Whole30....Take 2

Remember that crazy 30 days of super clean eating I did in July?

The Whole30 Challenge? 

WELL...I'M DOING IT AGAIN FOLKS!!!!

I felt so awesome after July that I can't think of a better way to start off the year. (Remember THIS blog post? It's only my most read post EVER! Well that sums up WHY I would want to do this again.)

This time I'm leading most of the members of Nomad Fitness and some other friends through it as well!

Misery loves company, right?

This kind of sums up Week 1....

Not like we don't get enough of each other already...all of my friends are already here pretty much every day to workout - and well, now we eat dinner together every night too. 

Some say I've started a CULT....

Hmmm...a cult - I mean we just work out together, live next to each other, celebrate holidays together, see each other every day, and now we are sticking to the same crazy food challenge for 30 days, and eating dinner together every night. 

Awesome...YES!

Cultish? Maybe - I'll let you be the judge. 

But hey - I could think of worse things to build a cult around than CLEAN EATING and WORKING OUT! 

You just wish you were a part of my cult too. Admit it.

In all seriousness though. We did the July Whole30 HORRIBLY WRONG.
We did it all alone, which kind of isolated us from hanging out with friends and being social.

This time though....THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT!

One of my friends suggested we start a Whole30 Supper Club to help us get through the 30 days.

GENIUS.

5 nights a week we go to someone else's house to eat dinner.
1 night a week you host dinner for the group.
1 night a week you're on your own.

One of my biggest complaints about the Whole30 was all of the cooking. Cooking, cooking, cooking...followed by cleaning, cleaning, cleaning...it never ended.

Well, let me tell you - this is SO MUCH EASIER. 5 nights people...5 nights a week I get to walk right down the street, or drive a whole 2 minutes, to a friends house and get treated to a delicious Whole30 approved meal. No prepping, no cooking, no cleaning. AMAZEBALLS.

We are either going to LOVE or HATE each other in 26 more days.

We are 4 days down and I would say we are closer than ever. Especially after last night's episode of someone almost choking to death on a piece of steak.

No joke. That happened.

We are willing to give our LIVES for the Whole30.

So yeah...about that whole cult thing...hmmm, I guess now it's starting to sound suspicious, even to me.

Okay, but for real, I'm sure you want to know what happened. Well, I noticed one of our friends was seriously choking, through everyone else was too busy enjoying their flank steak and chimichurri sauce to notice.

After calling attention to it I told Andrew to give him the Heimlick maneuver. Andrew gave it a few tries...to no avail. It just wasn't working and time was ticking away.

So this is where I REALLY show my absolute confidence in my husband.

I said, "Move over, let Brian do it!"

Brian is one of my strongest best CrossFitters. So of course I was all, GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU WEAKLING...let a CROSSFITTER finish this job and save this man's life!

(I didn't really say that - but I definitely implied that)

(Oh and I'm just kidding Andrew. I think you are strong and sexy as hell - especially when you do things like open the jars I can't open, empty the dishwasher, or get up at 2AM with the baby so I can sleep because I have to coach at 5AM. Sexiest husband EVER)

My husband is a stud.

One of my CrossFitters saw Andrew in his underwear today at 5AM. She was on the porch busting her ass doing the WOD and said, "I just saw Andrew in his underewear."

Nothing breaks your concentration like seeing a real live Sasquatch or Sasq'watts' in his underwear...

I'm pretty sure Andrew was oblivious to all of this....

I said, "Oh yeah...my sexy beast husband? Lucky you."

Her reply, "Well he was making a bottle for Davis...so that's pretty sexy."

Me: "Yes, yes it is"

Taking care of a crying baby so I can work does wonders for Andrew....wonders I tell ya.

Alright enough about my husband.

If you want to join this Whole30 Challenge drop me a note. Day 4 and I'm feeling AWESOME!

If you want to join my "cult"....drop me a line because there aint no other cult as awesome as mine!

and That's 'Watts' She Said....

