Thursday, June 26, 2014

Wake Up Call

Man, oh Man.
There is nothing I love more than waking up to a 16 month old screaming
through his monitor in the morning.
At 5 AM.

Cooper was pissed this morning.
Nothing would calm him.
Water?
Thrown on the ground.
His binks?
Chucked out of his crib.
Patting his back.
Helpful until Heaven forbid Mama wanted to leave.

This continued on and off until 630 AM when this Mama gave up.

Apparently it was breakfast time. 
So we made the typical waffles with syrup
(we are trying to fatten him up, no judgement)

Said waffles are in their usual bowl, accompanied by the customary 3 pronged plastic baby fork.
All breakfast necessities are then given to the screaming child.

What happens next you ask?
But of course, said waffle pieces are flying through the air all at once
landing on the floor in the sticky, gooey mess that undoubtedly is to be added to the chaos of the morning.

During this time, the child is unconsolable. 
Full on freak out mode.
Rocking back and forth,
Head-butting the high chair
Alligator tears falling.

WAFFLES DO NOT COOK FAST ENOUGH!

We are dealing with a World War over waffles.
I repeat:
Waffles.

After the debris has been cleared,
and new ammo is supplied 
(Thank the Heavens that second waffle was ready)
I brace myself for another explosion.

Apparently this waffle appeased Cooper and was sufficient in its task of completing its mission into the child's belly.

But not before there were some casualties ejected from the tray.

I believe we can agree that we have reached the so-called "Terrible Twos".

Did I mention the child in discussion is only 16 months?
That isn't even a year and a half.
Someone did their math wrong.
It would seem they must be mistaken. 
Either that,
or Cooper is extremely advanced in this developmental stage.

So here is where we as parents are confused.

The "Terrible Twos" 
is a term coined as a ruse to give parents the mindset that they have a year  or more of "peace" between the sleepless infant stage and the horrific screams of the two year olds.
When they fabricated this mythical "peace" period, 
they neglected to encompass the Angelic infant children who are now terrorizing the unsuspecting parents.

So thank you for that,
What to Expect the First Year
and
What to Expect the Second Year
and all you other parenting books, 
for giving parents false hope and expectations.

And people ask me when we are having a second child...




Tuesday, June 24, 2014

IT'S BEEN 6 MONTHS!

Make sure to read my first blog before reading this one! 
Check it out here!

So, back to my post... and brace yourself, It's a long one, but totally worth it I promise :)

JEFF HAS BEEN HOME 6 MONTHS TODAY!
How in the heck did that happen?!
It is unbelievable!

When going through a deployment, the months DRAG and DRAG.
It is an incredible contrast to how these past 6 months have FLOWN BY!

It feels like just yesterday that I was racing down the freeway on my way to get him!
Of course, I was abiding by all the traffic laws.
:)

The thing about Jeff's homecoming is that it was a surprise to almost everyone.
Myself, my parents and very few of my best friends were the only ones who knew about it.
I found out that as long as Jeff was back into the Base where he would be completing his De- Mob
by December 19, He would be home Christmas Eve.

I found this out when I was just slightly intoxicated thanks to my friends who had taken me out to celebrate my birthday that night (Shout out to you beautiful ladies and Gentlemen)
I was sitting on the curb, 
on the phone with one of Jeff's Sergeants' wives 
(who was a critical person in my life at that time of late night texts between wives who became incredible close and dependent on each other. Shout outs to Kim and Janelle for being Rockstars <3 ) 
balling my eyes out outside of The Sandbar.
 I was afraid the bouncer was going to call the Cops. 
I was in hysterics. 
I couldn't believe it. It was finally real!
(We hadn't been given a return date when they left and nothing set in stone the entire deployment).

 I was in all my birthday glory, full on UGLY CRY crying.
And I mean ugly
Black mascara all down my cheeks,
eyelashes sticking together, 
wiping more than one fluid from my face,
UGLY.

After a bit, our good friend Phill came to check on me,
saw me,
freaked a little,
then I told him between sobs that Jeff was coming home and he just sat there and let me cry on his shoulder until I could contain myself.

