Happy Fourth of July!

Just a quick post to wish you all a Happy Fourth of July!  Still not 100% sure what we'll be doing today since we live in Hades and it's supposed to be 111 degrees; we might actually go to the movies to beat the heat!

What are your plans for this lovely holiday?

Of course I have to show off the t-shirt I made for W yesterday...I'm still getting the hang of my embroidery machine, but I'm getting MUCH better!

 In case you couldn't tell, my photo editing style is a little bipolar; I like really intense color and more vintage-y looking edits, haha, so I tend to do both...

Cheesin'

Contact Dermatitis

What I really wanted to title this post is - I Flipping Hate Catch-All Diagnoses That Doctors Use When They Don't Know What the Eff is Wrong

WebMD simply states the following about contact dermatitis:

You call it a rash. Your doctor calls it dermatitis. Either way, it happens when your skin gets inflamed after it comes in contact with something.

W has had a rash now for almost a month.  It started on his left thigh.  Traveled down his leg.  At this point we brought him to the Immediate Care Clinic on base.  The doctor there diagnosed it as ::insert some Latin sounding word here:: and prescribed him a cream and Benadryl, said it should clear up within a few days.

A few days pass, it spreads to his other leg.  I try to get an appointment with his pediatrician but the Central Appointment Line says there's nothing available in peds for 10 days!  So I call the pediatrician clinic directly and they say to bring him in, they'll have a nurse check him out and squeeze him in with one of the doctors.  We were there for 3 hours during which two nurses and two doctors spent a ton of time staring at my son and flipping through a book of skin ailments trying to figure out what the heck is going on.  They settle on contact dermatitis.

Contact dermatitis is a diagnosis they use when they can't come up with a real diagnosis.  They don't know what caused it.  They don't really know how to fix it.  But they can't just say that, so they call it contact dermatitis.  I hate stupid catch-all diagnoses!!!

They prescribe him more cream (this time hydro-cortisone) and a different antihistamine.  I insist on scheduling a follow up appointment for four days later (they, once again, claimed it should clear up within a few days).

It then spreads to his shoulders and arm pits.  This is what my poor baby looked like at his worst:

Arm Pit

Upper Arm

Other arm

Calf

 I couldn't get a decent picture of his thigh because he was squirming so much, it actually looked more like his arm pit (the first picture).

Thigh

top of legs

Those pictures really don't do it justice.  His legs were bright red.  His left thigh didn't have any normal looking skin left.  Any time he would step on the grass his legs and ankles would actually swell up.  The stuff on his arms and shoulders wasn't really red, just bumps everywhere (except for his arm pit, that was bright red as well).

When I went to the follow up appointment the doctor simply put there was nothing more they could do.  They would have to refer us to a dermatologist so that they could prescribe a stronger steroid ointment to use on him.  That appointment ended up being scheduled for next Monday (the 24th).

I hate the idea of using a stronger steroid on my son.  There have been studies that show that long term use of topical steroids in children can actually cause growth delays.  Not to mention extended use of steroids are known to cause the following in people of all ages:

Thinning and discoloration of the skin, easy bruising, permanent dilation of certain blood vessels, burn marks on skin, itchiness, perioral dermatitis, liver and kidney damage and a weakened immune system. Recent studies further reveal changes in the shape or location of body fat (especially in your face, neck, back, and waist), increased acne or facial hair, menstrual problems and impotence. Not only this, but steroid use almost always produces a "rebound effect" of the very symptoms you are trying to get rid of!
Studies have shown that if more than 500g of hydrocortisone (in hydrocortisone cream) is used per week, sufficient steroid may be absorbed through the skin to result in adrenal gland suppression and/or eventually Cushing's syndrome.

From skin-remedies.com

I have no idea what the dermatologist will say, but my gut instinct says that it is an environmental issue.  We live in Lemoore (not by choice, it is where The Sailor was sent by The Navy).  Lemoore happens to be surrounded by basically all the cities that most recently made the EPA's list of the dirtiest (in regards to air and water quality) in America.

1. Fresno, CA
2. Bakersfield, CA
5. Modesto, CA
6. Riverside, CA
8. San Jose, CA
9. Stockton, CA
12. Sacramento, CA
17. Los Angeles, CA

Source

I circled the cities that surround us that made the top 20; we are located under the purple star.

