A New Beginning

We had a nice Friday lunch with Bry before T had to leave :)

Every week I feel like I have a new beginning, a new opportunity to do things right. Every month I feel the same way, only stronger. This month is a little different, because now it's just me and Bry. I'm on a break from school and home full time, and Travis is off to start his new job in Abu Dhabi. I have the house ALL TO MYSELF! It feels amazing. I am excited for all that is in store, but I know if I don't grab hold of some type of routine, once the fan starts spinning in the beginning of the year, everything is going to hit it.
SO, I am getting Bry and I on track with a routine. A new style of eating--very little grain, gluten, and sugar, stricter cleaning involving more throwing away and donating, working out on a regular basis--I've fallen off the wagon HARD, and just doing better with bedtime and waking up earlier.

I feel as though during this time it's really vital that we get this momentum going. At the beginning of the year, I'll be starting my new clinical rotation which means I'll practically be working full time, except I won't be getting paid for it. I already know myself, which I know once I start this internship, I won't be starting any new routines. With all the preparations that we will need to make for our big move, I can't spend any extra time & effort worrying about little things that should already be in place.

But even through all the stress, I am SO excited and ready. I'm thankful for more time to prepare, and I'm thankful for this month I have to prepare my mind & body.

The truck is gone and we have a couple who are set on renting our house once we move out! It feels pretty good to have the bigger things like that already settled. Bry and I are applying for our passports this week, for sure, and our Visas are being taken care of as well. Even though we won't be using them for a while, it'll be nice to have them ready to go.

At the Airport

Bry really wanted to see a plane take off so we waited around for T's plane to leave.

The airport had this nice little sitting area with a bay-type window to watch the planes.

As T's plane taxied away towards the West, it went out of our view range so I asked Bry if he wanted to run into the parking garage so we could watch it take off. Of course he said yes, so, like anybody else would do, we RAN outside and through the parking garage to the West end! And then... the airplane turned around and started taking off towards the EAST! So... we RAN even faster towards the East end just in time to see in take off into the air :) and even though I wished we would've stayed in our cozy little sitting area inside the airport where we would've been able to see it just fine, it was awesome. And Bry loved it.

Before Travis left, we gave Brycen these gifts. A scentsy buddy for cuddling and hugs when he misses daddy, and a Nabi. It was a splurge gift, but he can Skype on it and T really wanted to see his face when he opened it ;) He loved them both and I have a feeling both will get put to use often.

As far as the U.A.E.

I've entrusted Travis with the decision to pick out our living arrangements. Villa or apartment? Dubai or Abu Dhabi? Pros and cons, pros and cons! I really want an apartment, because seriously, we can live in a townhouse in the U.S. But, I'm not gonna be a brat because I know I'll just be happy to have our family back together in a new and exciting place.


This morning, Bry woke up and asked "where's Daddy?" I knew he was being too cool about this whole thing! He was okay after I updated him, but I'm curious to see how he is a month from now. If he's anything like Travis he'll just take it day by day with no worries. If he's anything like me, he'll be dwelling on memories and longing for physical interaction haha. Let's hope he's more like T ;)

Moving to where?!?!!

Welp, we are in the middle of preparing for the next chapter in our lives! Travis got out of the Army in July, a day we had been waiting on since about a year into our contracts ;) we loved it, enjoyed it the best we could, but knew it wouldnt be forever. He applied for a job in Dubai back in March, and he got it. It was a tough decision to make, we would be leaving all that we knew to pursue a new job and the experience of a lifetime. Would it be worth it? Could we handle it? Could MY MOM handle it?!
We prayed

...and prayed


...and prayed.

As the hiring process continued, Trav continued to apply for jobs JUUUUST in case it fell through or he needed a job until he were to leave. No other doors were opening for us. Jobs he was well qualified for, he didn't get. After 6 years of job security, we were finally feeling the effects of the economy. Could we even afford to be picky about job location? (By the way, I firmly believe that there is always a choice)

Anywho, fast forward a few months! He is now in his final stages and preparing to leave. We have no set date yet, but are mentally ready for them to say this week. It doesn't seem real. Part of me is expecting this to fall through and for all of our friends and family to ask "what's the latest?" And we'll have to say "we still dont know."

What we do know is that there is a predicted arrival of early November. Hence this blog! I want to keep everybody posted and record my experiences as a girl juggling being a mom, wife, daughter, student, and future expat in modern day Arabia. Sounds fun, right? Lets just say Im glad Im a "one day at a time" kind of person ;)

90 days after T-rav gets there, his family can join him and I will be graduating with my degree in Physical Therapy Assisting in March. How perfect is that? God is so good!
There is an American Hospital and several other physical therapy clinics, so I think if I chose to work, I could. Schooling there for children is great, although the English speaking British private schools may ruin Brycen's southern accent ;)

Today I completed the 6th out of my 7 week clinical rotation! I love where I am at, the clinic is great and my CI (clinical instructor) is really awesome. Im gonna hate saying goodbye--but lets not talk about that! In January I will begin my second, and last clinical rotation, WOO HOO! Ill be so glad to be done with school. Itc crazy to be this close to graduating!

