Our Adventure Using Space-A

We recently needed to go home due to a family emergency. We didn't have much time to plan or save up funds for this trip so we utilized Space-A (space available). We had 24 hours to plan as best as possible before Jay's leave started and I did as much reading and researching as I could. I had a plan! We could fly from Hickam to Travis easily and then we'd probably get somewhere on the east coast fairly easily but then it would be rental cars and hours on the road from there. Our trip back would be out of McGuire AFB or Dover AFB to Travis and back to Hickam. Easy Peasy! 

Then I saw the prefect flight for us that Friday out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam!  We would go JBPHH's passenger terminal (PAX) to catch a flight they had to Travis with a follow on flight to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. That part went by very smoothly. As soon as Jay signed out on leave, he went to JBPHH's PAX to sign us up for the virtual roll call list. The next morning, I received an email from the terminal informing us that we were on the flight. We had our check in times so we finished our last minute packing, cleaned the house as best as possible and then we headed to the PAX. We sat around for about an hour before the announcement for us to move into the baggage check to prepare for our flight. It was fairly easy. There were roughly 40 passengers for this flight so it was slow moving but nowhere near the caliber of congestion you would experience at a typical airport. We sat around after baggage check for a while, about an hour or so, before moving forward into security and the waiting area to be bussed to our plane. After all forty people made it through security, we were informed that our flight was delayed and we would be held in the secure waiting area, similar to what you would consider a gate at a typical airport except without restrooms, restaurants and other facilities. They did allow people to leave to use the restroom but they had to be re-screened before re-entering the secure waiting area. Finally we were bussed over and began loading onto our aircraft which just so happened to be an Air Force C-17. It was a very different experience than that of which I've had before. They did have pallets with commercial airline seats installed but the rows were very tight, almost tighter than that you would see in economy on commercial flights. Since they had equipped the C-17 with enough seats for approximately 150 people, there was room to spare plus ample room to walk around the pallets installed in the center of the cargo hold. The boys found the flight to be amazing and seemed very comfortable. 

We flew into Travis AFB, CA and arrived around 10:30pm PT. We did not realize that the terminal closed before our arrival and after them unloading our luggage that we had to leave the terminal. We didn't know the area and we had an 18.5 hour layover. We immediately started calling the local hotels for openings. The on post lodging was booked solid so no luck there. No cab companies were answering their phones. We were very discouraged until we saw a hotel on the list that said "Free Shuttle"!!! Oh yes! There was a FREE shuttle!! We HAD to stay there! We called to ask about this free shuttle and the receptionist was not interested in helping us much at all. We had yet to receive our luggage and when she informed Jay that the shuttle stopped running at 11pm, he told her to not worry about it since we hadn't received our luggage and it was already 10:45pm. Then of course, our luggage appeared on the baggage claim carousel. I called the hotel back to ask for assistance and while she wasn't exceptionally friendly, she did help me out. Having the free shuttle saved us from two cab fees on top of the needed hotel room price. So I thanked her profusely for the help, despite her irritable attitude. We arrive and she instantly became our best friend. She was born and raised in Hawaii so somehow our short stint living in Hawaii made us acceptable to her. I found it humorous. We got our room and we got some sleep. 

The next morning we got up, showered and packed up. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the cafe in the lobby before requesting the shuttle again for our journey back to the Travis PAX. Travis PAX is awesome. There is a child care center in there! There are cribs, TV, changing tables, a huge play area, toddle sized restrooms and even a bath tub for those who find themselves in need of bathing their child while on a trip. (Don't we all have that one trip that would have gone smoother if there was a bathtub nearby when your kid decided to blow out of a diaper or vomit all over themselves!!? There is no shame, we've all been there.) We waited around in the child care center until it was almost time for roll call. We get moved along through the process but much quicker than JBPHH! We get told to check our bags and get our boarding passes before waiting maybe 30 minutes before being moved through security. We wait approximately 2 or 3 minutes before loading onto the bus to be taken to our awaiting C-17 that we had travelled on the prior evening. Our same crew greet is at the plane doors and we pick our seats. This time we only have NINE people flying on the plane including my family of four. It was amazing. We took two rows of seats. Jayson and Jay took one row of five seats and Elijah and I took another. We had space to spare! It was awesome. We arrived at Wright-Patterson AFB late that night. We had about a three hour drive from Wright-Patterson to Canal Fulton and by the time we arrived, everyone was exhausted. We slept until about 9 or 10 am since we were suffering from jet lag. I'm very surprised the boys allowed us to sleep that long. We slowly adjusted and then the week was over and we had to start our journey back.

I was terrified from the stories I had heard of people getting stuck waiting for flights through Space-A but Jay seemed to be at ease since we were able to get out to Ohio so easily. I spent the whole week watching the terminals Facebook pages in fear. McGuire and Dover seemed to have changed their routine! There were NO flights to Travis at all from September 1st until the day we left Ohio for the east coast. I finally found a flight from Andrews AFB that would take us home with a layover in Oakland, CA. It had 150 tentative seats! The flight we took out had the same amount of seats and went so smoothly! So we cut our trip short by a day to drive out to my mom’s house so we could go to Andrews the next morning (Saturday) for this flight. We emailed the day I saw the flight so we'd be on the sign up and when we arrived the morning of this glorious easy flight, they informed us that the flight had been chartered by a military unit going on TDY. There was really only ONE available seat. Uh say what?! Why didn't they update their Facebook page or their terminal recording to show only one tentative seat?? We wouldn't have gotten up at 1am to drive an hour to Andrews AFB for ONE seat! That's insanity! So we trekked back to my mom’s house. No worries there was a flight on Monday to Travis AFB and we'd just catch that one. Except by the time we arrived and said bye to my mom, they "slipped" the flight. Essentially the flight was delayed by 24 hours. Mom turned around and had to pick us up again. So Tuesday morning we do the same thing. Third times a charm right? Wrong! About 30 minutes after arriving to the terminal and marking ourselves present, they announce over the intercom that the flight had been cancelled. My mom was half way home by that point and had to turn around to come get us. 

