I'm Back! :)

So, it's been a really really long time since I've been on here! lol I'm sure no one will read this, but it's more for me. I've accepted a challenge! Peak313.com has a 5 week challenge called "Living and Active." The challenge is to workout for 25 minutes 4 times a week and memorize the verse of the week for 5 weeks. She's also doing devotionals that go with the verse she has chosen. Today is day one, and so far, so good! I've completed my 25 minutes! I had everything ready to go, so as soon as Ben got on the bus this morning, Eli and I took off for our walk. It worked out great! And the weather this morning was absolutely amazing! I LOVE fall!! I've felt really good all day! I think getting up and moving has definitely helped my mood...or maybe its this weather. I'll go with working out, so maybe I'll do it again tomorrow! lol

Day 1 always seems to be the easiest day, so it doesn't seem like this is much of an accomplishment, but you have to take the first step! Maybe this is the first day of actually losing weight and keeping it off for good! If I don't take this first step, I'll never know! I'm super excited to be doing this, and if you are reading this, feel free to join! I'll keep you updated on my progress as the weeks progress!

Also, Good Morning Girls is starting a new Bible study! I'm pretty sure it starts next week. It's going to be on Collosians. Definitely look into that! Those ladies are doing some amazing work!

These are a few of MY favorite things!

Morgan did this a few months ago, so I thought I'd be a copy cat! ;)
Actually, I really like to know what works, so I thought I would share what works for me.

First on my list- Clorox Wipes!
I'm not sure what I did before I discovered this wonderful product! I use these daily! I discovered these when I was in college, so I guess I've been using them for over 3 years now. They are perfect for all those spills and splatters in the kitchen! After I do the dishes, I go over my whole kitchen with these and then just toss the mess! They also come in decorative canisters now, which I find is great for the bathroom. They make your daily swish and swipe that much easier! One sheet over the counter top fold in half and wipe the toilet and toss it! LOVE them!!


Pretty sure I started using this after reading about them on Morgan's blog--Venus Spa Breeze razors. I've been a loyal Venus user since they came out. I can count on one hand the number of times I've cut myself with a Venus...disposables on the other hand...there's no telling! I can tell you that after you use a Venus you can't go back to disposables! The Venus Breeze is great for a quick shower shave. No shaving cream needed! Yes they're expensive, but one blade last me a couple of weeks, and like I said, once you use one...you can't go back!


Next on my list-- Clinique's skin care products! This stuff makes your face feel sooo smooth! Not to mention there are different formulas for all skin types, so you know what your buying is going to work for you. I love it! The Dramatically Different lotion is unbelievable! It hydrates without being greasy at all...no clue how they do it, but I love it!


And while we're on the subject of Clinique, let me just say that they're makeup is wonderful! Maybe its just the fact that I know that what I'm spending my money on is a quality product that will work with my skin and that actually matches my skin color. I've spent so much money on cheap (and not so cheap) Wal-Mart makeup that just didn't work. I bought a bottle of Clinique when I bought the skincare products and when I ran out, I decided to save money and buy some $10 makeup at Wal-Mart. I figured that yeah that was kind of expensive for Wal-Mart makeup, but if I spent a little more, maybe it would be better. I spent about 2 weeks looking orange (even Michael made a comment about it) and ended up back at the Clinique counter for something that worked. $20 later, I have makeup that's right for my skin type and matches my skin perfectly!


Now, not all cheap Wal-Mart makeup is bad makeup! I love Almay Intense I-Color makeup! At least the eye shadow and eye liner. It really does seem to bring out your eye color which I love! As far mascara goes though, I have to go back to Clinique for that!

Well, I hope you enjoyed learning about a few of my favorite things! What are yours?

My new pet(s)!!

Well, I decided not to get the dog...it was a very tough decision! Michael said I could get him and we all agreed on a price and I even had a time set up to pick him up. I was so excited...and then I started to think about everything. I started thinking about how expensive he was going to end up being...not only the price of him, the non-refundable pet fee for my apartment, food, collar, leash, crate, something to travel in, etc. etc. That adds up really really fast! Not only that, but I'm hopefully coming home sometime within the next few weeks, so I would have to bring him and stress out about what to do with him in AR. If I stay at my Dad's, he couldn't stay with me...so who wants to take care of someone else's dog? Then we're coming home again for Christmas, so we would have that dilema all over again! Not to mention we're moving in January and if we don't live on base we'll have to pay another pet deposit plus the deposit on the place...all this kept going over and over and over in my head and I kept getting more and more stressed! I didn't even have him yet and he was driving me crazy! Not to mention I knew that everytime he chewed something up or went potty on the carpet, or ANYTHING at all that Michael would give me that look that said I HATE THIS DOG!! So, after getting no sleep, I told the lady that I just couldn't do it. :(

So who are these new pets, you ask? Well, a little over a week ago I bought some squirrel food and a feeder. I hung out as soon as we got home and watched and waited...nothing happened. I say about 10 squirrels at the back of our apartments eating the next day. I knew I had seen the older lady that lives behind us throwing peanuts out a few weeks ago, so I decided that she was feeding them too and that I probably wouldn't be getting any customers. Well, this morning I was rocking Ben and I heard something banging on the front porch. I peeked out and saw a squirrel hanging upside down on the feeder. He had knocked the lid off the top and was tilting the whole thing sideways and food was going ALL over the porch and banging when it landed on our grill. This silly little squirrel would jump up on the feeder (still hanging upside down) grab one piece of food (while food was raining down all over the ground) then jump down on the banister and eat his one piece and do it all over again! He finally discovered all the food on the ground decided to just eat the easy stuff! We had lots of fun watching this little guy who was soon joined by a friend. I still have food all over my front porch, but that's ok, they've been keeping us entertained! If you come to visit and see 50 pound squirrels, you'll know they've been to my house! Silly things have been out there eating all day!