2013....Where Did You Go?

I'm BAAAACCCKKKK!!!

I know you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting for another blog post from me....and I KNOW you've been faithfully checking in every day for the past 91 days, just to see if I have something awesome and witty to share with you. 

(Yes I just pulled up my calendar and counted that out for you - 91). 

Sadly, I've been disappointing you. But hey - life is busy over here! I can hardly make time to shower.

 That's not a joke. I realized the other day it had been 3 DAYS. Gross, I know. You know you're jealous. My husband loves it. Not really. It's gross. New Years Resolution #1...Shower More.

Back to the point...91 days though - seriously? 91 DAYS?! Time has FLOWN by since I last posted in September. So many things have happened in our lives that I don't know where to begin. 

Honestly - that's one of the reasons I put it off for so long. I didn't know where to start, the beginning, the middle, the end? So many choices. So overwhelming....so I did what any good red blooded procrastinator would do. Absolutely. Nothing.

Now here I am 91 days later - facing the last few precious hours of 2013, and the thing I feel most compelled to do is BLOG. BLOG, seriously? Davis and Andrew are napping, Caden is at a friend's house....and I want to BLOG? I should be sleeping too or else I won't make it until 2014, but I felt it calling my name. 

So here I am folks. December 31, 2013.

On December 31, 2012 I had NO IDEA what a whirlwind of a year was ahead of us. I had no idea how much love, joy, stress, anxiety, sadness, and general awesomeness would be in the following year. But it was all there.

Without a doubt 2013 was UNFORGETTABLE. 

I'll spend some time catching you all up on our lives in the next few days, (New Years Resolution #2 - Blog More) - but for now I just want to take a moment to reflect on the awesomeness of 2013. 

#1: Davis McPherson Watts

  

The year started off right when this amazing stud muffin came into our lives on February 22nd.

This little dude was my hard earned prize for 40 weeks of pregnancy, 9 hours of pitocin, and a DRUG FREE VBAC. I was so proud of his beautiful birth...but that pales in comparison to how much love and joy he has brought into our lives, and how proud I am that I get to be his mommy.

He. Is. Amazing. 

This little guy is so loved by everyone. Friends, family, complete strangers...everyone loved D. He has a gift. Aside from his first 2 months where he gave everyone this face...

AKA "The Stink Eye"...he hasn't really stopped smiling. Now we purposefully try to get a bad picture of him, but every time we bring out a camera, this happens....

Can you say photogenic? I hate to toot my own horn here...but this boy clearly takes after me. Andrew turns into a tall, pale, chubby, Asian in most pictures. It's true. 

Anyways...this boy is something else. Definitely THE highlight of 2013.

#2: BAHRAIN

Let's go back to February 2013....there I am 9 months pregnant talking about our options for our next PCS with Andrew and my Mom...

Kristina: "Well, Japan and San Diego are pretty much the only places on our lists"

Andrew: "There are several jobs in both places, so we'll see, but we should get Japan, maybe San Diego"

My Mom: "What are the chances that they'll send you somewhere that ISN'T on your list?"

Andrew: "Oh, slim to none...that doesn't happen that often"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!

Fast forward a few weeks...Andrew comes home and says....

"So...yeah....what do you think of Bahrain?"

WHAT?! Bahrain?

Bahrain. 

As in

The. Middle. Freakin'. East.

Yes. Yes, that is what he meant.

So here we are. In the "Land of the Sand" - though it may be more appropriate to call it "Land of the unreal life where we have maids and live on the water and don't pay taxes."

Despite our ups and downs...we love it here. I am not going to want to move home. Ever. 

#3: Kindergarten!!!

My little boy started Kindergarten. I thought for sure I would cry as I left him in his classroom - but due to the amount of tears coming from Caden I essentially had to say,

 "Too bad...you're going - stop crying and get in there." 

and be the tough mommy. I mean, I couldn't cry WITH him, that would have been a disaster.

