7 Quick Takes, the 2nd

Joining up with this again.  Lovin' it.

— 1 —

So, B is heading to another job conference next week, and since he's driving, the baby and I will be tagging along!  We're heading to Houston for two days.  He'll be doing interviews and such, but I need some suggestions about fun stuff to do (with baby) on my own.  I've never been to Houston, so I'm looking forward to it!

— 2 —

This past week, I joined a wonderful group of women known as CathSorority.  It's a bunch of Catholic gals, most of them bloggers, who are very passionate about their faith!  Here's a link to almost all the blogs.  If you see me tweeting with a #cathsorority hashtag, now you know what's up!

— 3 —

My mom spent the past week up in Chicago for work.  One of my cousins got to reap the benefit of a free hotel room and met her up there to explore the city.  I used to go on my mom's business trips every so often, and it's how I got to see Chicago the first time.  I've only been twice, but I wish I could have been up there with them!  I still haven't seen all the great sites of the Windy City.

— 4 —

Instead of being in Chicago, I got to hang out here in Pensacola and take care of a sick baby.  It was mostly just a cold, but it finally got to a point that I took her into the doctor.  They did a breathing treatment on her, and we've had to do a few of them at home.  To do it at home, we had to hold this tube/mask thing up to her, and of course she hates it.  But it has definitely worked to help her be less congested!

— 5 —

Did you catch my post earlier this week about my thoughts on the Lip Dub Proposal?  I'm still going off on rants when people tell me how cute it was or what a great song that is.  Um, it's not.  Listen to the lyrics, people!

— 6 —

For my birthday, my mom gave me a check and told me it was for picking out a nice e-reader or tablet.  I decided to get a Kindle Fire!  This is a big step for me, since it actually means we have mobile internet (we only have "dumb phones" in this house).  Maybe I'll update y'all from Houston!  I love it, but the only thing it's missing is a way to take or upload pictures.  Oh well, I'm pretty happy with it overall, and I love that all my music is now on my Cloud!

— 7 —

We made another big purchase this week, as we finally bought Baby Cora's high chair.  I still don't plan on starting solids for another month or so, but I found an amazing deal.  I really didn't need to find a deal, since my aunt "gave" us a high chair for the shower.  Instead of buying it 8 months before we'd need it, though, she gave us a check and a little cardstock highchair that she made.  (I still have that; it was super cute!)

Behold, the Graco Blossom

Well, I'm glad she did that because I found an even better high chair than the one on my registry for a huge huge discount.  Someone had returned it to Target, and the clearance price was $70 less than the price on Amazon!  B put it together tonight, and it is awesome!  It can actually be used 4 ways and for 2 kids at once (there's an extra toddler booster that connects in various ways).  Not to mention it just looks good!


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Some Thoughts on the Lip Dub Proposal

Unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure by know you've at least heard of the "awesome" lip dub proposal that went viral on YouTube.  It's pretty cheesy; you can watch it here if you don't know what I'm talking about.

While the idea is cute, and I love musicals, with all their happy singing and dancing, as much as the next girl, I would have told this guy NO.  No, Isaac, I don't want to marry you.  And you have Bruno Mars and his crappy lyrics to thank for that.

This song irks me, which is kinda sad because I generally love the music of Bruno Mars and his vocal style.  If you really listen to the lyrics of this song, however, it's about being so drunk that you want to run off to some drive-thru chapel and get married on a whim.  And the fact that this is an acceptable thing to sing about on the radio gives a bit of insight why the divorce rate in our country is so high.

The second line of the song goes, "We're looking for something dumb to do."  I've done a lot of dumb things in my life, but getting married is not on that list.  And it shouldn't be on anyone's dumb list, if they actually hold their vows sacred.

Maybe it's because I got married in the Catholic Church, which I think does an excellent job of teaching the importance of each sacrament, marriage included, that running off to a "chapel on the Boulevard" after drinking some "dancing juice" doesn't appeal to me.  Actually, the wedding coordinator at the church informed me that intoxication can invalidate the sacrament.  Instead of 'pre-gaming' to settle my nerves, I had a Subway sandwich.  It wasn't too hard to save the drinking for the reception afterward.  I was also informed that the Catholic Church suggests and engagement spanning between six months and two years.  Granted, I know of at least one couple that got a priest's blessing to make it sooner (oh, military life), but I think these guidelines are good.  Six months gives you enough time to see if you're making a mistake (and to take the premarital class required by the Church), and my best guess is if it takes you more than two years, then you're focusing on the wrong things.

The one line that probably bugs me the most is, "If we wake up and you wanna break up, that's cool."  Why in the hell would that be in the song you use to propose to your girlfriend??  I'm sure at least one person involved in that lipdub/flashmob charade had the exact same thought running through his or her head.  How could they not? I'm pretty sure Isaac was hoping for a lifetime commitment here, not a one night stand.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but if I were the one proposing, I would think this thing completely through.  And completely through obviously includes the lyrics of the song.  I mean, they're kind of important, right? I don't care how catchy the freakin' beat is, do people actually listen to lyrics any more? Or maybe everyone has stopped listening to the verses and only hears the refrain?  I don't know, but I hear it all, and all is not well.

