Bipartisan European Adventure

soon we are about to embark 

on 

a 

bipartisan european adventure

(because my dad and step mom are joining us

i titled it 

a play off my maiden name 

and 

my married name

besides we all know you have to have a good hashtag)

here's a brief synopsis of our trip

21 days

most on the road

traveling from venice

to

munich

to 

prague

to 

brussels

to 

london

to 

normandy

to

paris

to geneva

back to italy

then 

a one day laundry day

back on a train

to rome

for more travel

all with a toddler

(whose potty training/trained gasp!)

it's the last hurrah to get everything knocked off our bucket list before we move back to the states

i've planned it all

i have an itinerary

activities planned almost to the minute

after our trip

i will post all my tips

our full itinerary 

(i am not posting now because it includes dates....gotta be safe ya know!)

it will be fun

it will be trip of a lifetime!

for now i leave you with 

packing tips

because we won't be in one place longer than three days

i am packing in ziplock bags

it's easier to pull out one bag then dump out all the clothes looking for something

for the toddler

i did one outfit in a bag

socks, outfit, panties

for the adults

i bagged by item

ex socks in one bag

underwear in one bag

shirts in bags

(i know this isn't a fully packed suitcase. 

eventually it was fully packed)

you get the idea

here's to making memories

and seriously

i may put this project on my resume....

love love from aviano!

surviving facebook, overseas, and the military

I was one of the original Facebookers.... you know the ones who joined when you had to have a university email address... yep that's me.... (I understand I am dating myself) but knowing that you will understand the following post.

Facebook means something totally different to me than it did in college.  When you HAD to have a university email address Facebook was way to be a part of the "cool club". It was a way to proclaim "YES I attend college!!"  Facebook has since evolved..... and boy have I had to "catch up with the times".  After college I rarely got on Facebook. In fact during college I didn't get on Facebook often. I mean I didn't have an iPhone (they really weren't around then, again dating myself) and my blackberry didn't have a Facebook app (yes, I proudly sported a blackberry that I really had no need for).  Fastfoward a  few years (you can do the math based on the few timeline clues I have left you) and a different lifestyle than college.  I am now living this life known as a "Military wife" and man oh man... Facebook is something else! It's can become a breeding ground for drama, instability, and pure evil. I figured to make life easier for future military wives, I would comply a list of 5 ways to survive Facebook, living overseas, and the military.

1. Join the spouse page/group but rarely post! troll troll troll.......

Every base has a spouse page/group. Some have multiples.  Heck, at the base I am at, there is a group if you are left handed or have a mole over your right cheek.... just kidding, but there is seriously a group for EVERYTHING! Join the group. Utilize the little search icon and search your questions.... DO NOT POST!!! Well I mean you can post but more than likely you will get 100 different answers or 100 of the same answers or somebody saying please refer to the post made three days ago about topic x.

 

See that nice highlighted magnify glass... Utilize that!!!! And of course troll the page, because frankly if you are overseas, TV entertainment is limited to AFN and this will bring you more laughs and "oh mys" than any Real Houswives episode.

2. You DO NOT have to be friends with everyone in the squadron

Seriously folks it isn't necessary to send out friends requests with everyone you meet on base! You MAY learn you don't want to be their "friend" then defriending becomes awkward. Privacy is a thing of the past these days so protect what little is left!!!

Get to know the base, give out your phone number, email address, anything but take time to get to know people before you start clicking that "add friend" button!! 

3. You DO NOT have to be friends with the Active Duty Members in your sponsors squadron! 

This is something that baffles me ALL THE TIME!!! Ok, so I understand you want to be friends with the spouse because that means you get invited to all the 31, Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, etc parties BUT why do you feel the need to be friends with the Active Duty member? The military was founded on the lines of respect, rank, etc.... I feel (again this is my opinion, it is my blog) that these lines have become so cloudy and mucky! Is it so hard now a days to keep work and friends separate?  I can almost guarantee you that if the spouse posts pictures or a status update she/he will tag the Active Duty member in the post so there really isn't' a need to be friends with EVERYONE! And then this gets back to what if you really DON'T want to know what's going on in someone's marriage and you are friends with both.... again defriending = awkward situation! There is NO need for me to be friends with any active duty member in my husband's squadron.  He's friends with them so if I need to get a hold of someone, I ask him too.  I get so tired of military talk anyway, I don't want to see it on my newsfeed... but again, maybe that's just me.

4. People are CRUEL! They WILL use Facebook against you.
There are some people out there that are just plain mean and Facebook doesn't have a "mean detector" unfortunately.  Mean people take screen shots and send to people that have no business seeing screenshots.  We all "air our dirty laundry" at some point or another on Facebook. It's easy to do and it's instant. We LOVE instant gratification BUT people DO NOT know how to keep their nose in their own business!!! 

