My Love/Hate Relationship with Valentine's Day

Oh Valentine's Day...your back again so soon? I was so sure I'd avoided all unnecessary contact with you last year. But no, here you are again. Creeping along like a snake in murky waters, waiting to strike in that moment of distraction I call life.

I'm not sure how many of you folks are true hopeless romantics whom await this blessedly wretched holiday; I am sure there is a great reason that you do. I, on the other hand, loathe its very being. Yes, it's great to get flowers and chocolates from my wonderful husband. He has never forgotten me or made it unsavory. No, it's not because he sucks at romance (sometimes it's slightly askew to my definition). I simply hate it because it is a holiday of BULLSHIT. Yes I said it, it's all bullshit.

It used to be because my old boyfriend's sucked at it. Thus, why they are now ex-boyfriends. But then my husband came along. Problem solved right!? Wrong. The fairytale lie that having a significant other never guarantees perfect V-Day bliss. Sorry to burst that bubble.

Also, of all the things in the world, love shouldn't have to come down to a single day to be appreciated. I tell my husband I love him everyday. We work together as a team to raise our family and maintain our household. How is that not celebrating love? If we didn't love each other we wouldn't work so hard to make sure we both are happy and one of us isn't struggling, right?

But then something happens that fateful day, that February 14th...

The little Jane Austen in the back of my mind starts her wayward gossip. Suddenly the overly dramatic dialogue comes into play. We haven't been on a date night in a long time. Does he still think I'm special? God when did I start looking so haggard? Holy shit! Is that a pimple??? He has been on his phone forever this week, we've barely talked. When is he going to start looking at me like he wants...you know what? It never fails. That little saboteur starts all these little insecurities going off in my head and it always stems around this one horrid holiday.  You can't even go out anywhere without it being shoved in your face. I'm not even safe when making something for my daughter's CLASS! At least the Ninja Turtles cards were cute.

But then it does come. What should my husbandly knight in shining armor do for me? Eggs Benedict made early this morning. A fresh pot of coffee (if you want my love, start with caffeine). He kisses me gently as I hand over our son and bound back upstairs to give him the Valentine's Day card I forgot. I get the morning off of taking care of the kids. We relax to all the movies I had been dying to see that he rented for us, by the way if you haven't seen The Equalizer it's a fairly decent flick. He is now at the store to get the last items we needed for dinner while I am taking a reading break to finish off this post.

Honestly, V-Day isn't all that bad in retrospect. It all counts on how much you care for who your with and not the value of the gifts they give on this day. In all honesty, we haven't had many of these together in our 9 years of marriage. Deployments or training or whatever that would pull him away from being with us, he always sent flowers. He always remembered us. Not many people have someone like that in their lives.

So if anything maybe it's not so much a hatred for the holiday that I have, but more over the way that it's marketed these days. The high expectations displayed to the young, that love is only about how big the bouquet is or how expensive the gift is more importantly than the worth of the person who is thinking of you that burns me the most. If it was only about the bells and whistles, what is it really worth then? If it's about showing off to everyone only one day out of the whole year, is it really love? How strong is a love when it's only right in front of you to enjoy? How about when you can't be together? Is that love still strong enough to carry you?

It's worth the time to think about. Be thankful more for the everyday things. Hallmark will still make their money off the suckers who still haven't figured it out.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Back and Blogging for Me

Man this feels so weird to be back writing on this blog. Like one of those old journal you dust off and find that it's unfinished. That always drove me nuts (I'm OCD like that).

Well for those that follow my Instgram (@chucksandcharlies) you may already know about what a crazy year I've had. Now for those who don't follow me, it's been a freaking year. Like of all years, this was the one that contained the most insanity as well as fun. It was also all the craziness that happened which ultimately pulled me away from blogging. Family first, hobbies second as they say. Or do they? Well they should.

