Staff Duty!

Ugh, the dreaded moment when you see the new staff duty roster released and you realize that this month you were finally put on it. A whopping 24 hours+ of straight duty. Lucky for me I had a very nice NCO working with me for the evening and I was able to sneak away for three hours of sleep. So while all of you are cozy in your beds at home I have been awake here at work since 0500 this morning and I don't get off shift until 0900 tomorrow. Needless to say energy drinks have been my best friend. And of course finally getting some down time to catch up on emails and crank out a few blogs that I have been having spinning around in my head the past two days that I was unable to find time in my demanding schedule to do. I'm sure it is the same for all of you as it is for me, but blogging helps me to unload and release all the stress and tension of life. That may seem like a simple thing to do but I swear my plate always seems to feel so full and for me this just relaxes me and lets me express myself in a way that I don't feel I am able to on a daily basis to the rest of the world. So thank you fellow bloggers and readers for helping me have a little time for me. So during staff duty there is really not a whole lot going on.

 I worked on some online courses that are worth promotion points which mean a lot in the next few months once I am available to go to the board for the next rank. I am in the Army by the way if you hadn't already caught onto that. And let me tell you so many stereotypes come from being a female in the Army and those like myself who work really hard for where we are at and all we accomplish suffer those stereotypes as people assume we get everything handed to us and don't get me wrong some women do howevere I am proudly not one of them. Of course I had to complete the nightly routine of sweeping the hallways before then next day comes as we have the general coming in tomorrow to check out our operations. I have been living off of what seems to now be a constant drip of Monster Energy drinks and all things salty. I'm not much of a sweets person so I tend to stick towards the salty snacks to tide me over and keep my mind distracted from something other then sleep because after being awake this many hours your mind can surely start turning on you. I have about 3 and a half more hours of my shift and then it's home bound for some much deserved sleep. Happy reading ya'll. And as always thank you for reading yet another post from my crazy beautiful life! Feel free to leave any comments about anything else you all would like to know or hear about from me, until next time goodnight!

Teaching Your Left Handed Child To Write

 

 

 

Finding out your child is a left handed writer can make learning how to write both hard for you and your little one. I am right handed, my oldest daughter is left handed and my youngest daughter is right handed like me.

 

When it came for my now six year old to start learning to write, I had the slightest idea as to how to adapt to her needs.



I found out that with her being left handed she often would write letters backwards, in the opposite direction that a right handed person would start their letters. Or would simply just be confused as to what the letter looked like because in her brain is was backwards.

It is normal for both you and your child to feel overwhelmed in the beginning.

Eventually I was able to adapt myself to hold her left hand and help her to write her letters enough times that she was eventually able to do it on her own.

Although it did help that my dad is left handed and was able to give her and me a few pointers.

Through trial an error we found out what worked best for us. For Addyson in the beginning I would write the letters almost like she had to play connect the dots to complete each letter. Games truly work best for our family and now I am proud mommy to a brilliant little girl who is writing and reading with little to no help now.

I would love to hear what worked for all of you for your little ones?

Happy Reading!

What Made Me The Woman I Am Today

A lot goes into to what makes a person a person. We each go through our own struggles and triumphs. These are the things that mold us. Change us overtime into the man or women we become.


This is my story, this is how I became the woman I am today.

By age 12 I had already learned that growing up sometimes comes faster then you'd hope for. My biological father had finally lost his battle with brain cancer. That would be the first time that I would realize the feeling of a broken heart.

I made it all the way to my final year of high school before I ever let my heart be broken again. I realized my boyfriend of 4 years and my self's paths were leading in two very different directions. So I decided to separate myself from that situation. Only to find out that choice would lead me to my first bad decision.

When I decided to move on I found myself in the arms of a man who was no good for me. Who would later turn my entire life upside down. After high school came to an end I soon found out I was pregnant. I graduated early so when this came I was only 16 years old. I must have taken 6 tests just to be sure my eyes weren't tricking me. I cried for hours in my closet of all places to cry. I mustered up the strength to tell my boyfriend. He seemed thrilled and was going to support my decision to keep our daughter.

I should have known that he never truly did care, but the younger version of me didn't want to let go of the hope that I wouldn't be yet another teen stereotype.  Months flew by and finally in my arms was my precious little girl, who we called Addyson.

I mistook his financial support for faithfulness. I guess I learned the hard the way that there is difference between love and obligation.

A year later in an attempt to ensure that my daughter got to grow up with both of her parents I married her father. (Huge Regret) As the cheating NEVER stopped. Once a cheater always a cheater, I guess the young dumb me should have taken that advice a little more to heart.

Fast forward two years, yes I was still there sticking it out. Along came baby girl number two. I always knew I wanted a big family. I suppose half my brain thought that even though I was very unhappy that having all my kids from one dad was better then having kids with multiple dads. Don't get me wrong I had an amazing step dad but at that point I wasn't ready to give up the façade I was living in.

I continued to catch him cheating, texting other women, sending and receiving inappropriate images to one another, saving hook ups under fake names. Even going to the extent to have a fling with our 18 year old babysitter.

I began to realize that I needed to find a way out. I was a stay at home mom and didn't think I could do it without him and I surely did not want to run home to my parents. Without bringing up the topic of divorce I questioned my now ex-husband as to if he would support my decision to enlist in the Army, as he is Army himself. A few months later I headed off to basic training.

I am now a UAV operator and have reached some level of success. I am proud to say I have found my own way and realized I can and could have done it on my own so much sooner then I gave myself credit for.

While I was away for training the neighbor whom babysat my daughters informed me that he had been fooling around with someone from work and that he had been allowing her to live with him and my daughters in my absence. He had never before involved my children in his indiscretions, or so I thought at this point, but that's a story for another time. Furious I finally spoke up for myself. I demanded a divorce and I got one.

Of course to try and save himself from me coming after his career for adultery he began to deny the affair after I was finally leaving him for real this time. But I am sure you all can agree that getting married to your mistress 16 days after the divorce to keep your BAH is pretty guilty to me. But who am I to say true love doesn't blossom in 16 days.

A little more then a year past my divorce now and I am very happy to report that I have myself married the man of my dreams. I never knew what truly being loved could feel like until I met my husband. He has stood by me through all the drama that still continues because my ex-husband and his wife do not know how to co parent effectively without being complete jerks.

Most of all though he never ceases to amaze me with how much he loves my daughters. Its hard to think sometimes that they didn't come from him and I.

So back to my dream of having a big family and being afraid to have kids from different fathers, I grew out of that. Unfortunately though when I was previously married my ex-husband didn't want anymore kids, I honestly don't even think he liked kids because he sure as hell didn't help much. I had my tubes tied in 2013.

My dream of having a big family has not yet died, my husband and I are exploring the option of IVF. And although it very costly we are willing to pay whatever the cost to expand our family. So this time next year after I return from deployment we will begin our IVF journey and I could not be more thrilled.

Every challenge that we find a way to overcome molds us, grows us into the man and women we become. I wish I was able to learn to live my own life and make the choices I later made much sooner. But I appreciate the struggle for without it I would not be me and I wouldn't be where I am today. So this is me, living my crazy beautiful life.