We had been defeated. Andrews AFB Space-A is a joke. While I completely understand that this type of thing happens, they are lazy and unwilling to assist you at all. I had an Airmen stare at me after I asked him a question. Eventually, I just said "well thanks anyway" and walked away nearly in tears. I'm pregnant and it was our third failed attempt. I was stressed and this jackass private behind the desk looked at me like I was insane for asking how to get a ride off post to get back to my mom! Ugh. Anyway, that evening I was emotional and crazed. I had to get my husband home! His leave was running out!! So I started searching every avenue I could think of. We considered flying Jay home and having him overnight us a command sponsorship letter so we could fly without him. But the flight was pricey! It would leave the boys and me with very little if we got stranded mid-journey home! So my mom offered to help us out by purchasing us all one way tickets to San Francisco. I emailed Travis that evening to put us on a sign up, which I should had done before we even left Hawaii anyway but didn't even remember despite my friend Candace reminding me profusely! Once we arrived in SF, we rented a car I had reserved and drove to Travis, about an hour and half away. We got to see the Golden Gate Bridge, I was so excited when I saw the signs that the boys couldn't help but get excited too!! It was magnificent! Upon arrival to Travis, Jay checked us into lodging. Lodging at Travis was amazing! We had a family suite which was awesome! Two bedroom apartment! We did some laundry and went out to dinner before calling it a night. 

We woke up at 4am to ensure we didn't miss any changes to the flight. Roll call was still set for 0550 so we all got dressed and ready to go, finished packing up the clean clothes and headed to the PAX. We arrived around 4:45 am and there were already plenty of people hanging out in the terminal. There were other flights going out that morning so I wasn't too worried. We were not first on the list but we had an alright position. The flight we had shown up for only had 14 seats and we weren't far enough up the list to make the flight. We were the very last name called but there was only one seat left so we had to pass on the flight, which a similar family had to do just before us because they had four members flying and they were called when there were only three seats left. So for the next flight we were second on the list, as long as no one signed up with a higher category or earlier sign up date than we had. Minutes before roll call, someone with an earlier sign up signed in for Hawaii and Germany flights so we started to stress out. The next flight only had 8 seats so it was going to be the family of four ahead of us and us until the one person signed up ahead of us. We were stressing! Roll call started and they called the last minute sign up, once.... Twice.... Four times they called his name with no answer. After each silence between them calling him, I prayed they'd just move on to the next name! Finally, the late sign up was a no-show for this particular flight and they moved on to the family ahead of us. We all breathed a sigh of relief just to be put on the flight manifest! After signing up, we moved over to baggage check to drop off our bags and get our boarding passes. We then sat by the gate security until we were called to go to security. Security at the PAX terminals is almost just like security at a typical airport except its run by about three or four airmen and there are far less people trying to get through security since they only take one or two flights through at a time. It really helps keep the bottle neck down in the security area. Maybe the TSA should start considering consulting Air Mobility Command about security procedures! We go through security and are loaded onto the buss within minutes of settling into the secure waiting area. 

We load the plane and it's really cool. Probably one of the coolest planes (and crew) I've ever experienced. We were flying on a KC-10A and that thing was so awesome! There were more crew than there were passengers but they were all so friendly and enjoyable! Jay, Jayson and I got to see the area where the airmen sits to refuel other airplanes mid-flight. That alone was worth the flight! As I returned from my field trip to the back, Eli had woken up and wanted to go on a field trip too. He was too little to down and check out the refueling area but he was able to see the cargo hold behind us and then he was invited into the cockpit with the pilot and co-pilot. He loved it! I think these guys just sealed the deal for two more airmen to join the U.S. Air Force in about 10-13 years! My boys had already been telling me that they both wanted to be pilots. Now they have experiences to really fortify that desire inside of them. We arrived at Hickam (JBPHH) at about 11am local time and we were out of the terminal about 20 minutes later. Our luggage was brought straight to us since there were so few of us on the flight so we really didn't have to wait for that. They were all so great and friendly from Travis AFB Passenger Terminal to Hickam AFB Passenger Terminal. I wouldn't trade those experiences for a first class flight home. These two terminals are run amazingly and with such poise that I'm so glad to have had most of my experiences with them. The one rude airmen at Andrews AFB terminal along with them lack of updating their flight information online or on their voice recording really made me dislike that terminal as a whole. 

So a quick run-down of how everything happened:

Thursday 9/4/14: 

     We find the flight and get everything ready for the trip.

Friday 9/5/14: 

     12:15am (Hawaii Time/HT) Jay signed us up for the virtual roll call for the Travis AFB / Wright-Patterson AFB flight. 

     11:30am (HT) we show up for baggage check and security before loading the plane. 

     1pm (HT) approximately, we take off. 

     11pm (PT) we arrive at Travis AFB.

Saturday 9/6/14: 

     11:30am (PT) we arrive at the Travis AFB PAX for our second flight. 

     2pm (PT) approximately, we take off. 

     11pm (ET) we land at Wright-Patterson AFB.

We spend the week with Jay's family and working through the family emergency.

Thursday 9/11/14: 

     I found a flight from Andrews AFB to Hickam AFB with a layover in Oakland that has 150 seats tentative that takes off Saturday morning, so we make plans to get to the DC area that following day.

Friday 9/12/14: 

     We drive from Ohio to Northern VA to my mother's house for the night.

Saturday 9/13/14: 

     2:45am (ET) we arrive at Andrews PAX to find out right away that this flight was booked by Space-R (military unit chartered the plane) and there was really only ONE seat available for Space-A.  

Sunday 9/14/14: 

     We just spend some time with my family since there are no flights out to the west coast from any nearby terminals.

Monday 9/15/14: 

     4am (ET) we arrive at Andrews PAX again, for a flight to Travis AFB. We immediately ask about Space-R and there is none. We're relieved so we say goodbye for my mom and she heads home while we wait. Approximately 10 minutes later, they inform us the flight has been 'slipped' and we would have to try again tomorrow. So we go back home.

Tuesday 9/16/14: 

     5am (ET) we arrive at Andrews PAX for the third time. The flight is awesome. It hasn't been canceled and everything looks great! We mark ourselves present and settle into the kid’s area. 

     5:50am (ET) An announcement over the intercom informs us that the Travis AFB flight has been cancelled. We go home again.

