Our Year in Review-2014

2014 has been one of the best and hardest years yet.  We've had so many good moments and some hard ones.  It's been fun to look back at these past 12 months and reminisce on our many adventures!

January

Mara had her first snow day!  We also explored our local area a bit over a long MLK day weekend!

February

We invited friends over for a huge Super Bowl Sunday party and took our first real family vacation to the Asheville area, where we explored breweries, skied and rented a cabin in the national forest. 

March

Mara turned 6 months! We also sadly lost both my grandma and grandpa this month.

April

We celebrated Mara's first Easter with a fun party at the Battalion headquarters and our church!

May

This month was huge for us.  I was baptized!  We also visited family in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois during Josh's block leave.  We attended one of my best friend's, Arthi, wedding. 

The hardest thing though happened on the very last day of this month.  We said good-bye to Josh.

June

This month we celebrated Father's Day and my birthday from afar.

July

This month was slow as Mara and I adjusted to deployment.

August

Mara and I traveled to Illinois to spend a couple of months with my family.  I also got to attend the wedding of two of my close college friends, Adam and Jess.

September

Mara turned 1!!!  We threw a big party and celebrated one year with our baby girl!

October

We threw Mara another birthday party and settled back into life in North Carolina.  At the end of the 

month, Mara dressed up as a strawberry and celebrated Halloween!

November

Josh surprised me with a fun anniversary celebration day in Raleigh and Mara and I traveled down to Florida for Thanksgiving.

December

We celebrated Christmas!!

As we say goodbye to 2014, we are so excited to ring in 2015.  2015 is looking to be even better with Josh's homecoming and a change of duty station on the horizon.  Here's to new adventures with the people I love most!

Mara-15 Months

Wears:  You wear strictly 18 month clothing now although some pieces are a little too big.  This is good as hopefully you will get a lot of wear out of everything.  Most of your cloth diapers are fully unsnapped in the largest setting and when I put you in disposables you wear size 4.

Wearing Mama's first Christmas outfit

Health: You have been really healthy this month again.  The main issue was teething for you this month.  You broke in the other molar on the bottom along with both canines on the bottom. You have a full set of teeth on the bottom!!  You are also working on your canines on the top too.  We've been putting lots of teething oil on your gums and even resorted to ibuprofen some days. Overall you did ok with lots of snuggles and nursing from mama.

Christmas knickers

Says:  You really haven't said anything new per say but you are really perfecting your sounds.  "Buddy" is the clearest thing you say.  You also have a new word for mommy.  It comes out a little like "Magee". You also say "wow".

Lately we have been working on animal sounds.  You make the doggie and kitty sounds whenever you see one in a book.  You also give your best shot at a pig and cow sound.

Favorite Foods: On top of your favorites you recently love applesauce, anything Asian, meatballs, and mushrooms.  You are still my picky eater so I am constantly fighting you to try new things.  

I spy a belly button

Sleep: For most of this month you were waking 3-4 times a night due to teeth pain.  We nursed and you were able to settle back down.  This lasted weeks due to the number of teeth you had coming in.  Just in the past few days have I seen the light at the end of the tunnel.  You have been slowly increasing your sleep time and have even put yourself back to sleep sometimes.  The past few nights you were only up twice.

As for naps, you are completely on the one nap schedule.  Right now we are trying to figure out when the best time for it is.  If you get it too early you go to bed way early and if it's too late you're up till 10/11.  You may not have been completely ready for one nap but there was nothing mama could do about it.  For the most part you nap from 1.5-2 hours.

You have so many adventures with your bear

Best Moment:  The best moments this month have been celebrating Christmas with Daddy via skype and visiting with Grandma.  It was so much fun to see your responses this Christmas compared to last.  It was nice that Daddy was able to skype in and join in the fun!

Grandma visited for five days and you were in love.  You read so many books and let her chase you around the house.  It was so nice for mama and you!

Love a baby puffer vest

Milestones: You started riding your radio flyer scooter around at the beginning of the month.  Now you have it mastered and fly around corners chasing buddy.

You started walking backwards.  This just amazes me as I think this is an advanced skill.  You also like to walk around with a dish towel over your head.  I don't know how you do this but you don't run into anything!

