2014 Marine Corps Ball

We recently attended the Marine Corps Birthday ball.

This year it was in Las Vegas.

before the ball

This was kind of cool because 10 years ago I accompanied Paul to our first Ball together in Primm Valley, just outside Las Vegas. It's crazy to think we have been together for 10 years.

I can't find that picture from that ball, but here is one from 2007, we were in Massachusetts. it's the oldest one I can find. 

But we had a great time in Vegas. Didn't take many pictures. My mom flew up and stayed with us so we had a sitter, which was super awesome of her (thanks again mommy). One nice thing, our reservation got messed up, we were supposed to have two adjoining rooms, and there were none available when we got there, so we got upgraded for free to a suite and a room adjoining! that was very nice. 

our suite

the vodka was flowing

I got my own fake eyelashes on! 

This last one is kind of funny. I have tried numerous times to get my fancy schmancy MAC eyelashes on, and never been able to. I was watching a YouTube video and the girl had cut hers in half. I was weary about cutting those expensive-ass eyelashes just to put them on, but I figured what the hell. And I was able to put them on! 

Just a click to vote- no registration necessary- 

On The Move

Moving physically, not bloggerly- Movers are coming this week and we are headed to Sunny California after we take some much needed personal time. I've tried to set things up so you don't notice my absence, and I will try to post from the road periodically. We should be back to your regularly scheduled blogging in mid May. Until then have fun and find me on facebook and instagram and maybe even YouTube for more frequent updates!

Saving money with home hair cuts (or why sundays is my least favorite day)

Wahl Clippers

I usually don't tell people I cut my husbands hair. If I happen to give him a bad cut I don't want people to know it was me. And after 6 years of cutting his hair, it happens every now and then, he gets a not so great cut.
When we got married he was spending almost $20 a week to get his hair cut. Being in the Marines, weekly haircuts are just a fact of life.
Shortly after we got married I got a pair of clippers, they came with an instructional video which I watched over and over again and then I started to cut his hair. I don't even want to think about how bad they were in the beginning, because even now sometimes they are less than stellar, that first year must have been rough on him. But after all this time I have never done such a bad job that we had to shave it. And I think I have the fade down pretty good.
But I still hate it, and I dream about just sending him to the barber on sundays so I don't have to do it. I secretly don't mention that it's haircut day in hopes he will forget, and just have to get it cut at the barber some time monday. But almost every sunday, at about 1 pm, I cut his hair. Taking into account deployments, other time apart and times that I did just send him to the barber, we have saved about $4,000 with me just cutting his hair. We take really good care of our clippers, and every few years I buy a nice new pair (that was before I learned you could get replacement blades) the last set I bought are really super nice and I hope will last us for a very long time.
So if you husband trusts you enough to let you try to cut his hair, I highly recommend it. Get a good video, check out YouTube, invest in a nice pair of clippers and have fun!
It's just hair! It'll grow back!

Where now, brown cow?

image has nothing to do with the post, but it goes with my title. 

I started writing this post towards the end of August.

Things have been a bit "hurry up, and wait" around my house.
One thing about the military lifestyle that I really hate is how there is no certainty, until it's happening. Sometimes you don't know if your husband is going somewhere, for sure, until he leaves.

We experienced this three years ago, waiting to see if Paul would be leaving Okinawa for Recruiters School in San Diego. He had been trying to stay on island a few more months so he could complete a course. Well we found out on a Friday that he would in fact be leaving Monday for Recruiters School.
Strangely enough this was almost 3 years ago to the day and we are in a similar situation right now. Currently we are waiting to find out the opposite, will Paul be staying on Recruiting Duty another 6 months? will his follow on assignment change? Are we still going to Camp Pendleton?

As I am writing this I have no answers to any of these questions. But by the time I publish it I will have some answers.

