It also gives me an identity to fall back on when I just don't KNOW who I am, or who I want to be.  But most of all, I think religion gives me a frame of reference that helps me make 'good choices'.  Makes sense, right?

So, back to my athiest friend - who also happens to be a milspouse.  It turns out that we have a lot more in common that just our husbands' jobs.  She also links socially to those who share her 'no God' views.  She lists this belief as a major part of her identity, and she uses her beliefs in making decisions about right and wrong.

Sounds a lot like my religious practice, right?

Not that I agree with her religious views, but I also can't condemn her for her beliefs.

And that thought got me wondering about other religions......

For instance, if her beliefs (so contrary to my own) are OK, then what about those jerks with the Westboro Baptist Church?  You know, the ones who picket military funerals to spread their message of HATE......if my friend's LACK of religion is a religion that I can recognize and on some level 'accept', then do I also have to recognize and accept HATE as a religion?

I guess, I kind of do accept that those hateful demonstrators have a right to their opinions and beliefs; my problem is really with their tasteless and hurtful way of trying to FORCE their views on the rest of us.  And at a FUNERAL, of all places!?!

Lest anyone read this and get upset about me comparing athiests to hatemongers, I am NOT comparing the two.  To me, athiesm falls on a scale about as opposite my own beliefs as I would have thought possible......but then hateful people like the members of the Westboro Baptist Church seem to go so far OFF that scale, I thought they deserved a mention, with my current train of thought. 

So, what do YOU think?  I normally delete anonymous comments, but if you choose to comment ANONYMOUSLY on this specific post, I will not delete it (provided you are contributing to the discussion/debate I am anticipating here).

Here are the questions I would love for your all to answer:

1) is HATE a religion?

2) should funeral demonstrations be banned, or should they remain protected under the Constitution?

3) do you have close friends who belong to a faith that is dramatically different than your own, and if so, do you feel that those friends RESPECT your own religious views?

Awesome giveaway, & 20 questions

My bloggy friend Laura is having a little contest, with some seriously adorable prizes!

Giveaway ends tomorrow night, so go check it out by clicking here

(if this link looks wierd, that's because I'm blogging on my iPad)

I love that she wants us to ask her questions, so I'm challenging you, my followers, to come up with 20 questions you would like me to answer. I feel like I don't get comments from you all anymore, so this seems like a less-than-pathetic way for me to BEG for some bloggy attention. So come on, show me some love! Leave a comment here with ANY question (or questions) that you want me to answer! Lets see uf we can get to 20, shall we?

No more 'fun mommy'

If you've read even ONE post from this blog, you know I am no Supermom. I fail far more than I succeed, and am not ashamed to say so. I'm only human, after all.

But the mommy-fail issues I'm actually embarrassed about are the ones that inspire my kids to tell me I'm cool.

For instance, during deployment I become their hero when I let them eat cereal all the time, sometimes even for dinner. And, since hubby has something against the idea of 'breakfast for dinner', we embrace that concept when he's not home. I can honestly say, out of the 20 or so times in this deployment that I actually COOKED dinner, at least ten times involved the waffle iron. Cool, huh? (mommy-fail)

Sadly, there is NO way hubby will stand for the half-assed (nutritionally deficit) menu we've been living on, so tomorrow I'm heading to Costco to stock up on healthy, un-processed food. Stuff I will have to actually COOK. Like, with real pans and everything! And as I sit here, making my shopping list, I am wracking my brain, trying to remember what kinds of meals hubby LIKES. Right now I can only think of 5 or 6 different meals to make, and that's gonna get old FAST.

Hubby normally thinks I am a pretty good cook - is he going to recognize this cereal-serving woman when he gets back?  Or maybe...MAYBE I will somehow get over my cooking-amnesia in time to serve him something yummy that will make him that much happier to be home.

Santa, Baby...

What's on your Christmas wish list this year?

I obviously already know that I'm getting the one thing I want most:

HUBBY WILL BE HOME SOON, definitely in time for Christmas.

But if my sexy Marine wants to make me even happier than 'santa' already has, he could always check out my amazon.com wish list, where he could choose from practical things like this set of mixing bowls:

or this iPad accessory that will allow me to load pictures directly to my iPad:

to fun things like this:

And of course there are sparkly things on my wish list:

But for this price, I think I would prefer this:

The one thing he could REALLY knock my socks off with is not on my Amazon wishlist...but hubby KNOWS how badly I want it:

This lovely ring has been on my wish list for a long time now....and I am pretty sure that is where it will stay, because even if we had a few thousand dollars just lying around, hubby is not the type to drop big bucks on something as useless as JEWELRY...no matter how stunning it may be.

the TMI post

Disclaimer/warning/heads up....if you read through this entire post, you may just learn WAY more than you ever wanted to know about me and my 'intimate' life.