We are spending our weekend in Atlanta, just in case T doesn't get another chance to visit his family. Ill be keeping a 365 photo album on facebook to track our latest happenings, along with this blog. I hope I can keep up with it better than I know I will!!


So thats whats going on in our world! We are very anxious for our next step and compare where we are at to fishing in between tides. Waiting for the tide to come in or go out, either way... waiting & enjoying each other's company and life in general. Like always :)

Until next time,
Kristi ♡

It's always somethin new!

Every day Brycen amazes me in some kind of way and every time he does it I just want to shout it from the rooftops! So I'm going to start recording it here, that way who ever wants to read about it can, and who ever doesn't want to hear about can keep their stick where its at :)

let's start with this weekend!
Fri April 2nd- Brycen officially started saying "I want ____" instead of just using his one word commands for what he wants: drink, some, eat, blanket. He's starting sentences!

Sunday April 4th- This song came on and Brycen sang along (in his own words) in the back seat :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVpv8-5XWOI

April 11th- Brycen made this video for his BFF's 2nd birthday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_T4AUqCFi0

Tue 4/13/10 -Travis left for training early that morning, so when Brycen and I went to go pick up his truck, he got in...looked around....then said "where go? Daddy?" it broke my heart and made me happy that Daddy was only going to be gone for 2 weeks!

Wed 4/21/10 -While trying to come inside from being outside, Brycen dropped his drink and said "OH NO my jink!" that's the best sentence he's EVER spoken. I'm such a proud mama today!!

Sat May 1st -We were outside and I told Brycen to pick up his airplane from the grass. He did then threw it on the way inside. When he went looking for it saying "airpane...airpane" I said "where did it go?" he replied by pointing his finger to the sky and saying "up" :)

The Best Day of My Life

It has been 15 months and 26 days since my amazing baby boy was brought into this world via... me :) I can't describe what it feels like to know that I gave birth. I brought a child into this world. I carried a little developing baby boy inside me. It is simply... amazing. wonderful. beautiful.

I want to record everything that happened in those 24 hours before too much time passes and I can't recall anything.

Let's start at the beginning :)

For months I had kept track of when I had my cycle. I knew exactly the day I would get it and how long it would last. So the week I didn't start was a red flag. (But a good red flag... more like a yellow sunshine-y flag) I was supposed to start on a Thursday and Travis was leaving on Monday (or Tuesday I forget). Friday, Saturday and Monday I took a pregnancy test each day and they all came back negative. Which is the worse to see when you want it so bad. The next Thursday when I was exactly 1 week late, I went on base to Ft Bragg to take a blood test. The results didn't take long, I only had to wait a couple of hours. I was more patient than I expected I would be, but I also heard of some women having to wait until the next day (nooo way I could wait that long).
They called me back in the afternoon and said "we have the results to your pregnancy test and it is positive". Now, as I'm typing this I still am at a loss for words for how I felt. I didn't say anything but "it IS?!!" I had already seen so many negative tests over the past months that I was prepared for the worst. OH what awesome news!!!!!!!!! Who do I call?! When will I talk to Travis?! What now!! So I called my only friend in Savannah, Ambre and told her because I knew I could tell her and hang up right away without needing to talk for 20 minutes. I had to tell somebody!!
I called my mom right afterwards and told her my sisters were going to be aunt's :) meanwhile as I'm talking to my mom, Jami, Travis's mom text messaged me telling me Travis is online. WHAT?!! ALREADY?!! how amazing is that! I find out and within 1 hour I get to tell Travis! In his old unit, I never knew when we were going to talk or how long we would have. While all this was rushing around in my head I texted Jami back saying "DONT TELL HIM!!" and she didn't even know the news yet haha.
I saved our whole conversation but a shorter version of it is:
me: I need you to call me right away
him: I can't babe, whats up?
me: I have to see the Dr and get prenatal vitamins
him: huh? whats wrong? what did they say?
me: YOU'RE GONNA BE A DADDY!!!!
him:
him:
him: :) :) :D :D :) :) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so awesome to be able to tell him so quickly. Everything was changed. We knew we wanted a family and now we were going to have one. But wait! what if I have a miscarriage! then I started thinking about when he/she gets older. what if he/she gets hurt! what if he/she drives too fast! what if what if what if.....!!! And then I realized... my life will never again be worry free. And now I see why all those mamas think the way they do. I am already the typical mom and I haven't even had this baby yet.
The next day I woke up and thought, "I'm pregnant. Now what?" maybe I thought I would have balloons and a parade everyday but in reality its a lot of waiting. for plus or minus 40 weeks to be exact.
Well I drove to the base to get my prenatals and I was soo happy. I handed my ID to the gate guard & he looked at me for a second and I thought "is he gonna give me my ID back? is this guy mentally unstable? he is just looking at me holding my ID" then he said "that smile... you're smile is so beautiful it just made me stop and... look atcha" :) I didn't even realize that I was smiling and that made my day even better.