In June Paul requested to extend 6 months here on recruiting duty, until spring, in hopes we could get a duty station we really wanted (Okinawa) we figured at almost a year out, they surely could find a place for us there. Well extending here has been so back and forth since June I had stopped talking about it to family and friends, one week we are extending, the next we are not. About a month ago I decided to keep my mouth shut until his orders actually changed. Part of that is because I am superstitious and I think that because every time I opened my mouth something changed that it would be best to just not say anything, and for the longest time things stayed the same. Then I made a blog post about prepping our move to California again, and everything changed. We were told pretty much that our extension was a possibility and his command wanted us to stay on a few more months to get through the winter, someone was going to make some phone calls and see what they could find out about the status of his extension request. This was about a month ago. Then it was silence again. 

Well today we got our answer. 

We are staying in Montana until April/May-ish.
We don't know yet if we are going to California then, or if we will be going somewhere else. I have spent the whole day analyzing every possibility. 

I don't know how to feel, we wanted this as a chance to get back to Okinawa, but we don't know if that will happen because it's such short notice again (short notice for overseas move). Perhaps we could go somewhere else like Hawaii? Or we could still go to California, or we could go somewhere we don't want to go. But it's a risk Paul was wiling to take, he has done his time here in the arctic north, and we are taking a risk to try to get what we want. Although it's probable we'll just move to California in May. I was really getting used to the idea of Cali, scouting out the shopping, food, attractions. Making plans with a blogger friend to get together and go to Daiso. When we got our snow last week I was sort of thankful we hadn't heard anything and in my mind was preparing for a sandy SoCal Christmas. I have been going over the layout of the base housing we would be moving into, decorating and placing furniture in my mind. 

But instead of moving, I'll be going to the Marine Corps Ball the week we would shave been leaving here, and then hunkering down for another winter.

Speaking of winter, we are having another winter storm warning tonight, we could wake up to snow again tomorrow.....

Belated Military Monday

I know I am late, I really wanted to get in on this Military Monday though so here we go:

Did we plan our pregnancy? Yes. We had just returned from an overseas tour and we are both getting older, we knew it was now or never. We'll not really now or never, but we weren't getting any younger. We had spend the better part of the first 6 years together partying and running amok across the world, and it was time to settle down a little and have a little wee one. Recruiting duty was also the ideal place to do this because Paul is non deployable. But he is on the road a lot, and when he was recruiting he was often working 16+ hour days, but you can still make a baby on that schedule. Things worked out even better because he was transferring to MEPS when E was born and was able to take almost a month off to stay home with me just before and just after she was born. 

two weeks old

It was nice having him there and available for the birth, but leading up with knowing he was transferring to a new position that was located an hour away, with him commuting I was nervous about going into labor early and not having him there, or having to have him drive through a mountain pass to get home in the snow. 

As far as going "Home" for my pregnancy/birth:

I did not go home. No offense to those that do, but I don't go home, like I go to visit but I won't go to live, not if he gets deployed, not if I get pregnant again, not if I get pregnant and he deploys. We live together and have a home together and I am not going to leave that home, our home, while he is away. That's just not my style. 

My family and his family helped tremendously, they were always available by phone, and my parents visited for E's birth and His parents shortly after. That's part of the reason we decided now was the perfect time to undertake this baby journey, family is an inexpensive flight away (vs. overseas flight).

Military Monday

I've been traveling! Sorry for the un announced absence, but due to personal security I don't like to reveal my travels before they happen. But I have a couple of cool posts coming up as soon as I can find time to put them together. Evelyn has also become a major handful, she is crawling in full force and walking along furniture. So I am constantly chasing her when she gets into unsafe zones.

Here's a sneak peek from our travels: 

and now for your regularly scheduled programming:

This week is about Enlisted vs. Officer wives.

I really don't have a lot of experience with officer wives. I think as military wives they are held to a higher standard. They sometimes are asked to participate in events and help put together events involving all of the wives in the command/unit/shop. My grandmother was an officer wife. She has told me stories about having to entertain other officers and commanders. I think she really enjoyed it though. 

