Transitioning

September 19, 2011-Chris is out of the Navy. 

September 30, 2011- Roommate claims a landlord issue and we have to move out ASAP.

October 1, 2011-Pack all day

October 2, 2011- Start driving to SLC

October 3, 2011-Leave SLC and drive to AZ

October 4, 2011- Arrive in AZ


It has been interesting to say the very least.  For the past four years we have been used to a steady paycheck, deployments, insurance, Chris coming and going at a certain time, and the benefits of being a military family. All of those things are now gone and we are adjusting roughly (me anyway because I am the stressed out nutjob of our marriage).  We have been living off of our savings which wasn't a lot to begin with and the unexpected expense of moving back to Arizona took a chunk.  I will forever be grateful to my brother in law who lent us the gas money to drive home with.  As well as my friend Amanda that watched Christian an entire day for us so we could pack everything we owned into storage and what we could fit in our car.

I wish the Navy had better prepared us for the transition.  Chris went to a class that was supposed to help him learn to adjust to the "civilian world" but basically they handed a ton of websites to him and said thanks for serving.  Chris received a Navy Appreciation Medal the week he got out so that was pretty cool.  It was for all of his work in Iraq and Italy a few months back.  I am happy that he got a medal for all of that, he did miss pretty much his son's entire first year of life.

Which brings me to my next part of our transitional phase in life.  When Chris left, Christian was a little just turned 5 months old baby and he came home to a crawling, stumbling, talking, toddler who was then 14 months old.  They are still getting used to each other.  They love one another beyond reason, I know that.  Christian will still ask for "mama" non stop if I am gone for more than two hours. The longest they have lived together since Christian was born has been about a month.  Now they are always around each other and the frustration is there.

I have no idea where I am going with this blog post other than to just vent and to remind myself that "Jah will provide" as Chris likes to say.  My life has taken a huge change this past month, we went from a steady income and home to being unemployed and living with my parents.  Although it's not the ideal situation, I have a roof over my head, my son is  healthy and our bellies are not empty. 

acceptance

People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.

- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Most times, I am a bit much for people.  I am very loud in my looks and also my speech.  I say words I shouldn't but I can't help myself.  Lately, acceptance of myself has been a pretty big deal.  I normally don't care and couldn't care less what people think of me but I've been giving it a lot of thought lately.  I feel like Christian and other children definitely learn by example and for me to teach something as important as self acceptance, I need to be an incredible example of it.  I will throw any looks aside.  I won't care what people say.  I will hold my head high and walk proudly of who I am, faults and all.  I am an amazing person and everyone should know it! LOL!!  (maybe that was a bit much.)

I just want Christian to believe he is the light and the change he wants to see in the world.  He is the deciding factor in his happiness.  My wish is that every parent instills this in their child.  Every child at any age deserves to hear from their parent that they are loved and that their parents accept them for who they are and that they are proud of them.

that year went so fast!

May 23rd, 2010..this is what I was doing. I hated taking the maternity pictures. I felt incredibly awkward and huge. Most of the time was spent yelling at Chris and making smart remarks. Fast forward to Christian's first birthday and I am beyond grateful that these were taken. Christian had an amazing birthday celebration extravaganza! The first party consisted of family and a few friends at our their home. There was amazing food, a wonderful cake (that was made by the same lady who made our wedding cake), pinata and presents of course! Christian had so much fun and loved all of his presents. His second party was at a place that Chris found called Makutu's Island. It was wonderful! I really loved it. Chris picked the location since he wasn't going to be home for the party like we had originally hoped. Christian's friends and family attended and he loved trying pizza. His favorite was trying fruit punch. He's never had a super sweet drink before and I figured since it was his birthday I would go ahead and allow it.

My little zombie amazes me beyond words. He will point to his toes and say toes. He claps when he falls and cheers at soccer games and says GOAL!. He's willing to share (most times). He loves to dance. Toy Story 3 is the most amazing movie he has ever seen. Bananas are his favorite food ever. He gives the best hugs I have ever received. He plays so gently with his kitten.

I can't wait for him to keep growing and learning more. He makes me such a better person and I love him so much for that. I can't wait for his Daddy to see what an awesome little guy he is!

On Being A Hippy..

I quite enjoy it. My husband says I am a hippy or "weird". I prefer herbal remedies/water/sleep over medication. I love trying to "green" our lives. I actually like recycling. I believe that is from my grandfather. On the weekends, we'd wake up early and look for aluminum cans. We'd take them home, clean the super gross ones with the hose, crush them, bag them and then take them to the recycling center. I LOVED GETTING MY LITTLE BIT OF MONEY! Maybe this incentive of money is what taught me to love recycling, who knows. I recently started cloth diapering our son. I cannot believe that I didn't start sooner and that I was so grossed out by it. It is a daunting task if you are using prefolds and not a pocket or AIO diaper. I find it very rewarding though. I know I am doing my part for the environment. I have also started trying to re lactate again. It is tiring and definitely time consuming. However, I know that some breast milk is better than none. I wish I had known what I know now about breastfeeding and how it all works. I am 100% positive I would have never stopped.