Wednesday 9/17/14: 

     I'm stressed to the MAX. We need to get home so I start exploring our options. My mom offers to help so that we done drain our funds just getting Jay home. I find that Travis AFB has SEVEN possible flights to Hawaii on Friday. I decide we should try our luck out there instead of spending tons of money flying commercial straight to Honolulu. 

Thursday 9/18/14: 

     9:25am (ET) we take off from Dulles International. 

     11:30am (PT) we arrive in San Francisco, pick up our rental car and drive to Travis AFB.

     2pm (PT) we check in to our suite on Travis AFB. 

Friday 9/19/14: 

     4:45am (PT) we arrive at Travis PAX. 

     5:50am (PT) we’re not selected for the first flight to Hawaii during the roll call. 

     6:40am (PT) we are selected for the second flight to Hawaii! 

     8:45am (PT) we take off! 

     11am (HT) we land at Hickam PAX!! We are HOME!!

Information on Space-A flights:

Space-A - You can find what locations offer Space-A flights. The larger terminals maintain a Facebook page but even more of them keep a recording of what is flying out up to 72 hours in advance. You can also find eligibility, categories and plenty of other resources on this webpage. It has been an amazing resource for me while we were gone. I was able to find everything fairly easily and quickly just using this website and the terminal Facebook pages. 

Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam Passenger Terminal Facebook Page
Travis Passenger Terminal Facebook Page

Joint Base Andrews Passenger Terminal Facebook Page

In closing, I have learned quite a lot about this process from this trip. While I'm sure there is plenty more to learn, it's definitely a way I would travel again with a few exceptions. We will always have funds set aside to fly back to Travis AFB commercially since that seems the most efficient and less stressful way to get home with little to no hiccups. I will also plan to have plenty of time to get home. Of course we thought we had plenty of time by allowing ourselves a week but we heavily depended on a flight to take us from the east coast back to Travis, or nearby. BE FLEXIBLE! I tend to plan like a crazy person and have back up plans to my plans so this should be fairly easy for me to do. I just have to know when to call it quits. But this trip did not make me dislike Space-A travel at all. It honestly gave me a better understand of how to go about it. Before we fly anywhere else with Jay on leave, I will be sure I have a Command Sponsorship letter allowing the boys and I to fly home unaccompanied so that we do have the option to send Jay back alone and still be able to wait around for possibly (free/cheap) Space-A flights.

Do you have any questions? Feel free to leave me a comment and I'll try to answer them as best to my knowledge as possible!

Lots of changes! Travel, Diets, Home Schooling and Moving!

I haven't blogged on here in a while. I was keeping up with the C2VBAC blog but then we found out that Jay's vasectomy was scarring over. We found this out about a three or four weeks ago. I went through my stages of grief, lots of anger and crying. We discussed IVF w/ ICSI, adoption and decided that at this point we needed to just wait. Wait to see if this is something we really want or not, wait to see which path we should go down. I have two amazing little boys and I don't want to take anything away from them to add more children to our family. I want to afford them everything they deserve.

Jay leaves in over a week for WOCS and while he's gone, I will be working on my health. I'd like to lose some weight and work on my fitness. I will be taking it slow and mostly at home stuff due to us being with out Jay to help watch the kids while I go out to work out. I've decided to help myself lose weight, I'd be trying Nutrisystem. I've heard the good and the bad and I decided I'd give it a shot. I should be getting my shipments in sometime next week. I'll hopefully start late next week or the beginning of the following week.

We've also decided to take Jayson out of school and home school, due to a lot of planned travel and our upcoming move. We will be traveling to visit with family and then go to Jay's graduation in December. Hopefully the kids will enjoy our trip. I haven't done a long road trip with just the kids and I in a while, I figured I should test my sanity. Haha! Then in April, we have a trip to Disney World planned in conjunction with our PCS to Hawaii. Plus with a lot of the reviews of the local schools in Hawaii, I've decided that I'd feel more comfortable with home schooling Jayson rather than sending him to public school. This has been something Jay and I have been discussing and debating for a few years now and we've finally decided to take the leap. Jayson is super excited about it. We're planning on keeping him in Cub Scouts and when we get to Hawaii, we'll look into sports and possible music/instrument lessons. I'd love for Jayson to learn to play an instrument but I'd like to leave that up to him. His curriculum will be in next week also and I plan on starting his home schooling shortly after receiving the curriculum.

I will try to keep the blog up with updates on my progress within Nutrisystem and home schooling. Jayson, Jay and I decided together that we would be using My Father's World 1st Grade curriculum. I will give reviews and thoughts as we proceed through the curriculum.  I will also update once a week on my fitness, diet and weight progress through my diet. Eventually I will get a "before" picture up. Hopefully once a month or every two weeks, I'll post an updated photo, no promises though!

Until next week!

Long Time No See!

Holy smokes it's been quite a while since I posted on here. It's been almost 2 years. Well, I apologize. In those 2 years a lot has happened! Elijah is potty trained (mostly lol), Jayson has started Kindergarten and last June we PCS'd to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. It's been an adjustment but we're very happy to be here even if it will be for a short stint just like last time. It'll be short because last November, Jay got selected to become a Warrant Officer (WO). He will begin our journey on that venture in October.

As a family, we've gone through a few transformations. Last November, our marriage hit a rocky time. Since then we've been seeing therapists on our own and a Chaplain together. Around December things started to seem to be working themselves out. It's been work but it's good to know we're in a better place now.

In January we started talking about our future and what we wanted out of life. When you have a rough patch in your marriage, you don't know what your future might hold so when things start getting better, you start wanting to plan and see if your thoughts on the future mesh well with your partners (still). I've regretted Jay getting a vasectomy pretty much since about 6 months from the time he got it. We were rash in our decision and I think having a difficult baby (Eli) caused us to rush our decision. Well, we've talked and talked some more and have decided to reverse our decision and try for more children. But you can read more about that in our joined blog Our Journey from Cesarean to Natural Birth. We've been waiting for referrals on vasectomy reversal and talking about our birthing options. Quite a bit of baby talk over there, so don't say you weren't warned! LOL

I'll probably cloth diaper, breast feed, co-sleep, baby wear and all the great stuff that comes with attachment parenting. All the wonderful things I miss about having a baby. Jay is very excited because we're going to attempt to have a baby while he's home to actually be there for. He's missed both kid's births and this would be an amazing thing for us to share!