OK so if you're still with me, you're a nosy perv like myself ;)

If you've read my blog before, you know that my hubby will be home SOON after being gone for over 7 months.  Sadly, he missed the mid-pregnancy hormone surge that boosted my already out-of-control libido, but on the flipside he also didn't have to be here for the torturous 6 week postpartum NO SEX waiting period.

So, am I excited about his return?

HELL-TO-THE-YEAH!

First of all, I attended a Passion Party early in this deployment, mostly to meet other Marine Wives.  It was hosted by a milspouse on the base closest to me (so it only took me like an hour and fifteen minutes to get there!) The consultant who ran the party is also a Marine Wife, currently going through a deployment - and she lives farther from the base than I do!  Anyway, she rocks, so if you're interested in buying any of the cool 'deployment survival tools' sold by Passion Parties, you can order from my friend Jamie HERE

So, at this Passion Party, not only did I meet some new friends, but I ordered a couple little things and decided I wanted to host a party of my own.  The main reason I wanted to host was this cool toy:

It's the "We-Vibe II" and is meant to be used TOGETHER.  Now, lets just say that hubby and I have never really needed ANY help in the bedroom (or kitchen, or living room, or wherever the mood might strike us).  We've been together for almost 14 years now, and seriously EVERY TIME is like fireworks, magic, and triple chocolate brownies, all rolled into one.  In fact, I still tease hubby because the first time we were 'intimate' I was literally BLOWN AWAY by how great he was, and I actually asked him where he learned to do all that great stuff....and his answer still makes me laugh: he used to read his sister's Cosmopolitan magazines when he was bored! Ha ha ha!

Anyway, even though our love life is more than satisfying (when he's HOME) this toy intrigues me, mostly for its PRICE. $130 big ones.   I mean, you get what you pay for, right?  I've never really enjoyed playing by myself with toys, but I think that's probably because I'm a total cheapskate, so the toys I've bought in the past were all pretty cheap....

....Until I bought this massager - the Hitachi Magic Wand - during our first deployment about five years ago:

Did you even know that you can buy all kinds of Adult toys on Amazon.com?  Check it out, look under 'health and personal care'.  Just sayin.

This baby is so powerful, it PLUGS INTO THE WALL.  None of that battery nonsense for me!  It was about $65, and I think I paid like $25 extra for the optional attachments, which turned out to be totally unnecessary. I have plenty of *ahem* relaxation with just external stimulation.  I think Passion Parties now sells a version of this for around the same price, and the PP one is more ergonomically designed, etc but back then, this was the best I could do.  And I still love it.

So, I hosted my Passion Party, had a blast even though (typical) more than half of my 'confirmed' guests did not show up.  I even got some outside orders from people who I only know through FB or this blog!  Cool, huh?  And yes, I earned my We-Vibe II.  So, now I am debating whether or not to try it out by myself, before hubby comes home?  I have it all charged up and cleaned, ready to go, but I almost feel like I should save that first time for him.  What do you think?

Oh, and as long as we are already this deep into the Too Much Information zone, I am kinda worried that the first time after he comes home could hurt a little....I mean, I had some tearing with the birth of Bobblehead less than 12 weeks ago, and had stitches down there.  As far as I can tell, everything has healed, but seriously, what if its still tender?  Or what if they stitched it back together wrong?  My sister had that happen and it was horribly painful, she had to go back when the baby was a few months old and have them CUT the skin and re-stitch it properly. *shudder*

Oh, and I think I need some serious yardwork done down there, too.  Weed whacker probably won't be enough...I am gonna need the full-blown john deere riding lawnmower!

Dang, and that's just my lady parts - what about shaving this FOREST off of my legs??? I know I shaved my legs before Bobblehead was born, only because I knew my sister-in-law and my Doula were probably going to have to help hold my legs back while I pushed.  But I am pretty sure I have not shaved them since!  I mean, it's pants weather, you know?  And with hubby gone, its not like anyone else is gonna know whether or not my legs could be mistaken for Muppet legs. 

But soon, I mean SOON, hubby will be here, and he darned well, BETTER notice my legs!  I fully expect to have his hands all over them, A LOT.  And not just my legs, either.  *WINK*

So, let the gardening commence!  And seriously, I do want to know what you think about whether I should give this We-Vibe a test run before he gets home - comment here, or send me a private email!

That's all for now, you stay classy San Diego.

SERIOUSLY!

I haven't really blogged in awhile - in fact my recent guest-blog post was written over a month ago and last week I managed to squeeze out a few minutes to schedule it as an actual post for the assigned day.  My Thanksgiving post was all written out in my head, but with no time to type it out for you all, that's where it's going to stay.

Honestly, right this minute, I am seriously thankful to even HAVE some time to blog!

I have managed to keep up pretty well with Facebook, since I can use my iPad to do that while nursing the baby (and I LOVE the "Friendly" app for iPad!)

