100 challenge

So many of you who know me know that i LOVE books. I am going to set a goal for myself and to keep myself occupied for the year that Chase is in Baghdad that i will read 100 books. Starting now..... so i have a list of some of the books that i will read and would LOVE some suggestions as to what else should be on my list.

I was a little late getting into the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins but i LOVED it. It was completely morbid at times and shocking and crazy, but it is SO SO SO good. so on my list of 100 will be

1. Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins

2. Mocking Jay- Suzanne Collins

I also just finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I was not sure that i would like it, but it pulled me in. (even though the ending COMPLETELY bummed me out) so...

3. City of Ashes- Cassandra Clare

4. City of Glass- Cassandra Clare

I will also read the 8th installment of the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast

5. Awakened- P.C. and Kristin Cast

Now the rest will be things that i pick up here and there im hoping i can find 100 books that interest me...

34 weeks

Dear baby,

34 weeks pregnant today. Almost done! We are so excited to meet you Paityn Harlo Martin.

Parker likes to kiss you and call you Dora. He is ready to meet you and often asks when he can see you. You like to kick my ribs and give me THE WORST HEARTBURN i have ever experienced. You are quite the mover so i like to think of you as my little ballerina. You are starting to drop and i think my pelvis is going to break. I have gained 20 lbs with you and have tried some interesting food combinations. Daddy is so excited to hold you (he does not think he will ever put you down). We love you and are anticipating your arrival!

Love your family.

The one about HALLOWEEN

Im jumping the gun a little on this one, but im so excited i just couldn't hold it all in!

OCTOBER, FALL, CANDY, WITCHES, SPIDERS, GHOSTS, SKELETONS, PUMPKINS, HALLOWEEN.

LOVE it all! (well the scary stuff i LOVE to be fake)

Parker is so excited for Halloween. It one of our FAV holidays. This October is extra special for many reasons.

1. OUR HALLOWEEN BABY! how crazy that she is due on a FAV holiday?
2. Grandpa and Grandma Walker and Grandma J are coming out (yet to nail down schedules)
3. Parker loves to dress up and ask for candy and its so fun to watch him
4. Chase... This will be about the first Halloween he gets to spend with his almost 4 year old boy. I say ALMOST because there was one other time when parker was 2, but i dont count that because we went to 3 houses Parker was so sick and throwing up. Chase was in basic for the 1 and 3 he just got home from Iraq but he had to work late and did not get home till late that night. next year Chase will again be in Iraq so i am DETERMINED to go BIG and make this one special. to everyone. (I was sick last year) Parker was sick the year before and the year before he was just hanging out unable to do much.

like i said go BIG or go home. Parker is just as into Halloween as i am and even made me pull out last years decor in July. (of course its not up yet) just hanging around the house as his play things... he loves all of the scary stuff. So this year we are doing it up big. For all the reasons listed above and my own shear pleasure (and parkers). So here is what im thinking...


How awesome and easy is this? all you do is print out the template for the mice on Martha Stewart's craft blog, trace onto black paper and tape up.



Also on Marthas blog.... love this one too.

I love this idea too, i like how they embellished the letters. they seem so easy to make... we will see..

more ideas floating around in my head...

I found so many cute wreaths, im sure ill only do one but its hard to choose...

of course cob web draped over things. i would like to find a runner for my square table. maybe some garland wrapped around my curtain rods? im makeing pumpkin shaped pancakes and putting faces on some glasses for pumpkins and filling with oj...

like a said its a bit early but hey im not going to want to do much when im awaiting our lil ladies arrival in october so i figure next month is Fall enough :) im feeling super crafty lately and so is Parker so ill let you know how our crafts and decorating work out.

ARMY WIFE

I am an Army wife - a member of that sisterhood of women who have had the courage to watch their men go into battle, and the strength to survive until their return. Our sorority knows no rank, for we earn our membership with a marriage license, travelling over miles, or over nations to begin a new life with our soldier husbands. Within days, we turn a barren, echoing building into a home, and though our quarters are inevitably white-walled and unpapered, we decorate with the treasures of our travels, for we shop the markets of the globe.

Using hammer and nail, we tack our pictures to the wall, and our roots to the floor as firmly as if we had lived there for a lifetime. We hold a family together by the bootstraps, and raise the best of 'brats', instilling in them the motto: "Home is togetherness", whether motel, or guest house, apartment or duplex. As Army wives we soon realize that the only good in "Good-bye" is the "Hello again". For as salesmen for freedom, our husbands are often on the road, leaving us behind for a week, a month, an assignment.

During separations we guard the home front, existing until the homecoming. Unlike our civilian counterparts, we measure time, not by age, but by tours. We plant trees, and never see them grow tall, work on projects completed long after our departure, and enhance our community for the betterment of those who come after us.

We leave a part of ourselves at every stop. Through experience, we have learned to pack a suitcase, a car or hold baggage, and live indefinitely from the contents within: and though our fingers are sore from the patches we have sewn, and the silver we have shined, our hands are always ready to help those around us. Women of peace, we pray for a world in harmony, for the flag that leads our men into battle, will also blanket them in death.

Yet we are an optimistic group, thinking of the good, and forgetting the bad, cherishing yesterday, while anticipating tomorrow. Never rich by monetary standards, our hearts are overflowing with a wealth of experiences common only to those united by the special tradition of military life. We pass on this legacy to every Army bride, welcoming her with outstretched arms, with love and friendship, from one sister to another, sharing in the bounty of our unique, fulfilling Army way of life.

