I am finally back!!!

Oh my goodness I haven't been on in forever! The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy! And this next one isn't going to be any better!!! Moving is such a hassle! Ugh.

Here's a quick recap of the last couple of weeks:

*Last weekend we had our Going-Away-Party. It was such a great time! We had so many friends show up! And I may or may not have cried in the bathroom on several occasions. LoL

* As of last Monday, I was done with my nanny job and Kyle was officially detached from the USS Abraham Lincoln! He will hopefully never have to go out to sea again! As a going away present, my boss and her sons got me a diamond tennis bracelet! It was really sweet, and really pretty!

* Kyle decided that he wasn't crazy about driving my current car ('02 Mercury Mountaineer) across country. It's been giving us issues the last couple of months. He started toying with the idea of trading in now, and started doing his research for our next car

* We bought a car! On Wednesday, we purchased a 2006 Nissan Murano. It's dark gray, fully loaded, and I LOVE it! And it is a much more reliable ride than my other car! LoL

* Erin's baby shower was on Saturday. It all came together really well, and she got a lot of great stuff! As I've said before, I hate baby showers, but for my best friend, I was happy to do it!

* I hadn't read any blogs at all until a few days ago, and it took me several days to get all caught up! Sorry for the lack of comments! I will be better about it eventually! And by eventually, I mean after we get moved!

* I am down 16 pounds. I haven't been very good about going to the gym lately. But I am glad that I am at least now gaining back what I've lost.

* I have already started saying good-byes. And it sucks!!! I have cried more than a little! One of my hardest ones will be on Tuesday when I take Erin to the airport. And then other hardest one will be next Sunday, when I say bye to Brina. But, all good-byes suck! And I am not a fan! Another tough one was saying good-bye to my friend Kalli. Her and I became great friends when I started nannying for her son. He was 10 weeks old when I started. And when he was 18 months, she switched jobs and had to let me go. But we have remained close ever since! That little boy is now 4 years old! We had dinner with them on Thursday. And as a going away present she got me the most perfect gift! It is a custom neck strap for my DSLR camera! I can't wait to get it and start using it!


I know I had a lot more to talk about, but my brain is mush right now. The movers will be here on Wednesday to pack, and Thursday to load up all possessions. The cleaners come on Saturday, and we had over our keys on Sunday. Then first thing Monday morning, we're gone! There is so much to do and so little time to do it in. And in between all of that, I am trying to spend as much time with my friends, as possible!

Please forgive me for being a terrible blogger for the past couple of weeks, and the next month-ish. I will eventually get back to blogging on a regular schedule. But in the meantime, I am reading when I can, and still always thinking happy thoughts for all of you that are going through everything that you are right now!

And now, I leave you with a "few" pictures!

Week 5 Weight Loss

Okay, so I lied! I didn't make it back yesterday to update! Oops! But for the record, I am down just under 14 pounds!!! I think it may have been over that, but I am bloated. Yah, that was my lovely Valentine's Day gift. Thanks for stopping in, Flo!

I was going to update earlier today, after I got home from running errands. But then on of my bests called and asked if I would come get her kids for a few hours. She is so sick and felt terrible! So of course I went and got them! She texted after she woke up a few hours late, and still felt like crap. So I told her to just go back to bed, and that the kids could spend the night with me! So all afternoon and evening, I have had Alexis(almost 6), Trenton(3), and Jessa(almost 3 months)! Luckily, they are usually pretty good kids! Poor Jessa is catching what Brina has though, and she was pretty fussy. But currently, all 3 are sleeping! Well, of course as I typed that, I think Jessa may be waking up! LoL I can't tell just yet, she is such a noisy sleeper! Hehe!

Kyle will be home in about 12 hours, hopefully! YAY! Can't wait!

The days are going by entirely too quickly! Everytime I think about having to say my good-byes, I start to cry! Slow down, February!!!

Anyway, I better get to bed. I have a feeling the kiddos will be up early! I hope everyone had a great weekend, and a lovely Valentine's Day! I got to spend it with the 3 kids that I love the most! They are definitely the closest thing to having my own! I have been around since before Trent and Jessa was born, and Lexi was not even two! And I got to be there for Jessa's birth! It's been great being such a big part of their lives!

Time for a change.

My blog needs a facelift. And maybe a new title? But I'm not sure what just yet...I really liked by title before. But now, we aren't really on the IF train. We've jumped off! Now, we're focusing on adoption. So do you think I need to rename my blog? Hmm...I don't know. But either way, at least now I have a fresh new look! And look how happy my blog looks now! :)

Kyle comes home on Monday! And the next few weeks are going to be crazy busy! So much to do and so little time to do it!

We have our going away party on Saturday! I'm really excited about it, but also dreading it. I HATE good-byes!! And then, one of my friends reminded me today that we've already had to say good-bye once, and that the second time is going to suck even worse! I've known my two best friends for over 4 years. We all met at our last duty station in Charleston. And then, Kyle and I moved out here. Next came Brina and her family just a few months after that. And finally, Erin and her husband came shortly after that! I love having them here, and it has been so great! And now, I am super bummed to be leaving them behind. This is definitely one of the hardest aspects of the military lifestyle. That and never seeing your husband! LoL

Since posting my latest photo project just a few days ago, I have had 5 more requests from friends wanting to buy one for themselves!!! That makes me so happy! I am by no means a professional, but just knowing that people would pay money for photos that I take makes me feel really good about myself! :D

Well my dears, it is late. And I am baby-sitting a friend's baby all day tomorrow, while they are moving. But I promise I will make time for my weekly weight loss report though!

