Cara Box

New to the blogging world (clearly, ha), I was looking for a way to get to know fellow bloggers and the blogging world in general. I have been contemplating starting a blog as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I wanted a way to keep my family up to date with life, and not get overbearing on Facebook. 

I kept searching one day, looking for blogs that interested me. & somehow I came across a sweet girl, Kaitlyn, and her blog Wifessionals. It was appealing to me as she is (well was) a military wife, a soon-to-be mamma, and she takes rein on something she created for the blogging world to connect called "Cara Box". You can read more about the Cara Box here, and how to get involved if interested :)!

I was paired with Melissa (she sent to me <3) & Stephanie (I sent to her <3)

               (Check her blog, its amazing!)      (check her out to see what I sent her)

First I will tell you a little about Stephanie, she was great to get to know! We are both Army wifes and new bloggers. She is a mom to three adorable boys who definitely keep her on her toes! There is definitely a part of me that feels as if we were meant to be partners. Our lifes touch base with each other on a personal level & I am glad to have someone to talk about it. I hope she enjoyed her box!

 Melissa is SO kind and such a wonderful girl to be partnered up with for my first time doing the Cara Box. 

I loved getting to know her & her daughter is so adorably cute! She is a "used to be" mil spouse and it was so neat to see where life takes you once you're out of this kind of lifestyle. Did I mention how wonderful she is?! Part of the box that you don't see in the picture is a disc she sent me. I put it in my computer and she had made a blog layout for me based on my favorite color and shape, and she even used some of my brand new family photos!!!! Talk about amazing. I LOVED it!

The theme for our box was "Fall"

I LOVE FALL! Seriously, who doesnt love fall?! I was so excited to be a part of this exchange considering there is absolutely no hope of getting that "fall" feeling here in the desert.

My partner did amazing! She sent a little bit of something for everyone in my little family :).
I am sure that the candy was totally meant for my husband, BUT when I saw the caramel apple pops.. I immediately stashed them away in purse. They are my favorite & I couldn't find them here ANYWHERE.
I also mentioned to her that I wanted to start crocheting, so she got me a handy "I Taught Myself Crochet" starter kit. (I have since tried, and I need some practice ha).
Drake took over the Hot Cocoa, perfect for him when he comes in off the motorcycle in the mornings. He isnt a big coffee drinker, but LOVES cocoa.
& little Gracie has a frog loofa & some boots! I cannot wait until she can fit in them, they're adorable!

Overall, the Cara Box was definitely something I loved doing & am glad to have made good friendships because of it! Cannot wait to do it again :).

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A Little Catch Up

As you can tell I have been away from the blog for quite some time now! What can I say though, I have been a busy busy mom! Drake went away for training for a month and I was blessed enough to be able to take Grace home to visit family!

We had such an amazing time, the only thing that could've made it better is if Drake could've come along. My friend Maegan came down to Texas to help me get to Kentucky. I travel lightly (two bags, a diaper bag, a dog that was a carry on, a stroller/carseat combo, a baby, and a boppy pillow.), so I needed help ;-)

 Gracie got to take her first plane ride at just 2 months old! I was so nervous of how she would be, but I couldnt have been blessed with a better time! We had two flights that day and she slept completely through both of them!!

We had a wonderful time when we were home visiting, and Gracie got to meet so many people! 

 Gracie and Great Papaw 

 Gracie & Uncle David

(She loved his beard)

 Gracie & Great Granny

 Gracie & her boyfriend Parker! (almost) 3 months / 7 months

 Gracie & Mama Carek

 Gracie & Uncle Creighton

 Gracie & Great Grandma Mary

 Gracie & Great Poppy

 Gracie & her Nana 

 Gracie & Auntie Maeg & Pierce

 Gracie & Auntie Tess

 Gracie & Auntie Kristin!

 Maegan, Auntie Em holding G &  myself on our last day!

Auntie Em & Grace

The Week in Review

For the most part this past week has been not too eventful! 

Drake went back to work on Tuesday & I just did my normal weekly things.

Let's back track to last Sunday (Sept. 1. 2013)  though :). 

It was the season opener for our families favorite team, Louisville Cardinals! My husband is not a big sports fanatic, but he is when it comes to UofL. Not only did they WIN, but it was also on our Anniversary :-), it was perfect! Gracie is already a big fan.. but lets face it, she has to be until she can pick her own team to root for. 

The work week was nothing short of boring.. I did however attempt my first shopping trip alone with Gracie. I totally meant to take a picture of it all, but I was in a rush to get home before she woke up so I could hopefully get a pump session in before it was time to feed her. 

They really need to make shopping carts more infant carrier friendly. Am I supposed to just put her carrier in the basket and have no room for my food? Ugh.. So annoying. 