When we were in Okinawa I would babysit for some officer families and I didn't find them that much different than me. They still worry about their husbands when they are away, they still make dinner for their kids, they still have dishes in their sink. 

But I have heard horror stories about wives pulling rank (not just officer wives), using their husbands higher rank in the military to try to get favoritism, thankfully I never saw that. 

But we have only spent 2.5 of our years together at an actual base, or even stationed near a large number of other Military, and for 9ish months of that 2.5 years Paul was deployed so I didn't interact much with command functions or such. 

Being an enlisted wife I certainly have a bit more experience there. But along with all wives (not just military) they can be catty and gossipy. Have you seen Desperate Housewives? I like a bit of juicy gossip just as much as the next girl though. But they aren't all that bad, and my experience is they aren't as bad as the internet makes them look. Not all wives cheat, not all sit around and talk shit all day, not all of them are fat and lazy with 1/2 dozen kids. 

I really can't say to benefits to each, I guess I think, to me, we are all equal-ish, officer wives may get nicer housing on base and their husbands may get slightly higher paychecks than mine. But they still get deployed, they still have to work duty weekends, they still may get late night phone calls when one of their Marines has screwed up. 

Currently we are living several hundred miles from the nearest military family so I have no direct communication with the officer side of things and command sponsored events, I really only know just the few wives that live closest to me. 

I am sure it's because of the situations I have been put in, but I have made some amazing friends that are military wives. I think it takes a special breed of woman to marry a military man. Life is so unpredictable. You have to be strong, patient, flexible, and a sense of humor is a must. Bonus traits would be a love for travel, trying new things, and independence, because you need to be able to pay your bills, run your household, and open that jar of pickles, should your husband deploy. 

But I must mention, the officers club in Okinawa had the best brunch in the whole wide world. We only had the one on the Air base, but I heard the Marine one was amazing too. 

Military Monday Link-up

This weeks questions: Do you live on base/post/fort or away from the military world?  What factors did you consider when deciding where you would live?  Was one more affordable than the other?  Did it help/hinder your family situation?  What things would be helpful for others to know before they potentially move to your area?
Great questions! But they don't really work in my situation. If you are a new reader, My husband is on recruiting duty for the USMC, and our nearest Active Duty base is about 3 hours away, Malmstrom AFB. So we obviously just live in town. Our current location Paul works at MEPS, we moved here from Helena, where he was a Recruiter, in February. Finding a rental in a small town, that allows cats is hard. So our biggest considering factor was can we live there with 2 dogs and a cat. That drastically narrowed our search window. Then can we fit our stuff in it. We have a king size bed and monster size entertainment centre. The town we live in is an old mining town, and a lot of the houses are OLD, and SMALL. I really thought we would never find a home, but alas this one fell into our laps, and at a very reasonable rate. We save quite a bit of our housing allowance, even after utilities.  Helpfull info about Butte? Well despite the fact that it's highly unlikely that anyone reading this will be moving here, ever, I would say don't judge a book by it's cover. Butte has lots of run down shanty little houses, especially in my area. In fact there is a vacant little shanty house about 20 yards from mine. But I live in a great neighborhood, and I have pretty quiet neighbors. Everyone is really nice, and keeps to themselves.  I was nominated for the top 50 Military Mom Blogs by VoiceBoks, you can vote here. Thank you for your support.

Military Monday Link Up

Linking up over at Eights on the Move for Military Monday:

Pack it up! 

To kind of go with my theme of prepping for my PCS this weeks prompt seems appropriate. This week is all about packing, how do you do it? 

Well. I don't. 

I suck at packing. I hate packing. I let the movers do it. They are much quicker, and much more efficient. Plus I noticed with my last move they repacked most of the stuff I pre-packed anyway. 

