What I will Miss

I complain a lot about this base. Everything you hear me say about this base is something bad. I have to admit I am not a fan of it here. Its either cold and windy OR hot dry and windy..too hot to go outside. There is an in between for about a month, and people from Idaho say they have seasons. Im not sure if they know what that means. I hate that, like all bases, this is like its own island of germs. If someone has it the whole base will get it. And not just any sickness..that is all sicknesses. There is no way out of it. I hate our house. Well not hate just dislike. Those who have seen it know that it is small. Too small for us. Renting a storage unit off base to store furniture and stuff we could not fit in the house is not my ideal way of living. I hate that the commissary is our only way of buying food unless youw ant to drive over 15 minutes in the snow to town. And they are closed Mondays and close early Sundays..oh and dont forget that if Monday falls on a holiday they are closed Tuesdays as well. So I go without food for the most part because I do not want to drive that boring ugly drive to town. I also hate that in order to go shopping for clothes other then wal-mart brand I have to drive an hour. I hate how small and gross the town is here. I hate the deployments every year. I hate that the only thing to do in this state is to fish or camp or anything outdoors.. I dont do outdoors unless its on a boat or on a four wheeler... just not my thing. I hate more things about this base I just cant think of it right now. I know you have all heard it before. I believe this base should still be a remote base because it sucks.

Although I hate a lot about this and I am happy to leave, I will miss a lot. I am having troubles thinking of it all, my mind just went blank..lol JK I will miss the fact that the hospital is right across the street from my house. Although it is not a great one, MJ has had the best expedition I could ask for, I had the nest staff during delvery, and a great OB who performed my surgery..and the ER doctor we have been blessed to get the past few times has been great too..all others suck. I will miss that no matter where you look there is a park.. every neightborhood and most streets have a park. It may not be the best but it is kind of nice. I will miss the nice walks that we get to go on for that one month after its not cold anymore and before its too hot to be outside. Those walks are relaxing. I will miss being part of a spouses group in the squadron..being around people who understand this life. I will miss that a lot. That squadron was a great squagron. Although Matt would say different, we met some great friends through that squadron and I have learned a lot from the Hardrock spouses. That leads me to the fact that I will miss my friends. There are only a few good ones and then some who are like our family. I havent really pictured life without them yet. Especially Thomas who has been with Matt his whole Air Force career including Guam. He was like an older brother to Matt. I hate saying buy to people so Im gonna be a mess of course. Then there is the memories made here. Matt and I getting married,  our first house, the birth of our amazing son. Those are great memories we made HERE, in this crappy little place, great memories were made. When you think about it I will look back and say that the best years of my life were here In Idaho..the two best things in my life happened.

So although there is so much I hate about this base, there is some that I will miss. This was a part of our life, a great life. I will never be able to say that being stationed at this base was a horrible experience because it just wasnt. Disliking stuff about the base and living here is different then hating the entire time I have been here. I need to remember that. I know that when we pull out of our driveway for the last time it will be a sad moment. Im sure I will cry, that is just what I do, Im a baby. We are about to go on a whole other adventure.. although he will still be military it will be a whole other life. Im nervous and excited and stressed but ready. Ready to make new memories and love or hate new things in a new location. Im ready.

Kindergarten?!?!?!