Fast Forward a couple months:
Travis came home for a couple weeks in November for his R & R. I was 18 weeks which was still too early on in my pregnancy for them to give me an ultrasound. I really wanted to find out the gender while Travis was here with me so while we were in Florida visiting my family, we drove over to Miami to a 4D ultrasound place to find out the sex of our baby! I had a big feeling it was going to be a girl and I already had a name picked out. Alycia Kristine. (A-lee-see-ya) But as you all know by now, its a boy!!! After we finished up there we ate lunch at Dan Marino's restaurant and that's where we got our special Marino's cup from ;)
It was so hard saying goodbye to him. I held it all in until I got to the car. I sat down and didn't put the car in reverse for a good 10 minutes because I was bawling my eyes out. It was so hard. He was only gone for 3 months and he was going back for at least another 2.

Fast Forward again: Daddy came home Feb 8th, 2008. Just in time to see me all big and round and enjoy the last of the 3rd trimester with me.
Within those last 2 months we made at least 2 trips to the ER thinking maybe, possibly, hopefully I was ready but got sent back.
I was due March 21st, and that came and went.

On March 26th at about 10 at night, I opened the refrigerator and felt like a cup of water was spilled on my pants. I went in and told Travis about it and he sort of grumbled, "noo its not your water babe" I continued to argue with him and thought, okay maybe he's right I'll just go to sleep and if anything, I'll wake up and need to go to the hospital. As I was leaning against the bed pulling the blanket down, another rush of water came. "no babe, my water broke, it happened again". He was so mad telling me "even if we get sent back home, they don't care, I'll still have to wake up early and do PT" I just said "ok fine I'll go to the hospital by myself but it's not a false alarm" and of course being the kind gentleman that he was being, he insisted that he couldn't let me go alone and he was going with me. So we got in the car with none of our packed bags and drove off into the night.
We got to the hospital and signed in at 1040 and didn't wait. We went right back and as soon as she checked to see if my water was broke, it again was rushing out and she said 'yea her water's definitely broke' and I saw Travis's face break out in a smile :) I felt like saying "told ya so" but of course, I keep all sarcastic comments to myself. Travis went home to get our bags while I went to the room which was well equipped with a TV and nice comfy bed.
I went with the midwives because I wanted a more natural approach to my labor. I wanted to go all natural, I was very persistent about that during my pregnancy but trusted her opinion when she decided to put me on pitocin. I watched enough Birth Day & A Baby Story to know what that meant and why she decided on it.
After Travis and I were both in the room, we realized we still hadn't thought of a name. Brycen was the one name that stayed on the list while the others were crossed off and others were added. I said "So are we going with Brycen??" and we agreed!
I was fine for a long time then all of a sudden the contractions came and they were.... horrible. They went off the charts and when I would notice one was going away, one would be right behind it, keeping me on my toes. It was.... horrible.
I am not the kind of person to scream when I'm in trouble or in pain, so I held it all in. Travis was insisting that I was doing amazing but he didn't know that I was breaking down inside. It hurt so bad. so bad. I still blame the pitocin. Around 530 or 6 in the morning when the nurse came back in, she checked how dialated I was and I was positive I was going to be about 8 cm. I could deal with 8. only 2 to go. "you're at about 5" she said. WHAT?! only 5? I thought. "I think I'm gonna need the epidural" again in my calmest voice.
So 30 minutes later the anesthetist comes in and says "I thought for SURE you weren't gonna need me tonight, I was surprised when they called for me" not now Mr. I do not care what you think just give me that huge needle.
Travis had to leave the room and they instructed me to be very still, which was VERY hard since I was right in the middle of back to back contractions. My nurse, who was very nice yet very talkative was joking around with the anesthetist and saying "you see how they treat me?!" in a joking way. I was NOT in the mood to hear her talk, let alone talk to me, so I kept my mouth shut and held in all of this stupid pain that wouldn't be there if it weren't for that stupid pitocin.
I don't remember how fast the medicine kicked in but I DO remember that I felt amazing. After all that pain it was so nice to finally be able to relax. I watched tv, drank sprite, and even slept a little. I couldn't feel my legs and that felt pretty good too.
At some point during the night I was shivering but I wasn't cold. I remembered seeing that on tv and feeling like those girls were going through a rough time. And now I was going through it! my teeth were chattering, I could barely talk! weird what labor does to you.