7 Quick Takes

I've been seeing this Friday hop around and wanted to participate.  Looks easier than writing seven different blog posts!  LOL.  While I'm still reading a ton of milspouse blogs, I've been adding in some Catholic blogs as we move away from military life, and this is from one of them.

— 1 —

B brought me a balloon last week for my birthday.  His very words were, "I was gonna get you flowers, but this will last longer."  Two days later, it looked like this:

Fail.

— 2 —

As for that, I'm glad I celebrated my birthday mostly on my own.  In between the formal retirement and the party we attended that night, I treated myself to birthday freebies.  I got a free sub from Firehouse Subs, $3 to spend at CVS, and a free doughnut from Krispy Kreme (that last one was coincidental, since it was National Doughnut Day).  

I still have a handful of freebies to use, including free tots from Sonic: 

This doesn't even include the BOGO ones that I chucked.  And some that already expired.

— 3 —

B didn't get me any surprises other than the balloon, but he said I could pick out a nursing necklace from wherever.  I've been digging around Etsy, and I will be ordering a few of these from Marine Parents today, since I unfortunately didn't win the giveaway on her blog.

The hardest part will be choosing the colors!

— 4 —

At my "job," I've been making a handout listing various mommy groups in the area.  I came across MOMS Club in our area, and it looks like so much fun!  The chapter here has playgroups based on children's ages, and then other clubs based on interests like couponing, cooking, fitness, etc.  (And they're not even listed on the main site--I had to find them on FB.)  The local MOPS groups here take a break for the summer, but it looks like MOMS is going strong.  I hesitate to join, since we're moving in a few months.  Now I really want to know where we'll end up so I can find a chapter there.

— 5 —

It has been quite the week for a few of my friends.  One friend just had twin girls yesterday morning.  She now has four girls born within four years.  Her poor husband!  LOL.

On a more serious note, a gal I grew up with back in Georgia gave birth to her third child on Wednesday.  They had known since the 20-week ultrasound that her baby most likely would not survive due to anencephaly.  Her story is both heartbreaking and inspiring, as she chose to carry to term.  Her baby was only 3 pounds, 10 ounces at birth.  I think that strong families like this do more for the pro-life movement than any march or rally could ever do.  If you're curious, you can read about her journey on her blog.  Baby Kendall, we love you!

— 6 —

We have a pool at our apartment complex, so we've been taking Baby Cora out there a bit.  I finally bought her some actual pool stuff, including a cloth swim diaper I found at Toys R Us, some cute pink baby sunglasses, and this adorable swimsuit/rash guard from Target.

[via]

— 7 —

Speaking of my adorable baby, I will leave you with this video of her laughing.  My favorite part is actually when she stops laughing around 1:15 and has a hilariously unhappy look on her face.

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Celebrating

This past Friday, I celebrated two very different occasions.  On the one hand, it was my birthday.  But more importantly, it was B's Captain's retirement.  I had never been to a formal military retirement ceremony before (or even a change of command), so I thought this was pretty cool.

Even though the guy was a submariner (a previous commander of the USS Pennsylvania), he decided to have his ceremony right under the replicas of the Blue Angel jets flying in the Naval Aviation Museum.  Hey, when in Rome . . .

If you look closely, you can see the Dolphins on his chest

I've only seen B in his dress whites ONCE before, and it was after we had driven for two days straight (to get to this duty station), so I didn't appreciate it much.  As this is the second and probably last time I got to see it, I was very excited, as he and the other LTs were Sideboys (that term cracks me up!).

B is on the left

One of the special parts of the event was a Flag Ceremony.  The MC read this poem while a flag that had flown atop the Captain's former sub was passed along the line, saluted by each sideboy, and then presented to the Captain.

Sorry some of those pictures are a bit blurry--I was actually standing at the back holding a squawking infant in one arm while taking pictures with the other! 

B was the lucky one who got to hand it off to the Captain.  He told me it was because he was the shortest, as they were in height order.

I also really liked how the Captain thanked his family, and they gave his spouse a certificate as she transitioned from "Navy Wife" to "Navy Wife, Retired."  It was also their daughter's high school graduation; her ceremony was the following morning.  The family got to leave on the red carpet as a Boatswain's Mate rang a bell and declared, "Navy Family, Retired, Departing."

During the ceremony, the MC read a brief timeline of the Captain's naval career.  He was commissioned a week before I was born in 1984, and for whatever reason, that was just really neat to me.  Actually, at the party that night, it was mentioned that it was my birthday, and the Captain asked me (slightly joking) if I was 22.  I said, "Nope, I'm the embodiment of the length of your naval career--this is what 28 years looks like," as I leaned into my husband and my baby.  "Looks pretty good, right?"

Yep, it looks VERY good.  :)