Gone For the Weekend...

That's right! You heard me! Cpl. Mayhem is home!!!

Great things to come on A Military Wife's Mayhem...

STAY TUNED!!

My Husband Rocked My World Even Thousand Miles Away!!

On the Valentine's Day Momversation post. I mentioned that the one thing that would make me happy was my husband helping me with the kids to give me a break from the day when he comes home. So when I was going through my comments there was a nice surprise waiting for me!

My man is the best!!

Valentine's Day, Whatever!

Since joining the military we have never been together for Valentine's Day.

So do I care for the holiday?

Not really...

Why?

Homecomings are better!!!

See you in 2 weeks!!

He Misses His Father

Ducky has been wild lately. He can go from sweet and mild to wild and unpredictable in a matter of a minute.


Why?

He misses his father.

Ducky swatted Chicky in the face and yelled at me to shut up.

Why?

He misses his father.

Ducky has misbehaved and made my days a living nightmare for the past two weeks.

Why?

He misses his father.

Tonight Ducky cried and told me he missed his daddy. He asked for the framed photo of his father in my room, he hugged it tight. He then asked for the framed photo of us on our wedding, he tucked that one in his room too.

He then comes into my room and asks for the sweatshirt his father is wearing in the first photo he picked up. He takes it and kisses me goodnight.

I looked into his room, he's asleep in the sweatshirt, with a smile on his face.

Still missing his father, but he now has Daddy's arms wrapped around him.

Our Last Family Dinner... Attacked By Naughty Nelson!!

You are invited to:

The Mayhem's Last Family Dinner (for a while)

Where: Boston Pizza

When: 5:30pm

Who is cooking: Who cares?! It's not mom!

Sounds perfect huh? A family of four going out for supper. This is what invitation should have read.

You are invited to:

The Family Mayhem's Family Dinner (sort of)

Where would it have taken place: Boston Pizza

When: 5:30pm

Why it didn't happen: Ducky's alter ego Naughty Nelson decided to visit,

he then decided to sock Cpl. Mayhem in the throat a couple of times

leaving Cpl. Mayhem pissed, taking Ducky to the car, where Naughty Nelson

continued to scream and kick and pitched a fit all because of a toy he wanted in the store.

The best part: Ducky's alter ego caught wind of the McDonald's and decided to

announce he was much happier now. When we got home I told him I was upset because

we were supposed to be a nice restaurant.

Ducky's solution: We can do a restaurant here at home.

You are invited to:

The Mayhem's Final Family Dinner (kind of)

Where: Family Mayhem's home

When: 6:15pm

Who's cooking: Mom of course!

Mom's not happy!

What Has Gone Down In The Mayhem Household!

Way too much to recount!!

We had Auntie Mayhem over for the holidays which was a great treat for the kids! They had a great time jumping on her and getting as much attention that they could from her!

We enjoyed watching the kids unwrap presents especially Chicky. This is the year that she kind of gets Christmas but doesn't. So when it was her turn to open something she watched her brother than looks at the adults with this look of "I still don't get it!".

Once she got the hang of it, my parents were able to Skype with us and watch the kiddies have some fun!

After the Christmas unwrapping we went over to my gal pal's place for dinner where she made enough food to feed the base!! It was yummy and we left there full, happy and exhausted!! The kids had a blast playing with their two boys and it was a Christmas just the way we wanted it to be. Relaxed!

And of course, Chicky's birthday was two days after Christmas (sorry!). So we had some friends over and enjoyed some cake that I lovingly put together! Some fun with the kids and sugar and we had a house full of giggles and a torn up bedroom! Which was fine since Ducky convinced me that his room didn't need cleaning prior to the party because it was going to get messy all over again. Point for Ducky.

Once the party was over though we went to look at the damage and his table had been flipped over, to which he said, "Don't worry mom, I'll clean it!" rolling his eyes with such length and drama which made me conclude that this move is hereditary! Once I pointed out I wasn't going to clean the room he said yes than realized what he was saying yes to. Point mom!