We are no longer residing in California (my home state). I spent six months fixing up our first house and putting it on the market. I had a baby, little Mr. #3 arrived happy and healthy. I flew out alone and bought a new house practically by myself. After a year long deployment, my husband finally came home from Japan. We packed up all the kids and dogs this summer, trekked the entire United States (with many interesting and fun stops on the way), and ended up in our new home on the East Coast. Now I am a stranger in a new state and looking for new fun things to do with the kids. I am dealing with my first actual winter (you don't know cold until you've been in  THE COLD). My oldest started her new school and we are soon preparing for her sister to join her. Then I will only have our new little guy home with me and may actually have time for more projects that I've been dying to do, like finally blogging again more regularly.

"Duck on a Rock" lookout point.



Our stop in South Dakota at Mt. Rushmore. Those stairs, were killer but we did the whole walk with the kids. It was totally worth it.

Now as for blogging, in the beginning it was quite the experience. Needless to say I learned a lot in my first attempts. I read every book, article, and even reached out to some of my favorite bloggers. Some were amazingly helpful and some gave me the cookie cutter answers. All in all it lead me to this conclusion, if I wanted people to follow and become a popular blog, I needed to invest a ton of time and possibly money. Well, sorry people, I am not Rockefeller and my time is even more valuable to me and my family has first dibs.

One thing I am not going to do this time around on the blog is worry about followers. If you like me and want to read about me, awesome. I more than welcome you here. For those who unfollow, I totally understand, this isn't your type of party.This is my venting place. I am here only for two reasons, 1. I'm a stay at home Mom and my adult interaction is almost null unless I drag my kids somewhere or my neighbors come by to hang for a while. 2. Being a military wife is sometimes great and sometimes not. If the ship is going down that day, I need somewhere to unload. Unfortunately the .308 is not allowed for stress relieving in our backyard. Just kidding....maybe not *waves hands in gesture of mystery*. Either way I want to say thank you to you all for reading along and allowing me to share.

Hope everyone has a great day! Hopefully you'll be hearing from me again soon.

"I Support You", I am a Breast and Formula Mom!

 

If some of you out there have a daily news addiction like I do, you may have already heard about a Mom that's making some headlines. Kim @ Mama By The Bay , who also happens to be blog for The Huffington Post, is also a fellow bloggy Mommy speaking out about what it means to be a breastfeeding and formula feeding Mom.

To read her blog click on this link: I Support You by Mama By The Bay
Here is an excerpt from her posting:

"When I was a Formula Mom, I used to pour formula into Medela bottles, so that the other moms at playgroup thought that it was pumped breastmilk. I felt their eyes on me. I felt shame, and embarrassment. I was different.
Now I am a Breast-Feeding Mom, and I get funny looks and nasty stares when I nurse in public. I feel everyone’s eyes on me. I feel shame, and embarrassment. I am different.
I am tired. I am angry. I refuse to carry the weight of everyone else’s judgment anymore.
I am standing up today to say with pride, that I am feeding my children with love.
And I’m 100% sure that you are too.
I am standing up with Suzanne Barston, The Fearless Formula Feeder and author of Bottled Up. I am standing up with Jamie Lynne Grumet, a breastfeeding advocate and blogger at I Am Not The Babysitter. We are standing together, and we’re asking you to stand up with us."

I read her recent post called "I Support You" and to be honest it really hit home for me. It is one of the most well written and relatable articles on the subject of which is the better way to feed your child after birth and I completely agree with her view, no way is the right way! Sometimes one way is necessary over the other counting your circumstance, as well as personal choice.

Back in 2008, when I had my first daughter, I felt the pressure to try breastfeeding because everyone told me it was better for my baby. After my daughter was born, my only lactation consultant at the Naval Hospital happened to be a young Navy officer who was scared to even look at me topless let alone teach me how to get my little one to latch properly. After 2 weeks of bleeding, aching, cracked nipples, I finally just figured it out on my own. Then four weeks later I had to returned to work at the Cancer Diagnostic lab where I was employed and tried to balance pumping in the ladies bathroom in a stall. On top of that. I was trying to introduce my recently returned veteran husband to the world of an infant, she was a month old when he came home from Iraq.
Eventually the stress of work, daycare arrangements, and dealing with being new parents took a toll on my body and I was no longer able to produce the amount of breast milk my daughter needed. I felt like a failure. So we had no choice but to go to formula. But, it turned out fine and she turned out to be a totally healthy little girl and has never had any major health issues.

