{28}

From August 21 through September 24, Mike and I are the same age. Every year. Then, he gets older. hehe. But I love an older man. And a man in uniform for that matter. :)

I just turned 28 on Sunday. Is it weird that at times I still feel like I'm 21. Not the imaturity but just that I'm have no idea where the years 23 through 27 went? Like, I don't remember really doing anything when I was 24. or even 25 for that matter. It's just blank. I guess that is what working does to you. Before kids, you just work and play sometimes. And the years just keep going by. Until you realize "how in the hell can I be nearing 30? I swear I just graduated college." And then you get the e-mail reminder of your 10 year high school reunion this month.

Where does the time go? What do you have to show for those years between high school graduation in June 2001 until today? Because you know everyone at the reunion is going to be trying to one up the other. I wont be attending the reunion. I live two states away. I wish I was though. Because I'm nosey. And sometimes I think people are full of shit on Facebook and that is all I have in ways of "keeping in touch" with some of them.

Weird how once Courtney was born I could probably tell you something that happened in my life every month in the last 14 months. Like on my 27th birthday we had planned to go out and grab a nice lunch but I ended up with my first clogged duct from nursing and it hurt so bad that I needed to stay home and massage my boob and feed Courtney every hour to get it to go away. Being a moms makes you stop and smell the roses again. Because you want to experience firsts through your childs eyes. It is truly amazing how life changes once you become a parent.

So cheers to being 28. Not yet 29 and two years from the dirty thirty!

{I hate you teething}

Courtney has this amazing teething necklace. It's made from baltic amber and is supposed to be a natural pain reliever when worn near the sight of pain. Some people wear baltic amber bracelets for arthritis and such. Interested? Check out www.inspiredbyfinn.com for more information.

Well, a few weeks back I received a call from Courtney's daycare to let me know that the public health nurse wont allow Courtney to wear her necklace at daycare anymore because it is dangerous. Dangerous because the other kids are becoming interested in it and started pulling on it. Understandable. So we take it off when she goes to daycare - 5 DAYS A WEEK.

So, of course when she gets home I forget to put it back on. And have forgotten a lot recently. And top it off with the fact that our Pedi asked me to not let her sleep in it.

Well, my poor baby girl whose been sleeping through the night since she was 7 months, has been getting up 3-4 times at night crying in pain. Usually I can let her cry and she'll go back to sleep. Not this time. She gets so worked up that by the time she's lying back down, she's sniffling in her sleep. :(


She is working on her first molars right now. The top two seem to be through. One of the bottoms is working its way out right now and I can feel that the other bottom first molar is on its way.

Against the Pedis recommendation, we've been having her sleep in her necklace in hopes she'll get some relief. Any other recommendations for teething relief for my sweet baby girl?

Do you have time to make someone in need smile?

My friend Ashley over at Snuggled in Love started a service of making blankets "for snuggling" people going through a hard time or who were in need of some extra love.

I wanted to help. I was given the task of making a blanket for a sweet preemie baby girl named Ella. She was a whole 9 weeks early. I'm sure she is getting plenty of love from her mommy and daddy. But Snuggled in Love wanted to give her a little something for fighting strong.

Courtney helped me pick out the fabric:


Finished blanket:


Not crafty? Neither am I. Thankfully knot blankets are very forgiving. If your interested in helping, you can like Snuggled in Love on Facebook or contact Ashley through her blog.

{Do you know my friend poutine?}

When you live just a 40 minute drive from Canada, you must bust out your passport and take a drive, or a ferry, or whatever option you have. Yesterday we decided to take aday trip to Vancouver, BC for the afternoon. And I was finally able to try Canada's finest culinary dish. Let me introduce you to poutine.


This my friends is french fries with gravy, bacon and cheese. I'm sure it didn't hurt that I was starving when we got there. But YUM!

Have you ever just searched homes for sale for shits and giggles?

Since our relocation to another city in Washington state, and paying yet another homeowners mortgage, we've really been going back and forth on whether we should have purchased our first home instead of deciding to rent again. It's a really hard decision to make for a military family. We never really know just how long we'll be here. Our location now is supposed to be for three years, but if Mike advances before three years then they could move us again.

But then we think that in two or three years we could have earned some equity and possibly have some rental income coming in when we do move again.

Then you have to think about a down payment. Ugh! The down payment that would most likely wipe out our savings and you don't want to do that. But on the otherhand, that is what we are saving for and as it sits right now we are just wasting our own money renting. It's a hard pill to swallow.

Being married for 5 years and having a beautiful daughter, we feel like the next step is to own a home. It makes us so very excited to think about that possibility, but we're locked into this place until May '12. We have some time to decide what is the best option for us and put some more money away into savings.

But in the meantime, googling homes for sale where we are now is so exciting. And the prices for homes here compared to the prices of homes in Los Angeles makes you kind of feel like it's do-able.

Current Location:
3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms
2200 square feet
$275,000


ain't it gorgeous?

Where we want to buy in California (where both our families live):
3 bedrooms, 1 3/4 bathrooms
1300 square feet
$405,900


all I see is mo money, mo money, mo money!

I don't know what the future holds for us as homeowners, but I hope that one day we can own our "dream" home wherever that may be.

{14 Months}

Oh 14 months, how you snuck up on me. Mike keeps saying "She's almost two" because he knows it drives me crazy. About as crazy as I drive him with the whole "14 months" thing. "She's 1" he says. I try to explain that their is a big difference between a 14 month 1 year old and a 21 month 1 year old. Oh well.

My sweet girl. I can see her grow and learn with every new sunrise. Like how she somehow magically learned not only how to sign please but now she says "peas" as well. Or how she can point out her nose, mouth and belly and says "nih nih" at bed time. Or tries to tickle my feet and then laughs about it. Wonder who she learned that from?

She had her first run in with a bitter at daycare and has the start of her first ear infection. Poop on both accounts.

Bottles are out and Playtex Insulator cups are in. Milk in the morning and at night.

As much as I hate to admit it, my baby is turning into an adventurous toddler who climbs onto chairs and likes to jump up and down and dance. She has a new obsession with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she waves at Donald everytime he is on the screen. It's adorable.

At that Pedi today she weighed 23 pounds 3 ounces. With all the walking her weight is starting to slow (and drop a little). Not something of concern the Pedi says.

{Inside Courtney's new room}

Ever since we moved in early June, we've been trying to get all of the rooms in our new house together. We went from a 1200sf rental to a 1600sf rental. The size is wonderful but that means we have 400 more square feet to fill. We are currently working on the front living room, that until last week had nothing but two book cases. We've since bought a couch from good ol Wal-Mart that at least fills the space.

The one room that has been complete for the past month was Courtney's. If you're interested, you can see her first room in our old rental here and here. For your viewing pleasure, Courtney's new room.