At about 11 the midwife checked me and I was almost ready!! 1130 she came back to tell me she had to do a couple things but when she got back, "lets get ready to have that baby!" oh the best words. And I'm glad I got the epidural, that would've been at least another 6 hours of pain pain pain.
I don't remember when I started pushing, but I remember not caring who was in the room. I didn't want a mirror to see what was going on and about half way through I threw up. Not my most ladylike of moments but a side effect of labor.
I loved the epidural for another reason because in between pushes we would watch tv and talk about all kinds of things you never thought you would be talking about in the middle of delivering a baby. I started feeling the contractions when his head was visible, but that goodness I couldn't feel my v-j!

At 1:27 pm our baby boy Brycen Lamar Morris came into this world weighing in at 9 lbs 13 oz.

He wasn't crying right away so the midwife cut his umbilical cord very fast and got him to the nurses. I knew he would be alright & I cried when I saw him.
I got 3rd degree tears and had to be stitched up very well. They had trouble getting the placenta out and I'm glad I don't get sick when I see blood. Because there was a lot. After I was all stitched up and they took my baby away for his shots and hospital stuff they do, the nurse told me I needed to use the bathroom. I suppose its one of the things they make you do after you give birth, but I did NOT want to and I did NOT like that woman telling me to get up.
I went to the bathroom hobbling because I was in so much pain. That epidural wore off and the after birth pain started. They had to help me get back from the bathroom because I was about to pass out from not eating anything and just delivering a 10 lb baby.
When I laid down, had a blanket over top of me I started getting color back and I got chicken broth.
A nurse came in and asked me how I felt and I said "in pain" and she just said "well besides that how are you" what do you MEAN besides that?! all I wanted was my epidural back. Please just give it back to meeeee.
I got wheeled off to the mother baby unit and felt every tiny bump! Travis pushed Brycen in his little hospital crib he had. We had the whole room to ourselves and it felt cozy.
We had to stay there 3 days because Brycen & I had a fever and after that he had a slight case of jaundice. One night to help with it he had to lay in his diaper with this eye cover over his eyes in a crib with lights. it was like a newborn tanning bed. Travis and I were so heart broken he had to lay there all alone. So I would take extra time when I had to nurse him.
He was fine after that night and I remember thinking, it looks so beautiful outside, I wish we could go out there.
Travis was so amazing while we were there. He did everything for me, went home and made me sandwiches, brought me snacks to eat. He slept on a pull-out chair for a few days and didn't complain one bit. Anything I wanted or needed, he was right there. I felt really close with him after that and was so happy he was there with us. I don't know what I would've done by myself.
We got released on a Sunday and Travis got 2 weeks off :)

It has been an amazing ride. I love these boys with all of my heart & then some.
I can't wait until Brycen is old enough to know the story about how he entered this world.
I can't wait until he's old enough to comprehend just how much I love him. But he won't know until he has his own children. Even then, I don't think he'll know :)

I ran a what?!

2009 seems so unreal to me. I still think anything made in 2000 is "new". CRAZY! So anyway my baby boy is 1 YEAR OLD!! I can't believe he is already so big. It's just amazing to me. But that's for another post ;) this one is about my MARATHON EXPERIENCE (ence..ence...ence) [that's supposed to be echoing by the way]
Training started in November 08 and was simple enough, started off running 2-3 miles which was already mastered by my & my trusty jogging stroller. Doing it with Team in Training was AmAZiNG, everybody is so nice and you always have a coach to run to and a teammate to run with. As the miles got harder, so did the fundraising. Me and my procrastinating self just relied on people to know that I was raising money and I pretty much thought... YOU CAN DONATE ANYTIME NOW! Which didn't work. Because not only is my whole family not in the position to give a whole lot, my friends are all broke college students (sorry guys, but its true :]). Which would be fine except I had no other resources. I finally cracked and went to places like WalMart and Kroger (aka the grocery store for those who don't know what the heck a Kroger is). Those places would've worked if I had enough time to sit outside with a bucket, but I didn't and I needed $2300... fast.
So I ended up dropping Team in Training, which was really sad because I wanted to not only complete a personal obstacle, but I wanted to do it for a cause. I did raise about $350 so to those who gave, thank you! And to those who wanted to give but couldn't, thanks for your support!
So then I was on my own, right? WRONG! I have a good friend named Kristen :) and she stuck with me through all my training days when I needed a running partner. And, not only did I have wonderful Kristen, but I still had all my ex-fellow teammates to run with, mostly Megan, Karin, The Erin's, Jean, and Jen (and of course Kristen and Tori).
I have to say, if you're training for a long distance run, the best way to do it is with other great people. There's no way I couldve ran those distances by myself. I tried and it hurt!
So anyway the longest I ran was 20 miles, I did that twice & with other people at a good pace. Now all I had to do was make it another 6.2 miles to finish the marathon!

Nashville!
Going to Nashville was SO exciting! Travis's grandmas live about 30 minutes away from there so we stayed with them. Tennessee is simply amazing. All the land and mountains and rivers and waterfalls are breathtaking. I love beautiful scenery. While we were up there we contemplated moving to Tennessee once he gets out of the army & I am done with school...we shall see ;) I love the beach but there's nothin like open air.
anyway we drove around Nashville trying to find something to see, maybe the Grand Old Opry, Carrie Underwood or SOMETHIN but we got nothin. that's alright, we were just happy to be there and ready to get out of the car! Somewhere in Nashville is a very happy person because we lost our camera!! It had a full battery and an empty memory card. Such is life.