Im a planner. if you know me you know this. I plan everything a million years in advanced. Its annoying at first to some, but in the end they thank me for being prepared. I know im not the only one some friends of mine are the same Valerie  not naming anyone. I was sitting there on my couch, watching MJ play and matt play video games, and looking at real estate for our next location. We will be moving at the end of this year.. yippie. We dont know where yet but have a good idea. Then I got to thinking about schools for MJ. Man to think I need to look and see if there are good preschools near by before we move.. then I thought about school school.. like Kindergarten. At what age does a kid start kindergarten?? As early as 5 some as late as 7!!! MJ is going to be 5 while we are living in this next place. Now MJ will turn 5 at the beginning of the year..not school year actual year, February. This means that he can not start kindergarten until the end of that year..almost 6 years old. Ok thats cool with me. BUT WAIT!!! That is the end of our 4 year 'contract' with recruiting meaning we most likely will move, unless for some crazy reason Matt gets promoted to district and then we might possibly get to stay there but I wont hold my breath. That means that MJ will start Kindergarten, at the age of 5, at one school then half way through we move and he switches schools. I dont like that. Poor kid will be adjusting to this new life of school and probably just getting used to is and then BAM we move and he has to do it all again. Poor guy. Have I mentioned how I hate this part of the AF. Matt always changed schools growing up and it sucked..but thats for another post. So now what do I do??? I guess we can hold him back a year and start him at the age of 6, turning 7 the second half of school. Thats fine I guess. Matt wanted to do this anyways for sports reasons ( of course he does). There it was the solution to my problem. Plenty of kids are 6 when they start school. Probably most. Great!! Then I thought ( Yes I do too much thinking, too much worrying) what about all his little friends that were born the same year as him. Maybe a little before or a little after. What if they start schoola t the age of 5. These kids, that he spent his first 2 or more years with will be going to school before him. Poor kid..yaya more like poor mommy its not like Mj will even care. So I will be seeing all my good friends with little ones going off to their first day of school at the age of 5 and here MJ is staying home with mommy. Now Im back to square one. What do I do!?!? This might not seem like a problem for most, but for me it is. I plan, like I said. If I dont plan, or the plan goes bad..I panic. This is something I cant plan. I cant decide what age we want him to start because we may or may not be moving, Slim chance to stay but still. So I guess my solution for now is to pick a house in a school district that we like. Near a school that  if he started Kindergarten we would be ok with that school.

Man being a parent is crazy. You dont think about all this stuff. You dont think that one day your going to have to pick a house based on the school your child will attend in 4 years... I guess you kind of have to plan ahead. Maybe Im not so weird and paranoid... ehhh nope I am.

Orders..im already gone

Picture this: You have been at a base for 4 years. You having been waiting for orders. You get them finally. You are so excited to be moving, something you have wanted for 3 1/2 years :) That first week you spend researching your new location on line. Looking at housing, looking at the area, contacting people there..already making new friends. But what about your old ones? Its like you have already PCSed..your already gone. You leave in 6 months you dont need to make new ones. Your leaving. You are wanting to make new friends at your new location. Then with the friends you already have, you bcome distant already. Sometimes with those who you werent the closest too you become extreamly distant. We all do this. Come on.. I have done this I know that. I am doing it now already, and I deffinittly see friends who have orders doing it as well. It hasnt even been a week and they have already exiled any friend who isnt moving as well. Why do we do this?? Why is it that the second we hear that we are moving we stop living our normal life? We stop participating in events and seeing friends. I dont get it. When I sit down and I try to explain this I cant... It doesnt make sense to me. This is the time I want to be hanging out with my friends MORE! This is the time im the most stressed because of the move and I need my girls to vent to lean on. So why dont we do just that?? I see it everywhere on military bases. People are gone before they are gone. You dont actually think you do it until it happens to you, your friends get orders, all of them, and its like they left yesterday. Thats happening now. So I sit back and I look at my life, at how Im acting and treating my friends who will not be moving. Sure enough Im doing it to them. I can only imagine how hurt they are. I know I am when it happens to me. Its sad. Its not fun. These are your friends. The ones that have been here with you dealing with all the ups and downs, deployments, tdys everything, with you. So why is it so easy for you to drop them at the sound of ORDERS??

