Marine Parents Blog

wordless wednesday. . . . this kid!

april — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:15:36 +0000

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konnichiwa!!

april — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:44:40 +0000

konnichiwaa from japan!!!!

we finally have arrived & feel rested. it’s been four days since we got on our first flight out of san diego & i’ve been limited on internet access, wakeful hours & motivation. i feel like i’m finally getting my groove back a little :]

the most often asked question from family, friends & Facebook fans is this — how was the trip? well, not to brag…. but it was a breeze. honestly, i had braced myself for days prior to take-off for what could have been world war three — two tired parents, one toddler trapped in a car seat for nearly 20 hours & nine bags to tote through a foreign country. how blessed were we that amelia was such a trooper?! this had to be the best she’s ever done flying, period. she slept twice on our 12 hour flight from los angeles to tokyo, played in the God-sent children’s area at the narita airport during a three hour layover & slept again on the three hour flight from tokyo to okinawa.

in terms of getting on a new schedule here — again, easier than i had imagined. there has to be something to say about living a casual, laid-back lifestyle with our kid that makes an international move this bearable. in case you were wondering, we are sixteen hours AHEAD of PST — so most of the time we are already in your tomorrow. i’m pretty sure that a full day of flying, accompanied by arriving at nightfall to a new country helped us all get into a new sleeping schedule. the first night was easy. the second night, amelia woke up at 3:30am with lots of funny random questions for her sleeping parents. we gave her some benadryl & she went right back to sleep. since then she has slept from 9pm to about 6:30am consistently.

one of the awesome things that the marine corps does is pair your family up with a sponsor for an international move. the sponsor family is one that has been in country & will help you make an easy transition. our sponsor family has been on the island for the last three years & have been phenomenal in helping us get around, tackle housing & car placement & getting us out of our hotel room every day. they’ve introduced us to some good places out in town to eat, shop {hello 100 yen store!!! just like the dollar store!} & play. yesterday we went to a fun place called round 1. it’s a huge building with several floors of entertainment — outdoor sports, skating, bowling, ping pong & even a huge ball pit zone for smaller kids!

amelia had a blast playing & jumping & running. i enjoyed sitting in the full body massage chairs directly in front of the ball pit — yeah, you read that right. they sure know how to treat moms around here!!! :] caleb could be found being pelted with soft blocks by some of the older kids upstairs — so random but he had a blast! we are excited about going back & hopefully learning how to read some japanese so we can figure out their membership program.

overall, japan has been good to us so far. we are heading out this afternoon to look at a house on base & hopefully get to move in later this week. our household good shipments will begin arriving in the next few weeks & we will finally get back to some semblance of normalcy. i’m ready to start sewing, cooking & living duffel-bag free again REAL soon!

military monday bloghop. . . . week forty-six!

april — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:01:14 +0000

welcome, welcome, welcome!

you have stumbled upon (or purposely found) the Military Monday Blog Hop! while your gracious host & many fellow blog hoppers are military wives, i invite all of you, military or not, to join in this great new blog hop to get your week started and your blog following grown!

feel free to link up as many blogs as you have – but please don’t leave links to your facebook, twitter or other blog hops (those links will be deleted!). you can also share this blog hop on your own blog, if you please…. we totally encourage it!

if you are a blogger on a self-hosted wordpress blog & are unable to connect with GFC, please detail you preferred method for other bloggers to connect with you in a blog post that you link below.

the guidelines are quite simple here!

♥ grab the Military Monday Blog Hop button and post it as a new blog post or somewhere on your blog so we can be sure you are at the right hop!

♥ follow as many, or as few, of the linked blogs as you like – but remember:: the more you follow, the more followers you will get in return! be sure to leave a comment that you stopped by from the Military Monday Blog Hop and leave your blog address!

♥ wanna stay connected with me? i’d love for you to sign up for my RSS feed, daily email subscription, or become a fan on Facebook! :] let me know you are following from the blog hop & i’ll be sure to return the favor!!

thanks for joining in the fun, i hope you make some great new blog friends today! now, let’s get hoppin’!

military monday bloghop. . . . week forty-five!

april — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:01:35 +0000

welcome, welcome, welcome!

the guidelines are quite simple here!