I've even managed to start (and finish) several games on 'Words With Friends", the scrabble-esque game for iPad.  I'd love to play the actual Scrabble app, but it's $10, and WWF is free.  And yeah, I'm cheap like that.  But I still get to play against people all over the world, and am USUALLY pretty good at it.  Currently someone with the handle "LittleBigHead" is completely kicking my a$$....437 to 229, with only 1 letter remaining aside from the 7 we're each using for our next turn.  Pathetic?  yes.  Embarrasing?  sure.  Fun?  HELL YEAH!  :)  I'm not sure what it is about this game that so appeals to me, probably to play-when-you-have-a-minute format that lets me ignore it when LIFE gets in the way.

Speaking of LIFE....well, some updates are definitely in order here!

First of all, if you are a new follower, WELCOME!  You might want to check out this post to get to know my family a little bit.

Baby Bobblehead is doing fantastic!  Smiling, cooing, eating, pooping, all that good stuff. At 11 weeks old, he still does not sleep through the night, but we have our night-time routines down pretty well for now. He's happy and healthy, and still ridiculously adorable.  Here he is with his little cousin just the other day:

(Bobblehead is on the right)

Knucklehead has struggled in school throughout this deployment, but with Dad's return looming ever nearer, he is showing some improvement. I'm confident that he at least will not have to repeat the fifth grade! his current obsession with Beyblade (its a toy based on a cartoon) is pushing the Pokemon crap aside and I could not be more thrilled about that!  Well, I actually HATE Beyblade, but am so sick of Pokemon that I am embracing these little spinning tops with dumb names like "Storm Pegasus" and "Rock Leone". *sigh*

Bonehead is, well, still a Bonehead. I'm really worried about his pathological need to be right, as it really hinders his ability to function.  Have you ever seen a little kid, say, in a preschool classroom, walking along, and suddenly he trips over his own shoelace or something - and then turns viciously on the nearest (innocent) child, accusing him or her of PUSHING him down?  Most children do not do this - but the ones who do, do it ALL THE TIME.  That's my Bonehead.  He needs to blame someone, and pretty much always wants retribution for whatever perceived wrongs were done to him. When he was a preschooler, it was almost amusing; in gradeschool, it got annoying; and by middle school it was downright FRUSTRATING.  But now, in high school, when the world expects this 6-foot-tall 'young man' to be able to see reason, and to know that the kid sitting calmly ten feet away could not POSSIBLY have knocked his textbook down, well its actually terrifying. Something as simple as a book sliding off a sloped desk can set this boy off into a full-blown rage, and NO ONE is safe at that point, because Bonehead can't see that the book fell on its own, he can't see that no one has done anything to him, and whats worse, he can't see that it is wrong for him to take matters into his own hands to make his unfortunate classmate 'pay'.  Of course I am still praying that he gets into that military youth academy, but I'm beginning to think that if he goes, it will simply amount to a 5 month break for me, and a stronger, more frightening Bonehead returning home in June.

Yeah, I think I am finally turning into a cynic.

Oh and Airhead, whom I rarely even mention on here, is still not speaking to me - though she did take her brother Bonehead to Disneyland for his sixteenth birthday a couple weeks ago.  She hasn't even met Bobblehead yet, and that doesn't seem to bother her at all. *double sigh*

Now that the kid updates are out of the way, there's some SERIOUSLY exciting news: my Donut of Misery is more than 93% complete now, and Hubby (AKA 'Jarhead') is coming home VERY VERY SOON!

This means I now have a whole new list of things to do in the immediate future, like get the carpet cleaned, clean our closet up (AGAIN), move all the stuff from Hubby's side of the bed to, well, anywhere else - this one is a big deal, because I currently have my cell phone charger AND my iPad charger plugged in next to his side of the bed, and both devices 'live' on his pillow, where I can use them in the middle of the night if hubby calls me or emails me when I *should* be sleeping.  In addition, there is currently a mini diaper changing station set up on Hubby's side of the bed - so when Bobblehead wakes up for his 2AM feeding, I can change his diaper right there without ever getting out of bed, and then we both go back to sleep for a couple more hours.  Which brings me to another important 'to do' item, which I have already been working on for a couple weeks - Bobblehead needs to learn to sleep in his playpen (next to my bed) for most of the night, so there will actually be ROOM for Daddy when he comes home!

I'd love to tell you all more, but this list just keeps getting longer, and the time left 'til homecoming is getting shorter and shorter! Gotta get back to cleaning and straightening and more cleaning.

In case I don't manage to blog again for awhile, I just want to wish all my followers a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Make the best of whatever you've got, with whomever you're spending your holidays with, and then it's back to the grind, right?

HAPPY DECEMBER EVERYONE!  Seriously.

Holiday spirit

Today I am the featured GUEST BLOGGER over at Serendipitously Frog.  LaDonna asked me to write about my favorite holiday tradition, and though it is hard to choose just ONE, I did - and I think you're gonna like this one!

Check it out, and be sure to tell me what you think!