Now that I have sat back and realized that I do this as well to others I immediately have a change of heart on how I want to spend my last 8 months here. I dont want to exile myself from my friends. The ones I spent countless hours with watching boring softball in the 100 degree weather with, football in the 5 degree weather with, and countless hours of basketball games. Im gonna miss these friends when Im far away and no no one. When all I want to do is be out to lunch with my girls but instead im in my house alone. Then on top of that you left these friends long before you PCSed so do you think they are eager to jump at the sight of your email complaining about something at your next base, your new location...I know I wouldnt be... I dont wanna be that friend.

With the military you make lifetime friends. So make sure that you dont do this. Because you will leave every base with no one... and then what was the point of all of it?? Sit back and look at the way you act when you get those orders. Because you are gonna need those girls to vent too before you even leave and they wont be there for you if you left them to dry the first month you got orders.

Just a thought.

Of course this happens..why not..

Matt and I have been trying to get out of here for ever..seriously..forever. He would put in his BOP and they would get denied. He constantly was looking at the job retrain list to see what there was available. We wanted to leave Mt home AFB asap. We prefer Ohio BUT had a few other places we wouldnt mind.  Finally Matt decided that recruiting was the fastest way out of here and best chance of getting back home. Down side of that was 4 years of the second most stressful job in the AF so much that they pay you $500 more a month to cope with it. fun fun..but we accepted the challenge, anything to be out of here. After the extremely long process he finally got accepted. Good thing too because two weeks ago the base commander announced that people need to get comfy because there will be no PCSing because the military is broke. We were told the list of available offices would be in anywhere from feb 21-28. that was two weeks from when we were told. Two of the longest weeks ever. The 28th came and gone. Today we were told that it will be in by March 8th..Not only did that ruin my day because I am so impatient but every single one of my friends got orders to Germany TODAY. So much for no PCSing right???

 Of course Im jealous. Im jealous that we have tried so hard to get out of here. That we went to drastic measures and took this job for 4 years to leave and our friends did nothing... On top of that..they leave before us. This is so awesome!! So matt will leave for school probably after they are gone and I have no one... Everyone leaves me at the same time. Every friend I have here and my husband. Its 7 weeks so not long but 7 weeks seems like a life time when every friend you have leaves too.. This is seriously my worse night mare. I am stuck at this base all alone. Not only for that 7 weeks but the extra month or two we have to be here for him to out process. I hate this base. I hate today. Maybe tomorrow I will see the bright side of this. But today I just hate it all.I should have been prepared. This always happens to us. We wait and wait and wait. When there is a time frame for something we are there till the last possible date..and all of our friends leave first..Dont get me wrong I am so happy for my friends but I am jealous and I wont deny it. Im jealous and sad and already lonely. You know how it is when you get orders.. you spend the next 6 months planning and planning..no time for anyone here... so its like everyone is already gone. Ugh Im bitter today. Sorry

Sappy Mom Post

Last night I was extremely sappy... It started with my phone running slow due to the insane amount of pictures I had on it. So Matt was saving the pictures to my computer and dropbox. I wanted to have some pictures on my phone still, so I was going through each one I took and picking the ones I had to have. This goes back to when Matt got home from his last deployment. A majority of those pictures were of Mj..baby Mj..my sweet sweet little baby who isnt so much a tiny baby anymore. There were so many pictures of him so tiny. He was seriously no bigger then my four arm..sooo tiny!! Now he is double that size. All I could think about is how much I want my little baby back. Dont get me wrong I am in love with this stage, besides the teething and fit throwing in the commissary of course, but he is growing too fast. I know in a year from now I will look back at this year and think OMG he was so tiny....

 My son is seriously my world, as each child is their parents. MJ will be our only child. We havent made the final decision where I will go get 'fixed' yet but we know that this is what we want. We just want to wait a few years before we go to drastic measures to make this true... just in case. Thats so me, going and getting surgery to insure I dont have any more babies and then so sad because I wont have any more. Not because I wanted them, but because Im almost 25 and dont have that option anymore. Just the option.