The Marathon!
Here it is, April 25, 2009, the day I had been waiting for! We woke up early, about 5 to arrive hopefully at 6 since the race was starting at 7 and we knew there would be traffic. We got there at about 630 which turned out to be fine.
We hung out with the Team in Training folks, who are always entertaining.
So I decided maybe I should pee before the race, right? Makes sense. I look over and see a HUGE line of port-a-jons. Kinda ew but oh well, all I have to do is get through this huge crowd of people to get to the line for the bathroom. The closer I get, the more I see this 'crowd' is standing still in a sort of formation. Wait a second, this can't be! This huge crowd of people WAS the line for the portajons!!! There had to have been 20+ port a potties and at LEAST 50 people in each line!!!!!!! OMG I've never seen such a thing...I think I can hold it.
Headed towards the start line at abooout 650. They had it set up by corrals. Corral 1 was the super fast people who would start right at 7, then they wait a couple minutes and send corral 2.
Before the race I did my research and saw they had pace groups, if you wanted to finish in a certain time, just stick with those guys.
I put myself in about Corral 17, had my sights set on the pace group sign that said 4:45.
At about 730 I said my goodbyes to my boys and started the race! I stop at the 1st port-a-jon I see which only had 2 people in the line (as opposed to 50 before the race). It was right next to where one of the bands were playing, so we got to listen to music while we waited and peed.
And I'm off! I ran a 4:1 run:walk ratio which was extremely helpful.
It was so cute seeing all the cheerleaders with their different themes, the first one was a bunch of girls dressed all nerdy with signs saying "run before the jocks come & take your lunch money!". Super cute. Everybody was out there cheering so early in the morning!
I would have to say the best part was running through the neighborhoods and seeing all the people on their lawns drinking beer watching us run our booties off. Some had kids who held their hands out for you to give them a high five as you passed by :)
One or two lawns we passed by actually had their water hose out spraying it over the entire road so we all could run through it. So nice :) and even though it was so cool of them to do that, all I could think about was how high their water bill was gonna be lol
Another person we passed by had a big sign that said FREE BEER!

(This photo compliments of Megan Bodenstine)

And as I laughed at the thought of drinking beer during a marathon, I saw a guy who had been drinking a beer, put it down on the road, keep running, then a girl run up, pick the beer up and started drinking it haha. oh man.
This wasn't the only guy who did this, others had dixie cups and they filled it up just enough to take a shot of beer and keep running.
Still got my eyes set on the group sign that said 4:45.
After getting out of the neighborhoods we ran through part of downtown Nashville, got to sight see a little bit including statues that flashed us:


after about mile 11 there were signs putting the marathoners on the left side, half-marathoners on the right side. There were A LOT more people running the 1/2 marathon than full! Don't get me wrong, 1/2 marathons are cool and all, but if you're gonna come all the way to Nashville, run the full!! Turned out to be somewhere around 25,000 people doing the 1/2 and 5-7,000 doing the full. After we went our separate ways, it got boring. It was quiet, there were no more fans, the fun disappeared!
So at about mile 15 it really started to get rough, maybe that's where I started to hit my "wall". I set my watch to a 3:1 ratio so I took it easy on myself, even though I felt like I could run 4:1. My knees were starting to hurt along with my thighs and feet. For some reason the bottoms of my feet were killing me!
There were still bands all over the course, which I loved because they let you float away with the music.
I LOVED the water stations! They had every thing you needed. I wanted Travis to be waiting at the 20 mile mark with some food, but knew the chances of that happening were 1 in 100,000. Around mile 19 I was STARVING and got to a water station & saw a plate with only one more apple piece on it...perfect. Oh man that was just what I needed, I think that was the best tasting apple I've ever had in my life :)
I started running again, went around a curve & saw a stroller. I loved seeing the kids in strollers because they reminded me of my little boy & I got to see them smile. Seeing that & smiling back at them took the pain away for just a little bit.
I looked into the stroller and saw the best thing ever, MY BRYCEN!! Looked up and saw my wonderful Travis smiling at me. I couldn't believe I was seeing them & how happy I was to kiss my baby. My mind was so BLAH that I don't think I even gave Travis a kiss or say hi to Kristen & Shawn who were standing right there. The only thing I did comprehend was that if I stood for too long, my knees would start to hurt and running would be painful again.
I said goodbye and ran again, this time with a smile on my face. I had something to smile about for the rest of the 6.2 miles :)
The closer I got to finishing, even at about 20 miles it was amazing to me how many people were walking. Not because it was their "interval" to walk but because they were so exhausted. It was rough! It didn't feel like a marathon! And soon I realized running it was no joke. People are in pain and we still have 6 miles to go! I kept going of course, I smiled at all the cheerleaders and kids. I passed by people who were breaking down on the sidelines, people getting leg massages in the middle of the road, people chafing...then I saw it!
The 4:45 sign!
I ran up to the guy and told him about how I had been watching his sign the whole time & he told me I was doing great. Then I passed him :)
I kinda felt bad for the bands because it was getting hot out, the fans & cheering people were NOT enthused. And the runners were NOT wanting to hear this music right now haha.
The last 3 miles was the hardest part.
I kept looking at my surroundings to keep my mind busy, we were in another neighborhood. I looked up this hill and saw this guy with a white dog on a leash. This thing was the size of a bear! NO JOKE! It took my attention off running for a few seconds :)
I couldn't help but think about how bad my feet were hurting. every time I scrunched up my toes it hurt. SO BAD. I just couldn't wait for it to be over with. I was gonna be so happy, screw all the people who cry at the finish line, I'm just gonna be ready to leave and get it over with. Maybe I'll cry out of pain.
We went around this huge circle in a park & it was nice. There was a family sitting in the shade watching us run. A band and more cheerleaders who were AWESOME. They were the last set of cheerleaders I was gonna have to run by. The amazing part was that they were still cheering. They were screaming like we were running in the football for the last touchdown of the game. I love them :)
A guy started talking to me, I think he was the only person who tried to make conversation with me the whole run. Asking me where I was from & stuff. He told me he was trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which is pretty prestigious for marathoners and gives you major bragging rights if you do qualify. But this guys stomach was all messed up. The culprit? CYTOMAX!!
If you don't train with it, don't use it during your marathon!
Anyway as soon as I mentioned "husband" and "son" he started to feel better and ran ahead of me :) works every time!
So there I was, running past the 25.2 mile marker, only 1 mile to go!!! oh my goodness that road was horrible! Couldn't they have made it a good finishing point? like run past the Grand Ole Opry or somethin? No, we ran past the only part in Nashville that looked like a desert lol

I turned the corner and I saw people...The Finish Line! oh my goodness...5 hours and 6 minutes after crossing the start line I became a marathoner :) I heard my name and looked, there he was, my knight in shining army, pushing a stroller was smiling at me. I walked over to him, hugged him over the fence and started bawling.
My shoes immediately came off & my toes looked like sausages...so swollen. I took Brycen from Travis, it felt so good to be done with it. I walked with Brycen over to get my medal and in the process of trying to find Travis, Brycen got heavier and heavier and the road got hotter and hotter, what was I thinking taking off my shoes on a summer day AND carrying Brycen after running a marathon!
After that all I wanted to do was sit down. I sat on the grass, then we had to walk a half mile to the car...WHAT?! I wanted to ride in that stroller so bad. We made it to the car & I did not care one bit to see any part of Nashville.
I took 800 mg Ibuprofen, which definitely helped a lot, took a nap, then woke up, went to Nashville and saw Billy Currington who was the official post-race concert headliner :) Needless to say there were not many people standing for this concert!

All in all, it was a wonderfully amazing experience. But for anybody who decided to ask "how was your marathon?" within 1 week of the race got the whole truth. I'm glad I did it, I learned so much from my training and most definitely will be doing another one

Running a What??