This month you started using a napkin.  You asked for one one day and just wiped your mouth and hands.  Now you use one at almost every meal.  You also started trying to use silverware.  You do pretty well with a fork but are still working on the spoon.

You can now get down from beds and chairs by turning around and scooting.  You have given mama a bit of a heart attack getting off the taller beds.

You have started identifying animals.  You have a ton of animal books and love reading them.  You know pigs, cows, dogs and cats.  You also do most of these animal sounds.  You also know that buddy is a cat.

You have started really trying to help around the house.  You spilled your water the other day and ran to get a towel to wipe it up.  You also will put toys away if I show you where they go.

You will brush your hair when prompted.

Ready to see Santa!

She was feeling shy at play group so Grandma lent a hand

Loves To:  You love to read.  Books all day.  Everyday.  Your favorite are farm books with animals.

You love your stuffed animals.  You carry around your teddy and puppy bear.  Grandma bought you a Rudolph which you also love.

You love being chased.  It never gets old to you.  As soon as someone says, "I'm going to get you!" you take off squealing.

You love to mimic mama.  What I eat.  What I do.  I really have to be careful now a days.

You love music and dancing.  Every song that comes on you sway your hands and bounce around.

You love to walk under mama's legs.

Always a ham!

She loved the Christmas tree

Favorite Toys: Radio flyer scooter, BOOKS, teddy bear, stuffed puppy, Rudolph, anything with music

Dislikes: not getting your way immediately, diaper changes

Our Christmas

After much recent travel, I decided to stay in North Carolina for Christmas this year.  It was hard being away from family but we made the most of it!

Christmas Eve Mara and I went over to our friends' house for dinner.  They out did their selves with the spread.  We had steak, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, baked apples, spinach cheese rolls and homemade french bread.   To say I was stuffed was an understatement.  We played a few games and then headed home. The best part of the night was just spending it with them.  I am so thankful for their friendship and the invite!

Christmas morning we slept in a bit (know this won't always be the case) and immediately headed into the living room to skype with Josh.  We let Mara open most of her gifts and stocking before we opened our gifts to each other.  

I love celebrating the holidays with a child.  It just makes everything so much more special.  I loved watching Mara carefully unwrap each of her gifts, a huge difference from last year when she just stared at us.  This year she seemed to understand that these things were for her and how to pull off the paper and bows.  She was also very particular to make sure she gave me each scrap after she pulled it off.  

Mara made out like a bandit getting lots of books, puzzles, a pillow, backpack and some bath toys.  Josh did awesome this year getting me a snorkel for our upcoming vacation, a smart system for our house and a precious ornament.  The best gift though was being able to connect on the day and do our best to spend Christmas "together".

After opening gifts I quickly threw all the discarded paper in the recycling and jumped in the shower.  My friend Alyssa was coming over to bake cookies and just hang out.  Once Mara went down for her nap we got to work.  We made about three dozen peanut butter blossoms and two dozen chocolate dipped pretzels.  It was a ton of fun and I think as Mara gets older this may have to be a Christmas tradition we keep!

Alyssa had to get going so we headed back to the computer to skype with Josh's brother and family in Wisconsin.  Mara loved seeing her cousins on the computer and it was great to catch up with them. 

From there it was off to a friends house to visit with them as it had been months since we last saw them.  Mara had so much fun chasing after their cats and dogs.  She really kept our friend Adam moving as she ran up and down their stairs after the kitty.  

To round off the night we headed back home for a quick skype with Josh's parents and a phone call to mine.  The day went super fast but I am so glad we were able to share it with as many people as we did.  Christmas was definitely different this year but thanks to everyone it still really felt normal.  hahaha

Merry Christmas

So I had a little trouble getting an actual picture of our Christmas card this year...

But

Merry Christmas from our family

to yours!

Food, Food and More Food?

Mara is almost 15 months old and we've been doing solid foods for almost ten months now.  We started with purees and quickly switched to a form of baby led weaning when Mara decided she was over the baby food. 