In 2010, we welcome a second baby girl and again we tried breastfeeding. But then at her 2 week appointment we were advised that she was going to need a referral to another hospital for a possible developmental issue. After another week of waiting to be seen by the specialist, we were told she had craniosynostosis.
Eventually my maternity leave ran out, I was back at work. Again the stresses started in again. Juggling doctors appointments for my daughter along with her normal pediatric appointments, more stress from taking a higher position, and dealing with daycare issues from flaky babysitter after another until we finally found a great provider. Eventually, I stopped producing breast milk for my baby girl once again after only 3 and a half months. We had been fortunately supplementing with formula during the last month. This time however I understood there were circumstances I couldn't control and made me realize that we needed to change how we looked at nurturing our children.

Now with our son due soon, I'm in a position where I'm not working in a stressful environment, or dealing with daycare providers who bail at the last minute. I look forward to hopefully breastfeeding with him for as long as possible. However, if I can't, I will use formula and not feel bad about it.

So to those Mom's out there that are feeling the pressure about breast or formula feeding, all I have to say is don't. regardless of your choice I support You. It's no one else's choice but your own. So screw those around you who are trying to force you into a decision you yourself are not comfortable with.

I also ask that others out there, support your fellow Moms. No one else understands what it's like to be a mother but other Mom's. Adoptive, Birth, or Otherwise!

Breast Trendy: In Honor of Breastfeeding Week

It's amazing how many offers I've seen this week in honor of Breastfeeding Week. When I was slinging my girls the old udder it was still much a taboo, even in 2008! Luckily as more and more people are advocating this very natural way of rearing children, there have been some awesome Mommy & Baby friendly items that are popping up on the market. For me (now 33 weeks pregnant) I am really looking forward to trying some of these items out.

The wonderful folks over at www.sevenslings.com are actually holding a great promotion right now if your in the market for a baby sling. In honor BF Week, if you use their coupon code BFWEEK13 you will receive a free baby sling (however it does not cover S&H). I ordered "The Captain" sling for my little guy. Altogether with the shipping and handling, minus the exchange insurance, it was only $11.90 with tax included. The normal price for these stylish slings are normally $39 to $49 bucks counting on which sling or set you choose.





If you also go to their sister sites you can use the same promo code to get a free nursing cover, carrier covers, and nursing pillows.

Another item in the process of ordering is from NyUrbanAccessories on Etsy. The shop owner has created a really awesome line of infinity scarfs that are also nursing covers and can be worn long or in the normal wrap around fashion, both which still cover the ladies when confronted with nosy onlookers giving you the stink eye. At $25.00 a piece, these fashionable scarfs are made of lightweight material so they won't smother your little one or cause you to sweat your brains out.

  

I know some of you veteran Mom's don't you miss those old school covers that were like wearing a fleece blanket during an August heat wave.

I am so excited now for my little guy to get here and knowing I'm well prepared.

If you know any expecting or new Mom's out there, please share the promotion listed above. Trust me, they'll love you for it.

And as always, I want to know what you guys think about Breastfeeding Week? Have there been any promotions or products that you've found and loved? Let me know!

Until next posting, XoXo

From Boobies to Bottles

Buying stuff for a new baby is hard. I know, I've already had to go through it twice before. Luckily with our second baby it turned out to be a girl like our first born, so the buying and preparation weren't as bad.

Now with our new bouncing (and I mean he literally shifts everywhere) baby boy, I've been on the hunt for some cool and fun products that won't destroy our bank account.

First on my list of must gets just happened to be a breast pump, bottles, and all the necessary accessories that go along with them. Also considering that it's National Breastfeeding Week, I decided to stay on theme. I myself am a big breastfeeding advocate, so all you breastfeeding Moms out there keep doing what your doing for the benefit of your munchkins.


The outcome of my shopping trip. Love, love, love...

If your in the market for a well priced pump, which is also easily assembled and cleaned, I would really recommend the Medela Single Breast Pump system. I am not good with assembling anything, ask my husband...but this one was actually really easy and it's not bulky, so it's easy to store. They also give you two starter bottles, storage bags and two sanitary bags for easy cleaning. I got mine on sale too for about $159.00. A dual pump set is anywhere from $269.00 to $299.00 right now.