In coming to Savannah I hoped to meet more people I met in our time in Fayetteville and people with a bit more.....personality :) I joined Cafe Mom but didn't really do anything with it. Then one day was reminded I even had the account so, I was bored I decided to set it up, who knows maybe some other people know it exist then I can chat with some other mamas! I did a search on the school I wanted to go to AASU and found Lauren! We talked and realized how much we had in common as far as our husbands being in the same unit and all that not to mention she is attending the school I hoped to go to. She introduced me to meetup.com, which I never even knew existed, and i found the stay at home moms group and of course...Joined.
from there I started going to these FunFit meet ups, where we all do stroller fitness with the babies and chitchat like stay at home moms don't get to do very much. Also a great place to brag about what the babies are doing since people who don't have kids don't care if you're little one can pull himself up on the couch as of yesterday!
Kristen is the one who leads these fitness groups and she knows how to push you just enough to get you sore but not too much to where you want to quit. I think that's awesome for a lot of reasons, one being its hard to get together a group of people who are fitness freaks-but I like to meet all kinds of people and when i go to these I know I'm meeting people who aren't lazy. I think laziness is a pet peeve of mine which is weird because when it comes to housework, i am lazy with a capital Z :)
so anyway, one day out of desperation for a quick baby sitter i called Kristen, the only number i had for anybody i knew in Savannah and she Thank Goodness, helped me with Brycen so I could go to a job interview. I didn't get the job which is ok because they offered me wayyyyy less money than i would've ever worked for. I got to hang out with her, Charlotte, another pretty mama who has a baby about 1 month younger than our 2 and Lauren, who introduced me to the group in the first place! So now I have a few friends who are great, I'm so glad i met them! much better than any random chicks in fayetteville ;)
Well, one day Kristen and I were doin a little funfit and she informed me of this training that was going on in November for a marathon in Nashville. Now... I never ever even considered running in a marathon, I was just sharing how I liked running and how i just want to be good at it to A)get those sexy, athletic legs and B)be in good shape forever and ever!! but later on she sent me information about it, and I noticed there is such things as "HALF MARATHONS" and you can choose to 'run/walk'. Hmm sounds like something I can do. Then after researching a little more, i decided, 'well shoot... maybe I can just run the whole darn thing, right?'
So, just yesterday I went to the first meeting and decided... I will be running the whole Country Music Marathon in NASHVILLE TENNESSEE!!! I am so freakin excited I can't describe it. not only that but its for a GREAT cause. Team in Training is what I'll be apart of and I'm not sure if the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are a part of the whole marathon, I believe they are just the ones helping us get to Nashville and have nothing to do with the whole thing, but I will be running for Blood Cancer patients, survivors, and their families!! at the meeting I must've teared up about 5 times just hearing about what a great cause it is and not only that but completing a marathon. A MARATHON. A FREAKIN MARATHON!!! I am just SO ready to get it started and to do it, I never would've thought I would be doing this but its just so great. that's all i can say. i don't even know if I'm making sense to anybody but myself. i just cannot wait. The only catch is I have to raise 2600 to get there or I cant participate. I honestly have no worries about it, I just hope everybody is as giving as I hope they will be.
But anyway I just wanted to share with the world what I am doing and how I got here. while I was pregnant, all I wanted to do was go running. I'm not sure why but that's all I wanted to do. maybe it was because I couldn't? So anyway after I had my brybry it took me a bit to think about it again and to get up and go, but I went! and Ive been working at it, at least 2 miles 2 or 3 times a week. I love it and I recommend it to everybody. I hate laziness! People who say "I hate you" because I'm thin, or complain that they aren't in shape/too fat/not what i used to weigh... well HELLO get up and freakin DO SOMETHING! If you can't do anything than watch what you eat at the least.
Today, when Travis got home, Brycen smiled SO big and while Trav was holding him Brycen actually LEANED in to give him a kiss(or as we call it "un Besito") it totally still makes my knees weak just thinking of how he leaned his head in to give daddy a kiss. Travis didn't even ask for one or anything :) so so SO SO SO sweet. oh my goodness so sweet. I can't describe how it feels. i just love him. them. us. family. one. love. happy. peace :)

From the beginning

Well, there's a whole lot goin on in this head of mine, where do I begin? Let's start off in May 06 when my life really started.
I met the man who currently calls me Beautiful in person in May 06, graduated high school and decided to join the army a month later.

May 06


I am not a good-early-morning kind of person and I had a love/hate relationship with running at the time, so why I thought joining the army was a good idea... who knows. I guess it was because I wanted to do it and I knew that if I didn't I would regret it 10 years later.

July 06



So, September 21st 2006 I left the sunshine state for Ft Jackson, SC and saw snow for the first time that winter.

Winter


Travis and I got married December 29, 2006-what a great day :)

That day

Also that day


he's everything I ever hoped I would have in a lifetime partner. What I never imagined when I was a little girl dreaming of the rest of my life were all the hard times and arguments everybody has. We were in AIT in Ft Eustis, VA at the time so although we saw each other everyday, the drill sergeants made sure we didn't sit, march, talk or pretty much look in each others direction. The only down/husband and wife time we had was at night when we would either go outside to the official smoking area and hide in the dark and talk, talk on the phone in our rooms, or on the weekends when we racked up hotel favor points :)

At some hotel Valentine's Day weekend, waiting for a cab



He graduated in March, then moved on to Airborne School until the end of April and the day I graduated in May he came to pick me up in his new Dodge 1500. I can't describe how it felt to kiss him in front of the barracks in which we got yelled at on a daily basis just for being married and in the same company. We rode into the night to Ft Bragg, NC.

There begins our journey in Fayetteville Norf Carolayna. Little did we know when we arrived just how much we would grow to HATE and DESPISE fayetteville. army wives and criminals everywhere you look. Not only was in like 3 hours away from the beach but at least 6 hours from anybody we knew and 2 hours away from any form of 'nice' city to see. We stayed in a hotel room for about a week, waiting to move into a house we decided on renting. They kept putting off calling us, so we decided to do what we didn't want to do...get an apartment. The neighborhood was very nice with security cameras and alarms set up. It was the perfect place for our 1st home together.

July 07



Travis left for Afghanistan mid-July 07 and I found out I was pregnant a week later and had to tell him via Instant Messenger. Not the best of ways but it worked! I was just happy I got to tell him less than 30 minutes after I found out, he was still in the process of getting to where he was going so I had no idea when the next time I would talk to him would be. We were trying to get pregnant, or should I say we weren't trying to prevent it. It was something we both wanted, a family. And we couldn't wait. We knew we wouldn't be able to. We loved our children & family before they were even born. We're just lovers I guess :) and I believe that's what brought us together in the first place.