I have been reading this book How do you Tuck In A Superhero? By Rachel Balducci GREAT BOOK about a mom raising 5 boys and a baby on the way. 5 boys can you imagine!! I cant, but I can imagine 2. Two little boys, mommas boys, a house of 3 boys.. that sounds nice doesnt it?? Her stories are horrifyingly sweet... I would love to have to two sweet boys wouldnt that be fun? Im thinking this as I look over at MJ as he gives me an evil smile, a 'you didnt see me grab that dog food smile' as he slowly puts it in his mouth..where does he learn this stuff??? Yea two boys that would be sooo fun.. but seriously the idea is nice..sweet. But thats just not for us.. Not the cuddling with two sweet boys part. The traveling and dealing with Matt not being home because of his crazy new schedule and going from basketball practice to soccer or whatever activities they do. I stress..thats just me. Yup I know it. Then I think about how much I love MJ and although I know I could love a second child just as much, I dont ever want MJ to doubt that. I know he will grow up and love his brother so much but what about that first year when he doesnt get whats going on?? Ugh too sad for me. Mothers do it all the time.. 1,2,3,4,5 more children. Bless your heart.. but for us thats just not in our future.. AND what if it was not a boy... oh please do not get me started on if we had a girl. Grey..grey hair instantly..before she was even born. Grey doesnt look good on me.

 So for now I am just going to sappy over my precious toddler and hope these years dont go by too fast because this is it. Its our first and our last of each of these things. Please dont go by too fast! Except the parts where I find my stuff in the trash can, or toilet, or buried in the dirt outside..those things I can do without...

I was that mom in the commissary..you know the one!

Have you ever walked through the commissary and stared at those moms with the food piled high in their carts with a baby wrapped to their chest and 2 OR MORE kids hanging from the cart...screaming... As you quietly walked the aisle and quickly try to escape that awful noise and awkwardness of not wanting to make eye contact because you are afraid you will say something mean. But its not over!! Its like they are following you , or maybe they just going down each aisle like you do so it seems as though they are stalking you on purpose. You finally have everything on your list and you head to the cashier and sure enough they come behind you shortly after. After checking out, and listening to her kids scream about wanting that piece of candy you are so happy to be able to step outside in the fresh air, away from the screaming children. You are so relieved it is quite you dont even mind the little bagger that wants you money after she took your groceries  to your car. IT WAS THAT BAD INSIDE. At guess what..thats not even on a pay day. You can only imagine what it is like on a military installation on a pay day. Now this is why I chose a commissary. For you non military families out there I know you have stores and moms just like this, but picture it ten times worse at a commissary.

Anyways...that was me today. I was that woman..that mom!! That one I just spoke so terribly about. The one I always said to my husband as we left " I dont get why she cant handle her kids."  Yes today was a sad day. MJ used to be so good in the stores. I always got compliments on how calm and happy he was. Seriously every time was so pleasant. Im not sure who took my child in the middle of the night and replaced it with this toddler that throws tantrums in the middle of the store. Just kidding it wasnt that bad. No tantrums yet but he cried and fussed the entire time. Every aisle I had someone staring at me. A few elderly men actually stopped and dared to talk to me about his fussiness...asking if he was teething and so forth. MJ just gave them the dirtiest look and resumed his crying. I wanted to cry. I wanted to leave my cart, that was overflowing so much that I had to take him out and hold him so I could have a place for Ice Cream, and just get in my car and cry. I tried everything. I gave him his car, that lasted about one aisle until he threw it down. I gave him a teether I keep in my purse, that he never likes anyways so IDK why I thought it would work today. I let him hold boxes of pasta..EVERYTHING. I pretty much ran through the rest of the store because I was so embarrassed. Can you imagine me, holding a crying child while pushing a cart that was extremely full and heavy, with one arm to the check out line. Quite amusing Im sure. At one point I even saw people from Matts squadron, who I refused to make eye contact and act like I didnt see them in hopes they wouldnt recognize me which I know was a bust.