Well, I'm running out of things to catch the blog up on so I'll leave the rest for another day.

I've missed ya'll!

ravnjay's photostream

ravnjay's photostream on Flickr.

Lots of photo's from Ohio!

Our Ohio Trip

We headed up to Ohio on Friday July 1st. We went to the Cleveland Zoo, Cedar Point, Mckinnley Museum, Chuck E Cheese's and to visit Phil's grandparents. The following posts should be photos of each activity or a few in one post. Some places I didn't take many pictures do to being so busy. LOL

Trouble, Long Nights and LOTS of Laundry!

Well, Hubby has gotten into a little bit of trouble and is now working long nights for the next few days. So I'm on my own with the two boys, who are growing so incredibly fast that it amazes me daily. I've tackled just about every bit of laundry I could scrounge up. Right now, I've got a load of diapers in. Then I'm going to do a load of clothes from the past two days. I might be able to get another load of towels in if I snatch everyones' towels from the bathrooms. But I'm pretty much done with that and it only took 2-3 days to get EVERYTHING washed. Now I think I'm going to have to do some deep down cleaning. I'll probably make the kids help me by scrubbing the walls and base boards. We'll see how motivated I am though.

Or I have seeds to plant. I could plant seeds in my garden or inside and put them into my topsy turvy tomato planter. I have lots of tomato seeds so probably in both, seeing as the tomato planter only holds one plant. I need to get some strawberry plants and/or seeds. Can I get seeds? I can't find them ANYWHERE. Only the plants and those are expensive. I suppose I don't HAVE to fill up the planter but I WANT to! LOL

I need to find other projects (low cost) for the boys and I to do while daddy is working his long hours. It's apart of being in the military, long hours or time away from home completely. We know that. This isn't hard really, just exhausting for him and me. I'm not used to having the boys completely and I wait up for him at night. The responsibilities in the house that we share are now solely on me and that's also different for me.

Fortunately, it is absolutely beautiful here in Augusta, GA. Yesterday it was 87 degrees and SUNNY! Today I believe it's supposed to be equally as beautiful and a little warmer. I want to get the kids outside and wear them out a bit, not sure when that will happen. Probably this afternoon after Eli's nap. 

I just feel like I have all this time with my kiddos, we should have some fun with it. I should get the camera out and take lots of pictures of them playing, planting and just having fun. It's so beautiful that it's motivating to get out and have fun.

I'll see where I'm at after washing the diapers and load of clothes I have. Then maybe while Eli's sleeping, Jayson and I will plant the tomato seeds. Then when Eli gets up we can just play outside, or go to the park. We've got all day!

I'll post pictures of everything tomorrow!

I'm glad I decided to blog today. :)

Switch to Cloth Wipes - Day 1

So I've decided to switch to cloth wipes to save a little bit more money. I bought 3 spritz bottles today and made my own solution to spray on little man's behind to wipe clean. I haven't bought any "actual" cloth wipes yet since this is a trial to see how I like it. I have several baby wash cloths that I've bought on clearance at various baby stores. I have those at my little diaper station in the living room along with the spritz bottles. So far I've changed two diapers since setting up the station, though we haven't encountered a poopy diaper, it's going fairly well. I like the idea of just putting everything into the diaper pail instead of having nasty wipes in my trash can where my 3 year old also throws things away. (He gets touchy feely with some items in the trash if they intrigue him)




The idea of not having disposable wipes in the house is unthinkable so I still have them for things like wiping my children's faces, quick clean up and things of that nature. Plus there will always be a container in the car for when we are out and about. In roughly 10 days we will be headed to Orlando to spend a week and I can't imagine using exclusively cloth wipes while away from home. Those are a few areas where I prefer the convenience over the cost. Eli seems to enjoy the process of cloth wipes more than disposables though. That is a nice upside for him. Maybe he's just interested in the fact that I'm spraying water on his behind. Either way, it's nice to have him still for a minute while I'm cleaning him. I'm sure this will grow old and he'll be back to wiggling during the process of changing his diaper.



He's napping now but I'm sure I'll have another diaper to change soon enough. I'll try to write again about how this is going tomorrow. This is completely new to me and I want to share as much of this experience with others so they can be educated about this as well. There is nothing better than saving money especially with the economy we have right now.



Here are a few questions for those of you who do use cloth wipes already. What is the difference between wash cloths and actual cloth wipes sold by stores such as Diaper Parties/Everything Birth? And if they are different/better in some sort of way, what kind do you recommend?

Thanks!

Holiday Planning

I want to start making plans for the holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years always seem to just sneak up on me. We are thinking Christmas is going to be a holiday at home. We have not had a Christmas in our own home since we got married so this is going to be a special Christmas. We always move every winter so we're typically in a hotel or at a family members home for Christmas. Now I'm not sure if we're going to go somewhere for any of the other holidays or no. I'm pretty sure New Years will be spent at home.

The big thing for me is I've never hosted a Christmas for family. I guess that's a given since we've never had a Christmas in our own home together. We are hoping that family will come spend Christmas with us. So I'm going to make or buy some Christmas invitations and send them out to family in hopes that we can spend Christmas together with family. This is an attempt to bring family out to visit and celebrate Christmas together. Honestly, I want it to work out and everyone come together but I have my doubts.

Now to find a place that has cute Christmas cards or that can make some for me. Except instead of a "Merry Christmas" I want something that is more an invitation. Anyone ever done this before? I need some ideas. I'm sure since it's only September, I can make something or have something made but I haven't a clue where to start.

But I plan to decorate all around the house, inside and out. I haven't had a year where I could deck out the house. I think this year is going to be it! (Hopefully, you never can tell with the Army!) LOL

I'm losing my mind.

