Mommy Musings

It's the end of April, and I'm linking up one last time with Nikki for the 30 Miles in 30 Days Challenge!  This post covers all of the end of April, starting back on April 18th.  Nikki gave us a few extra days to get in more miles! I didn't really push myself as much as I would have liked.  A lot of that had to do with my endoscopy and not feeling so great for a few days after.  Also, there were a lot of days that Skip was working so I had to fit in a workout at home, and couldn't run.  So here's my breakdown for the rest of April: Thursday 4/18 - 3 miles on the elliptical Friday - 2 mile run Saturday - Ab workout {no miles} Sunday - Shred level 2 {no miles} Monday - Kickboxing workout {no miles} Tuesday - 2.5 mile run Wednesday - 2 mile run Thursday 4/25 - Endoscopy {no working out} Friday - 2 mile run Saturday - Ab workout {no miles} Sunday - 2.5 mile walk Monday  - Strength training {no miles} Today - Now, I haven'...

It's Monday...raining...chilly...and I've been solo parenting all weekend....so a list is all you're getting today - So I'm all recovered from my endoscopy, well almost.  The actually procedure was so much easier than I thought it would be.  But my throat has been on fire for the past few days.  Doc says that's normal up to a week though... awesome. - My doc said everything looked good, but they did take one biopsy.  I swear there are few things in the world that can strike such fear in a person in just a single word.  Biopsy being one of them.  I get my results in about a week.  Fingers crossed .  - I had to fast before my procedure.  So obviously I was dreaming up all the different food I wanted once it was done.  After much deliberating, I finally decided on ribs and onion rings...you know, the perfect post-endoscopy treat.  I'm an idiot sometimes. - We're going to be doing some re-configuring of things around the hous...

I've talked about my love of Cafe Press before .  It is a company I have used for years and really believe in.  Every product I have ever received is of the highest quality and I have been nothing but pleased. As I said in my last post , I had a really difficult time trying to decide what to review this time.  There were a few hoodies and sweatshirts I had my eye on, as well as a Marine Corps coffee mug for Skip. But when I saw these pajamas, I knew I had to have them!!  I mean seriously , how perfect are these for me.  Photo taken from Cafepress.com The t-shirt fits me perfectly and I love that it is longer and contoured, not baggy like most pajama tops can be.  It is made with 100% cotton.  I washed and dried {in the dryer} this shirt several times.  There has been no shrinking and the decal still looks as perfect as the day I got it in the mail.  The pajama pants are the perfect shade of pink, and so soft .  They're warm enough...

I am hopefully spending the day resting after getting good news about my endoscopy.  I plan on taking full advantage of an excuse to just lie around and relax for two days.   But I cannot leave you all without nothing, so I share with you a picture of the cutest grumpy face I have ever seen. It's so sad that this girl has no personality;-)

I am anxiously awaiting to head out for my endoscopy today.  I have been dreading this for months now, but at least it's finally here.  I couldn't eat anything after midnight, could only have clear liquids from midnight till 6:30, and then nothing, nada, not even a sip of coffee .  The food thing I can do without, but this whole "no caffeine at all this morning" thing is killing me.  I'm tired and have a massive headache... a real treat to be around, let me tell you . And I know this isn't a big deal, and there are so many worse things I could go through than not being able to have coffee.  But I'm so scared that they're going to find something really bad and so focusing on stupid little things help. Anyway, while you're keeping me in your good thoughts {please!}  head over to Melissa's blog!!   I've taken it over today to talk about being a cop wife.  Go check me out!

As I've mentioned on here several times before, Skip has a strange schedule.  He works rotating shifts, so one week he'll be working in the morning, and the next week he'll be on nights.  The whole thing is pretty confusing, but actually works out pretty nice for our family. I do miss that we can't sit down to dinner as a family every night with Skip.  But that doesn't stop the girls and I from doing it.  Sure, most of those nights dinner consists of leftovers or cereal.  But it's not as much about what we're eating but just sitting down spending time together.  I love that I get this time with the girls...just me and my little ladies.  I love hearing what they have to say.  I love the way Emmy really takes care of her sister.  And they're at least contained to one spot which helps :) I do feel bad for Skip though, that he has to miss out on these little moments with the girls, sharing a meal with him.  But thankfully we live in such a ...

Charlie woke up in the middle of the night recently.  This is pretty rare for her these days, but she's been cutting some more teeth, so we totally understood.  I brought her in bed with us for some snuggles while Skip went to get her some juice.  There are few things I love more than sweet, sleepy, cuddles.  Though cute chubby thighs are not far behind!!

I simply love watching Emmy interact with her little friends from school.  It is so cute to hear their little conversations and the way they play together.  We obviously don't get to see too much while she's at school, but we've been lucky enough to go to a few birthday parties for her friends.  And those are simply precious .  A few weekends ago, Emmy had one of these parties to attend.  I was off for the day with my Marine's Girls, so Skip just took her.  The party was at a local Chuck E Cheese, and Emmy was beyond excited since she'd been there once before. Even though I didn't get to witness her running around with her little buddies, Skip kept me up to date with a whole bunch of pictures.  I'm so happy I got to see the joy on her face!! OMG She's eating pizza!!! I think we all want to make this face when we're eating cake 

I have yet to blog about the horrible acts that took place in Boston last Monday.  Mainly because I can't wrap my mind around it yet. The world has become a scary scary place.  Bombings, plant explosions, manhunts, cities being shut down....all in a week. It's all too much sometimes.  We all have personal battles that seem hard to bear sometimes, and then it seems as though the world is crashing down around us. But every day we get up, we get dressed, we go through the motions.  We might be a little more cautious, a little more scared, a little sadder.  But still we go on.  We don't always want to, but we do. We put one foot in front of the other and somehow make it through another minute, another hour, another day.  We'll never be the same again, but we do, somehow , find the strength to go on. I leave you now with two quotes I found on Pinterest that really help during the hard times.  It's something we call all take a moment to remember today...

