Baby bird's onesie dress

My sewing machine has been calling my name for a while and I have been putting it off for a long time; opting to wait for a night my housework and homework are caught up. Well, I finally did it! I ignored the dishes in the sink and the chapter on Scientific Naturalism that I had to read! hehe

Here are my "raw materials". I had the fabric from an outfit my mom wanted me to make for Miss Tornado but I never got around to.

 I cut the onesi into two pieces.

 I then sewed the skirt together and then sewed the skirt to the top part of the onesie.

 I then sewed the bottom part of the onesie to the top part and the skirt.

 I added some brick brack to the shirt just because I wanted to. :-)

 Here is Miss Baby Bird in her new onesie dress! I plan to make a matching t-shirt dress for Miss Tornado to wear as well with the left over fabric. :-)

Deployment thoughts

We are coming up on our second deployment right now and I feel like it is our first. So many emotions and feelings are coming up and this is definately another log jam for us.

One thing that I find interesting that I have experienced with both deployments is how stressful the time leading up to the seperation is. Part of me wants to capitalize on all the time we have left with each other and a bigger part of me wants to "rip off the bandaid" and get the goodbyes over with. When DH is gone I miss him ALOT, but in alot of ways it is easier to function once he is gone. Routines become easier because we aren't trying to fit two adults schedules into one calendar, the Navy can't throw a wrench into our plans with the kids at the last minute, I can streamline our routines and the wet towels don't find themselves on the floor ;-).

Don't get me wrong. When he is gone the nights are long, the days are still hectic and just seeing a happy couple holding hands in public can reduce me to tears. Being a temporary single parent is a real challenge and I am very thankful that I don't have to be a permanent single parent.

One theme that got me through the last deployment was the goal of "thrive, don't survive" and I really think it set a very positive tone for the whole six months. In that time I gave birth to Mr. Man-Puppy, flew to Florida and back and lost all the baby weight from Man-Puppy plus the babyweight from Miss Tornado's pregnancy. Dh came home to a healthier and more confident wife and the kids had a healthier and more patient mommy.

I really hope I can do as well this time too. I am going to work out more, eat better, organize the house, study the Bible more and focus on thriving rather than surviving!

Baby Bird is a roller!

This morning I put Baby Bird onto the floor for her tummy time and sat down near her to check my email and facebook. Normally she doesn't like tummy time, so we bought her a mirror that stands on its own so she can stare deeply into her own reflection. :-) Narcissicism is a good motivator for good core muscles. ;-)

Today she actually enjoyed being on her belly, so I was able to relax. Soon I looked over and she was on her back! Grrr! I miss her first roll! It's all downhill from here, soon she will be rolling over to see what her siblings are getting into and I will have three mobile children! EEK!

She has her first well-baby check up coming soon, so it is nice to check that off her "baby milestones" list that they will interogate me over.

My first post

I've finally jumped on the blog train!

I'll start by explaining my blog title.

It was March 17, 2007 when a dear friend took me canoeing in his canoe. He showed up at my house dressed like the Crocodile Hunter and I was dressed like a typical college co-ed with shorts and flip flops. He took me to a culvert and we put the canoe in there, I should have known what I was getting into. :-)

We told my parents we would be back at 1. However this creek we were traversing hadn't been touched since Hurricane Ivan in 2004, so there were log jams every few feet. We were spending more time out of the canoe weilding machetes than we did in the canoe using paddles! It took us three hours to go half a mile and our intended path was 3 miles!

Halfway through our intended path I seriously considered whacking my friend over the head with my paddle when that "still, small voice" that I had come to recognize as God's voice told me "this is what your life with him will be like". Uh oh...

At midnight that night we were finally pulled out of the swamp we ended up in after SAR circling us for hours.

November of that year we were joined as husband and wife and true to His word, our lives have been one log jam after another. Here is a brief description of our four years of marriage (so far)

Married November 2007
Moved to Randolph AFB the next day
Found out we were pregnant three weeks later
Moved to Jacksonville, Florida six months after our wedding
Had Miss Tornado in August 2008
Moved to Whidbey Island, Washington June 2009
Found out that we were pregnant in July 2009
Lost that child a month later
Found out we were pregnant again October 2009
DH deployed May 2010
Mr. Man Puppy was born in July 2010 in our first homebirth
October 2010 DH switched careers in the Navy
November 2010 DH returned home
January 2011 we found that we were pregnant again!
March 2011 we  moved to Hawaii
September 2011 Miss Baby Bird was born in our second homebirth.

That's 4 moves, 4 pregnancies and 3 children in 4 years! It's been an eventful life together and all these hurdles have strengthened us as individuals and as a family. God has been good!