I think a mixture of the extreme heat, the pesticides that are regularly circulating through the air from the farms that literally surround the base, and the poor air and water quality are making my son break out.

Over the past week the rash has improved.  But, over the past week the weather has been much more mild (in the 80's rather than the 100-110's) and I haven't brought him outside to play at all except for brief times out on our patio.  My son cannot be expected to stay inside until we get new orders next summer!  If the rash is being caused by local environmental factors, odds are I will have to get a "note" from the dermatologist and fight the higher ups in The Sailor's command to get new orders.  I will not risk my son being scarred from such a deep and wide spread rash.

Hopefully the dermatologist has a better idea of what's going on.  Honestly, as much as we hate it here in Lemoore (it literally smells like cow shit all.the.time) and we would love a reason to peace out sooner rather than later, I just want my son to get better.  I hate that there's nothing I can do to help him.

Have you ever dealt with doctors trying to give your child a catch-all diagnoses?  Any guesses as to what's wrong with poor little W?

Flying With an Infant

A few weeks ago The Sailor, The Seamonkey, and I packed up and got ready for a trip across the country! As I may or may not have mentioned before, I'm originally from Massachusetts - aka as far as you can get from Naval Air Station Lemoore without leaving the country!  Since my whole family is in New England and they were all itching to meet the first grandchild in the fam my crazy Mom offered to buy us plane tickets to fly home for a trip as a belated wedding present.

Now, there is an airport in Fresno which is less than an hour from us, but if we flew out of there we would have had to change planes somewhere - something I really didn't want to do with an 11 week old baby.  Instead we opted to drive 3 hours to San Francisco and to not only have a direct flight, but to also get to fly Jet Blue (my favorite airline).  Our flight heading to Boston left San Francisco at 10:18 pm.  Instead of parking at the airport, we saved some moolah by parking at the Radisson hotel which has shuttles to the airport every half hour.  I really wanted to have more than enough time to get there and I wasn't sure if we would hit any traffic or not, so we left our house at 3:30 pm.

Ready to go!

The first 2 hours and 45 minutes of the ride were flawless - no traffic and the baby was sleeping!  The last 15 minutes took almost 45 and the baby started screaming while we were stopped dead in traffic and I couldn't even pull over anywhere to feed him....the last 20 minutes of the trip were HORRIBLE as The Sailor tried to console The Seamonkey to no avail. But once we got to the hotel and I got to feed and change my Little Man he calmed right down.

We chose to carry on both our stroller and the carseat.  We didn't really need our stroller for the trip itself; in all honesty I only really use it if I'm going shopping and want to try on clothes or if I'm walking the dogs.  Other than that I use one of the many carriers that I've accumulated.  But I had to bring the carseat and I would rather gate check it than check it with the rest of the bags because in my mind there's less risk of it getting broken if it's gate checked.  So basically, the stroller was just a means of easily transporting the carseat (and our other carry-ons) through the airport...

Strollers are so handy!

Where was the baby, you ask?  Well, in the airport itself I wore him in a mei tai (more info on what exactly that is when I post about babywearing) since it doesn't have any metal parts meaning I could keep him in the carrier as we went through security.  Speaking of security...the Baby Jogger City Mini does not fit through the x-ray machine in airport security!  We found this out the hard way since it fit through the initial opening and then got stuck in the middle of the machine.  Seriously...who designed that thing?  If it fits in it should also fit out, and yet it did not.  So we spent a half hour holding up the line at security as the TSA agents tried to get it out.  Luckily they didn't break it or else I would have flipped shit.

So, once we got through security we went and grabbed a bite to eat, I nursed The Seamonkey, and we headed down to the gate.  At this point I was really happy I had made the decision to leave so early since we basically had just enough time to re-arrange everything in our carry-ons to make things we would want in-flight easily accessible (we had my Vera Bradley diaper bag, the large digi-camo diaper bag I made, a Planetwise wet-dry bag that was just holding all of our cloth diapers, and my Boppy pillow to carry onto the actual plane with us), go to the bathroom, and change the baby before it would be time to board the plane.