It feels like there is so much going on all the time. I cloth diaper so I'm constantly doing laundry. Jayson is in school so I gotta remember to make his lunch every night. There are daily chores, taking Jayson to and from school. Eli naps twice most days. I do diaper parties and individual consultations. I'm trying to make friends and I am attempting to run a play group. I can't remember anything and to top it all off, I switched from a blackberry to an HTC Evo. I know that sounds silly and minute but it has made me feel so lost. I still haven't figured out how to run my EVO the way I could my blackberry. The calendar works differently so I don't get the same type of notices that I used to. Once I get used to it I'm sure everything will start running smoothly again.

I'm trying to keep myself busy but it feels like I can't remember anything lately. So if you are reading this and I've accidentally stood you up or forgotten about our date, please forgive me I have mommy mush brain lately! I have a lot going on in my head and I need some place to put it. I'm going to start blogging more again to keep my thoughts in order. I hope this helps! (Plus learning how to use my new smart phone ugh!) LOL

Miracle Mile 3-mile Breast Cancer Walk

I will be participating in this years Miracle Mile 3-mile Breast Cancer Walk here in Augusta, GA. The Miracle Mile Walk is a three-mile fun walk to raise money to fight breast cancer. One hundred percent of the net proceeds from the Miracle Mile Walk will provide breast cancer care, including free mammograms to the underserved.

Last year, the Breast Health Center at University Hospital served more than 13,000 women and facilitated the diagnosis of 265 new cases of breast cancer.

It will take place on October 16th and I'm taking donations towards the cause prior to the race.

Jay and I are trying to raise $300 before the walk. We are just starting so our donations are low. We have only $20 right now. So any little bit helps! If you want to donate as little as a dollar, we'll take it! Please email me to let me know if you would like to make a donation!
traci@diaperparties.com or contact me on facebook @traci orzeck

Thanks to you all!

We are a different family than most.

I know I haven't posted in a while but I'm a little down right now and I needed to let it out.  Both my  parents and Jay's parents have split up. My mom works random crazy hours, my dad and I don't speak. My mother-in-law is retired and my father-in-law still works full time. For some reason, no one on either side of our families can find the time (or money, or enter excuse here) to visit. I am not trying to blast our business but I'm feeling down about this and this is my outlet. I understand that my mom and father in law are working, but I don't have to like that they don't visit.

Being a military family, you learn right away that family is your best support system during trying times. I, on the other hand, have learned differently. I have learned that family causes unnecessary stress, anger and sadness. I feel like they don't understand my situation or sympathize with me. My support system has become Annie. When I'm angry, sad, happy or depressed, she is the one I share with (besides my husband, of course). Hearing about all my other friends/acquaintances having family in town lately, just makes me sad that my family, especially my kids don't have those same connections/bonds.

I was fortunate enough to have my grandparents down at the beginning of July. That was a nice treat. But in the 4+ years that my husband and I have been married that was the 3rd time anyone in the family has visited us that didn't require me to give birth to a child. Sometimes it's nice to have family visit. To know that you are loved and supported in the life you have made for yourself and children. Lately, I don't feel like I have that.

So what ever it is that is keeping them away, be it work, bills, or just a difference in opinion, it hurts and my children are missing out on vital parts of life.

Happy Memorial Day

Today, to most is another day off of work. It's the beginning of summer, beautiful weather and cook outs. Those are all great and fun. But I want to take a moment to remind you what today is. Today is MEMORIAL DAY. It is the day for you to take a moment and REMEMBER those who have died for our country. For those who knew the sacrifice but made it anyway.

Every man and woman that is in our military has done so voluntarily and we need to remember what that means. They spend days, weeks, months or even years away from their loved ones. Not because they want to but because they know if they don't, who will? We love our country and our military is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the security and preservation of our rights and freedoms.

So this is my Thank you. Thank you to not only the men and women who have fallen but thank you to the wives, husbands, sons, daughters, moms and dads that have supported and loved those fallen. Because they have also made a sacrifice even if the choice wasn't theirs to make. Thank you and God Bless every one of you.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

Garden Week Five! Exciting!

So I decided to take my next set of photos for the garden! I had to go through my posts to figure out which week this is! LOL I should be keeping better track! Somewhere I missed a week for photos but oh well! Here are the newest!

This is a whole garden shot. Nope still no tomato cages but there are stakes all around the tomato plant trunk. LOL 

The second picture is that first tomato (and another) at it's current size. He's got a little while left to grow but he's looking YUMMY!

The third picture is my middle plant, it's finally got a little 'mater growing!

This is the last tomato plant growing it's tiny little tomato! I'm so excited already have 4 tomatoes bloomin! Hopefully I'll see more!

These are my cucumber plants! They are looking awesome! I may need to put some more ties so the vines don't droop to much once the cucumbers start weighing them down.

It's the start of a CUCUMBER!! YAY!

Baby bell pepper! WOOO HOOO!











Look at all those blossoms!

This cucumber plant is holding on for dear life. I think more ties are in his future!

 

Above is my watermelon plant... it's growing!

  They are all starting to grab a hold of the bamboo stakes I have for them to grow up. It's so awesome how these plants grow!

I'm so proud of this garden! I can't wait to do more! I want to plant a larger one next time! Maybe some cabbage or lettuce! This is so motivating!

-Traci

The Military Wife Poem

THE MILITARY WIFE

The good Lord was creating a model for Military wives and was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said: “Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What’s wrong with the standard model?”
The Lord replied: “Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, possess the qualities of both father, and mother, be a perfect hostess to four or forty with an hour’s notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she is pregnant and has the flu, and she must be willing to move to a new location ten times in seventeen years. And oh, yes, she must have six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head, “Six pairs of hands? No way.”
The Lord continued, “ Don’t worry, we will make other Military wives to help her. And we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husband’s achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say, “I understand’ when she doesn’t, and say ‘I love you,’ regardless.”
“Lord,” said the angel, touching his arm gently, “Go to bed and get some rest. You can finish tomorrow.”
“I can’t stop now,” the Lord said, “I am so close to creating something unique. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can put up six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave goodbye to her husband from a pier, a runway, or a depot, and understand why it’s important that he leave.”
The angel circled the model of the Military wife, looked at it closely and sighed, “It looks fine, but it’s too soft.”
“She might look soft,” replied the Lord, “but she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure.”
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord’s creation. “There’s a leak,” she announced. “Something is wrong with the construction. I am not surprised that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this model.”
The Lord appeared offended at the angel’s lack of confidence. “What you see is not a leak,” He said. “It’s a tear.”
“A tear” What is it there for?” asked the angel.
The Lord replied, “It’s for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride, and dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear.”
“You are a genius!” exclaimed the angel.
The Lord looked puzzled and replied, “I didn’t put it there.”