Can you tell he's trying SO HARD not to cry here? It was tough. 

By the end of the day he LOVED it. So I think it was just some first day jitters. 

Aside from the phase where he had an obsession with drawing penises, it's going pretty well. (No, I'm not kidding...believe me, I'll have more on that story later.)

Lucky Caden got to REPEAT his first day of Kindergarten when we got back to Bahrain. We were visiting Washington when school started so he had 2 Kindergartens! Life of a military child.

I can't believe my baby is so grown up. He's reading and writing, and making friends left and right. He is still the sweetest boy EVER and as if he could get any better....let's add

BEST BIG BROTHER EVER. 

Caden loves Davis and Davis LOVES his brother. He looks for him first thing every morning and calls him "Brov" the love flowing between them is something else. A lot of people tell me that they've never seen such a good and caring big brother. It's true. Caden is the best. As if that was every in question.

#4:  NOMAD FITNESS

  

This is the MAIN reason that I haven't really blogged since we returned to Bahrain.....

So, there aren't a lot of workout options for moms in Bahrain. Before we left for the States I started hosting some simply bodyweight WODS to see if people would even be interested in CrossFitting with me. We had about 5-10 people show interest in the first 2 weeks. After a lot of debate Andrew and I decided that I should pursue opening my own "Box" out of our villa. 

Well, if you know me - you know that once I decide to do something...I. DO. IT. 

So....Nomad Fitness was born. 

I ordered equipment, got a logo, made a rough schedule, put it out there on Facebook and prayed something good would happen. 

I

HAD

NO

IDEA

It exploded. I am so extremely blessed. Nomad has attracted the most awesome group of athletes. About 35 of them to be exact. That may not seem like a lot to you guys...but let me just say, that's my MAX. When we designed Nomad we thought, "let's just aim for 10 athletes...maybe 20 by the end of the year...30 by next October"  Hahah...I went from none to about 25 in a heartbeat. 

Here are some of us after our Turkey Day WOD!

I am proud to say that I have wait lists for my 5AM and 5PM classes, and after I put 4 people through Fundamentals this Saturday I will not really have any more space at all. Like totally booked. No. More. People. I can't handle anymore. I am only one person after all. 

The best part of all...my athletes are SEEING AMAZING RESULTS. 

People who hated running are running 5Ks in under 30 minutes (yes that's you Megan)...

others are getting their first overhead squats after years of trying...

others are getting unassisted pull ups and "real" push ups...

others are losing inches and body fat and weight...

the list goes on and on. 

These people have no idea how much they have enriched my life. I am so lucky. 

Oh, and we are doing a box-wide Whole30 in January. Let the fun begin!!!

The happy juice is flowing at Nomad....love, love, love my little business.

#5: My Dear Sweet Grandma...

Well, not everything can be all rainbows and sunshine. My dear sweet wonderful Grandma, Betty Jean Squire, passed away in November. 

I have no words for what she meant to me and for how I am still struggling to accept that this has happened. I am SO SO SO thankful that I got to see her one last time while I was home. She was so much more than a grandma. She was so feisty and loving and rotten and awesome. 

My unforgettable Grandma. There will be a post for her later - I still can't really handle it. It's so surreal here. Since I'm not in Belfair, faced with it every day, I can conveniently forget it happened. Then BAM I remember and the tears start flowing. Yesterday I got a package in the mail from my mom - it was some of my Grandma's things...they smell like her still. It aches to think about it. 

I am just so lucky to have loved her so very much. I can only hope to mean as much to my grandchildren someday. 

This woman is unforgettable. 

#6: WE SURVIVED!!!

I can't end my final blog post of the year on a sad note....that would be a total downer. So I'm going to end 2013 on a very positive note...WE SURVIVED!!!

We Survived: 

Having a Newborn

Moving Around the World

Breastfeeding

Ramadan

Our First Whole 30

127 Degree Weather and HUMIDITY

Learning to Drive on the Crazy Bahraini Roads

Another Trip Around the World to Visit Home

Visiting Home

A Wedding

Funerals

Teething

Coaching CrossFit and not being able to move for a few weeks from soreness

A Bahraini RAINSTORM (it was like the world was ending!)

