Basic training

Right after I graduated high school I found myself to be a bit directionless. I was doing Tae Kwon Do 8+ hours a day with a wonderful instructor who seemed to understand that I wasn't sure what I was doing. It took me a couple of months to realize that that wasn't going to work as a long term plan and so I wandered into the military recruiters office one day. The first person that spoke with me was the US Air Force recruiter, and I was hooked. I left for basic training just a few weeks later.

Not long into basic, I met and became fast friends with my flight leader, Lori Richmond. Lori was quiet, friendly, had a ready smile, and never hesutated to help anyone. And she knew what she was doing when it came to everything in basic training. I have never known anyone with such tenacity, drive,  pride, and lack of fear! Everything she did, she did 110%. I remember several nights the 2 of us stayed up all night long, pulling guard duty for all the members of our flight so they could sleep and we could shine their boots and get uniforms inspection ready. We would smuggle kitkats in during the day, tucked inside our sports bras, then hide them inside the ceiling panels to snack on at night while we worked (I admit, I may have been more guilty of this than Lori. I am, after all, a horrible chocoholic!). I have never had as much fun shining boots as I did with Lori! My goodness, we would laugh so hard those nights (probably caused by a mix of the events of the day and the lack of sleep)! But no matter what, Lori always got the work done, done better than the rest, and would always help anyone (and quite often EVERYONE) along the way. She was definitely someone who adheared to the idea of no man left behind (I know, I know, thats not the Air Force!).
I remember about halfway through basic they diagnosed her with Anemia and it would cause her severe migraines. Anyone who has migraines knows that they are hell. Anyone who has had migraines while in basic training knows exactly what Lori was dealing with- absolute, total misery. But Lori's pride and determination kicked in. She refuses to tell our ti's what was going on and muscled her way through. I remember partnering with her on the obstacle course and getting so mad at her because she just kept pushing herself! She was really hurting! She had a legitimate excuse and she wouldn't use it. And yet we had some girls whining because they got splinters or got too dirty (for the record, those girls didn't make it through). But that was Lori- commit to something, give every ounce of yourself to see it through, and don't give up til you finish.

Lori and I lost touch for a few years after leaving tech school (where she was, of course, a squad leader for the newbies, top of her class etc etc etc). She tracked me down a couple of years ago on Facebook and she is the same Lori I have always known. Except this time she is fighting an even bigger fight. Lori has cancer. She has been fighting it for a couple of years now and in true Lori style she is fighting hard. This past weekend she was readmitted to the hospital and needed blood. They didn't have enough to give her due to low donations, but managed to give her 1 bag. She was blessed and after a rough couple of nights she is doing better. But she still has a long fight ahead of her.
Please, take the 1/2 hour it takes to give blood. Make sure Lori, and everyone in her situation, has a fighting chance. Please.

The season without tickets

We successfully made through our very first weekend of our Total Money Makeover. Its a big deal for us because we are very guilty of compulsive spending on the weekends. A quick trip to Walmart to grab an item forgotten while grocery shopping can quickly turn into a $100+ shopping trip for things we feel we have to have. But this weekended, with a budget and a plan in place, we didn't spend all kinds of money. We even found we had enough money to pay the appropriate bills.
The downside is that in doing the budget and setting some long term goals we have decided that we cannot renew our Pirates season tickets this year. As a mother, this is very hard for me. This is something our family has been doing since we moved to Maine 5 years ago. Many of our memories that we all look back on and talk about most often are from hockey games or hockey related events. So many of our friends (and over half of the guest list for Mackenzie's birthday party!) are friends we have made at hockey games. McKenzie was just over 2 months old at her first hockey game (she was born in the off season), and Alyvia was there the day they released us from the hospital. So Pirates hockey is a big deal for us. When it came time to tell everyone the decision, they took it like champs. Disappointed, yes of course! But something we will all figure out how to deal with. I however, feel like I have taken something very important from everyone. I feel like there will be a whole season of memories we will be missing out on.
The reality is that it will be OK. This is a decision that had to be made to help us reach our bigger goal that will make for an even happier family and will be worth it in the end. So even though we may have to cut some of our hobbies for now, the truth is we will eventually have them back and then some when we finally achieve our goals. If I can keep telling myself that, and as long as my wonderful husband helps to remind me of that, I think we will do just fine.

This is what its like...