High heels and combat boots...

Dear Lord,
Give me the greatness of heart to see the difference between duty and his love for me. Give me understanding that I may know, when duty calls him he must go. Give me a task to do each day, to fill the time when he's away. And Lord, when he's in a foreign land, keep him safe in your loving hand. And Lord, when duty is in the field, please protect him and be his shield. And Lord, when deployment is so long, please stay with me and keep me strong. Amen.

SGT. Chase Martin will be deploying at the end of the year. Our baby girl will only be a few months old when he leaves. This will be his second deployment and it never get easier. He has not even been home a year since his last tour and we got the fateful news that he will leave this Dec. I think alot of Americans forget how devastating this is on families. I think people are not as aware of war as they were a few years ago. It is very much still alive and taking husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends and separating families to keep our country a free one. Here are a few statistics that i want to share...

1. 85,000 U.S. troops as of Feb. 28, 2010 are in Iraq.

2. U.S. troop casualties- 4,413. 98 % male, 91% non-officers, 82% active duty, 11% nation guard, 54% of the casualties were under the age of 25, 72% were from the U.S. ARMY.

3. U.S. troops wounded- 31,874 20% of which are serious brain or spiral injuries.


4. 30% of U.S. troops develop serious mental problems within 3-4 months of returning home.

People loose their lives everyday, they uproot and move over seas for a year sometimes longer. They leave everything they love and know behind to keep us safe. To these service members we owe our freedom. So lets keep them in mind and remember there is still a war weather we like it or not. One of the best things to do to keep up soldiers moral is to let them know we still care and support them. LETS SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!

SOME HEROS WARE CAPES, MINE WARES COMBAT BOOTS.
KEEP OUR HEROS SAFE AND BRING THEM HOME.

Wild child

Our Beautiful baby girl... she is a "wild woman" as the ultrasound tech said. She moved so much during the ultrasound that it was hard to get pics. She sure loves her fingers though! The ultra sound tech also went on so say that when she gets bigger i will be miserable. I didnt need to ask why i can already feel all the movements and they will only get stronger. She is 9 oz. so just a little smaller than she is supposed to be.... but Parker was little too so im not worried. We also found out she has an irregular heart beat and its too fast. 99 percent of the time the problem fixes itself but there is that 1 percent chance that it wont and her little heart will go into distress and fail. Luckily all her "plumbing" as the tech put it is hooked up right and all chamber of her heart look good. We have another ultrasound with heart specialists, but by that time the Dr. thinks it will have fixed itself. I am confident that it will. she has a strong heart and everything looks good so we are not worried.

Last night i had to eat a sugar cookie that was just staring me in the face... it was taunting me... and im not the only one that craved it right? Babies know what they want too. It was good and sugary. BUT i will never do that again! Our little WILD WOMAN proceeded to kick and move and nudge for an hour after that while i tried and failed to sleep..... no sugar after 7 :)

we are so excited to have the best of both worlds and park is starting to like that he is going to get a sibling... although he keeps asking for a baby broder..... we cant wait to meet her!

better late than never,

I always come look at everyone else's blogs and figured i should really update um all 2 of you? this could be a very long post!

1. we moved into our new house a couple months ago, we love living on this side of the island its always sunny and happy. we have good neighbors and all access pool that park cant get enough of! He loves to play with our neighbor whom everyone calls bumsy (including parker)



2. when we had our first dr. appt they thought the baby was to small to keep an original due date of oct. 21 and moved it to oct. 31. we are now expecting a little Halloween baby. I am now 18 weeks pregnant and we are just a few shy weeks of knowing the sex! we can not wait!



this is what my belly looked like at 5 weeks pregnant


this is 18 weeks


18 weeks

3. Chase is going to the board on the 21 of June to become a SGT! we are so proud of him. he is a little nervous but i know he will be just fine!

4. Chases unit is scheduled to deploy AGAIN this Nov. he is going to turn in his packet to go back to AIT for counter intel. if all goes well he will not deploy and we will move to Arizona this fall.

5. Parker saw a buzzlightyear costume at the Disney store and asked everyday "can i have that buzz light year finger?" (the gloves that came with the costume) i finally caved and ever since, it has been his favorite thing to ware.





6. last but not least.... my little boy woke up fine this morning, but low and behold this evening he has a watery, swollen, gooey eye. it could be a number of things like a clogged duct or something bothering his eye or that his mother keeps wiping it and could be irritating it more... but i think its pink eye... which is caused by alot of different things but im still not quite sure where he would have picked it up... anyways it is labor day so nothing but the acc is open and the pharmacy is closed which is where we would get the drops to cure the infection so i have to let it go tonight pray its better in the morning if not, its to the pediatrician and eye drops for park... which will be a nightmare! i feel so bad for the little guy but he is not complaning at all! unless i come after him with a cotton ball! I feel like i have to wash everyones hands every ten min. and sanitize everything! im so worried that it will get to his other eye or mine or chases (seems inevitable tho, we are his parents) i am thinking that once we get the drops im going to have to wash all his toys his bedding, door handles and ect. (ill ask the dr) chase would call me a worry wart. chase on the other hand said he would not mind if he got it,,, quarters for him for 48 hrs if that happens. which means basically a snow day from work. ill just keep praying it goes away tonight!