A fridge full of rotten rancid meat...who doesn't love that?

Andrew leaving for 4 exercises

Being apart for my birthday, Mothers Day, Andrew's Birthday, our 1st Anniversary

Hosting Christmas for 20 people!

A foot injury

4 mice in our kitchen

A cray cray maid...

The list goes on and on and on...

2013 has been an INSANE year. Crazy insane.

I can only hope 2014 is a little calmer but just as awesome.

I mean...look at my family! How can we NOT dominate another year?!

Adorabe, right? I'm one lucky mama.

So Good Riddance 2013

DEAR 2014,

BRING. IT. ON.

Love, Me

and That's 'Watts' She Said.....

I Dare You...

I DARE YOU NOT TO LAUGH. 

Go ahead...try. 

Watch this adorable video and don't you dare laugh or smile....

I'm pretty sure it's impossible. 

Andrew doesn't think I'm funny at all - BUT Davis thinks I'm HILARIOUS!

Davis thinks I'm funny all the time. Not just when I have the hiccups - actually, he laughs at pretty inappropriate times. Like....when I'm scolding Caden, or when I drop something, or when I'm trying to be serious....that cracks him up....that and hiccups. Hiccups seem to make him laugh harder than anything ever in the world.

Such a far cry from our serious baby. The first two months of his life, all he did was Mean Mug people.

Like this.

I kind of miss that grumpy face. It was so cute.

Anyways, now he is happy and laughy....and thinks everything is SO FUNNY. He especially thought I was funny today as I was dripping in sweat trying to mail stuff at the post office on base. He was being super cranky in his carseat, so of course I ended up holding him with my left arm while I tried to fill out 3 customs slips with my right....as he's trying with all of his might to grab them and stuff them in his mouth...while his OTHER hand is firmly embedded in my hair pulling on it like there's no tomorrow. 

I was SERIOUSLY struggling and frenzied. AND of course - while he is raining terror on my attempts at getting gifts in the mail he is smiling so sweetly and cooing at the people around us. So while I am schlepping around the post office with a baby hanging from my hair (that's what it felt like) they are all, "Oh...he's SOOO cute." and talking and laughing with him. Clearly they couldn't see past the cute baby to the mommy that was trying to do with one hand what even a normal person would need 5 for. I mean, he IS cute...but in that moment all I cared about was not losing my mind.

I'm sure you moms know what I'm talking about - and really it's not that bad to have to juggle a baby, boxes, and paper - but for some reason when you are also burning up from the heat and humidity - with hair that looks like you stuck your finger in the light socket - and clothes that are sticking to you, and sweat dripping off of your face and down your crack....IT. IS. SO. MUCH. WORSE. 

Oh...and did I mention that I was STILL wearing long sleeves as well since it's Ramadan> Insanity. It's like a million degrees out. 

BUT....we survived. We always do. AND we have the cutest video of D ever. So that makes everything okay. Cute pictures and videos ALWAYS make it better.

...and That's 'Watts' She Said

Growing....

This little one is growing up WAYYYY too fast. I feel like every day he is discovering something new and exciting.

New things in the land of Davis:

1. Shoes: he wears the cutest pair of Pedipeds, and this makes him look so much older. It also accentuates how freakishly big his feet are.

2. Talking/babbling. This kid may not look like his Mommy, but man oh man does he talk like his Mommy. (aka A LOT!) Andrew is currently pouting about this. The joke is that both of my boys look nothing like me BUT, they act like me. Talkative, smiley, sensitive, and a little tiny bit dramatic. Poor Andrew. 