Fun fact - we didn't want to be flying all over the country with dirty cloth diapers so we chose to use 'sposies in transit.  Those things are effing gross!  How do the majority of parents use them!?  They smell funny! {sorry for the rant} The first one I put on The Seamonkey that he pooed in, the poop shot straight up the back of it and onto his clothes.  I was terrified of this happening while we took off and then I would just have to sit there with a poop-covered baby waiting for the stupid fasten seatbelt light to turn off.  So I double-diapered him...I put a 'sposie on him and then put a Best Bottom cover over it.  Since the thought of poop just floating around in the cover grossed me out I ended up putting a disposable insert in the diaper cover so he was legit wearing two diapers at once.

After I had him double-diped and in his jammies we went to sit by the gate...and he turned into a silent terror.  He wasn't crying, but he was being a complete turd.  He spit up on me twice...he rarely spits up.  He was fussing like a madman.  He refused to be put in the ring sling, which I planned on wearing him in on the plane since it is easy to get him in and out of it (more on ring slings when I post about babywearing) and kept straightening his legs so he wasn't securely in.  All I could think was this is going to be the longest night of my life....

We boarded the plane and left the stroller and the carseat at the gate and he continued to be a silent terror.  He could tell things weren't "normal" and he was refusing to go to sleep even though it was past his bedtime (it was almost 10 pm at this point).  Everyone else is boarding and I could feel them all staring at me with hatred as the watched me struggle to settle The Seamonkey as we geared up for a 6 hour red-eye flight.  After everyone boarded and they started going over the safety info I started to nurse the Little Man and he passed right out.  I think the whole plane let out a sigh of relief as I put him into the ring sling and he continued to sleep soundly.

Passed the eff out!

He only woke up twice during the entire flight to eat.  He didn't even poop, so I didn't even need to get up to change his diaper.  In fact, since he was securely strapped to my chest in the ring sling, I actually slept pretty well myself!  Once we had landed and were waiting to get off the plane he let out one loud "waaaaahhhhh" but then went back to being quiet and the people around us actually chuckled at it.  We had arrived in Boston at about 6:30 am local time so we got off the plane, I changed his diaper {into one of his normal cloth diapers}, got him dressed, and while we waited for our baggage I nursed him again.

He really couldn't have been any better during that flight.

The flight back to California was during the day and he slept for the first half and then the second half I just bounced him on my lap.  It wasn't as easy as our first flight, but there weren't any real issues.

Since this post turned out to be way longer than I initially anticipated I'm gonna wait and post later with my personal tips on flying with an infant.  Until next time...

So, yeah, I'm an idiot...

We moved into our house on base a significant amount of time ago, right?  Long enough that I've decorated a good bit and once my damn dining set comes in it won't look like we just moved in anymore (word on the street is it should be here Friday, but more on that once it actually comes).  Well, then how the hell can I explain just realizing that there's a second closet in my downstairs hallway???

Okay, so here's my downstairs hallway:

Personal Photo

That picture is basically taken from the front door (which is to the left of me).  To my right is my living room.  And right across from door number 2 is my kitchen/dining area.

Behind door number 1 is a closet.  I keep my light jackets, a bunch of shoes, my purse, dog leashes, and even the vacuum in there.  It's a basic closet.  For now we'll skip over door number 2.  Door number 3 leads into my laundry/dog crate room (which then leads into our garage).  Obviously the bathroom is the downstairs bathroom.

Wanna know what's behind door number 2???

Personal Photo

NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I totally haven't even opened that door since we did our initial walk through.  Who the fuck just doesn't realize there's another closet in their downstairs hallway???  This gal, apparently.

And what's even worse is it is right across from the kitchen, so I could easily use it to store kitchen stuff.  And since I've been stocking up on kitchen stuff I've been bitching about how there's no where to put small kitchen appliances.  Like a crockpot, for example, which is currently in one of my upper cabinets and preventing the cabinet door from completely closing.

There's already a double sliding door pantry in the kitchen so I have enough space for food, but this mystery closet is seriously a life saver.  And since I now have a place to put it and I just got a refund check from the hell-hole apartments we were living in before I think I'm finally gonna buy the Kitchenaid mixer I've been lusting over...

Source

::Swoon::

That thing would make my life.  My Ex had gotten me a Kitchenaid way back when, and when I left him the mother-effer wouldn't let me take it! He bought it...yeah, but it was a flipping gift!  Whatevs, this one is way nicer anyway because it doesn't have a tilty head, instead the bowl lifts up, so eventually I can get the ice cream attachment.  Eat that Ex, and enjoy watching your Kitchenaid collect dust since you would never use it.  (I'm a little hostile over that, can you tell?)