I am a mother who has never given birth.

I am a mother who has had two c-sections, first emergency c-section and second by choice a repeat c-section. I am a breastfeeding mother who now also supplements with formula. I cloth diaper and make my own laundry soap. I garden. I am a normal woman with feelings.

Jayson was born on March 5, 2007 at 5:35pm via emergency c-section. I went into labor at approximately 10pm the night prior and started counting my contractions. I was happy, excited and oblivious to what was about to happen. I never thought I would ever have a c-section. Around 2 am my MIL drove me to the hospital and we waited about an hour for them to take me into their triage area. Once, in the triage area about an hour later, I was 4cm and counting. They gave me a labor suite and moved me in there. I didn't think I was going to be staying so we didn't bring my bags. My MIL went back for them, while she was gone (maybe 20-30 min) the anesthesiologist came in and informed me that if I wanted any pain medication, I had to decide now because she was going into a c-section and wouldn't be around if I changed my mind. So I said alright, give me the epidural. I knew going in that I wanted the epidural, I was fearful of needles and wanted my MIL with me but I didn't have the choice to wait. So I was given the epidural around 4am.  My labor was great and steady. Slow but steady. Sometime in the morning hours, the doctors brought in magnesium sulfate for my pre-eclampsia that was discovered via a 24hr urinalysis that I had turned in the day prior to labor. Then an hour or two later my labor slowed and they put me on pitocin.  Around 2:30pm my world changed. Nurses and doctors started to bustle around me and no one explained what was going on until I got upset. They had me moving from one side to the other to try to reposition the baby. But if I laid on the side they needed, his heart rate dropped and he would go into distress. I was at 10cm and "ready" to push until the surgeon came in and said I have to have an emergency c-section. My heart sank. I started to cry and say no I didn't want a c-section but they insisted, along with my MIL telling me that the doctors knew best. What was I to do at this point? The baby's head was stuck in  my birth canal and he was in distress. I signed the papers and they took me to the OR once it was ready. I hadn't slept since Saturday night and it was approaching Monday evening. I was tired, heart broken and defeated. When I heard the sound of my baby cry, I felt joy, sadness and desperation to see him. I couldn't see him because of the sheet they had up to block my view of the surgery. I held Jayson from the OR back to my suite. I breastfed with no complications and I slowly healed from my traumatic surgery. I had a beautiful healthy baby boy and I was so happy he was here, no matter how he got here. I love him and will forever have a special kinda of love for that day, along with a small aching twinge of sadness. Do I regret my c-section, no. I have Jayson and it was worth it. Do I wish things had gone differently? Yes, I wish I had been more educated on birth before it happened. But I can't change what happened, I can only learn and be educated for the next time. I was lucky to have Jayson when I did because my MIL flew out for her two weeks the morning before I went into labor. My mom flew in the following day for a week. If I had been two weeks late, I would have been completely alone and still possibly have had a c-section with out any help.

On December 22nd, 2008 I found out I was pregnant with my 2nd child. I was bound and determined to have a VBAC. I searched high and low to find a doctor that would allow this to happen. I waited 13 or 14 weeks before seeing my first OB due to this search. The first OB I saw was not a pleasant experience at all. I told her my fears of another c-section, especially since I again would be giving birth with out my husband due to deployment. I now had a toddler to tend to along with a baby and a c-section made that seem impossible. When I told her these things, she had the nerve to say "Then why did you get pregnant?" I told her "It was a surprise to all of us" and she responded with "You know what a condom is right?".  So now not only am I dealing with having to find a doctor that will help me along with a VBAC but I'm dealing with an OB that tells me that I shouldn't have children while my husband is deployed?! Needless to say, I complained to the office manager and switched OBs. That's when I started seeing Dr. Davis. She was a wonderful doctor. I loved her as my OB. She told me how she felt with out being harsh or cruel. She gave me her opinion when I asked for it but followed my wishes. Until I was about 7 months pregnant, our plan was to do a VBAC. That's when other components of my life came into play. My husband was deployed and it wasn't looking like they were going to give him leave and he would miss another one of his child's birth. So in hopes that with a set date and a Red Cross message, he would be sent home for a surgery birth. I booked a repeat C-section. It was looking awesome! He got approved for the leave from his company, and from his battalion. He had to go see the Sergeant Major of the Brigade to discuss his leave for this date - Aug 17th, for the birth of his child. A sacrifice I made for my husband to be home for this and they denied him the leave about 4 weeks before I was due. His company commander tried to get him on ADVON to get home before I gave birth, that was denied because they wanted people who would go back and set up for the brigade coming home, not people going home for personal reasons. They tried to get him on the first flight home with the main body so he would be here on time. I didn't find out he wouldn't be on ADVON until it was to late.  He was on one of the last flights for his company/battalion, in September. I drove 14 hours from Newark, OH to Fort Riley, KS just 4 weeks after having surgery so my husband could see his little baby boy. I skipped my 6 week postpartum check up for this. This c-section was the easier of the two. Recovery was a breeze and I felt great just a short week after having Elijah. I had help via my mom and mother in law because they knew when to ask for time off of work in the horrible economy and I again was not alone going through recovery of a c-section. What if I had gone through with a VBAC and it had ended in a c-section? What if my family didn't have the option to drop what they were doing to come to me to help through recovery? My experiences were the best they could have been. Don't try to make me feel bad or guilty for them.

For those of you who push natural birth onto other women, you don't know their circumstances. Yes, I wholeheartedly believe that women should be given more education on the birth process but do that before they have been hurt and scared. Do not make those of us who can't change what has happened to us feel guilty or bad for the decisions we have made (educated or not). I would go through with Elijah's c-section all over again for the slightest of chances that my husband would have been there. I knew the chances were slim but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make. That makes me an awesome mother.