I finally mustered up the courage to call a new groomer for Camie. I really miss my old groomer. She was awesome & always did a wonderful job, it wasnt the cheapest place in town, but I definitely didn't pay what people around this place have wanted to charge me. I am sorry, but I cannot justify taking my animal to Petsmart.. where she weighs only 8lbs and them charging me 50 bucks to give her a haircut and a bath. That just seems outrageous to me. I took her to another place around here, but they made her look like a chihuahua & they only take cash. I don't really understand that either. They sure as heck didn't charge me 50 buckaroos.. but I am not paying to come pick up a Schnauzer that looks like a chihuahua.

I was having a hard time finding a place that seemed legit, I read reviews after reviews and just kept getting more scared to take my dog to anyplace around here. Finally a friend suggested the groomer she takes her dog too, she said they do the full package and give military discount & had never had a problem with them. I took her word for it, and called them to give them a try.

Not only was I super satisfied with my dogs hair cut (she finally looked like a schnauzer!) but I swear to you the girl who groomed my dog had to of been the nicest person I've had to deal with customer service wise around here. She was so friendly and patient and listened to all my concerns! 

She made a happy customer out of me, & I will be back!

talk about a transformation!

The weekend hasn't been all that much exciting either.

Friday night got here & I was just so glad that it was the weekend again. Having a four-day weekend last weekend really spoiled me! I loved spending that much time with Drake :).  We have watched the Harry Potter marathon ALL weekend. Today was SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL! The seahawks were on, and WON.. granted Fox had a different game on. We did however watch Drakes favorite team, the Titans.. they won as well! Now I will leave you with some photos from this weekend!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend!

I LOVE THIS! Photo-bombed by Camie!

Grace & her stuffed schnauzer :)

 We are starting to see more smiles from our girl more & more each day! :) (6 weeks old)

 Missing her Papaw!

 She LOVES Camie, which makes me very happy :)

 Drake took this gem lol.

 Came home from a Scentsy party on Saturday & I believe my little girl was hungry!

 Seriously though, how stinkin' cute!

 Watching some FOOTBALL!

Camie never strays too far.

Those Two Pink Lines

After I saw this news post today on my Facebook feed, about a couple who have struggled for nearly two years to get pregnant and chose to do IVF & are now "regretful" that two embryos planted and are now having twins, I decided that I would share my story.

I am not much to share so much personal information about myself, but I know there are plenty of women who have the same "girl" issue as I do, so maybe my story will give someone a glimmer of hope if they are out there struggling! 

When I was 20 years old, I was noticing some issues on my body that were concerning & embarrassing. I was growing hair on my face, where a woman does not need to grow hair! I guess I just ignored it, because I didn't want to face the fact that I was seriously growing a beard..ugh. One day, when I was in the car with my mom, she pointed it out to me.. "Heather, your beard is really noticeable in the sunlight". :-| Thanks for looking out mom! After that, I decided enough was enough. I could no longer ignore this issue. When I went to the dermatologist to discuss why in the world this was happening, she asked me If I had noticed any issues with my cycle. I was completely irregular all the time, but why would this have any affect with my facial hair issues? She suggested I make an appointment with my family doctor, and I did, which then confirmed that I in fact had PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

PCOS is a common amongst women. I had a high hormone level of androgen, which explained the excess hair I was growing on my face. As a woman, when you produce a high amount of androgen it will lead you to irregular or absent ovulation, making it difficult to conceive.

After Drake & I got married, we started to discuss the importance of having a family. We both knew we wanted a big family, and we knew we didn't want to wait too long for this to happen (we figured a year after we were married would be ideal to really start pushing for a child). After the talk I had with my doctor when she diagnosed me with PCOS, we were both under the impression that it "could" and "most likely" would be a tough road to get pregnant, and I was never more sad in my life than when I thought about the struggle of trying to have a baby. What if I couldn't get pregnant? With this in our minds, we both decided to just put it in Gods hands & when he wanted to bless us with a child, he would. We decided that I would go off my birth control & see where it would lead. A month later and a messed up turkey sandwich that had me in tears, it was confirmed. We were having a baby!

Taken on 11.11.12

I was SHOCKED to say the least. I didn't know whether to be excited & happy or scared out of my mind! So many things run through a girls head when she sees those two pink lines, and my first initial reaction, I was completely terrified! Were we honestly really ready for this?? We had only been married for two months and this was the first time we had ever really been together under the same roof. We had barely even spent time with each other, just for ourselves. I mean, we didn't even get to go on a honeymoon & now, it would be even more delayed. Crying hysterically with the positive result in my hands, I showed my husband & he could not have been more happy. I knew then, everything would be OK.