I'm still in awe of my own stupidity.  Like seriously...I don't care that I'm pregnant.  I don't care that I don't have that much stuff so I don't really need tons of storage.  I just can't stop asking myself who the hell doesn't realize there's an additional closet in the hallway, especially since I've been complaining about storage.

Have you ever done anything this dumb, or am I alone in this one?

Until next time...

Preparing for Post-Birth Visitors

Living on the opposite side of the country of your entire family really sucks when your pregnant with your first child.

For one, I'm not really getting a baby shower.  Whatevs though, I'm way over that.

What's really bugging me out is trying to plan for visitors after the baby is actually born.  As of right now, our list of visitors includes: my Mom, my Dad, Mama Simms (and perhaps her hubs), best friend from home Kim (not to be confused with Navy Wife Kim), and The Sailor's Aunt, Uncle and 2 cousins.  At this point, I'm not sure if either of my sisters plan on coming out and I don't believe anyone else from our extended families are planning a trip.  That is 5 separate groups of people who are going to come out to visit once The Sea Monkey is born.

Now, I love that I'm getting support from all these people, but honestly we're not going to want more then one "set" of visitors at once; having a newborn will be overwhelming enough as is.  So, I'm trying to plan out who will come when.

The biggest wrinkle in that is - you guessed it - my Mom.  I'm lucky that things between us are much better, she's even coming out to visit for a few days in November.  But, she wants to be here when the baby is born.  Well, you can't say with any level of certainty when a baby will actually be born.  So she was planning on using "emergency" time off through her work.  Well, now she isn't sure if she can use "emergency" time off, so she might have to plan a specific trip and just hope the baby is born during it.

Now she's telling me, oops, I was scheduled to work that weekend.  I don't know if that means she can't ask for it off or what, but it's just adding another obstacle.  Add to that the fact that she can't decide how long she wants to stay, and it's totally throwing off trying to schedule everyone else to come visit!

My Dad is much easier.  When he has the money, he'll come.  Easy freaking peasy.  I have a feeling once The Sea Monkey is actually born (or once we get a lot closer) he'll start looking at finances much closer and try to plan a trip.  But for now, I'm fine with "we'll figure it out later" because I know a) if I called him and something was wrong and I said I needed him here tomorrow, he'd figure out a way, and b) if he called and said "I wanna come next week" and I said "we already have 5 bazillion people at our house, can it be in two weeks?" he'd be cool with that to.  Seriously, my Dad's an easy customer.

Mama Simms is pretty flexible too, and she says she'll come whenever I tell her to.  But she doesn't want to be here when my Mom is - historically speaking, they don't exactly get along.  Add in the way my Mom treated me when I initially got here and Mama Simms really doesn't want to see my Mom.  Now, if only my Mom would make up her damn mind as to when/how long she's coming, I could give Mama Simms a more precise window of when she should plan to come.

Then there's Kim.  She wants to be here when the baby is born.  Or at the very least within a few days of the baby being born.  I suggested she waited until school was done (she's a teacher) and she freaked.  "THE BABY HAS GOT TO SEE MY FACE SOONER THAN THAT!" She doesn't care who else is there, as long as the baby is.  So I guess she's pretty easy too, I just wish I could give her a more precise time frame as to when the little sucker is going to make their grand entrance so she could start planning the trip now.  Because if she comes out here before the baby is born and I don't go into labor before she leaves, she might have a fit.  And try to force me into labor.  And refuse to leave.  And then lose her job for not coming back.  It just wouldn't be good.

And finally we have The Sailor's aunt, uncle, and two cousins.  They're pretty cool customers like Mama Simms; they just want me to tell them when to come.  Once again, this would be much easier to accomplish if my Mom would make up her damn mind.

The whole thing is just overwhelming.  I've started putting together calendars for April and May.  My next step is to start researching statistics for when baby's are actually born based off of their due dates and then try to convince my Mom to make real plans for when she's going to come out and go from there.

How did you handle making time for everyone on the planet after you gave birth?  Seriously - I need as much help as I can get!

Until next time...

Random Updates

I blame moving for feeling like I've fallen behind. In reality I missed one, maybe two, of my normal posts, but I honestly feel like SO much has happened, so I'm just gonna do an update post...