I breast feed. I breastfed Jayson until he was 11months old and that's when he switched to cow's milk. He and I weaned together. He was ready to be on his own doing his own thing, since he had been walking for 2 months already. I exclusively breastfed him so I didn't think twice about whether I would do it again for Eli. Eli had lots of "issues". At first he had jaundice very badly and I had to have him on a biliblanket for 4 days to help eliminate his jaundice and help him pass the bilirubin.  I also had to breastfeed him every 2 hours until his jaundice was gone, until the tests came back clear. Not many women would do that but breastfeeding for me was my way of feeling complete as a mother. Eli had reflux and colic. He cried and puked all the time, no matter what I ate or did. He was on medication for reflux until he was 6 months old. Then he got teeth and started biting me. Around the same time I started losing my milk. I tried to increase my supply through teas, drinking lots of water and taking prenatal vitamins and nothing was working. My child was hungry, screaming crying at me and I felt helpless. There was nothing left for me to do. I broke down and I now supplement. Our life is better because of the bottle or two a day that my son drinks. My son is a happy, healthy baby. He's a screamer but that's just him and I've come to terms with that. He doesn't cry because he's hungry and I'd rather not go through that night crying when I realized that I couldn't do what my son needed. I couldn't feed him, he was hungry and I didn't have the milk to feed him. I am a better mom for recognizing my weaknesses and not letting my child suffer over my pride.

I am an advocate of educating pregnant women, women trying to conceive and new moms. Don't dwell on what has happened but what is to come. If I had known more before having Jayson, I may not have had epidural and never had a c-section but I can't change what has happened. I can only share my experiences in birth. Maybe they will remember them and know what to do when the time arises.

Please don't try to make me feel guilty for what has happened to me but understand that I did what I had to do and I have two beautiful baby boys. Share my experiences so other moms know if it happens to them, what to do and what not to do. And if their birth ends in a c-section, do not spread hate and anger but understanding and sympathy. C-sections are usually not our first choice, it is usually our last chance or hope.

37 days...I took Jay to the Airport this morning...

I've gone through two deployments, numerous TDYs, CQ Duty and random phone calls at all hours of the day & night. The military may upset me from time to time but I'm still standing. The time away from Jay doesn't hit me the way it used to. Of course I still love my husband and I miss him terribly while he's gone but I don't dwell on that and let it take over my emotions. If I spend the last week before he leaves in this upset emotional mess, what good is that? There will be low points when he's away that I just miss him and I want him home but I try not to make that a 24/7 type of thing. I go on with my days and I hold my head up. I know some of you might be reading wondering why in the world I'm writing about this when he's only going to be gone for 5 weeks (37 days). It's because yesterday Jay made the comment about me not acting like I'll miss him when he's gone. He needs to understand and I think maybe others need to hear the wife's side. Of course I'm going to miss him. Of course I feel pain that I know I'm going to be on my own with out my partner for 5 weeks but if I let go of this hold I have on my emotions I will go to the extreme other side. I won't be in control and I'll be sad, weepy and depressed. I dropped him off an hour ago and I'm already sad thinking about how long these 5 weeks are gonna be.

I have two little kids I have to take care of. If I act like spending 5 weeks away from "Daddy" is the end of the world, it will effect the kids too. I don't want it to. I want them to be strong through these because this will not be the last and most definitely isn't our first. So Jay, I do miss you but I can't act like it because Jayson will see that and it will make things harder for him. The boys need to see a strong Mommy who doesn't break down when Daddy goes away to super hero training. :D

With that I have to say, every service member and civil servant in this country is a super hero to my family. We appreciate and support you. Thank you to all of you no matter who or where you are! My children & I will always know you as super heroes! :)



Now on a happier note, my garden is GROWING!! LOL I know that's typically how it works but I'm absolutely amazed that I can actually grow stuff. It looks like I might even get a few tomatoes out of my garden! WOOO HOOO! Here are some photos from early this morning:

One last thing, We are trying to sell our motorcycle. If you or anyone you might know is interested in buying a 2007 Honda VTX1300C with around 6K miles please let me know! Here is a photo of the bike up for sale!

Check out the blog I made for Diaper Parties!

I miss & love you so much Jay. I hope these 5 weeks go by quickly and you enjoy them while you are away.

-Traci

Amazing Weekend

Friday was a bit of a hectic day. We tried to buy a van. LOL Yes, I said Tried. We tried and failed. I knew better. We have one income and two vehicle loans. The motorcycle and the truck. We would prefer to keep the truck and most dealerships won't take a motorcycle as a trade in. Oh well, at least we tried right?

Saturday, we went to the farmers market with some friends. It was fun but pretty hot. I got tomatoes, corn, watermelon, a loaf of jalapeno cheddar sour dough and 2 small home made bars of soap for the boys. I was just gonna get one bar of soap but Jayson bit one when I asked him to smell it, thinking it was a candy bar. It was hilarious, we all got a good laugh including the vendor operator. LOL We were there about 2 hours and by that time I was dying. LOL It was pretty hot. Jayson needed to use the potty so we found some port-a-johns and by the time we were done, I was melting! I forgot how hot those things get. It reminded me of using the port-a-john in Kuwait. GEEZ! When we got home, I made sandwiches with some of the bread, a tomato and some lunch meat. WOW! It was amazing! Then we got to cleaning because we were going out that night and our friends were gonna come over to baby sit the boys. For some crazy reason, Jay and I got into an argument and called off going out. Stupid of us because we ended up going out anyway with the kids. LOL We argue to much and make silly rash decisions before talking it out and seeing if we simmer down. Oh well, we live and we learn don't we?  So we all went out to Red Lobster and had a blast. I'm glad we ended up going out with the kids because they were actually really good. Jay's going to training for a while and it was a good thing for us to all do something as a family. We ended the night with Halo 3 & beer. Always a good time in the 'O' Household. :)

Today started out lazy. Jay and I played halo 3. We had watermelon and cinnamon toast for breakfast. The boys played around on the floor with each other fairly well today. It was just a great day. Then I decided I was gonna make lasagna for dinner so Jay & Jayson ran to the store for a few things. I also made an ice cream cake. Dinner was delicious and easy. I for some reason get lazy and stop cooking nice big meals for a small span of time and when I come back to it I forget how easy it really is. The lasagna isn't hard so I don't know why I don't do it more often. It is one of Jay's favorites so I should at least try to make it once a month. Now the ice cream cake was amazingly simple and fun too. I'm impressed! I'm gonna have to start making it for when we have guests over. I hope my friends like ice cream cake!! Eli's in bed but that was the hardest part of the day. He fought it hard. I think the poor baby is teething or going through a phase because he's been a grump when it comes to bed time. I feel bad but sometimes I have to let him cry. If I let him cry for a few minutes then go up there nurse him and rock him, I can lay him down and he goes right to sleep. I guess it's kind of a ritual for us. But if I go straight to the nursing and rocking before he cries, he doesn't go down. Funny how that works huh?

