2nd month-aversary

Our baby girl has hit (and past) her two month "birthday". It's mind-blowing to think that on Monday she will be 10 weeks old! Where has the time gone?? Then again, I can't believe my oldest will be 7 in less than 6 months. SEVEN?? Really...What??!?!! It goes by too fast!! So, baby girl (and all of you out there reading) here is what you are up to these days:

At your 2 month check-up you weighed in at 13lbs 15oz and 23.5 inches tall. You have adorable chubby cheeks and I can't seem to get enough kisses on them. You have moved up to a size 2 diaper and are sporting 3-6 month old clothes (very cute ones I might add).

On May 5th you gave me your first 'real' smile. It was nothing short of amazing - that smile just makes me giddy. You are also sleeping through the night as of May 24! You eat around 10 and then are out until 6ish. It's bliss. You also have warmed up to your crib and sleeping in a room by yourself. Bedtime is also getting easier. You still cry, but you don't scream for hours in the evening anymore.

You still love the bath - maybe even more now than you did before.

You took your first "road trip" last weekend to see Daddy. It was 12 hours (one way) and you were awesome. You slept most of the drive, just waking up to eat or if you needed to be changed. It seems that your car seat is one of your favorite places...

You're talking now - making those sweet sweet baby cooing noises. You adore your big brothers. You smile whenever they are near. You like to be outside when the weather is nice and I can tell you are curious. Now that you can really see clearly, you watch everything and take it all in.

You are a sweet, good natured (although maybe a bit stubborn) baby girl and we love you to pieces. Such a blessing you are.

a little mommy humor

Things have been busy...so I haven't been posting much. A friend of mine posted this joke the other day on facebook and it made me smile. I'd heard it before, but with things being the way they are these days it seemed appropriate.

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess.A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a Cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?' 'Yes,' was his incredulous reply. She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it."

Haha! I love it...for all you SAHM's you know this feeling. I wake up many days and think how nice it would be to have a "day off" from my gig. Not that I want to NOT be a mommy, but every now and again a break is a good thing! Last night I got just that. My neighbors offered to let the boys have a sleepover at their house and gave me the night off with just me and baby G. It.was.awesome. I went for a long walk before dinner with the dog and baby, had a quiet dinner, puttered around the house, changed my sheets, and this AM went for a nice run to start the day with my running buddy...baby G. I haven't been able to start my day like that in a long time. It's amazing what a little break will do for a person.

We've had a lot going on around here with getting ready for the move, and the boys wrapping up the school year. There is still a lot of work to be done, but it's coming along. Not too much longer and we will be moving to our new home and enjoying a very full summer!

That's it for me today. I'll be back soon (hopefully) with some kiddo updates and pictures. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

life in mommy-land

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.
~Franklin P. Jones

I love being a mom - everything about it. OK - that's a lie, I could live without the diapers, but because they come wrapped around the sweetest little babies, I'll include them as well. I think it's the most amazing "job" anyone could ever get. It warms my heart to know that my kisses can heal everything from paper cuts to hurt feelings, that I am the one who knows how to make a pb & j sandwich the "right" way, and when one of them wakes up in the middle of the night and needs something, I'm who they call. It's a 24/7 kind of gig, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love kissing on baby G's sweet chubby cheeks, I love my snuggles from my little middle man, and can't get enough of reading books with my big kid - listening to HIM read to ME! Hubby and I are so blessed.

The joys of mommy-hood are never ending - it's also quite the learning process. There are no classes you can take...you just have to figure it out as you go. If you meet anyone who has it all figured out they either A. don't actually have kids, or B. are in denial. It starts from day #1 (some could argue before that even) and as far as I can tell never ends. In my 6.5 years on the job I've learned many valuable lessons. For instance, never leave the house with a newborn without an extra change of clothes, NO diaper is 100% leak-proof, and ALWAYS have a plan B ready...just in case. Just when you think you've got things covered, a curve ball will come flying.

Today was Mother's Day as I'm sure all of you are aware. It was just me and the kiddos again this year. I say again, because of my 7 official days of celebrating being a mom, the hubby has only been able to be with us for 1 of them. Again...crazy military life coming at you. But all in all it was a great day. The boys were wonderful, well behaved, and gave hugs and kisses galore. They even let me sleep in while the baby was still sleeping and I got to stay in bed until 7 which is a treat for me! We went for walks, played outside, had pizza and now they are both snoozing in my bed and I'm waiting up to give the baby her next meal before I call it a night.

So, to wrap this up...Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there. I hope you have had a wonderful day. It's a busy job, and at times not the most glamorous, but one of the most important ones out there. And, if you're not a mom...go find or call yours if you can and tell her THANK YOU for all that she does. :)

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend is what dreams are made of. Nobody was sick, the sun was shining, and best of all...the hubby was HOME!