1 - We moved! Yes, we're in our house on base, and I couldn't be happier. Our house is awesome, but it'll be WAY more awesome once we get more furniture, lol. And once we get a few more pieces I'll be happy to share the whole place with you. For now you'll have to settle for a picture of the outside (below).

2 - I quit my job at Michael's. I know, I'm pathetic. But honestly, its quite a hike from our new place, so the commute isn't really worth 4 hours of minimum wage. And standing in place on a cement floor was giving me back spasms. I asked if I could be switch to working on the sales floor, thinking walking around would hurt less and they said no - I was hired to be a cashier. So, eff them. I'm over it!

3 - I forgot to take an 11 week photo of my belly growth. I'm kinda pissed at myself for it. But in the grand scheme of things, its no big deal.

4 - I think the end of my first-trimester-exhaustion is in site. First of all, I've actually been cooking dinner. And not feeling disgusted by it. And yesterday I brought the dogs on not one, but two walks (a short - 25 minute - one in the morning and a longer - 40 minute - one in the evening) and I went to the gym! I did 3.5 miles on the treadmill, running some and speed walking the rest! It felt great! And this morning I brought the dogs on a short walk and I'm getting ready to head to the gym soon! Go me!

5 - The Sailor may be shipped out as early as next week. Hopefully we'll get more details today.

6 - I'm making all sorts of decorating/DIY plans. But, I'll just share them with you all as I actually start them, I just wanted to give you something to look forward to, lol.

Ummm, I think that's all for now!

Until next time...

10 Weeks Pregnant!

...and I had my first ultrasound today! And my little Sea Monkey is perfect!!!

But first, the usual...

Physically, I think (aka hope) my skin is starting to clear up! And I'm hoping once we get out of the stinky-water apartment it'll get even better! And I'm starting to get kinda gassy. Mainly burping a lot, but just gassy in general

And mentally, I feel so flipping relieved! Cuz like I said, my little Sea Monkey is in tip top shape. But, I should start at the beginning...

I heard if you drink a lot it'll make it easier to see the little sucker during the earlier ultrasounds. So I was sucking down water like no ones business. And, I didn't want the little guy to be sleepy, so I had The Sailor stop at McDonald's so I could get an apple pie to give the Sea Monkey a sugar boost.

When we got there I found out they wanted to do a full annual exam. It was a little awkward to have The Sailor in the room while I had a pap done, but hell, he's gonna watch me push a baby out my hooha, this is a good place to start, lol.

Then it was finally time for my long awaited ultrasound. Since I'm only 10 weeks and some change, they did the hooha probe instead of the belly version. Whatevs, just show me my baby.

The Doc starts poking around and every time she gets a clear view of my little love, (s)he starts doing flips. And karate chops. And funny faces. Ok, I can't say with certainty that (s)he was making, funny faces, but in my mind (s)he was... One of three this was happening...option a) the little Sea Monkey had a sugar high from my pre-appointment snacks. Option b) ultrasound turns on and the Sea Monkey said something like this "mleh...what's that noise. Get away from me...I don't like that noise." And finally, option c (aka the most likely scenario since the little sucker is currently living in my uterus) ultrasound machine turns on and the Sea Monkey says something like this "what's that noise? Is someone watching me in here? Look what I can do :: back flip :: look what I can do :: karate chop :: hehehe...look at me :: funny face ::"

Okay, so the third option isn't that likely, but that's what I started thinking about while (s)he put on a show. And I started cracking up. Straight up laughing like a moron while the Doc is twisting a probe around in my hooha trying to get a good shot of the fetus.

When I finally got all my giggles out, the Sea Monkey calmed down, and we finally got a clear shot to date the pregnancy with.

So, Doc does her measurements and asks how sure I am of how far along I am. I said I'm 99% sure I could pinpoint the hour we conceived. And she asks how far I thought I was - I told her....10 weeks 4 days. She asked when I thought I was due - I told her...April 6th.

And she said I was exactly right. That's right, this baby and I are totally on the same wavelength. I hear/read about women who charted and knew exactly when they conceived, but the baby still measures at having a different due date. That doesn't sit well with me. This baby and I are totally gonna get along if (s)he keeps this up, lol!