♥ grab the Military Monday Blog Hop button and post it as a new blog post or somewhere on your blog so we can be sure you are at the right hop!

thanks for joining in the fun, i hope you make some great new blog friends today! now, let’s get hoppin’!

may is military appreciation month!

april — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:25:49 +0000

may is military appreciation month –
so i’m linking up with Riding the Roller Coaster & Household 6 Diva
for a fantastic mil spouse bloghop :]

♥ ♥ ♥

most of you know me, but if you don’t, let me introduce myself….

hi! i’m april :]

i’m the wifey to a very handsome & successful US Marine. i’m also momma to one extremely rambunctious & utterly adorable two year old daughter. i started blogging about three years ago when we found out we were pregnant with our daughter, amelia. what originally started as a means to keep family involved quickly became an outlet for making friends, venting motherhood frustrations & celebrating birthdays ♥

about a year ago, my hubby taught me how to sew {!!!}. after privately selling a few smashed ruffle camera strap covers to personal friends, i opened up an etsy shop. since then, the shop has grown & shaped itself into what it is now — a fabulous one-stop gift shop full of ruffled pouches, toddler-sized backpacks, knotted necklaces & my best-selling military make-up bags {available in all US branches!!}. having this shop is a HUGE blessing for me as a creative outlet & our family as a secondary income while i stay home with amelia.

in honor of military appreciation month, i’m offering a pretty sweet discount on all orders!!

a fun fact —> we are moving to okinawa, japan NEXT WEEK!!! the time is finally here, & if you’ve been reading my blog for any period of time, you know how excited we are to get over there. you can read more posts leading up to our move or follow along because there will be tons of pretty japanese pictures & adventures to come!!

♥ ♥ ♥

if you’re looking for a few other places to connect with me {i love to stay in touch!!!}, you can find me through these links::

♥ twitter
♥ Facebook
♥ instagram
♥ or sign up for my shop newsletter & save 15% on your first order!!

let me know that you’re stopping by from the military appreciation hop & i’ll be sure to follow you right back — pinky promise!!

{pssst!} looking for more info?? check out our family about page for a more in depth story!

mothering a two year old. . . . frustrations, failures + flowers

april — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:15:31 +0000

mothering a two year old is hard.

ok — i’m glad that’s out in the open. i’m sure i’m not the first mother that has vented to other mama girlfriends about feeling like a complete & utter failure as a mom. every day makes the previous day look like a piece of cake — lengthier & more extreme temper tantrums, new found ways to cause others harm {biting, throwing, hitting}, whining whining whining….

and every day i feel like i’m handling each situation worse than the last. i can’t breathe deeply enough, i can’t think clearly enough, i can’t see the big picture of what’s happening. every time amelia jumps on the edge of the couch, my breathing hitches — she could fall & get hurt. every time amelia throws a toy at another kid out of her extreme toddler anger, i can’t find the words to make her understand that what she is doing is wrong. every time amelia throws herself face first on the floor because i’ve told her “no”…… UGH!!! i could go on & on!

the thing is this:: i know i’m not the only mother of “terrible” two year old. i’m not the first {& certainly won’t be the last} mom that feels frustrated — but i want to be an open & honest mom who can tell people that i feel frustrated. i feel like a failure as a mom. i feel irritated, angry & tired.

by the time caleb comes home from a fifteen plus hour work day on the flight line, i’ve had it up to *here* with amelia & i have to relinquish the punishing & care taking over to him before i lose my ever-loving mind. i think this is what makes me feel like i’ve failed not only amelia, but my family, the most. my main job is to take care of amelia — oversee her well-being, entertain & teach her right from wrong, feed her nutritious foods to help her grow big & strong. but i can’t even make it through the whole day without being utterly exhausted, broken & {at the risk of sounding utterly redundant} frustrated.

{photo via weheartit}

i don’t have a solution, i don’t have any inspiring words of advice. but i’m hoping that we can all share similarities & virtual shoulders to cry on. being a mother is full of unforeseen experiences — babies with colic, sleepless nights, tantrums & potty training meltdowns. every day i tell myself this — i am not the only mother feeling this way.

so trust me — you are not the only mother feeling this way, either. right now may feel bad, but tomorrow {or tomorrow’s tomorrow} will be better. let’s promise each other that. because in between each & every tantrum, meltdown or fit, there’s an adorable little person that WE created, giving us a handful of dead leaves — but to a mother in need of a sweet moment of relief, it’s the most beautiful bouquet of flowers on earth.

military monday bloghop. . . . week forty-four!

april — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:01:16 +0000

welcome, welcome, welcome!

the guidelines are quite simple here!

