Hey Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song, and make it better :]

I just wanted to do a little bloggy blog about some excitement in my life recently. Not so much mine, but a dear friend's. My bestie from high school, Miss Amanda Nicole, recently got married! I met the lucky Marine for the first time Sunday night, and was very impressed. The three of them, (Amanda Nicole is mother to my precious godson, Jude, more on him later), mesh together perfectly. Jude's father is a no show kinda guy, but Joseph seems like he has been there since day one. The two of them are absolutely adorable together. Already they are a perfect family; doing ten million things at once and looking good doing it.

When Jude came along A.M. went straight into mommy mode. She's been a natural at it and he's always been the light of her life. But, she's been a single mommy, and as always there have been struggles. I am so absolutely happy that she has found a man that loves her AND her baby boy as much as he does. It's a wonderful feeling to see how happy the three of them are together, and I have to say that I am INSANELY proud of A.M. and all she's done for herself and her son.

Jude himself is an impressive young man. He is 16 months old and the most precious thing. He likes to find your cell phone around the house, and take it to you. If you don't want it, he'll just give it to someone else. He will play with the buttons on something until he finds the on switch and then proceeds to control it all day long. He's insanely smart, but one of the most precious things he does is spin around in circles and blunder to the ground, making booming noises when he hits the ground. I love this kid.

Jude's Debue - Jan. 2009

Jude at 16 months- May 2010.

I guess the point of this blog is to appreciate taking some sad moments and making them into wonderful, happily-ever-after stories. A.M. has done a wonderful job raising her son, and deserves to be as happy as she is now.

Three posts in one day, wowza!

This could be the beginning of a beautiful blogging relationship, people. I'm excited. :]

So Christina, over at Married to a Sailor is having a contest for Military Spouse bloggers. As I am closer to experiencing my first deployment, I have discovered that there is a warmth in MilSpouse blogging that is a little unique and a lot comforting. So I'm going to enter, not to win, because I'm entirely new at this, but because blogging has already become a wonderful outlet for the trials coming my way.

This is what being a military spouse means to me.

• From day one, never even considering not following my man across the country, or even the world, just to be close to him.
• Of course, developing a very strong appreciation for his snoring, hogging the sheets, and controlling the remote.
• I not only married Hubbers; I married an alliance of men and women larger than imagination could dream up.
• My life is full of countdowns, be it to something good or something I'm dreading.
• That-in my traditionalist ways- you can usually find thread, a needle, and a broken cami button or coverall patch on the coffee table waiting to be used.
• I assumed, going into it, that I would never actually spend my anniversarry with my husband, but that's okay, because all that matters is that I have a husband.
• When we start our family, I can count on being a "single" mommy nearly half the time.
• I've had to learn to cope with a different breed of pain, loss, fear, stress, and insanity that I will never completely understand, but must always be prepared to face.
• Sometimes I speak in a language only other military spouses understand.
• That while, in the past, I never gave military commercials combat boots a second glance, now, on a rough day, I can find something to cry about in anything camouflaged, blue and gold, or red white and blue.
• That crying can be a sign of pride.
• That I may spend a series of months in this bed alone, making dinner for one, servicing the truck on my own, doing all the heavy lifting, and paying all the bills, but I will never, ever, truly be without my sailor.
• That I will never be in a situation that nobody understands.
• Mostly, that I am the absolutely a part of community of the luckiest people in the world, blessed with the chance to share their lives with the amazing men and women that we call our husbands and wives.

Dear Deployment, I hate you already.

Just a quick little blog, because times like this are when I need my blog the most.

Deployment is rapidly approaching. I've given it a few fleeting thoughts- who doesn't? And I've roughly counted down the days. I have been well aware of when our "last weekend" would occur, or the "last time I'll go grocery shopping for two" is. The difference between before and now is that suddenly those days are my life-blood. I've heard it from some woment before, that you're fine fine fine, and then one day, just before it happens, it hits you like a ton of bricks. Thank you, ton of bricks, for clobbering me tonight.

Of course I can see myself here, functioning normally. After all, he has been gone Monday-Friday for the last five months, and I've become accustomed to waiting for an email to pop up. I can see myself when my parents come to visit, showing them around San Diego and having a ball, even though he's not going to be here. I can see myself going to dinner with friends, taking care of the dogs, going on day trips to places I've never seen. Going to the gym.

But I guess tonight what keeps hitting me is the things that I can't see myself doing when he leaves. Like wrestling with him on the couch. Waiting for him to fall asleep to switch the TV from wrestling to The Nanny. Making mashed potatos and corn with practically every meal. Or just knowing that he's in bed next to me.

I know it's going to be okay. I know if I stay busy, time will fly. I know that thousands, maybe millions of women deal with this every day. But it comes down to the fact that this sucks, regardless of all that. When you live with a man, when you share every night with him and let him in on every moment that happens in your life, and then suddenly, there's going to be this gap where the person holding your heart is in a place he can't even tell you he is in, it's not gonna be easy.

Hopefully, it's not going to be this hard for that long.

Blog-Hop

So I may be a little behind, but thanks to Emily over at Longley's in San Diego, I can still participate in the blog-hop hosted by Riding the Roller Coaster.