So, the baby is healthy as can be (with a heart rate of 174 bpm), there's only one in there, and it looks like (s)he loves staying on schedule as much as I do! I couldn't be a happier Mama!

So, I've got a healthy baby, my first real shift at Michael's tomorrow, and we pick up the keys to our house on base on Thursday! Life is good.

Until next time...

Praise Buddha!

WE'RE MOVING OUT OF THIS HELL HOLE OF AN APARTMENT!!!!!!!!!

The Sailor just got the call from Lincoln Military Housing that they have a house for us. A three-bedroom house at that!!!!

Let me tell you - a three bedroom house is gonna feel like a mansion compared to the sad excuse for a one-bedroom apartment we've been in. And no more stinky water! And it'll just be more convenient overall! Seriously this is the best news I've heard in a while.

We can move in anytime we want. Since we have a month to month lease here we'll probably just take our time moving, but we'll go get our keys and check it out tomorrow when we're on base to see the doctor. What a big day...an ultrasound and a house! Eeeeeeeek!

Until next time...

PS - this picture is stolen from the Lincoln Military Housing site and its of a house in the neighborhood we'll be living in...and each house within a neighborhood is essentially identical, lol.

Re-dressing the Dresser - Part 1

This morning I'm pretty sure I bought a dresser from a recovering hoarder. But I'm getting ahead of myself...(I just couldn't help but start the post with that - admit it, that's an awesome opener)
So, as I've told you before, we came to Cali with minimal furniture. By minimal, I mean a mattress, a TV stand, and a TV. We already got our yellow couches and today I went and picked up a dresser that I found on Craigslist! Which, its about damn time, cuz as fun as it is to have the majority of your clothes just sitting around in piles in your bedroom, I'll be happy to actually be able to put my clothes away!
So the dresser was actually a decent ways away, so I used the GPS on my phone to find the house. Lucky for me, my phone is really considerate and likes to send me on the scenic route, so at least it was amusing for me! (See the photos below - yes, I'm a horrible person and took pictures while driving)
When I finally got there, I was a little taken aback...this woman is a fucking hoarder! There is stuff EVERYWHERE! Well, I think she's technically a recovering hoarder since she's selling a bunch of her stuff. If she hadn't been waiting for me, I totally would have taken a picture of the piles of furniture and dog crates this woman had in her back yard! Another thing that was totally photo worthy, but socially unacceptable to photograph was the woman herself. Please imagine this...older woman, probably in her 60s. She had SUPER long grey hair in a braid going down her back and huge chandelier earrings on. Then she was wearing a very large, floral print top and plaid capris. Under the capris she had on nylons that had visible runs on the ankles and multi-colored ked sneakers. She was a site to see amongst her piles of stuff!
So, I take a look at the dresser and mirror, and everything looked good, so I paid the $50 and started heading back to the general area of our apartment. Part of me just wanted to go home and sleep, but I decided to go get some supplies I would need to refinish this sucker first.
I went to Home Depot for cleaning solution, sandpaper, and spray paint. I was super pumped cuz they give a 10% off military discount. Not super pumped that I got fucking carded buying spray paint though! I blame my stupid pregnancy acne for it though.
Then I headed over to Michael's to get a blue accent color paint and all their paints were 40% off! Yatzee! And I also got paint brushes for the accent color.
Then I went and did some random shopping before I came home and now I'm ready to take a nap, lol. What - I did a lot today compared to what I've been doing lately! I'm not even gonna show you the dresser yet - I'm gonna let the anticipation build first. That, and its still in the truck since The Sailor isn't home yet, haha.
I might start the project tomorrow, or I might learn how to knit...we'll see how I feel tomorrow! Have you refinished any furniture? How did it turn out for you?
Until next time...