Unless you are doing a DITY (do it  yourself) move, you may have the movers re packing anything you pack because they are liable for anything that breaks while moving. When we moved back from Okinawa they repacked everything I packed except my rubbermaid tubs, they just opened them to see that they were just blankets (with alcohol hidden, shhhhh) and then taped them up. 

But to a very small extent I am already packing a little. I have a shit load of big blue rubbermaid tubs that I am filling with stuff I have no use for for now. Curtains, bath mats (I have enough for 3 bathrooms, here we only have 2), extra blankets, baby clothes that Evey has grown out of, (but we are saving for number 2,) maternity clothes, purses (because I only carry a diaper bag right now) . I need to repack my sewing stuff, fabric, yarn, odds and ends. All of our holiday stuff is finally out of cardboard boxes and into rubbermaid containers. Mostly I am doing this because I can stack these tubs out of sight, but you could call it packing. 

So that's it, my big secret to packing, let the movers do it. 

Well except your underwear, don't let anyone touch your underwear, that's just creepy.

You can find my PCS/Moving tips here

Just a friendly reminder, I was nominated for the top 50 Military Mom Blogs by VoiceBoks, you can vote for me here. Thank you for your support.

Moving My Military Family (part 1, early preparation)

I can't wait to cook at sea level again.

We are currently at about 6,200 feet, and I have to adjust cooking times, and I burn a lot of things. I can't even grill right. As I write this I am trying to make dinner and my mac and cheese is taking for-ev-er.

We have finally accepted our fate that we are moving to Cali. Well I had already accepted it, but we tried to change things, to no avail. I am excited, I have been excited for a while, but now that we are about 3 months from moving I am really getting excited. Paul will only be working about 2 of those 3 months because he has vacation time that he has to use or he will loose it.

So this is our third PCS (permanent change of duty station), but our 7th move in the 8 or 9 years we have been together. So 3 states, 2 countries, 7 houses/apartments. I am by no means a moving pro, but I kind of know what to expect. We are a few months out still, so a plan is in place. The plan? Get rid of all the shit we don't want to move.

Step One: Early Prep:

We have been planning what we want to take and what we want to sell/donate. We want to get rid of most of our big furniture, except baby stuff and some bedroom stuff (hopefully, if we can get decent prices for our stuff.) I have a running list of the things I don't want to move, things that are broken, or well past their lifespan. Like our couch. We got it our first year in Okinawa, it's been almost 6 years. Is that a long time for a couch? I don't think so, but ours is breaking. The springs are falling apart on one side and it sags. It's also covered in dog slobber because Renji licks it all the time. It's so sad. It still works, it's just a sad couch.

"it may be sad, but it's tasty"
"am i really related to this guy?"

Since we moved to Butte a few months ago we have been downsizing, we moved from a 4br house with a garage to about half that, and no garage. We have stuff everywhere, all of our garage stuff is outside, well not all of it, but with winter here storing anything outside is a bad idea. Plus the stuff we have outside is subject to the elements, like our tent, which I am pretty sure is toast. We still have stuff that has no home, boxes piled everywhere, we are using the extra shower as storage, because oddly this house doesn't have any closets besides the master bedroom, and that one is filled with clothes that don't fit.

We have already gotten rid of 2-3 loads of stuff, clothing and housewares that we don't use or need. But there is still a huge pile of stuff I need to go through this week. I have never really hung anything on the walls because I knew we were moving in 9 months so most of that is still in the boxes the movers packed in Helena, or we repacked in rubbermaid containers.

It feels like we have only made a small bit of progress in downsizing, but do you really want to sell your entertainment center, when you have nothing else to put your TV on? Part of me says do it now, part of me says wait until October. And our bed, I think we plan on keeping the mattress but we want to sell the bed frame. So do it now? or wait?  Well it looks like we are waiting, because I don't want to deal with it now. Also part of me thinks that we are more likely to get better prices in Cali. Way more families coming and going, some new military couple looking to furnish their house may really want my bed, and my coffee tables, and my entertainment center, and my sad couch (which I will steam clean), and my clothes that don't fit, someone wants it, right?