Something new in our lives...

Chris and I are talking about getting pregnant later this year. I know it's "too soon" for some people but I think I would much rather have my kids close in age than spread so far apart. My sister and I are 12 years apart. Huge age gap, it is very hard to deal with sometimes.

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE my kindle. =)

the modification of me

i will tell you now, i am not a great writer. i very rarely use capitalization or correct punctuation...so deal with that.

my life was "modified" on may 30th of last year. suddenly, everything changed. for the better of course. i really do believe my son was and IS my saving grace.

today i found myself looking up good deals on clothes, home made baby food recipes, cloth diapering tips, and a time line on baby's first's. i watched sprout, crawled all over the floor, cleaned up puke that i still don't really know if it was christian or the dog, had my hair ripped out, my scar picked at, and i was bit..not by the dog. the best part was all of this was before noon.

if we go back before i was pregnant. i wouldn't be awake yet, i'm most likely hungover, i'll wake up and a have "breakfast" around 4pm and most likely that will include an alcoholic beverage of some sort. how my husband ever put up with me, i'll never know. just thinking on it makes me so grateful for the love he has for me.

i do not miss who i used to be but, i do not regret who i was either. i love the "modified me". i'm still stacie, eccentric, bossy, blatantly honest borderline brutal sometimes, spontaneous, caring...all the good stuff. the bad stuff was all gone the second i heard that cry. i know my limits in life now.

fun things that have come with motherhood: i cry more often, i want to be better, i appreciate more, i have learned to love deeper than i ever have, i smile daily, i have no problem knowing that there is some sort of baby gross on me at all times, all in all..my heart is full.

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." ~Rajneesh

Goals

I have several. Some I feel are fairly attainable. Big, small, silly, important, and of course life changing.

Here is my list

1. Weight loss
2. Healthy Eating
3. Being green
4. Recycling/upcycling
5. Loving deeply
6. Smiling every day
7. Keeping a blog up to date
8. Volunteering
9. Being selfless
10. Empathy
11. Reading more
12. CRAFTING
13. Teaching Christian anything I can
14. Patience
15. Run a 5K
15. Painting
16. Yoga
17. Dance
18. Stand up (taller/louder) about what I believe in
19. Get over my fears
20. Live

Jager Bomb Cupcake

I had a slight idea, googled...found recipes that i hated and didn't think would work before coming up with my own ideas that I liked a lot more =) Not the best picture, I know...
I can't seem to find my camera cord anywhere so this is from my cell phone.

First and foremost, the recipe I developed does not cook out the Jager, so these are definitely not kid friendly or non alcohol drinker friendly.

Another note, when coloring the cupcakes, be sure to use a gel food coloring and not the water based color. the batter will slightly separate and it's not pretty.

USE ACTUAL BUTTER!! I hate margarine and refuse to eat it so I couldn't tell you how it works in these but know that butter makes everything taste better, who cares about the calories and fat, you only live once =)

Line the cupcake pan before hand with the little paper holder guys.




Oven Temp: 350F

Bake Time: 20-25mins (check at 15 min the sugar in the redbull causes the tops to brown easily)

For the Batter:

12 tablespoons of butter softened
1-1 1/2 cups of sugar (depends on your sweet level, I used 1 cup with a sprinkle extra)
3 eggs room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
1/3 c of milk
6 ounces of Red Bull (you can use the whole can if you'd like, I did with one batch and those browned a lot faster)
1 ounce Food coloring of your choice, I used yellow.

1. Mix butter and sugar until fluffy
2. Add vanilla and mix
3. Add eggs one at a time and mix well
4. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
5. Measure out the red bull and milk together in same cup, give it a little stir (this looks disgusting)
6. Add dry ingredients to the butter, sugar and egg mixture alternating with the red bull and milk until all is mixed together.
7. Bake and keep an eye on them!

For the Frosting

1/2 cup butterr
1 tsp vanilla
2-4 oz of Jager (depending on your taste level)
2-3 cups of powdered sugar
Food coloring of your choice (gel based)

1. In medium bowl, cream the butter and vanilla together
2. Add Jager, mix well
3. Add powdered sugar 1/2 c at at time. Mix well until you have a frosting consistency.
4. Add food coloring and mix well.

To Decorate Cupcakes-

I used two different colors of frosting and was going to attempt to make "flames" but with time constraints and I was seriously done standing I came up with a better idea.

I used the frosting that had more Jager in it to fill the cupcakes. To do this I used Wilton tip #230. You just stick the tip in the cupcake and squeeze some frosting in. I would imagine you could also cut a little hole in the cupcake and fill it that way. The frosting spilled over a bit leaving a dot in the center so I just went ahead and used a star tip and frosted the rest of the cupcake that way with the frosting that had less jager.