3. Food!!!

He wants food SOOO badly. He can't even contain himself. However, when I tried to give him some mashed up food, he spit it right out. He goes wild reaching for it and pulling it into his mouth, but then he hates it. Silly boy. We have been giving him fruit in one of those awesome mesh baby teething contraptions and he LOVES it!!! Tonight there were frozen blueberries in it, and after dropping it, he shoved his bib in his mouth and tried to get berry juice out of that. Hilarious to watch. Poor kid, we laugh at him a lot.

4. Rolling. He rolls like a boss. 

5. Playing. Tonight we were entertained by a lively game of 'Where's Brother?' Caden would hide and D would look all over the room for him, then C would jump out. D laughed, we laughed, it was awesome. UNTIL this genius decided it would be funny if Mommy, Daddy, and Caden all hid and jumped out. Yeah....he didn't like that. At.All. There were a lot of tears. So... We won't be playing that version any time soon.

6. Sleeping almost through the night. Almost.

7. Feet. He is pretty much always grabbing his feet and trying to get them in his mouth.

8. Kisses. He loves to give big slobbery wet kisses. I'm his favorite to kiss, followed closely by his big brother. He kisses Andrew sometimes, then he makes a face once he gets a mouth full of hair. 

Kissing fool.

9. New ways to play with old toys.

This is his new foot rest 

10. Brother Love. He loves all things related to his brother. Melts my heart.

That's about it. These things may seem silly, but around here it is big stuff!!!

And yes...we are still going strong on the Whole30, today is day 23!!! I feel great and am pretty sure either I'm shrinking or my clothes are growing. I'll do a recipe roundup post soon. We are still eating super delicious food every day....wish I could share it with all of you. But I can't, it would cost me more than the arm and the leg it's already costing me.

Still working on the Internet problem. AND a minor electricity problem too. See we are super lucky to have a washer AND a dryer...BUT if we run them at the same time we blow a fuse. Totally defeats the purpose. To top that off, a few days ago we woke up to the lovely surprise of our water jug being completely empty. Where was the water? 

All over our floor! 

Apparently, when the power in your kitchen blows, the water cooler stops "stopping" the water from flowing out, and just lets it run all over the floor. Heh...kind of like how my bladder stopped working after I had Davis. Yep...I had an issue with jumping rope again yesterday. Thank goodness this was only water and our floors are marble. 

and That's 'Watts' She Said....

What Happens When Your 5 Year Old Has Your Phone...

In case you were wondering what Caden was up to today....

YEP! That last one is my favorite. I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants when I saw these tonight. 

My son is special. 

I especially love how he was CLEARLY practicing different "looks" - he may not look anything like me, but he's my son for sure. 

Where was I while he was doing this? My best guess is that he took these while Andrew and I were doing our 2nd WOD (workout of the day) together today. 

That family that WODs together stays together. Right?

We decided to forget the Ramadan dress code for a little while and incorporate swimming in the canal in our WOD. It was so awesome. I mean it is WAYYYY too hot to run - so the swim allowed us to get some cardio in, and stay cool-ish. If only the canal wasn't like warm bathwater. Here's what we did

20 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible)

Swim to the bulkhead across from us and back

10 Push Ups

10 Squats

10 Pull Ups

After round 2 I looked behind me and saw Andrew on all fours on the lawn. My first thought was that he was having a heart attack. I called out to make sure he was alive and he said, "yeah, I'm just seeing stars"

Wimp. Just kidding. I mean, it's 110 degrees out and we are working out...and this is only his 2nd WOD, and maybe his 4th time working out since January. No wonder he was hurting. He finished strong though - and I'm so so so proud of him. He will be kicking these WODs butts in no time at all.

Also, he made up for last night's kitchen cleaning disaster by thoroughly and quickly cleaning the kitchen after breakfast today. What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good mannnn.....Nothing like a little Salt-N-Pepa for ya!

My awesome friend Katie sent me this gem of a text message today:

Apparently I'm NOT the only one with this problem!!!