I can't link up any more, but I have a feeling these new blogs will keep me busy! So here's our bio. :]

Hubbers was born in San Diego, Ca, but went to high school in Lockhart, Texas, where I grew up. He was class of 2006, and I was 2008. We met in a P.E. class his senior hear of high school. I hated school and P.E., but hubbers decided it was his mission in life to make me enjoy at least that hour of my day and we became good friends. That lasted until he graduated, joined the Navy and moved across the country. For the next two and a half years we rarely kept in touch via Myspace, and, long story short, after deployment he came home to Texas November 2008, just before his 21st birthday, and we've been together ever since. We moved pretty quickly and were married June of 2009, and I followed him back to San Diego, our new home [for now].

We have now been married almost a year, and have aquired two babies [our puppies Willow and Bailey]. For the last 5 months, with the exception of one week of Christmas leave and one other week of normal work, Hubbers has been on the boat 24/7 on weekdays and only home on weekends. Now, within a few short weeks, we will endure our first deployment together. I will be staying in San Diego with the babies, taking online courses, babysitting and keeping busy with friends.

I love cooking, reading, DIY anything and children. We don't have kids yet, but definitely want them down the line. For now, our furry babies are enough. <3

Where we love is our home. Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

Well people, it is getting near that dreaded time. The "D" word, she comes. Deployment. Sadness. I was doing fine with the whole thing, until Hubbers realized it himself on the way home from the store one day this weekend. I was completely okay within myself, until I could hear the little nerve in his voice when he told me he wasn't quite ready yet. As much as I have tried, I have not been able to get the thought out of my mind.

Instead, I have been trying to think of the positive things. So here is a pick-me-up list of things I want to accomplish while Hubbers is away.

• Get in shape; start going to the gym at least three times a week and taking the dogs for walks.
• Get both of our girls fixed
• Training the dogs so that they are as well-behaved as Molly and Ellie (whom may stray at times but still put our pups to shame!)
• Decorate the spare bedroom
• Find a way to hide the cable dragging around our floorboards
• Finish all three of my scrapbooks up to date
• Go home for a few weeks
• Visit a friend a few hours north of us
• Start cooking and baking again
• Find a more space friendly way to arrange the bedroom
• Become an intense student
• Read more books

That's all I've got so far, but I think it's a good start. I need support but I know I can make it, so all I ask is that everyone pray or put in your thoughts for Hubbers to have a safe journey, and for he and is fellow sailors all to return home at the end of the year just as good as new. <3

Won'tchya get to know me?

I got this from Emily. These little tidbits are always fun.

1. If you could star in any movie genre..what would it be..romance..horror..comedy..suspense or action?


Probably a romantic comedy. I like a little [positive] drama, lots of laughs and a happy ending.


2. Do you recycle?

I've started.


3. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Nope but it is on my to-do list.


4. Do you have a nickname?

Mikey pretty much is my nickname.


5. What's a name you can't stand to be called?

Mi-kay-el. Not my name folks.



6. What are your Summer staples?

Shorts and shirts that show off most of my tattoos.



7. What was the last thing you bought for yourself?

A "somebody at sea loves me" shirt.


8. Are you happy with your boob size?

I think they are perfect for me.

The Human Body is the Only Machine for Which There are No Spare Parts

-Hermann M. Biggs



Today I started a relationship with physical therapy. I've had mild to moderate back pain for a couple years now, but in recent months it's become more severe and I decided to mention it to my doctor. I thought she was over-reacting when she sent me to physical therapy, but now I'm glad she did.

I was intimidated at first. I've never had to explain what my body is doing in such intense detail and that says a lot for someone with my medical history. I was so afraid I might describe my pain too vaguely and not get beneficial treatment. As I kept talking, my therapist seemed to understand more exactly what I was talking about, and as a person, she was actually really nice.

So we started with some core-building stretches, because apparently the core muscles should be strong to prevent worsening problems with age. I'm totally fine with that, because working on my abs is definitely something I need to do anyways. Then we did some stretches geared towards the problem areas in my back. They all came very naturally, and I even remembered how to breath through them from when I've done yoga with Emily and in other situations. I told the therapist it really reminded me of yoga and everything I was doing felt absolutely relaxing, and she told me some of the stretches are actually yoga poses. The one that stands out the most to me is the "cobra", and apparently, I'm a cobra pro.

After the stretches, I got a light but effective massage and did some electro-stimulation. Daddy was right- that stuff feels good! To top it off, they laid a huge heavy heating pad over the electro-pads and let me relax for about fifteen minutes. It was bliss.

We got home at 5, however, and I still had dinner to make, laundry and dishes to do, some packing to get done, (we are moving back into a two bedroom unit this week-yay!), and studying to do. I took maybe a five or ten minute break here and there for the next five hours until we finally went to bed. When I finally did lay down, man was I hurting. Correction, am I hurting. I know it's supposed to be painful when you aren't used to it, so I'm not concerned, but I do wish I had gone to get a heating pad today instead of waiting until later days. All I have to say, is at least it is a productive pain now, and not a wasted one.