The hubby took leave on Friday, and drove up to see us for the weekend. Boy were we all in heaven, especially the little boys. They were SUPER happy to have daddy home for a few days - and I was happy to have an extra pair if hands!
We filled up his time here doing lots of fun things. Friday the big kid got to play hooky from school (sshhhh - don't tell the teacher!!) and around lunchtime we packed up some food and took off for the park. It was a beautiful day here - sunny and in the mid-sixtys. I know that both my parents and my in-laws are probably shaking their heads in disbelief because the time that they were here it was cold and rainy...THE ENTIRE TIME. But it's true, we even came home with pink cheeks from all the sun. Well except for baby G who was under her shade the whole time.

Saturday was a little cooler and cloudy (sounds more believable eh??) and so we took the kids to the aquarium. Everyone had a good time and we got some neat pictures.

Me and the boys in front of the whales...and yes, my jeans have a huge hole in them. I'm going with the "it was laundry day" excuse - which is actually the truth.

Checking out the sea lions

lion fish

And of course - We found Nemo!

Today (Sunday) we went to church, brunch, and then home. We decided that because the hubs won't be here next weekend to celebrate Mother's Day, we would celebrate this weekend. This is my new toy:
Just look for me bouncing off the walls after drinking too much caffeine while trying all the different K-Cups that came with the machine!

After we got back to the house, hubby had to pack up and hit the road to get back for work tomorrow. We miss him already - it's been less than an hour. I realized recently - 7 or so years after it began - that we have quite the unique lifestyle - but that is another post all in of itself...

Crazy or not...I wouldn't change a thing. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Happy Day!

We had a milestone yesterday...little Baby G is now ONE month old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Here is an update on what our little girl is up to.

Little girl - you have grown by leaps and bounds this first month. At your appointment you weighed in at 11 lbs 3 oz and were 22 and 3/4 inches long. So it's no surprise that you are a good eater. Even better you go 4-5 hours at night, and let mama get some sleep.

You are a very good baby, sweet and happy. You're even a good sport about putting up with all the silly outfits and hats mama puts on you. Of course we love you more and more every day, and your brothers think you are the best.

You just recently moved to your crib and while you're still not 100% sure of it, I think it's starting to grow on you. You LOVE taking baths now that you can sit in the warm water. I think you would stay in there for hours if we let you.

You are not such a fan of the entire hour of 6PM. I know this because you cry the entire hour until around 7 or so you finally fall asleep.

You spend your days taking everything in. While you are awake you are so alert. You like to swing and play on your baby activity mat. You are a trooper about going from here to there to keep up with all that your bothers have going on. Car trips put you to sleep almost instantly. You love to snuggle up to mommy in the morning before we get moving for the day.

You're an absolute joy and we couldn't imagine life without you. We love you baby girl.

beyond what?

You may be asking yourself that right now - the answer is rainbow - but I'll get there in a bit. First things first.

Hi, welcome to our blog. Most of you reading this already know me, so I'll skip intros and lengthy background info. Here is the quick version. I'm Kel - a wife to one amazing hubby, and mama to three little ones. Here we are.

We are a military family (hubs is in the Navy and goes out on subs) so we move around like gypsies every 2 or 3 years - sometimes even less. Because of this, we rarely (if ever) live near family, and we have friends all over the US of A. So, I decided to start this blog as a way to let folks know what we are up to...if they are interested. As much as I would love to be able to keep in touch with everyone individually, that isn't going to happen, so I figure this is the next best thing.

As for the blog name, I'll try to condense my thought process as much as possible. One thing you should know...I ramble. I apologize now for that now. I grew up in Kansas and until I married my sweet hubby, had NO CLUE what on earth it meant to be a military family. I don't think I even knew anyone IN the military....moving on...I'm sure you are all familiar with the movie "Wizzard of OZ" and the whole "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" bit. That is what gave me the idea for the blog title. Our crazy day to day life is what I found BEYOND the rainbow (rainbow being my non-military previous life). Now that I write it out it doesn't sound as cool as it did in my head. But it's already done so I'm going to go with it - and now you know.

So stick around if you want, and if you don't well...don't. I can't promise any deep, earth shattering posts around here, but if nothing else it's bound to be entertaining for those of you on the outside of the madness looking in. :) Enjoy.

heart.overflowing

I can't believe it's been three weeks since she arrived into the world.

She is an absolute blessing and a gift from God. I can't stop admiring her tiny feet, chubby cheeks, and everything in between. I am in awe of the overwhelming love I feel for this little one, just like I feel for my boys. My heart is overflowing with love and happiness. How could it not be?
Life with three has been an adventure - and I've had help. Whoever said going from "two to three" wasn't a big deal must be an expert at managing chaos. I'm stumbling through the learning process, but love every second. I am so blessed that my parents were here for almost 2 weeks and now my in-laws are here for another. And I've got these two.

Of course no one can replace Daddy (we sure do miss him) but they have been so wonderful. Next week should be interesting - sort of a crash course in having three kids, one parent and no helpers. Pray for us!

However, even in the midst of all the craziness, dirty diapers, 2 am feedings and very large cups of coffee, I wouldn't trade it for the world...or even a full nights sleep. It's all worth it.

Welcome to the world my sweet baby girl.