I can't believe how big Ben is getting! He's growing up WAY to fast! He'll 5 months in a little over a week! He loves watching tv and playing in his excersaucer. He's such a sweet little boy! I can't wait to bring him back to Arkansas so ya'll can see him! Here's some pictures of bath time today!

Ya'll win!

Ok, ok, ok, I'll keep people updated...I mean it was the whole point of the blog anyway right?

For anyone who reads this that doesn't know, I moved to Pensacola at the end of June. Honestly, I don't remember too much about the last few months...I don't think anything significant happened.

I hurt my back sometime in July and it's still not better. Ben's been (ha!) going to daycare since I hurt it. When it first happened I couldn't even pick him up. I can pick him now and we can play, but sometimes it just gives out. He had a doctor appointment a few weeks ago, so I decided to keep him after it was over and the next day I could barely hold him. Michael has been getting to stay at home at night now to help take care of Ben. I'm so glad to have him home, but I wish I could keep Ben during the days! I miss him so much! But he seems to love daycare and the ladies there are crazy about him!

He's growing up so fast! At our last dr appointment he weighed 14 pounds and was 24 inches long! He's just now getting into 3-6 month clothes, but they are almost too short and they swallow him whole! I don't know what we're going to do! Ben LOVES his daddy and his favorite thing to do is watch him play xbox! They could do that for hours! He's just now starting to giggle and it's the funniest thing! No teeth yet, but I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time. He loves anything and everything outside, and he loves to watch people!! As long as he has something to watch he is content!

Michael's class date got pushed back since he had to stay home and help me until we could get daycare worked out. He was supposed to graduate in November, but now its going to be January. Not too big of a deal, in fact it worked out great because now he gets 2 weeks for Christmas because the schools shut down, which means we'll get to come home for sure and actually stay awhile! We're still not sure if we're coming in for Thanksgiving or not...we'll see.

I haven't been up to much...just trying to take care of my boys! I recently got my sewing machine out of the closet thanks to Morgan, so hopefully I will have some pics to post of the progress soon!

I feel like I live at NHP! (Naval Hospital at Pensacola) I was there a few times with my back, then Ben got sick, (he had a bad cough! he took that yummy pink stuff and is much better now!) and Michael's ankle (not sure what he did...it just hurts all the time). Now Michael's in physical therapy for his ankle and is actually at an appointment right now to see if he can go to orthopedics and get an MRI. I should start physical therapy one day next week...yay! But if it works, I'll do whatever it takes!

I'm hopefully getting a dog...*fingers crossed* A lady on craigslist has a min pin for sale and he is the cutest thing you have ever seen!! Hopefully we can all agree on a price and he will be mine! I'll post a pic of him that she sent me.


Anyway, this is all very random and I'm sure I've left something out, but I'll do better about updating and taking pictures to go along with it! I'm getting better at pictures, but I'm pretty sure the people who read this have seen my pics on FB, so I won't post them.

Things I want to remember...

While we were in the ER at Children's, Ben's cord fell off! He has a belly button now!! It's so cute! (Look at that belly! :o))

On our way home from the hospital, we stopped at Wal-Mart in Hot Springs and the greeter wanted to see Ben. We stopped and let him look. He said that he needed his first dollar and proceeded to pull out his wallet and give him one. How sweet was that? It's going in Ben's savings account!

And this is just a freebie! I thought he looked so cute napping in his hooded towel!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday, so we had cake and icecream at Granny's on Sunday. Daddy and Sheila took me out to eat yesterday and Michael bought me flowers. I think this is the first year that I haven't had any idea what I wanted. Granny gave me money and Daddy and Sheila bought me some shirts that I picked out. I told Michael I wanted an SD card so I would have plenty of room for pictures for my blog! ;) Here's some pictures from Sunday. Yes I had a Tinkerbell cake for my 21st birthday! :o)

Update on Ben

Well, we didn't get to come home on Saturday like had hoped, but we did go home on Monday. We were so happy to be out of that hospital! It feels so good to hold my baby without having to worry about IV cords!

We still don't really know what was wrong...just that he had an infection. On Wednesday night, his white blood cell count was 30,000 and by Friday or Saturday it was 19,000, so the infection was getting better. They took more blood before we left and we're still waiting on results from that and the urine culture. He seems to be doing fine though. He's eating like a horse! We had a follow up appointment with Dr. Reeves on Tuesday and he had gained 6 ounces in 6 days! He put him on some reflux medicine as well, so maybe that will help.

Here's some pictures of our last days at Children's. We knew he was feeling better when he would let us put him in the swing the nurses brought for him. Here's a picture of Ben and Grandpa on our last night, and one of the shirt they gave him when we left. It's a little big now, but isn't it cute? The stuffed animal is "Bucky" the deer that Grandpa bought for him. :) And a picture of the mean old nurses drawing blood for one final test right before we left.