It gets worse. He was pretty calm as I was standing in line only because I was holding him. There were barely any people in line. In fact I was the last one. I have him in one arm and Im trying to pile my food up on the table for them to ring up. I am doing this with one hand. You can imagine how long it takes to unload a incredibly full cart with one hand, one by one, one by one. Then a man walks up behind me. a man with 2 things...come on can you not go to the self check out!!!! He just watches me. I think to myself he is gonna help me. I will be embarrassed but it would be nice if he helped me. I was only half way done and still had two cases of water, a case of sprite, two cases of yohoos, and two frozen pizzas on the bottom of the cart. He watches me. As I start to unload the pizzas he decides to help..thanks..really.. no really I was pretty thankful because I had absolutely no idea how I was going to get those cases of water on the table with one arm. My child refused to be put down.

Walking to my ar was seriously a breath of fresh air. I needed to get out of that commissary and fast. I was suffocating. Horrible horrible. The second we get in the car, he falls asleep...

Nice.

I am that mom everyone. So laugh and stare at me. Ask your husbands why its so hard to take care of one kid go ahead. I have a whole new respect for those moms with the screaming kids.

Sippy cup redo-and rating

A few post back I talked about all the information on sippy cups and then gave you my recommendation, based on reviews, of a good straw cup to use. Well I change my mind..can I do that??

We read amazing reviews on the llola cup and we just had to have it. We ordered 3.at $14.00 a piece... When I first received the package I was excited, what cute packaging!! Then I held it. It felt cheap to me. Cheap plastic. Also I wasn't fond of the look but I knew that and moved past it. I used it immediately. Within minutes MJ had milk all over himself. hmmmm It must just be MJ. Is he using it right?? Sometimes he likes to let the milk fall out of his mouth because apparently making mommy crazy is funny. I watched him as he drank it and he would tip it some, which is fine that IS the reason for the weighted straw right??? Milk was pouring out. I didnt know why or where from. I was seriously out the door and the cleaning lady walking in as this was all going down. I had to apologize for the milk trailed all over the kitchen and dining room. The next time he used it I had to hold it straight down so it would not spill. When Matt got home he kinda looked at it and shrugged. The next day we tried again with the green one. It quickly failed as well. Seriously???  We realized, after comparing that one with then new $4 ( for a pack of ) two new ones we bought, that they placed a hole in the straw, to vent air. The liquid was leaking from that. The location was all wrong. Also the straw did not fit the entire straw hole causing liquid to leak from there as well. UGH how annoying is this. $50 and a lot of mess later we decided to stop using them. Matt of course wrote the company to explain the problem and give suggestions.

For the last few days we have been using the Nuby no leak straw cup and find it amazing...until I realized it did not say BPA free on the packaging.. I panicked. Noooo we fell in love with these. They are the perfect size, no spill, and sturdy. Great. Now we start from scratch. Well I did a little researched and since the company is foreign it is not mandatory to add BPA free to the label and as of recently all of the products are BPA free..ahhh sigh... I was not excited to start all over on the search for a good cup.

So after months of researching and reading reviews I am deciding to give you my own review on every cup we have tried, sippy, straw, whatever so you can see what I think, ad decide for yourself.



 Nuby 2 Count 2 Handle Cup with No spill Super spout

10 oz

BPA free

6.99 for two cups!!!

These were ones we bought when we first bought sippy cups and were changing him from bottle to sippy. At first we could not use them. They come out a tad fast causing him to cough. Within a month we started using them as his water cup throughout the day. We are in love with this cup. It is still only a water cup for him since we are trying to not use sippy cups often. Great material, great handles. 

