Posting From My Phone

I posted yesterday about my addiction to my smartphone (a Droid 2 if anyone cares) but I had never written a blog post from my phone.  So here it is, a post from my phone.

*So the above was written from my phone and then it went all crazy on me so now I'm on my laptop and there will probably be no more posts from my phone.  The kids kept me up all night and I'm barely coherent so this is it for today.

I Love the Internet

The Internet is amazing.  It really is.  I was just thinking about all of the things we used to have that the Internet has replaced.   These are all things I no longer need because I can just use the Internet: phone books, TV, DVDs (for the most part), CDs, radios, books, stores (I do 90% of my shopping online, except for groceries), even phones. 

I'm not saying I've gotten rid of or stopped using all of these things because I haven't but I do use the Internet as a replacement most of the time.  I'm addicted to my smartphone because it has the Internet.  I can read all of my favorite blogs, check my email, update my Facebook status, read books and magazines, send pictures to my friends and family, and add things to my Amazon cart, all from my phone. 

The one thing I haven't done with my smartphone is write a blog post.  Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.

You Know You're a Mom When...

• You have entirely too many conversations about bodily functions.
• You are always the last one to eat dinner.
• You frequently have uninvited company in the bathroom.
• You clean out your purse and find toys and/or crumbs.
• You wake up in the middle of the night with the alphabet song or the potty song (or possibly a cartoon theme song) stuck in your head.
• You have spit-up on your shirt and so you throw on a sweater to cover it up (since there are no other clean shirts).
• You are constantly evaluating the "childproofness" of an item before buying it.
• Your alarm clock has two arms and two legs and has been known to headbutt you to wake you up.
• You wonder if animal crackers and organic fruit snacks constitute a balanced meal.
• You dream of someday getting out of the house in under 30 minutes.

Saturday Fun

Today was a gray, rainy day here in Tacoma.  But we had a fun day anyway.  My parents and I took the kids down to Freighthouse Square where we had lunch.  I had a yummy Vietnamese mango salad and some noodles. 

After lunch, we rode the Link "train" to the end of the line and back.  Julian was very excited to ride the choo-choo and he didn't want to go home afterwards.  He wanted to ride some more (or jump in puddles). 

Mati just chilled in her sling for most of the trip.  I wish I had taken some pictures but I was too busy having fun with my family to get out the camera.

I'm An Army Wife

I have been married to Brian for almost 5.5 years now and we have been separated for almost 3 of those years.  I knew when I married him that deployments were likely but the reality is much harder than I imagined it would be.  We are nearing the end of his third (and final) deployment.  I am happy that we won't ever have to go through it again.  Even though the deployments have been very difficult, I know that both of us have become stronger, both individually and together, because of them.

I am proud to be the wife of a soldier and I wouldn't change it for anything.  I will always be proud of Brian for the many years of service he has given to our country. 

Happy Veteran's Day!

It's the Small Things

This month, I find myself appreciating the little things.  Here are some things I'm grateful for right now:

• Hot showers
• Shirts that are stain-free (I'm finding these hard to come by these days)
• Julian's ever-expanding vocabulary (I love every new word)
• Chocolate
• Cloth diapers (I never have to run to the store because I'm out of diapers)
• Phone calls from my husband
• Baby smiles and giggles
• Pretty burp cloths
• Lemonade (I could seriously drink it by the gallon)
• Being organized (I was able to easily find the papers I needed for the mortgage application)
• My family and friends (even if I only see them on Facebook right now)

Decluttering Update

I started this blog when I was in the midst of a major decluttering project.  We were preparing to move and put most of our stuff in storage for a while.  I originally kept track of everything leaving our home but then it got to be too much because we were so busy. 

We had to be out of our apartment at the end of July and we ended up living in a hotel for a week as we emptied our apartment and then waited for Brian to deploy.

Here's all of our stuff in the POD.

We had some awesome friends come and help us get all the stuff out of our apartment and figure out how to make it all fit in the POD.  We rented a hand truck from Home Depot since we lived in a second floor apartment but the guys who helped us never even used it.  I was very impressed, especially when they moved our washer and dryer.

Here's the POD closed up and ready to go.  I can't believe all our stuff fit in there.

 At the end, we had a hard time deciding what to do with a bunch of stuff.  Should it go to storage or should it be shipped to my parents?  Since we weren't sure, it ended up in our hotel.  There was so much stuff in our hotel room that there was barely room to walk.  Most of the stuff ended up being shipped to my parents' house.  There were about 20 boxes total shipped starting in July until the day we left El Paso.  Some of the stuff probably could have gone to storage but we just weren't sure about a lot of it since the next year of our lives was so up in the air.  So we shipped my clothes and personal things; Julian's clothes, books, and some toys (including his tricycle); lots of baby stuff; most of Brian's clothes; and other miscellaneous items we didn't really want in storage. 

Embarrassing photos of our hotel room with all of our junk.





We also had as much stuff as you could possibly fit in our car while there were three people riding in it. 

When I arrived at my parents' house and saw all the boxes, it was pretty crazy.  Fortunately, my sister was totally awesome and helped me unpack them and get everything put away somewhere before the baby came.  At 8.5 months pregnant, I definitely needed the help.  Now, you'd never know that we brought that much stuff with us because I've hidden most of it away in dressers or in Julian's closet. 

This is what my room looked like shortly after arriving in Tacoma.

I found so many bizarre things that we brought with us that should have ended up in storage.  Two salt shakers (but no pepper), the cord for my Shark vacuum, random magnets that are part of one of Julian's toys (that's in storage), and other fun stuff.  I just took an empty suitcase and filled it all up with this random stuff and shoved it in the back of the cloest.

I realized that I still had a lot of decluttering to do so I've continued to get rid of things pretty much every day (inspired by 365 Less Things, one of my absolute favorite blogs).  Things that have been leaving lately: maternity clothes, baby clothes that Mati has already outgrown (or hand-me-downs that are not right for this season), and toys.  My mom has a free table at work and several of her colleagues are pregnant so everything has quickly found new homes.  I love knowing that stuff I don't need is being used by someone else who appreciates it.