Just a friendly reminder, I was nominated for the top 50 Military Mom Blogs by VoiceBoks, you can vote for me here. Thank you for your support. 

Putting On a New Uniform: Transitioning from the Military Into Civilian Work

I've just gotten back from vacation and I am working on getting some posts put together this week. But I thought I would put up a wonderfully written guest post to keep things moving right along while I am editing photos and writing in the background. 

Today we've got a post from Emma, who blogs at Smile as it Happens

Between relocating and finding a new job, transitioning from the military into civilian life can be stressful. You might feel overwhelmed no matter how long your military career lasted, but rest assured that you are not alone. Many veterans face these same feelings, but there is hope. A variety of organization and programs exist to help make this transition easier and smoother for you and your family. No matter what your dream civilian job might be, you can do what you love with a supportive network behind you. The important thing is to ignore the misconceptions abound regarding the job hunt, and that's where I come in. I'm going to outline some of the most common job myths and the reality behind them so that you can start your civilian life more confidently.

Myth #1: I won't be able to find a good job because the people who apply most get the most jobs.

Truth: You don't need to send out dozens of applications. You only need to send out strong resumes to the companies who speak directly to your strengths. Employers aren't looking for a huge volume of weak resumes; they're looking for a small pile of strong candidates. If you spend some time crafting a resume and cover letter that outline your skills, offer concrete examples of relevant work experience and reasons why you're the right fit, then you'll get more interviews that someone who simply applies to every position with a fluffy, inflated resume.

Myth #2: My spouse doesn't have any resources like I do when it comes to finding a job.

Truth: The government has recognized the need to provide work opportunities for the spouses of both active duty military personnel and veterans. Because of the instability that comes with a military life including constantly moving due to new assignments, Joining Forces was created to help spouses find steady work. This organization and others like it work to expand job opportunities nationwide for military spouses as well as create a better relationship between employers to ensure continual support.

Myth #3: Requesting a reference from someone irritates them and takes too much of their time.

Truth: Asking for help is never a burden, and most people consider it a compliment to be listed as a reference. If you've got a great military career behind you with lots of support, then there are many who would be honored to give you a strong referral. Top companies are now using platforms like JIBE, a mobile recruiting company to streamline the process. This application lets you upload job documents like resumes and referrals right to a company's social media platform so you save time and energy.

Myth #4: Companies won't want to hire me because of my military-related disability.

Truth: Even civilians are federally protected from job discrimination due to disability. Employers cannot make a hiring decision based solely on disability, and as a veteran, you're actually in an even more protected class. In fact, some companies receive incentives for hiring veterans with disabilities or those who served during certain time periods. The U.S. Department of Veterans offers job training services as well as counseling support and rehabilitation information to veterans looking for civilian work.

Emma is a mid 20-something year old with a passion for life, love, fitness, and helping others. She loves to be active and get involved in as many sport and community activities as possible. Emma is currently studying to become a Career & Life Coach, and loves to network with people from around the world! Check out Emma’s blog at http://smileasithappens.blogspot.com/! 

My moving (PCS) tips

I considered this move our trial move, a move to get us ready for our big move at the end of the year. We only moved an hour and a half away but we got to use TMO (where the military pays to move our stuff), most of the same rules still applied. We had a weight restriction, we had to separate pro gear (professional things that are needed for Paul to do his job), and then there we're things we got away with that we normally wouldn't, like them moving my wine, and all of our other booze. We were allotted 13,000 pounds, our weight came to around 13,400. We think this is before pro gear so that's minus about 600 pounds. So we barely made it. Now they packed our pantry (im a food hoarder) and our alcohol. Which normally wouldn't happen. So that was a few hundred pounds right there. We also have some very large pieces of furniture. And I have a lot of kitchen stuff.