All in all it was a great holiday vacation and our plans for New Year Eve is to relax and stay in! It seems to be one of the only holiday where Cpl. Mayhem has been home for every year. Once the holidays are officially over Cpl. Mayhem will be in California training for Afghanistan, booo!

So I'm enjoying every minute!!

Best Wishes!

The Mayhem Family wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year!

What I've Done This Week So Far...

We had a snow fight!

I cleaned house (sort of)

Watched Cpl. Mayhem read a bedtime story to Ducky and Chicky

Made a cheesecake! But not just any cheesecake..
A Body For Life Cheesecake!

What am I going to do for the rest of the week?

Going to see Dane Cook!!

Take a moment to drool!

We are going to be decorating the tree

(this was last years)

We are going to enjoy the time we have with Cpl. Mayhem now that he's on

VACATION!!!

Later days!!

Christmas Activities Continue!!!

As the Christmas season starts to swing into the Mayhem household we've been doing some of the Mayhem family traditions.

One of the big ones is gingerbread decorating. We bought the gingerbread house but I had forgotten that I had purchased gingerbread men from my neighbour. So we're having an extravaganza!!

Ducky had a blast decorating his gingerbread man, Chicky wasn't too sure what we were doing but as you can see she got in the idea pretty quickly!

They had a fun afternoon and we can't wait to pull out the gingerbread house and do it all over again!!

I'm Back Blogging World!!

Hello everyone!!

It's been a couple of days. I've been spending some time with my mom who came from Panama to visit her daughters and grand kids.

It was a very nice visit. A welcomed visit! The kiddies loved spending time with their Vovo (grandmother in Portuguese). They loved having an extra person to play with and read stories with. It's been nice having someone else to talk to.

We enjoyed a great week and I'm sad that she is gone, but I can't wait to see her again soon! It was too bad my dad wasn't able to come. Next time!

Even Cpl. Mayhem had a great time listening to old stories about me as a kid and some of the latest things that have been going on in Panama.

We miss you Mamae!! Come back soon! Our house is open anytime!

Moms Fight the Flu

Flu Season! Come on moms, it's on your minds!

When Cpl. Mayhem was away for the month all that was on my mind was what would happen to my kids if I got sick. What would happen to them if they got sick. And it didn't help that all my friends talked about and the media had it on 24/7.

Well we all got sick! All three of. The doctor at the time said it was the croup, which was what I believed it was because the symptoms that they had screamed croup. But he did not swab them or me. This was during the time they stopped swabbing people because it was backlogging the labs. But we all had the symptoms.

Was I scared? Yes! I hate when my kiddies get sick, I feel helpless that I can't make them feel better and their little bodies have to fight whatever it was that they had. Sleep was out of the question.

So I'm loving being a part of the "Moms Fight the Flu" Blog Tour. Along side Mom Central and The Ontario Ministry of Health this is my one stop to get all my information that I will need to keep myself and my family healthy during the flu season. I'm feeling a bit more at ease now that I have one place to guide me through the flu season.

The Ontario Ministry of Health website has great information and kept updated with the most recent news about H1N1 vaccine clinic.

The one great feature on the website is their Flu Self-Assessment Tool. Although it is meant to be provided as a guidance only. It's a nice feature to check out before you wait in the hospital for nine hours.

Not only that they have some amazing information about what you can do to treat your child's fever or other flu symptoms (I may be a mom, but I didn't get the "mommy manual" when they were born). Here are somethings to fight some of the symptoms:

• Encourage your child to get plenty of rest.
• Use salt-water nose drops to treat a stuffy nose.
• Ask your pharmacist about any over-the-counter medicines for cough.

One of the biggest things we as parents should do is keep our children home when they have a fever, let it pass at least 24 hours. We prevent the spread of the virus that way.

Now my family has been vaccinated. It's a relief to have them but we know that we still need to continue to prevent the spread of the regular flu. Covering your mouth when you cough, washing your hands.... Practices I believe are a common courtesy. But I have picked up some extras for this years flu season.

