Clarity

Maybe in my previous post about my choice for President I didn't post enough reasons why I choose McCain. Therefore I want to add that I am not voting for him based on being in the military. I would be voting for him regardless of what my husband does for a living. I have heard that McCain isn't for all of the military. He voted against this and that or didn't support certain things. I never claimed that I agree with everything he's ever done. I just feel he's the better choice for President. One of those reasons is that I am against abortion and stem cell research on embryos. Obama supports both of these things, which was a big strike against him in my book. I have always been VERY against abortion. I have heard several reasons why people validate abortion: rape, down syndrome, being too young, not having financial security. While I haven't been in any of these predicaments, I still don't agree they are good enough reasons to end a life. Yes, I believe that at conception life begins. No one will ever change my mind about that. I have posted before that I had a mentally retarded brother. Had my mother believed in abortion he may have been here for 15 months. While I know it was a hard time for my family, I know my mother would not have given that time up for anything. I would have never had a brother, my precious sweet little brother.

My feeling is that you should give your child up for adoption if you don't feel you can handle raising them. I have several friends that don't have the luxury of having children biologically. As a matter of fact, one of my friends is going to be adopting a baby boy in a month and a half. She and her husband were never able to conceive. The lady that is pregnant with him already has 5 children. She and her husband don't have enough money to raise the baby so they are giving him up. She said she didn't believe in abortion so she decided to give him up to family that can support him. My friend is over the moon that she finally gets to become a mother. Why should a child be killed because their biological parent can't or doesn't want to support them. So many people out there want a baby (yes even the ones with disabilities). My husband and I are still considering adoption in a few years. I just don't understand how you can support abortion or the use of embryos for stem cell research. Yes I know that stem cells can help save people from diseases, but why should it be at the expense of another life. An embryo is a life. It makes me so angry when people say that life doesn't begin until a baby is born. My son was born and only took 3 breaths. In his death paperwork it states he was stillborn. I still believe the hospital was wrong for labeling him that way because as far as I know taking a breath means you are alive, right?? Well since he was labeled stillborn, he was never given a birth certificate. Therefore to some people he was never considered to be alive. If that is true then how did he kick and move around in my belly? A plant is considered alive and it doesn't have that ability. How does that make sense? Like I said no one can change my mind on this subject. In truth it is one of issues I look at first before choosing my candidate each election year. I know there are bigger issues on the table, but to me it matters a lot, a whole lot. There are other reasons I am voting for John McCain, but I don't' feel I need to label each and every reason I feel that way. I just wanted to state that I have more than one issue that agree with him on. And that's all for today.

My ever shrinking family...

So the last week I have been feeling really down about my physical appearance. I am sure most people know that having a baby changes your body in so many ways. In most cases, your hips grow wider, your chest begins to sag, your feet may grow, you get stretch marks, love handles form, and your body feels and looks like something you don't recognize. Not to say all these things happened to me but some I can relate to. So now when I look in the mirror all I think is "UGH!" Truth is that I was so excited after I had Kara because I lost all most all of my weight in the first 3 weeks. I felt at the rate I was going, I would look awesome before I knew it! I just knew that my skinny jeans were a few weeks away. Then after returning to my pre-pregnancy weight, I realized my body isn't as toned as I want it to be. I have been having a hard time making it to the gym being that we only have one car now. Also, Kara is on a schedule that I don't dare try to change. She gets grumpy with change. They have a mommy and me room at the gym that I want to go to, but Kara doesn't like just sitting in her car seat anymore. I was going to start walking a few miles every night but the rain has been hindering that also. So what's a girl to do? I have been eating healthier and luckily that has been paying off a little. Up until today I had only lost 2 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight of 125. I was so frustrated that I hadn't lost any weight in the last three weeks. Finally today I dropped down to 122. I am pretty happy about it, but still have a lot of work to do to get where I want to be. I don't think I would mind being this weight if I was more toned.

Most of my family has changed their way of eating and are all doing great with it. Nick has lost a total of 19 pounds in the last 3 months. I am very proud of him because he too has been feeling down on himself. I never saw a problem with his weight but he did and now he eats healthier and works out 5 days a week. My mother-in-law has joined Weight Watchers and has lost a total of 41 pounds this summer. She has really changed her life around with her new diet and having quit smoking. My mom is eating healthier also and is about to start walking a few nights a week. I don't know her weight loss, but she's been working hard to keep herself healthier. I am so proud of my family for their accomplishments. It seems like everyone I know is trying to better themselves. It's kind of motivating to hear about everybody's accomplishments. I am still going to do my best to get myself the way I want to be. Nick and I went walking last night and I plan to keep it up as long as the weather will allow it. At this rate we may all be skinny minis next year!!

It's here, it's here!!

A few days ago when I checked the mail, I was surprised to see my absentee ballot had arrived. I had just sent out the paperwork to get it two weeks ago. I was surprised that they would mail it out so soon, but I guess they want to make sure that you have enough time to send it back before they begin counting the votes. I was so excited about it. This will only be the third time that I have voted, but I believe this may be the most important one I have done so far. Things are so crazy with this presidential race and to be honest it has me all rilled up!