TRUST ME FOLKS!!! This reverts back to the whole watch who you are friends with business.

5.  Restricted Profile, Lists, Blocking= HALLELUIAH!!! 
 Ok, so you made a bad choice in accepting or requesting a friend and you do not want to go through that awkward phase of defriending because well you didn't listen to number 2 or 3 and befriended your sponsor supervisor and supervisor's wife. Well, folks, facebook has answered another one of our cries for help!! Learn to use restricted profile! You still "appear as friends" but they have limited access to your posts! If you are REALLY daring organize your friends into "lists" and only allow certain "lists" to see certain posts. BUT remember whose on these lists because you could post something on the wrong "lists" (I prefer restricted profile, simpler, and I don't have to remember anything). The of course if there is that one "friend" that just won't leave you alone (we all have met him/her) you can defriend then block! This is a little extreme, but trust me folks, sometimes it has to be utilized!!

Facebook can be GREAT!! I love the fact that I can stay in touch with my college and high school friends back home (the cool club that had Facebook when only university email address holders could get it) and that I can stay in touch with my parents, grandparents, cousins, etc.  I post too many pictures of my daughter, too many surveys, and too many news articles.  Facebook, overall has been good to me, BUT Facebook has also taught me a lot about what society is turning or has turned into.  If you delay friend requests, you may actually sit down and TALK to people, enjoy coffee, get to KNOW the person from their mouth, not simply from there 50 plus photo albums on Facebook. For those future military spouses or current military spouses, seriously the cheesy AFN commercial is our reality.  Safeguard your privacy! Very little is left in today's society!!  And enjoy being "old school" and MAKING friends by conversation, not just clicking "add friend".

Now I must go enjoy a glass of wine and troll our spouse page because frankly nothing is on AFN right now!!

Love Love from Aviano!  

 

new internet: new blog (sorta)

welcome to italia

land of wine

chocolate

and very very slow internet

people 

i love to blog

but 

it would take 

hours 

to upload 

a few

like 2-3 

pictures

but 

today 

we took the plunge and switched to a new service

so 

my hope is to blog more

because i know you miss me

what have we been up to since december

in no particular order:

we've celebrated a birthday 

a few actually but one very important one

we've been to the park for the first time!

we've had a first christmas!

 

and we've been promoted

 well my better half was

it's been a wonderful few months!

and 

yes the internet is much faster!

it took 7 minutes to upload these pics

so i leave you 

with one final picture  

love love from aviano

facebook couple pages!

i  heard about

facebook’s

‘new’

feature

a week or so ago

they know have

‘couple’

pages

so if you are linked to someone

via a relationship

then

facebook generates a page for you and your loved one

how nice of them

but i couldn’t find that page

until today

so

go to your facebook page

type in the url

www.facebook.com/us

and

voila

there is your couple page

sorry honey

it’s officially official

after almost 9 years of marriage

we are really in a relationship

because facebook says so

and it is never official

until it is on facebook

right?

 **

and because it is december

and 

i love christmas

enjoy

a picture of our daughter 

 

 discovering the tree for the first time!

love love from aviano

unexpected packages

the mail has been 

sloooooow

well almost at a standstill 

because of 

hurricane sandy

(most of our mail goes through new york)

but today

i got an unexpected package

from a dear friend

one who i call my soul sister

one who always seems to find the perfect gifts

that speak to your heart

 

thank you devon

we miss you too!!!

(and we will hurry home!!)

  

new look new title

notice a change?

a new look!

a new title!

thank you holly!!!!

now i must try to organize 

and blog more...

 for today though

i leave you with this 

 

my two favorite veterans

God Bless Our Veterans 

but she's a preemie...

i've debated writing this post for some time

but

i've always said i'd be an open book

and 

an open book i will be

i'm going to try and streamline this post

but it's a very difficult

post 

and composed of many aspects

so bear with me if i take a left turn somewhere

i promise to try and make some sense

let me precede this post with this thought

i was never diagnosed with 
{post partum depression}

nor do i think i had it

and i don't want to make light of it

post partum depression is a very serious illness

and 

those who think they are suffering from it should seek medical attention

before i ever had emerson

a good friend warned me about 

"baby blues"

she explained they last about two weeks 

and

you cry for no reason at all

it's just hormones getting adjusted

this was the best pregnancy advice i received

i didn't realize it at the time 

but 

when the "baby blues" hit me

i was so thankful i knew what was going on with my self

emerson was 7 weeks early

some may say

"that's not that premature"