(OK maybe a lot more than usual!)

"I wrote this post while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central and received a Mom Central gift pack to thank me for taking the time to participate."

While the kids were sick with the croup, and I had what they had but they did not call it croup. I noticed that my kitchen became an assembly line of meds, Lysol, anti-bacterial hand cream and lozenges.


So I took a photo!

Bridal Shower!!!

My mother-in-law planned a Jack and Jill Party for her son and fiance tonight. If you have only gone to these showers you may not know what goes on before the guest arrive. If you have planned a party like this then you know how my MIL was feeling by the time everything was set.

So I present to you:

My Mother-in-Law's Stress in photo form!

In my mother-in-law's defense let me explain something here. Everything was going according to schedule, or so we thought. According to her watch we were ahead of schedule, we had 45 minutes before we had to get to the fire hall to decorate. So we got our last minute items and all of the sudden my MIL came from behind me and said we were late. He watch was slow and now we had to make a mad dash to the hall to decorate.

But once everything was set up, everyone was ready to have a good time! There were some , games and some great gifts! The kids who were there played with each other no matter how old the oldest one was, they all got right in there!

It was a wonderful time and my MIL did a great job! Everyone poked fun at the happy couple. Jokes and fun exchanges between family, nothing better I tell you!

Scared To Fly

I hate flying!

What you don't know is I've been flying since I was an infant!

My father was a pilot and a flight attendant as was my mother. My twin sister wanted to become a flight attendant but there are height restrictions and she didn't make it ( we are short). And my younger sister is so close to getting her piloting license, in fact she'll have her pilots license before she gets her drivers license.

I don't know why I'm scared. I just don't like the process of flying. The waiting in line for you bags to be checked in. The security procedures and all that jazz.

The last time me and my sister got together and flew on the same plane was after 9/11 and because my twin and I are a tanned and dark hair and my younger sister is a blond blue-eyed bombshell, guess who's luggage, shoes, coats and IDs were checked more often. Yeah! But because I'm accustomed to the flying process, I didn't say anything just did as I was told and kept moving along. Smiles for them, but in my mind I was thinking " I'm not middle eastern! Quit profiling! I get that this is the latest precautions but really does lighting strike twice? Look at the twitching blond dude who looks like he has something to hide! LOL!

Of course my twin wasn't helping much with her choice of wardrobe: Black everything and a leather jacket. She had TARGET written all over her!

She even got pulled over when we got to airplane itself, and a nice middle eastern woman who was working security had to stop her. Since this was tenth time Anic had be stopped she asked the woman politely why was she getting all this attention and she didn't think it was fair.

To which the security guard replied " I know, I've been asked to take certain people aside for the color of their skin and clothing for the past three weeks. I'm getting annoyed myself. In fact, I've apologizing to everyone. They don't have a system yet, it's just plain profiling.

But back to why I have a fear of flying...

I think it's the noise and the sudden bumps, it always gets me. I remember practically crushing my husbands hand when we were coming from visiting my parents. It was bad!

Maybe I'll be a little more calmer this time. It's my daughter's first time flying so I don't want to have her worked up because mommy is too. That would be BAD!

Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes on Friday!

Making Our Way Back Home

Vacations are stressful in our house. The planning, the packing , the itinerary that we are given or planned. It's just flat out chaos!

But first we have spent the last two months waiting to find out when hubby's leave was going to happen. Because the military has blocked leaves for their soldiers their is a process that everyone in the family goes through. Hubby has to put in his leave and once it gets to the proper people to review it, the wait process begins. "Hurry up and wait" is something we hear often, even vacations is something you have to wait for.

And waiting we did. When I said the entire family goes through the process my jobs was to tell friends and family who keep asking for the details, that I could not give them that because I myself had no answers.

