Coming Soon!

 

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you've already seen the news, but we are expecting! I am officially due August 5, so I am about 13 weeks now. I found out just before Thanksgiving (literally that Monday) so I haven't blogged a lot lately because I knew I would spill the beans! Our families are as excited as we are and we feel so blessed that we were finally able to conceive after trying since July 2014 and losing a pregnancy early on last May.

Now, my thyroid does complicate matters. The doctor I mentioned that spotted my levels and ordered me on immediate medication? My midwife! Thankfully she got me on a high dose of Synthroid ASAP. My rheumatologist really dropped the ball by saying my levels were a little wonky but should be ok, just to mention it to my OBGYN when I saw them. I should have started treatment immediately (over a month before I actually did) and I am very annoyed by the way that all went down.

I officially saw an Endocrinologist last week and was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism, which is an autoimmune hypothyroid disorder. We are super concerned on how this could affect the baby and are keeping a close eye on things. My endocrinologist told me with my levels it was a miracle I was able to get pregnant at all, let alone carry as far as I did without treatment. I am convinced we have a little fighter for that and hoping for a healthy baby more than anything else. When we do the anatomy scan we just have to make sure that everything formed properly organ wise and there is a risk of low IQ.... but I am trying super hard not to stress about those possibilities.  That's the main reason I am so angry with my rheumatologist, I could have started treatment when I was six weeks pregnant instead of ten and a half. The baby uses my thyroid for at least the first twenty weeks so let's just hope all will be well. My doctor mentioned he has seen women later in their pregnancies with worse levels than mine have perfectly healthy babies, but he won't put my risk level at 0%... so any prayers, good thoughts, or karma you can spare for our little Bean are most appreciated.

We are still over the moon and I cannot wait to continue on this journey!



Trip!!!

After years of talking about it Ryan and I are finally taking a big trip together!!! I am so excited. So so excited. I know it's a pain for him at the moment (leave requests, safety briefs etc) but it will be worth it.

We're going on an 11 day cruise of the Mediterranean!

So many places! We don't have a ton of time in each city, so my traveling friends I am reaching out to you. If you've been to any of these places what are some of the musts we need to do? Any good places to see or eat or anything? In Naples we probably will pay for a shore excursion to Pompeii and in a few places we hope to do one of those hop on hop off your buses to see as much as possible. Ryan just wants to eat everywhere we go at this point so restaurants to check out are needed! 

I cannot believe we're really going. Ryan got his passport finally this month so we jumped and booked it last week. 

We leave soon!!!

So between work and regular gym days etc I am trying to do our itinerary. I want to be sure when we get into port we don't waste time shaking our heads wondering what to do. 

Help me out! Any ideas and musts?? 

Erin Condren Planner

When Erika from Chambanachik hosted her 12 days of Christmas give aways I was super excited to see I won an Erin Condren life planner!

I've wanted one for ages but I could never justify spending $50 for a planner. I am an über organized person in some aspects (hellooooo Virgo!) so these life planners warm the cockles of my heart. 

I went with the My Favorite Things planner and I literally typed up (slash copied since it already existed) my favorite things and they copied them to my planner cover. 

I love the different organizational options. You can plan daily/weekly (morning/afternoon/night) and monthly. 

Like I mentioned, I'm pretty cheap, so I took Erika's other idea and went to target for my extras. I got file bands, stickers, pens and washi tape all for about $2 after I used my gift cards. Score!

So far I'm super excited to use my planner and I can't wait to use it faithfully all year! Thanks Erika!!

Note: This is not a sponsored post in any way, Erin Condren doesn't know who I am, I just love my new planner!!!

Deployed Spouses Night Out

I haven't been able to make a lot of our units events due to work or being out of town, but I'm thankful I've made almost all of the girls night outs. This month we went to Wine and Design and our small group painted some beautiful moonlit poppies. 

I was aprehensive with mine while it was in progress but I ended up loving how it turned out!

Even more adorable was the fact that a couple was in our class and they got engaged! We knew ahead of time via email so we wouldn't spoil anything and it was so special to witness. The guy was brave and did a different painting from the rest of us of a gorgeous sunset with two wine glasses. He sat next to me with his fiancé across from him so she didn't see him write Marry Me in cursive (impressive to do with paint) across the top of his finished painting. He brought it around to her side to examine her finished painting then asked if she liked his. Her jaw dropped in surprise and he suddenly had a ring in his hand! So so adorable! I was hoping Wine and Design uploaded our group picture to their Facebook page but I didn't see it yet to share with you!