I talked to an old friend today on the phone that I haven't talked to in over a year. It was so nice to catch up with her. She asked me plain and simple, "Who are you voting for?" So I told her McCain/Palin. She was very excited to hear my choice because she too is voting for them. Usually I try to stay away from talking politics with ANYONE because I am not one that likes to argue. However this year I have so many opinions on the subject and could care less whom I may offend with my thoughts. Sorry if you don't agree with my feelings on the subject. I am really going outside of my comfort zone by posting this but I need to get it out. Anyway, my friend and I began discussing the presidential race and luckily we're on the same page. I was going on about how important it is to vote, when she admitted to me that this will be the first time she's ever voted (she's a few years older than me). I think she was kind of afraid I was going to question her on it, because she told me that she never really cared about it before. While I believe everyone should vote, I will admit that I think it's dumb for people to vote without being educated on who they are voting for. So I told her that I thought she was smart for not voting before since she had no idea what the candidates stood for. It really pisses me off when people vote for someone they don't know anything about. For instance, I know someone that's voting for Obama because they want to see an African American as president, not because of what he stands for, but on that reason alone. She wants history to be made. She also jokes that he's probably going to be assassinated a few days after being elected. But anyway, that's a whole different crazy post. Either way you vote we are making history. If you vote McCain then we will have our first female vice president. I know people are really excited about making history, but I just wish people would look at the facts before going to vote. Being a military wife I can't understand how anyone would vote Obama. The man won't even say the pledge of allegiance. He's got to be one of the most unpatriotic men in America. He refuses to wear anything with the flag on it. The thought of him coming into office scares the crap out of me. I fear he will get us all blown up before it's over with. You may not agree, but that's how I see it. As I said I am a military wife and therefore have to think about how this election is going to effect my family's life. (Not that I am saying the military is the only ones that matter, I would NEVER be like that). It's just that we live in a foreign country, not too far from North Korea might I add, because of being military. We can't have someone in office that thinks we can just pull out of this war without consequences. No, I am not all about the war. In truth, I hate it. I've had to send my husband over there more times than I ever imagined. But I do believe it needs to be settled somewhat before we pull out all of our troops. It is very important that we have someone in office that's willing to protect our country and what it stands for. I do not feel that Obama is that man. I have been researching on both McCain and Obama's official websites as to what they believe in and what their plan is for our country. I have heard a lot of people saying they want a change in America. Somehow they seem to believe Obama's change is going to be a good one. I am not that optimistic when it comes to him being our president. Something about him really freaks me out. Am I alone in this? What do you feel on the subject? I am not trying to tell anyone how to vote in November. I just want people to be informed before they make their decision. I don't believe you have to vote someone only in your party of choice. I don't believe you should vote someone based on their age, race, sex, or looks. However, I do believe you should vote for the candidate that's going to do their best to keep our country safe and make our economy better. Get educated people and then get out there and vote!!!!

Pretty Little Pixie

Being that Halloween is almost here, I decided to do a test run with (one of) Kara's costume. I think she's the cutest little Tinkerbell. I got our dog Tinkerbell a costume to match but it hasn't come in the mail yet. I wanted to get Anakin the Peter Pan costume but it didn't come in extra small so I am still on the hunt for something cute for him to be. I can't wait to take their picture together, assuming that Tinkerbell with calm down long enough for me to do so. I tried playing a little with my photo shop yesterday but being that I am a rookie at it, I was only able to do a few things. I guess I need to invest in a book to help me. I also got a few of her in her monkey costume:

After about 2 minutes in it she was screaming her head off. It is a pretty hot suit so lets just hope it's cold Halloween night. If not I have reserves with the Tinkerbell costume and the Snow White Costume that my BFF is sending her in the mail. I know, I know why all the costumes? Well, I really like dressing her up and wanted her to have different outfits for the Halloween party and Halloween night. She must be in style at all times. Ha Tell me what you think of her pics.

Some new pages to share

It's been a while since I shared some scrapbook pages so I decided to add some today. I have been trying to get at least one page done each day, which unfortunately doesn't always happen. Some of these I have done recently, some a few months ago. Tell me what you think of them. I am really trying to use more than one pattern sheet on each page. It has been a real struggle for me but I am getting better at it. Scrapbooking is my FAVORITE thing to do, besides playing with my sweet baby girl. I will try to post some new pics of her soon. Have a good weekend!!

So Proud

I just want to post these pics of some scrapbook layouts that my mom did recently. She is new to scrapbooking and wanted to get my approval, as if I was a professional at it. HA! Truth is the first pages I did are no where near as good at these. Heck some of my recent ones may not be this good. I am so very proud of my mother for picking up on my hobby and running with it. She has done a great job, hasn't she? I think my favorite is the one of Kara and Maddy. What a cute idea!! I LOVE scrapbooking so much and wish I had more time to do it. I have introduced so many people to it, man if only I could have made some money that way. Really I love to see people get interested in doing it. I get on a little high each time one of my family members or friends starts it. I hope that I can keep spreading the interest in it, because it is just that FUN!! Great job mom, keep up the good work.

Bios on the hill

My husband is home!! On Saturday we went with Nick's friend, Steve and his family to a place here on Okinawa that I hadn't ever heard of called, "Bios on the hill". It was actually a pretty cool. We went on a boat ride that was nice. It had the coolest playground that I have ever seen, besides the rope one we took Maddy to here a few months ago. They had these really awesome swings that I fell totally in love with. I always loved to swing when I was a little girl! Kara seemed to like it too! As you can tell from the pictures she is enjoying having her Daddy back. They are so cute together. She thinks some things he does are funny and she likes to look at him and smile. We went to the beach after the park but just for about half an hour. We didn't bring swim suits or anything so we just hung out and let Kara put her feet in the sand. She really seemed to like it. She's such a happy little baby, until nap time and then she's crazy! Last night we gave her prunes for the first time and she LOVED them. I couldn't believe it. She's growing so fast and always so entertaining. I will be posting more pictures soon! I hope you are having a good week!

Monkeys, monkeys everywhere!

Here are all the monkey clothes I have bought for Kara in the past few weeks. It's kind of funny that these are all new clothes that just came out. I have been having a love for the pink/brown combination for a while now. It all just worked out so well. The little blue shirt that says, "Mommy's little monkey" was actually for boys but I had to get it. You can't really tell. I think girls can wear blue too. She's going to be so cute in these clothes!!!