What the set looks like after it's put together.

 I also purchased a couple fun products that Boon just released. The Grass and Twig bottle drying accessories. Back when I had my girls we just used dishtowels to dry their bottles after sanitizing them. However, that also created extra laundry. Plus the grass and "twig" look super cute on my kitchen counter without taking up a huge amount of space! The "Grass" was only $15 and the Twig was $12 but I got it for $9 on sale.

 

I feel so much better about getting these things off my long list of baby items has been a major weight off my shoulders. Plus it doesn't feel like my kitchen is overrun with baby stuff, although I'm sure it's coming.

So I want to know, if your shopping for baby, what are some of your favorite products that you have found? Send me a link and I'll check them out!

Until next time!

The Collective Blog Hop Monday: I'm Co-Hosting!!

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Welcome to the weekly blog hop party, THE Collective.

This is a link up for bloggers who want to gain followers and meet awesome people.

Not sure if this is the blog hop for you? Listen to what other bloggers have to say...

"Just to let you know, your blog hop is the best I've participated in for gaining new friends!!! I couldn't believe the results!! Thank you!"

- Danavee, This Vintage Grove

"I'm dropping by to let you know that I love being a part of your blog hop! 

 I have been meeting really nice bloggers.  Bloggers who are actually friendly and want to connect! 

I'm putting the blog hop button on my side bar, like, permanently!  Everyone should know about it. Just thought I'd share with you. Thank you."

-Vickie, Oh Abby Day

"Hi BreAnna, just want to say that your blog is beautiful, creative, and fun. The GFC collective is one of my favorite parts of the blogging week. Love meeting new friends and fellow bloggers. We just started our blog and were amazed at how helpful the GFC collective is! Keep up the amazing work."

-Alea and Rachael, Sparkle Your Life

"This GFC Collective Hop is seriously one of the best link ups out there! Through this hop I have found so many great blogs & friends that I wouldn't have otherwise found! Thank you so much for hosting such a fun link up! Please take the time to link up & join along! You won't be sorry that you did!"

-Amy @ Keepin' Up With the Smith's

"I'm so excited I found your blog and this wonderful link up! I have met so many new people and found so many wonderful blogs this way. This is a great idea and I'm glad to be a part of it!" xo -Taylor @ Nothing But a Pigeon

Bre @ Peacoats and Plaid

and my lovely co-hosts for the week

Lisa @ Chucks & Charlies

Emily @ Everything Emily

Kim @ A Moving Story

Lena @ Root and Blossom

Interested in co-hosting? Send an email to peacoatsnplaid(at)gmail(dot)com to get on the list.

An InLinkz Link-up

My Baby is 5!

Oh man, when did this happen? How could this already be? It all just went by WAY too fast!

As usual making those lovely face, my daughter K.

 To think back at 6pm, one year ago, her little cry would forever change my world. My first daughter was born! After 9 months of planning and preparing, and although four days early, she was finally with us. Well with me and my friend/co-worker. She stepped in as my birth coach while my husband was deployed in Iraq. He luckily called just in time to hear our brand new baby's first cry, back then all we had were satellite phones.

I will also never forget my friend screaming at the top of her lungs and jumping up and down with my leg in her hand, "I see the HEAD!!!". Needless to say my nurses never forgot her.

Now fast forward 5 years later...and when I say fast forward, I mean it feels like someone took all that time in between and sped everything up to where we are now. In a few weeks she'll be starting Kindergarten. She already is picking out her own outfits and giving herself a shower (apparently baths aren't much her thing anymore). She also gets very opinionated when it comes to what she wants to eat or do. Definitely not a baby anymore.

She even chose where and what we did for her 5th birthday, which was visit  local water park near grandma and grandpa's.

 Ambushing her cousin with her boyfriend.

 My youngest daughter P, passed out only after an hour at the water park, LOL...

 Well kiddo, no matter what, your still going to be my chubby cheeked little babe that I once oo'd and ahh'd over being a brand new Mommy. Probably even when your 17 and do all the things that I did to drive my parents insane...my Mom always warned me grandkids were a parents ultimate revenge.

Happy Birthday love bug!