Now I have a little girl who is as particular about what she puts in her mouth as I've ever seen.  She is always very cautious.  Takes a small bite or a lick to assess the flavor.  Then she proceeds.  And if she doesn't get a good first impression well forget it.  It takes days if not weeks to get her to try a new food again.

She has her all time favorites, strawberries, cheese, bananas, avocado, pasta.  These I can always get her to eat.  Heck she'd eat these all the time if I'd let her.  And maybe that was the problem.  Maybe I did this to myself.  I was so lost at first with baby led weaning as to what I could give her.  Once I found things she liked I stuck with them.  

I'm hoping as time goes on she gets better.  That sooner rather than later she will just be eating whatever we are eating without any complaint.  I think that some of this will come with age and understanding.  I am already seeing small improvements when I let her eat similar things as me or as she starts to master silverware.  

But in the meantime I'm not too incredibly worried.  She's still a champion nurser.  I never thought I would be nursing my baby past one year but I don't see us stopping anytime soon.  I know it's good for her and I also appreciate that she is getting adequate nutrition.  I have seen her nursing decrease and some days we only nurse 3 or 4 times.  As this continues to decrease I am sure I will see her food intake increase.  

Visiting Santa

Every other week Mara and I go to a play group on post.  She loves seeing all the older kids and seems to really enjoy playing with the toys they have.  Last week our usual play group transformed to a Christmas party for the kids including Christmas songs, Christmas snacks and of course, Santa Claus!

Ready to go!

Needing Grandma's hand

My mom was in town visiting so we drug her along to experience it all.  As usual Mara was a little unsure about all the kids and needed Grandma's hand for assurance.  She quickly warmed up and then spent the rest of the time running around and playing with the toys.

Eyeing up the big guy

One of her favorite toys at play group

When it came time to see Santa she was not happy about being taken away from her scooter and threw a protest until we went after it.  I tried to distract her with the man in the red suit but I think that only made it worse.  When it was our turn, Mara immediately started protesting as soon as I set her on his lap.  Nope.  Not having it.  We snapped the picture and went back to playing.

Loved this classic toy too!

So much joy!

A few minutes later we were informed that there was a problem with the photo.  We'd have to do it again.  Normally not an issue, but this time she knew what was coming.  The second picture was probably worse than the first.  The poor ladies tried so hard to get her to calm down.  I was just like take the picture.  Sometimes there is beauty in the screaming baby on Santa's lap.

Merry Christmas!

Proud to be a Military Family

As the holidays roll in and Josh is far away from us right now, I thought I would be swimming in a sea of resentment and frustration.  Angry at the situation.  Angry at the war.  Angry at the military.

But with a week till Christmas, here I sit at peace with our current situation.  Yes it's not ideal but this is where we are supposed to be right now and that knowledge makes me feel settled.  What would we do without His grace?!

The other day I was thinking about where I am in life, reflecting on our little family and our situation.  I just laughed to myself because if you would have asked me even five years ago where I'd be in life, who I'd be married to, I would have never dreamed this life.

The military was a scary proposition to me.  For the most part of my teenage years, the United States had been involved in some conflict overseas.  It didn't directly affect me or my family so I honestly didn't know that much about it.  And now I am embarrassed to say, but I was happy with it that way!

Well He had a better plan for my life (and I'm so glad) because here I am.  Happily married to a military man and SO PROUD to be a military family.

Sure it's hard.  We move around a lot.  Our roots are always shallow but man do they grow fast.  And packing, yep, we have that down to a science!  And (here's a secret) some of us actually enjoy it.

We go through deployments, some more than others.  It's hard being away from our spouses but we do it because we know it's for the greater good.  We send way too many care packages and spend a ton of time on skype but it's all worth it for that day they come home.

There's something special about military families.  They get it.  They know what you are going through.  They've been there. They are family away from family.  Friendships form quickly and are deep. We know each other will be moving on eventually but there is always the possibility of seeing each other again.  This military we love, it's surprisingly small sometimes.

So this is our life.  Our military life.  And I wouldn't change it for the world.  (Even in the midst of this deployment) It's hard to put it into words sometimes but I am so thankful that this is where I am, where we are.  That we can provide this service for our country.