Even though we have moved several times, I never remember the important things. 

1. Clean/purge before the movers show up. You'll have less stuff to move, and less to unpack. You'll inevitably find things while unpacking that you want to get rid of, but it'll be less overwhelming (and take up less space in your new house) if you have already gotten rid of crap you don't need. 

This is a really big deal if you are doing an overseas move, when/if we get our next set of orders overseas we will be even more limited on what we can bring with us. 10% of our normal weight plus pro gear. So really think about what you want/need. The rest can go into storage, or to Goodwill. 

2. Set aside things you want to move yourself. It's winter here, and I didn't set aside my jacket. I finally found it almost a week later in a box of books. It's not too terribly cold, thankfully, but It would have been nice to have earlier. We also a few changes of clothes, a couple towels, baby, doggy and kitty stuff, and some TP. 

3. When grocery shopping think about the fact you are moving weeks or maybe months before you move. We had a pantry filled to the brim with box dinner, hamburger helper, noodles, canned goods, and alcohol. We should have been having Margarita monday sooner, and I should have been eating down the pantry food as opposed to buying more boxes of cake mix and canned soup on clearance.  

4. When the time comes, and the movers will be arriving soon, it may be best to attach cables to things they belong to, we found computer power cables in boxes that were not even from the office. That made setting things up a bit of a pain in the ass. So next time we will duct tape them to the computers. 

This time as we've been unpacking I've been asking myself  "Do I need it? Why? When was the last time I  used it? Do I really need it? How expensive would it be to replace if I wanted one again?" I have a lot of shit I don't need. I also have a lot of stuff I keep for sentimental reasons. But you know what? who needs a box of 30 VHS tapes? even if they are sentimental for some silly reason no one understands but you? okay, well I do, and I'm not ready to part with them just yet. But there is so much more stuff I could have trashed a long time ago that I have just been hoarding. Like craft supplies. I have cheep crappy yarn coming out my ears, and now living in a smaller house with no craft room, it's in my face all day long. As soon as we get the living room/dining room set up I am going to donate most of it. I also have a lot of nick-nacks, way more than anyone needs. I love elephants, and I have dozens of elephants, wooden, ceramic, glass, stone, small, tiny, huge, and no where to display them. They will likely be something that gets re-packed and tucked away at this house unless we put up shelves or something.

Another things I have way too much of is clothing. But I just had a baby (8 weeks ago) and nothing fits. I am still wearing maternity pants and baggy t-shirts. So I have a hard time getting rid of clothes simply because they do not fit, because as soon as I loose this baby weight they will fit. But normally this would bea good time to look into those bags of "don't throw away" clothes and just toss them.

So those are my tips, and thoughts on moving. Leave me your tips in the comments!

Moving

Yep, We're finally moving. Tuesday- Thursday my things will be put into boxes, then put into a truck, then delivered at the new house. Posts will likely be few and far between for the next week or so. Hopefully by next week we'll be at least partly settled, and have internet figured out. 

I need to pack some bags for the three of us (+ animals) so we have clothing and toiletries until the weekend, then find somewhere to put these things so they are not packed by the movers. I also need to finish the laundry so my washer can dry out, then I need to pack my own underwear because I'm not okay with strangers handling my panties. 
Of course I have no motivation to do any of this.

But I've finally made it to the point that I am excited about this move. I am looking forward to moving, and having a new place to call home, unpacking and rediscovering all my treasures. Making new friends. Having internet that doesn't get streamed in from space (and therefor sucks ass). We'll I guess I should start packing, so I can unpack this weekend. 

Have fun until I get back. 

And if you don't already, 'like' my Facebook page, If I have time I'll do some updating there, if I have a chance.

- Alana

On the move!

