My apologies for taking so long posting this, but I have been crazy busy. Isabella Nohealani (pronounced No Hay Ah Lani, it means "beautiful girl from heaven") *Our Last Name* was born on Wednesday, November 29th at 3:43 am.  She weighed 8 lbs and 7.9 oz and was 20 and 3/4 inches long.  She has blondish-black hair (crazy, I know!) and blue eyes (for now).  I had a doctor's appt on the 27th (3 days overdue), and my doctor decided to induce me so that Adrian would be here for...

Ever since enduring an apt and generalized e-scolding about adhering STRICTLY (and then some) to OPSEC, I have had the hardest time bringing myself to blog. It seems that most of the things I'd want to share are too personal. I'm still pregnant.  I don't think that information jeopardizes any military missions.  My due date is November 24th (Black Friday), but I have no idea when this baby is going to come.  Last week at my appointment I was 2 cm dilated, 60% effaced, and sh...

THANK YOU, KELLY! I got your card in the mail yesterday, and it was such a nice surprise.  Thanks!  You guys amaze me.

I constantly feel guilty when it comes to my kids.  I feel like I don't do enough for them.  I feel like I let them down or disappoint them. Sometimes they will tell me about their disappointment.  I didn't put enough juice boxes in their lunch box.  I forgot to send them in their sneakers for P.E.  All those little details that I can't manage to keep a handle on despite calendars and schedules. I feel like there's this fine line between being there for my children...

Anyone else notice the spelling errors on the "create a blog" page?  I guess it's easy to recognize the mistakes of others.  Not quite as easy to recognize our own. It's getting closer to baby time.  I have about a week until I'm full term, but I don't expect (or particularly WANT) her to come for another 3 to 4 weeks.  I had my first real OB appt yesterday (I've been seeing my PCP up until this point), and that was both nice and completely sucked.  The parking at...

My boys are very involved in Cub Scouts and are busy working toward earning badges (Bobcat for both, Tiger for Orian, and Bear for Xavier) and belt loops (Ultimate Frisbee and Map and Compass so far!).  We end up spending around 5-10 hours a week on scouting activities and scouting-related learning.  My kids have Scouting on the brain for sure.  (In fact, we can't make regular promises...we must make "Cub Scout" promises.) So today Orian sticks a shiny silver Subway sticker...

Seems I've been bitten by the blogging bug. My apologies.  (I got bit by some other kind of bug too, but that's a different story.) Izzy's 4 month check up was the morning, and she is doing wonderfully.  One thing I hate, though, is having to hold my tongue and be polite while being patronized. Last appt (2 months), our doctor wasn't available.  We saw a nice old man whom I felt comfortable with and who seemed to have a lot of wisdom and experience.  This time I had an ...

THIS WILL BE IN ALL CAPS.  I'M NOT YELLING, I'M NAK.  AGAIN, NOT YELLING. I WILL MAKE THIS QUICK SINCE BABY GIRL HAS A CHECK UP THIS AM. SC - I ASKED YOU TO IGNORE ME AND I WOULD DO THE SAME SINCE I JUST FUNDAMENTALLY DON'T LIKE YOU.  TRY IT. I ALSO HAVE NO CONTROL OVER WHAT LW DOES OR SAYS, ALTHOUGH I CAN SPANK HER IF YOU'D LIKE.  THAT IS ALL.

Spring Break is almost over. All 2 weeks of it.  There's technically still time for us to go to Cancun, but the airline ticket prices would be ridiculous.  I'd really like to go wild but I guess I'll have to wait until next year for that.  Hehe. Instead we have a 4 month check up, a Cub Scout meeting, a Cub Scout trip to the news station, a Cub Scout site sale, an FRG trip to the beach (probably not going since daddy doesn't want baby to see the ocean until he's home), Era...

It's no secret that I don't believe in spanking. There are times when my children piss me off so severely that it sure would be satisfying to give them a smack on the behind, but I don't discipline to make myself feel better.  I discipline to raise secure, happy, competent, considerate children. Therefore, what would make *me* feel better when my child spills Cocoa Puffs all over the kitchen floor (and leaves them there as if there are some magic cereal fairies who clean these things ...

While American women have, and always should have, the right to choose how to feed their infants, many Americans simply do not understand the difference between breast milk and infant formula.  Many people feel that formula is "as good as" or "close to" breast milk.  An infant can surely survive and grow and develop while consuming manufactured infant formula, but formula will never be a true substitute for mother's milk. Because human milk is so superior to infant formula and s...

There is hot and then there is "MySpace Hot".  MySpace Hot is what you get when an average, or unattractive male or female dresses and/or poses seductively, for females lots of make-up is involved, and the photo is cropped or otherwise altered to make the male or female almost unrecognizable to people who actually know him or her.  The end result, though, is a photo of a "hot" person. I think we all like to post what we feel are flattering photos of ourselves.  And onl...

I'm not eloquent like most of you and I don't have a fancy job or an exciting social life, but I have all kinds of thoughts (probably not of interest or value to JUs) that I might as well write down.  It's not like anyone's forced to read it, and there are other people *cough* who do the same. My boys are off for Spring Break for 2 weeks.  That's a long frickin' time.  I love my boys very much, but when they are together 24/7 or when they are bored I begin to wish I could drink...

I only ever post pictures, but pretty much everything I have to say has to do with parenting (or complaining about stuff) and no one wants to hear about the new "chore puzzle" idea I'm trying out with the kids or about my thoughts about Attachment Parenting. So, here they are... Oh, I should also add that my dad has a great new website that he wants me to pimp out on JU.  It's www.wadeextremetexas.com .&n...

OK, let's start simple. There are these big, thick white stripes painted on a road in areas where a person might possibly want to cross the street. For example, a hotel with a Red Lobster across the street might have one.  A block of houses adjacent to a school might have one.  A barracks across from a convenience store might have one. These things are very, very common and quite easy to pick out.  Just look for large white stripes painted on the ground and old ladies, sm...