This is a must have for our house

Nuby 2 pack no spill cup with flex straw

 10 oz

BPA free

$6.99 for two cups

 These were the cups we ran out and bought real fast at the BX when the lola cup did not work for us. These seriously are amazing. No leak unless MJ throws it and whatever was left in the top of the straw flies out..teach kid not to throw. The liquid only comes out when you are making a sucking motion because it puts light pressure on the straw and 'opens' the valve. Some reviews said that it was impossible to get out...um really? adults my 1 year old can do this and you cant?? Maybe not the best cup for someone learning the straw but its still easy to use. Also I read reviews saying its not sturdy and it shatters easy... this seems to be great material to me. Its made out of the same as the ones above and Mj has been throwing those on our hardwood floor for months. It was a bit annoying to clean the straw part because water gets stuck in the straw but if to tilt the top part at just the right angle you get a good flow of water through it.

 

This is another must have for us. We will be buying more right away

 

 

 Playtex baby First lil' gripper twist and click straw trainer cup

7 oz

Did not read on amazon it was BPA free but its playtex so I assume so.

$7.92 for one

 

This was the first straw cup we got for MJ. It works by you, the adult, pressing where the grips are on the cup so the water goes up the straw and into the childs mouth so they learn to suck. This one was a bit tough at first. It was really hard to squeeze so trying to teach a child to suck on a straw while having to press with both hands was not fun. It seemed to get a tad easier as we went along. once MJ knew how to use it on his own, it was great. Good material and no major leaking problems. We still use it for water since it is too small for milk now.

 Decent for beginners but look somewhere else first. Not bad once you know how to use it on your own.

 

 

 NUK Learner cup with silicone spout

5 oz

BPA free

$9.40 each

 

This was Mjs first sippy cup. We really liked them. So much we had 5 or 6 of them. Great size for an infant moving from bottle to sippy. Soft spout great removable handles. I wouldnt say spill proof but pretty good still. If you press hard enough on the silicone top it will all come out but it didnt happen very often for us. 

 

I for sure would buy these again if I had another child. Definitely recommend 

  

 

 

The first years 2 pack Insulated sippy cup

9 oz

BPA Free

$7.98 for two 

I bought these when I wanted him to go from soft spout to hard. He used them for a week and we really liked them. They changed colors when they had liquid in them. Then I read about the speech problems that sippy cups cause. We use them still but rotate with the straw cups. I still really like them. We have not had a problem with them spilling at all.

 

Recommend these if you want a sippy. 

 

Lollaland Lollacup Infant and toddler straw cup

anywhere from $15-$24

BPA Free

 

This is the cup I started talking about in this blog. I really wanted to like it I really did. But it was so cheaply made. Non sturdy plastic, way flimsy lid and leaked a ton..like the entire thing. The weighted straw idea, where the kid can tilt it and the straw still works, is an amazing idea...if the whole beverage didnt leak out at the slightest tilt.

 Wont ever buy this and dont recommend it until they fix some issues. maybe I will try them again when my child is 5 and knows not to tip it...then again he will have cups by then. 

 

  

   

 Philips AVENT Natural drinking cup

9 oz

BPA Free

$5.00 

 

This is a trainer 'cup'. Not a sippy of course. It works by the child drinking like you would from a normal cup. When in the drinking position the middle presses down slightly releasing water, enough to drink but not to spill everywhere. We just started using this with MJ. When we are out Mj always wants our drink and so we give it to him. Matt doesnt use a straw so MJ has learned to drink from a cup, if someone is pouring it for him. I dont even want to imagine if I gave him a cup on his own. He is learning how to use this on his own. He still either gets none, because he doesnt press hard enough, or gets too much because he sticks his whole face in it. So its a work in progress. But It seems to be good for now. It actually only leaks a few drops if tipped upside down which is nice and it comes with a lid. 

We have found no problems yet. Good invention.

 

Well there it is. All of the cups we have tried thus far and what I think about them. I am sure there will be more as he grows so I will add them to the list or to a new blog. I really hope for those of you researching cups found this helpful. I know if you are so OCD like I am you want the best and wont stop looking till you find it!!