Right before he loaded up on the bus to leave :(


Travis got to come home for 2 weeks in the beginning of November so we got a 4D ultrasound done to find out the gender of our beautiful baby BOY!



My suggestion is, if you can wait to get the 4D ultrasound... Do. That was the only time Travis would be home for us to find out and my normal doctor wouldn't give me an ultrasound until 20 weeks, and I was 18 at the time.
I spent that Thanksgiving with my mom, Step dad and siblings in Alabama where I couldn't ride the 4 wheeler due to my pregnant-ness.



I spent Christmas alone and for my birthday, the day after Christmas, I chopped all my hair off. about 13 inches to donate to locks of love. It took a lot of courage for me to actually cut it, but I had debated about it for so long, I decided to get it over with. When I brought my hair home to mail to locks of love, I left it on the couch in a baggy then proceeded to the mirror to check out my new look, looked over and saw my dog Kino with my hair all over the carpet. Anybody who has donated hair knows that the hair cannot be 'swept' up off the floor and must be in a clean ponytail. If the phone didn't ring right after that I would've bawled my eyes out but instead I talked with a huge lump in my throat staring at my precious hair I had grown, and took very prideful care of for years. I am still upset about this. I brought the new year in with 4 little ones, I babysat for a co-worker. I knew she probably needed a break with 4 kids and I had no plans to get wasted for new years.

Travis got home in the beginning of February, thank GOD his deployment was only 7 months (I say only but when he had to go back in November I cried like I had just fallen down and busted my face open... but harder and with more hormones)

What a great day!


I got out of the army February 22ND. Travis got to see our baby boy born, whom we named Brycen. He is the light in our lives.



Ever since he's been born it's like nothing else matters. Daddy (formerly known as Travis) got orders to Hunter Army Airfield, GA. I know everybody always dreams of going somewhere like Hawaii but we simply wanted to be in Savannah, Georgia. It really was our dream. When we would pass it on the interstate heading back to crappy old Fayette-nam we would look and sigh and say 'if only if only'. When he got those orders it really was our dream come true. We would be closer to both of our families and in a much much better location, not to mention the beach is only half an hour away!!


I applied to Armstrong Atlantic State University to major in Pre-med to be on my way to becoming a Pediatrician. But in deciding my future and doing some serious soul searching I recently decided maybe being a physician isn't for me. Not only do I need a 'back up' plan so in case I don't get into medical school, but when are we going to have time to grow our family? When am I going to have TIME for my family? I absolutely do not want to wait 12 years to have another baby simply for convenience for my career. But at the same time, I don't want to have a baby while in medical school only for my time to be consumed somewhere OTHER than my babies. So, although I got accepted (which I hoped and prayed for), I won't be able to attend for another year. I still would love to help people and be in the medical field, so I've decided to go into nursing. The nursing department stopped taking applications 3 days before I got accepted and another slot won't be up for grabs until next fall's semester. Which is okay. My plan right now is to go to Savannah Tech and get my CNA,which takes about 2 months. Then get into a nurse's assistant position and work my way up to and all through nursing school. Sounds marvelous to me :)
I just recently got a seasonal job working in the children's section of a well-known department store, we will see if I will be able to work into the new year. If I don't, needless to say I won't be too disappointed.
And even more exciting I got into a mom's group here in Savannah and have met some awesome moms. Particularly Charlotte, Kristen and Lauren. I was getting pretty lonely, so thank goodness I met them. Not to mention Kristen's been great watching Brycen for me every time I have something I need to get to. Every Monday we have FunFit which is an exercise meet-up that Kristen leads and we get a pretty good workout. Its not like cross-fit or anything but it is definitely enough to get you sore but not kick your butt. Plus, we all get to chat, do mom-talk and all that good stuff.
Lately, since we've moved here, I've been getting into running which is something I dreamed of doing while I was pregnant. Meeting Kristen has been great, she is an awesome runner from what info I've acquired and she informed me of a marathon in Nashville. They have training starting next month for it and all I would have to do is raise either 1500 or 2500 for leukemia. I think its a great idea, the marathon is in April and I would more than likely be doing the half-marathon which is about 13-14 miles (that's a lot I know). I am so stoked about doing it, I honestly think I could complete that mission. Getting the money together and completing the run. I am trying to convince Travis to do it with me, he is very into fitness and recently has gained interest in biking and triathlons. I'm happy we have a fit family and I can't wait to start doing all kinds of things with our kids.
So, that is the latest news up to today. I am happy I finally got this all down. I basically want to do this to keep track of all my hopes and dreams and to follow me down this path I'm headed. I have many, many things ahead of me and am so excited and anxious to see what comes my way :)


oh and I'm also trying to learn Swedish.