Yeah...I need to learn Spanish

Je ne parle pas espagnol. Hell, I took 5 years of French and I only know un peu (a little - probably spelled wrong) of that! In case you weren't wicked cool like me in high school and in turn didn't take French, that first sentence says "I don't speak Spanish."
I don't know on what planet I thought learning French would be more useful than learning Spanish, but I am paying for it now! See, NAS Lemoore is out in the middle of nowhere - as my friend who lives in Orange County would put it, I'm in "bumblefuck nowhere." There's a lot of farmland. The local mall has more vacant stores than open ones. And there is a considerable Spanish speaking population.
They are so prominent, in fact, that I've seen more billboards in Spanish than I've seen in English! Off base, I'm pretty sure we're the minority.
Gabby Girl was running out of food and the previous owners of Lola were kind enough to send her off with some food...but it was Purina Puppy Chow. Can you say yuck? Their is NOTHING of nutritional value in that crap. Call me a dog food snob (I won't be offended) but that food needed to be switched ASAP! So I looked up the nearest supplier of Diamond Naturals...that store is called "Sanchez Seed."
It's only like a mile away, and it was easy enough to find. It's a total farm store! They even sell cowboy boots and hats (note to self - start looking for cute cowboy boots to invest in)!
They had a great selection of quality dog foods, so I'm lucky they're so close, but not one person there spoke English. Or at least no one there was willing to admit they did!
It was easy enough to find the food, I brought to the counter, they rang me up and said something very fast in Spanish, so I just handed them my credit card and signed the slip.
It was an interesting experience. I don't think I've ever been in a store in the US where the employees didn't speak English. It was rather eye opening, actually. I really am so far from home; I'm in a different world! And I think if I'm going to feel comfortable for the next 3 years here I should learn Spanish.
I'm gonna see if there are any local colleges that have community classes and if I can't find one I might invest in Rosetta Stone. If I don't wanna bite the bullet and invest in Rosetta Stone (that shit's expensive yo), do you have any language learning advice?
Until next time...

It's lonely sometimes...

This whole life.
All my friends and family (regardless of how much my family tends to suck) are in a completely different timezone. On top of that, The Sailor has to wake up super early to go to the gym, then class, so by the time he gets home he's exhausted. I feel like I barely get to see him, and this is a good time, because he's actually here!  In less than 2 months he'll be gone...until February.
I knew this was how it would be, I guess I just thought I would deal with it better. I'm sure it would be considerably easier to deal with if I wasn't pregnant and in turn super emotional, but that doesn't make it suck any less.
I'm watching Sex and the City and all I can think is, "will I ever be in one place long enough to have a group of close friends like that again?" At least I have my Gabby Girl - not the best conversationalist, but she's great company, and she understands me better than any human I've ever met.
Enough of this blogging-pitty-party, I'm gonna go finish watching Sex and the City, feel bad for myself for a while, and go to bed.
Until next time...
No blog post is complete without a picture, here's one of my favorites of Gabby Girl...

Decorating around a yellow couch...

The Sailor and I found some really nice (and inexpensive) couches on Craigslist and we picked them up last weekend. The couch actually drops back like a weird sleeper sofa/futon (see the picture below). The only downside is - they're yellow.

Or so I thought! After doing some googling I realized decorating around these couches has the potential for being really fun! And trust me, they're actually a pretty yellow (my camera phone is making it look dingy).

Since I was finding tons of pictures online that I loved, I decided to finally try out a website I had heard so much about in the wedding circuit - Pinterest! And I'm officially obsessed. This is the most addicting website ever, especially for someone who is gearing up to decorate a whole house and is pregnant!

In case you don't know what Pinterest is, its basically a site that allows you to make virtual collages and keeps a reference back to the original source of the image. It's awesome!!!!! And you can check out the direction I'd like to go in with our living room here: http://pinterest.com/navy_wife/how-to-decorate-around-a-yellow-couch/ ! The board has a lot of color combo references (I'm planning on yellow, aqua, and grey) and some pictures of the general feel I'll be going for.

So we already have the couch/loveseat (which I plan on getting professionally cleaned eventually to try and brighten them up a bit) and we have a tv stand that is plain wood that I plan on refinishing myself. Then I hope to find a few end tables and/or coffee table on the cheap at a yardsale or on Craigslist that I can refinish to coordinate with the tv stand and I have a few other DIY projects I have planned to really make the space feel homey without breaking the bank (that I'll share with you as I actually work on them). Add some blankets and throw pillows and - BAM - we will have the perfect living room!

I really can't wait to get started! I don't wanna get any more furniture until we're actually in base housing, but I will be keeping my eyes peeled for blankets/pillows/textiles in general that go along with my vision in the meantime.

Until next time...

Tuesday Night Shenanigans

So, I already mentioned I had a crazy night last night, so I figured I'd tell you about it!