Bringing me back to the article I mentioned above. Even though we didn't struggle like we thought we would, It does not change the fact that before I wouldn't cry at night just thinking about all the "What Ifs" if we were to of had a tough road ahead of us. I could never imagine going through years of that kind of pain, only for a pregnancy to take & then be "pissed off" or "regretful". That just completely baffles me. No one ever said that the next time my husband and I are ready to continue our growing family, that I wont struggle. I just pray that I won't ever have to know the pain of suffering to make our dream come true.

A baby is a blessing & should always be treasured.

Spicy Cajun Shrimp Pasta

One of my passions is cooking. I don't care if I am following directions off a box, or trying to make up my own recipe, it's just so therapeutic to me. There for a little while I was making cakes and cupcakes ALL the time. I am shocked that I didn't gain a million pounds by having to "test taste" every part that went into making them :). Maybe other foodies feel the same way, but I always just needed a little taste when it comes to something I am baking/cooking. It satisfies me just enough & I would rather enjoy watching other people enjoy the food I am creating.

If there is one thing to know about this household, it's that we LOVE food. We will try anything once. One of my husbands favorite things is seafood pasta. He also has this wild obsession with Cajun seasoning. He will put that stuff on anything!  I had the TV on The Food Channel this afternoon when he popped in for lunch & I saw his eyes get all bright & cheery when he saw that the lady was making pasta with shrimp. I decided I would be an awesome wife & make him a "Spicy Cajun Shrimp Pasta" tonight for dinner. Considering I just had a baby, and I am all about those easy simple 15 minute meals, I just kind-of threw this one together in my head with things we had in hopes that it would satisfy. I thought it turned out pretty good & it can totally be modified in any way!

Spicy Cajun Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:

1box-linguine 

1 jar of Bertolli Spicy Arrabbiata sauce (found with pasta sauces)

(you can completely make your own sauce for this recipe)

1 TBSP of Butter (I used LandOLakes Saute Express in Garlic & Herb because I ran out of butter)

Cajun Seasoning - to your taste.

1 lb of cooked, peeled shrimp

I bought shrimp that still had the tails attached so I first removed the tails. 

I then took the Saute Express over medium low heat and melted it to cover the bottom of my nonstick skillet.

Put the shrimp in once the "butter" is fully melted & sprinkle with the Cajun seasoning

 

By this point I start the noodles

Once the noodles are done, I tossed the shrimp in.

Then add the sauce! I am not a huge spicy food fan, so I only added half a jar.. my husband told me it was "a little too dry" so I would add the entire jar of sauce the next time around

I added a little side salad & bam, there you have it! A simple meal made in 15 minutes!

Our first (of many to come) Anniversary!

What a wonderful year it has been!

I am still in awe by all of the things God has blessed us with this year. We have had a great time in our new home, making some amazing friends along the way. We were blessed with the most wonderful blessing of all time, our beautiful baby girl, Grace. Not to mention I had a pretty awesome pregnancy & birthing experience. Drake also was able to get the one thing he's wanted for a long time.. a motorcycle :-/.

Now, I am not going to sit here and say that our marriage has been all rainbows and butterflies by any means. We have had our fair share of struggles a long the way. Without these struggles though, our marriage would not be as strong as it is today. Oh, and that saying "The first year is the hardest year.".. I don't believe that is necessarily true. Everyone has their own opinion though. 

We decided just to take it easy on our Anniversary & just do the things we both enjoy. I went to Target :), & Drake played Skyrim. We spent time loving & playing with Grace. Drake has been dying to take me on a motorcycle ride, and I finally agreed that he could. We also enjoy Olive Garden (lame, I know) so we decided we would eat dinner there..lol :-). We aren't fancy by any means. Then we came home & ate a slice of our cake top & had some champagne in our fancy schmancy champagne flutes from our wedding. Needless to say, I couldn't have been more happy with our day & just getting to spend time with my family. It's the simple things in life <3

Of course I got the idea of this picture from pinterest

A picture of why the little one was not in the picture. Never wake a sleeping baby! :-P

     I was scared out of my mind to ride on the motorcycle, as I am not a big fan of them at all. Needless to say we made it down the road & I was too much of a chicken to let him get any further. I think I am just too much of a control freak when it comes to things that move & have engines. Which leads me to my next picture...

 Bye bye! I will drive us to dinner :-).

 My flute broke in the move :-(

 <3

We decided to feed ourselves our own bites this time

 I was really nervous that a cake that had been frozen for a year would be absolutely disgusting, but I was completely wrong.. delicious!

Now time to go feed the baby & sleep, sounds like a perfect ending to me!