Also - Andrew read ALL of my blog posts for the first time yesterday. If you are shocked that he hadn't read them yet...I was too! I may have been giving him a huge guilt trip. He's the king of procrastination - so I knew that the longer he put it off, the less likely he was to read it. He wanted to read it from the beginning, and I pointed out to him that each day his task is getting bigger and bigger. He first said he was going to read it after my 5th post....this is #46. Well, he did it. He read it...and his response was, 

"I love it - I'm kind of the butt of a lot of your jokes"

Poor guy. I told him that was what made it so much fun. This is MY WORLD buddy. And if I want to talk about your bathroom habits I will. Luckily, he's a good sport and doesn't mind at all. 

Our Bahrain world is clearly not very exciting right now. Sorry. 

On to the Whole30 Rundown:

Day 6. Done. We kicked it's arse. Aside from the vivid dreams I had last night about brownies, and bread and butter, and wine, and pasta, I felt great. Though I felt super guilty and panicked this morning when I woke up, I couldn't remember if it was real or not. Thank goodness it was just a dream. 

My energy was either soaring or non-existent today. According to the Whole30 experts this is due to my body trying to get used to burning fat for energy instead of the sugar that it's used to. I'll take the energy highs as a promise that things are getting better.  

So, what did we eat today? 

DAY 6

Leftover Day!

Breakfast:  Leftover Carnitas and Fajita Vegetables with Fried Eggs. 

Caden ate 3 eggs. No joke. This boy is eating like CRAZY lately. Another growth spurt, I'm sure. 

Lunch: Leftover Chicken and Steak with Chopped Broccoli Salad

Dinner: Everyday Paleo Salisbury Steak with Roasted Asparagus

We love this meal - it's one of our favorites. Delicious.

That's it. Not super exciting by any means; but today was a great day. Family, WOD'n with my husband, good food. What else do you need?

and That's 'Watts' She Said....

Whole 30 Day 5 - Kill All The Things

So when I read on the Whole 30 "What to Expect" timeline I kind of laughed about the Days 4-5, "Kill All The Things" description. "Every nerve is lit, temperance is non-existent and the only solution to the problem seems to be to Kill All of the Things." But...now that I've lived through Day 5. 

I KILLED ALL THE THINGS

I was fine on Day 4 and I was fine for most of Day 5. All was good until early on in the day, until around 4:30 when I just lost it. My poor husband, pretty sure he took the brunt of this one. How dare he offer to clean the kitchen for me and not do it fast enough?! The nerve. 

Though, seriously at the time - I was PISSED. How is it that men can always find the most convenient time to camp out in the loo? Clean up time, put the kids to bed time, I need help because both kids are crying time. Always.

This morning I asked Caden where Andrew was. His response, "Where he always is."

I'll give you one guess. 

I remember my Dad and brother doing this when I was growing up too. It's like their PLACE or something. I think it's genetic. It's hardwired into their DNA. 

Must-sit-on-toilet-for-hours....

Caden does the same thing. He even calls to me and asks me to come sit with him and chat. Ugh...no thank you. 

Sorry, I'm over my potty-related rant. It just BLOWS MY MIND. Anyone else have this problem!? 

Before I had to start killing all the things this afternoon we had a ton of fun today. Caden won this cool bow and arrows set at the arcade yesterday. Pretty sure we spent a few hours playing with it today. 

I love his "concentration" face. He was honestly pretty good. We drew a target on the sliding glass door. 

Entertainment. For. Hours.

Caden was awesome. Maybe we should get him some real lessons!

I have much much more to write. But I am still SO EXHAUSTED. I can barely bring myself to type this up - another awesome side effect of the Whole 30. My body is so confused right now. 

Before I forget what we ate today, here's our menu. Today was a great day for food - yum yum yum!

Day 5

Breakfast:  Andrew's Famous Eggs and Bacon

Andrew always makes the best eggs. This mix was eggs, avocado salsa from last night, some sausage, and I can't remember what else. They were great. Plus bacon. Everything is good with bacon. 