(in fact i have been told that)

but

to those i respond

"whether she was one week early or 10 weeks she spent time in the nicu which was the scariest part of her birth"

then the follow up appointments occur

and with each appointment

i am reminded by some medial professional

"well remember she is premature"

a part of me wants to yell 

"um yea i know i was there"

but i bite my tongue

and just nod

and because she was premature

you are informed of all the risks she is subjected to

like developmental delays

cognitive delays

etc

and at aviano

they send a physical therapist out

once a month

to make sure your premature baby

is 

developing normally

for me 

that means once a month

i am reminded that i failed to carry full term

there is certain guilt that comes with a premature baby

(at least i experienced a guilt)

my only job

was to carry this wonderful creature for 40 weeks

(or at least 36)

and i felt like a failure

and when you are reminded of it constantly

you can't help but feel the guilt over and over and over again

and i can't speak for parents of term babies

maybe they experience a guilt as well

when something goes wrong

or the doc observes something abnormal

but for me

even the simplest thing as a weight check

became a guilt fest 

even though she's gaining so well

so for those who are pregnant 

i warn you about baby blues

and 

if/when you find yourself crying 

because you still can't eat gelato

(yes i cried because gelato still made me sick)

or

your husband didn't put the trash bag in the trash can just the right way

know that this too shall pass

also

for those who have preemies 

or babies in the nicu 

hang in there

talk to someone about any guilt you have

try to find a support system with other parents in the nicu

we did

even though it was an italian hospital 

there were two other american families

so we had a nice support system

and

love on your baby!

me lovin' on my baby!!

what's that on her face?!?!?: a lesson in infant dermatology

there isn't a day that goes by

that someone doesn't ask

"what's that on her face?"

a part of me wants to reply

"what on her face? i don't see anything"

then the nice person

the not rude person

wants to take the opportunity to educate

and inform

the questioning person 

of her birthmark

known as a hemangioma

hemangiomas

are birthmarks

that are more likely 

to occur in

caucasian

females

who are premature

hello emerson!

at birth they usually aren't visible

but about 2-4 weeks after birth they become apparent

which in her case

we thought it was from the tape of the ng tube

but within a week or so after that it became bigger

and a week after that even bigger

and today it's even bigger

(happy two months sweetie!!!)

but they

tell me this is normal

and that the birthmark will go away on its own

however

there are 

treatments

ranging from

beta blockers

laser surgery

and 

surgical removal

because her spot

is 

ulcerated

and

close to her eye

more than likely we will treat it 

we meet with the dermatologist

this week

to determine a treatment plan

but

her spot will

most likely

go away

with or without treatment

so there is your lesson in infant dermatology!

happy monday

and

happy 2 months to our sweet emmi!

horizontal day 5...meet the parole board

last week 

i was handed this

and i accepted my fate

with little to no apprehension

the past week i've 

laid around,

read some books,

watched some tv

caught up on shreddingf

and 

for the most part

not broke the 1-2 hour rule 

that the docs set in front of me

today

i had a meeting with 

the parole board

aka the docs

i did my hair 

put on some makeup

even shaved my legs

and for anyone who's been pregnant 

you know shaving your legs in the third trimester 

is nothing less than impressive!

hoping to receive

  and i did!!!!!!

sorta

the doc said i could go back to work

but with restrictions

i had to continue to 

'take it easy'

so that marathon i was planning on running

yep not going to happen

seriously you think i wanna run a marathon?!?

no heavy lifting

no vigorous walking

no heavy cleaning

and 

i get to see their smiling faces

twice a week

to continue to monitor

i was elated!!! 

i went to the school 

told the kiddos

who greeted me with a surprise

and

       get well/take care cards!!!

love those kiddos!!!!

so monday i will go back to work

woohoo!!!

and 

take it a week at a time!

and take it easy as well!

  

horizontal...day 4

day four

let me tell you this being on bedrest

as modified as it is

is for the dogs

they seem to be doing better at resting than me

so what have i done

in day 2

and in day 3

to keep me busy

i know you are dying to know

because it is oh so exciting!

remember in 

{day one} 

i mentioned my hour or two of freedom was to be spent at a bible study?

well that didn't happen

maik decided i was better off in bed

and as i was leaning over 

to put on my boot

he jumped on the bed

and 

wham!

i am now modeling cover girl's new spring color

"lights out"
i am not a fan of the color 
please don't invest in it

so that brings us to day two

and 

i decide to spend my hour

grocery shopping

yep, exciting i know!!!

day three

this is the good stuff folks

i tackle my mountain of shredding

that i have put off for about a year now

the problem was i kept blowing fuses

another great thing about living oconus

and i am too cheap to buy a 220 shredder

but
alas

the shredding is done!!!

woohoo!!!!

i feel so accomplished

today

day 4

i am breaking free!

for an hour or two

promise

and having lunch with a dear friend

and a really smart one year old little girl

however, 

i may forget my watch!