Just a little side note, if you are interested in checking out the banner to the right of my blogs please feel free. It's the website that I am a sales consultant for. I will be receiving my kit of cloth diapers shortly and am open to book some parties so you & any of your friends may take a look at them to see which ones would fit your lifestyle. I'm planning on having an open house after June 1st for anyone in the area that would like to come and check out the different types of diapers. Please feel free to email me about anything on the website or setting up a party date.

Playroom

So yesterday I decided to start cleaning around the house and getting it into better functioning order. Jay is going to be in training so I want things to go as smoothly as possible while he's not here to help me with the kids. So that being said, I unpacked the last 6-8 boxes yesterday and cleaned out the guest room. We've moved the toy box into there and set up the jumperoo. There is still a little bit of shuffling needing to be done but I'm sure I'll have it in good order come next week. I need to go to my mom's to get a bed she offered me for Jayson and then sometime I plan on finding a futon or some kind of seating to go into the play room so I can sit in there and read while the kids play. I like the idea of not having a bunch of toys in the living room when Jay and I sit down to watch tv at night so that's why I decided it's time to set up a play room. Also, I'm tried of Jayson's room being a disaster area. It's a pain to try to put his clothes away when I'm stepping on wrestlers or cars, or trying to put him to bed! Oh It's a nightmare. At least if I get that seating in the play room, I will have a place to sit and make sure he cleans up. He doesn't do so well when he isn't being supervised. I moved so much and cleaned so much that I'm actually sore today. That's kinda crazy to me. I didn't think anything I was doing was that strenuous.

Yesterday, being Mother's Day started out alright. Jay made breakfast and it was delicious but that was pretty much it for Mother's Day. On with our lives! Then this morning, Jay wakes me up at like 5:45am asking me if I had seen his motorcycle helmet. Last time I know it was accounted for was when he drove home from duty for dinner. After that he took the truck for the night so he had some way of bringing the PS3, his laptop and dvd case back. So early on Monday morning was the first time he actually thought "Hey, where is my helmet?" Well, knowing him, he probably left it on the bike, or the back of the truck when he came in for his dinner break thinking he would be riding the bike back out. Well when I said take the truck, he probably didn't think anything of the helmet and it either was stolen or fell off the back of the truck when he drove back to duty. So now we have to buy him another helmet and those things are not cheap.

Now, I sit here wondering when does life calm down? When will there be a day that I'm not mad, heartbroken, sad or dealing with a sick child? Will there be a just happy day again? When did those stop? I'm not depressed I'm just realizing that life is mean. This post-deployment is much harder than our last. I think that is partly to blame and then there is life that is mixed in to add a little bit of craze to the process of trying to become a family again.

Garden Update Week Two!

After seeing pictures of a friend's garden blooming I had to go out and check to see if mine was!

 They are blooming! I'm so excited!! I do need to go get cages to put around the tomatoes and cucumbers (thank you Jamie for reminding me!) so I am running out this afternoon to get some. I think it's looking really good! Except for a few cucumber plants with yellow leaves towards the bottom but I'm working at this! It's my first garden and I think it may come out well! Wooo hoo! This is really exciting! C'mon veggies groooooow!

One Itsy Bitsy Step At A Time!

So after spending yesterday in this mope like state, being cranky and ready to snap at anyone who looks at me funny, I got an ok night of sleep and decided when I woke up that I would find a way to do some wii fit this morning. I know it's not much but I gotta start some where right? I need a shower but with Eli that is very difficult. He doesn't like me leaving him alone and there isn't really any place to leave him that's baby proofed completely so I can leave him unattended, well besides his crib but he gets pissed at that. So I'm going to wait until nap time to complete that task. But since I'm stinky I can probably get some stuff done around the house. I need to sweep and mop the downstairs. I need to catch up on laundry. Lemme tell ya, the only ONLY down side to cloth diapering is having to stop once you get on a roll with laundry to wash some diapers. They need extra care once a month, stripping them so they maintain their absorbency and don't start to smell every time urine touches them. But I enjoy not having to buy disposables. I hated that smell in my trash can. Now I have a separate little can on my dryer that holds my cloth diapers and for some reason those don't smell as bad as my trash can did with disposables.

After my shower, which I plan on running for as soon as I lay Eli in his crib at nap time... C'mon 9:30!! LOL Maybe I'll be able to blow dry my hair for the 2nd time in a row instead of just throwing it up in a pony tail which I've been sporting for about 2.5-3 years now. Wonderful huh? Then if Eli isn't screaming from his crib, I'll throw on some foundation and slowly add until I'm finished. Because with my luck I'll get foundation on, one eye with shadow and Eli will start screaming in his crib or Jayson will cause a ruckus down stairs. Yes, I said ruckus. I'm so old! If I can keep up this hoge poge of a routine then maybe I'll start feeling a little better about myself. Then I can start adding to my very limited make up bag and wardrobe! I'm feeling a little better about myself today. I've actually let out what I needed to let out and now that I know why I feel the way I do, I can start taking the steps to change it. Lets just see how long this motivation keeps up.

Eventually, I also need to go out and tend to my garden! LOL  It's been a few days because of the rain that didn't hit until yesterday! I'll get out there today no matter whether it's raining or not. It needs to be tended to or I won't have beautiful veggies in a few months!

Well, the boys are done with breakfast and begging me to turn on some tv or entertain them so off we go!