♥ grab the Military Monday Blog Hop button and post it as a new blog post or somewhere on your blog so we can be sure you are at the right hop!

thanks for joining in the fun, i hope you make some great new blog friends today! now, let’s get hoppin’!

a flight, a vacation, a break. . . .

april — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:15:29 +0000

last week, we moved out of our apartment into a hotel for five days while TMO movers boxed & wrapped all of our belongings to be shipped to japan. duffel bags, fluffed white pillows & continental breakfast has been the “new norm” for us. for the next month{-ish}, we will be living in limbo — a little bit here, a little bit there, friends’ houses & hotels.

right now, we are so lucky to be spending two weeks with our best friends in north carolina. we flew out from san diego friday night around 10pm on a red eye flight to atlanta for a connection to jacksonville, nc. amelia slept…. well, not much. we loaded her in to her car seat, bought a rather expensive in-flight movie featuring three obnoxiously high pitched singing chipmunks & hoped she would pass out after take off. two hours later….. she finally dozed, but slept lightly enough to wake every time someone passed by for a potty break or walked about to stretch their legs.

we had a three hour layover in atlanta && with a sleep deprived toddler we could barely keep her occupied enough. we put finding nemo on the laptop & gave her a cup of lemonade while she played on our cell phones. finally, another family sat near us & she had a fun time playing & laughing with the little boy.

we finally boarded & amelia immediately fell asleep for the short ride up to jacksonville. she has been having a ball playing with our friends’ twin boys who are a year older than her {almost to the day!}. they have been driving her around in their motorized trucks & scooters, showing her how to put together their floor puzzles & taking breaks from the heat by playing in the pool.

it’s been such a joy watching her play with kids her age — all day, everyday. i know she loves it & it’s a good stepping stone for teaching her to share, which is a concept we really struggle with teaching to an only child. two is SUCH a tough age for me to handle {much more on this next week} so it’s been great for me to have another momma friend to vent to & glean advice from.

&& of course — caleb’s having an awesome time with his BFF. there’s a lot of boat talk, truck talk, gun talk & arm wrestling.

i’m loving this vacation time with friends — getting back to some bonfire, card playing & grilling good times. it’s a good relief period to relax & be stress-free right before our international move.

upcoming!! a 1,000 sales giveaway!

april — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:15:42 +0000

if you’re a fan on Facebook {&& wait — aren’t you all?? *wink*}, then you’ve been hearing little comments here & there about a HUGE giveaway coming soon — celebrating the Marine Parents shop hitting 1,000 sales! i’m SEW pumped about this major milestone & i couldn’t wait to start pulling together some fabulous prize packages to giveaway to Y-O-U!!

not to spoil all the surprise fun, but there may be a little bit of this in a few packages….

and then, maybe even a few of these….

there’s lots of other fun goodies from target & a few other handmade shops that i’ve added into four BIG prize packages :] there will also be lots of other mini prizes for others…. think a few small ruffled pouches, market flowers + more!!

once the shop hits 1,000 sales {!!!}, i’ll post the giveaway HERE on the blog with super easy rafflecopter entry methods. if you’d like to get a little bit of a head start on some EXTRA entries, here’s a few fun clues to help….

♥ become a Facebook fan
♥ follow along with me on twitter
♥ make a shop purchase!!*
♥ sign up for the shop newsletter

{*all dollar amount invoices made prior to the 1,000th sale will receive extra entries!!}

we have under fifty sales to go until the BIG giveaway goes live!!! check back often for more news or scout around on the Facebook fan page for sneak peeks of some of the prize packages — over $200 in giveaway goodies!

happy may birthday celebrations!!

april — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:15:46 +0000

oh happy day — it’s the first of may!!

i totally made that cute rhyme up & thought it was the cutest. my husband is probably cringing as he reads it. :]

a few weeks ago, i opened up the love & envelopes birthday girl club to new members & i’m so excited to introduce them to you over the course of the next twelve months!! this club has been so much fun & i love celebrating life, love & blogging with these amazing women. i hope you have found a few good blogs to read each month as i link up with each month’s birthday girls.

it’s time to celebrate a few more ladies — so get your fingers ready to click over to some new blogs full of fun stories & beautiful photos!

Michelle Y.
birthday:: may 3rd
blog:: milesbehindme.blogspot.com
twitter:: @miles_behind_me

Hannah S.
birthday:: may 11th
blog:: gladblog.gladheartacres.com/?cat=12

Emily N.
birthday:: may 20th
blog:: http://practicallypink.blogspot.com
shop:: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PracticallyPink
twitter:: @Emily_Nicole520

Shelby R.
birthday:: may 29th
blog:: shelbyisrad.wordpress.com
twitter:: @shelbyisrad

***

check out this post from Jenn at Brynn’s Boutique, one of our fab birthday girls — she got a ton of awesome cards from other club members!!

{photos courtesy of weheartit}