Update!

Well it has been a while since I have written on here!! A LOT has changed!! We moved out of Base housing mid May and had our stuff put into temporary storage. We had planned to stay in the Raleigh area, but when I came out to Denver to visit the family we both had a change of heart. Obviously, since we have families in two different states one or both will have to suffer no matter where we move. This was our decision and it is what we want. I came out here June 7th and have been out here ever since. I recently found an apartment that we will rent until we decide otherwise- we will be staying out at the Belmar area- at Wadsworth and Alameda. We are both looking for jobs and hope that we find something that works with our schedules soon. I start clinical in October and will be doing that until I graduate in April so I can only work part time unless I work at night. Kayleigh is doing well and growing like a weed!! She is 27 lbs now! We had to go to the doctor because she broke out in a rash again. I swear we have like 10 tubes of the Nystatin - of course I didn't have a single tube with me in Denver so that didn't do me any good. Otherwise things are going well!! I'm flying back to NC on the 18th to see everyone and have a get together/going away/birthday for Kayleigh !! That's about all for now!! :)

Big girl!

Can you believe that Kayleigh is 20 months? I can't believe how fast time is going by and how much bigger she gets with each and every passing day. There are days when we sit back and go " Oh my gosh, she is getting so big and growing up way too quickly!" Well we have made yet ANOTHER big step. The other day I put her down for a nap and I heard a loud bang, but no crying. I didn't think anything of it because we've heard the same sound before and it was her throwing something out of the crib. A little later John went to her room to find her OUT of the crib and walking around. The mattress is already on the LOWEST setting so next step?? Well the next morning she decided to jump it out again. This time she cried, but no injuries. So we decided it was time to put the toddler rail on the bed instead of it being a crib.

She LOVESSSS being able to get in and out of her bed. We thought it was going to be hard, but it has been going very well. She will cry when you first shut the door, but then she may play for a minute or so and then she climbs into her bed and goes to sleep. I can't even believe that she is already in a toddler bed. It is so crazy and I can't believe how big she is getting.

Pictures!!

I know I said I would post a few so here they are!!

Kayleigh playing in her pool!

                        We got a box in the mail and she was having so much fun with the packing peanuts!

                                She thinks it is hilarious to be brought down in the laundry baskets!!

                                                           Being a big girl at the park!

                                Went to a park with sand! she wasn't too sure about it at first!

               She kept picking the flowers that you blow on and it comes off. She thought they were so cool!

Hope you enjoy the new pictures!!!

It has been a doozy

Well, you read the title didn't you!! WHHHEEEW!  It surely has been one heck of a doozy lately. I was finishing up the last two weeks of my term in school and I had a TON of work to get done. John was so great with keeping Kayleigh occupied or taking care of dinner and bath time while I was slammed with work to do. FINALLY the long awaited Tuesday night came around and all my work was DONE! WHEW I was so relieved to have 2 weeks off from school(minus a final- but I wasn't stressing over that). 

That night Kayleigh woke up twice, which is very rare for her. She woke up again at 610am coughing and calling "Da Da" so pitifully. John brought up a cup of cold water and we both went in there, but she wanted nothing to do with the water. I looked around in her crib and noticed she had thrown up on her animals. We stripped all her blankets, sheet, animals, pillow and clothes and took them to the laundry room. Change her and brought her downstairs to watch Mickey Mouse ( she is obsessed and it is her favorite!). She watched tv for a while and refused to eat anything at all so I didn't push it on her. At about 830 she finally got up and started playing around a little and acting some what normal. We had no idea if it was something she ate or what was going on. She drank little water throughout the morning but I didn't push her. Around 1130 I had gotten us ready to leave the house to go get ink for the printer. I grabbed a pureed fruit pouch and some goldfish, thinking those were bland and would be ok for her stomach. She took about 2 "bites" of the fruit and gave it back to me so I handed her 2 goldfish. The next thing I know she coughed and I look back and she is throwing up- coming out of the nose and everything. I freaked out cause I was driving, and could obviously tell it was choking her up. I got her home(we only made it about 2mins from the house) and cleaned her, and the car and car seat up. We went to the store later and grabbed her some pedialyte and a few other things from the store. We finally got her to eat some bread around 3 and 6pm and she kept them both down along with pedialyte. We went about out normal routine that night, as usual. Around 1130pm I came upstairs to go to bed and I went to check on her. When I went into the room she was sitting up in the crib and I noticed she had throw up. I picked her up and called for John to get his help. He had taken one of his pills for his neck so he was OUT. I came into our bedroom and called his name louder, at that point Kayleigh project vomited clear liquid, so I head to her bathroom where she proceeded to throw up about 4 more times. It was AWFUL. We had to give her a bath, clean the bathroom, start more laundry, change her bedding, I had to shower and change, and then get her back to sleep. Thursday we woke up and she laid on the couch watching tv for about 5 hours without moving, she even fell asleep- which NEVER happens. I realized it had been almost 24 hours since we had had a wet diaper, which is a big problem in kids. So we took her to the ER and started right away pushing fluids. Finalllyy after 28 hours she finally peed. Then we started the second part of the stomach big- diarrhea. O JOY. Well I would rather deal with poop than puke any day, personally. It was finally gone by Saturday, but her appetite is still not where it was before she got sick. It was so awful seeing her that sick and I'm sure we will see it more in her life as she gets older. 

