Friday, September 5, 2014

New Duty Station. New Rules. Same Family!

Wow!  It has been too long since I have written a blog.  Lots has happened since my last post in January.  Tom got orders.  He came home.  We had a great post-deployment in June.  We have now moved to the east coast.  No more beaches and SoCal sun 😔 That's ok though!  We are adjusting.  I thought I had set up the military movers, but the day came for them to get our stuff and no movers showed up!  That was a mess.  And stressed me out.  I won't go into details but miscommunication on both sides will get you into that situation.  Alas, we figured it out and my dad was able to drive from Nebraska to here in the moving truck.  Thank the good Lord for parents who have the ability to help us out!!!

We made it here safe and sound with minor bumps in the road.  It could have always been worse for sure!  We love our house.  We found it on militarybyowner.com in May.  There were several other families inquiring about it at the same time.  I felt like we were in a race haha.  I felt bad but this house is perfect for us.  It has a huge yard for our lab and we can grow into it.  We looked at it online and decided to take a GIANT leap of faith and rent sight unseen.  I don't regret it one bit.  There is a place for everything here.  Not like any previous places we have lived before.

We started "church shopping".  It's probably one of the biggest stressors since moving here.  Thankfully that stress has been lifted and we think we have found a church home after visiting a couple in the area.  It's the kind of church that I feel is family oriented and friendly.  We have only been there once but so far it gets a thumbs up from both of us.  Tom is hoping to go to the men's breakfast Saturday morning.  That makes me happy! We are 26 now and settling down in our young lives for the most part.

So, moving right along to the "new rules" part of my title.   For the most part since we got here, we eat at the table and bless the food before we start eating.  Honestly, we would only do that for important meals and whenever we remembered.  Why not give thanks every meal!?  We are making me rules but are still the same family.  Our kids are still young enough that we want to start making a positive impact at dinner time.  So far it's going well.  It is kind of a task to have an almost 4 year old take it seriously.   Most nights after dinner we either play a game or watch a family movie.  We just got cable yesterday which wasn't necessary but it's nice to have something other than Netflix on during the day.  I am such a news watcher and have been desperately miss watching the Today show every morning!  Now I get to 😀   I hope to be a more frequent blogger because I feel like this is therapy for me.   Writing what's on my mind.  I'll write soon.

-Jamie

Monday, January 27, 2014

Wyatt's Arrival Story!!

Better late than never ;) Let's start this story from Monday November 4th, 2013 at my 40 week appointment.   Here I am a day before I'm due just so ready to have the baby.  The doctor stripped my membranes which hurt so bad!  I asked my doctor if I could be induced that night or the next day so my husband could see it via Skype/FaceTime.  She said "sure! Let me call up to BMC(Bellevue Medical Center) and see what time/if they can do it today or tomorrow.  That night I was so anxious.  Checking my phone obsessively!  Wishing it would ring...it never did.  I just thought well ok, let's bounce on the ball, run the stairs.  Anything and everything that I think would help.

The next morning was a very rainy one.  I took Levi to WEE School like normal.  I came home and talked to my hubby about nothing really just making conversation about how in a matter of hours we would be a family of 4!   So it's 10:50am and I'm sitting on the couch watching the Today Show like I do every morning.  My phone rings:  "Hi Mrs. Horrocks, you were supposed to be here at 10:30 this morning for induction.  Do you still want to be induced?!"  OH MY GOODNESS!!  "Yes ma'am I would love to be induced.  My preschooler is at school until 11:30, how about noon?!?"  She asked her supervisor and they said for me to come on in at noon!  Holy cow!  I'm having a baby today.  I need to call my mom!!  So I called my mom and told her my conversation on the phone with the L&D lady and she left work right away.  So I hung up with her and were texting and facebooking people to find my husband so I can tell him.  He finally called me after about 5 minutes from getting off the phone with my mom.  He hadn't been told by anyone what was happening yet.  I am freaking out-in a good way-at this point. Running around the house making sure I had everything, threw a little bit of mascara on and headed to pick up Levi.

I get checked in and into my room.  Finally after about an hour and a half of paperwork and them checking me out, Pitocin started at 1:40pm.  At about 3:55pm the anesthesiologist nurse started the first attempt at the epidural.  Didn't take.  2nd attempt a few moments later.  Didn't take.  Are you kidding me?! I guess an all natural birth again it is I thought.  Finally the anesthesiologist comes in and gets it right away.  Yay finally!  This epidural made me really relaxed.  I just wanted to sleep.  I kept touching my leg but wasn't sure if it was my leg so I had to lift the blanket and look. Haha.  I was having some good contractions now, but couldn't feel them.  It was great.  I wasn't really dilating for a couple of hours.  So at about 6pm or so the doctor decided to break my water.  As we knew with Levi, they broke my water and he was here less than a half hour later.  We told the doctor and nurse this.  My nurse Emily said "If you start to feel pressure, let us know".  They left the room and I started feeling contractions again.  Ugh really I thought I was going to relax.  I let a couple go by, then I said "I NEED to call the nurse!!"  Tom was on FaceTime at this point and his face turned white and he looked concerned :( They checked me and said you're ready to push!  "Oh my gosh babe we are about to have him in like 2 seconds!!"  That's what I said to Tom. LOL.  They broke the table in preparation for delivery.  It felt like he was coming out!  I was thinking they better not let him come out on the floor or I will not be very nice.  They looked and reassured me he was still inside while they were getting prepped.  Finally time to push.  The pushing part for me is all a blur, but I think I only pushed twice.  6:39pm he came out crying with a good set of lungs!  He looked so small.  But he was 20 inches 7lbs 13oz.  Tom saw the whole thing!!  Finally something has worked in our favor!  He got to witness Wyatt's birth via FaceTime.  The doctor and nurse let me hold him for almost an hour before they weighed him.  That was so nice.  Everyone just kind of left me and Tom and Wyatt alone.  It was great.  I was in the hospital for 2 days then got released.




Now he is almost 3 months old!  Crazy!! Time sure has flown which is good, especially in our shoes :) That's about it for his arrival.  Pretty easy just like the first.. Thank the Lord!

-Jamie

Crockin' Up Some Homemade Applesauce!

I haven't written on here in a long time so it's about time for a new post.  How about a crockpot recipe? It's super easy and it doesn't take too long to prepare at all.  Here we go!

Crock-pot Homemade Applesauce:
6 apples--cored, peeled and cut {I used Braeburn apples because they were on sale)
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of cinnamon--depending on how much cinnamon you want in it
1/2 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Pictured above are the 6 braeburn apples I used

1.  Core, peel and cut all of the apples.  Be careful on this step because it can get slippery with the apple juice!  You can grip the apple pieces with a paper towel if you want to keep the slice in place while you peel it.  When peeling, it doesn't have to be perfect so keep that in mind.
2.  Once the first step is all done put the cut pieces in the crock-pot and make sure it's on.
3.  In a bowl, combine the water, vanilla extract, sugar and cinnamon.  Mix the mixture so the sugar is dissolved.
4.  Pour the mixture evenly over the apple pieces in the crock-pot.  The picture to the left is of the mixture all over the apples.

5.  Finally, leave them in the crock-pot for about 4 hours or until they are soft enough to mash and blend.
6.  At the end of the 4 hours,  mix and mash to your desired texture!  For smoother applesauce mix with a hand mixer.  ENJOY!!

**I got this recipe from frugalgirls.com.  It's also on my Pinterest board entitled FOOD.