Cloth Diaper Review

*I was not paid or compensated in any way for my opinions.  I strictly want to remember for future kids!*

I originally wrote about our stash about a year ago here. A year later, our stash has evolved a bit and my opinions have changed.  Here's what it looks like now:

Bum Genius
We still have all of our original Bum Genius diapers.  We had 7 from a friend that had already seen two kids and another new 7.  Our older ones are starting to see some wear.  We converted these from velcro and small holes are forming where the original stitching was.  I expect these 7 won't last through too many more kids.  On the other hand, the newer 7 are great.  We use them regularly although they do not hold up overnight.  They are a great diaper for the day and I usually grab these when packing the diaper bag.

My only beef with these diapers is the size.  Even though they claim to be one size like the rest of Mara's diapers, I know she will grow out of these first.  For some reason they seem to be shorter from front to back.  I have always had to transition these diapers up in size first and I feel like it will only be a few more months before we cannot use them at all.  I'm not sure why this is but it's frustrating when these diapers cost about $17 each.

Kawaii
These are my favorite diapers by far.  I use these during the day and are the only diaper I use at night.  I do have a few overnight diapers in this brand but honestly do not see too much of a difference between the overnight diapers and the regular ones in terms of leakage.

Besides their excellent leakage control, my favorite thing about these diapers is how easily they clean up.  Their fleece lining makes for really easy clean up of poop with my sprayer and they almost never stain.

I think in the future these will be my go to diaper for replacements.  They are super affordable at $10 a pop and have given us the best fit overall.

Fluffy Bottoms
I am still for the most part on the fence with these diapers.  They are decent and I regularly grab them for day to day changes.  They snap easily and for the most part are easy to get a good fit out of.  That being said I wouldn't go out and necessarily buy more of them.  They stain pretty easily and are hard to clean with the diaper sprayer.  I'm not sure about the price of these as I picked them up at a consignment sale.

Sun Baby
These are probably my second favorite diapers.  I love the fun prints they come in and the fleece lining.  Again fleece just seems to do better in terms of clean up and stain prevention.  My other favorite feature of these diapers is their trim fit.  They do allow Mara to wear smaller pants generally.

I guess my only issue with these is because of the trim fit the stuffing pockets are slim.  It's hard for me to fit our inserts in sometimes which has on some occasions lead to leaks.  Still I think if I found these on consignment I would buy them again.

Just Bottoms
Oh man.  These are not my favorite diaper.  I will usually put Mara in everyone before turning to these.  I hate the double gussett that only seems to trap poop.  What isn't trapped in the gusset seems to immediately stain the lining.

I tried to sell the three we had at a consignment sale but only got rid of one.  So I guess we will keep them in our stash until I can get rid of the other two.  I mean for the most part they are ok for the average wet diaper.  I just cringe at the thought of a poopy diaper in these.

Easy Bottoms
These are new to our stash since last year.  Our local cloth diaper store recently started caring these and has offered a few $5/diaper sale.  They have fun prints and an easy to stuff pocket but overall I'm less than impressed.

My least favorite aspect of this diaper is the snaps.  It has three to get the leg holes tight but unlike other brands that third snap isn't close to the leg but in line with the further snap.  Yes I know that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to most but basically it makes for a poor fit.  On top of fit, again, these diapers do not clean off well and stain easily.

So although the price was right, I wouldn't get these diapers again.

Dear Baby Girl

Dear Baby Girl,

Here we are in December and all of a sudden another year has gone by.  Baby Girl, we wish we could slow time down and just drink in every moment with you.  I cannot believe how much you've changed from the little four month old at the beginning of this year to my busy, active 14 month old today.  Time has flown little girl.

You are so much fun little girl.  You are this bubbly, playful toddler and I just love this stage.  I delight in watching you learn new things and smile as I see your personality transform.

You are curious.  You observe and take in.  Then you do.  There's no slow speed with you baby girl. You are constantly pushing your boundaries.  You know what you can and cannot do but are not satisfied.  I swear you think you're already five the way you act sometimes.

You are so loving.  You love on Buddy (in your own way), you snuggle with mommy and you blow kisses to daddy.  You are so smart.  You comprehend most of what I tell you and are always pretty quick to comply.