I can't tell you how many times people ask me what its like at our house or in a family our size (disclaimer: I really don't think our family is that big. We know several families larger than ours. But for whatever reason we seem to draw a crowd. We actually had someone stop as we were walking into the store a couple of weeks ago and exclaim "look at those girls!" As she pointed us out to her family/friends.). So here's a little snippet of what its like at our house:
Its just around 1130 and I am getting lunch in the oven. The kids are playing a game in the livingroom with both dogs lying around there as well. Justin is in the basement working on painting the cabinets. Its nice and calm and quiet. Everyone's happy... just as I slide lunch into the oven I hear a shriek and someone hollar "Nooooooo!" I run into the livingroom to see: the baby covered head to toe in poop, one child holding one dog by the collar, one child standing on the couch, and one child centimeters away from stepping in more poop. "Nobody move!!! What is going on?!" I ask them. 
I promptly receive 3 answers at once. Baby gets brought into bathtub, Daddy gets called up from basement, kids get moved into the other room so Daddy can steam clean the carpet, dogs are shuttled outside. And it all happens in just a few seconds.
Then the happy calm returns.
I like to think we are just your average family, with a little extra chaos sprinkled in for fun.

Oh, and by the way, the sequence of events I have found out went something like this: dog started pooping in the house, kid 1 yelled "Nooooo!" and tried to stop the dog But grabbing its collar. While she was doing that, baby thought poop looked like a great toy. Kid 2 thought the whole thing was disgusting and shrieked and jumped onto the couch while kid 3 was attempting to traverse the mine covered livingroom to get me, almost stepping in it on her way.

I hate (and love) Dave Ramsey

Its no secret to anyone who has known me for a long time that numbers are not my strong suit. So when it comes to finances I have always used the "ignorance is bliss" method. You know, where I chug happily along pretending everything is fine but when it comes time to pay bills I am a nervous wreck then once the bills are paid I return to my financial ignorance and carry on same as always. You can imagine how well that has worked for me.
So my husband and I finally decided (both of us at the same time even!!) that enough is enough, this isn't working, we are barely treading water, time to change.
Enter Mr. Dave Ramsey. I downloaded his book on our kindle apps and we both started reading. I have never seen my husband blow through a book so fast!! So now we are gearing up and getting ready for our Total Money Makeover. And I have decided that I both hate and love Mr. Ramsey. I hate him for taking away my blissful ignorance and my excuses. I love him for taking away my blissful ignorance and excuses and teaching us that there is a way out and how to get there. Its going to be a rough road ahead for sure, but we'll get there!

Things they dont tell you about pregnancy, labor, and motherhood

My cousin Emily is expecting her first baby (a boy!) in a couple of months And I keep thinking of all the random things I think she should know that nobody ever told me.
So here is my list of random tidbits in random order:
-being pregnant can be kinda sucky. Don't get me wrong, its totally worth it. But not everyone is a happy, glowing, "this is such a beautiful experience" kind of pregnant lady. And that is OK. Swelling in odd places, the inability to do simple things (you know, tie your own shoes, bend at the waist, go 10 minutes without needing to pee) can make for a grouchy person.
-sometimes when you are in labor you will throw up. Not from excruciating pain or anything like that, just because that's what your body does at that moment.
- breastfeeding hurts. Atleast for the first week or two. But it gets better and stops hurting and really is doable.
- the first time your baby poops, it will look like tar and may scare you if you don't expect it. That may not be a surprise to anyone, but when. I had my first daughter I did not k ow this and really thought I had damaged her internally. But it is normal and OK and goes away in a diaper or two.
- when it comes time to buy baby cereal, get the Gerber rice cereal, not beechnut. It has a much better consistency.
- your baby will eventually get into everything. No matter what you do, how you baby proof, or how prepared you are. And they will put it in their mouth. My oldest daughter, at 18 months figured out how to get on top of the refrigerator by pushing a stool over to the drawers,  undoing the child locks, arranging the drawers as stairs  and then climbing on top of the microwave.  All on the 30 seconds it took me to pee (which, I might add, you learn to do extremely quickly!)
- another thing about breastfeeding, you will leak at really weird times. Like if you laugh to hard, or look at your baby and realize how much you love him/her, or if you are at the store and hear another child laugh or cry. The lansinoh pads are the way to go.

OK, that's all the random info i can come up with for now. But knowing me, I will remember more later...