Either way, some art, wine and good company was a perfect night out. I even hung my painting in our bedroom!

Next week I'll be attending the unit Spa Night (with yoga and smoothies promised) on Tuesday, the SpouseBUZZ Spouse Experience Wednesday and some homecoming banner making Thursday. 

That's right readers, homecoming banner making time! I got our first official window notice today and I'm super excited! Not too much longer now!!!

Edited to add photos from the Wine and Design Facebook Page!

 

 

New Layout and Design by Kayti Designs

As you can see my blog has undergone a makeover! I am pretty excited, I absolutely love how it turned out.

Back when I lived in Virginia I met Kayti through my old job. Eventually I PCS'ed and we kept in touch and I was so happy to learn she quit her job to start her own full service graphic design studio! I love her work and via facebook I have been stalking following her designs ever since.

When I was debating revamping my blog she eagerly offered her assistance. In her own words, "I am a full service graphic design studio - but my main love is character and blog design - I love designing for women and children the most." As you can see from the Allie on the header and signature she is pretty good at it too! She is able to capture your likeness and personality in a really wonderful way. I remember early on we were talking about how a lot of bloggers use pin ups for their designs, which I love, but it just didn't seem to fit me. I am awful at being flirty and sexy is way left field for me, so I just didn't feel like a pin up would work for me as much as I love them. But talking to Kayti in my vague "Not too sexy but not overly conservative... maybe somewhere in the middle. Just fun?" rambles she nailed it.

Aside from my blog please check out her website for more examples of her awesome work: kaytidesigns.com She is also on Twitter as @KaytiDesigns and of course Facebook.

Now here is the super part.... if you are looking for a blog revamp/design Kayti is offering a 25% DISCOUNT to any My Marine and Me readers who contact her and mention my name or blog! So do it! Kayti is familiar with both WordPress and Blogger platforms and she is wonderful to work with. Her designs are terrific and she works quickly and efficiently. Go check her out, you won't regret it!

Being an Extra

The episode of Revolution I was an extra in back in January finally aired (The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia)! I was very lucky to catch myself three times even though they were pretty quick!!

 When the main character ran through the market place I caught myself and my friend Kat standing there. It was a moment I didn't have to pause and stil managed to catch it! I jumped off the couch because I was so excited.

This momet I knew  was coming so I knew to watch for it. It was super quick and it took me forever to pause and capture it.

This momet happened before the other two and I didn't even see it... Ryan did! He yelled "I saw you!" And rewound and froze it.

I was in other scenes but they moved so quick I couldn't see myself anymore. But I am happy with what I got! It may not much but it was a ton of fun and I hope I can do it again (:

My First Circus

Yes. I am 25 years old and I have never been to a circus. Until now!

The Cole Brothers Circus was literally up the street from our house and I raced to meet Ryan after work yesterday. 

It was amazing!

When the show started with the performing white tigers I literally was crying. Ryan asked what was wrong and I said, "I'm just so excited!!!!" I was a little nuts. 

It was a great show with tigers, dogs, clowns, tightrope walkers, motorcycles in a death ball, ribbon dancers and a human cannonball. We even splurged and went on an elephant ride together. All my pictures were on my iPhone so excuse the bad quality. I can't wait until we can go again!

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

DWMM: The End!

Day 30: When did you become a fan of Doctor Who?

I kind of talked about that in the first post of the link up (whoops) which you can see here. Ryan and I had just moved to North Carolina and we were watching a lot of Netflix together and we just finished How I Met Your Mother so we needed a new show. Thanks to the geek section of Pinterest I had seen a lot of Doctor Who pins so I was curious. Luckily Netflix had it and we started to watch it. After a few episodes we were hooked.

We watched it every day when Ryan would get home from work until about bedtime. Some nights we stayed up late for one more episode. The more we watched the more we loved it. I may be slightly more obsessed than Ryan, but the fact that he is even into it at all is good enough for me! Now with me wanting half the merchandise from thinkgeek.com (they have an ENTIRE Doctor Who section!), having the TARDIS sound as a text alert and literally trying to get everyone I know into this show I definitely win the Whovian title in this family.

Yes I will have my children watch it one day. When they are old enough to appreciate its awesomeness... you know, considering they don't exist yet it may be awhile! So I have been a huge fan for almost a year now, and I am sad it took me so long to get into it!

Thank you all for joining us in this madness! Enjoy the series 7 part 2 release tonight on BBCAmerica!!

At long last, a job!