Lunch: Chicken Fajita Salad 

I threw this together with stuff we had in the fridge. The avocado salsa leftover from last night was so good, we had to find more uses for it. This lunch was fast, and scrumptious. 

Dinner: Carnitas Stuffed Sweet Potato with Avocado Aioli and Coleslaw With a Kick

I found this recipe on Everyday Paleo and once again we were not disappointed. It was definitely time consuming, but oh so worth it! I put the carnitas on this morning, but I still felt like it took forever to pull together. 

For my Whole 30 friends that don't have a lot of time, I would say to make the carnitas and the sweet potato and do whatever else you have time for. The beauty of this recipe is that we have a ton of delicious pork leftover! Win. Win. 

Andrew decided this was our best "main dish" yet and Caden declared that I am "the best chef ever!" So I would say it's a keeper. 

Though seriously people - I eat, sleep, and breathe cooking right now. 

Literally. All I dreamt about last night as food. Brownies, mashed potatoes, bread and butter, wine....I kept dreaming that I was forgetting about the Whole 30 until I took a bite of the forbidden food. I hope I avoid those dreams tonight. I am craving hard core!

Here's what today's schedule of cooking looked like:

Wake up

Cook breakfast

Eat breakfast

Clean up breakfast

Prep Dinner and get in crockpot

Clean up mess from dinner prep

Sit down on couch and have Andrew ask me what lunch is

Get up and make lunch

Eat lunch

Clean up lunch

*insert few hour break here where we left the house*

Prep dinner

Cook dinner

Eat dinner

Clean up from dinner

Plan Tomorrow's food

This is getting CRAZY! BUT, the food we are eating is wonderful. Day 5, done. Day 6 here we come. I hope I don't kill anyone. 

And one more picture for the road...

and That's 'Watts' She Said...

Can You Handle It?!?

So, yesterday I spent about an hour typing out a post with my THUMBS. Letter by letter. It was painful. 

THEN....

my iPhone died and I lost it all. It was a great post. It was funny. Lots of pictures. AND it's gone. 

Gone. Gone. Gone.

I don't have it in me to retype it yet - but I will - I promise. It was all about Caden and his love for delicious, juicy, Shawarmas. It was good, and someday soon it will live again. Just not now.

SO - until then I have a little gift for you. 

I'm not sure you can handle it....Are you ready? 

HERE. YOU. GO.

BEST. FAMILY. PICTURE. EVER!!!

And, in case you are somehow missing what makes this pictures so awesome. 

I've blown it up for you!

YES - Davis is twirling his mustache. When we saw this we laughed so hard we cried. It was that good, laughing SO hard no noise is coming out anymore kind of laugh. 

Caden rocks the handlebar mustache too. He was in character...that's for sure. He had to try eating and drinking with his 'stache. He loved it. 

What's cuter than a baby with a mustache?!

A baby meme with Davis and his mustache....

Do you have a good caption for this photo?! Send it my way!

Maybe we aren't as funny as we think we are? Maybe, just maybe, it was our moving-in induced exhaustion that made us think this was the most hilarious thing we had ever seen. If so, oh well. 

We love it. 

I mean we aren't THIS family...

NOPE...That's my sister, her awesome husband, and team of superhero sons. 

From oldest to youngest Mason, Reid, Nolan, and Cash. These boys are ALWAYS. IN. CHARACTER. This is a normal thing around their house. 

Seriously - who can top this? They actually dressed like this on Father's Day to go see the new Superman movie. They are that cool. My sister said that people were stopping them and asking to take pictures with them. I mean, can you get any cooler or more beautiful?!

Oh wait...

Yeah...not even close. Brandon was the Homecoming King - Stephanie was the Prom Queen. Andrew and I - WELL...let's just say that I was President of the National Honor Society, and Andrew was President of the Latin Club. 

Not nearly as cool - but hey. We are ROCKIN' the mustache. 

and That's 'Watts' She Said...

Just keep swimming....

I feel like Dori on Finding Nemo right now. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I just have to keep pushing forward.