Well we lost the house that we had found, the one that was perfect. But we finally got funding to move so we spent last week on the house hunt again, and we found one. It's small, smaller than we had planned, but it'll be worth it. We can save some money because it's way under our housing allowance. So it'll give us a chance to pay off some bills. Plus it's kinda cute, and has a big jet bathtub. 
Everyone to my house for a tub party! Or not, actually you stay out of my tub, it's mine. 

The house isn't in Butte, but in Walkerville. A small town, connected to Butte, about the size of the neighborhood I grew up in. It's a tiny little place that was a mining town. 2.2 square miles and in 2011 it had a population of 675. It's also about a mile from Paul's office. But it may as well be part of Butte. It's closer to Pauls work downtown than any of the other houses we looked at. 

I am so happy to just be moving. As much as I want to stay here in Helena, where we at least have a Target, I want to get to Butte so Paul can not have to leave at 330 am to get to work. And he can come home for lunch sometimes, and be home early. And not have to commute through snowy weather through a shitty mountain pass. 

Other than that not much is new. I am fighting a cold, My throat feels like I swallowed razorblades. I just hope whatever it is Evey doesn't get it. I know when you are breastfeeding the baby shouldn't get sick because she gets your antibodies, but I would feel terrible if I got her sick. 

Oh and it's cold, like holy shit, I live in the Arctic circle, No one should have to live here in the winter, Cold. I think the high today was 11. And we're about to move to Butte where it's colder? I heard it was -22 there this morning. That's insane. But I'm okay with being a hermit so no worries. 

no, no paparazzi please

Okay, just make sure you get my good side. 

I just realized that I haven't taken a picture of anything other than the baby, or dogs in the last month... 

- Alana

my blog is my diary

Maybe I'm just being a whiner, but I think the military is trying to ruin the last few months of my pregnancy. I am due Dec 7th. Paul is being transfereed to Butte (about an hour south of us) sometime in the next month. 
But they can't give us a date, they have told him that there is no way he will have funding or approval to move in the first half of November. So that puts us moving, at the earliest three weeks before my due date. Which I had already accepted. I don't want to move until after the Marine Corps Ball anyway. But the thing is we may not get funds and orders until Dec 1. 
I am fairly certain that even if we get approval on one day, it'll still take a week or at the very least a few days to get movers in order. 
I don't know what to do. I am such a mess right now. I doubt the house we found will hold it for us until who knows when. I don't know if it would be a better idea to just stay here until after Baby E is born. 
I am so sad at the thought that we are going to loose the house. I am stressed at the thought that we could be stuck here, when I just accepted the fact that we are moving, until we find another house.
This is really stressing me out, I am really getting down about this. I am not the least bit excited about whats happening, not excited about baby, just stressed. I am back to not doing anything to prep for baby, just stressed about where we will be living. 
I know it'll all work out. Paul keeps telling me he'll handle it, but this isn't something small like a car, or a bill. This is such a cluster fuck that I feel like I am loosing it. 
I can't not be stressed when I am about to bring a small person into this world and I have no idea where I am going to put it. 
It's so frustrating because to a certain extent we planned this pregnancy, knowing we'd be stable, we were going to be stateside until at least 2013, we had no idea that a transfer was on the horizon. Things were going to be perfect, things were going to run smoothly. Now things are just a mess. 


- Alana

Housing issue hopefully solved

Things are coming together for us on the homefront. I looked at a house wednesday that I think we are going to rent. We'll travel back down next week so my husband can have a look at the house, and hopefully sign papers! 

 It's also literally across the parking lot from the hospital that I will likely give birth in. I went and toured their L&D, and it's very small, which I like, All the nurses were so polite and I think in the whole L&D ward there was only 1-2 moms there. Apparently Butte, Mt doesn't have a high birth rate. 

3 br 2 bath, garage around back, huge deck. Only downside, is that the only area in the back that could be used for doggy potty is about the size of the average hallway. But they don't spend too much time outdoors when it's cold anyway. They can play on the huge back deck, and with it being a north facing house the back deck gets lots of sun all the time, which they will love. Plus we'll do lots of long walks with the baby once it warms up again. 