After ten months of unemployment I finally have a job!!! After sending in tons of job applications to various sources I scored my first interview. I applied in November, interviewed in December, trained in January and will start Monday (aka in February)! It was a long process (including a background check that took me almost two hours to do) but it ended up being worth it. I was hired!

I am an official Library Aid for MCCS.

This week was my MCCS customer service training, three long days of powerpoints and presentations and trust games that at times were enjoyable. Our main trainer was wonderful and tried to make things as fun as possible, which was appreciated, but some presentations were just the kinds you needed to chug caffeine to get through!

Did you know the only 'I' in team is in the a-hole? ;)

 Also being on base for long periods of time was interesting. Especially those moments when helicopters fly so low you feel like you got a little trim off the top of your head!

We also had an interesting little bus tour. I now know where the post office is. Score.

Like I said, our trainer made it fun and every day pumped us up with the Chicago Bulls entrance theme. There was clapping, cheering and maybe even the wave. Well HR got jealous of our fun so one day they started playing the macarena in the hallway and dragged us out of training for a flash mob up and down the hall!

At the end of it all I met my new supervisor and I am pretty excited to start Monday. I will work some evenings but the library I am working in doesn't stay open past 7, so not too late. Also I will probably be working every other weekend, but that is doable. I hope my coworkers like me and I am excited for the opportunity. I will be surrounded by books and that is heavenly to me. We have so many resources that I am anxious to take part in.... if your base has a library check it out! There is so much more than just books.... Rosetta Stone, nooks, DVDs, Wii and XBox and Playstation games for rent, and so much more.

My supervisor took over the library late last year and is open for suggestions and program ideas and I have so many ideas that I hope I can put into fruition.

It has been a long wait but I am so thankful that I got this job. I am hoping it is really meant to be, maybe I had to wait this long because this is the place I needed to go.

Let's hope!

I will keep you posted on how it goes after my first day.

And I plan on auditioning for the show at the community college on Monday so I see a busy few months in my future if I am cast. Fingers crossed!

Routine to Random

The past week or so since I have written (possibly more) haven't been terribly interesting. I mean they weren't bad or anything, just not something I thought worth blogging about. Some highlights, but not enough to make a blog entry worth reader's time. At least in my opinion.

But things are changing!

Firstly, Breanna (the lovely Mrs. Sykes) and I have been taking an adult ballet class for the past few weeks. You can read my views on it on my last SpouseBUZZ article here.

Home life has been the same. Applying for jobs and spending time with Rylie and Ryan.

Rylie loves to go under our bed, Ryan decided to join her and they spent an hour playing. Cute.

Sometimes Rylie just wants to be close. Ryan was napping on the couch and Rylie kept kissing him and bugging him, so this was my husband's solution.



We love playing Draw Something! This was my husband's latest creation and it was so cute I had to save it!

Now our Rylie is very very destructive! She is a powerful chewer, so all of her toys recently have been completely torn apart. She literally had one nylabone left! So today we ran to PetSmart and got our pup some Powerful Chew toys. For over an hour she chased this Kong around the garage trying to get the treat out and now is chewing her bacon flavored HARD plastic S. Pup is still chasing the stuff around the living room.

Now last week a friend of mine posted on my Facebook that the Community College was holding auditions for Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. I got excited and decided to give it a go and audition. I was pretty nervous, it has been a long time since I really auditioned for anything! I left really early and got to the theatre almost an hour early and naturally it was pouring rain. I forgot my umbrella so I went in looking a little bit like I swam there.

Ever enter a room and realize everyone in the room know each other already? I had one of those moments but luckily theatre people are pretty welcoming. Being a newcomer I wasn't sure how good my odds were but apparently it didn't matter..... I got cast!

This email arrived at 12:15am this morning, just as we were going to bed. I think I scared the crap out of Ryan when I screamed! I forgot how amazing it feels to see your name on a cast list! And Mollie has a lot of lines... I am going to be busy for the next seven weeks! Rehearsals start Monday and I am really looking forward to it. I will be out of the house and doing something I love. Perfect.

 Of course the show is in October (psst Jacksonville ladies, please come!) and Ryan is due to be in California for training the entire month. Sigh. It always tends to work that way doesn't it? Out of the six or seven shows I have worked on or been in since Ryan and I have started dating I think he has made maybe three of them. Not too bad but I wish he could come to this!


So hopefully I will have more stories and things to share soon now that I will be getting out of the house more. And thanks to everyone on Facebook and Instagram who already said congratulations and other such things, it means a lot to me!