Truth be told...I'm so over it.

This is probably why we weren't fully unpacked in our Maryland house until my nesting phase kicked in. It took us 2 years to hang everything and put everything in its place...then we had to take it down a month later to move. How awesome is that?!?

I'm still without Internet, so here is another picture filled post brought to you by my thbs. ( and THIS is why it's short...I can't even type 'thumbs') and its way too hard to up back and correct it. So you're welcome.

I can't wait to get our Internet up...I have so many stories to tell from the move, but for now this is all you get!

We went patio furniture and storage shelf shopping (my biggest shit show yet)...and C begged and pleaded for this 'perfect relaxing spot' - at least he was entertained while I shopped.

I would also like to take a brief moment to thank my dad for giving me his horrible sense of direction. It took me no less than an hour to finally figure out how to get to the home store with the patio furniture. 110 degree weather, fussy baby that just had immunizations...sweaty hungry mom...and a 5 year old that can't hold still for the life of him. Not my best day.

Let's not forget the fact that I had dressed to do unpacking all day, capri workout pants, and a tank top. I hadn't really planned to run these errands and walk through two malls to find the freaking shelves I needed. In the States it would have been no big deal. But here...I WAS PRACTICALLY NAKED! (In the States I would have only had to go to Target to get everything I needed...but let's not go there...)

I got some very strange looks. I guess I could have put on a workout jacket I had brought...but are you kidding me? I was sweating in places you don't want to sweat. 

I've since decided that my favorite new term...HANGRY, which means hungry and angry is also applicable to HOT and ANGRY. 

I was all kinds of HANGRY by the end of this day. Which pretty much means I sat in the furniture section of the home store and cried. 

This is after walking through the base, through two malls, and the freaking crazy Car Park (Bahraini for 'Parking Garage') where you are lucky to find a spot and blessed to do so without getting run over!. In the midst of this my phone died, so I bought a car charger, made our way back to the car, and found my way out...

Well...once it was charged I called Andrew...and WHERE was he?!? Waiting for me IN the mall. I was already back on the freeway, so I had to turn around and do it all again. We. Were. A. Mess.

I cried after I made it to where he was. Of course, my loving husband asks what is wrong and all I could do was look at him and try not to hurt him. Tears running down my face, sweat running down my ass, people staring at me like I was a naked freak show. Like I said NOT MY FINEST HOUR.

But on the bright side, I found everything we needed! I also happen to LOVE putting together furniture.

So after the boys ( Andrew included) where in bed I had some serious fun.

AND BAM!!!

Take that my furniture assembling challenged friends!!!

AND...

Patio Furniture! Though the delivery guy put it on the lawn...after I repeatedly asked for it in the patio. I guess you could say there was a language barrier. It's on the patio now. Thanks to Moman, our yard boy. More on awesome Moman later.

The house is coming together...even though I'm losing my mind in the process. 

The most beautiful part of the past few days is that I was seriously about to just crumble...then I got two surprise care packages from back home! One from my mom with stuff for the boys, some stuff A and I ordered from Amazon that they wouldn't deliver to an FPO address, and a belated birthday present from my Grandma!

Then I opened this lovely care package from my doula, Stacy, and two dear friends I met in pre-natal yoga, Katie and Christine. 

You know how sometimes you meet people that you know you will treasure forever? That's how these ladies are. They are amazing and such wonderful caring women, and  awesome mamas now too! I love them and am so touched by their sweet gifts.

It was amazing how these little things lifted my spirits. It is such a comfort to be reminded that No matter where I am, or how hard it is being away from everyoneand  in a foreign country, I am loved back home.

I WILL survive this move in. I WILL.

Oh and just so you know what I mean when I say it's HOT...

And it's not even the hottest time of the year yet!!!! When 88 is your LOW, you know it's hot. ALL. THE. TIME. 

You would have sweat running down your butt too, so no judgement allowed!

And That's 'Watts' She Said...