You are amazing. I know every mommy thinks this but, baby girl, you are.  Mommy and Daddy are so lucky to have you in their lives.  We cannot wait to see what next year holds for you.  What you will discover, what new things you will learn, how you will amaze us further.

Life just isn't the same without you girl!  You make our little family complete!

Love always,

Mommy & Daddy

Life With a Toddler

Toddler yikes.  That word is a bit scary.  But I'm embracing it.  Yes, I have a toddler.  Mara is becoming this amazing little girl who has her own thoughts and opinions.

The opinions is where our current struggle is.  I know everyone says do not wish talking on them but I do wish we were communicating better.  It seems like as of late we are in a constant struggle with knowing what she is trying to communicate.  And this girl doesn't know the meaning of patience.  So we are usually in the middle of a melt down before I can even begin to process the situation.

Yes we have tried sign language.  She does know the basic ones but refuses to use them.  I will make the signs to her and she obviously understands but will not do them to get what she wants.  I just keep hoping that with time she will begin to realize that by using them she will get what she wants sooner and easier.

As of now all I can do is try to figure out what she is trying to say as soon as I can.  And if that doesn't work just try to remain calm and distract, distract, distract! I'm sure that this is just one of those phases and soon we'll be through.

But it's not all negative.  I am loving this new stage as well.  To watch her personality blooming is just so amazing.  I love seeing her discover new things.  She is taking play to a whole new level and had recently developed a love for stuffed animals.  I always tell Josh, "She is just so much fun right now!"  And she is.  Sure there are trials but that's life.  We're trying to embrace the good each day and celebrate that!

Prepping for Christmas

I love decorating for the holidays.  We don't have a ton of decorations but I love putting them up each year and slowly adding to our collection.  I also have a thing about making my own decorations.  I typically don't buy anything pre-made.  I just think it makes it more special if I or maybe someday Mara has made the decoration.  There's just more meaning behind it and it doesn't hurt that I love to get my craft on!

Here's a look at Christmas in the Bast house!

I spy a little girl 

Again trying to climb the fireplace

Christmas May Look a Little Different This Year

Christmas will obviously look a little different this year.  We've made it through birthdays, our anniversary and Thanksgiving but I know Christmas will bring just a little extra tug on the heart strings without Josh here.

Christmas is all about family and although I'd love to travel to see everyone we'll be staying home this holiday.  We have been traveling a lot recently and I'm just tired.  I also think a tiny part of me just feels like I want to celebrate Christmas here in our home even if Josh isn't here to celebrate with.

I've been trying to keep the holidays as normal as possible around here.  We've put up decorations and have been enjoying Christmas carols in the car.  Although she's not old enough to remember the traditions we've started (I love traditions) we've been trying to keep up with them.

We've been doing our Jesse tree daily and have been making Christmas crafts for family.  We've hung our stockings and Mara's doing her best to take down the Christmas tree ornament by ornament.  I'm hoping by the end of the season we will have made a batch of Christmas cookies and checked out the lights in the neighborhood.

I think the really difficulty will come on the actual day.  Hopefully we will be able to celebrate together by skype and focus on how few days we have left of this separation versus actually being apart on this holiday.  Most of all I hope all of us can focus on the true reason for the season!  The birth of our Savior!

Blue Spring State Park

While we were in Florida we spent one afternoon at Blue Spring State Park.  The park is the winter home to over 300 manatees.  Most days you can see the gentle giants almost floating through the crystal clear waters of the natural springs.  Mara's finally getting to an age where she is really observant of the things around her and I knew she'd love looking at the manatees in the water.

At the first lookout point we spotted three large manatees, with one getting pretty close to the lookout deck.  I pointed them out to Mara and she squealed and pointed at them.  From there we walked down the boardwalk to a deeper portion and were able to spot a couple more.

The majority of the manatees we saw were near the boat dock at the opposite end of the boardwalk where the river enters the natural springs.  Here I was able to point out a few more to Mara as well as show her some of the large river birds.

After checking out the manatees we roamed around the gift shop.  We ended up with a book on the park which explained why the manatees swim down to the springs every winter.  Overall it was a great afternoon.  It was nice to get out of the house and explore the surrounding area.