I don't know about your kids, but my girls absolutely love  bath time.  And since we bathe them at the same time now, it's like a splash party constantly.  Skip and I are always on the look out for a new fun toy for them to play with while they soak, so I was so excited to receive the Nuby Tub Time Turtle.  It is one of their new toys! According to Nuby, the Tub Time Turtle "is another fun and interactive bath time toy from Nuby.  Tub Time Turtle floats on the water's surface so it is always within easy reach.  Lift Tub Time Turtle out of the water to experience waterfall fun!" This bright-colored toy is such a great addition to the girls bath time experience.  It is whimsical and durable.  It has been tossed around our tub with less than gentle care and shows only a slight show of wear and tear in the coloring.  It does in fact float on top of the water, and the waterfall effect is not only fun, but practical too!  The girls t...

Emmy had been getting better about coming into our room at night to sleep recently, but this week she's reverting back a bit.  Normally it's not too bad, but Monday night, I was just drained.   I had worked out hard, got a lot of fresh air, and was feeling an overwhelming sadness over the horrific bombing in Boston. Skip and I headed up to bed a little after 11:00pm { which is actually pretty early for us } I can never seem to turn my brain off right away, so it was just after midnight before I drifted off.  I woke up about 20 minutes later when Emmy came in.  I thought she would just curl up and go back to sleep, like she normally does.... but Emmy had other ideas. Two hours later she had gone to get a drink, gone to the bathroom, gotten a few more toys from her room, taken off her pj pants cause she was too hot, and kicked my in the kidneys about 1,000 times.  I was so tired .  I knew our alarm would be going off to get up in only four hours.  It wa...

I'm excited to be linking up with Nikki again for the weekly check-in for the 30 miles in 30 days challenge!! This challenge is really pushing me to not only workout every day, but to work out harder and harder each time.  I've also gotten back into running which I hate with a passion love! So here's my breakdown this week: Thursday - Six Pack Abs {no miles} Friday - Ripped in 30 level 1 {no miles} Saturday - 2.5 mile run/walk Sunday - 2. 5 mile run Monday - 2. 5 mile run Tuesday - 4.5 mile run/walk Wednesday - 2 mile run/walk Weekly mileage: 14 miles {half a mile longer than last week April total so far: 42!!!! I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for having not only reached 30 miles already, but surpassed it.  With another 12 days in the month I was hoping to get to 50 miles, but I might even be able to pass that as well! What workouts have you been doing recently?  Have they changed now that it's finally warmer around here?

I'm excited to share the following article with you: Your Biggest Investment {Hint: It's not your House or Car} from My Job Chart .  I always just assumed that our house or cars were our biggest investment.  I sadly never even factored in our kids!  And I have two of them!  I was literally shocked to read that it costs $295,000 to raise ONE child from birth to age 17.   What I love most about this article from My Job Chart is that it doesn't just tell you about how kids are the biggest investment, it also gives you tips on how to get the most out of the investment.   I especially related to the topics of making kids aware of money and don't cultivate entitlement, tie work to reward.  These are things we have already started practicing with Emmy and will soon do with Charlie. So if you have kids, or are thinking of having kids in the future, make sure to check out the following article from My Job Chart ! In Honor of Financial Literacy Month, Stop Ove...

Last Sunday I was able to take a day to myself, sans babies , and spend a little time with my Marine's Girls...the girls who were my "battle buddies".   M is pregnant with her first baby, a sweet little girl , and I headed down to South Jersey to shower her and the baby with a few gifts and lots of love.   It was so nice to get out of the house, throw on a new dress, and spend time with some of my most favorite girls ever.  And like I've said before, each new life given to one of our veterans, just brings a tear to my eye and reminds me of how lucky and blessed we all are. I probably could have done without all the traffic on the way home {stupid Jersey} but at least I got to roll down the windows and blast whatever music I wanted:)

I am so excited that Becky is having this link-up today!  I've been wanting Skip to do a guest post on here for a while, but he could never figure out what to write about...so this is just perfect!  So without further ado here is the very first blog post by my man Skipper:) Hello ladies! (and random guy who googled "how to clean grout") I have been told that my task today is to share something with the blog community that NOBODY knows about Mandy.  Now, I thought long and hard about this and I realized that while you all know her as Mommy Mandy, the beautiful, thoughtful, warm hearted, loving mother, and devoted wife... there is something she does not share on her blog.  Through the process of thinking up a topic that has to do with her blog, carefully crafting her words, editing and then re-editing her posts, and then finally posting, the dialogue and narrative of her blog does not truly represent her... shall we say, actual speaking voice.  For ...