Next step, clean and pack. 

Joy!

- Alana

Not sure if anyone else is having issues with spam but I am turning off Anon comments for the time being because I have had a whole slew of Anon spam comments in the last 24 hours. All on the same post too, which is really annoying. Stupid spammers. 

Thank You Navy Marine Corps Relief Society!

I want to thank the Navy Marine Coros Relief Society and our Family readiness program, for the wonderful gift we received today. Our FRO here in Montana, who is also a friend of mine, signed us up with the NMCRS to receive this wonderful new parent package, with all kinds of fun stuff. 

Crib sheets, onsies, burp cloths, mittens, a formula kit, baby towels, the new parents kit has a DVD and reading material for new Parents, and the blanket on the bottom? It's hand crocheted.

Baby E is such a lucky little girl. 

Just a side note: When we were in Okinawa, I wanted to volunteer with the NMCRS and knit/crochet blankets, but as soon as I got involved, we got PCS orders and I wasn't able to. Now I really wish even more I had been able to be a part of it while I was there. Perhaps I'll have to make some and send them over now. 


- Alana

Where to next?

Well our time in Helena has been unexpectedly cut short. We are likely headed on a new adventure in the very near future. There have been rumors of someone being moved for the last few months. There are only a few recruiters here in Montana, so only a few guys to play musical chairs with. Paul was just promoted this month so it looks like he is the lucky guy. We won't be moving far. And we'll still be technically on Recruiting Duty. But Paul is being relocated to Butte, MT to be the MEPS guy. We'll finish out our last year on Recruiting Duty there. It's only about an hour away so we don't have to move far.

But the thing is the timeline they are running on is really bad for us. Sometime in Oct Paul will go to school for a week to learn to do this new job. Then he'll train with the current MEPS guy for about a month or two, and they want us down there in December.
Umm.... I'm going to have a baby in December....
Also it's going to be the dead of winter. And Butte is colder than Helena...
Yep, No one seems to care.
We want this, the job. It comes with better hours and most weekends off which will be great with me being a new first time mom. It'll give us a chance to experience more of Montana, Maybe we will like Butte more than Helena. But the timing really sucks. This is not how I expected our exit from Helena to be.  I didn't think that we would be moving from this house so soon. As much as I hate it here, I imagined when I left I would be saying goodbye to Montana, and Recruiting Duty, not just this house. And I have found myself being very nostalgic about Helena since we got news that we would likely be leaving. I don't like it here, but there are things that I will miss.
I know this is a good thing but there is so much in my head right now it just hurts to think about it.
My biggest concern being the birth of baby E.
We are being given some degree of say in the timing of the move, Paul is being allowed to commute until official orders come through, which, we are told will be in December. So we have time to find a house. If we find a house sooner rather than later we have been told orders will be pushed through early so we can break our lease here and move. Paul will be in school sometime in Oct, so I am thinking our best bet for move in will be Nov. So we have about a month to find a house. That is if we want to move before I give birth. Or we could stay here and try to move in January with a newborn. I think really it'll come down to when we find a house that suits our needs. Our biggest problem finding a home in Helena was Taco. No one wants cats. Its funny because the dogs are way more destructive than the cat, but whatever.
The next obstacle, if we do move before baby E is born, do I try to give birth up here in Helena? It's only an hour away. Or do I just change all my OB stuff down to Butte? and have a new doctor and hospital for the last month of pregnancy? I do like my doctor, and the hospital.
If we do come up to Helena, what do we do with the dogs?

Part of me wants to just wait, and move after the first of the year, and part of me wants to just get down there and get the move over with.
I am so torn, I woke up last night at about 5 am and just couldn't stop thinking about what would happen next.
If I weren't pregnant this wouldn't even be an issue, we'd just hit the road.
But I have this other person to think about now.


- Alana