Mom and I went to the Southern Women's Show in Raleigh and boy was that crazy! I have never been before and mom asked me to go! We seriously walked that place for about 6.5 hours! We had a great time and saw some great vendors and such! Probably spent way too much money, but it was worth it! Afterwards, we went and had sushi since it is our FAVORITE!  

Not much more to tell about us lately! Other than dealing with her sickness and the craziness from all my school work not much is going on around here. The weather seems to be staying nice which is AWESOME! o, did I mention Kayleigh LOVES bubbles! It is probably her favorite word EVER! I will have to upload some pics and put them on here to let everyone see! 

bye for now!

USMC

The USMC is how John and I met. It is also taken us on many adventures before and after we met. John spent a year in Okinawa after bootcamp, then Camp Lejeune- where he deployed to Iraq. Once home from Iraq is when we ended up meeting. Our wedding was incorporated with the Marine Corps, and it then sent us on an adventure of our own to Okinawa, Japan. Living in Japan for 2.5 years was such an awesome experience that most take for granted, even us. Now that we are back stateside, oh what I would give to be back in Japan. I miss that place like something crazy. So here we are ending this journey in the MC and it is stressful, exciting, scary, and bittersweet. We have met some awesome people in our journeys through the MC, especially my BEST friend, Whitney. It is March 31st and to date we have 19 weeks ( 4.5 months roughly) left in the Marine Corps. John has applied for several jobs, and put out a ton of resumes to companies all over. We know it has only been about 2.5 weeks, but you have to understand the fear of the UNKNOWN. No idea where we will be going, no idea about a for sure job- it's a scary thought at the moment. We have decided on a back up plan and that is for John to go to the Colorado State Patrol and we will move there. I have a better chance at getting a job there with better pay, so that's where the decision came from and obviously we talked about it! This is a whirlwind and I'm hoping we have some FOR SURE answers soon. There is a difference in the unknown within the military and the unknown AFTER the military. Let's just cross our fingers for a job offer. This week the stress level is running high, and patience is running low. Being military family we are OBVIOUSLY use to the hurry up and wait game, but this time it is totally different. I can't believe that our journey in the Marine Corps is SO close to ending. I remember when we first got married and John re-enlisted, and here we are 4.5 months away from his EAS date. Man, does time fly by! The military has it's pros and cons, but I know that we will miss some aspects of the military life once we are no longer a part of it. It is totally bittersweet because there are so many times when I get fed up with the military and how it operates, but we are taking away some great friendships and memories! That I am grateful for, and always having a roof over our head, always having a for sure paycheck. My thoughts are all over the place, but this is going by oh so fast. I will keep updating as we find out information and our plans.

Just a few pictures!
                                            
                                              The BEAUTIFUL water and beaches there!

                                                                   Shuri Castle

                                                        
                                                  Early 2008 outside our base housing

                                                   Our last and final Marine Corps Ball 2008

                                 Going to Denver on Emergency leave- we flew through Taiwan

Coupons!!!!

I've never really paid close attention to coupons unless they crossed my path. I always hear about people getting things for free and stuff for really cheap but could never get my hands on these deals. In Jacksonville we don't get the big newspaper so we don't get a lot of inserts to find coupons but a lot of girls have family and friends send them coupons. One of the girls here has started getting really into it and she let me go through her HUGE stack of coupons that she had! It seems like it took me forever to go through them, but I picked out quite a few that we would definitely use! I made my list and went off to the commissary. I got some really good deals and even lower prices since I went to the commissary. I ended up saving a total of $34.09 !!! I was pretty proud of myself for it being my first time reallyyy getting into the coupon thing!!

Here are a few of the GREAT deals I got!

I got 2 deodorants and 2 body washes for a total of about $5

The deodorants were $3.12 a piece and the body washes were $3.12 a piece as well. But I had TWO BOGO free, and then a $1/off 2 items. 

The other deal I got was power bars. John eats them all the time so it was PERFECT! 

I got 6 power bars for 30 cents a PIECE. They were on sale for 80 cents and I had 3 coupons that were buy 2 save $1. Can't beat that! 

Just thought I would share my excitement!! I got a bunch of other great deals but these two were the best ones I got that day! 

I will definitely continue to find coupons to save us some money!! 

Pacifier

The story behind the pacifier.. When Kayleigh was a baby she would NOTTTT take the pacifier(binky as we call it). We tried and tried but it didn't work. So we gave up for a while. One night it was about 2am and she would not stay asleep for some reason and she couldn't get comfortable. She was about 4 months old at the time and so we both laid on the living room floor, she took the binky, as I held it in her mouth and we finally got some sleep. John got up for work the next morning and was confused as to why we were both on the floor! haha! You do what works sometimes! 

So fast forward. She was doing well with only getting it at nap and bed time, and then we reverted back to ALL THE TIME with it.  A friend of mine told me a 3 week process to get rid of it and I figured hey why not. It's about that time. Otherwise she is going to love this thing WAY too much. We've been going strong for TWO days with no binky, unless it is nap or bed time. I'm hoping this process keeps going smoothly. I can't lie- today there have been a few times when I wish I had it with me, but we stuck it out! So here's some good luck to us in this process. I KNOW the hard part is going to be bed time. I'm saving that week for when school is out for 1 week in case I get NO SLEEP.