But now that everything has been finalized. The planning begins:

1. Cleaning


2. Garbage removal


3. Laundry


4. Packing


5. Map Quest searching ( our travel saviour)


6. Picking up sanity savers for the kids


7. Locking the fort down


8. And finally driving to my sisters to go to the airport

Tired yet? I am! And just the thought alone has made me not want to get up and get anything done. I've got half the cleaning done. Garbage day is tomorrow morning, the fridge has been emptied. One more load of laundry tomorrow and by Thursday afternoon we will be on our way to visit the aunties!

I'm going to need a vacation from this vacation!

But on a positive note I have a dress for my brother in law's wedding. I think that is the best part of this trip is spending time with my brother and his fiance!

And no I'm not wearing boots!

To My Father On Father's Day

WE ARE OPPOSITES!

You are calm... I am not

You are usually right... I'm usually not

You were born in Holland... I was born in Brazil

You are tall... I'm short

You are a rational thinker... I go with my emotions

You are saver... I'm a spender

You are strict... I'm flexible

You have plans... I don't follow any

You are set... I'm still trying

You have a green thumb... I've killed every plant I own

You are ahead of the pack... I usually the last to know

You are a mathematician... I barely passed the course

You love the news... I used to but now I barely watch now

WE ARE THE SAME

We love reality shows

We are suckers when it comes my kids

We have great debates

We love comedy

We are silly

We love our families

We lived in various parts of the world

We love warm weather

We love Skype

We enjoy each others company

We love wine

We love food

We love to laugh

We love to agree

We love to disagree

But best of all we love each other!

Happy Father's Day Papai!
I love you!
Keep looking at the moon!

And The Plot Thickens...

It's 2100 hours. Tuesday.

The television is on but the sound is nothing but a whisper. Reruns of The Mentalist flash before the screen. All is quiet but it's the calm before the storm.

What was that?

Through the door to the master bedroom a noise that is familiar but there is a hope that it's nothing. The rustling continues. As I lay in my bed I haven't been able to enjoy the moments of quiet that I have been longing to have.

The rustling continues, could it be happening again? My sanity cannot take it anymore. I open the bedroom door to look at what the noise could possible be....

"Mommy, I'm tired.."

"Then go back to sleep!"

Tucking him in his Spiderman comforter, a noise from the baby's room. It's the same noise that has been heard the night before and the night before that. Do I check on her. She isn't crying.

I jump back into my warm sheets, thinking Mr. Sandman will finally grace me with his presence.

And then the noise comes back again, but this time in a loud wail that can be heard throughout the second floor.

I jump out of bed to tend to the babe and to prevent the boy from hearing her. I change her diaper, give her a song and a rub on the back. She's slowly goes back to her own little dreamland. A place I haven't visited lately but really wish I could get a ticket to ride!

The television is now off. The night has become silent, a sound rare in my house but once it happens it's enjoyable.

As my head hits the pillow, I sigh with the anticipation of finally resting from the past couple of days of stress, when a thought enters my mind.

Why did my son wake up to tell me he was tired?!?

A visit from Autie Nikki!

We love when Auntie Nikki comes for a visit!!

My kids get so excited that "Crazy Auntie Nikki" is coming!

I too enjoy when my twin sister comes to visit, mainly because I get a break from the kids. They don't want to have anything to with me! They are professional trapeze artists who are well groomed in hanging off their aunt.

I had a great time just talking with her and laughing about everything. And my husband was happy that she was there so he could whisk me away to watch X-Man: Origins without having to get a babysitter.

All in all the weekend rocked!

EXCEPT....

My son had a complete meltdown when it was time to go to bed.

The cause: He thought, like most babysitters do, Auntie Nikki was going to leave him. This is very hard for me because this is a new experience and this isn't the first time.

Because my husband goes through tons of training every year, he goes away for weeks at a time. Even though we have gone through it plenty of times, this is the first time that my son breaks down whenever someone leaves. It's heartbreaking and intolerable at the same time! Nothing works to console him and even though I tell him daddy will be back, he doesn't believe me until he is home.

What a dilemma!

Not only do I have to figure out how to get my son to eat something other than cheese sandwiches, now I have to explain why daddy goes away for long periods of time.

Any ideas?