Photo Project!

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a friend of mine. She was showing me pictures of her son's nursery. She was saying that the walls still needed something on them, so I volunteered to do some pictures for her! She then asked me if I had ever done the letter photography, pictures of things that look like letters. I hadn't ever tried, but told her I would give it a whirl! Anyway, here is the outcome! For my first try, I'm pretty pleased! They will be printed seperately, not all together. But I wanted to show them next to each other. And his nursery is painted brown, with primary color accents.

I already have in a request from someone else for one for them! And I totally will be putting one in my someday nursery! I have always said I wanted to incorporate my photography in somehow! This is a good start!

What do you think?

Opinions?

Because I just can't help myself, I've been looking at ideas for our future nursery! It's never too early to start planning, right? We already have the furniture. Last year, a friend of mine sold it to me for an incredible deal! I have been going back and forth over when we will set it all up once we move. I don't know if it's something I want to do right away, or if it's something that I will want to wait until we have been matched, to do. But either way, it never hurts to look! I have found some incredibly cute nurseries out there!!! Unfortunately, most of them are probably way out of my budget and my creative zone! Haha! But I found this two sets from Target, and they are way stinking cute!!! They are both very different, but so adorable! I know for sure that we will do an neutral nursery, whenever it is that we decide. Because you just never know, and I would really hate to do a gender specific one, and then things fall through. I'm not huge into themes either. I like color palettes more. Plus you can do so much with a color theme, than a specific theme.

Anyway, this is the crib we have. I believe in person, the color looks a little lighter. I'm usually a darker finish girl, but beggers can't be choosers right




And here are the two sets that I have found so far that I really love! Which one do you like better? I like the way they both look in the color of crib shown, but like I said, I have to work with what I got!

Week Four Weight Loss...and lots of other random tidbits!

I had my doctor's appointment yesterday. It was my one month of weight loss check-up. And I have lost 11 pounds this month! My doctor was very proud of me! She said that I am doing terrific!! That was great to hear! She also told me that the average woman only loses 2-4 pounds a month! That's almost slightly discouraging! But thankfully, she is going to let me do one more month on the meds. After that, I'm hoping that I will still be able to do it on my own! But I guess we'll see! For now, I'm just enjoying my tremendous success! I know that I have still got a long way to go, and that 11 pounds is a very tiny dent, but you've got to start somewhere though, right??

I had a friend ask me on Facebook if I was losing the weight because it would increase my chance of pregnancy. I told her that ship has sailed! Last year, while Kyle was gone on deployment for 7 months, I lost 25 pounds! A part of me really thought that maybe once he got home, I would immediately get pregnant! I mean, that is what they say right?! (Just one of the so many other comments that random people tell you that will help you get pregnant!) But of course, it didn't happen. For a long time, I really thought it might be my weight stopping me. But then, 1.)I've seen many other girls much bigger than me get pregnant and 2.) I was quite a bit lighter when we started almost 3.5 years ago! But anyway, back to the original part of paragraph. I told her that I wasn't doing it to get pregnant. I was doing it for me. I want to be healthy. I want Kyle to have a healthy wife! I want our future children to have a healthy Mommy! Of course, I'm also doing it for vanity's sake. I don't want our adoption profile to get passed over because of my size! We have so much to offer a child! And if someone can't get past the first picture they see, then they will never know. And that is not okay!

Moving on to another tidbit (I probably should have bulleted this post! Haha!). We didn't get the house! ::sad face:: Our realtor called on Wednesday night and said that the sellers chose the other offer because it required less concessions on their part, up front. Which I think was pretty dumb of them. I guarantee the other offer was for the listed price, maybe a little less even! But they probably offered to pay closing costs. For our offer, we gave them the best that we could do. We offered enough to cover closing costs, plus almost $2g more than listed price! The only downfall to our offer was that upfront, they would have to come up with closing costs. But after it was done, they would have gotten it back, and then some! Oh well, I guess it just wasn't meant to be! Though they did tell us that if something fell through, we would be the first ones called. I'm not holding my breath though! So I guess for now, we probably won't buy. Kyle didn't find anything else out there that he loved. Originally we thought that we would find a short term rental and keep looking. But then I reminded him that if we do that, we're going to have to postpone finishing up the home study so that we don't have to pay more to update it, if we were to move part way through. And since clearly, that is the most important thing, it looks like we'll just have to find a long term rental. And I'm okay with that. Owning a house isn't that important to us, but becoming parents definitely is!

And last but not least, before this blog becomes a novel (which I have a terrible habit of doing! I can't help it! I'm a talker! Just imagine if you know me in person! LoL). Kyle is currently out to sea. But this should be his very last time EVER!!! That makes me so happy! We should finish out our time on shore duty in New York, and then good-bye Navy life! He'll be home in less than two weeks. And then it is definitely crunch time! We are moving in just over a month! And I am getting overwhelmed just thinking about it! But holding on to the excitement of starting the adoption process keeps me going! I cannot wait!!! I have quite a few adoptive moms/moms-in-waiting blogs in my blogroll. And they are all at different stages in the process. And just reading them gets me so excited! I hope we have as great of an experience as some of them have! It's a scary thing to start, and I'm terrified of what could go wrong, but without risks, there are no rewards!

And on that note, I am out of here! I have a photo shoot this afternoon, and that always puts me in a good mood! I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend! I'll leave you with a fantastic song, that is one of my inspirational go-to-songs!