By crazy I mean I didn't just sit at home, haha. Before we left the East Coast I was trying to find a way to insure that I would meet people once I got to Lemoore. When I searched for a chapter of the Navy Wives Clubs of America in Lemoore to no avail, I started looking elsewhere online. And I ended up stumbling upon meetup.com. Low and behold, someone had literally just created a group on the site for the spouses of Sailors stationed at NAS Lemoore. And last night I went to my first meetup!

Well, by meetup I mean it ended up being me going to the creator of the group's house (we'll call her Navy Wife Kim, or just NW Kim cuz I'm lazy) to watch a movie.  And although we put a movie on, we just spent the whole time talking. And let me tell you, it was amazing to get to talk to someone who actually knew what it was like to be married to a Sailor. NW Kim's husband has been in the Navy for almost a decade and she's been with him the whole time. She is a pro Navy Wife! And she's one of the nicest people I've ever met.  And her Hubby is currently on the ship that My Sailor is going to be deployed to at the end of September! And so we chit chatted from about 8 pm to about midnight.

Yup, I'm a wild child! But, more importantly, I'm super excited to have met another wife on base and I'm definitely looking forward to hanging out with her again!

So, I guess most people wouldn't really consider my activities last night all that exciting, but I had a great time!

Until next time...

I know I should work out...

...but I don't wanna!
And I don't even have a good excuse, like being pregnant is making me feel sick. I feel fine! Bloated - yes. Nausea - nope!
I don't wanna work out because I hate our shower, lol. First of all, the water smells funny. And no, it isn't pregnancy spidey-senses kicking in because The Sailor smells it too. It is NOT refreshing. And on top of that its really soft water. Which is supposed to be better than hard water, but it makes me feel slimey. Slimey does not equal clean in my book.
But the worst part of this shower is I'm pretty sure it was designed for midgets. Not kidding. The shower head doesn't even reach my eye level (check out the picture below).  I basically have to do a back bend to wash my hair. That kinda hurts my growing uterus.
Needless to say, I hope the showers in base housing are better! But, I'm gonna make myself go workout now.
Until next time...

Is it like Army Wives?

This morning I got a text from my sister, R (the one who said congrats and nothing more), asking for advice about her dog. Since she was concerned because he ate some chocolate I obviously responded to help in any way I could (I'm not a vet or anything, but I've taken dog first aid classes and researched dog health a lot since getting Gabby 3 years ago). Once we determined her dog would be fine (he's a large dog and only ate a milk chocolate truffle) she said, "so do you live on an army base now? Is it like 'Army Wives'?"
And I was actually surprised by my instant sense of annoyance. He isn't in the Army, he's in the Navy, so no, we don't live on an army base. And then she goes, "ooooo, so do you live on the beach?" And to that I just kind of chuckled. No beach for us because My Sailor isn't a sailor at all - he works on jets. So we're stationed at Naval Air Station (aka NAS) Lemoore which is out in the middle of nowhere! i
The conversation was amusing to me, and that's why I'm sharing it with you. But now I have to get ready to move into our apartment so I gotta go. But since posts without pictures are lame I'm adding a picture of my beloved Gabby. This was this morning at the dog park on base. She has a golf ball in her mouth since they're all over the park since the driving range is right next to the park. Luckily she doesn't try to eat them, just plays with them! Until next time...

We have an address!

So, since we got here last Saturday, we've been staying in the Navy Lodge (aka hotel on base).  That's cool and all but a) we don't have a full kitchen and b) its starting to get kinda expensive! But today we signed a lease!
We want to live on base but unfortunately theres a waiting list. Since I'm pregnant, we get a higher priority but it could still take up to 4 months.
Luckily since most of the people in the area are in the military a lot of the apartment complexes offer month to month leases, so that's what we're doing. And lucky for us, a 1 bedroom apartment nearby is available tomorrow!
So after weeks of having all our shit packed in my car and The Sailor's truck we finally get to settle in somewhere tomorrow. Even if it is only temporary (since we're hoping to get into base housing sooner rather than later).
You all will probably get a kick out of how pathetic that place looks initially though, since all we have for furniture is a TV and a mattress, hahaha!
Until next time...

We're Here!

Sorry for the lack of updates; being in the truck so long has kind of killed my soul...
But we're here! I'll check back in later, but now I'm gonna go stretch my back.
Until next time...