After I finally pulled myself together, we went inside and I got to talk to Jeff a little later.


I now had 11 days to clean up the apartment, get everything ready for christmas, and
KEEP. MY. MOUTH. SHUT.

I had to keep my mouth shut because we were going to surprise family on Christmas Eve 
after Cooper and I picked him up earlier in the day.

My parents helped me get my apartment ready. They helped me clean that thing from top to bottom! Thanks mom! Thanks dad!
One of my best friends helped me get everything ready the night before Jeff came home.
She helped me:
Clean,
Make signs,
Decorate my car,
and even spent the night to help keep my nerves down! 
(Thanks Sam! You are the best!)

Then it was like Christmas Eve!
 (Pun 100% intended)

I got up 
(This was the only time I have been happy to wake up at 6 AM), 
Got dressed,
Did my hair and makeup,
Got Cooper dressed and ready,
packed his bag
hopped in our SUV
and headed to meet up with Jeff's other Sergeant's wife Janelle on the Freeway so we could drive together.
Janelle and I talked on the phone the entire way there to help keep us calm.
We got to the base, parked, went in and got great seats.


Then, 
As you do with everything in the army, 
you wait...



and wait....




and wait a little more...




until...



































At our wedding we decided to dedicate a song to each other for our wedding presents.
we both chose, "God Gave Me You" by Blake Shelton.
So my sign said:
"God gave me you for the UPs and downs.
This is definitely and UP"



Kim and Janelle
I couldn't have done it without these women

Surprising Jeff's sister and cousin


Jeff surprising his mom


About Me

Pretty much every one today is blogging, so I figured, "Why not me?" 
I love to write and share about my life, so blogging seems to be the perfect option for me!

Although this is obviously extremely public and any one can read it,
 the main purpose of my blog is for me. 

It's for me to keep a record of this wonderful life I am blessed to have.
It's for me to share with my son one day.
It's for me to look back on when I have rough days.
It's for when I need to remind myself how fortunate I am in life.
It's to show my accomplishments and my failures.
With that being said, 
I hope you enjoy this journey with me <3

So here is a little back story on me.
I'm Jessie.
I'm in my early 20s.
I'm fortunate enough to be married to the love of my life.
His name is Jeff.
We met the summer before 8th grade and started dating freshman year of high school.
We got engaged in college and married in our Junior year.

Very shortly after, we became pregnant.
We have been married for 2 years and have a 16 month old son named Cooper.
(I know, I know, I hate when people tell their little one's age in months too, and I hate being one of those moms, but he is just older than 1 but not quite 1 1/2 yet. Don't hate me ;) )
I get the privilege of being a stay at home mama.
Most days I'm in Soffe's and a T-shirt, my hair is up in a messy bun or pony,
and let me tell you,
IT. IS. GLORIOUS.
But the one thing every girl needs is her mascara, so I am rarely without that.
Hence the blog title "Mascara and the Baby Era".
Every day I get to smile and hang out with the most bad a** little guy.
So no complaints here :)

Back to my marriage and the rest of my life.
Part of our first year of marriage and most of our second consisted of long distance during a deployment.
Jeff is a Combat Engineer in the Army National Guard.
 He left for his 3 month Pre-Mob December 26, 2012.
Fortunately, before he was shipped to the second part of the 3 month mobilization he had a
"Going Away Ceremony", which just so happened to be the day I was to be induced.
Thank the Lord for that!
I was able to have my husband by my side when I was in labor (all 36 1/2 hours of it!)
Cooper was born at 12:39 AM January 29, 2013.
We were able to spend the rest of that night/morning and the next day until 4 PM together until he had to catch a flight to meet the rest of his unit at their next training station.
He had a break from that training in the middle of March and we were able to be a family again for 4 days.
Then he was shipped to Afghanistan.
The next time we were able to see each other was a few days before Cooper was 11 Months old.
I will tell you about that day in my next post later today!

Here are a few pictures to introduce us
Jeff and I at Country Thunder this year.

 Cooper and I at his first birthday!

Me, Jeff and Cooper when we saw him in March.